It’s tough to completely break away from something.
Especially if it’s from someone I love or despise.
Giving up my wealth and home isn’t that hard.
Money was never really an issue for me.
If it means my mother has changed, if that’s why her attitude has become like this, I could willingly give it all up.
I could just hand all my assets to my mother and ask her to return to who she was before.
Places didn’t matter to me either.
What’s the point of being in a place where there’s no one to love me or that I love? That mansion was just a cage that trapped me.
So I tried to let go.
I thought I could let go.
But it didn’t work out.
I still don’t really know why.
Was it because I didn’t eat enough of the weak potion? Was it because I didn’t reach the threshold for a lethal dose?
Maybe it was because that person who handed me the potion felt some useless sympathy?
……I didn’t really care anymore.
I had already consumed more than half the potion, and I knew I couldn’t die from the remaining amount no matter what.
Even if I chose to die inside that mansion, someone would probably discover me and save me.
In school, there could also be people connected to my mother among those who showed no interest in me.
What if I tried to take my own life and failed, ending up in a situation where I couldn’t even move?
That would truly be the end.
……I return to my daily life.
A daily life where nothing changes.
Every day, eat, wash, sleep, wake up, eat, wash, sleep, wake up again—
It felt like time wasn’t moving at all.
Within that stagnant time, I just wanted to give up everything.
*
……There was a person with a bright shining face.
No, the face wasn’t glowing from the beginning.
At first, they were just like any other kid—a person who wouldn’t disrupt my life, just passing by my side.
No reason for me to show interest, nor any need to.
“Hello.”
When I was greeted like that, I didn’t really care.
The people who greeted me eventually slipped away from my side anyway.
Once they found out about me, they distanced themselves right away.
“Hello.”
But that person was strangely persistent.
Even when I didn’t respond, they greeted me every day as if it was natural.
I ignored them.
“Hello.”
I ignored them again,
“Hello.”
I ignored them once more.
Did they not hear about me?
Were they the type to ignore rumors?
That strangely diligent person would every morning greet me, and that thought crossed my mind.
“Hello.”
Eventually, one day, I turned to face that person.
……It wasn’t that I wanted to say something. I was just curious about the face of someone who didn’t ignore me like the others.
I, who had been either slumped over my desk every day or staring out the window, turned toward the sound of that greeting.
And I saw it.
The face glowing brilliantly.
Like a memory of my father in my childhood.
And like my mother.
*
……A person who affected my life and changed it.
When I look at someone and feel something, that person was usually such a person.
I don’t know if this is just my instinct or if it’s another ability I possess. Well, both would be the same thing anyway.
In the end, that person with the bright face changed my life.
……It was destruction.
At least, that’s how it looked through the eyes of those who knew me.
Yeah, I think I understand the reason they judged like that.
Even though I was the richest teenager in the world, I had nothing at the moment.
Actually, they did say I could receive something. According to the bank clerk who brought me the potion, a lot of hidden assets were under my name.
Even if my mother abandoned me, excluded me from the inheritance rights, and I went into hiding, it wouldn’t be hard to get some usable money.
Destruction.
I severed ties with the only family I had left, was dumped by my fiancé, and had my qualifications to inherit the largest company in the world stripped away.
That person who persistently greeted me ended up hating me to the extreme.
Yeah, in the end, I had nothing left.
But it felt so refreshing.
“Oh dear, young lady, you’re going out early today.”
A tractor rattled alongside me as I walked.
The one driving the tractor was an elderly woman. She had wrinkles on her face, and her neck was bent like a turtle sticking its head out, but every morning she drove her tractor to the fields.
She claimed to have done this work her whole life; she was a truly remarkable person of dedication.
“Yes, I have to go out early to finish the work quickly.”
The orchard isn’t that big. In fact, compared to an orchard operated to make a living, it could almost be called a vegetable garden.
I only shared a little with the neighbors and kept what I would eat for myself, and there wouldn’t be much left to sell.
But I liked that little orchard.
Because it was about growing something, not strangling something.
“Young people are so diligent.”
“All the young people are diligent these days.”
“Oh dear, not true~ my grandson…”
My walking pace wasn’t that fast, but the tractor was the same. If this were a road, several cars would have already overtaken us.
I nodded along to the grandmother’s complaints until we arrived at the orchard.
*
I had grown a little taller since then.
My body seemed to have grown a bit. Of course, I still wouldn’t call myself tall, but I was relieved that I could still grow beyond my middle school years.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t even have been able to reach most of the trees here, and I couldn’t have gained this much physical strength.
Remembering when I first came, I could only laugh.
I had come to work wearing jeans, didn’t know how to dig the ground with a shovel, and spent a whole day just trying to plant a seedling.
Now, I sometimes wear what others would consider ridiculous baggy pants, and I even wear a wide-brimmed hat that grandmothers use.
I have a towel around my neck, gardening gloves on my hands, and I’m diligently picking fruit.
No matter how much I slather sunscreen on my arms, I can’t help but get my skin tanned under the blazing sun.
But that was fine.
I no longer had to worry about anyone disparaging me, no need to worry about someone yelling at me or throwing things at me.
……I truly did something to that person.
Every time I met the person with the shining face, my life fell apart.
So again, in a moment of desperation, I clung to that person.
Of course, to that person, I must have seemed like I hated myself to the extreme.
Now, there would probably be no chance to meet again, and there would be no reason for them to meet me.
But I still think I’m grateful.
I never thought things would turn out this well.
Because ultimately, my mother had given up on me.
……Or perhaps, one could say that this was what my mother had aimed for.
……Until the very end, that person’s face was shining bright.
I only realized that I wasn’t dazzled by that brilliant face after everything had come to an end.
If it were me, I would have pushed until they broke.
The only reason I didn’t was that person was that kind.
*
“……Hoo.”
As I picked fruit while pondering various thoughts, the sun was setting when my basket was about to overflow.
“Shall we call it a day?”
No matter how hard I looked at the peaches I picked, they had no market value.
Pruning wasn’t done properly, and even if I managed them every day, there was a limit to what I could do alone.
Some had been hanging too long and were too soft, while others were hidden behind leaves and still under-ripe.
They were absolutely unsellable, but they were still edible.
“Ugh!”
I lifted the basket filled with fruit. Honestly, it was too heavy to carry in one go.
I probably had to take a break a few times on the way.
I’ll pick out a few good ones along the way to share with my neighbors.
*
……So I returned home.
Yet, in front of my house was a car.
A blue, luxury car that seemed like it could fit only two people.
It did not fit the image of the crumbling old house at all.
“…….”
And leaning against that car was a woman.
She was also dressed in an urban outfit that didn’t match the background at all.
In a white blouse and a blue mini-skirt matching the color of the car.
Her long legs were absurdly beautiful for considering her age.
Even after all these years.
She seemed as if she had dressed up on purpose, as if she were there to meet someone she loved.
Thump, a sound echoed.
I looked down and realized the basket I was holding was gone. I must have lost grip of it in an instant.
Roll, a peach rolled and touched the woman’s deep blue high heels.
“…….”
The woman turned her head toward me.
Surely, her blue eyes must have been looking at me.
But I could not be certain.
Because, on her face, a brightness that I had never seen before was shining.
“……I finally found you.”
The woman opened her mouth.
“Finally.”
The woman who had been leaning against the car took a step toward me.
I have to run.
But where to?
Maybe I could hide at my grandmother’s house.
But this person would surely come looking for me right away.
Just like they have for years.
As I stood there unable to move, that person’s hand reached and touched my cheek.
“Aah…….”
Looking at my face, that person said,
“You’re just the same.”
What does she mean by just the same?
What is she talking about?
I was sure this person knew Sara.
“……Finally, we met like this.”
Hehe, that person smiled.
“———.”
The person’s lips moved.
She called someone’s name.
But it wasn’t my name.
Ah, I get it now.
So this was it.
I had misjudged this person.
What this person was after was not my money.
That’s why, even though I gave up everything—
This person wouldn’t give up.
“I will never let you go now.”
I was perhaps walking straight into this person’s embrace.
That person’s face slowly came closer. The dazzling light filled my vision.
But I couldn’t run away.
Soon, this person’s face would be seen again.
And after that, it may never shine again.
