The Suspect Mother's Devotion: Tanejiro's Rainy Season

My second son has always had a strangely strong-willed side.

When he was about six or seven, after an argument with his older brother who is only a year older, he called being born second the "cause of his defeat" and cried in frustration, asking, "Why did you give birth to me second!" I was so taken aback by his competitive spirit that I couldn't help but smile bitterly and say, "You're right, maybe I got the order wrong."

When he was little, I found that endearing, but now that he's in his thirties, the competitive spirit that seeps into his casual conversation often gets under my skin, even though I'm his mother.

It happened yesterday morning.
"I can't find my black 'Puma' T-shirt."
He called out to my back while I was doing the dishes.

My second son usually rents a room about a 15-minute bike ride away, where he works. But he comes back here about half the nights of the week.

That room doesn't have a washing machine.
So, he always comes home carrying a huge pile of accumulated laundry.

I've told him many times to buy one, but he always makes some excuse or another, so whenever he comes home, I feel a bit blue thinking, "The laundry has returned."

I've also told him until I was blue in the face that he could bring it home, but he should at least try washing it himself, but he just keeps a straight face without changing his expression at all, so eventually, it became too much of a hassle to keep saying it, and I end up doing it.

Mom washes it, Mom folds it, and Mom puts it away.

In other words, he's trying to say, "Mom, didn't you put my T-shirt away by mistake, thinking it was your own clothes?"

"I haven't seen it. How long has it been missing?"
"Huh? I don't know, maybe about a week."

"You don't know"?
Huh? I have no idea what he's talking about.

If you don't even know about your own things, why on earth would I know?


"Isn't it at your apartment?"
"No, I checked yesterday and it wasn't there."

"..."

I want to snap back that I don't know either, but instead, I stay silent and rinse the dishes again.

The sound of water running in the sink.
Clatter, the sound of dishes rubbing against each other.

...
His Majesty is still standing behind me.

He shows no sign of leaving from behind me while I'm doing the dishes.
The pressure from his presence at my back is intense.

If things go on like this, I'm going to lose it...
No, I can tell he's just waiting for me to look for it.

I turn off the water and reluctantly say,
"...Do you want me to check my side (the storage area) too?"
"Yeah."

A clipped 'Hmm.' It's full of that 'I knew it' attitude.

He's convinced that I've stashed his 'Puma' away with my own things.


More than half of my clothes are from 'UNIQLO'.

Since it's almost all 'UNIQLO', obviously I'd notice right away if a 'leopard' was mixed in there.

While grumbling inwardly, under the watchful eye of my second son, I checked the three-tiered storage box from top to bottom, but there were no wild animals walking around anywhere.

I emphasize the 'as I thought' to convey that it wasn't mixed in.

'What about the other one?'
He presses on, his voice still sullen.

There are two storage boxes.
It's a prompt to 'check that one too'.

Oh, I see.
So you're absolutely convinced that I 'did it'.
That your deduction is infallible.

Well, I'm prone to being 'careless', so if you ask me if I'm confident, I'd have to stammer, but I can certainly tell the difference between 'UNIQLO' and a 'leopard'.

I really have no memory of this, honestly.
Don't you believe me?

Urged on by my second son's silence, I slump a little under the pressure,
and check the second storage box, all three tiers, down to the bottom.

'As I thought, it wasn't there.'

The best I can do is say 'as I thought' with even more emphasis.

'...Well, never mind. Let me know if it turns up.'
With a look of disbelief, my second son left.

Well, never mind. Let me know if it turns up...?

What is this? I don't understand this Japanese.

This unpleasant aftertaste. This misery.
Did I, your mother, do something so terrible to you?

I've lived long enough to know that, yes, unreasonable things happen in this world all the time.

However, one is usually rewarded by 'kindness'.

When you ask someone something or make a request, isn't it supposed to be an interactive relationship where you humble yourself a little bit!?

How is it!?

A mother wants to ask the world.
I want to ask and gain the righteous vote of society!

After finishing the laundry in a daze,
while vacuuming in a double daze, I opened my son's room door and my eyes suddenly went to the space under the storage box.
Since it has casters, there is a gap of a few centimeters underneath.

While aiming the vacuum there, I tried to shift its position slightly, and when I looked down at the sluggish movement of the casters, something black was stuck.

When I pulled it out just a little, a limp 'leopard' covered in a thin layer of white dust peeked out.

Oh, as expected of a feline.
To think it had crawled into such a gap...

I slowly picked up the dust-covered thing with my thumb and index finger.

Secured!!!

My name has been cleared, but I suppose it's still up to me to wash this dusty leopard again. And to dry it, bring it in, fold it, and put it away once more.

...

"My boy is a good kid at heart!"

"I understand, now come on, ma'am! Call out to your son!"

The detective hands the megaphone to my trembling hands.

Surrounded by numerous police cars and riot police, I scream through my tears, hoping to reach my own son who has turned into a barricaded criminal.

"Tanejirooo! I'm begging you!"

Just buy your own

washing machine already!!!"

The most I can do is grin while imagining myself pulling off a scene like this in front of my second son's apartment.

When I look back at past articles, I find that my second son appears quite often, more than I thought. In a way, I realized he's actually contributing to my work.
I thought I'd create a magazine called "Tanejiro" (lol).

That's all for today.
(Tanejiro, serves you right, miso cracker! lol)
See you again.