As they sip their coffee, they ponder something even they themselves don’t understand. Seeing their current actions overlap with their past selves happens frequently. No matter how many years passed, there was never any boundary between their present and former selves.
“People at work still treat me like a kid, like the principal and vice principal.”
“That’s probably true for me too. I’m still a young researcher, after all.”
Zeke and Anya say this, smiling wryly.
“It’s difficult…”
After reminiscing about their student days together under the same roof, the two of them were lost in thought. What it means to become an adult was something adults didn’t understand very well either.
“I’m home!”
As they’re having that discussion, the front door slams open and Yuki comes running inside. Oblivious to her parents harboring sentimental feelings about the past, she charges at full speed into the living room.
“I’m home!”
“Oh, welcome back, Yuki.”
“Welcome back. Go wash your hands and gargle first, okay?”
“Okay! Oh, it’s chess…Huh? White is winning? So that means…”
Glancing back and forth at the chess pieces and Zeke and Anya’s seating arrangement, Yuki realizes what happened.
“Mom won!?”
“Fufufu~”
“Whoaaa!”
Eyes wide open in surprise, Anya flashes a V-sign at her daughter, bragging.
“You finally did it! Now I have to follow in your footsteps! Dad! Let’s play!”
“Urgh…”
Yuki decisively points at her father. Zeke shrinks back a little. The flow feels bad. He gets the vague premonition he’s about to be swept up by her momentum. But still, a father doesn’t have the right to turn down his daughter’s challenge.
“Wash your hands and gargle first. And put the laundry in the washing machine.”
“Okay!”
Yuki charges into the bathroom with a clatter. Even though it wasn’t far enough to run, she noisily dashes down the short hallway of the house. Seeing their rushed, fidgety daughter, Zeke and Anya softly exhale.
“I wonder what kind of adult Yuki will become…”
“….Who knows?”
Imagining their daughter’s future just as they look back on their own past, Zeke murmurs.
“….She probably won’t change much.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
The two grin at each other.
“Okay! Let’s play! Dad!”
Having finished washing her hands and gargling at the speed of light, Yuki runs back into the living room and shouts. Her hands aren’t completely dried yet, still wet, with lingering droplets of water around her mouth that she hadn’t wiped away. Everything about her appearance was haphazard.
Zeke smiles wryly. What kind of adult will his clumsy daughter grow up to be? As he watches his daughter energetically move her pawns, he wonders about that.
An hour later after their match, Zeke is victorious.
“Uwaaaaaaah!”
Yuki voices her frustration like some kind of monster. Tears fill her eyes. Face flushed red, she shouts at the top of her lungs venting her anger. There was still a difference in strength between Zeke and Yuki.
“So frustrating! So frustrating!” Angry noises “Ugghhh!”
Kicking her feet around in the chair, Yuki expresses her irritation with her whole body. Having won against his daughter, Zeke heaves a sigh of relief. He’d rather avoid consecutive losses after all.
“Too bad, Yuki.”
“Mooom!”
Collapsing limply, Yuki clings to Anya.
“There, there…”
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Stroking Yuki’s head as if comforting an elementary schooler, Anya pets her daughter. Though she was now in intermediate studies, this girl was still just a kid, Zeke chuckles to himself.
“You may have lost, but I think the gap has narrowed a lot, hasn’t it Yuki?”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah. But that mistake in the midgame really hurt.”
Saying this, Anya moves the chess pieces to recreate the board position when Yuki had made that midgame mistake. Calming down from her tantrum, Yuki silently watches as her mother arranges the pieces.
“Rushing your knight forward here was impatient. Zeke took advantage of that opening, causing this piece to lose its effectiveness.”
“What should I have done?”
“Well…like retreating, or raising other pieces to expand your attacking options…”
Speaking as such, Anya lightly pinches black and white pieces between her fingers, demonstrating an alternate progression from the match to Yuki. Letting out soft murmurs of I see…Yuki intently watches the chess flow her mother creates.
“Okay, so what about here where I was struggling on what to do? What do you think would have been good?”
Yuki moves the pieces to recreate that past board state, and Anya brings a hand to her chin, pondering.
“If it were me there…I would’ve…”
Saying this, Anya grasps a piece between her fingers. Leaning close together, the mother teaches her daughter. Meticulously and gently explaining what was good and bad, she thoughtfully answers each of Yuki’s questions as they both gaze at the same board.
///
scene transition
///
Watching this sight, Zeke smiles leisurely.
Earlier, they had discussed whether they had really become adults. Since their behavior hadn’t changed at all since their school days, they wondered what being an adult even meant. But seeing Anya sitting beside their daughter carefully teaching her chess, Zeke feels Anya has indeed become an adult.
She had properly become a mother.
That was also how he felt seeing her some time ago patiently watching the children solve chess problems from behind. Anya had taken on the figure of a mother tenderly observing her children. Anya had certainly become an adult.
Warm emotions well up in Zeke’s chest. In the past, he had thought of himself as Anya’s guardian, someone who had to look after troublesome Anya, but now Anya was splendidly performing the role of mother. Zeke goes to the kitchen and pours apple juice into three cups. Carrying them over to the mother and daughter furrowing their brows over the chess board.
Ah, thank you, they say, and he waves his hands saying think nothing of it. Then he moves away so as not to disturb them, sitting down on the sofa a small distance apart. Relaxing into the cushions, he watches the serene scene of mother and child huddling close together.
In that mother’s figure, he strongly sensed an adult presence.
Summer was drawing nearer. The early summer sunshine streaming in through the window glittered on the apple juice.
It had been a while since Anya had won the chess game against Zeke.
After Anya had defeated Zeke in chess, her fighting spirit settled down, and the family’s chess fever cooled off a little. They still played chess together frequently as a family, but it wasn’t like right after Zeke got home they’d immediately start a game, or have fierce matches every night. After beating Zeke, Anya had started to calm down.
…She should have started calming down.
“Stupid! Moron! Idiot! Nincompoop! Dummy!”
“…………”
Anya was shouting again. Face bright red, eyes brimming with tears, she hurled childish abuse at her husband. Zeke could only grimace.
The TV in the living room flickered as a game console sat on the table beside it. Haru had gotten a new competitive game as a present, so the family was playing it together. After Anya lost to Zeke’s character on the TV clearly displaying the defeat results…
In other words, Anya had lost to Zeke in a video game.
“You stupid father…!”
“…………”
As Anya loudly vents her frustration, Zeke holds his head. Though he had seen her warm, motherly side recently, here Anya was again revealing the same undisciplined behavior as when she was a child. Zeke heaves the deep sigh he had breathed so many times dealing with her since she was little.
“I won’t lose! I absolutely don’t want to lose! I’ll definitely win and make Zeke eat dirt…!”
“…………”
However, Zeke figured this battle would drag on.
That game was a classic title that had been re-released. It was a game Zeke had often played with friends back in his school days. But Anya had shown zero interest in games back then, so her skill level now was still that of a complete beginner.
“Zeke, you idiot bakaaaaa!”
Saying this, Anya dashes out of the living room.
“Ah! Dad made mom cry again!”
“He made her cry!”
“…………”
Shrugging his shoulders, Zeke sighs deeply.
It seemed the days of conflict were far from over.
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