Natsu no Sagashimono ~What We Found That Summer~: What Jizo’s “Secret Password” is for

Aoi’s Father
——————————————————————————–

It’s been one week since all of that happened…

I was able to talk to Aoi on the phone, and she forgave
me for slapping her in the face.

I could feel the wide-open hole in my heart slowly
starting to mend itself.

It was being filled with Aoi’s kindness. I had evidently
been lonelier than I thought.

When my heart warms up, I remember the promise
I made up with Natsu.

“Once you get older, bring her with you to our home,”
is what I had said.

Wait until he gets older, huh?

Now that I’m taking time to think about it carefully,
isn’t this going to end with me waiting a long time?

…

What a mistake…

I went way too overboard acting all cool, I think.

I’ll be waiting for years, huh?

…

Like hell I’m waiting.

I’m going to go back tomorrow and…

…

No, a man doesn’t go back on his word…

…

Tch! Damn it!

*Sigh*…

“What a troublesome personality I have,” I thought as I
gave a self-deprecating smile.

Guess I’ll pretend I happened to be in the neighborhood
and buy some candy or something.

However…

I can’t go running into Natsu right after
making that promise.

I’ll plan to go over there around when summer
break is ending.

Why am I such an awkward person?

Would summer vacation just end already?

Kotohana’s Mom
——————————————————————————–

It’s done!

What’s that?

Hmhmhm!

This doll is Tsubaki-chan!

Tsubaki-chan?

That’s right!

That’s the same name as you, Mom!

Lemme see her! Give her here!

Okay, here you go.

Wow…

She has a ribbon! She has frilly clothes too!

I gave her clothes you seemed like you would
like, Kotohana.♪

So cute…

Can I have her, Mom!?

Oh my, hehehe…

You sure can.

Yay!

After all, I made her for you.

I’m glad you like her.

Hehehe!

Hi, Tsubaki-chan. It’s nice to meet you!

“Nice to meet you too, Koto-chan!”

That high-pitched voice you made is so weird!

No, it’s not! Right, Tsubaki-chan!?

“That’s right. Your mom is so mean, Koto-chan!”

Right!?

Hmhmhm, I’m sorry.

But why did you give her the same name as you?

Hmm, well…

I didn’t want you to be lonely when I can’t be with you.

I’ll always be with you, Mom!

I’m not gonna be alone!

…Yeah, you’re right.

We’ll always be together, huh, Kotohana?

Yep, so that’s why I won’t ever be lonely.

Hehe…

But there are times when, you know…

We aren’t with each other just a little, right? Like when
you’re in the bathroom or when one of us goes out.

Yeah!

At times like those, if you just can’t help
but feel lonely…

I want you to hug Tsubaki-chan.

Um…

She’s my replacement for when I can’t be with you.

That’s why she has the same name as me.

Oh, huh!

Okay!

Hehe… I’m counting on you, Tsubaki-chan.

Koume’s Mother
——————————————————————————–

I had co-signed something with someone I thought was my
friend, and it had left me with a lot of debt.

I got several jobs and kept that fact from my husband.
I was neglectful in raising Koume.

I hid it for a long time, but my husband found out.
It was one of the reasons for our divorce.

My husband offered to help me pay the debt, but it was
an extreme amount of money. I couldn’t cause that much
trouble for him, so I settled on the divorce.

I happened to run into my childhood friend after the
divorce. I stayed at his place, entrusted Koume to
him, and devoted myself to paying back the debt.

However, a number of men, debt collectors, discovered where
we were living. They dropped by the house, tormenting us.

The household was falling to pieces because of me.
It made me feel guilty. I didn’t want to cause any
more problems for them…

I didn’t want to make Koume feel the same way again
at the new place we may end up moving to…

I bottled up my sadness and decided to leave the house by
myself, keeping the fact that I would leave a secret from
Koume to prevent her from coming with me.

I’m sure that my childhood friend and Kotohana will
do a good job looking after her.

I’m counting on you.

I’m sorry.

A while had passed since then. The end of my repayment
was in sight, so I decided to go see Koume.

I imagined how she would look grown-up and bought her
clothes that were my kind of style.

But Koume had gone missing, and the police were helping
look for her.

Even though I was wracked with worry, I didn’t have
the slightest clue where she could’ve gone.

As I was standing there unable to do anything,
Koume returned.

It had been a long time since I had seen her.
She had grown so very big.

I was so happy. I wanted to go hug her immediately…

But I couldn’t be honest with myself.

I ended up behaving in the worst way possible toward
my own daughter.

I knew she hated me…

But the fact still made me sad.

The words she had used and the way she had looked
at me made me sad.

But I don’t want to give up.

I have always loved Koume, and I still love her even now.

I won’t be able to make time to meet with
for a while, but…

I’m planning to go see her, maybe even around the time
I’ve paid off all my debt.

Next time, I want to be honest with myself.

Gods
——————————————————————————–

A god was ordered by a god to make a world.

The god didn’t know what world they should make.

So…

The god made two more gods.

The two gods, using their expansive imaginations, made
one world.

The world flourished with many forms of life and progress.
The two gods were proud for having made such an incredibly
fascinating world.

However, the beings that lived there were extraordinarily
technologically gifted and extraordinarily inquisitive.

Those two traits caused them to escape the confines of
their world and finally… they even reached the realm
of the gods.

That wasn’t a cause for concern in and of itself, but
the beings of that world may try to surpass the gods,
they thought.

The wariness and anxiousness caused by that fact made the
two gods fear how the beings would evolve.

They brought ruin to the world they had worked hard to
build, leaving it a mere shell of its former self.

This time, they would make sure to make a world with
adjusted limits on development and evolution so that
it would be impossible to reach their realm.

The two gods discussed what they should make.

They bounced ideas back and forth.

However, no matter how much time passed, they couldn’t
settle on something.

In the end, they were divided on what to do.

The two gradually grew estranged and decided to build
their own individual ideal worlds.

One was was an incredibly vast world, separated by many
layers of cosmic space.

The other was an incredibly big world, greatly restricted
in development and technological ability.

The former did not have a limit on the technological side
of things. The magical ideas and notions the gods had felt
threatened by before had been stripped from its life-forms.

Conversely, the latter’s life-forms kept those magical
ideas and notions, but the limits of their scientific
prowess and ingenuity had been greatly tuned down…

With this…

There were now three worlds, with the first world
sandwiched between the other two.

A peaceful time passed…

But then a third god noticed a strange phenomenon.

Tainted masses, “souls,” were spurting forth from each
of the worlds.

Souls are by their nature the true form of life. The number
of beings on a world was balanced by reuse of these souls.

However, the more the souls were reused, the more they
were tainted… Tainted to a point they were no longer
able to be reused.

Tainted souls overflowing from a world had nowhere to go
and would end up encroaching on the realm of the gods.

What would happen if the tainted souls were to amass?

They may give birth to a vile god, a being with
a wicked heart.

Or the tainted souls may even end up filling the realm of
the gods completely.

Not even the god who realized this could imagine what
would truly happen.

Things could not afford to continue this way.

The god went to consult with the other two about a
solution, but the two could not be found.

In actuality, souls were part of god.

The two gods brought prosperity to their worlds, shaving
off parts of themselves in order to make new souls.

Meanwhile, they gradually lost their powers as gods.
In the end, the final remaining bits of the two gods
had become souls. They were unaware of the taint.

After realizing the truth, the third god hastily remade
the first world into one devoted to purifying souls.

The god named it the heavens, cementing it as the final
resting place of souls.

The beings would be unified as beautiful beings
known as angels.

That was the god’s plan.

The god made a system. Beings would die on the two worlds,
and the angels would retrieve their souls and take them to
the heavens to be purified.

Then the purified souls would be returned to their worlds
when appropriate… in whatever manner that may be.

However, one round of purification was not enough to fully
purify the souls.

For a while, a cycle of taint and purification continued…
It was a temporary measure.

The third god was extremely exhausted from reforming the
two gods and remaking the first world.

They then thought of something.

They would use the purification to relieve
their exhaustion.

They discovered that repeated rounds of purification on
the same soul left it very pure.

They planned to recover those souls, regaining their power,
change them into angels, and optimize the purification.

Ultimately, all the souls of the two worlds would be
purified and gathered before the god. They would use
all the expertise they had learned until now, and…

They would make their own world. That was the plan.

If in the moment right before someone with a pure soul is
about to meet their end, they make a wish for the sake of
someone else, then that wish must be granted.

There is a reason for this.

The soul would no longer return to that world.
It would turn into an angel.

It was the true end of the soul’s life on that world…
And the god pitied it.

It was the soul’s final moments. If there was a time
to deliver happiness, this would be it.

But not for the soul itself… Only for others.

It was a human mindset but also the fickle, mischievous
way a god might think.

It was the god being benevolent in their own way.

Wishes
——————————————————————————–

It is intrinsically rare for someone to be about to reach
their end while making a wish, much less to be a person
who meets the requirements to have that wish granted.

What’s more, an unprecedented error had occurred in
the wish system.

A man hit by a truck wished to safely return to his family.

A wish that was impossible to grant.

A man wished for Misaki to live happily with her baby.

A wish that, by all rights, should have come true.

They both occurred at the same time, and both were unable
to be granted.

However, wishes that fulfill the conditions must be granted
no matter the circumstances. That is the rule.

In order to attempt to grant the wishes one more time, Sora
and Chitose, both now granted new life, were necessary.

Chitose kept her body, while Sora’s soul was sent
to an existence close to Misaki.

The man wished to safely return to his family…

In order to fulfill this wish, a three-person family was
necessary. A father, mother, and child.

Therefore, it was necessary to wait for Natsu to visit
that particular town in the countryside.

This was not something to be forced. I wanted to interfere
as little as possible.

Even if Natsu were to visit during memorial services and
the like, he and Chitose’s faculties would be lacking at
such a young age. Additionally, Misaki was more unstable
than she is now, so Chitose’s mission had to be postponed.

The wish was fulfilled when they went outside together.
Natsu had already thought of them as family and Chitose,
realized it too. Misaki also unconsciously felt that they
were family, though she did not know exactly why.

The man wished for Misaki to live happily with the baby…

In order to fulfill this wish, the mother and her daughter
were necessary.

However, Misaki could not overcome her trauma with just the
two of them. She would not be able to live happily.

Only one would be no means be enough. Both Natsu and
Chitose were necessary.

It was possible for me to send Chitose on her mission early
on, but Misaki stayed depressed despite the many years that
had passed. She could not even leave the house.

Even if the two were to meet, Misaki would not be able
to become happy as she was.

I first saw signs of changes in her mental state and a true
smile on her face after Natsu came on August 1st.

She might have unconsciously felt something.

Inspired by this, I decided to send Chitose.

The rest depends on her.

All there is to do is wait for the wish to be granted.

Thank you.

…