As she spoke, Sayuri took out a wooden box from the closet.
"Found it."
She shook the box slightly, and a faint rattling sound echoed inside.
"This is it. The sincerity you threw away."
Sayuri handed the wooden box to Eriri, who stood before her.
"Sincerity?"
Even now, Eriri couldn't quite grasp what her mother meant by that.
"What's inside?"
"Open it and see for yourself."
Hearing this, Eriri glanced at her mother skeptically. But under Sayuri's expectant gaze, she slowly lifted the lid of the box.
"This is…?"
As soon as the box was opened, the first thing that caught Eriri's eye was a pair of movie tickets.
Upon closer inspection, she realized they were for a hugely popular anime film—Your Name.
"Your Name… These are movie tickets?"
She picked them up and held them under the light for a better look.
The edges were slightly curled, and the paper had yellowed just a bit, showing that they had been kept for quite some time.
Even so, Eriri still couldn't understand what her mother meant by sincerity.
She looked up at Sayuri, who was watching her closely.
Then Sayuri gave her a look, signaling her to continue checking inside the box.
Seeing this, Eriri put down the tickets and turned her attention back to the wooden box.
This time, what she found inside was a chibi-style figurine and a metal badge.
And both of them, without exception, featured her.
The figurine was small but crafted with incredible detail, while the badge, though just a simple metal piece, had an impressively lifelike illustration on it.
"This is… me?"
Eriri's hands trembled as she picked up the figurine and the badge, placing them in her palm for closer examination.
As someone deeply involved in otaku culture, she had never imagined that one day she would be turned into a figurine.
Nor had she ever thought that her face would appear on a badge like this.
"I don't remember ever taking this picture…"
She stared blankly at the artwork on the badge.
"It's obviously drawn, isn't it?"
Sayuri, amazed at how slow her daughter was to catch on, sighed and pointed it out bluntly.
"But… who drew these? Who made this figurine? And those movie tickets…"
The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. Deep down, she already had a vague guess, but she was afraid of confirming it.
"If I told you… that Hakuto gave you all of these, would you believe me?"
Sayuri rested her chin in her hand and smiled at her daughter.
Unlike Sayuri's amused expression, Eriri was in complete shock.
"Th-this… That's impossible…"
"If he was the one who gave them to me, then why are these things with you…?"
Sigh…
"That's why I said—you threw away a boy's sincerity."
With that, Sayuri left the room. When she returned, she was carrying a cardboard box.
"This is…"
"The box where you stored all of Hakuto's gifts."
Sayuri took out the sketchbook from the cardboard box, along with a stuffed bear, the drawing board at the bottom, and the cup resting on the right side.
"Eriri, let me show you what you've truly missed…"
As she spoke, Sayuri opened the sketchbook and took out the two movie tickets from the wooden box.
"Eriri, tell me, how much of this sketchbook did you actually look through?"
"I… I finished it…"
"Really? Then why did you never notice the two movie tickets hidden in the middle of the pages?"
With that, Sayuri flipped the sketchbook open to the center and gently pressed the two tickets back onto the faint tape marks where they had once been attached.
Watching this, Eriri felt a storm of emotions she couldn't put into words.
Her gaze remained fixed on the tickets placed in the center of the sketchbook, and her thoughts drifted back to a year ago.
That was when Hakuto had handed her this very sketchbook.
…
"This is?"
"A collection of famous illustrations. I thought you might like it."
"What makes you think I'd like something like this?"
"Aren't you the ace of the art club? Maybe these could inspire you."
…
Back then, Eriri had never told Hakuto about her love for otaku culture, nor had she revealed that she was the person behind the name Kashiwagi Eri.
She had assumed Hakuto knew nothing about it.
Even though she genuinely liked the sketchbook he had given her, she barely glanced through it. To maintain the image she had carefully built, she soon tossed it aside and forgot about it.
"No wonder… No wonder back then, he always looked at me with such hopeful eyes…"
"What have I done… What have I done!?"
Regret consumed Eriri. She regretted not treasuring Hakuto's gift, not taking him seriously, and for all the ways she had treated him in the past.
Just then, Sayuri lifted her daughter's face.
"M-Mom?"
"This isn't the only thing you threw away."
With that, Sayuri placed the chibi figurine and the badge back where they once belonged.
"A palm-sized stuffed bear with a metal badge hidden inside… Eriri, tell me honestly, did you ever truly appreciate the gifts Hakuto gave you?"
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Eriri couldn't even meet her mother's eyes anymore. She buried her face in her knees, repeatedly whispering apologies.
"Two years… Tell me, what exactly have you done in these two years?"
"If you truly never liked Hakuto, then your actions wouldn't be wrong."
"But let me ask you—when you saw Hakuto interacting with another girl just now, why did you run away in a panic?"
"Is it really just that things you can't have always seem the best? Eriri, can you be honest with me?"
Sayuri was angry. She had seen everything Hakuto had done over these two years.
Even if she tried to look at it objectively, she couldn't help but feel sorry for that boy.
"I didn't… I didn't…"
"I didn't mean to… I really didn't…"
Eriri's sobs grew uncontrollable.
Faced with everything her mother had just pointed out, faced with her own past actions, the weight of regret crushed her.
Sayuri, however, wasn't done. Since she had chosen to lay everything bare, she was going to see it through to the end.
She picked up the sketchbook again and continued.
"This sketchbook… I remember it was incredibly hard to find. I also remember that you really wanted it."
"But why? Why is it that the moment it became a gift from Hakuto, it suddenly lost all its value in your eyes?"
___
Read 20 Advanced Chapters on p@ tr eon (.) com/HalflingFics
Also, please point out my mistakes in the comment, thank you!
Don't forget to leave a review too~ [5 bonus chapter if we reach 10 reviews]
Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]
___