CH 31

Of course!

I grabbed one of the cookies on the table and tried to eat it.

“Whoa, that’s good.”

I was worried about not knowing the ingredients, but I was sure there’s nothing too strange in the cookies, because the God prepared them.

In front of me, Mika was drinking a cup of tea, a little depressed, as if she was aware that she was not good at expressing affection.

But we looked the same, so it was as if we were talking to ourselves, which was strange.

“Oh, by the way, Mika, you don’t call your parents mum and dad.”

“Shut up! It’s just that when I called him ‘Dad’ in the past, he gave me a very, very sad look.”

I was pissed.

“Gosh…”

Mika, who was sitting in front of me, suddenly stood up with a serious expression on his face and bowed towards me.

“Huh? What? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

Her momentum is so strong that I also rushed to stand up.

“I’m sorry I said earlier that things would have been better if you hadn’t been there.”

“What? Oh… yes.”

“And thank you so much for letting me live with you and Saki.”

“It just happened.”

“But I’m glad she likes me enough to look at me and say ‘play’.”

“…She still won’t come near me when we’re asleep in our room.”

“It’s only a matter of time.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

Saki only came and slept with me when I said ‘come here’ or when she was tired of playing and had fallen asleep.

She had never even asked me to hold her before.

But I didn’t want to force her, so I was waiting for her to ask me to sleep with her.

“I brought them here.”

When Mika and I had finished talking, the God came back.

There were two people behind me, a man and a woman I didn’t know, but I felt like I knew them.

(Oh, she looks like Saki.)

They both had dark hair and the man had short hair, but fringes that covered his forehead.

The woman’s hair was puffy, but long, with hair down to her chest.

“Hello.”

They greeted me with a smile and I replied.

“Hello.”

“I am Saki’s father, Nonogami Itsuki.”

“I’m Nonogami Midori, her mother.”

“Um…”

He introduced himself and I wanted to do the same, but I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t know my name from my previous life and the real Mika was right in front of me.

“Oh, don’t worry. We know from God that you don’t have a name. Thank you for taking care of Saki in such difficult circumstances.”

“I’m very grateful to you.”

Well, it’s weird to have two twins in this room.

(Oh, and she looks exactly like Mika.)

I looked at the God to see if I could at least say the name of my previous life, but he said “You don’t need your old name anymore.”

He said that the body I had when he was a man was already gone, and when I met my friends, I would get to know them as Mika, so I could build a new relationship with them.

(That’s why it was a blur when I tried to remember the faces of my colleagues in my previous life. I knew it was God’s work.)

“Why don’t you all sit down for now?”

At the God’s word, we all sat down on the cloud chairs.

Come to think of it, we had been standing and talking for a while now.

On the other side of the chair, from the first left, the God, Mika, Itsuki and Midori were sitting in that order.

“We wanted to thank you for living with Saki.”

“No, not at all…”

“We’ve been watching your life from heaven. Thank you so much for being so kind to Saki.”

“I’ve scolded her for leaving her and coming here on her own, so please forgive her.”

“…Because I really, really wanted to see my brother.”

Forgive me, but I understood that Mika was thinking of Saki, so I was not angry anymore.

I’d be more surprised if there was a heaven and they were peeking in on our lives from there.

“She’s like family to me, Saki.”

“I’m so relieved to hear you say that. I know I can trust you with her.”

“That’s right. Take good care of Saki.”

“You’re always so good-natured, aren’t you? Thank you.”

Itsuki, Midori and Mika were all thankful, but for me Saki was family and I wanted to make her happy.

After this, I talked with the Nonogami’s about many things, but mostly about Saki.

I also found out that Itsuki was 32 and Midori was 26.

“Huh? But if they live in heaven, won’t Itsuki and Midori be reincarnated?”

“No, we won’t be reincarnated. But in the future, when Saki passes away, she will be able to see us if she wants to. And when that happens, we’ll talk about it.”

I didn’t know how I was going to raise her, but I was sure God would do a lot for me.

And I didn’t want to think about the future when Saki would be dead.

For me, it was the present with her that counted.

“Well, that’s enough of that.”

After saying goodbye to the Nonogami family, a word from the God brung me back to reality.

The silence of the park, where I had talked to Yuki, made the events that passed seem like a dream.

I looked at the clock on my phone and saw that it hadn’t even been an hour since the real Mika had appeared.

“Let’s go home.”

When I walked back to my flat, Saki was playing with a mini-puzzle that Chinatsu seemed to have.

(That apron pocket really does hold everything.)

“Hello. How did it go?”

“I’m back. Yuki is safe and sound. Thank you, Chinatsu, for looking after Saki.”

“I don’t mind. Well, I’ll be going home soon.”

“Yes, thank you very much for today.”

“If you want to thank me, you can teach me how to cook next time. And I gave the puzzle to Saki so she can play with it. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Saki was concentrating on her puzzle, not even noticing that Chinatsu had left the room.

When you looked at it, it seemed to look like that you just had to fit the pieces together, which was very different from the picture on the package.

But her face looked like she was having a lot of fun.

“Saki, are you enjoying the puzzle?”

“It’s fun!”

“That’s good.”

“Where’s Chin-chin?”

“Chinatsu’s gone.”

“Where’s Sofu-chou?”

“Yuki has left too.”

Saki looked around the room, made sure no one was there, and then looked at me.

“Can I sweep with yuu? (Can I sleep with you today?)”

(Are you feeling lonely after being so busy just now?)

When I was sleeping, Saki looked at me a little like she was peeking at me, as if she wasn’t sure if she should come closer to me, but there was only one answer.

“Of course!”

I told her with the best smile I could muster, and Saki got the same look on her face.

“Let’s go to sleep together.”

“Ai!”

It had been a difficult day, but Saki’s smile made it all worth it.

She was such a healing angel.