A Warm Place

XXIV Slowly, Tied Together

I wonder how long has it been since I last went shopping with Mom.

I can't seem to remember when, so it must have been a really long time ago. I look at my mother who is calmly walking next to me, and she notices my gaze soon after, so our eyes end up meeting.

"Do you need to buy anything else?"
"Ah, mm-mm, I'm all set."
"Is that so?"

I'm really happy to be able to go shopping with Mom after so long, and I end up buying many other things instead of just the ones that I forgot. I look at the many shopping bags in both our hands, and I make a wry smile.

Hinata-san has gone ahead with Rumi-san. I did send an email saying that we would be late, though it's still rude to make our guests wait. We really have to hurry home. When Hinata-san replied, 'Don't mind us, just take your time,' I ended up taking up on her kindness until the day is turning so late.

Still, I really had fun today. Although Mom is a person of few words, she is talking more often to me now. And above all, she's now looking straight at me while we're talking. She would usually turn away and avoid looking at my eyes before.

"Come to think of it."

It comes to mind on our way home.

"Mom likes western food, and Rumi-san likes Japanese food... but what kind of cooking would Hinata-san like?"

We've invited her to dinner and all, I want to make what she likes while we're at it.

I know that she likes sweets, but I never heard about her favorite foods. I think she mentioned that except for Chinese foods, she doesn't have any specific preferences when we were shopping earlier. But, that doesn't really answer the question at hand.... It feels as if Hinata-san has been with us forever. But when I think about it again, we've just met recently, so I barely know anything about her.

"...How about you call her and ask?"
"Ah, you're right."

I take out my cell phone, thinking to get in touch with Hinata-san, but it won't start up for some reason.

"Ah, I have forgotten to charge it..."

I had planned to do it later, but I ended up forgetting about it completely. I regret not replacing it with my spare battery before I went out. I was so happy when Hinata-san invited me to go shopping that I ended up hurrying. The state of my cell phone completely slipped my mind. Uuh, I should learn to be a bit more collected like Mom.

"It can't be helped. Use mine."
"Wah, thank you very much."

Mom can't endure to watch and gives me her cell phone. I press the call button, but when I'm about to key in the phone number, my hand freezes.

"Ah, but, I don't memorize Hinata-san's number."
"I have her contact information saved in my phone record. Look for it."
"...Y-yes."

While wondering why Mom has Hinata-san's contacts, I look it up as told.

"Ah."
"You found it?"
"Um, Mom's cell phone is... out of battery, too."
".........I see."

Mom awkwardly turns away from me and looks somewhere far away. Hm? Is this her being embarrassed? It makes me happy to see a new side of Mom who always seems composed. I find it quite comical, and I giggle secretly so that she won't notice.

"Still, this is quite the problem."

With both our cell phones unusable, we can only give up getting in touch with them. Now that there's no way to know Hinata-san's favorite foods, I have no idea of what kind of ingredients to bring home, either. I can only pray that they can be prepared with the things we have. I return the dead cell phone to Mom.