"Mmm~ so good! Grandma, your cooking is amazing!"
Watching the girl in front of her happily eating the dishes that Chihiro had loved as a child, Tsuzuki Shifune's face softened into a warm smile.
Back at the cemetery, when she first heard "Soyo" say those unexpected, almost unbelievable words, her initial reaction had been—
Could it have been a lie, just to comfort them?
But it would have been too easy to expose, and besides—
Would someone really tell such a cruel lie?
"Soyo, if Chihiro really came back, why hasn't she come to see us?"
"..."
Chihiro's hand hesitated mid-air, the chopsticks pausing between the dishes.
"She… made some mistakes. At first, she wasn't sure how to face you."
"Mistakes?"
Chihiro met her grandmother's gaze—those sharp, penetrating eyes—as well as Raana's hesitant expression.
Raana had clearly been wanting to say something for a while, but their grandmother's look had kept her silent.
It seemed like the moment had finally come to tell the truth.
The moment she had spoken those words at the cemetery, there had been no turning back.
She had only intended to give herself a way out, using "Soyo's" identity to say the things she was too afraid to say as Tsuzuki Chihiro.
"…Chihiro told me everything that happened to her in England."
"But back then, I didn't know she was Raana's sister."
"She was in England this whole time?"
"Yeah… she just came back last week. She had been living there all these years."
Shifune was surprised.
She hadn't expected her granddaughter to have been alone in England for so long.
Raana's parents had searched for her back then, but they had never found her.
After all, searching abroad wasn't the same as searching within Japan.
The authorities were limited in what they could do, and in the end, the only thing her family could do was sign off on the police's report—
That the accident was caused by a drunk driver losing control, crashing through a roadside barrier, and plunging into a river.
The case had been closed quickly.
Shifune had no reason to doubt the British police's conclusion.
It was just… an accident.
She trusted her son and daughter-in-law.
They had been career-driven people, but they had always loved their daughter.
No matter what they had gone through, they would never have taken their own lives and abandoned their child.
Most likely, it had been a moment of emotional distress—
A reckless decision to drink and drive—
And in the end, two lives were lost.
"…How has she been living all these years?"
Shifune felt an overwhelming urge to embrace Chihiro.
That poor child…
Alone in a foreign country, losing her entire family—
The Tsuzuki family had once been wealthy.
Chihiro had never suffered hardship before.
How could she have endured all that?
"She… joined bands, chasing after the dream she once promised her parents, but never fulfilled."
"At the same time, she worked various jobs…"
"And resorted to conning people for free meals and money—"
"To cover the costs of her band."
"..."
Chihiro averted her gaze, guilt creeping into her expression.
But she had no choice.
She had to keep going.
"…Chihiro told me that, out of her ridiculous pride,"
"She lived in a way that no longer felt like she belonged to the Tsuzuki family."
"She didn't know how to face you or Raana anymore."
"So when she came back to Japan, she just wanted to see you both from a distance…"
"But she never had the courage to approach."
"…Is that so?"
Shifune hadn't expected this.
She didn't blame Chihiro.
If anything, it was their fault for failing to find her.
Her granddaughter must have been in complete despair back then.
The fact that she had even found a way to survive until now—
That was already remarkable.
But—
How did this girl in front of her know all this?
And why…
Did "Soyo," who looked so much like her granddaughter, have such a strange expression?
"Raana, go back to your room for a bit."
"…Grandma?"
"Be good."
"I just want to talk to Soyo for a moment."
"Next time, I'll take you to see your sister, okay?"
"…Okay."
Raana frowned, clearly unhappy, but after squinting at Chihiro for a moment and receiving a gentle head pat, she reluctantly walked off to her room.
Now, only Tsuzuki Chihiro and Tsuzuki Shifune remained at the table.
"…Chihiro—ah, no. Soyo."
Shifune deliberately "misspoke," watching for the girl's reaction.
"You must be very close with Chihiro for her to tell you all this."
"…Ah… yeah."
"If she's still not ready, then I won't force her.
"As long as I know she's alive and doing well, that's enough for now."
"That's more than just 'doing well'—I'm this close to overthrowing Soyo's 'evil' rule and taking her place," Chihiro thought to herself.
"But there's something I want you to tell her."
"It's about her parents."
"…Huh?"
Chihiro was caught off guard.
She didn't understand what her grandmother meant.
And yet—
She suddenly had the unsettling feeling that her cover had been blown.
As if, at some point, her grandmother had already started speaking to her as Tsuzuki Chihiro.
"Chihiro's parents' accident…"
"We always thought it was strange."
"Because they were never the type to drive under the influence."
"…?"
"But it's been too long."
"We never found concrete evidence to prove whether it was truly an accident or something else."
"Still… there's one thing that never sat right with me."
"What is it?"
"They were in international trade."
"When Chihiro decided to drop out and move to England,"
"I only agreed because I knew she wouldn't struggle financially."
"Her parents promised they would support her unconditionally,"
"As long as she didn't give up on her dream."
"But after their deaths,"
"The company's finances were immediately thrown into chaos."
"And then—"
"Over ten billion yen suddenly disappeared, transferred into an anonymous account."
"What?!"
Chihiro nearly slammed the table as she stood up, but caught herself just in time.
Shifune, watching this, smiled knowingly.
Her suspicions had been correct.
Her granddaughter had grown up into a clever little liar—
One who could fool the whole world…
But not her grandmother.
And yet, Shifune wasn't upset.
On the contrary, the more she looked at the girl in front of her, the more she felt a sense of joy.
After all, nothing feels better than getting back something you thought you'd lost forever.
"…Honestly, for a while, I even suspected Raana's father."
After much hesitation, Shifune finally admitted it.
She knew Chihiro adored Raana, and Raana adored her sister just as much.
If left unexplained, doubt could take root and grow into a rift between them.
She couldn't allow that to happen.
"I was frantic back then,"
"And since he was also in England at the time… I wondered if he could have been involved."
"But I was wrong."
"Even though he and your father weren't particularly close,"
"He would never have done something like that."
"I later had someone look into it…"
"And found out it was a professional scam group."
"They had taken advantage of a crisis in the company and swindled all their money."
"..."
Chihiro felt dizzy.
But she forced herself to keep up.
"Grandma, is it really okay to be telling me all this?"
"I mean, I'm…"
"Am I?"
Shifune smiled.
Then, to Chihiro's shock, she walked off—
Returning moments later with a damp towel.
"Soyo-chan, your face looks a little dirty."
"Come here—Grandma will wipe it for you."
"…Huh?"
---
T/N: HEHEHEHEHE
and oh she was RICH RICH