[CH.15] Mother's Tears

I Reincarnated as a Beautiful Girl and Aim to Become a Top Actress! (WN)

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[CH.15] Mother's Tears

Upon entering the reception room, I was gestured to sit next to my mother on the sofa by Ms. Oshima. Ms. Oshima took a seat across from us, creating an atmosphere that resembled some sort of three-way discussion.

Toyo-san gently placed a cup of tea in front of me. It suddenly occurred to me that I had been chatting with Yumi-san for a while and my throat was parched. I took a sip, and a subtle sweetness spread across my mouth.

She must have added extra sugar for consideration. Feeling a sense of warmth from the gesture, I placed the cup down. Ms. Oshima spoke to me, seemingly measuring the right moment.

"How was it with Yumi? Do you think you could get along?"

"Yes. Yumi-san is kind and she taught me a lot."

"Good to hear," she replied, then after a short pause, Ms. Oshima gazed directly at me. Her intense look made my body tense involuntarily. I felt like a frog being stared at by a snake. I waited for her next words with bated breath.

"I'll get straight to the point. What do you want, Sumire?"

"What do I want...?" 

Her question caught me off guard, and I asked in return. It might have been impolite, but I truly couldn't grasp her intention with such an abrupt question.

"Would you like to study acting here? Your performance earlier was impressive. If you want to, I'm willing to support you wholeheartedly."

Her heartfelt words made me blink involuntarily. I had an intuitive feeling that there was no falsehood in her words. If that were the case, then I should also be honest about my feelings. I cleared my throat and began speaking.

"I want to do it. But..."

"But?"

"My family doesn't have much money, and living in Tokyo and going to school would cost a lot. I need to attend a public high school, that's the only option. If I fail the entrance exam, I've been told I should work after graduating from junior high school. I can't burden my parents with something so impossible."

Saying this might be interpreted as a retort to my money-minded parents, but that wasn't my intention. I had already told the same thing to Mr. Kanzaki yesterday, and the truth was, our family had only enough money for basic necessities, including our school fees. So, I wanted to clarify that we weren't in such dire financial straits that we couldn't afford to live day-to-day.

For context, when I mentioned basic necessities, it also included our school fees, so we weren't struggling to the point of not being able to make ends meet, just to be clear.

For some reason, Ms. Oshima sighed softly after hearing my words. She glanced briefly at my mother, who seemed embarrassed by the revelation.

"Both the previous conversation and this one, is it really right to keep pressuring your daughter like this? What do you think, Mrs. Matsuda?"

"Well... My husband and I were raised that way by our parents, so we never really thought about whether it was right or not."

"I don't usually butt into other people's parenting, but if you continue like this, your child will become more and more distorted as she grows. You see, children have their own wills too. Yet, they hinder what the child wants because they can't understand this world. They narrow down their child's path according to their own convenience, saying there's no money. If you do such things, it's only natural for her to become distorted. And that distortion will grow as she matures. You said earlier that you're raising that child. So, your daughter should naturally do as you say. That's not right. You're the ones who wished for a child, and you're the ones who gave birth to her. She didn't ask you to give birth to her and raise her as you please. Don't shift the responsibility onto your child, it's unseemly."

With a clear sense of aversion in her words, Ms. Oshima continued speaking, and my mother remained silent, her head bowed. They had probably discussed a lot before I arrived here. Ms. Oshima, who had transitioned from a child actor to an adult and had embraced change while navigating the waves of society, and my mother, who had rigidly adhered to her own sense of right and wrong like a compass, were like water and oil. No matter how many words they exchanged, they were on parallel paths, and it seemed they would never intersect.

After making a rather intrusive statement for someone who was essentially a stranger, Ms. Oshima shifted her gaze from my silent mother to me.

"As for you, Sumire-san, if the financial issues are resolved, would it be acceptable for you to come here and learn acting?"

Confirming her statement, I nodded. It would be genuinely sad to part ways with my two best friends, but we could still communicate through letters, and we could meet and hang out during visits home. Conversely, I didn't feel any sadness or anxiety about leaving my family. Perhaps it was because I had previous life experience of living away from home; at that time, I had already emotionally detached from my parents and learned to stand on my own.

"In that case, I'll provide financial support. Of course, it's not a gift, and I expect you to repay it as much as possible."

"That's very generous, but... How should I put it?"

"Is the offer too good to be true?"

Yes, that was it. There were many benefits for me, but I couldn't see what Ms. Oshima would gain from this proposal. I had always heard that there's a catch to a good deal, and if a story is this favorable to one side, there must be a colossal pitfall. I couldn't help but think that way.

"Don't worry. I won't inconvenience Sumire-san. I won't ask her to sacrifice her body for her job when she grows up or tell her to do side jobs like you often hear in the entertainment industry. I just want you to grow as an actor and eventually become one of my successors, enriching various stages along the way. After all, I created this training institute for that purpose."

I couldn't help but think, "What is this person talking about with a elementary school student?" But since it would be odd for a nine-year-old to understand this conversation, I made an effort to maintain a dumbfounded expression. I was probably conveying an atmosphere of not understanding what was being said.

"Of course, in the future, there will be children who retire for various reasons. I can't help that... However, what I can't stand is when a young talent with potential gets their desires twisted by things other than their own will and can't even challenge what they want to do. So, if I were to give a reason, this assistance to you would be for my own sake," Ms. Oshima said with a small smile.

Ah, I see. I didn't fully grasp the specific reasons, but I understood that the assistance to me wasn't purely out of goodwill but served her interests in some way. Since she had come this far in explaining, I genuinely wanted to study acting under Ms. Oshima. Now, it all depended on whether my mother would give her approval...

I glanced briefly at my mother, who seemed to be deep in thought. After some hesitation, she finally spoke up.

"Is there really no danger to my daughter...?"

"Let's make a promise. If you don't trust me, we can even create a legally binding document," Ms. Oshima assured.

Having confirmed Ms. Oshima's resolute nod, my mother turned towards me. Somehow, she had a troubled expression on her face. After a few moments of contemplation, she finally spoke.

"Sumire... You know, to be honest, I still don't fully understand what this person is saying. I believe that parents and children should live together, and children should listen to their parents and do as they say because that's what makes them happiest."

I nodded in response to my mother's words. Regardless of the merits or demerits of her statement, this was a common belief during the mid-Showa period. Both of my parents were raised with this mindset, so I understood why they shared it.

"But, if you say you want to try it, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, I should allow it. But... but..."

At that moment, I was suddenly pulled with tremendous force and confined within my mother's embrace. I felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia in her soft embrace. When was the last time I was held like this by my mother? While I had been cuddled and held as a baby in my present life, I couldn't recall being embraced like this again. It must have been in my previous life when I was a child. I was a boy then, and it had become embarrassing to be in physical contact with my mother, so opportunities for such interaction had dwindled.

"I don't want to be apart, I don't want to live apart from my daughter... There's no way that could happen."

As she spoke, my mother's grip on me tightened, and her voice became noticeably filled with moisture. I had always been bad at handling my mother's tears. She was always so strong and independent, and when she cried, I would become anxious and unsure of what to do. Whether it was due to my mother's tears or not, my eyes also began to well up with tears. To prevent them from spilling over, I buried my face in my mother's arms.

In hindsight, I felt deeply apologetic towards Ms. Oshima, as if I had forgotten her presence. My mother and I continued to embrace each other, sobbing for a while.

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