Dinner had concluded.
Sayuri Sawamura pulled out a tissue and elegantly wiped her mouth before asking Eriri, who had been acting absent-minded ever since she got home.
"Eriri, did something happen today?"
It was easy to guess Eriri's thoughts. If you couldn't read her facial expression, you just had to look at her twintails. If they were standing tall and occasionally swishing, it meant Eriri was in a great mood. If they were limp and lifeless, it meant she was dejected or had something on her mind.
Today, Eriri hadn't even taken more than two bites of her favorite dish. Sayuri felt she had to check on her.
Even though she had asked Ren to look after Eriri at school, it didn't mean she would completely ignore her daughter herself. Ren couldn't watch over her every second; there would always be oversights.
And those oversights would be covered by Sayuri as her mother.
"Mama, am I... am I... a pig?"
Eriri hesitated for a long time before deciding to start with the "lightest" issue.
A pig?
Did someone call my daughter a pig?
Hearing Eriri's question, Sayuri quickly made the connection, and a trace of anger flashed in her eyes. Who dared to call her precious daughter a pig?
With a flick of her small folding fan, Sayuri revealed only her violet eyes, which looked somewhat eerie. Her tone carried a hint of coldness. "Eriri, who said that?"
"Ren," Eriri said honestly.
Ren?
With a snap, Sayuri closed the folding fan and tapped it against Eriri's small head.
Sayuri looked at Eriri with a smile. "Ren is right."
"Mama!"
Startled by her mother's lightning-fast change in attitude, Eriri stomped her foot in annoyance.
"Tell me everything. Tell Mama exactly what happened from start to finish."
Sayuri didn't believe Ren would call Eriri a pig for no reason. She needed to understand the whole process. Furthermore, she didn't feel any discomfort regarding Ren's comment. The fact that Ren had actively started lecturing Eriri showed that he was truly looking after her.
Sayuri couldn't be happier. With Ren's guidance, Eriri at least wouldn't be as easily fooled as before.
"Well..."
Under the pressure of her mother's fan resting on her head, Eriri began to describe what happened with Ren after school. Eriri was still conflicted between Ren and Tomoya Aki, and Sayuri's presence acted like the needle on a compass. Whichever way the "mother" needle pointed, Eriri would lean.
You can always trust the family that loves you.
"Eriri, what do you think?"
Sayuri didn't make the decision for her immediately. She moved the fan away from Eriri's head and looked at her seriously. In the past, when there was only Tomoya Aki, anything Sayuri said would be refuted by Eriri due to her "guilt" filter. Now that Eriri was thinking for herself, Sayuri wanted to use this chance to make her daughter "independent"—to make her realize she had a brain and wasn't a dummy.
"I don't know..." Eriri remained as indecisive as ever.
"It's alright, Eriri. You have plenty of time. Think it over slowly, and then make the decision you believe in."
Pulling the dejected Eriri into her arms, Sayuri gently comforted her daughter, but she didn't want to raise her to be a fool. Ren's teaching today might be a great turning point for Eriri.
All she had to do was give Eriri the warmth of a family.
Of course, if Eriri made the wrong choice, Sayuri wouldn't mind playing the role of a strict mother. If you're given a chance and you're still useless, then a beating is in order.
--------
Leaning comfortably in Ren's arms, Mahiru narrowed her eyes and enjoyed the unique peace of the rainy night with him.
After dinner, Mahiru had instinctively wanted to go study matters related to light novels. Unexpectedly, Ren had scooped her up and brought her to the window to listen to the rain and read with him.
"Chasing a dream isn't something done overnight. You need to balance work and rest. Don't keep your nerves so tightly strung."
With a single sentence, Ren calmed Mahiru's urgent desire to start writing. As he said, Mahiru was a bit too hurried. She was anxious to write her story with Ren into a book; she was anxious to write a famous light novel.
What she was most anxious about was... producing results.
Just like before, when she actively learned every skill to disguise herself as a "good child" to gain her parents' love, Mahiru craved results so she could tell Ren she had achieved her dream.
But that was wrong.
Ren wanted Mahiru to find a dream so she wouldn't be lost about her future, not so she would rush to prove herself.
Placing one earbud of the wired headphones into Mahiru's ear, Ren quietly flipped through his book.
However...
"Ren-kun, there's no sound in the headphones?"
Mahiru put on the silent earbud and looked up at Ren with a confused gaze.
"No, there is sound."
Ren pointed at the rain outside the window, then pointed at his own heart.
"The sound of rain outside is sound. The beating of a heart is sound. Even our breathing is sound."
"The role of these headphones is simply to connect us, allowing us to listen to each other."
This was also why Ren chose wired headphones. Bluetooth ones were wireless and lacked the physical reality of this "line"; the sensory experience would be very different.
"Allowing us to... listen to each other?"
Mahiru looked at the headphone wire stretching from her ear to Ren's.
So, this connects Ren and me... together?
In an instant, another sound was added. The sound of Ren flipping a page. Mahiru seemed to understand something.
Pressing her head against Ren's chest, Mahiru closed her eyes and began to listen to the sound of his heartbeat. Strong, dull, and carrying a certain rhythm.
As it turned out, could just the sound of a heartbeat be so full of security?
Before she knew it, Mahiru fell asleep.
"Good girl..."
Sensing that the girl in his arms had fallen asleep, Ren softly called for Koharu. Koharu, who was lying at Ren's feet, stood up and left.
A moment later, Koharu returned and lay back down at Ren's feet.
Ren rubbed Koharu's large head as a reward. He took the small blanket Koharu had brought in her mouth and covered Mahiru with it, while carefully removing the earbud from the girl's ear.
The sound of Mahiru's even breathing as she dreamed was also a sound.