Childhood Part XVIII – Afternoon With The Shiroganes – Start
One would probably think that Kanon was too excited at the simple prospect of meeting her daughter's friends.
But to the woman, that was something she never really thought she would see.
She knew that Tsumugi had problems socializing at school and was alone most of the time.
Kanon always blamed herself for not being there for her daughter and worse of all, she had a hunch that maybe her darling was getting bullied at school.
Still, with Tsumugi never saying anything to her, it was hard for Kanon to take any action.
That is why she was so ecstatic about meeting Tsumugi's friends.
Friends that the young girl kept singing their praises to their butler, which previously was the closest thing to a friend the young girl probably had.
The idea of her daughter bringing her friends home was banal to most people, something that was very normal and ordinary, but to Kanon, it meant that maybe, just maybe she could see her daughter make some real connections.
Walking up the stairs towards her daughter's room, Kanon steadies her breath and walks up to the door, grabbing the doorknob with a smile on her face.
The energetic conversation between the friends stops when the door is opened.
Silence falls as they watch the figure of a beautiful blue-haired woman walk in, she is wearing very expansive clothing.
The woman stops and looks at each of their faces in silence.
"Mama!" Tsumugi yells, breaking the silence and making the woman open a big motherly smile.
"Tsumugi!" The woman runs towards the girl and envelops her in a hug.
"Mama, what are you doing here?" With a smile on her face, the blue-haired otaku asks.
Finally letting go of her daughter, the older woman shakes her head. "I'm filming a commercial around this area, so I managed to convince the higher ups to let me take a day off at home." Kanon's voice is booming with energy.
"That's great Mama!" Tsumugi replies with just as much energy.
The blue-haired woman then turns to the others in the room and offers them a kind smile. "And who would those be?"
The otaku's eyes shine with excitement. "Those are my friends! Let me introduce you!" Going over to where the others are sitting, she starts. "This is my friend from school, Komaru-chan!"
"H-Hi!" Komaru yells nervously, not just was she talking to her friend's mom, but also with a celebrity.
"A friend from school, you say?" Kanon smiles.
"Uhuh!" Now going to where Chiaki is sitting. "That's Chiaki-chan, she loves video-games!"
"A-A pleasure to meet you, Shirogane-san… I think?" The mauve-haired girl bows slightly, just as nervous as Komaru.
"She thinks?" Kanon arches a eyebrow.
"Don't worry, she says that sometimes." Now skipping to where Makoto is sitting, Tsumugi grabs his hand and smile. "And that's Komaru-chan's older brother, Onii- I mean- Makoto-kun!"
The brunette blushes at her sudden contact with his hand and at Tsumugi's slip up. "H-Hello Shirogane-san."
The older woman chooses to ignore her daughter's slip up and smiles warmly. "So you're Tsumugi's dear friends?" She opens her eyes and giggles. "How wonderful that my little girl is finally making friends!"
Tsumugi blushes at her mother's comment. "Mama!"
Kanon laughs. "I'm just joking sweetie." She then looks back towards the others. "But seriously, thank you." The blue-haired woman bows slightly.
"Y-You're welcome, I guess?" Makoto replies, still a little nervous.
Clasping her hands together, Kanon smiles. "It's been a while since we had guests, how about I cook something for lunch?"
Before anyone can say anything, Komaru yells. "YES! I'd love that!" She then looks at everyone staring at her and falsely coughs. "I-I mean, that'll be… delightful?"
The older Shirogane giggles. "I'll call when it's ready then." With that, she bows once again and leaves the room.
After they hear Kanon's steps going down to the kitchen, Makoto turns to Komaru and glares at her.
"What?" The younger Naegi asks. "I'm getting hungry!"
Everybody except for Tsumugi sighs.
The otaku just giggles at her friend's antics.
The group, now sitting around in the gazebo outside, are peacefully eating the lunch Kanon has prepared.
It was delicious, according to Komaru, but at the same time, anything was delicious to Komaru.
Still, the food was good and Kanon was a delight to be around. She had a energetic personality that reminded Tsumugi's a lot.
One could easily see the similarities between the two.
For basically the whole afternoon, Kanon bombarded them with questions, at first it was kind of hard to answer them, but after getting more accustomed to the idea of talking to a celebrity up close, they managed to keep the conversation going.
"Oh! So you all have gone shopping?" The blue-haired woman asks.
Komaru nods, still having food in her mouth. "Yup!"
"We even went to the arcade!" Tsumugi eyes shine in excitement. "It was so much fun!"
Chiaki nodded. "Indeed it was." Even with the 'incident' involving Komaru, the mauve-haired girl still had fun that day. "Say Kanon-san? You said that you're filming a commercial?"
The blue-haired woman nods. "Yes, it is a promo for a new soda brand." She then adds. "It's also a collaboration between me and that young lass, Enoshima Junko."
"What? You're working with the Enoshima Junko?" Komaru yells excited and the older Shirogane nods.
"Enoshima Junko?" Makoto asks.
"What? You don't know her Onii-chan?" The younger Naegi asks and her brother shakes his head negatively. "Dude! She's like at every magazine cover, ever!"
"She's a aspiring fashionista with a side career as a actress." Tsumugi adds.
Kanon nods. "Indeed, that girl exudes talent." The woman grabs her glass of juice and takes a sip. "If she continues like that, I wouldn't be surprised if she got scouted to Hope's Peak, next year."
At the mention of the prestigious academy, Chiaki becomes visible uncomfortable.
Makoto notices it and quickly changes the subject. "W-Well, you're taking a single day off right?" He asks and the older woman sadly nods.
"I wish it was more, but a day is just what I managed to get." She smiles sadly, before turning to them. "Normally I would be disappointed in myself, but not this time."
"Huh? Why?" Komaru asks, finally finishing her lunch.
"Because now I know that my dear Tsumugi won't be alone." Kanon's sad smile turns into a happy one. "I can see how happy my little girl is with you three by her side and that's enough to make me feel better." She let's out a small laugh. "Of course I'll still try to take as much time as possible away from my work to visit my darling, but I can at least be assured she's in good hands with her friends." Putting a hand on her cheek, the older woman let's out a sad laugh.
Tsumugi sniffs. "Mama you're no-" Suddenly, she's hugged by the older woman.
"Shhh." Kanon starts caressing Tsumugi's hair. "It okay Tsumugi, I know I'm not the best mother and I accept that." The young girl starts crying on her mother's embrace.
Everyone stares at the interaction with shock in their eyes.
Makoto closes his fists and curses himself for bringing up the topic. "Sorry for bringing that up."
Kanon laughs slightly. "Don't worry Makoto-kun, it was bound to come up at some point."
The brunette nods, still not feeling very good with himself.
After Tsumugi stopped crying, the rest of lunch was peaceful, if not a little bit awkward, at least for Makoto.
The rest of the day went without any problems and Tsumugi went back to her chirper self, although the brunette could clearly see that she was still a little bit down.
Soon enough, it was time for them to go home.
The girls are already preparing to enter the limousine, when Chiaki stops and looks around. "Huh? Where's Makoto-kun?"
Without anyone noticing, the brunette boy had sneaked away from the group.
"You're right, where could Onii-chan had gone?" Komaru question.
"I'll go look for him." Tsumugi says and the other two girls nod.
With that, the blue-haired otaku sprints off towards her mansion.
Makoto stood in front of the entrance to the kitchen, he gulped loudly before entering it. "Excuse me?"
Kanon who was just sitting at the table with a vacant expression on her face, turns surprised towards the young boy. "Makoto-kun? What are you doing here?" She watches as the brunette nervously walks up to her. "Shouldn't you be going home?"
"Y-Yeah." He replies scratching the back of his head. "But I wanted to say something to you before that." The brunette bows. "I'm sorry."
"Huh? For what?" Kanon asks confused.
"For bringing that subject up back at our lunch." Makoto clarifies, still bowing. "I made it awkward for you and Tsumugi, and for that I'm sorry."
The older woman is stunned, but soon she cracks a smile and chuckles. "That wasn't your fault, Makoto-kun."
He quickly lifts his head and looks at her. "B-But-"
Kanon interrupts him. "I was already feeling a little sentimental, so it was a matter of time before I talked to Tsumugi about how I trylu felt." She smiles sadly. "It's not your fault, Makoto-kun."
The boy reluctantly nods.
A silence falls, before he finally opens his mouth again. "That wasn't just what I wanted to tell you."
Without any of the two noticing, Tsumugi gets closer to the door and starts overhearing their conversation. "Onii-sama?" She whispers to herself.
"I don't think you're a bad mother Kanon-san." Makoto says, surprising the woman and Tsumugi. "The way Tsumugi acts when she's with you is enough to prove that." Not waiting for the older woman's response. "She really loves you and if you really are that bad of a mother, I don't think she would." He closes his eyes and smiles. "So don't be so hard on yourself, okay?"
It takes some seconds for Kanon to process what he said, but then she simply smiles. "Thank you, Makoto-kun."
It was a small thing, really, but the way he said it, with such innocence and honesty, it made the older woman hopeful.
The brunette just nods, before turning around and walking outside of the kitchen.
Kanon watches as he walks away, smiling slightly to herself. "Naegi Makoto-kun, huh?"
Makoto walks down the hallway and into the living room, when something jumps towards him. "Ah!" He yells in surprise, before noticing that it was just Tsumugi hugging him. "Tsumu-" He is interrupted when she gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, Onii-sama." She whispers, before grabbing his hand and guiding the blushing Makoto towards the front gate.
The brunette did not understand what happened, but if she was happy, then so was he.
And so, the day at Tsumugi's house comes to a close.
Later that night, after not being able to sleep for a while, Makoto sits on his bed and stretches. "Dang it, can't sleep." He says to himself, before getting up. "Maybe a glass of water can help."
After getting his water and back to his room, the brunette remembers something.
Walking to his computer and turning it on, he quickly writes a name on the search bar.
Enoshima Junko.
After pressing enter and waiting for some seconds for the images to load, the brunette's eyes widen.
It was the same girl from that day.
He scrolled through the images, analyzing each of them with two thoughts in his mind.
' She's… pretty.' Was the first of them and the most normal by far.
The second was. ' She's… lonely.'
It was strange really.
Together with a strange sense of familiarity, Makoto also felt uneasy and lonely looking at her pictures.
He quickly closed the tabs on his PC and turned it off.
Throwing himself back at his bad, Makoto looks towards the ceiling and closes his eyes.
Surely, that loneliness in her eyes are just his imagination.
Right?
Childhood Part XVIII – Afternoon With The Shiroganes – End
And another one done, next up is the costume party, which will be divided into two chapters.
Hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter and see you around!