Chapter 41: Kyoto School Trip (III)

"Say Fuutarou-san, am I a burden? Would it be better if I've never existed?" Miku said as she smiled with her tears flowing down from her eyes.

Shouko, who saw this, decided to hug Miku at once without even hesitation. Shouko is a kind-hearted person; she can't leave anyone crying without trying to do something. And most of all, she could relate to Miku's circumstances. She herself didn't have a father, and her mother had to work hard to support the other three females in the house. She knew what it felt like to be a useless person, unable to hear clearly until a year ago.

"Nishi...miya-san?" Miku was startled.

"Please call me Shouko, and I'll call you Miku, all right? It's okay, Miku-chan, feel free to cry, for I am here for you."

"We are all here for you. We understand what you feel since we had all gone through similar circumstances."

As much as I wanted to join their hug, I ultimately decided to just pat her head since it would be awkward for me to join their girls' hug.

"Feel free to cry your heart out. We'll be here listening to your story." I told her with a downtrodden tone while gently caressing her head to make her feel better.

After Miku heard our words and getting pampered by us, she burst into tears as she hugged us tightly.

"*Sniff* Shouko-chan! Fuutarou-san! It was hard for me, you know?! *Sniff Sniff*" She cried out loud as she continued sniffing.

"Yes, yes, we know." Shouko continued hugging her gently. Miku continued crying while hugging us, and it took us some time to make her stop. After a few minutes, she finally stopped crying and let us go.

"Fuutarou-san...don't you find it tough being poor?"

"Eh? How did you ever know that? I'm sure that I never told you that before."

Wow, this girl is scary...

"Hehe...I just took a guess." Miku let out a tiny smile seeing my reaction, and continued, "Your actions were almost similar to my sisters and mine. We never bought extra things that would be a waste of money, we had to save every penny that we have, and you treat that ordinary old camera like it's your most treasured possession. Am I wrong?"

Now I'm terrified of this girl. I didn't even know about those subconscious actions of mine, yet a girl I just met for the first time in my life noticed this? How closely was she observing me?

"Well, you're not wrong. So what did you mean by your question of finding it tough to be poor?" I let out a wry smile as I squatted against the railings of the shrine.

"As I told you, my family's the same way. My mom works hard all by herself to support our family. Being poor doesn't bother me, but it hurts seeing my mom push herself like that." Miku said with a sad expression, her hand never letting go of Shouko's.

"Well, my family's about the same. My father has to work everywhere but locally to support us. And if that's not enough, my mother is pregnant with twins, so I guess my family's getting poorer again." Placing my head back against my head, I rested against the railings, "Well, it would obviously be nice if my family were rich, but it's not like I can do anything about it for now."

"Yeah...but sometimes I think...that if I weren't around, mom's life would be easier."

"Miku-chan, please don't ever say that again."

"But-"

"No. You can say anything you want, but disregarding your parent's feeling by stating that you're not needed. That," I said while frowning, "Is not forgivable."

As someone who had lived one and a half lives, I should know it the best. Although I had already forgotten most of the things in my past life, important things like my long-overdue-to-be-contacted family never vanished from my memory.

But reminiscing and remaining in the past were two different things. I know that I could not turn back time to make things right, so I'll do my best to live this life without regrets, only keeping the memories of my past as just that - my past.

Miku went silent at my sudden aggressiveness.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but never think of yourself as an unneeded existence. I'm sure your mother would be very disappointed in you if she were to hear you say things like that. If I still can't persuade you with that, then think of your family now - your sisters, grandpa, and soon-to-be father. Think about what I said."

I offered Miku a seat on a bench near us to make her feel better and let her think about what I said instead of just standing. After that, I went to a vending machine and bought some drinks for them.

I didn't know what Miku liked, so I got her the traditional green tea and a warm chocolate-milk for Shouko.

Feeling my pockets, it seems that I'm left with only 300 yen to spend. Hm...I think I'm in trouble.

"T-Thank you, all of you are v-very kind." She accepted my drink and replied while wiping the tears off her face.

"No problem. Are you feeling better now?" I asked with a gentle smile.

"Mhmm. It's thanks to you guys." She nodded her head as she took a sip of her green tea.

"I told you right, you can depend on us anytime," Shouko proudly stated as she put up an expression while trying to be funny in an attempt to cheer Miku up.

"Thanks."

After that, we just stopped talking as we just gazed at the night sky. Looking up, the sky was clear without a single cloud present. The sky was a mixture of dark, midnight blue, and purple. The colors swirled around each other to make beautiful contrasting lights and darks of the night sky.

The stars just decorated the night sky. It almost looked as if someone just took a handful of glitter and scattered it across the sky. The stars were sparkling and gorgeous, while the moon accented the night sky perfectly. It was three-quarters full, bright, and beautiful.

We observed the beautiful night sky in silence together. Miku didn't seem like she was going to talk, so I decided to break the silence.

"You know, Miku-chan."

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"Hmmm?" Miku looked at Fuutarou curiously, waiting for him to continue.

"All of us were born for a reason, but not all of us discover the reason. Success in life has nothing to do with what we gain in life or what we have accomplished for ourselves. Success in life is what we do for others."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" She tilted her head in confusion and asked.

"Miku-chan, the reason why your mother can push herself like that was that she has a family that gives her the courage to step forward. And of course, you're one of them, Miku-chan. You're part of her family that gave her courage."

"..."

"That's why don't ever think about being a burden to your mother again. Never ever think that it's better if you had never existed. If it weren't for you, for your sisters, your mother wouldn't have had the strength to live on. After all, her family is why she can do all the normally impossible things for her. That is how important you are to her."

"Fuutarou-san..."

Miku was about to cry again after hearing those words from him. It warmed her heart every time she listened to his voice. It was different from Shouko's voice.

While Shouko could calm her down, he could reassure her, making her feel as though she was safe from all outside influences, like nothing could ever harm her as long as he was there for her.

For the first time, she was encountering a complicated feeling. But Fuutarou did not end with that as he grabbed Miku's shoulders with both his hands and faced her with a severe expression.

"Look, Miku-chan, you were born for a particular reason. Everything that exists had a purpose, and you just need to search for yours. I'm sure you would be able to find it. You can do it, Miku-chan."

Fuutarou saw her thinking expression and continued, "For example, mine is to study a lot, get a lot smarter, make my own company that makes billions of dollars per year so that my family would have an easier life.

And if you still don't know what to do, you can follow mine first to make your mother's life easier. This way, I'm sure you'll become someone necessary, and you would be able to find the meaning to having been born."

As soon as she heard those words, Miku awakened. At last, she found a reason to live and continue moving forwards. She feels so blessed to meet someone as kind as Fuutarou. Miku couldn't think of anything to repay them for all the things they did for her. "Fuutarou-san, you..."

"Ah. Of course, that's my goal, and I would do anything to achieve it. You see, I have a little sister and upcoming twins as my younger siblings. My little sister just started elementary school, but...if I study like crazy and get crazy smart and make a crazy amount of money, I might be able to let my younger siblings live without any hardships.

I could become someone necessary. And if you're wondering, I'm not going to lose to you. I vow that I'll do everything that I can for the sake of my family. So what is your vow?"

Fuutarou purposely challenged Miku to raise her spirits, and with this challenge, she gained a new direction in her life.

"Mhmm, I won't lose either! It's a promise! Hehe!" Miku grinned and declared as well. They smiled at each other as they performed a pinky-promise cheerfully.

"Haha, don't come crying when you realize that I'm already one step ahead of you! I recently won a competition that gave me some money! I'm already taken the first step to achieving my dream!

"Hey, I also want to be in this promise!" Shouko's voice suddenly appeared, and Fuutarou could see her pouting.

"Haha...sorry we left you out! Let's all promise to do our best for our siblings!"

Like this, the three pinkies intertwined with each other, creating a perfectly symmetrical image.

"Now that our promise is made let's wish for it."

"Eh? But isn't our promise based on hard work?" Miku puzzledly asked.

"It might be so, but you can't deny that sometimes God and luck helps as well. Otherwise, why would you buy the five lucky charms as well?" Fuutarou teased Miku as he pointed towards the five charms that were kept in her pockets.

Miku just pouted at Fuutarou's refute and remained silent.

"I only have 300 yen left, so let's split it between us three."

"Eh? Don't you need it to go back to wherever you need to go?"

"Well, I don't really want to leave you alone in this place in the middle of the night. And since the 300 yen wouldn't be able to let all of us go home, we might as well ask something from God."

"Do you think God is a merchant or something?"

"Haha..."

'If you really knew God...'

The three of them bowed twice before clapping their hands twice.

"I'll pray that I'll one day be an adult who can put in a 10,000 yen bill." Miku clasped her hands together and prayed.

Her prayer was relatively short, and she bowed deeply one more time once she was done praying. Turning to look at Fuutarou's serious expression as he prayed, Miku couldn't help but let out a small smile.

'Thank you, God, for allowing me to reincarnate into this world. Although I was very surprised, it was fun even until now, and I really enjoyed it. I pray for my family's safety and happiness, and I hope it will last this peace will last forever.'

Fuutarou soon finished his prayer as well and bowed once more.

"What did you wish for?"

"You're not supposed to say it out loud." Fuutarou retorted. After a moment of silence, they burst into laughter.

Suddenly, a burst of bright light flashed in front of them, and Fuutarou and Shouko instinctively closed their eyes. Because Miku's back was facing the light source, she wasn't blinded.

"Ah...!"

"What wrong?" Fuutarou asked as his eyes slowly adapted to the new light intensity. The first thing he noticed was that there was an extra presence of an unknown man holding a flashlight that had arrived.

Miku didn't get a chance to reply before the unknown man opened his mouth and asked.

"Miku-kun, what are you doing here?"

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Alternate Title: Heartfelt Talk

A/N: Despite this being only 2.1k words, I feel like this chapter is a lot better than the previous chapter with 2.7k words. Quality is sometimes better than quantity.

I changed to 3rd person perspective halfway through cause I felt awkward writing the second half using 1st person perspective...

This is all part of Chapter 88 of the manga, and I had expanded a little from it.

And congratulations! It's a double update! You're very, very welcome for the 4k words this week.