Short Story: Mother and Daughter's Soft Serve

◉ Wind-Blown Literature Club [Soft Serve] Entry

The summer sun was scorching the city. Every time they walked on the asphalt, heat rose from beneath their feet.
Misato wiped sweat from her brow while holding a small hand. The one being led by the hand was her five-year-old daughter, Aya.
“Mommy, I’m thirsty...”
“We’ll be at the supermarket soon.”
As she said this, Misato was mentally calculating the contents of her wallet. Recently, her part-time shifts had been reduced, and days of frugality continued. She had to avoid unnecessary expenses as much as possible.
But just then, Aya stopped and looked up at a small soft-serve shop. The wooden sign had faded, handmade letters on it. A sweet scent drifted from the window.
“Mommy, I want soft serve!”
Aya’s eyes sparkled. Misato hesitated for a moment. If she bought it here, she would have to cut back on the ingredients for dinner. But faced with her daughter’s smile, the calculations didn’t matter anymore.
“Let’s make today special.”
The moment Misato said that, Aya jumped for joy. The inside of the shop was cool, making them forget the heat outside.
When they ordered, the shopkeeper slowly turned the machine, swirling white soft serve onto a cone. Aya watched the process with wide, round eyes.
“Wow...”
Accepting the offered soft serve carefully with both hands, Aya immediately took a bite. The coldness and sweetness spread across her tongue, and a smile bloomed on her face.
“Delicious! Mommy, you have some too!”
Misato shook her head when it was offered to her. However, because Aya insisted, “Just a little bit!”, she took a tiny bite. It felt as if the sweetness soaked deep into her heart in just one mouthful.

The two sat on a bench in front of the shop, laughing as they hurriedly licked the melting soft serve. Aya’s mouth was covered in a white beard, and Misato wiped it off with a handkerchief, saying, “Oh, you’re hopeless.”
“Mommy, let’s eat this together again.”
“Yes, let’s eat it again.”
As Misato stroked Aya’s head, she suddenly remembered the past. The taste of the first soft serve she ever ate when she was a girl, taken by her own mother. The happiness of that moment still remained in her memory.
And now, her own daughter was showing the same smile—that alone made her heart swell with warmth.

As dusk approached, the two finished their shopping and walked home hand in hand. The lingering chill of the soft serve still remained on their palms.
The anxieties and hardships of being a single-parent household would continue. But as long as she had time to laugh with this child, Misato felt she could surely overcome them.

—A few summers later

A midsummer afternoon filled with the sound of cicadas. Aya, now tall and slender, stopped in front of the soft-serve shop in a corner of the shopping district. As a high school student in uniform, she had her hair tied back and wore a slightly more mature expression.
“Mommy, do you remember? When I was little, we ate soft serve here.”
“Of course. I remember well how your mouth used to get all white.”
Misato chuckled. Her profile had deeper lines etched into it than back then. But her smile still held the same warmth.
Aya took her wallet out of her backpack and said with a serious expression,
“Mommy, I’ll treat you today. I got my part-time job pay.”
Seeing the thousand-yen bill offered to her, Misato blinked in surprise.
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Yes. Because we promised back then that we’d eat it together again, remember? I remember you saying it was a special day. So this time, I’m buying it as something special.”
Aya smiled shyly. Her smile made Misato’s heart warm.
Her daughter had certainly grown up—but the image of that day, when she held her small hand, was still alive right there.
The two sat side by side on the bench, licking the soft serve just like in the old days. The white sweetness spread quietly deep in their hearts, unchanged by the passage of time.
“Mommy, let’s eat this together again.”
“Yes, it’s a promise.”
The twilight light enveloped the shopping district, gently illuminating their smiles. The soft serve was melting, but that moment of happiness would never disappear.
Because the time between mother and daughter would continue on from here.