Chapter 1
Honami woke up.
When she saw the clock, it was already half-past eleven.
I overslept! Honami quickly jumped out of her bed because there was a rule in Kaoru’s playgroup that they needed to come before 10:00 AM. Why didn’t the alarm clock ring earlier?
The morning ceremony will start at 10:00am. Please arrive on time to maintaining a regular lifestyle and to also maintain group harmony. Even on holidays, please wake up early as to not disturb the rhythm of daily activities.
It was even written in bold letters at the beginning of Kaoru’s guidebook. During April this year, Kaoru entered the Kotomi Playgroup. Honami had chosen a playgroup that began in the afternoon. Usually, other playgroups would start at 8:45am. However, Honami would usually work late into the night and get extremely drowsy in the morning. This was why she chose a playgroup that was a little far away but started later.
Honami could easily imagine the how angry the Principal would be when they arrive. She had already received a lot of warnings because Kaoru was often late. This was also because whenever Honami went to the playgroup, Kaoru would always feel scared whenever they tried to ride a bicycle, despite riding it would help them arrive earlier. Even during the times they were able to leave the house on time, Kaoru would sometimes become fussy and wouldn’t walk, she would stop in the middle of the road. There are even cases when she refuses to enter the playgroup when they reached the gate. Plus, Kaoru wouldn’t move at all if her Mom was angry. This was why Honami had to persuade Kaoru in all sorts of ways like: baiting her with snacks, giving her toy, and the such. Despite having done all of these, her opponent was still a three-year-old child. Sometimes, with all her efforts failed, they would finally come late to the playgroup. These events had already happened two times this month.
Currently, Honami had to wake her up and then tell her to change her clothes. After that, they would eat breakfast. However, before she had to do all of these, she had to call the playgroup first to inform them that they were only late. She quickly grabbed her smartphone in panic and opened it, once she saw the date, she suddenly stopped.
Today was Sunday.
Oh. So this is why Honamy didn’t set an alarm yesterday.
Today was the playgroup’s holiday. Her body suddenly became relaxed. Once again, Honami sank her exhausted body into the bed. Yesterday, she stayed up all night for work. Even though it was Sunday, she wondered why she was quite late in getting up. She was quite used to sleeping for only three hours on two consecutive days when her work piled up. This was why as long as she could rest, she would use that time to sleep as much as possible. According to her, this was the only way she could continue working.
Honami also didn’t believe that this child could sleep until noon like this. Usually, she would wake up very early, making her unable to rest properly. It was probably because of what happened last night, she probably couldn’t sleep well because she wasn’t by her side to accompany her, Kaoru kept coughing and stayed awake late into the night.
Honami looked at Kaoru, who was sleeping next to her. She was breathing properly right now. Seeing that some parts of her body were sticking out of the blanket, Honami chuckled before gently properly tucking her to bed. On the other hand, her husband, Yasuhiko, was nowhere to be seen. For Yasuhiko, who was working in car sales, the Saturdays and holidays were the best days to sell something.
Kaoru’s cough becomes more severe when the weather becomes cold and dry. The doctor told them that it won’t develop into asthma for now, but if this continues on like this, then it might really develop into one. The doctor also said that the most effective medicine for her is to just let her rest well and not force her too much. So, even though the playgroup told her not to disturb their daily rhythm, Honami would rather let Kaoru sleep until she woke up on her own.
Whenever Honami hugged Kaoru. She would feel that the small and delicate body would seem to break if she hugged her a little too hard. She couldn’t help but admire Kaoru’s face as she looked at her thin eyelids, pale cheeks, and tiny teeth, all of it looked so cute to Honami.
Honami was now 46 years old. The 3-year-old Kaoru was born when she was 43 years old. She really didn’t think she could hug Kaoru at her age.
Ever since she was young, Honami’s menstruation cycle had always been irregular. Her first menstruation happened when she was eleven years old. The next time she got her menstruation was a year later, and the next time was two years later. She really didn’t think that it was a problem, in fact, she would often feel grateful whenever she saw her classmates grimace in pain because of their periods.
However, when she attended high school, her knowledge of the female sexuality increased. This was when she panicked and felt that her situation wasn’t normal at all. Finally, she mustered her courage to confess to her mother. Her mother then took Honami to the gynecologist. Even though the doctor was a woman, Honami, as a highschooler back then, would feel scared whenever she had to climb into the examination bed.
Based on an ultrasound examination and blood tests, she now found out what her problem was, she was suffering from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.