Chapter 5:
"My ex-girlfriend's name? ...Why?"
Even though I asked that back, I knew the intent of the question.
Perhaps, Riko Soma is probably the daughter of Hiroki Soma and Yuka Yamakawa.
However, I wondered if I should tell this to her, who seemed so innocent. The man in front of her is also her mother's ex-boyfriend, and her mother abandoned her boyfriend, Kazuma Asakura, to have an affair with ‘him’ and give birth to Riko.
Wait, there are plenty of people in the world who have affairs and infidelities, so it should not be such a big shock to her.
“Asakura-san said that I looked a lot like a girl you used to date, and when I told you my name, you gave me a pained look in response to my last name, ‘Soma’. ...Could it be that the name of your ex-girlfriend's affair partner is 'Hiroki Soma'?"
“...Ugh"
“And the ex-girlfriend's name is ‘Yuka Yamakawa '."
“...Um”
I leaned languidly against the back.
The waitress came to our table, put our plates on a tray, and left. The hustle and bustle of the family restaurant provided the perfect background music. But there was a chill in the air as if our table was the only one isolated from our surroundings.
“So, that's it…”Riko muttered to herself: “Asakura-san is my mother's childhood friend and ex-boyfriend…”
.
.
.
"How are your parents…?”
I asked. I wasn't being sarcastic, but it might have sounded that way.
“Ugh...”
Riko shook her head with a dark expression.
“My father passed away a long time ago and my mother disappeared somewhere.”
“...!”
It was an unexpected turn of events.
As I was feeling a little regretful that I shouldn't have asked her, Riko started to elaborate.
“My father passed away when I was in elementary school. He was rarely home, so I don't have much of an attachment to him. I don't remember him ever getting angry or praising me at all.”
"How did Hiroki - your father die? Was it an illness? Or was it an accident?”
“He was murdered.”
It's very easy and natural to say, so I almost didn't listen for a moment.
“...Huh? He was murdered?
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“By someone, he was having an affair with.”
In my memory, Hiroki was a dropout in the first year of high school. I'm not sure how he grew up after that. But he had a handsome face, so naturally, he would have been popular.
Looking at Hiroki after the discovery of his relationship with Yuka, I don't find it strange at all that he was having an affair. In fact, it seems natural and fitting.
“I don't know the details, but I heard that my father was having an affair with more than one woman.”
“...You're doing great."
“Yes.“
She explained about her late father in a cold voice, as if she was shunned.
“The woman who killed him was angry that he had played with her and abandoned her, so she killed him.”
He had it coming.
“He got what he deserved.”
“...”
“After my father died, my mother became very violent. But even so, I still loved my mother.”
Yuka and I had known each other since childhood and had been together for about three years, so I knew most of her (although I didn't know she was the type to cheat on me).
So the fact that Yuka had been violent with her daughter was a surprise to me.
In the past, Yuka was not the kind of person who would be violent. Did the death of her husband twist her personality? Or maybe I just didn't see the true nature of her…
“But one day your mother just disappeared without telling me, her daughter.”
“…”
Even though she was violent, the reality that her beloved mother disappeared without telling her must have taken a heavy toll on her.
Riko was left alone in the house.
"Huh?"
Then a question came to mind.
"So you live alone now?"
I asked her, but I denied it myself, saying that it couldn't be because it wasn't an anime or manga. Riko is still in high school - a minor, in other words - so she should have a guardian or guardians.
"No, I live with my aunt."
As expected, Riko said so.
“She's my mother's sister.”
“That would be ...Ami-san."
"Yes, you do know her.”
Ami-san is three years older than me, so she's thirty-six now.
Yuka and I had known each other since childhood, but we didn't have a family relationship. I had met Yuka's parents, but we were not very close, but I was reasonably close to Ami-san. However, after I broke up with Yuka, I became estranged from Ami-san.
I wondered what Ami-san thought about Yuka's affair. She is a serious person with a strong sense of justice, and probably the type of person who detests cheating and infidelity. Would she have been enraged by her sister's foolishness? Or was she more lenient with her people than I thought, and defended them?
...Wait.
Perhaps Yuka had covered up saying that I had been unfaithful to her. Then, she didn't need to go to the trouble of telling her sister that she was wrong.
“Oh, yes.”
Riko clapped her hands as if she had come up with a good idea.
"Would you like to come to my house after this?”
“Eh? No…”
Although I know Ami-san, I haven't seen her for about seventeen years, and I just met Riko today. It seems a bit inappropriate to suddenly visit her home.
In response to my vague denial, Riko simply backed off.
“I see... Well, we'll talk about it another time.”
...To be continued!
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Translator Corner:
Thanks for reading my translation works.