A Memory and a Home

I remembered something.

I found myself walking up to a table of the same food court, but I was at a much smaller height. Furthermore, I wasn't with Ringomori, but a tall woman holding my hand. Her warmth was apparent, and also a different kind from Ringomori's touch. It was a motherly warmth.

The next thing I remembered was the two of us sitting with food in front of us. I looked down to see what I had gotten, and it was orange chicken. Without hesitation, I pigged out eating until I received a gentle scolding from my mom. For once, I could hear her.

"Chamaru, what did I tell you about makin' a mess when eatin' your food? Come on, use these napkins to clean up."

I felt myself pouting at her, saying in a grumpy tone, "It's not my fault they make these so delicious!"

"You always get the same order whenever we come here."

"Mhm!"
I had taken another bite of the chicken, then, with full chipperness, I declared,
"That's because it's my favorite food!"

➼ ➼ ➼

In one blink, I had returned to my peer outing with Ringomori.

"Did something happen, Vieira-kun? You seem a bit dazed all of a sudden?"

"N-No, it's nothin'," I answered. "Oh, but goin' back to your question from before, I'm sure that this is my favorite food."
I raised a piece of chicken with my chopsticks, then took a healthy bite from it with euphoria.

She tilted her head to the left.
"Hmm? Was one bite all it took to confirm that for you?"

"Well, it's a bit complicated, but yeah."

"Noted," she said.

She turned off her phone and we continued eating our food and letting it digest for the better part of an hour. I had questioned why a memory had come to me then, but I came up with zero answers, perhaps it would be something to bring up later. Once we refilled our energy, we took our antidepressant pills and headed back into the mall.

Ringomori inspected another holographic map display.
"There's another idol store on the third floor. Since it's only three in the afternoon, would you like to quickly check it out?"

"Let's do it."

The idol store had merchandise for a multitude of idol groups, past and present. We looked around and saw more accessories for RONDselia, and my poor wallet would be used again.

I decided to buy a hoodless windbreaker that had a large logo of the idol band on the back; it would be put to use with the upcoming fall season.

"Are you goin' to buy anythin' else?"

She rubbed her chin as she surveyed the merchandise.
"I was thinking of getting a cute accessory I could put on my schoolbag, but I don't know what it should be."

I took my own gander at some of the accessories behind us and found something that could akin to her liking.

"Here, how about this?"

She turned around and I dangled a pin of a raccoon in front of her face. Her name was Tsukki, and she was RONDselia's mascot in the story. Tsukki was also the pet of the lead vocalist.

With beaming eyes and an open smile, Ringomori took the pin and warbled.
"Tsukki-chan! How could I forget about you?! This image is when she gets adopted by Yukina-chan, how amazing. They're both my absolute favorites."

"You should buy it then, so it can match all the Yukina merch you already have."

She bought it, and even recorded the transaction; her right hand was over her left shoulder again.

With that, we later went through most of the other stores on each floor as we made our way back down to where we entered from. We didn't buy anything else that day.

The weather when we left the mall was much cooler and breezier than in the morning, so we decided to walk to the orphanage and bask in the wind. The streets of Sapporo were clean for the most part, and the buildings weren't very tall. We passed by another sweets shop and I saw "Family Homemade" written on a sign.

I pointed the sign out and asked, "Ringomori-san, can you make your own desserts? Y'know, like apple pie?"

She looked at the sign, then back to the ground.
"I would make them all the time before I entered the orphanage. Once I got here, I lost my motivation and passion to bake."

"Oh, that's too bad, I bet you'd make good desserts. I wouldn't mind tryin' them one day."

I shifted my gaze towards her, she held her hands tightly against her chest as her steps grew smaller.

Practically whispering, she said, "I'm…a little embarrassed by that…"

"A-Ah, I didn't mean any harm by it. I meant like, you could get a part-time job bakin' at CLARIS, and I would order from there. I'm sure you'd skyrocket their business."

"Well, I never really thought about part-time jobs, or even university for that matter. They always sent down an overthinking rabbit hole that was difficult to climb out of. I know I should focus on them soon, because I'll be on my own once I'm out of the orphanage. What about you?"

"Well, my situation's a bit different. In the lawsuit of my accident, as the sole survivor, I was awarded compensation money from the responsible family. It was mainly to pay for my medical bills, burial and funeral costs, and post-accident therapy for my supposed trauma."

"Do you think you'll work during your time in university? If not, that's quite lucky for you."

"I wouldn't say I'm that lucky. I may have survived the accident, but I had to trade in my memories and parents for that money. I have plenty to spare, but I can't even use it until I'm eighteen."

We reached a familiar stoplight. I assumed we were roughly halfway to the orphanage. She continued the conversation as we waited for the light to turn green.

"What will you buy once you get access to it?"

"Without contact to any family members, I never really bothered to think about how I'd spend the money. I might just be a miser and hoard it all forever."

"Well, be wise to use it to your success. As an orphan, there's bigger hurdles for us to jump over. It's like what they say, 'go big or go home.' However, when you're an orphan, there really isn't a home for you to return to."

The light turned green.

"If you had money, what would you buy?" I asked.

"It's only a pipe dream, but I would buy back the house I lost when I was taken in by the orphanage."

I hadn't expected an answer like that from her. Her expression was gilded, as if she had thought about that question and answer on her own time.

"What happened to it?"

"The bank seized control of it, and then it was bought by another family. Once they moved in, I could never find the courage to revisit it, even though it's equidistant of CLARIS and our orphanage."

Her answer made me wonder about my old house. The only memory I have of it was when I moved out to the first orphanage, so unlike her, I had no real attachment to it. Perhaps to her, it meant more than just being a house.

I wonder where it's located? I asked myself in my mind.

Shortly after, we arrived at the orphanage, and for once, didn't immediately separate into our own rooms and sat down at the dining table.

"By the way," she said, "I'm going to download the rhythm game and start playing it. I…I would like…for you to be my…first friend I added. Is that…okay?"

I displayed a smile of reassurance to calm her nerves.
"Sure, you'd actually be my first friend there too."

She headed upstairs and left me with her phone as the game downloaded, then returned a few minutes later with multiple paperback volumes of RONDselia's manga, and her camera.

I picked up a paperback and began flipping through some of the pages, completely astonished by the cute and fluffy artstyle.

"I'd love to redraw some of these panels, I'll start readin' it tonight."

The camera she used for typical recordings was placed in front of her chest at the edge of the table. She intended to record her phone and thumbs as she played the game. I was seated next to her and provided a few tips as she progressed through the tutorial.

We were alone in the dining room playing games for the rest of that day, until curfew took us apart late at night. I had caught myself smiling at the end of the day once again.