Chapter 352: Nakano Rena?
In the park, under the rain.
The little girl in a white dress softly spoke:
"My mom is sick."
The opening sentence immediately made the atmosphere turn gloomy.
"But luckily… there's a kind uncle, one of Mom's former students, who opened a hospital nearby, so my mom is getting pretty good treatment."
Rena whispered: "Although the situation isn't very optimistic, Mom said that for now, it's still fine… at least for the time being."
Sakurai Saki quietly listened to every word the little girl said.
It seemed that this girl really was one of the Nakano quintuplets… just that he couldn't tell which one she was.
Ichika? Doesn't seem like her.
If it's Miku — was she ever this lively when she was little?
As for Nino… the feeling of arrogant energy isn't quite there.
Itsuki seems like a possible choice.
And Yotsuba, she's not the type to get angry and run away from home like this.
After a round of reasoning, Sakurai realized he actually didn't know much about the five sisters.
Even though he'd known them for over a year, he only knew what they liked to eat, that their birthday was on May 5th, their mother's death anniversary was August 14th, and a few of their daily habits — beyond that, he was completely clueless.
Ahem, thinking about it, that amount of information was already quite a lot… even a crazed stalker would have to investigate for a long time to gather that much.
But to tell which of the five sisters the girl in front of him was… that knowledge clearly wasn't enough.
"In this case, Rena-chan should be by her mother's side, right? When someone's sick, what they need most is companionship and care." Sakurai spoke in a gentle tone.
A tone like one used to coax a child.
No, actually, he really was coaxing a child.
"Mom said she's going to marry that uncle… I'm scared."
"Why? Having a new family member sounds like a good thing, doesn't it?"
"Because he looks really scary." Rena replied in a trembling voice.
…?
Nakano-san, how pitiful.
Clearly, that uncle devoted himself to the quintuplets' mother, yet just because of his cold appearance, he was disliked by one of them.
The world really is frighteningly shallow — judging people by appearances. Good thing I'm handsome, so I'm on the winning side.
"Could it be that you ran away from home just because you were scared of how he looks?"
Could it be… you're Nino?
After all, that girl's obsessed with appearances.
Sakurai Saki silently guessed in his heart.
"I don't have many memories of my dad… I've always just lived with Mom and my sisters."
Their mother had to raise five kids all by herself? For ten straight years?
That kind of life intensity… it'd be strange if nothing bad happened.
Before, when he heard from Itsuki and Nakano Maruo, Sakurai had thought that the lousy father at least took care of them for a few years — but turns out he "went to buy milk" that early?
Still, five children born at once — that's too much for an average family to handle. Even so, as a man, there are times when you can't back down.
You have to take full responsibility for what you've done — that's the bare minimum for being a man. At least, that's what Sakurai believed.
"That's why… I ran away."
After saying that, the little girl let out a light sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted from her heart.
"Does your mom like that uncle?" Sakurai asked.
If they were planning to get married, there must be at least some feelings involved.
"I think so. When she talks to him, Mom often smiles." Rena recalled.
"..."
In Japan, adopting children usually requires a certain relationship, and the simplest way is through marriage.
Perhaps the quintuplets' mother felt that she didn't have much time left, so she wanted to prepare a secure future for her children.
Nakano Maruo really was a good choice.
From what Sakurai knew, that stepfather might not have provided much emotional warmth, but materially, he never let them lack anything. That alone was admirable enough.
Taking care of children who aren't your own blood for all those years — if it were Sakurai, he wasn't sure he could have done it.
Furthermore, aside from the legal relationship, there was one mandatory condition for adoption: the children's consent.
In other words, Nakano Maruo had to gain approval from all of them.
"Giving up his whole life just to raise children who don't share his blood… perhaps that's what love truly is?"
Sakurai felt that kind of emotion was unbearably heavy.
Regaining his composure, he concluded:
"Even if he looks scary, that uncle is actually really gentle, isn't he?"
"Yes."
Hearing that, Rena softly nodded.
"Then that's good. In the story of Beauty and the Beast, even though the prince was turned into an ugly monster, he was still a good person."
Sakurai tried using a fairy tale that every little girl would know to comfort her.
At that moment, Shinobu lightly tugged on Sakurai Saki's collar, then leaned close to his ear and whispered:
"Aren't you afraid… that you might be changing history?"
Probably not, right?
Or rather, even without him, this little girl would eventually return home and accept Nakano Maruo as her stepfather.
That is the convergence of world lines — even if the process differs, the final result will not change.
Besides, right now, he could only interact with Rena alone.
There was no way he could create any major ripple.
Unless — he went to save her mother.
But Sakurai would not do that.
Once a person saves someone, they'll want to save another; once they prevent one tragedy, they'll want to prevent every tragedy.
That too, is a form of human greed.
But then…
…Will you really not save her? — Sakurai asked himself.
If you're an Esper, yet can't act on your own will — can you still call yourself an Esper?
No. A person must have limits.
From the very beginning, when he set the rule "never use time powers to return to the past," he did it out of fear of this very thing — fear of breaking the future.
A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest only needs to flap its wings a few times, and two weeks later, Texas could face a tornado — that's the butterfly effect.
Similarly, if he saved one person now, the future between him and Hayasaka Ai, Chika, or Kaguya could all change.
If anything were to happen to any of them, he wouldn't be able to bear it.
If this had been two years ago, maybe he would have saved her?
No, because two years ago, he didn't have such deep feelings as he does now.
That alone is already a paradox.
After careful thought, Sakurai concluded — he couldn't save anyone.
"..."
Rena quietly listened to him, staying silent for a long while before seriously speaking:
"I… I want to go home."
After saying that, the little girl crawled toward the door of the mushroom house. But just a few seconds later, her face turned red, and she came back inside.
Outside, the rain still hadn't stopped.
"No need to rush, Rena-chan. Even if you play for a bit longer, they probably won't worry." Sakurai said, glancing outside — the rain had weakened a lot.
It would probably stop completely soon.
And indeed, just a dozen minutes later, the rain came to an end.
The three of them crawled out of the mushroom house in the park.
Dark clouds were driven away by sunlight, and the sky turned blue once again.
The air after the rain was no longer hot and stuffy, but fresh and pleasant instead.
"Want a drink? My treat!"
"No…"
Before Rena could finish her sentence, she realized — her hand was being held.
Their small hands clasped together tightly, warmth spreading straight into the little girl's heart.
Shinobu followed behind the two of them, clenching her fists tightly.
Got a new girl and already forgot the old one — what a scumbag!
...
Sakurai Saki stood in front of the vending machine, taking a deep breath.
His lifelong enemy.
He had never once managed to beat this vending machine; something always went wrong every time.
Even when he won a prize, he couldn't redeem it!
"Humans don't need to be that perfect."
Sakurai Saki comforted himself with that thought, then turned to Rena and asked, "Do you want to drink anything?"
"...There isn't anything I want."
"All right then, I'll just pick something random."
Sakurai Saki glanced at the selection board and unconsciously bought a can of matcha soda, then added a can of black coffee.
Thankfully, the coins still worked — since they were issued quite early, even six years ago, they were still usable.
Clack.
So far, everything seemed perfect!
But when Sakurai Saki took the drinks out of the tray, he suddenly realized—
'Crap, since I rarely buy drinks for the quintuplets, I accidentally picked Miku's favorite flavor — matcha…'
He looked at the matcha soda in his left hand, then at the black coffee in his right.
"This one's for me?" Rena pointed at the can in his left hand and asked.
"Uh… you want to drink it? It might be a bit bitter." Sakurai Saki originally intended to buy a sweeter flavor.
Among the five sisters, probably only Miku liked this kind of drink.
Rena nodded, then took the can, popped it open, and took a small sip. Immediately, her cute little face scrunched up, and her delicate eyebrows furrowed.
She stuck out her pink little tongue and complained, "So bitter~"
Alright, case solved — she's not Miku!
'Feels like I'm playing some weird detective game… though I guess that fits my shrunken body pretty well.'
While inwardly sighing, Sakurai Saki opened his can of coffee.
The result — after taking a sip, he frowned too.
'Damn, that's bitter.'
It seemed that after turning into a child, his sense of taste had weakened.
Suddenly, Sakurai Saki noticed that Rena was staring at his coffee can.
"Wanna try a sip? It's coffee."
Rena shook her head, then hesitated and gave a small nod.
Sakurai Saki handed the can to her.
Rena took a small sip, shook her head, and handed it back. "This one doesn't taste good."
As expected, coffee wasn't something kids could enjoy.
Didn't expect Sakurai-kun to be able to drink coffee — how impressive!
...