[Serialized Novel] Rebooting "Me"! ~Mom's Re-learning Community~ 13: The Arrival of Queen Erika Ichinose.

A week had passed since we hit the "City Hall wall."
We, "Project U," had moved our activities from the community center to a rental space on the second floor of a cafe in front of the station.

The room fee of 1,000 yen per hour was being covered by the "500 yen participation fee" we started collecting at Anna-san's suggestion.
A space of our own, rented with our own money.
Instead of the cold, long desks at the community center, the faces of the members gathered around the warm wooden table were filled with proud smiles, as if to say, "We are protecting this place ourselves."

There were ten participants today.
We were all happily reading and deciphering English news articles together using the flashcards Kayo-san had made for us, when it happened.

Click, clack.

The sound of heels echoing loudly as they came up the stairs.
And then, the room door was slammed open with an unceremonious hand.

"Well, well, so this is the rumored 'secret training room.'"

Sweet perfume and the latest designer bag. Perfectly curled hair.
Standing there, leaning against the door frame, was Erika Ichinose, who reigned at the top of the "glittering moms" at the park.

"Erika-san...!"

When I stood up in surprise, Erika-san looked around the room and gave a scoffing laugh.

"I saw your Instagram. You've been looking pretty enthusiastic lately. I was worried you'd started some kind of cult, so I came to take a look."

The air in the room froze instantly at those words, which were spoken without malice, yet were undeniably condescending.
Anna-san, with her former startup spirit, raised her eyebrows and started to stand up. I hurriedly stopped her with my hand and turned to face Erika-san.

"Thanks for coming all this way. But this is a place where people pay to learn seriously, so if you're just here to mock us..."

"Five hundred yen, right? I'll pay, I'll pay. Here."

Erika-san took a coin out of her designer wallet and tossed it onto the table.
Then, she pulled up an empty folding chair without asking and sat down, crossing her legs.

"So? What are you doing? English? ...Heh, it's kind of like a high school remedial class."

Erika-san's gaze landed on Kayo-san's hands.
Kayo-san, who was known as the "perfect housewife" in Suginomori City, was desperately writing phonetic guides for words with a pen from a 100-yen shop.

"Oh, isn't that Kayo Sato-san? You're even the PTA vice president, and you're here re-learning English? Are you planning on starting a part-time job?"

"...

Kayo-san hid her notebook in embarrassment.

Seeing that, I felt a quiet but intense flame burning deep in my chest.
The old me would have been overwhelmed by Erika-san's "lack of awareness" and "unconscious violence," and would have just put on a strained smile to get through it.

But I am different now.
I must absolutely protect the precious friends behind me and this place called "Project U."

"Erika-san."

I called out in a low, clear voice.

"You are free to observe, but you have no right to laugh at other people's learning."

Erika-san blinked, looking slightly surprised by my direct gaze. But she immediately put back on her usual smug smile.

"I'm not laughing. I'm just genuinely curious. Hey, Rin-san. What is the point of doing something like this?"

Erika-san said this in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, while crossing her legs again.

"Just because we read English news at this stage in our lives doesn't mean we can get jobs at foreign companies, right? At best, you'll just become 'a housewife who knows a little English.' What's fun about paying five hundred yen and wasting precious time on something like self-satisfaction?"

Self-satisfaction.
The word echoed heavily in the room.
Mika-san looked down, and the other moms shifted their eyes around uneasily.

Erika-san stroked her brand-name bag as if she loved it dearly.

"I think a woman's happiness lies elsewhere. Being loved by your husband, wearing beautiful clothes, and eating delicious lunches. We have that 'privilege,' so why go out of your way to struggle and try to learn like men do? Effort without a goal is just killing time, isn't it?"

The definition of "happiness" according to Erika-san.
It was nothing more than a modern update of the "good wife, wise mother" values that Umeko Tsuda fought against in the Meiji era.

"Women are fine as long as they are supported by someone and kept beautifully adorned."

I took a slow breath. The pages of the old leather-bound "Umeko Notebook" spread vividly in my mind.

"Erika-san. That bag is from last month's new collection, right? It suits you very well."

When I suddenly complimented her bag, Erika-san smiled triumphantly and said, "Right? My husband bought it for me."

"But you know,"

I took one step toward Erika-san.

"By next year, that bag will be 'out of style.' In five years, it will surely be tucked away in the back of your closet. ...What if your husband's income disappears? What if you can no longer buy those beautiful clothes and bags? At that moment, what will be left inside you?"

"...Huh?"

Erika-san's smile twitched.

There is a quote that Umeko Tsuda gave to her students one hundred and twenty years ago.

I looked at the faces of Kayo-san, Mika-san, and everyone else in the room, who had been looking down, and spoke slowly, as if savoring the words.

“Decoration without purpose is vanity. Learning is the only decoration that does not decay.”

“Decoration... that does not decay...”

Erika-san repeated the words, looking stunned.

“That's right. Expensive bags, youth, and a husband's status are all things that will eventually decay and disappear. As long as we depend on 'external decorations' given to us by others, we will have to live in fear of losing them for the rest of our lives.”

I stared straight into Erika-san's eyes.
I wouldn't run away anymore.

“But 'learning' is different. The knowledge we gain here through trial and error, the ability to think for ourselves, and the pride of saying 'I am me'—these are things no one can take away. They become our own inner beauty that will never decay.”

The room fell deathly silent.

“We don't want to be translators. We aren't doing this to prove anyone wrong, either. We are learning here simply to decorate 'ourselves,' who are not appendages of anyone else. ...Don't you think that is a much more essential and luxurious way to spend time than decorating your exterior like you do?”

Even after I finished speaking, no one opened their mouth for a while.

Erika-san stared at me with her mouth slightly agape.
I didn't miss the slight tremor in the depths of her eyes, which were usually filled with confidence.
It was the moment a single crack appeared in her solid 'armor of the privileged class.'

“...Ugh, I don't get it.”

Erika-san stood up abruptly and pushed her folding chair away violently.
The five-hundred-yen coin on the table was left behind.

“I don't know about this 'undecaying decoration' nonsense, but that's just sour grapes. Good luck with your little studies!”

Her voice, trying to sound tough, had lost its usual queenly resonance and sounded somewhat shrill.
Erika-san snatched up her designer bag and left the room as if fleeing.
The sound of the door slamming shut faded down the stairs.

Silence.

And then.

“...Rin-san!”

The first one to speak up was Kayo-san.
Large tears were welling up in her eyes.

"That's amazing, Rin. Every time I met her before, I couldn't help but feel miserable. But after hearing your words just now... for the first time, I felt proud of myself for learning here."

"Me too!" Mika said, standing up and clapping.

"Unfading adornment... From now on, I can walk with my head held high, even if I'm wearing cheap clothes!"

Anna also let out a sigh of relief and gave a grin.

"You did it, Rin. To perfectly refute the 'Queen of Suginomori' like that. You're the best leader."

The room was filled with thunderous applause and cheers.

I pressed my hot, teary eyes and bowed deeply to everyone.

"No, it wasn't just my strength. I was only able to say it because you were all here."

Erika's 500-yen coin left on the table.
I gently picked it up.

Erika isn't entirely a villain.
She, too, is just a lonely mom bound by the curse society has placed on women: that "being loved and adorned is happiness."
Her desperate departure was proof of that.

Will the day ever come when the meaning of this "unfading adornment" reaches her, too?

"Alright, we had an interruption, but let's continue!"

When I clapped my hands, everyone responded with a strong "Yes!"

Ironically, the Queen's arrival had turned the bonds of our "Project U" into steel, stronger than ever before.

(Continued in Episode 14: Calling Each Other by Name.)