Chapter 11

“What the heck…? Our mom?” Nitori wore a crooked smile, but her eyes were so cold that they gave me the chills. Even Ichika, who usually had a gentle vibe, murmured with a sharp gaze, “Maybe it’s a prank?” “Wh-why…?!” I was panicking so hard, I couldn’t breathe, and my eyes stung… I’d never felt this way before. My heart felt like it was going to burst. “Mom? Our Mom? This can’t be real. I mean, she… I mean… Like this…” The stationery and envelope slipped from my shaking hands. Shizuki picked up the envelope and inspected it carefully, rubbing the surface and holding it up to the light. “There’s no stamp. It must have been put directly into our mailbox…” Her quiet voice broke the silence, and I gasped in surprise. “Did she come by while we were out shopping…?!” Maybe, just maybe, she’d left some other clue! Just as I was about to check the letter again… “What the heck does she mean, her ‘situation’?!” Crumble, crumble, rip, rip! There was no time to stop her or grab it back. “Ni-Nitori…! Why did you rip Mom’s—?” Cutting me off, Nitori shoved the torn letter into the trash can. “This is just a prank! It has to be!” “Wh-why would you do that…?!” I was so sad and shocked that I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. Flustered, I wiped them away and looked to my other two sisters for help. “She’s right… It must be a prank,” Ichika said calmly, then left the room and went upstairs. Shizuki also retreated to her room without a word. What’s wrong with Nitori? Why did she get so mad? Why didn’t Ichika or Shizuki say anything to her? I…was at a loss and could only stare at the trash can the letter had ended up in. That night… “I can’t sleep.” Even lying in bed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the letter or its sender. Mom. What was she like? I’d always, always thought I’d wanted to meet her…but the letter had only caused me pain. I want to at least help the one who’s most in need. Who was most in need? Why only one of us? My sisters had said it was a prank, but was that true? After all, only certain people knew that the four of us were living alone in this house with no parents… All sorts of thoughts bubbled up, like sticky sludge swamping my heart. “Aaagh…!” My mind went in circles, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t come up with an answer. “Some water will calm me down…” I got up from my futon and headed downstairs to the hallway. It was dark, and I couldn’t hear a peep… It was a little scary. Just then… Ker-chak! …the front door opened! “Wh-who’s there?!” Could it be Mom? My heart pounded wildly. I wanted to shout, but my body quivered, and my voice wouldn’t come out. The door slowly…slowly…opened. It was… “Mifu, you’re up?” It was Ichika, of all people. “I-Ichika?! Where were you?” “I couldn’t sleep…so I took a walk around the neighborhood.” She didn’t seem like she was lying, but going out alone at night was definitely weird. “It’s dangerous this late at night!” “It’s fine.” “No, it’s not fine. Don’t do that! Promise me you won’t ever do that again!” “…Okay. I get it. I’m sorry. Yawn…” Ichika didn’t actually sound apologetic at all. Stifling another yawn, she climbed the stairs with a series of thumps. I could never have gone out for a walk alone at night like that, and I would never want to. In the end, even though we looked alike, we were completely different on the inside… I got some water from the kitchen and was about to go back to my room when something hit me. A letter had also come for Ichika, right? What did it say? Now that thought was weighing on me, too.