LIGHTNOVELWORLD chapter 79
79. Philance Blue Has a Mother Too
The entrance to my parents’ house, where I had lived since I was a child. Of course, I had opened and closed this door countless times. But there had never been a day when the door to my parents’ house had felt so heavy .
I remember that there were days when I was in elementary school and had got so caught up in playing that I had accidentally broken curfew, or when I had faked sick in middle school and the teacher had called my house after finding out, or when I had got my first failing grade in high school. I remember thinking that coming home on those days had been a huge pain, but compared to today, those days seemed like nothing to laugh at.
I could never have imagined that there would be a day when I would be more scared to come home than I was the day my mom got angry and locked me out of the house, leaving me to cry and bang on the door. There would never be a day when I was more scared to come home, because right now, there was a girl I was close to at my house (with my mother present) at the same time.
“I’m, I’m home.”
If I had been alone in this situation, I might have hesitated and fretted in front of the house, but Himawari was standing behind me, pressing the cup of ice cream to her neck to cope with the heat. I had to let her in and get her some water as soon as possible, no matter how much I didn’t want to. I opened the door without hesitation.
The cool air from the air conditioner sawped into the entrance hall, and both Himawari and I relaxed our faces a little.
“Oh, you’re finally back. Sora, you should have told me if you were having a friend over. All we have is somen noodles. And when did you get such a cute girlfriend…”
A middle-aged woman in casual clothes appeared, along with the cool air. Her hair was in need of a touch-up, and she was wearing a plain apron that my mother had received as a Mother’s Day gift five years ago. Of course , it was my mother. Before saying “Welcome back” to her own son, she was staring wide-eyed at the little heroine hiding behind him.
“Um, who is this adorable young lady?”
Well, it was a fair question. Her son, who had been sent out to buy mentsuyu, had come back with a little girl in tow. But my mother’s eyes were sparkling more than I had expected.
“She’s the daughter of someone I work with at my part-time job. She often waits in the break room for her father to finish work, so we got to talking there…and she came to see me.”
It was an excuse I had made up on the spot while walking in the heat, but my mother wasn’t particularly interested in me, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
“Oh my, oh my. Sora, you have a talent for being popular with little girls.”
What kind of talent was that? My mother maintained her unnecessarily cheerful tone, stooped down a little, and met Himawari’s gaze.
“Hello there. What’s your name? Are you in elementary school?”
“…”
Himawari glanced at me with a puzzled expression. As she continued to dutifully cool her neck with the ice cream, I thought to myself that it was just like her.
“I’m sorry, Himawari. My mom always says she wants a daughter, so she’s a little excited.”
I took the ice cream away from her so she wouldn’t get frostbite from cooling her neck too much, then ruffled her fluffy brown hair a little roughly. I don’t know if she took that as ‘permission to answer the questions,’ but Himawari, who had been gaping open-mouthed, turned to face my mother with a look of considerable fear and answered in a trembling voice,
“M-My name is Himawari. I’m in my first year of junior high.”
“Oo-oh, how cute! You’re Himawari-chan! Oh, so cute! You’re so tiny! Thank you for coming all by yourself to meet my idiot son! Where did you come from? Was it hot outside? What do you like about my son?”
“Ww-well, I”
“Mom, calm down.”
Himawari doesn’t live with her family and doesn’t go to school, so she probably hardly ever has the opportunity to interact with others without her hero suit on. The doctor is perfect when it comes to supporting her daily life, but he’s not very good at taking care of her mental health, and it’s no exaggeration to say that Himawari’s social skills are on par with a kindergartener who hasn’t even started going to the park yet.
“She’s shy, so try not to scare her too much.”
“II’m sorry, Himawari-chan. …B-but Sora is also at fault for suddenly bringing such a cute girl here. I wasn’t prepared at all. I was already surprised when his girlfriend came over… Oh, Himawari-chan, are you going to have lunch too? I’m sorry, but today’s lunch is just noodles. If I had known we were having guests, I would have prepared something more delicious, but this child never tells me anything . But noodles are delicious too. If Himawari-chan is going to eat with us, should I boil one more bundle?”
“Wait a minute, Mom. You said your friend was coming over, right?”
I had almost forgotten about the current trouble because of the embarrassing situation of watching my mother act like a fool, even though I’m past puberty.
“Yeah, if you’re having guests over, you have to tell me next time. Seriously. I almost met your girlfriend for the first time without any makeup on.”
“Well, it’s not really my girlfriend…”
I never thought that Uguisu-san would resort to such drastic measures.
No, that’s a lie. I had expected it to some extent. Uguisu-san had been telling me for a while now that she wanted to “greet your mother” and “visit Sora’s room,” and I had been evading her every time. She must have thought that if she waited any longer to be invited, she would go there herself and try to win my parents’ approval by introducing herself first.
Well, it was good that she didn’t pretend to be my wife. It’s common for a college student son to hide the fact that he has a girlfriend, so I would only be a little embarrassed, but if I had hidden the fact that I was engaged, my father would have been told right away, and depending on how things went, I could have been scolded.
The only problem is that Himawari is here. I didn’t want Himawari and Uguisu-san to meet because of what happened before, and it wouldn’t be good to show off our relationship in front of other heroes either. But if I deny my relationship with Uguisu-san in front of my mother, it would be the same as denying Uguisu-san’s feelings. It’s a minefield.
This is really bad timing. I wish they had visited on separate days.
“About Uguisu-san…”
“Uguisu? Is something wrong with the bird?”
My mother’s big question mark interrupted me as I tried to brace myself and talk about Uguisu-san.
“Well, well, it’s not good to chat in the entryway, so come on in. Look.”
When I looked down at my feet to take off my shoes, I noticed a pair of white sandals with a pink accent that shouldn’t have been in my house. They had a cute design with a thick ribbon in the shape of a flower on the front and a moderate heel made of a cool material, so they were probably easy to walk in. The size was quite small. The face of the acquaintance who would look best in those sandals, which were a little too cute for an adult woman to wear, naturally came to mind.
“…Come on, don’t keep Momo waiting.”
“Huh? Over there!?”
I reacted honestly because the name of the girl who had popped into my head had come out of my mother’s mouth. Depending on how you look at it, that was a pretty sh*tty thing for me to say.
“What do you mean ‘over there’? What are you talking about?”
“W-well, that’s…”
“But you’ve never even hinted at having any female friends before, and now you have such a cute girlfriend and even a middle schooler who likes you… Could it be that you’re having a popular phase, Sora?”
I’m sorry, but there are actually another one or two people. I apologized in my heart to my mother, who couldn’t hide her joy at her son’s first female friend visiting her for the first time, even as I lamented.