Chapter 13 Inheritance of Kindness

Inheritance of Kindness

Anyway, thanks to Ichika, I was able to regain my composure, so I decided to reevaluate the situation.

“Chika-chan…can you tell me when you saw them?”

I asked her to sit on the sofa in the living room and continued the conversation.

Ichika was still shaking her body, maybe because she was still upset, but she…answered my questions.

“I saw them on my way home after the club activities were over…it was about 19:00 o’clock.”

“…Then why so late at night? You could’ve come earlier.”

It’s 22:00 o’clock at night now.

It has been a long time since she has seen them.

“I’m not sure if I should report it…or not. I tried to convince myself that maybe I saw it wrong…but it didn’t work. My brother came home a while ago and there was some kind of…you know, girl smell on him.”

Smell…I see.

Apparently, that was the smoking gun that convinced her.

“I’m not a very sensitive person to smells, but I still smelled a sweet smell from my brother…and it was very unpleasant.”

The affair of a relative is something you want to deny. Besides, Ichika was in the middle of her teenage years…she must’ve felt that side of her brother and felt uncomfortable in her heart.

“Did you tell…Hana-san?”

“If I had told her, I wouldn’t have come to Takumi-nii at this hour. Mom’s not very good at…things like this. There’s no way I can tell her.”

Judging by the way she spoke…maybe she knows that Hana-san was cheated on, too?

She kept that part to herself because it wasn’t something she was supposed to tell me, but if she couldn’t tell Hana-san, there’s a good chance my guess is right.

I wonder if she was worried about her mother and that’s why she couldn’t rely on anyone and came to me …

Of course, Ichika would’ve been worried about me, the one who was cheated on by them. Or maybe the best option was for her to turn a blind eye and not tell anyone so that no one would get hurt.

However, this problem was too much for a middle school girl to handle alone. That’s why Ichika told me, even though she felt guilty.

I don’t think she made a mistake in that decision.

But it seems that she has been dragging her feet about the drastic change in…my condition just now.

“——I’m sorry.”

With a pained expression on her face, she bowed deeply.

Her trembling voice was full of remorse.

“I’m sorry that my brother is such a sc🬀🬀🬀ag.”

No…it’s not just an apology for her brother’s behavior.

Ichika seemed to bow her head, bearing the burden of even her relatives’ sins.

There is no need for that.

It was Takeshi’s fault, not Ichika’s.

Still, the way she apologized profusely was just like her…mother, Hana-san.

I believe more and more that Takeshi and Hana-san are not related by blood…and I strongly believe that Hana-san and Ichika are real parents and children who are related by blood.

I’m sure that kindness, goodness, and…wonderful human nature can be an inheritance.

They have a kindness in them that Takeshi does not have——