Chapter 79 Hahaoya wa Kodomo no Dorei Janai

Hahaoya wa Kodomo no Dorei Janai

(Tl: Mothers Are Not Slaves to Their Children)

“——No, no, no, that’s crazy.”

After a moment of silence.

Perhaps finally realizing the situation, Takeshi opened his mouth in panic.

“Stop being a parent!? Don’t be silly. How could you do such a thing? Because you are my mother and it is your duty to raise me——”

“Yes. That’s why I will fulfill my duty to (raise) you. You don’t have to worry about living expenses or tuition. And I will also fill out the necessary paperwork as your guardian. But I won’t take care of laundry, cooking, cleaning…that kind of thing. You’ll have to take care of yourself from now on”.

“But I can’t do that. There’s no way I’m going to do the housework!”

“…There are kids your age living alone in the world, so I think you’ll be okay, right?”

“No, I’m talking about why I suddenly have to do something annoying…That’s a mom’s job, right? Do it right.”

“Takeshi…what do you think a mother is?”

Hana-san must have put up with a lot for the sake of her children.

But Takeshi does not understand this.

Instead, he thinks that Hana-san is happy to take care of him.

His perception is wrong.

“Mothers are not slaves to their children. Don’t think that I’m just a housekeeper to make you comfortable or to please you. I am a human being too——just like you, I don’t like housework. But I wanted my children to grow up healthy, so I did my best.”

…Thinking back, when Hana-san did the housework, she always smiled happily when I thanked her.

But apparently, Takeshi rarely or maybe never thanked Hana-san for that…so she may have been frustrated by that as well.

Of course, recent events were not the only problem.

I think Hana-san had been thinking about that for a long time too.

She has accumulated it until now——I guess.

“Even I…have put up with it. Takeshi, do you understand? Can you understand the frustration of raising the child of a man who made you unhappy, the hardship of being burdened with the responsibility of being a parent…when I did not give birth to him? You can’t. You can’t. How can someone like you understand me?”

She has been flat for a while now.

But, little by little Hana-san’s voice began to carry emotion.

What remains is anger, of course.

“Children are not to blame. I thought so, deceived myself, and loved you like my own child. Thanks to the fact that you and he are not related by blood, it’s a good thing that you don’t look alike…but your personalities are beginning to look exactly the same with him. Why is that? Do you still have memories of living with that person when you were a child?”

Hana-san speaks quickly, spitting out her accumulated thoughts.

Takeshi, on the other hand, was clearly upset.

“Uh, ah…”

Maybe it was because he had never seen Hana-san so angry before.

Or maybe he felt betrayed after hearing the true feelings of his mother, whom he trusted.

I’m sure this is what he was expecting to hear,

(Takeshi, I’m sorry, okay? You did nothing wrong. I’m on your side no matter what…)

…Hana-san would have said something like that before she was disappointed in Takeshi. But that won’t happen anymore.

Because you’ve already crossed the line.

The fact that you hit me, or rather hurt me so badly that I bled, is the end of it all.

(When you lost yourself in anger, I won.)

A little…or a lot, although Hana-san is pretty out of control.

But overall, the story is going well.

Everything went well——