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Expressions of Affection
As soon as I made eye contact with Mika, who said we should talk, I was drawn to her by some force.
“Whoa! Huh?”
I shouted, but found myself back inside Mika’s body.
“Wow, I knew I couldn’t go back to normal. It’s so weird.”
“Because his soul is already in tune with your body. I told you that.”
Was it a spirit body in front of me? (No, but I can see them, so is it not the same?)
In front of me, Mika, who had become a spirit, and Grandpa God are talking to each other.
“You let him in a while ago.”
“That was because he was very upset and you had the strength of will to do something about Yuki. It’s only a matter of time before the problem is solved and you’re back to normal.”
“Heh.”
“Um, Mika, are you a God?”
I called out to them, who ignored me and started talking.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot.”
“Me too. Sorry.”
This is terrible. She was the one who said we should talk, wasn’t she?
“Oh, and I’m pretty sure that Mika in front of you is a spirit. It is only my power that makes her visible. I’ve also stopped time.”
“Oh, old man. You’re very thoughtful.”
“Because you’re too selfish, Mika. When this is over, go back to your reincarnation, okay? You already know where you’re going to be born again.”
“Oh, you’re so persistent! All right, all right!”
He’s still the annoying God… Nothing’s changed since the first time.
I mean, don’t make bad remarks like ‘selfish’ either, Grandpa, it’s pathetic.
But it was a good opportunity to talk, and I wanted to ask him about the mystery.
“Um, Mika, aren’t you supposed to be back in your own body?”
“As I said before, it’s impossible. Your soul is already more suited to her body.”
I asked Mika and somehow the God replied to me.
(Yeah, I don’t know, but let’s just assume that’s how it is.)
“Well, Mika did try to enter the body a few times, so you might have heard some sort of auditory hallucinations.”
“…Oh, yes, I remember that.”
Looking back, when Yuki came to visit, if I thought Mika was like a child, I would say “Shut up!” or when we were having a barbecue, “I won’t do it!” when we were grilling.
“I think I know what you’re thinking… It was very rude, but I think I know what you’re thinking.”
I see, that’s why I could read her thoughts when she tried to get inside her body.
“Let’s sit down.”
I didn’t know where he got it from, but God took a brown staff that he hadn’t held before, and with a flick of it, a cloud chair and table appeared.
But there were four seats facing me and one on my side, so maybe someone would come.
On the fluffy cloud table there was a white mug of tea and some cookies for the tea.
“Well, I’ll fetch them. In the meantime, you can talk to them yourselves.”
Then he disappeared like he teleported.
For now, I sat on the chair and Mika sat on the second cloud from the left end, facing me.
Then we both took a sip of tea.
When we had calmed down a little, Mika spoke to me.
“So, why are you raising Saki?”
“Huh? Because she was there? Because she’s cute.”
“I thought you were going to abandon her, thinking, ‘I couldn’t bring up a bunch of strangers!’…”
“You can’t do that! What kind of devil would you be to leave a scared Saki like that alone?”
“…If you had left Saki, everything would have been fine.”
“What do you mean? No, can I ask you a question first?”
I was going to ask her what I had been thinking, or rather, I was going to vent my pent up anger on her.
“Why was Saki so scared of you, Mika?”
“I think it’s because I was strict with her. It didn’t work out so well…”
“Why were you so hard on her?”
“I’m a foster child, and I don’t get along with my parents.”
(Right, I heard from Chinatsu that Mika wasn’t a biological child.)
“If something happened to me, Saki would have to live on her own. So instead of spoiling her, I thought it would be better to raise her to be able to do things on her own.”
“…Why did you pack lunches?”
“It’s better than what I make. Wouldn’t you rather eat that than the bad stuff?”
“What about the… luxury brand clothes that were practically brand new?”
“I just wanted her to be able to sell them for a good price when Saki needed money in the future.”
What did that mean? Did she mean that she did everything for Saki, but in return Saki was afraid of Mika?
“Well, why did you die… yourself?”
“Partly because I really wanted to see my brothers, but also because if I died, Saki, who was still very young, would be taken in by wealthy parents and raised there.”
Oh, that was not what I was expecting.
I thought that she abandoned Saki to die for more selfish reasons, but she didn’t look like a bad guy.
On the contrary, wasn’t she an absurdly nice person?
“What? But weren’t your parents against taking Saki in?”
I found out about it when I was at Mika’s house checking things out.
“I was there when it happened. If they knew there was no one to bring her up, they wouldn’t be so cruel as to abandon her. Besides, they wouldn’t have to struggle financially.”
“Your parents must be very wealthy.”
“That’s why I said that if you had left Saki, everything would have been fine.”
“I see.”
So I saw, Mika loved Saki so much that she was willing to give up her own life for her.
As a result, it all backfired and she got scared…
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“You’re not very affectionate…”
“Shut up!”