Chapter 20 - Before Making Up

Self-edited.

“I must have come across as pathetic, didn’t I…” Nikokado Sakito murmured with a wry smile.

Being told by his own daughter to ‘make up already’ left him feeling inadequate as a man, an adult, and a parent.

“Well, if I hesitate now, wouldn’t that make me one of those good-for-nothing, emotionally distant adults?”

Sakito, who had raised his daughter single-handedly, did not want her to see him as a pathetic father.

Even at sixty, he was no saint. Aging affected not just his body, but sometimes his mind as well. And that’s why he believed he must keep moving forward, no matter how small the steps.

—I suppose action always comes first, no matter the world.

With that, Sakito decided to take action. He stepped out of the entrance and headed toward the backyard.

—Emi is slowly becoming more and more like Yumi.

Her firm and courageous way of speaking reminds him of his late wife.

The memory of his wife, who passed away young, remains unchanged from that time. Her unchanging image left him feeling like he was the only one aging and being left behind.

—I guess it’s inevitable to get lost in these thoughts, right, Yumi-san?

“In any case, let’s focus on the task at hand,” Sakito muttered to himself as he stopped and looked up at the tree before him.

“…”

Ambient was perched on a branch, about three stories up, looking down at him. But her eyes were jittery, and her long, pointed ears seemed to droop slightly.

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