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Chapter 4 ā Persuading Mother Enami\nVolume 2\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nāBut even though Iām trying to live my life like that, not caring about the things that donāt matter, Iāve been feeling very tired lately. Strangely, there are more things I donāt care about.ā\n
āIs-Is that so?ā\n
āYes. I really want to sleep all dayā¦I guess thatās what it means to be old.ā\n\n
As I listened to her, I wondered if it was really āsomething she doesnāt care aboutā.\n
It wasnāt that it didnāt matter, but that she tried to ābelieveā that it didnāt. And the reason she did so was that it was more painful if she didnāt deceive herself. But as a result of looking away, she remained this person without any change.\n\n
āā¦You are the same age as Risa, arenāt you?ā\n
āYes.ā\n
āAs you get older, you will understand. Even if you donāt understand it now.ā\n\n
I nodded in silence.\n\n
āThe older you get, the more things you have. But itās very rare for someone to live with everything. Everyone has to make a choice somewhere. Or, even if we donāt choose to, some things just fall out of our grasp. When you live like this, the things that are important to you as a young person may seem unimportant to you. Or vice versa.ā\n\n
Mother Enami turned her head away from me and coughed twice.\n\n
āDo you understand what Iām saying?ā\n\n
I wasnāt sure how to answer. I think I understood what she was trying to say, but I donāt think I understood what was hidden behind it. In the end, I just replied vaguely, āWellā and that was it.\n
And then. Suddenly, Mother Enami stopped talking.\n\n
āā¦ā¦ā\n\n
She was looking at me with a blank expression. Her gaze pierced straight through me to the point of being frightening.\n
I panicked inwardly. I wondered if I had said something wrong. Was it wrong to reply, āWellā ?. When I was desperately trying to figure out what I should do to fix it, mother Enami laughed as if she was about to erupt.\n\n
āFu, Fufuā¦ā\n
āAh, um, whatās itā¦?ā\n\n
Apparently, she wasnāt mad at me. As I felt the tension dissipate, I couldnāt control the feeling of confusion that came next. I really canāt read what this person is thinking.\n
She doesnāt give me an answer right away. She laughed for a while, and then looked back at me.\n\n
āYou are really interestingā¦ā\n
āEh?ā\n
āYou see, you show everything youāre thinking on your face.ā\n\n
I remembered that Enami-san had said the same thing to me.\n\n
āIs it that obvious?ā\n
āYes. Even now.ā\n\n
I touched my own face, but I couldnāt tell what kind of face I was making.\n\n
āYeah, thatās true. It will be troubling to hear all this.ā\n
Strangely enough, Mother Enami was now in the best mood ever. Maybe she was just happy that I was listening to her.\n
ā¦ She was also probably just a normal mother at the beginning. I was suddenly reminded of the obvious. If you only look at her now, she looks like just a kind person.\n\n
āI have taken a liking to youā\n\n
Suddenly, she told me that.\n\n
āRisa, who is not very good at socializing, opened up to you. Iām sure She likes you too.ā\n
āā¦ Even so, sheās always talking badly to me.ā\n
āThatās just the way she is. Donāt let it bother you.ā\n\n
When I heard those words, I realized. That her daughter was not āsomething she didnāt care aboutā.\n
I might have moved up in rank from āinsignificantā to ānot insignificantā.\n\n
āā¦ Weāll probably be done with cleaning today.ā\n\n
Mother Enami only gave a small nod.\n\n
āāMother might deny it, though. But, I think the reason why your cold has not gone away is that this place was not the optimal place for you. Itās clean now, but thereās no point if it gets dirty again.ā\n\n
I wondered if my words had been heard. I had no idea, but I had to say it anyway.\n\n
āYou may not want to be affected by trash that you donāt care about. But itās necessary. Thatās why we came here to clean it up.ā\n\n
I feel as if the words are cutting through the air. It made me wonder if what we did was meaningless.\n
After all, Iāve only touched the surface of this personās mind. I havenāt found or solved anything that lies deeper. This is the best I can do right nowā¦\n\n
Finally, I said.\n\n
āPlease put some effort for yourself, too.ā\n\n
Mother Enamiās face lost all emotion. For this person, the messiness of the room is not important. Thatās probably why she canāt understand what Iām saying.\n
At the end of a long silence that made me feel as if time had stopped again, Mother Enami looked away and said only one thing.\n\n
āIāll think about it.ā\n\n
I couldnāt tell if those words meant progress or stagnation.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: Thatās the end of the chapterā¦ Next up is the final (among available) chapterā¦ I might as well take a break.\n\n