"Mio! Rin-chan's already here to pick you up!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!!"
Having graduated from middle school, Mio was finally starting high school this spring. Today she had gone out with her best friend Rin just before noon.
"Good grief… Well, at least she got into the high school she wanted. It was a lot of work, though…"
Reiko murmured as she gazed at her daughter's retreating back.
"Now I've got to wake Saki up too."
She went upstairs and called out to her younger daughter, Saki.
"Saki, come downstairs and eat breakfast, okay? You're going to be a middle-schooler soon, you know."
"Okaaay~"
A languid reply drifted back from the other side of the door.
Mio and Saki…
Mio had a mature aura and a straightforward personality with no hidden side; she wore her hair in a short cut and excelled at every sport. In complete contrast, her little sister Saki was a slightly airheaded twelve-year-old whose ponytail suited her perfectly.
"I guess children really do turn out completely different when they have different fathers."
Reiko gave a wry smile as she descended the stairs.
Nakano Reiko, age thirty-three. She had given birth to her eldest daughter Mio while still young. But when Mio was little, her husband passed away.
As Reiko teetered on the edge of despair, another blow struck—she was raped.
The child she conceived at that time was Saki.
She had never gotten along well with her husband's parents to begin with, and she hadn't seen them once since his death. It seemed they had no interest in their grandchildren.
Her own parents had initially objected when Saki was born, but Reiko insisted it was a life that deserved to live, and in the end they poured equal love onto both granddaughters.
Thanks to her parents' support and her own hard work, they weren't rich, but they were able to live a modest yet happy life in a small second-hand house, always careful with money.
Yes… at least until the night of this very day…