Inheritance Tax on Memories (Ballet Short-Short)

When Ai returned home from her lesson, her mother and grandmother were in the living room organizing photo albums. Though they called it organizing, they were just gazing at them endlessly. Ai approached them as well.

These are all photos of my ballet performances. There are so many.

Her grandmother replied with a smile, "You've been dedicated to ballet ever since you were three. You're doing a great job."

Are these old ones here your mother's?

That's right. There are some of Grandma's too. They're in beautiful condition.

How lovely.

Ai, when you have children, make sure to let them learn ballet too. We've been a family of ballet lovers for generations. The memories will keep growing.

So, it means we inherit memories too. I understand.

But great-grandmother's photos are from the early Showa era, and their condition is quite poor.

You have great-grandmother's photos?

They were found in the storehouse. They are precious, but there's nothing we can do about them.

Wait. With today's photo technology, we should be able to restore them using AI. It might cost a bit, but why not hire a professional?

That's a good idea. If it's money, I'll gladly pay it, thinking of it as an inheritance tax.

Three generations of mother and daughter gathered around the albums, looking at the portrait of the great-grandmother on the family altar. With this, they would have a complete collection of stage photos of ballet students spanning four generations.