One Name, Two Relationships: On the Subject of 'Yoshie-san'

On the day of my friend's dance recital, my seat was right next to her mother's.

We were strangers, but since we were sitting together, we watched the stage while exchanging a few words now and then.
As the recital was ending, her mother suddenly turned to me and said this.

“Would you like to go out for a drink?”

I was taken aback, but I nodded. The recital was over, and my friend would surely be busy getting ready to leave.
In that gap, I went into a restaurant with her mother, just the two of us.

I didn't really understand at the time why I had been invited.
I heard later that her mother didn't have any friends as young as me. So, that invitation was apparently quite rare.

A lot of time has passed since then, but for some reason, this relationship has continued.
Even after my friend got married and moved far away.

There were times I would drop by her parents' house while she was away, and the three of us—her father, her mother, and I—would spend time idly watching golf programs on Sunday.
We didn't have much to talk about. We were just there.

What’s strange is that my friend herself also invites me, saying, “I want to meet up with you, just the two of us.”
Mother and daughter, each inviting me separately.

Both of them call me “Yoshie-san.”

It seems that when I’m not around, the two of them sometimes talk about me.
When I found that out, I couldn't help but smile a little.
What exactly have I become between the two of them?

For some reason, I’ve always been liked by my friends' mothers.
I don't know the reason.
This friend's mother celebrates my birthday every year.
Just the two of us, while she treats me to a meal.

I used to think that friendship started with one person and was completed right there.
But looking at the relationship between my friend and her mother, that doesn't seem to be the case.

A connection with one person, before I knew it, had created another connection.

Are the “Yoshie-san” of the mother and the “Yoshie-san” of the daughter the same person?
Or am I a slightly different version of myself to each of them?

What kind of presence have you become within someone else's family?
Do you have any stories about being strangely well-liked by a friend's family?

Thank you for reading until the end.

#MangaYouCanReadOnNote