I stared at the sheet of paper that had been sitting on the desk for a while.
Student Works and Hobbies Fair.
July twentieth.
I still remembered exactly how this event unfolded in the story I had read.
That day was supposed to be one of the worst days of Raka's life.
And I knew what was going to happen.
At least... according to the story I had read.
I took a deep breath.
I shouldn't have needed to care.
I wasn't their birth mother.
I didn't intend to stay in this house forever, either.
I still had one goal that hadn't changed.
Divorcing Fito.
After that, I wanted to learn more about this world.
I wanted to understand how I had ended up here.
And if there was any chance of returning to my former life, I would look for it.
But before any of that happened...
I had to get through July twentieth.
I picked up the phone on the desk and reread the message from the school.
Only family members were allowed to serve as the students' representatives.
Fito couldn't come.
Helen had another event.
Devia was also busy with the opening of her store's new branch.
Yoga couldn't replace Devia.
And everyone else had things of their own to deal with.
In the end, only one person was left.
Me.
“So it's really going to be me.”
I leaned back in my chair.
Funny.
I wanted to leave this family as soon as possible, but before I could go, I had to take care of several matters Xana had left behind.
A knock sounded at the door.
Knock. Knock.
I turned around.
Raka stood there.
“Come in.”
He opened the door a little wider.
“Have you read the letter from school?”
“Yes.”
“So?”
I raised an eyebrow.
“So what?”
“Are you coming?”
I was silent for a moment.
“Why?”
Raka slipped both hands into his pants pockets.
“If you don't want to come, just say so.”
His tone sounded casual.
He wasn't pleading.
He wasn't hopeful.
Just... flat.
I looked at him for a few seconds.
In the story, Raka was very close to Alma.
The two of them spent more time with Fito's family than with Xana.
I knew they didn't like me.
And I couldn't entirely blame them.
They had grown up hearing that their mother was someone incapable of being a good mother.
They only believed what had been shown to them all this time.
“I'll come.”
Raka looked slightly surprised.
“You?”
I nodded.
“Why? Am I not allowed?”
“That's not what I meant.”
“Then it's settled.”
I looked back at the paper in front of me.
But Raka was still standing there.
“What else is there?”
“Alma needs to know, too.”
“Why?”
“She'll ask.”
I let out a small sigh.
“Fine. Go get your sister.”
Raka immediately turned around.
A few seconds later, Alma appeared with Raka.
The girl looked a little disbelieving when she heard my answer.
“Are you really coming?”
I almost laughed.
“Why is everyone asking me the same thing?”
Alma didn't answer.
She only stared at me as if making sure I wasn't joking.
“I'm coming,” I repeated.
“So you don't need to worry about who will be your guardian.”
Alma gave a small nod.
“Thank you.”
Two simple words.
Yet for some reason, they sounded so unfamiliar.
Maybe because Xana had rarely heard anything like that from them.
I looked away.
“Prepare whatever you need to bring.”
“There are several projects that need to be put up before the event starts,” Raka said.
“Okay.”
“I also have to turn in some documents.”
“Give them to me tomorrow.”
Raka frowned.
“What for?”
“So I know what I need to do.”
He fell silent.
I understood why he looked surprised.
Xana, who hadn't even paid much attention to their activities before, was now asking for documents.
“I don't want to come just to sit around and look at things.”
Raka stared at me for a moment.
Then he nodded.
“Okay.”
Alma, who had been silent until then, suddenly asked, “You really don't mind?”
I turned to her.
“No.”
Even though I actually did mind.
I just didn't show it.
It wasn't because I had suddenly become a loving mother.
I simply knew something was going to happen to Raka.
And I couldn't let a child be destroyed by something I already knew was coming.
It was getting late.
I was reading some information about the school event when the bedroom door opened again.
This time, it was Fito.
He came in without making much noise.
I looked up.
“You're not asleep yet?”
“Not yet.”
Fito walked over to the desk.
His eyes fell on the documents I was reading.
“The school event?”
“Yeah.”
“You're really going to come?”
I looked at him.
“Why are you asking me that, too?”
Fito didn't answer.
He simply pulled out the chair across from me and sat down.
“The kids told me.”
“Then you already know.”
“I just didn't expect you to want to come.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“Why?”
“You wanted a divorce before.”
“Does wanting a divorce mean I have to stop being their guardian?”
Fito fell silent.
I could see a slight change in his expression.
As if my question had brought up something that had never occurred to him.
“Raka and Alma are still your children.”
I paused for a moment.
“And I won't let them lose someone who can be there for them just because the adults around them can't resolve their own issues.”
Fito stared at me for a long time.
“Since when have you thought that way?”
I almost answered.
Since I died.
Since I read the story of your lives.
Since I woke up in your wife's body.
But of course, there was no way I could say that.
“I just changed my mind.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
Fito leaned back.
“You really have changed.”
I smiled faintly.
“At least change isn't always a bad thing.”
Fito's gaze grew even harder to read.
“I didn't say it was bad.”
“Good.”
I went back to reading the documents.
But a few seconds later, Fito spoke again.
“Xana.”
“Hmm?”
“If something happens at school...”
I stopped reading.
“Why?”
“Don't make any decisions on your own.”
I looked at him.
“I always make my own decisions.”
“That's exactly what worries me.”
I frowned.
For a while, we simply stared at each other.
Then Fito stood up.
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
He walked toward the door.
But before he left, he stopped.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Don't push yourself too hard.”
I fell silent.
The door closed.
I continued staring at it for a while.
Strange.
Very strange.
Fito, who was supposed to be a man who didn't care about Xana, had instead shown concern several times—something I had never found in the story.
Or maybe...
I just didn't remember it.
I looked back at the documents on the desk.
Student Works and Hobbies Fair.
I smiled faintly.
“All right.”
I picked up a pen.
“If something really is going to happen there...”
I signed the consent form as their guardian.
“...this time, I'll be the one to go.”
And without realizing it, that simple decision would change the relationship between me and the two children who had always regarded me as a stranger.
Because I knew what was going to happen.
But they didn't.
And maybe...
this story had already begun to change.