Traditional Japanese-style room with tatami flooring, wooden table, cushions, classical taste.

As a living room, the lighting and ventilation are also very good. Not far away, there is an open wooden sliding door that allows you to see the garden at night.

The dim outdoor world also reflects the brightness of the chandelier overhead at this moment. Bright lights sprinkled on the clean and tidy ground, illuminating a dazzling puddle of water.

And next to the water trail, the delicate teacup rolled slightly a few times, stopped, and made no sound.

Then there was no sound in the room.

Everything was silent, like an ordinary winter evening. But the scene in front of you is definitely not.

The air was like condensation, freezing everything in the space. The scene presented in front of Tetsufumi Hirakawa becomes a still painting.

Next to the wooden table, a girl in a Western-style uniform, checkered skirt, black stockings, and a bow tie on her chest stood up and looked directly at her mother.

Opposite her, a lady dressed in a delicate traditional kimono sits with a dignified expression and a gentle smile on her lips.

This still picture lasted until the wind sounded in the courtyard.

The cold winter wind blew the greenery in the garden, and there was a "whoosh" sound, and at the same time Shinohara's mother spoke.

Her voice was as gentle as before, without unnecessary ups and downs, and her tone did not carry the slightest reproach: "Shiori, it's too rude." ”

“……”

In contrast to this is Shiori Shinohara.

A well-known writer with hundreds of vests once wrote:

"If you don't explode in silence, you perish in silence."

The seemingly gentle respect that has come from the mother for a long time, the respect that makes people unable to resist, the respect that makes people suffocate so much that they are silent. It enveloped her like a whirlpool, drowning in the water without making a sound.

And now, a nosy teacher pulls her up, and she comes to the surface.

"Is it rude?"

A rhetorical question with a very sarcastic tone.

"Of course it's too ......"

"What is a faux pas?"

"Like ...... now"

"Am I like this?"

"Of course ......"

"Or like Mother?"

“……”

The girl interrupted her mother's opening one after another, and the rhetorical questions that were as cold as the cold air of winter echoed in her ears, and the rhetorical questions poured out her resentment that had been difficult to speak for a long time.

What is rudeness?

Is it a faux pas that she is now, throwing her teacup on the ground in a fit of rage?

Or is it called a faux pas to interrupt my mother's mouth one by one?

"If Mother's faux pas refers to this, it refers to what I am doing now. Then I admit that Shiori is indeed rude, absolutely rude, and I apologize to you. ”

"But—"

The corners of Shiori Shinohara's mouth hung up with a mocking smile that was completely different from her mother, who was still smiling at the moment.

"But if Mother's faux pas mean like you......"

"It's about maintaining so-called, false semblance of etiquette, as you do......"

"Refers to the hypocritical approval of everything about your daughter, as you do......"

"It's the desire to control like you who hides under gentleness and has nowhere to put it! It means that whatever I do must be under your instructions, and if I do it, it will be a faux pas! ”

The girl faced her mother and gritted her teeth.

"I'd rather be rude!"

"Poetry ......"

"What the hell are you doing?"

I couldn't help it at all, and my eyes turned red after this sentence.

"Mother, I don't need such hypocritical respect from you!"

"I'd rather you get angry with me and disagree with my ideas, I'd rather be like this, I'd rather be like this than you superficially agree and then force me to change after the fact!"

"Did you know? Shiori really doesn't need such respect from you, really doesn't need it, definitely doesn't need it, no matter what! ”

As if venting her emotions, the girl shouted at her mother with all her might.

"Please, can you please listen to me?"

"Only this time, my daughter really pleases you, please don't continue to maintain superficial respect like this, okay?"

"Please listen to my request!"

Shouting, it was no longer clear in front of him, and he didn't know what expression his mother had on her face. His eyes were blurred, and his body was drained.

"Please......"

A deep bow.

Tears that made the face feel cold in the winter fell to the ground, "pop", "pop", two sounds sounded in the quiet room one after another.

A long silence followed. An unsettling silence.

"Shiori."

I don't know how long the silence lasted, but my mother finally spoke.

"Yes......"

Shiori Shinohara's response with a weak voice sounded softly.

"Tired, aren't you?"

“……”

The girl did not respond, but her mother still heard her asking herself.

"Do you need to go back to your room and get some rest?"

“……”

"Go ahead, I'll tell you down for dinner."

“……”

Shiori Shinohara finally raised her head to look at her mother with the last of her strength, but her eyes were still blurry, and she couldn't see her mother's expression.

"Mother's ......"

"Huh? What's wrong? Well...... Do you want to ask me what I think of the point that Shiori just said? ”

“…… Well. ”

"That's right."

In her blurred vision, her mother nodded slightly.

"Of course I respect your ideas."

As always, the gentle tone is like a gentle wife.

"You're my daughter, and I respect your opinion no matter what, right?"

“……”

“……”

In the blurred world, I can't see my mother's face clearly, but Shiori Shinohara clearly sketches a smile from it.

She didn't have the strength to refute anymore, she had no strength at all.

I didn't have the strength to speak, I didn't have the strength to stand, my body staggered, and I was about to collapse to the ground.

She never escaped her mother's prison, a prison woven by her mother's desire for control. She stood in the cell, waiting for a knife called Tenderness to carve her into the carver's satisfaction with a seemingly innocuous tenderness.

She should never get a chance to get rid of it again. Not before, not now, and not again.

Shiori Shinohara thinks so.

She lowered her head again, looking at the clean and tidy ground, at the glaring water trails on the ground.

In the reflection, the bright light of the suspended ceiling entered her eyes.

It's mid-February, the third semester is coming to an end, and when spring starts in April, she's going to say goodbye to the wind club.

Well.

“……”

“……”

"Shinohara-san."

“……”

"Shinohara-san?"

“……”

I don't know how much time has passed. Shiori Shinohara, who had given up completely, suddenly heard someone calling her. At the same time, the dazzling lights in the water trail were obscured by a shadow of shadows.

She looked up, and a figure appeared in the blurred world.

"Mr. Hirakawa ......"

"Well, yes."

A gentle, comforting tone.

"It's okay, Shinohara-san should go and rest for a while."

"I ......"

"It's okay, you've done a good job and expressed your will thoroughly."

"But ......"

"Don't worry, it's okay if you don't get accepted. We agreed that I would convey the wishes that Shinohara-san could not convey for you. ”

Although I can't see it clearly, I can feel that there is a warm smile on Mr. Hirakawa's face, and this smile is definitely different from the gentle smile I see on my mother's face on weekdays.

"Hmm."

Not knowing what to think, Shiori Shinohara nodded.