Rosa had recently won a free trip to a little town named Hinamizawa. With the stress of trying to get into the fashion industry and being a new mom, a trip sounded like the exact thing she needed. However, one thing was stopping her from relaxing.
"Shhhh." Rosa kept gently rocking her baby in her arms. "It's okay. Mama's here."
Rosa already had it rough being a single mom, and Maria wasn't making things any easier. While Maria could be an adorable angel, she was constantly crying. Rosa wondered if something was wrong with her, but every doctor she saw said Maria was medically fine.
Whatever the reason, Rosa focused more on buying things for her vacation. She wanted to ensure Maria had enough baby food and diapers, and unfortunately, they had lost the ones she brought during the travel. Thankfully, they gave her money to make up for it, but Maria's crying wasn't helping with how stressed Rosa was.
"Please, just stop crying." Rosa clenched her teeth as she looked down at Maria, who only got louder. Rosa continued staring at her daughter as she clenched one of her hands into a fist. She lowered her tone even more as she raised that hand. "Damn it. I said stop crying, you…"
"Awe, is that a baby!?" A young female voice said, making Rosa snap back to her senses and jump.
"Umm," Rosa slowly turned around and saw a girl about 13 in a white dress staring at Maria.
"Awe, she's so kyute!" The young girl got closer and looked down at her. "I want to take her home with me!"
Rosa just looked at the young redhead, confused. She was used to being told Maria was adorable, but usually, they were around her age or older. She also never heard anyone say they wanted to take her baby home with them, either. Rosa was so shocked she didn't realize that Maria had stopped crying as she looked up at the mystery girl.
"Well, hi there. My name's Rena." Rena smiled as she leaned closer to her.
"Ra-ra" Maria made noises as she looked up at her.
"That's close enough." Rena giggled.
"How did you get her to stop crying?" Rosa stared at Rena, still a little shocked.
"Hmmm?" Rena looked up at Rosa and then jumped back and waved her arms. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt your day! I just saw her and thought she looked so adorable!"
"Oh no, it's fine," Rosa waved her hand in front as she held Maria with another. "Just I wasn't expecting…"
Before Rosa could continue, Maria giggled as she looked at Rena moving the way she was. Rena was also shocked but smiled as she saw Maria looking happy. Rosa also smiled as she saw both of them looking happy.
"You must be amazing with kids." Rosa sighed as she offered her hand. "I'm Rosa, by the way."
"I'm Rena." Rena shook her hand.
"And this is my daughter, Maria." Rosa moved closer as she held Maria up closer to Rena.
"Nice to meet you, Maria." Rena lightly tickled Maria, making her laugh more. "Aren't you the cutest thing ever?"
"I wish." Rosa sighed as she looked down.
"What do you mean?" Rena asked, making Rosa jump.
"I mean," Rosa didn't realize she said that loud enough for her to hear and was now worrying about what Rena was thinking. However, Maria starting to make a fuss broke her train of thought about that. "Not again."
"Mind if I hold her?" Rena offered.
"You want to hold her?" Rosa looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you're here to shop, and shopping while holding a baby can be a little difficult." Rena pointed at Maria as she explained things. "Would you like me to hold her for you?"
"I don't know." Rosa looked at Rena and then Maria. Maria wasn't crying yet but looked ready to start another crying fit. Even so, Rena still stood there, looking concerned at the both of them. Rosa sighed as she spoke again. "Can I trust you to hold my daughter?"
Rena nodded as she kept eye contact with her.
"Don't leave my eyesight." Rosa hesitantly offered Maria to Rena. Rena slowly put her arms under Maria and cradled her as Rosa had.
"Hi again." Rena smiled as she slowly rocked Maria. Maria was now starting to calm down and smiled. "How bout saying your own name? MA-RI-A."
"Ma Ra." Maria made noises again, similar to what Rena was saying.
"You're close." Rena giggled.
"This is a relief." Rosa sighed. "I was afraid she'd make such a fuss that I didn't grab a basket. I was scared of dropping her if I didn't have both hands."
"Well, that's one relief." Rena smiled. "Now you can grab one for all your things."
"True." Rosa laughed as she walked over and grabbed a basket. "I thought I would have to ask a clerk to grab it all for me."
"They're nice enough that they would have." Rena giggled as she continued rocking Maria lightly as she followed Rosa. "So, what brings you here to Himanzawa?"
A/N: Doing a new type of story. This is the first time I'm covering the Higurashi/Umineko series. I have been a fan of them for years and wanted to try my hand at it. I just wanted to point out a few things since I know I'll probably get reviews stating these.
1. I got the idea after reading The Way She Is by Cracku-Chan. I thought the idea was great for a whole story and thought Rosa should at least interact with someone from Higurashi.
2. I played a little with the timeline since Maria should be six if it were accurate to the series.
3. The reason being that I thought Rena reacting to Maria as a baby would be adorable.
Anyway, that's it for now. As always, please leave a review. Those are always appreciated.