Your Life Will One Day Become Hope for Someone You Love ④ Overcoming It Together

The story of Mayumi and her only daughter, Misaki
Previous installment is here
Your Life Will One Day Become Hope for Someone You Love ③ An Unforgettable Event | Mikamo (Mica Moriya）

Whir... the sound of a hair dryer
echoed all the way to the kitchen.

Mayumi turned her gaze back to the pot.
The miso soup was just about to boil over.

Misaki, dressed in the suit tailored for her entrance ceremony,
was peering into the bathroom mirror, carefully styling her hair.

The fragments of memories that had occupied her mind until just a moment ago,
she wanted to believe that they were all just events of the past—
that is the part of her that wants to think so.

She felt a slight hesitation, wondering if it was okay to praise herself like this, just for today.
Days of constantly blaming herself had become the norm.
Just thinking that made the depths of her chest tremble slightly.

The intensity of the rain wetting the window—
as if responding to Mayumi's heart,
seemed to have subsided a little.

Back then—
the relationship with Misaki began to grow strained,
and the conversations between mother and daughter ceased.

Time that felt dizzyingly long
ticked away quietly and heavily.

Misaki's replies gradually became shorter,
and eventually, they hardly spoke to each other at all.

If I push any further, she might go somewhere I can no longer reach,
so maybe it's better not to interfere.

Telling herself that excuse over and over,
she had come to just get through each day.

She couldn't understand what was happening to Misaki
or why things had turned out that way.
She was just afraid of being rejected,
and couldn't find the courage to reach out.

While they both avoided arguing,
Misaki would hide in her room as if running away.
Without Mayumi's attention ever turning to those wrists,
Misaki was hurting herself and keeping it hidden.


Why hadn't she noticed back then?

Mayumi and Misaki lived with Mayumi's mother.
Her mother had been dead set against Mayumi becoming a single mother.
That changed completely when she saw the newborn Misaki.
Mayumi was stunned by how much the presence of a grandchild could change a person.

Her mother gradually began to feel the difference between her own parenting and Misaki's.
When Misaki became too much to handle,
she lashed out with harsh words, saying, "Your way of raising her is wrong."

One day, there was an unusual visitor.
Her mother's older sister, Mayumi's aunt, came to visit.

"Mayumi, I've heard various things from your mother."
Even though they hadn't met in a long time, her tone seemed to see right through Mayumi's heart.
Mayumi felt uncomfortable, thinking that she had burdened her mother with Misaki's situation.

Her aunt had worked as a nurse for many years.
Even though she was six years older than her mother, her skin was glowing, and her voice was firm and youthful.
When asked, she said that after retiring, she had started a local child-rearing support facility with some friends.

It had now become a place of relaxation that also served as a counseling center for young mothers in the area.

Every word her aunt spoke was fresh to Mayumi.
It felt as if she were unraveling the heavy pressure Mayumi had been under, blaming herself for "the way she raised her."

And,
her aunt explained the behavior Misaki had been showing using the word "traits."

"You don't have to carry it alone."

Her aunt said it clearly,
but not in a way that blamed her,
speaking gently as if to embrace all of Mayumi.

She accepted both the body and mind that had been exhausted by the days with Misaki.
She didn't deny her, didn't judge her,
and didn't say it was anyone's fault.

Mayumi felt the tension that had been stretched throughout her body
begin to loosen for the first time.

If her aunt hadn't come that day,
no, if her mother hadn't consulted her,
what would have happened to Misaki and herself?

Without understanding anything, without being able to understand each other,
while thinking they were getting through to each other,
in a dark, closed-off world,
they might have both remained hurt, suffering,
and silent.

Mayumi's heart was crushed with regret
at just how much difficulty Misaki had been carrying.

Now, the way Misaki moves back and forth before Mayumi's eyes as she gets ready no longer shows any trace of the anger that used to make such loud, violent sounds.

Even though she was supposed to be bad at mornings,
without anyone telling her, she woke up on her own this morning.
That alone was enough to fill Mayumi's heart.

She must not have slept very well last night due to nerves. Mayumi felt the same way herself.

Finally, finally,
the day has come for Misaki to take a new step forward.

That day—
the meaning of the words "to help" that Misaki said,

this thing that seems like a hardship,
if we are together, we can overcome it—

let's live a life like that,
that is what Mayumi and Misaki had promised each other,
I suppose.