Meanwhile, outside the Sugamo Apartment building.
Minamoto Tamako walked out with two elementary school students, descending the stairs and asking about their home address along the way.
She originally intended to call a taxi, but Mai said she had already made a call, and the housekeeper was on the way... Yes, she usually had a housekeeper for transportation.
Minamoto Tamako remembered Fushimi Roku’s suggestion. He once wanted to buy a car to pick up and drop off Taira Sakurako from school. But the two of them were struggling financially, with their salaries barely covering living expenses, so the idea was eventually shelved.
The three of them, one adult and two children, stood by the street waiting for the housekeeper to pick them up in a car.
The street was quiet today, and looking around, it seemed like it was just the three of them.
Under the dim streetlight, its slanted light made Mai look like a translucent porcelain doll. Minamoto Tamako stood behind her, sneaking several glances, finding her increasingly adorable with each look.
Mai, sensitive by nature, noticed Minamoto Tamako’s gaze. She thought Tamako was tired from standing, quickly took out a wet wipe from her small backpack, wiped the bench by the road, and softly said, "Tamako Sister, please sit down and rest for a while."
Hearing this, Minamoto Tamako felt a surge of maternal affection, patted Mai’s head, and sat down with a smile, thinking how wonderful it would be to have such a well-behaved child...
At this moment, Minamoto Tamako thought of Taira Sakurako.
Raising just one child, Sakurako, was already challenging enough. Moreover, Sakurako was already seven when she came into the family, didn’t cry or fuss, and incurred no infant expenses. In theory, she should be manageable... Yet now, Sakurako walked to school, and the family didn’t even have a car for commuting.
Besides, when she took Sakurako to school, she noticed other students arrived by car. It seemed that the children attending the industrial elementary school were at least from middle-class families.
Initially, Minamoto Tamako worried that Sakurako might be ostracized by her classmates at school, but thankfully, that didn’t happen, which, while relieving her, also made her feel even more guilty.
If she and Fujimura-kun had a child, could she fulfill her duties as a mother?
Minamoto Tamako calculated her expenses, feeling that she might not be a good mother; she then turned to look at Mai, whose clothes were all designer brands, her little face quite delicate, likely requiring lotion every day...
She shook her head, realizing she was thinking too far ahead.
Although she didn’t have much money now, once she became a famous police chief, her salary would also rise. Not to say she’d be wealthy, but raising two kids would certainly be manageable, right?
Besides, she and Fujimura-kun weren’t even at the stage of having children!
Recalling this, Minamoto Tamako thought of the looming deadline regarding Fujimura-kun, unable to suppress a deep sigh, furrowing her brows, and sinking into deeper trouble.
Let alone having a child, she wasn’t even sure about her future with Fujimura-kun.
Mai reached out her small hand, pressing her finger against the crease between Minamoto Tamako’s eyebrows, and softly asked, "Why is Tamako Sister unhappy?"
"No... I’m just a bit tired." Minamoto Tamako didn’t want the child to worry about her.
"I’m sorry for troubling Tamako Sister. We’ll definitely come back before the curfew next time..." After speaking, Mai took out a half-piece of chocolate wrapped in tin foil from her pocket, carefully opened it, and handed it to Minamoto Tamako, "Sister, eat some chocolate, it will cheer you up."
It was obvious that this piece of chocolate was something Mai had been saving for herself and hadn’t eaten yet.
Minamoto Tamako’s heart melted, thinking that children are indeed the cutest creatures in the world. Reluctant to take away something beloved by Mai, she pushed the chocolate back, insisting that Mai have it herself; Mai felt Tamako Sister really needed the chocolate, persisting to make Tamako Sister a little happier.
After a brief back and forth, just as Minamoto Tamako was about to reluctantly accept it, there was a sudden "chomp" sound beside them as Mayu took a bite out of the chocolate in Mai’s hand.
"Chew chew... yummy, yummy~"
Seeing both people staring at her, Mayu said innocently, "What? Didn’t you both not want it?"
Mai’s little face puffed up, her eyes gradually turning red, filling with water, and she pouted, on the verge of tears, "That... that was for Tamako Sister..."
"She didn’t want it, so I might as well have it." Mayu had a bad feeling, tilting her head to observe Mai, "You’re not going to cry, are you?"
Upon hearing this, Mai muffled her eyes with the back of her hand and began to cry softly, "Waaah waaah... You took my chocolate... waaah waaah..."
Mayu panicked, hurriedly spitting the half-chewed chocolate into her hand, offering it back to Mai, indicating she wouldn’t eat it anymore and asking Mai not to cry.
When Mai looked down, it looked like Mayu’s little hand was holding onto a smudge, causing her to cry even louder.
Minamoto Tamako quickly comforted Mai with a few words, also scolding Mayu, saying she shouldn’t snatch her friend’s chocolate.
Mayu wasn’t happy either, muttering softly, "I thought she didn’t want it... I could always buy another one for her."
Mai cried, "Waaah... That... that is the chocolate my dad brought from the United States... waaah... It’s not available in Japan..."
Minamoto Tamako felt sorry for Mai; the chocolate her dad bought for her, which she didn’t eat herself, was shared with her... She turned to look at Mayu, who was wiping the chocolate on her clothes, smearing a large patch of an unidentified semi-solid brown substance on her uniform.
"Foreign chocolate is amazing, can’t even wipe it clean!" Mayu marveled, looking at her little hand.