The Most Beautiful Girl in School Has Become a Mother - Chapter 14: Second (Third?) Plea

As expected, that day too, after school arrived.

I’ve never looked forward to after-school as much as I do today. Of course, I haven’t mentioned anything about my interaction with Imiya-san this morning to Shinya or Sumomo. I couldn’t stand the thought of them meddling any further.

By the way, in the morning, I confronted Shinya and Sumomo about the mysterious way they started acting all considerate towards each other, but they just played dumb, saying, “Huh, what are you talking about?” and “Well, we were on duty, you know.” I don’t know what their aim was in doing that, but at least they could have said something to me. It was complete chaos from my perspective.

That aside, it’s after school.

After confirming that Imiya-san left the classroom first, I also left the classroom. Shinya suggested going home together, but I declined, saying I had plans today.

And so, I climbed the stairs to the rooftop that I had ascended many times over the past few days. I never imagined I would be going to the rooftop so often after school. Moreover, all of it was to meet Imiya Miori. It was almost unbelievable.

When I opened the familiar rusty iron door, the sunset was spreading across the sky once again today. A beautiful sunset, reminiscent of the passing spring, caught my eye.

Against such a sunset, a girl stood. It was Imiya Miori.

“So, about the consultation…?”

Somehow, this scene reminds me of the first time I called her to the rooftop. But this time, I won’t make any weird mistakes.

After taking a deep breath, I fixed my gaze firmly on her. She, too, was staring at me intently with a tense expression.

After taking another deep breath, I start to speak.

“After I got home yesterday, I thought it over again.”

“Yeah…”

“I really want Imiya-san to play the role of Shuri’s mother. No, I think it has to be Imiya-san.”

This time, I spoke clearly without making any mistakes.

“Why? Because, as I said yesterday, I don’t have any memories of ‘Mom,’ and I don’t know the answer, right?”

She averts her gaze awkwardly.

There was an air of apology. As expected, just as Sumomo had said, she was quite troubled.

I steeled myself and spoke the answer I had prepared for that question.

“Ah… because I don’t know, I want to ask Imiya-san.”

When I said that, Imiya-san looked surprised and said, “Huh?” as she turned to look at me.

“Maybe… because I don’t know, I thought I might understand Shuri’s feelings the best.”

I was so nervous that I was worried my voice might be trembling as if I were confessing my love. I don’t even know why I’m so worked up.

Suppressing my racing heart, I wove my words.

“Well, you see… My mom was there until Shuri was born. Until then, we were a normal family, and I knew what a mother was like. In fact, since I had a mother even when I was five, I can’t understand the feeling of not having her around at that time.”

“Sanada-kun…”

“That’s why I couldn’t understand how Shuri felt when she said, ‘I want to see my mom.’ But… I thought maybe, just maybe, you, Imiya-san, might understand those feelings.”

Imiya-san was listening to me while looking down.

Neither denying nor nodding, just silently listening. Judging that there was no rejection, I continued speaking.

“That kid, despite being only five years old, is incredibly mature. She understood the meaning of the word ‘mother,’ the concept of it, and that we don’t have anyone like that in our family… She knew all of that. And then yesterday, she said, ‘I want to play with mom.'”

After that, I desperately appealed to her.

Perhaps Shuri is not seeking the typical answer of a mother. I think she is just lonely. That loneliness is something I can’t fill. And… the answer might be, “What Imiya-san wanted from her mother when she was little.”

I clearly conveyed to her what I thought about yesterday.

“Of course, this is just my selfish opinion, and it’s quite self-indulgent… rather, it’s almost like self-satisfaction, so I won’t force you, but if possible, I would appreciate it.”

I finished saying everything and then bowed my head.

“I think that’s a sneaky way to ask for something…”

In a slightly reproachful tone, she said.

She’s right. What I said might be a way of taking advantage of people’s kindness.

It’s just that this was my honest feelings and what I was thinking.

Moreover, there’s no going back on what I’ve already said. All I could do was bow my head and say, “I’m sorry.”

“…What? That’s a lie.”

A slightly brighter voice responded, and I couldn’t help but look up.

There was Imiya-san, who was shyly smiling.

“To be honest, I’ve been worrying about it since yesterday. I kept wondering if this was the right thing to do and if it was okay to refuse… Maybe Momo-chan noticed that I was troubled too.”

So that’s why she did that in the morning, I think, Imiya-san added.

“Um… so, will you do it?”

I look at her intently, feeling like I can’t believe it.

She averted her gaze once, then looked at me again and nodded slightly.

“I don’t know if I can handle such an important role… but I’ll give it my best shot.”

“Thank you!”

Overwhelmed with emotion, I firmly grasped Imiya-san’s hand with both of mine.

“Yah?!”

Imiya-san made a strange sound.

However, it’s not a big deal for me right now.

“Somehow, she said, ‘She smells like mom’… I think she probably thought it had to be Imiya-san. So, I was thinking I had to get her to do it no matter what, and that’s why—”

“I-I get it! I’ll do my best to play the role of the mother…! So, um, my hand, my hand…!”

Imiya-san is blushing and flustered.

I wondered why she was in such a hurry, and when I looked at her hand, I realized I had firmly grasped her hand.

“I-I’m sorry. I got carried away because I was so happy.”

When I let go of Imiya-san’s hand, she sighed with relief, her face still flushed.

“Geez… the development is moving so fast, I thought my heart would stop…”

“Huh? What do you mean by development?”

“~~~──N-no, it’s nothing, nothing at all!”

She tightly closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously from side to side to deny something.

What kind of development could it be?

“Um… well, since Imiya-san will be providing time and labor, I intend to pay a fair compensation. So if there’s anything you want, just let me know.”

I hastily added that it should be within the range of what a high school student can afford.

If she started demanding Vuitton bags and other things, it would be unbearable. But she doesn’t seem to like those kinds of brands anyway.

“Um… well then, I want to go to the new crepe shop that just opened in front of the station.”

“W-wait, do you eat crepes every day?”

Wasn’t that around 500 yen?

As expected, spending 500 yen every day is… no, if I cut back on my food expenses, it might just be manageable.

“If you eat that every day, you’ll get fat.”

Imiya-san chuckled softly and added, “Just occasionally is fine.”

“Imiya-san, you really care about that kind of thing, huh?”

“Huh?”

“I thought you wouldn’t gain weight.”

Imiya-san looks so delicate that it makes me worry about whether she’s eating properly.

“That’s not true. I gain weight according to how much I eat. The battle between girls and sugar is tough.”

She said that with a troubled expression and tilted her head slightly.

“I see. Um… so, shall we go after this? We have a bit of time until I pick Shuri up today.”

Since I had six periods of classes today, I have a bit of extra time. I should be fine stopping by that crepe shop for about an hour.

“Yeah! Well then, I guess I’ll dig in right away!”

Imiya-san smiled and nodded cheerfully.

The smile she showed at that moment was the cutest I had ever seen from her—an inexplicable sensation as if my heart was being tightly grasped.