V1C6 - An Inch Away From Breakdown

I park my bike and look at the house, rather my home.

Its a two story house one would usually see in anime.

Well this one's a bit larger.

I enter the door and put my shoes in the shoe rack.

"I'm home!" I announce.

I step in and look to my left. Usually there'd be a wall there but they seem to have been removed during the renovation that was done when Yuuta was young.

The removal of the walls truly changed the atmosphere of the area, now it looks much more open and free when usually it'd look suffocating.

The living area has a TV facing the kitchen with an L-shaped couch designating the border between the kitchen, living room and hallway.

I look towards the kitchen and there is an elevated seating are, kind of like the one's you'd usually see in the bar, but this one here has 2 chairs on both sides so that it can be used both as a kitchen surface and a dining area,

Truly a proper usage of space.

And then my eyes finally end up towards the lady in the kitchen.

"Welcome home, Yuu. Come here quickly. I just baked a new cake."

Once again, I did not give permission for this nickname to be used, but I suppose this lady does have the full rights to do so and neither do I mind if she does.

She is Akiko Kazama, my mother in this new life.

"Sure, I'll be there in a second"

I put my bag down beside the cupboard, wash my face and enter the kitchen.

I look at my mother and she also turns towards me.

Black hair in a short pony tail, similar brown eyes, similar eye shape, and a gentle smile.

She does look young.

Of course not as if she's my older sister as they usually exaggerate in anime.

But she does look young enough for one to assume that her eldest child would be going to elementary school and not high school.

I move closer and go in for a gentle hug.

She is a little surprised but she also wraps her hands around my back.

"Oohh Yuu is coming for a hug today by himself when usually you usually run away when I ask for one, hahaha." she jokes.

"Did something happen today or what?" she calmly asks with concern and care in her tone as she gently rubs my back.

Ahh, this warmth.

After a few hours of being in an unknown world, an unknown place in an unknown body, I finally feel at home.

I almost let loose all my unstable emotions here and just about stopped myself from crying like a teensy toddler in her bosom.

I was worried about my last life; what happened to me, did I die, are my parents fine?

I felt like yelling how scared I was at the feeling of unbelonging to this world, and how alien I felt for the few most dreadful minutes of my life before our souls assimilated.

I tried to distract myself with weird thoughts and divert myself from thinking about all of that but if it went on for even 10 more minutes then I might have truly broken down.

"Nothing, I just had quite a long day."

Yet I reel in my emotions and prevent my voice from shaking in the slightest.

Because if I don't she would end up asking questions I wouldn't be able to lie about and end up spilling everything including the transmigration too.

It's not that I couldn't lie about it, it's just something my heart wouldn't be able to take when she asks about what happened to her 'Yuuta'.

I guess guilt and various other complex emotions remain in my heart.

I know it's not my fault, I know I didn't ask for this, but still.

I guess emotions are always complicated things to deal with, whether it's my previous life or this one.

It might not be a bad thing to fix my personality issues I had before transmigrating.

Either way, I feel truly blessed for having such good mothers in both my lives.

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After I calmed down, I reluctantly left the warm embrace of my mother and looked at the cake she just baked.

It was a simple pound cake.

It looked warm and quite appetizing.

I cut a small piece and took a bite.

Hmmm...

It tastes good but something...

"How is it? Is it good? I did follow all the instructions but maybe I made a mistake somewhere."

Mother anxiously asked after seeing my expression was a little weird.

Instead of replying, I cut another piece and try it again.

Hmmm...

Yeah that confirms it.

"The taste is decent, rather good in fact. But the issue is with the texture. I guess it's a bit dry. Did you put in cream or yogurt of any kind? That should help with the dryness."

"No, I guess I must have missed that. Haah. And here I was getting overconfident that I could get it right on the first try"

She looked dejected.

This...

I really don't like the look of her face.

I don't know if someone assigned a mission or something but I feel the urgent need to erase that dejected look off her face.

Think, think.

There must be something I can do here.

Ah!

I remember when baking a cake with my mother in my previous life and we had the same issue.

What were the odds of that happening in both lives, hahaha.

I guess the solution was something like...

"You could try injecting it or constantly glazing it with a sugar water syrup. That would make it softer and won't even ruin it with some weird flavors."

Her face instantly lit up.

"My Yuu might just be a genius! Thank you, I was worried we wont be able to eat it but you've saved the cake."

"Oh it's nothing, I saw the solution on YouTube one time. You could try it yourself and see the other solutions possible. Anyways I'm going to sleep on the couch. Please wake me up before dinner."

"Sure go and rest yourself while I try to fix this myself. Thank you Yuu."

She instantly got giddy.

I took a sip of her coffee to wash down the cake and went towards the couch.

I slept with a large smile on my face.

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*shake* *shake*

Hmmm?

Is someone waking me up?

It must be dinner time probably.

I groggily open my eyes and see someone looking at me.

Hmm, long black hair tied in a pony tail, similar brown eyes, similar eye shape, similar jaw and face structure.

Though she truly looks short compared to me and mom.

*SMACK*

She slapped my head.

"Owww! Why are you even hitting me?"

I ask my mischievous little sister, Yume Kazama.

"Hmph! I'm pretty sure you were thinking something rude."

Whoa there!

Why is her intuition too sharp?

From my memories she seems to have a complex about her height.

I slowly get up.

It's best not to admit it to her face what I was thinking.

I stand up and slowly, bring my hand to her head and slowly pat her while showing an apologetic expression.

"It's alright. Time fixes everything. Maybe one day you will grow up too."

But I just couldn't resist teasing her.

Once again she tries to smack me on the head but this time I catch her hand.

Knowing she can't hit me, she plays the only card she has.

"Mom! Yuuta is teasing me again!"

But it seems like mom doesn't care and has more urgent business.

"Yuuta stop teasing your sister and go change your clothes, and Yume come here, I need your help. We'll be having dinner in some time."

I show Yume a shit-eating grin and head up to my room to face today's second existential crisis while Yume went to the kitchen grumbling not knowing she'll be taking her revenge just a ew minutes later.