The color of the leaves of the trees peering from the window changed to russet color, and the chill too finally changed into full-scale cold air—late autumn.
I, who woke up in the middle of the night sensing a human presence, while rubbing the heavy eyelid of my sleepy eye, tried turning my gaze towards my wife sleeping right next to me. However, the figure of my wife who should be there is not found. When I lightly slid my hand upon the sheet as if to reel it in, a definite warmth still remains there.
"…Saori?"
When I turned my eyes around wondering where on earth she went, her whereabouts could be found surprisingly easily.
My wife Saori, sitting on the bed and standing still. When I let out a sigh of relief looking at her back, I slowly raise my sunken body. My body, suddenly exposed to the cold air, shivers small with a shudder.
"Saori… what's wrong? You'll catch a cold."
When I called out that over her back, Saori slowly turned back to me.
"Ayumu has returned."
Saori, placing an egg the size of a tennis ball on her palm, announces that and shows a beaming smile towards me.
"…Huh?"
While letting out such a foolish voice, I vaguely stare at Saori, wondering how long it has been since I saw such a happy smile on Saori's face.
In the early spring of this year. Ever since our son, who had just turned three, died in an accident, Saori had completely shut herself in. Conversation would not even be established, of course, but looking at Saori's state where she would not even try to meet my gaze, I had started feeling resignation that our married life might finally be over.
For some reason, Saori right in front of me now is certainly smiling happily.
I don't know where the egg was brought out from, but surely Saori's heart had been overcome by grief and she had become mentally ill.
Thinking such a thing, I decided to play along with Saori's conversation.
"I-I see. That was good. Welcome home, Ayumu. Come now, it's cold so let's get into the futon and warm up."
"Hehe. Let's sleep with Papa and Mama, Ayumu."
Seeing Saori gently speaking to the egg, I, feeling a sign of recovery, secretly let out a smile from happiness.
Perhaps the broken relationship with Saori would also gradually return to the way it should be—it was the first moment such an expectation was born.
Saori, who lost her beloved son, must have needed something to be a crutch for her heart. That the sorrow of losing our son is not healed is surely the same for me as it is for Saori. Even if it is an unknown egg, anything is fine if we can return to those happy days.
With such hope in my chest, I softly held Saori, who was lovingly embracing the egg, close.
Saori, who regained her cheerfulness after this day, still often confined herself to the room, but her expression was very gentle and peaceful.
All day long, Saori lovingly embraces the egg. The mysterious egg, as if responding to that affection, emits a bluish-black light. Gazing at such a scene, I gave heartfelt thanks for the warm life we were able to reclaim.
The egg that appeared from out of nowhere, seemed to have been present at Saori's feet when I woke up with a feeling of discomfort that night. Looking at Saori who spoke of such circumstances, I thought that she was like a cuckoo entrusting its own child to the nest of another bird—I thought like that.
However, seeing Saori smile happily and say, "I gave birth to it," makes such circumstances seem like they don't matter at all. Saori, who had been so worn out, now shows such a happy smile.
Speaking of things that changed around the same time, it was that Saori's food preferences changed, and her appetite increased.
Seeing Saori munching away on her meal, I was once again impressed by her devotion, realizing that childcare consumes so much physical strength for the mother's body.
"Today's meal is very delicious."
Saori, dripping bloody gravy, says that and smiles happily.
"It's for two people, after all. You need to eat a lot and build up your strength."
"Hehe. That's right, thank you always."
For me, who had never prepared a meal even once, preparing this meal alone was a pretty laborious task. But, protecting this smile is precisely my role.
Re-aware of my almost forgotten role as a husband, and also my role as a father, I let out a faint smile of satisfaction.
◆◆◆
Around the time three months passed since then, the egg had grown to a size that couldn't be held with both hands. Even the egg that I didn't understand very well at first, now I can only feel sheer affection for it.
That is natural, since Saori is raising it with so much affection. I am ashamed of myself for having even thought for a moment that it was like a cuckoo's brood parasitism.
This egg is unquestionably our child, an existence that must be protected no matter what.
"Ayumu. Thank you for returning to Papa and Mama. This time, Papa will absolutely protect you."
Towards the bluish-black glowing egg, I gently narrow my eyes filled with deep affection. Seeing our situation, Saori smiled with great joy.
I must not lose this happy family a second time.
"Look! Ayumu is being born!"
Reacting to Saori's joyful voice, I looked at the egg, and Ayumu slowly revealed its figure from a cracked spot. Clinging to Saori's foot nearby, it let out a loud birth cry and bit into it. It seemed to have been terribly hungry.
Seeing Saori lovingly embrace our safely born child, I shed tears from an unspeakable emotion.
"Welcome home… Ayumu."
Now, those beloved days will return again──I thought so, but I subtly distorted my face at the unshakeable lump in my chest.
Even though I have known the reason for a long time, I desperately forced a smile through my tears to protect my beloved family.
I will never let that happiness, once broken, be lost a second time──.
The day Ayumu was born. Vowing that in my heart, today too, I return home to my house where my beloved wife and child wait.
Opening the tightly closed room door, a bloody, stale air immediately drifts. I involuntarily choked my breath at the stench nauseating enough to induce vomiting, then I opened my mouth towards Saori and Ayumu who were there.
"I'm home. You must be hungry, right? I prepared dinner."
When I called out that, Saori turned back to me, dragging one leg.
"Welcome home. Thank you always."
Saori, who smiled happily at the meal I had prepared, lovingly held Ayumu close and let out a voice like rolling bells.
"Look, Ayumu. Today's meal is Ayumu's favorite. Actually, Mama loves it too. A young woman. Let's eat together."
Saying that, Saori smiled broadly and dropped a kiss filled with affection onto Ayumu in her arms. Reddish-black blood oozed from Saori's right leg, and her figure was very painful to look at.
If I were to fail to prepare a meal even by any chance, surely Saori would not lose only one leg. Watching Ayumu start to gruesomely eat the corpse of the woman I had prepared, I thought such a thing.
My beloved child, an alien figure that is barely human.
Has she been possessed by something, or has the wife I knew become "something else"──my beloved Saori, who has completely transformed into a connoisseur of foul sustenance.
Even if their appearance is nothing like before, these two are the precious family that I must protect.
"I love you… Saori, Ayumu. Papa will protect you forever."
Before the sight of the two people I love more than anything in this world, I wear a face filled with happiness.
That quiet tears traced down my cheek must be due to the deep sorrow that cannot be resisted.
Nevertheless, I will continue to pretend not to notice the sharp pain in my chest, forever more.
─The End─