"Ukina... Eto... You two..."
Yoshimura was momentarily speechless.
"Quite a shock, isn't it? I specifically asked Byakuya not to tell you."
Eto grinned mischievously.
So it wasn't that Byakuya didn't want to tell Yoshimura—Eto had asked him not to.
"The last time I saw Eto, she was still a baby. And in the blink of an eye, she's nearly as old as me. What a strange feeling."
Ukina remarked.
After all, when she and Yoshimura had married and had their child, she had only been in her mid-to-late twenties.
And she had passed away not long after Eto was born.
So the now twenty-four-year-old Eto really wasn't that different in age from Ukina.
Yoshimura, on the other hand, had become an old man due to the passage of years.
Actually, Yoshimura was at most in his fifties—he just looked older.
Probably because he hadn't consumed fresh human flesh in so many years, his bodily functions had severely declined, and he had aged more rapidly.
"Mom's still so young. That's a good thing—unlike a certain manager who's already turned into an old geezer."
Eto immediately took a jab at Yoshimura.
"Now, Eto, you shouldn't talk to your father that way. How can you call your father an old geezer?"
Ukina began lecturing Eto.
"Fine, I won't do it again."
In front of Ukina, Eto was exceptionally obedient.
After all, this was the mother she had dreamed of meeting...
"..."
Yoshimura said nothing, a joyful smile spread across his face. He didn't care at all that Eto had called him an old geezer.
Ukina's death back then had been the greatest regret of his life.
To now see Ukina and Eto sitting together, chatting and laughing—before this, he wouldn't have dared dream of it.
"Kuzen, it looks like you were about to go out? I was thinking of going home with you first."
Ukina said to Yoshimura. "If Eto hadn't found me, I wouldn't have known you live here. Our Eto has really grown up to be so dependable now."
After learning from Byakuya that her mother had been resurrected, Eto had immediately searched everywhere for her.
Once she finally found her mother, she brought her to where Yoshimura lived, wanting to play a little prank on him—or rather, give him a big surprise.
"...I was just heading to open the café. Why don't you come see our coffee shop?"
Yoshimura suggested.
First Anteiku, then the current :re—the reason Yoshimura had been so devoted to running coffee shops was to commemorate Ukina.
Now that Ukina had miraculously returned, he naturally wanted to take her to see their café.
"Oh? You opened a coffee shop while I was gone? I see..."
A hint of nostalgia and happiness appeared on Ukina's face.
Their first meeting, after all, had been at a certain coffee shop...
Ukina and Eto then followed Yoshimura to the café.
Along the way, Eto explained how Ukina had been able to come back from the dead.
She also told Ukina about Amaha Byakuya, since the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique had been cast by Byakuya.
However, Eto may have said a bit too much, and she had underestimated her mother's perceptiveness and intuition...
A knowing smile gradually appeared on Ukina's face.
"I think I understand now. This Amaha Byakuya—he's the boy our little Eto likes, isn't he~?"