10 years ago.
A woman's sorrowful voice rang out from the streets of a slum.
"...where did you go."
The young woman's voice began to spread mournfully, echoing without answer.
The woman muttered as she wandered the streets of the slums.
Where did you go?
I told you to stay here.
I promised I would come find you.
The woman knew how irresponsible and difficult it was to make a one-sided promise to a child, but she felt this was the only way to endure the overwhelming regret.
Even though I knew that more time had passed than a child could handle on his own.
"mass..."
The woman walked with difficulty, calling out her responsibility. Then, she ran towards a passing child, judging him by his own mistakes.
"mass...?"
The woman grabbed the shoulder of the child walking forward and turned him around to check his face.
He wondered if this child was the one he was looking for, so he looked at the child's face, which was flustered and shaking with trembling hands, and his face became sad.
"Who are you, ma'am?"
"S...sorry."
The woman's demeanor didn't look particularly good. Her aspirations of returning to a successful life were gone, and she was now strutting through the slum streets in tattered clothes.
The bag containing the clothes was old.
Her once-glorious hands were covered in calluses. Her beauty remained intact, but the scars of the hardships of the past made it impossible to erase the word "sorrow" from her appearance.
I just loved you, but I was abandoned.
She dreamed of a happy future, but received no reward. She fought hard to escape this life of poverty, hoping to return when she became a decent mother, but having achieved nothing, she continued to search the slums.
day.
Two days.
A week.
And a month.
The streets of the slums where she came hoping to do motherly work with the money she had in her hands broke the woman's heart.
Dust is rolling around.
The sight of children begging weighed heavily on me more than I had imagined.
If I had chosen an orphanage instead of a slum, if I hadn't been afraid of the rumors that orphanages sell children, things might have been a little different.
The woman realized too late how dire the consequences of what she had done in her haste to remove the wart had been.
Because I didn't know at the time.
Because I valued my own future more than that of the child, and I had selfish, colored glasses that thought that this was okay.
The woman spent her nights having nightmares about a child who resented her.
Then one day.
The girl met a boy in the slums.
-Have you ever seen a girl named Misa?
-Uh. He's about this tall and his hair is silver.
"I've seen a boy named Mikhail, but I've never seen a girl named Misa. I've been living in this world for a long time, but I've never heard a name like that. I don't live there anymore, though.
The boy with red hair frowned and said he had never seen the child he was looking for.
-Hmm... I don't know.
The boy spoke politely to the woman.
-Do you have a picture?
-...
The woman couldn't answer.
Because I never had any memories with that child, and because I didn't want to even leave a photo of him as a memory, there was no way I could have.
The boy, confronted by the woman's silence, answered without a moment's hesitation, "I can't find her." Years had passed, and with only a name and the scant information available, finding the boy in this vast slum was nearly impossible.
The boy looked at the girl and said.
-Do you remember?
-...
-face.
He suggested a solution by pointing to his own face with his finger.
-Do you remember my face?
-...
The woman could not raise her head.
Because too much time has passed.
"under..."
The boy didn't know who the woman was.
Who is the woman looking for?
I didn't even know whose mother that woman was.
I simply thought of him as one of the many people who came to me with regrets about the past. I didn't attach much significance to him.
The woman spoke in a trembling voice.
-What usually happens when you get abandoned here?
The little boy said.
-You know.
-...
-That's not good.
The boy said as he passed the woman.
-I think so. Because that's the best.
Soon after, the woman was able to find the teddy bear abandoned under the corner of the bridge.
I knelt in front of a pile of rocks big enough for a child to lie on, hugged my teddy bear, and cried.
It's full of stitches.
After a long time, I hugged the teddy bear that had no place to hide.
I cried out loud in front of the ownerless grave.
*
A peaceful morning in the mansion.
I hummed a tune as I prepared breakfast, listening to the bright sunlight and the chirping of birds singing the morning song, and placed the grilled meat on a plate.
Meat cooked well-done.
I checked the doneness of the meat by gently poking the center of the meat with a fork and bringing it to my lips.
"It's well-cooked."
It seems to be cooked thoroughly inside.
"Should I open a restaurant?"
The young lady didn't like meat with blood. They say meat needs a chewy texture to be tasty, or something. I once gave her some bloody meat, and she threw her fork at me, scolding me, saying it was so tender it could be veal. Ever since then, I've been grilling meat until it's crispy. She likes raw meat, though.
I looked up at the second floor of the mansion, satisfied with the meat that was cooked just to suit the young lady's taste.
'I think they'll call me soon.'
I counted three seconds in my mind.
One. Two. Three.
-Go...gogogok! Air raid warning...!!!
"Phuhat...!"
Today, I headed up to the second floor with breakfast, listening to the young lady's cheerful morning call.
*
The girl, with a sullen expression, was eating breakfast, munching on grilled meat. I'd clearly checked the cooking, but her face was plastered with a grimace, as if she was dissatisfied with something.
"...profit."
As I looked at the girl with difficulty lifting the fork, a question mark appeared in my head.
"Do you have no appetite?"
"no."
"So the meat was undercooked?"
"That's not it either."
"Then why are you so fat?"
The girl, with a sullen expression, shook her head and sighed deeply. Then, as she dipped her fork into the meat, she spoke in an elegant voice.
"I don't have any money."
"yes?"
"I spent all the money I borrowed from Ricardo last time."
A refreshing answer from a young lady who proudly admits to theft.
I burst out laughing and questioned why the girl was so sullen. Not only did she steal the money, but where did she spend it all?
The girl lowered her head sullenly and said.
"I bought pajamas and chocolate, so they're all gone. And I gave some to Ricardo's friend too."
"My friend?"
"huh."
The young lady nodded and said, thinking of Hans, who was away on personal matters.
"I saw Ricardo's friend up north the other day. The ugly guy with glasses."
"It's not an ugly face."
"It's ugly in my eyes."
I knew it, but I nodded with a small smile at the young lady's argument, which was quite a hurdle. I had been wondering what to say about Hans, but fortunately, she considered me a friend, so I didn't have to think too hard about it.
The girl said, counting the remaining money with her fingers.
"I gave you a reward for being my friend to Ricardo."
"..."
"Ricardo won't give you any money for your friend."
"...That guy must have a lot of money."
"huh?"
"That guy is rich. He does illegal things and doesn't pay taxes."
"Then you have more money than me?"
"yes."
"Eeeeek!!!!!!"
The young lady clenched her fists and vented her frustration. She had been swindled, and now, as if she'd been swindled, she was going to vomit out the money she'd paid. Her appetite finally returned, and she began to savor the meat.
As the meat on the plate began to show its bottom, I placed the cookies I had prepared as a snack on the girl's table.
"poop!"
"No, these are cookies I made at the tea party."
"Uh... who made this?"
The girl frowned at the cookie that looked like a giant piece of poop.
"It looks so unappetizing."
I smiled slightly and answered the young lady. I asked her where her conscience was, as she confidently stated the obvious.
"You made it, young lady."
"Eek!"
"The cookies with the most leftover are the ones you made."
The girl pushed the cookie away and shook her head.
"I didn't make it."
"You're thinking of making Cookie an orphan."
"I didn't make those cookies. Thank you."
"The cookie is hurt."
"Jijiya. If you eat that, you'll get a stomachache."
I smiled and urged the girl on.
"We need to move a little faster today."
"Huh? Where are you going today?"
"yes."
I smiled slightly and said to the girl.
"I'm going out to eat today."
"Eating out?"
"yes."
The girl spoke with wide eyes. As if the meat she had just eaten had been digested, she stared at me with an excited look, her mouth drooling.
"Are you going to the forest friends?"
I answered vaguely, my words trailing off.
"It's similar."
"yes?"
"Because I'm going with the boss of Forest Friends."
"Why are you going together?"
"I heard a rival restaurant is moving in."
I said to the girl with a satisfied smile.
"Oh, of course the boss buys me food."
"okay?"
The girl shook off her disappointment and nodded vigorously.
"Okay then."
As expected, she was a girl who couldn't help but take anything for free.
That's how we are.
We arrived in front of a restaurant with a sign that said 'Yuram'.