"Rena has a baby sister!?" Satoko and Rika yelled, both now in the hospital room.
"She does." Rosa giggled. "Maria's with her playing right now."
"Maria, having Rena's sister as a friend sounds wonderful." Chie smiled. "It's good for kids to start those friendships early."
"It is wonderful." Rosa smiled as she looked at Satoko and Rika. "I'm happy all of you kids love Maria, but I still want her to have friends around her age, too."
"Even more reason for you to move here." Satoko smiled.
"Should have seen that one coming." Rosa sighed as she placed her hand on her forehead. "Poor Rena was spending the whole day doing that."
"Sounds like Rena." Rika smiled. As they continued, the door opened.
"Good to see you're all still here." Irie smiled as he walked in. Shion was behind him.
"Hi, Irie." Rosa smiled. "I'm hoping Satoko and Rika's checkups went well."
"They did." Irie nodded as he got closer. "I take it you're doing good since those bags are disappearing."
"I guess you could say that." Rosa giggled. "Maybe it was just stress, like you said."
"Speaking of that, I also wanted to ask about giving Maria a check-up." Irie held up his clipboard. "If you still wanted that."
"Is Maria okay?" Satoko frowned. "She's not sick, is she?"
"No, not at all." Rosa sighed as she patted Satoko's head and kneeled to face her. "Irie suggested I let Maria have one after he did mine."
"Now, I don't have any open times tomorrow." Irie looked at his clipboard. "But I have a few two days from now."
"That's perfect." Rika smiled. "Rosa wanted to spend the day with Satoko, and you can do Maria's check-up."
"I like that idea." Rosa smiled as she stood up. "I only suggest Shion also go so she can practice caring for Maria more."
"I hate that you always say that." Shion groaned as she frowned. "I do a great job with Maria already."
"That's debatable." Rosa giggled. "You still shake a little whenever you hold her and still have trouble changing her."
"You admitted you had trouble doing the same at my age!" Shion whined.
"Yeah, but most of your friends and little sister don't." Rosa smiled. "Isn't that right, Satoko?"
"Oh ho ho ho!" Satoko laughed. "I had no problem doing it or watching Chie-Sensei do it!"
"I hate both of you right now." Shion dropped her shoulders and looked down.
"It's okay, Shion." Rika smiled as she patted her back. "You still do a good job."
"At least you're nice to me, Rika." Shion smiled as she looked up at her.
"Nipah." Rika smiled back.
"Well, if that's all sorted out, I'll schedule an appointment two days from now." Irie smiled as he wrote something on his clipboard.
"Sounds good with me." Rosa nodded. "If that's all, we should head back to Rena's."
"Actually, could I talk to you, Ms. Rosa?" Chie raised her hand. "We didn't get to talk when we first met."
"Oh, sure." Rosa nodded as Chie walked out of the room. Rosa then turned to Shion and the others. "I guess I'll meet you outside then."
"Okay." Shion nodded as Rosa left.
"What do you think Chie-Sensei wants to talk to Rosa about?" Satoko asked.
"Maybe about how she can keep you behaved for so long." Shion smiled and shrugged.
"Hey!" Satoko stomped her foot.
Meanwhile, Rosa and Chie walked down the hall. Rosa continued looking at Chie while Chie just continued looking forward.
"You know," Chie said. "Shion called you Satoko's mom."
"Of course she did." Rosa sighed. "I swear that girl lives off messing with me."
"I thought it was nice." Chie giggled. "She told me how close Satoko is to you and that you enjoy having her around."
"I enjoy all of the kids being around." Rosa smiled. "But I'll agree Satoko is one of the special ones."
"That's good." Chie opened a door to an office. "Mind if we go in here? I thought some privacy would be better."
"Is this about Satoko's personal life?" Rosa dropped her smile. Chie nodded as she dropped hers as well. Rosa then walked inside.
"Shion told me you already knew." Chie closed the door. "I was surprised to hear Rika was the one that told you, but after seeing you interact with Satoko, I see why she did."
"Well, let's just say I know where Satoko is coming from." Rosa sighed. "Plus, that day you saw me, Satoko was the one to make sure my daughter was okay and was about to miss school just to watch her because I went through…"
Rosa stopped as she remembered the day. It was already bad that Satoko had to see her like that, but hearing about her personal life from Rika made it worse.
"You just had a bad day." Chie frowned. "It's not your fault."
"It doesn't matter." Rosa looked down. "I was worthless and needed a little girl to care for my daughter. You must think I'm a"
"I think you're a wonderful woman." Chie walked up and cut her off. "And you're an even greater mom. Whether that's for your daughter Maria or Satoko."
Rosa looked up, her eyes a little wide. Chie looked at her as she continued.
"I know you felt bad that day, but I also heard that you made sure Satoko was okay yesterday at the game and told her how important she was. That tells me you are a great person, and I don't need to know anything else."
"Wait, Shion told you about that too?" Rosa raised her eyebrows.
"Actually, that was Satoko," Chie explained. She started to tell her about what happened earlier with Satoko.
"So I heard you won the game yesterday." Chie smiled as the two of them walked down a hall.
"Of course, I won it for the team!" Satoko smiled. "Anyone who thought we would lose forgot how good I am!"
"You don't say." Chie giggled. "What about Ms. Rosa? I heard she had a role to play in it."
"Just a little." Satoko kept smiling. "She just reminded me I'm the best."
"Was that all?" Chie opened the door to the room for the physical. However, Satoko froze as she looked inside and saw a giant teddy bear in it. Chie saw it and immediately closed the door. "Satoko?"
"Nii-Nii…." Satoko sniffled. Satoko remembered how she would see a bear like that whenever she went to the store with her brother.
"Satoko…" Chie hugged her. "I swear I didn't know that was in there."
"I want Rosa…" Satoko cried as she hugged Chie back.
"Rosa?" Chie looked down at her.
"She told me I wasn't useless and that she'd tell Nii-Nii I wasn't when he comes back." Satoko buried her face into Chie's chest. Chie continued to pat her head before getting back up and walking her to another room.
"So that's why she ran up to me earlier like that." Rosa frowned.
"I know you're not Satoko's mother, and I'm not asking you to do anything you don't want to," Chie dropped her shoulders and frowned. "But I worry that Satoko is still bottling up so much because of what happened. Since she likes you, could you try to talk to her?"
"Me?" Rosa placed a hand over her chest. "I agree she likes me, but"
"Rosa, please." Chie cut her off again. "I know it's wrong to put that on you, but we don't know what else to do with Satoko. You're the only one Satoko has ever called out for besides her brother, so I'm not sure anyone else could do the same."
"Wait, she's never called out for anyone else?" Rosa's eyes went wide. "Not even Rika or Shion?"
Chie just shook her head as Rosa looked down. Rosa still wanted to talk with Satoko, but she wasn't expecting to hear all of this too.
"I… I…" Rosa stuttered before taking a breath. "I'll think about it."
"Thank you." Chie smiled. "All the kids are lucky to have someone like you."
Rosa stayed quiet as Chie left the room. She looked up to see she was gone and sighed as she left. She then walked outside and saw Shion and others waiting for her.
"About time you showed up slow poke." Shion smiled. "We almost left without you."
"You could have if you wanted to." Rosa sighed. "I remembered how to get back."
"Satoko said she wanted to wait for you." Rika smiled.
"Oh ho ho ho!" Satoko laughed. "I just worried Rosa would get lost without us since she's still new here!"
"Good thing I can always depend on you then." Rosa smiled as she patted Satoko's head.
"Well, thanks for notic," Satoko smiled as she looked up but frowned when she saw Rosa frowning.
"Everything okay?" Shion frowned.
"Sorry," Rosa used her other hand to scratch the back of her head. She made sure not to take her hand off Satoko's head. "I'm kind of tired from running around all day. You kids take a lot out of me."
"Get used to it." Shion giggled. "We still have you for a couple of weeks before convincing you to move here for good."
"Rosa, being here would be nice." Rika smiled. "Right, Satoko?"
"Oh, right." Satoko snapped back to her senses.
"You kids really won't stop, will you?" Rosa sighed and smiled. "Anyway, let's make sure Maria and Nao are getting along fine."
"Sounds like a plan." Shion led the way back to Rena's.
"Right behind you." Rika followed right behind her.
"Me t…" Satoko turned to follow but stopped as Rosa took her hand from her head and grabbed Satoko's hand. She looked back up at Rosa.
"I'm sorry. I thought you'd trip from turning so fast." Rosa nervously laughed as she scratched the back of her hand. "Let me just,"
"It's fine." Satoko tightened her hand before Rosa could let go. "You…. don't have to let go…"
"Oh," Rosa looked down at her and smiled. "Well, how about you lead me to Rena's like you said?"
"Okay." Satoko smiled as they walked together, holding hands.
Shion and Rika smiled as they looked back and saw the two of them. Satoko and Rosa smiled as they looked at each other.
"Don't they look adorable together?" Shion leaned closer to Rika as they were a little ahead of Rosa and Satoko.
"They do." Rika smiled.
"That's why I told Chie-Sensei that Rosa is Satoko's mom." Shion giggled.
"Rosa is a great mom too." Rika nodded as they kept walking.