It had been three days since Saki and I had our strange mother-daughter relationship.

I still didn’t have the courage to go out in revealing clothes, so I spent my days in black sweatshirts.

But let’s just say it was not dirty because I had three of the same colour and I was wearing them alternatively.

And now, I was in a lot of trouble because I learned something new about Mika.

That girl was unemployed.

I found out about it the day after I met Saki-chan, when I received a message on my phone from a woman who was having a fight or something with that Satoshi guy.

Her name was Yuki, and she seemed to have worked at the same company as Mika.

I didn’t know her surname because only her first name was saved in katakana.

“If she had been working somewhere, I wouldn’t had have to find a job.”

When I found my bank book, I found a large amount of money inside, but it seemed to be the inheritance left by Saki-chan’s parents.

The PIN was also written on a small folded piece of paper, and once I tried it at an ATM in an convenience store, I was able to use it without any problems.

But it was money that needed to be saved for Saki’s future, and I didn’t want to waste it without doing anything if possible.

I would need to find a job as soon as possible.

Mika seemed to be working in the apparel industry, so I jokingly asked Yuki, who was working with her, if she could go back to work. But I gave up when I saw her reply.

Her reply was,

『After yelling at the director and grabbing him by the head while pushing him and yelling, “Idiot!” do you think you can even go back there?』

I thought she was too self-centred, but from what I could tell from her talk with Yuki, it seemed that Mika had gotten the better of a middle-aged male employee who had been pestering the women in the company.

“But still, grabbing him by the head is a bit too aggressive…”

What kind of adult did that make her?

However, it seemed that Mika was appreciated by all the employees, regardless of their gender, who had accumulated a lot of resentment against the middle-aged male employee.

So, if such a heroic person bowed their head and went back to the company, I thought it would be better not to do so because it would ruin many things.

“Hide and seek…”

While I was preparing dinner, a muttered voice escaped from Saki-chan who was watching TV.

When I looked at the screen, I saw an angsty hero playing hide and seek with a group of kids.

This anime was not aired today, but Mika had recorded it, and there was a DVD on the TV, so I played it.

What the heck, she’s got a good point too! I thought, but when I checked with Saki-chan, she had never seen this anime before.

She waved his head around, recorded an anime but didn’t play back the video, etc. I couldn’t get a grasp of Mika as a person.

Saki-chan stared at the TV and seemed to be very interested in playing hide and seek from the anime.

Maybe she hadn’t played it before.

“Saki, do you want to play hide and seek?”

“…I want to.”

“Okay. Where shall we play?”

“Home.”

“……..”

What a gutsy girl to try to hide in this six tatami room.

“All right. Do you want to hide? Or do you want to seek?”

“Hide and seek.”

“Okay, I’m… the seeker. I’m going to count to ten, so hide.”

“Alright.”

I covered my face and counted to ten, saying “One, two…” aloud.

“Are you ready?”

“I’m done.”

It was obvious where she was hiding by the direction her voice came from, but it would be a shame to find her right away.

“I wonder where~”

I had already noticed that Saki-chan was behind the curtain by the shadows that had formed there, but when playing hide and seek, it was important to be nervous that you might be found.

So I went to the bathroom where I knew she would never be, and went to open the closet door.

“She’s not here. Where is she~?”

Then, as I gradually approached the desired location, I said, “Could she be here?” As I said so, I slowly raised the back of the curtain, and the figure of a small angel appeared.

“Found you!”

“Kya—!”

Saki-chan was happy to have been found, and she smiled and was happy to see me.

(Oh God, she’s too cute!)

After this, Saki-chan wanted to play as the seeker, so we took turns and I had to hide.

I could hear the sound of her footsteps pacing around the room, searching hard.

I hid in the tub, and my eyes met Saki’s as she raised the lid slightly.

“I’ve been found!”

“Found you!”

Saki-chan looked happy again, as if she enjoyed looking for me in hiding.