chapter02 · 069-ep61
Episode 61: My First Act of Filial Piety
When I got back from Osu, Mom was in the kitchen getting dinner ready.
"Welcome back. Was the old man doing well?"
"He was. Absurdly stubborn."
"See?"
Mom giggled.
"And — these."
I set the wooden box I'd been carrying on the kitchen table.
Mom's hands stopped.
"......That's—"
"The old man said to wear them until mine are done. Lent them to me."
I opened the lid.
The indigo leather chest guard. The gauntlets. The greaves. Old armor, covered in patch marks.
For a while, Mom said nothing.
She set down the knife, wiped her hands on her apron, and then gently lifted the chest guard.
Her finger traced the small embroidery on the inside.
Mizuho.
"......He still had it, then. That man."
"He said there was no way he'd throw them out. Said it was the most painstaking piece of work he ever did."
"......Honestly."
Mom smiled, looking a little helpless.
She smiled — but the corners of her eyes glimmered, just faintly.
"And he said to tell you: 'The shop's still open.'"
"......I see."
Mom gently held the chest guard up against my chest.
"......Oh my. It fits just right."
"The old man said the same."
"You're broader across the shoulders than I was, so I thought it might be a bit tight."
Mom began tying the chest guard's cords, quick and deft. Practiced hands.
It had been twenty years — and still her fingers seemed to remember.
"......There. Done."
She stepped back and looked at me.
"It suits you."
"Really? I feel like I got a whole lot stronger, all of a sudden."
"Mm. Far more than Mom, even."
She was beaming.
The usual gentle, easygoing face Mom always wore.
But for the briefest instant, I thought I caught a glimpse of her old face.
That night's dinner, all five of us were at the table.
Dad was home before seven, which was rare. Big sis was on a no-Clan-work day. Seina was back from club practice and starving.
About halfway through the karaage, I set my chopsticks down.
"Um — hey, so."
The whole family looked at me.
"There's something I want to give Dad and Mom."
I took an envelope out of my bag.
Set it gently down in front of Mom.
"......What's this?"
"Open it."
Mom opened the envelope.
Out came a pamphlet and a reservation confirmation.
Mom looked at the pamphlet's cover, and her eyes went round.
"......Hot springs?"
"Yeah. It's a tour that hits several hot springs up in Tohoku. Around Obon — two weeks."
"Two weeks?!"
Seina nearly dropped her chopsticks.
"Big bro, how much was that?"
"That's a secret."
"It's DEFINITELY the expensive kind!"
Mom kept looking back and forth — pamphlet, reservation confirmation, my face — over and over.
"......Saku, this is—"
"Dad, Mom — you two haven't been on a trip in forever, right? Dad's been going in on Saturdays, and Mom's been doing everything at home this whole time."
It was a little embarrassing to say.
"I'm C-rank now, and I've been earning a fair amount. Even after the armor, there's still plenty left. ......When I thought about what to use it for — this felt right."
Without a word, Mom hugged the pamphlet to her chest.
Beaming.
Beaming — and her eyes were bright red.
"......Honestly, this boy."
Her voice trembled, just slightly.
"......Thank you."
Then she turned toward Dad.
"Dear?"
Dad was staring at the pamphlet.
For a while, he said nothing.
"......Two weeks."
"Yeah."
"......The office."
"You've got paid leave banked up, right?"
Big sis put in from the side, drinking her barley tea.
"Mom says you haven't taken a single day off, even as department head."
"That's right, dear."
Mom looked at Dad, pamphlet still hugged to her chest.
"HR's told you again and again to start using up your leave. All you ever do is go in on your days off."
"......"
Dad went quiet.
Then he set the pamphlet slowly down on the table.
"......Saku."
"Yes."
"......Thank you."
Two words.
It landed about as hard as the "Off you go." from entrance-ceremony morning.
That was all Dad said. Then he reached his chopsticks back out for the karaage.
His ears were bright red.
"Dad. Your ears."
"......The karaage's hot."
"That is DEFINITELY not it!"
Seina hollered, Mom laughed, and big sis smiled with just the corners of her mouth.
Then about ten days passed.
In that time, I dove the Nagoya dungeons. As promised to the old man — wearing Mom's old armor, shallow floors only.
And then, on a morning a little before the Obon break, my parents departed on their trip.
Dad had really taken the leave. Apparently the people at his company were floored — "the department head, off for two weeks?" — and HR practically wept with joy: "he FINALLY took some time!"
At the front door, Mom kept turning back to look, again and again, as she pulled along her big rolling suitcase.
"Rinka — Saku and Seina are in your care, okay?"
"Mm."
"Saku, no overdoing it."
"I won't."
"Seina, no staying up late."
"I won't, I won't!"
"There's a week's worth of side dishes made and waiting in the fridge."
"Mom, it's two weeks, remember?"
"The second week, I've left to Rinka."
"Mm."
Big sis nodded, smug face.
Wait — could big sis even cook?
Dad stood outside the front door in not-a-suit.
A polo shirt. Chinos. An outfit I'd never seen on him.
"......We're off."
"Have a good trip!"
"Have fun, you two!"
"Mm."
Dad smiled — just a little.
Probably the first time in a while I'd seen it.
That night — the day my parents left.
In my room, I gripped my phone.
On the screen: the Shinkansen reservation site.
Nagoya to Tokyo.
Two weeks with no parents at home.
Big sis had Clan-work days sometimes, and Seina had club.
Which meant: even if the house went empty for a day or two, I probably wouldn't get caught.
Tokyo's dungeons.
The most dungeons of anywhere in Japan, and grades on a whole different order. Dungeons unlike anything in Nagoya — kinds I'd never laid eyes on — surely there were lots of them.
For armor, I had Mom's old set. The old man had told me, no deep dives. So — shallow floors only. Shallow floors only, a look around, and straight home.
"Okay."
I reached my finger toward the reserve button.
"Saku."
A voice from behind me.
My finger stopped.
I turned around. Big sis was standing in the doorway.
Hooded room clothes. Arms crossed.
How long had she been there?
"B-Big sis?!"
"Where are you going?"
"Eh? No, um—"
"Shinkansen."
Big sis's eyes were pointed at my phone screen.
She'd seen it.
"T-To Tokyo."
"To do what?"
"Dungeons. Shallow ones only. Just one day. I'll be right back."
"Alone?"
"A-Alone."
Big sis went silent for a while.
Then she said it, flat and final.
"No."
"Yeah, figured—"
"Alone is a no."
'Alone' is...?
Big sis uncrossed her arms.
"I'm coming too."
"Eh."
"Tokyo. The dungeons, I can guide you through. Clan work takes me there all the time."
"Eh?! Really?!"
"Sending Saku to Tokyo alone is the worse option."
Smug face.
No — not smug. This was a worried face. Probably.
"But if you go to Tokyo, that leaves Seina all alo—"
"—TOKYO?!"
Footsteps came clattering down the hallway.
Seina's face popped out from beside big sis.
Her eyes were sparkling.
"You're going to Tokyo?! You and big sis are going to Tokyo?!"
"You were listening?!"
"I heard it! The walls are thin!"
Seina barreled into the room.
"I'm coming too! I wanna go to Tokyo too!"
"What about club?"
"It's Obon — we're off for a whole week starting Saturday!"
"How come THAT'S the thing you're perfectly prepared for?!"
"Mom and Dad aren't even home, and you're leaving just me at the house? Isn't that MEAN?!"
"I mean, fair, but—"
I looked at big sis.
Big sis got a slightly thoughtful face — then set her hand on Seina's head, pon.
"Seina too."
"YESSSSSS!"
Seina bounced up and down on the spot.
"Tokyo, Tokyo! I wanna do Harajuku, Shibuya, the Skytree — and pancakes."
"I'm the one trying to go to dungeons here."
"Then go to dungeons, big bro! I'm sightseeing with big sis!"
"......"
Big sis gave a small nod.
"Saku — dungeons. Seina and I — sightseeing. Evenings, we regroup at the hotel."
"Isn't that just an excuse for you to go sightseeing?"
"......"
Big sis said nothing.
Only — her ears had gone just faintly red.
Big sis was the same type as Dad.
In the end, big sis booked the Shinkansen tickets for three.
The hotel too. Apparently one near Tokyo Station that got used often for Clan work.
Departure: the first day of the Obon break. The whole Obon week, all of it — Tokyo.
I sprawled out on my bed and stared at the ceiling.
I'd meant to go alone. It had become three.
But that was probably more fun.
Apparently the armor would be finished after Obon. That very noon, a curt phone call had come from the Osu old man: "Craftsmen are on Obon break. Done after Obon."
At the corner of the room, the indigo chest guard caught my eye.
Had Mom, too, back when she was young, ever lain awake like this — too excited about heading off to some dungeon?
"Hehe."
I grinned.
From the next room drifted Seina's voice, half sleep-talk: "Pancakes... pancakes..."
There were still three whole days to go.