I Treated Her Too Much Like a Child
I must have been treating her too much like a child.
"I have several close friends, but one of them wants to walk a completely different path. I don't want to lose anyone... what should I do?"
Mom must have read the seriousness in my eyes.
She stared at me in silence for a moment.
"My son had that many friends...?"
"Ugh, seriously! Forget it, forget it. I was an idiot for trying to have a serious conversation."
I let out a deep sigh and poked at the soybean side dish with my chopsticks.
It definitely wasn't because I was still bothered by the fact that Clear and the original Yuri had cursed me with hair loss two days in a row.
"Hehe, how can such a big boy get so sulky? So? Is this drifting friend a girl or a boy?"
Oh, it looked like she was going to give me advice after all.
She was being capricious, but I had to play along while the opportunity was there.
"...A girl."
"It's Yuri again! Mom really likes Soon-ae, but if she keeps showing up this often, I don't know whether to call her Yuri or daughter-in-law, son!"
"I never said her name! Why do you automatically assume it's Yuri!"
"Obviously because my son couldn't possibly have a female friend. When you first went to America, the only pictures you sent were with that Korean kid—Geun-chul or Mo-chil or whatever his name was."
"That's so unfair! And his name is Geun-il! Plus, starting from my second year there, I made tons of foreign friends, you know?"
I couldn't tell if Mom was actually trying to counsel me or just tease me.
I was thinking I should just finish my food quickly and go flirt with Cloudy when—
"Son."
"...Yes?"
"Treat her like you normally would."
"...Huh?"
Mom was grinning just like before.
Yet her tone and atmosphere were so gentle it felt almost enchanting.
"You said she's the only one who suddenly popped out on her own, right? She'll probably act like everything's fine, but inside she'll be agonizing over it."
"Do you really think so? Honestly, I have no idea what she's thinking."
Yuri on foggy days was extremely... fourth-dimensional.
She placed strange importance on romance, used metaphors that didn't make sense, yet sometimes showed a serious side.
If we were talking about how twisted she was, she was on a whole other level compared to the other personalities.
"That child stubbornly refuses to get close to the others. Shouldn't I, as the only bridge, do something?"
"Hmm~ Playing the savior isn't good, Noah. That's a very dangerous way of thinking."
"I never meant anything that grandiose..."
But Mom shook her head and continued.
Glancing at me from the corner of her eye, she spoke in a serious tone she almost never used.
"This is just a mother's intuition. When you talk about Yuri, you seem to treat her like a child in a strange way."
For some reason, I couldn't argue with that.
Because I really had been treating her with the nuance of someone younger.
But I can't help it. After regressing, my mental age is in my twenties, while the current Yuri is still a teenager.
"Look at those spinning eyes. Got you, didn't I?"
"...I'll invoke my right to remain silent."
"How cute. Listen carefully. This is one of Mom's rare pieces of advice. Normally, whether you treat Yuri like a little sister or call her Noona and play those games, it wouldn't matter."
Was it just my imagination, or did Mom's expression look genuinely different from usual when she said her next words?
"But if you try to insert yourself into serious matters using only your own perspective, things will get tangled beyond repair. Especially now, when you're the one leading the situation."
After finishing dinner with Mom, I headed over to my childhood friend's house.
"She ended up figuring out it was Yuri after all."
They say parents can see right through their children's thoughts once they become parents. I guess it was true.
After she gave me a few short tips, I was finally able to get up from my seat.
When the mask comes off, she'll naturally ask me for help, so until then, treat her normally...
It was advice perfectly tailored for Foggy Yuri.
Mom knew Yuri had multiple personalities, but she probably didn't know the exact traits of each one.
I thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
If I followed Mom's advice, there was no need for me to step in.
I just had to wait for her call on a foggy day.
"By the way... it looks like it's going to rain. The sky's all hazy."
But I didn't bring an umbrella.
Because today's Yuri was Cloudy.
If it had been a cloudy day before the rain actually fell, I would have gotten a polite text from Ame.
But the text I saw when I woke up earlier was full of that sticky, clingy tone, so there was no need to worry about rain.
That's why I arrived at Yuri's house empty-handed.
"You finally came, Noah? I've been waiting forever. Why didn't you answer my calls? You could've at least replied to my texts."
Huh. Today she was waiting for me right in front of the door.
More precisely, she was completely slumped against it in a sulky crouch.
The moment I saw that posture, I instinctively knew.
The annoyance meter was climbing much steeper than usual.
I didn't know the exact reason, but I had to soothe her quickly if I wanted to suppress Cloudy's yandere tendencies.
"Obviously I was holding back for a bit to surprise you. But looks like you ended up surprising me instead?"
"Liar. I know you were texting some other girl."
"Want me to show you my chat history?"
"You really never let me win, huh?"
She let out a small snort, then unfolded from her crouched position and spread her arms toward me.
It meant she'd been lonely, so I should take responsibility right away.
All I had to do was hug her and go inside.
"...That's a little better now."
I wasn't sure what we were going to do, but if I held her like this and thought about it together, something would come to mind.
"Next is your left hand."
"Here."
Cloudy rolled up her sleeve and showed me her left hand.
Yuri's slender, soft hand.
For some reason, it looked paler than the other personalities'.
It's the same body they're sharing, though.
Maybe skin tone changed depending on the personality, just like hair and eye color?
"Noah."
"Yeah?"
"Your gaze is lewd."
"That's just what you think."
"Don't you know women are more sensitive to stares than men?"
"You were fine when I was checking your right hand earlier."
"That's because I was busy admiring you then. You looked so cool I wanted to keep your eyes in a jar."
"Hearing that from a yandere like you gives me chills. But how come you didn't notice?"
"Because men are more oblivious to stares than women."
"Then by that logic, since you've looked, I should be allowed to look too, right?"
"...Pervert."
Cloudy's pouty remark brought our silly back-and-forth to an end.
I sighed and gently took her hand.
It had started as a check for any self-harm scars, but the mood was gradually drifting somewhere strange.
"Now that I think about it, this is unfair. Why is it perverted when I look, but totally fine when you do?"
"I shouldn't be the one saying this, but you're so annoying, Noah."
"Childhood friends are supposed to resemble each other."
"The idea of me having two of me is horrifying."
"You naturally slipped into self-loathing there. Come here. The inspection's over, so we should stick together again."
"Don't you need to check the other side? I'd be okay with it if it's you."
Cloudy grinned stickily and slowly lifted the hem of her shirt.
The curve of her stomach revealed through the gap in the provocatively raised fabric caught my eye. Her smooth waistline unintentionally held my gaze.
Grrr, I can't hold back!
For a second, the yellow dog inside me almost dove straight for the rice bowl (her belly button), but I barely managed to leash it with iron willpower.
The problem was that just as I knew Yuri well, she knew me just as well.
Especially Cloudy, who was even sharper when it came to those sticky, instinctive parts.
"Hehe~"
She pulled her shirt all the way up to her armpits.
After her slender waist came the smooth curve leading naturally to the lower part of her soft, mochi-like skin, slightly exposed.
Whoa, look at that!
This was bad. I'd put the yellow dog in an elbow lock to subdue it, but now Mr. Raise-the-Bar was standing beside it, whistling in admiration.
My mind went completely blank for a moment.
At this rate, I really wouldn't be able to hold back.
"Wait, Yuri. What's that scar on your side?"
"Ha... I must have seen it wrong."
"Liar."
I stopped her as she hurriedly tried to pull her shirt back down.
It was small but distinct.
A mark on her right side, as if something sharp had scraped across it.
It hadn't been visible when Clear showed me her stomach last time because the scar was toward the back.
"Since when have you had this?"
"Noah. Calm down. Get a hold of yourself. It's not a recent wound."
"You didn't do this to yourself?"
"No. You know I can't lie, right?"
"Then who did?"
"It's in the past. You don't need to know."
Unlike when we first met, now she was the one trying to calm me down.
Probably because my expression had lost control in a very different way.
"...Sigh."
"...I'm sorry. I forgot. I didn't think it would turn out like this."
"Why are you apologizing, Yuri?"
"...I don't know what to say."
A brief silence fell between us.
Both of us felt awkward about how stupidly this situation had unfolded.
We just leaned against the bed together, blankly staring at the ceiling.
"...Does it hurt?"
"I told you. It's already in the past. It's scarred over but I'm fine. What, is it weird for an annoying girl to have scars on her body?"
"No, it's not weird, I just..."
"It's okay."
Cloudy leaned toward me and nestled into my arms.
"Today you're the one being more annoying, Noah. Should I be the one saying more embarrassing things?"
"I was just wondering if you were forcing yourself to say you're fine."
"Normally I wouldn't be. But you promised all of us that day at the playground that you'd stay with us. Were you lying?"
"Absolutely not. That feeling will never change."
Cloudy chuckled softly and pushed me away, then lifted her shirt again to reveal the scar.
"Take a good look."
She whispered as she took my right hand and guided it to her side.
My fingers brushed over warm skin and a slightly different texture.
"See? Only this part feels different, right?"
"...Yeah. It's a little smoother."
"Remember it well. One day, the texture will definitely feel different."
"Even though it's a scar?"
"Yes. It will change. I believe in it, in my own way. That you'll cover this scar with something else."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Still... I have a feeling it'll be incredibly warm."
"That's something the original personality would say."
Cloudy smiled again.
Rubbing her face against my arm.
"Because I'm her, and she's me."
"...I was supposed to be the one making you happy today, but it turned out the opposite."
"Days like this happen too. It was refreshing for me, so I didn't mind."
"Thank you, Yuri. Really."
"Don't make such a serious face when you're this close. It's a little... dangerous."
This time I let out a small laugh and hugged her.
Mom was right. Maybe I've been looking at Yuri like a child all this time.
Subconsciously, I'd wanted her to keep depending on me.
But if I collapsed, she would collapse with me.
I decided to change my attitude a little going forward.
I would lean on Yuri a bit more too.
Both her coquettishness and her comfort.
After all, those things are meant to be exchanged between people.