Side: Seraria
"Ahh... ah..."
A tiny life is breathing in my arms.
I lie on the bed, holding that life.
Yes, this child belongs to me and my husband, Yuki.
The moment this child was born, all of the pain I'd endured vanished as though it had never existed... The only thing filling my heart was joy at hearing my baby's first cry.
Surely, Mother must have felt this exact same way... Even when they were unwell, my two mothers always looked after me.
Now... I feel that I wouldn't hesitate to give my own life for the sake of this child.
"...Thank you for being born."
"Ah, ah."
A newborn whose eyes hadn't even opened yet.
My husband was incredibly worried about exposing the baby to the outside air, but in this world, we don't protect them as meticulously as they do in Japan on Earth.
Well, this is our precious child, so we will absolutely protect them using recovery magic and the like. Since we gained knowledge about bacteria and viruses, we can even cure illnesses of that nature.
Besides...
If anything truly happened, my husband would undoubtedly throw everything he had into saving this child's life.
"Fwaah, she's so cute..."
"Hello~ I'm your Aslin-oneechan!"
"She hasn't even opened her eyes yet, so she can't tell."
Around me are reliable comrades celebrating the birth of new life.
"Rurua's baby is cute too~"
"Hey, Riel, don't poke her."
"Whoa, she's really cute!!"
In the neighboring bed, everyone is gathered around Rurua and her baby in the same way, smiling.
As we all look at the newborn children like that, a breeze blows in through the open window.
"Ah..."
Someone let out a quiet voice. The rest of us couldn't even speak.
Because right before our eyes, a blizzard of cherry blossom petals is dancing.
My husband Yuki's cherry blossoms, the cherry blossoms of Kazuya Torino—something that could almost be called the very shape of Japan.
I finally understand why he said he wanted to see this scenery even after coming to a distant other world.
The sakura, which blooms only in spring and scatters in about a week... I never understood why he was so attached with them.
...This sight spreading out before my eyes is the exact answer.
Even if it is only for a brief moment, it blooms in full glory, captivates, scatters, and waits until the next bloom... Isn't this way of being just like humans?
Living with all one's might to bloom, scattering to entrust the future to the next generation, and then that next generation blooms as well.
Kazuya must have lived watching these cherry blossoms every year.
They bloom beautiful flowers in spring, scatter their petals like a blizzard, grow green leaves in summer, wither in autumn, and completely lose their leaves in winter.
Then, in spring, they bloom once more.
"Kya! Kya!"
"...Ara? What's wrong?"
While I was lost in thought, the baby in my arms stretched both hands toward the air.
Even though her eyes aren't open yet, I looked at her tiny hands — she was clutching cherry blossom petals.
And a faint, gentle mana resides there.
"This is... a spirit?"
I looked at the faint sakura-colored magic power residing in the child's hand.
It's clearly mana of a different quality.
"Yes, it's just as Seraria says. But this is... a spirit I've never seen before. Ah, the rest of you can't see it, can you? Excuse me for a moment."
Standing beside me, Eris—an elf—spoke.
Elves live in harmony with nature, so they can see spirits, which are essentially the embodiment of nature.
However, a spirit's ability to interfere with this world is extremely low, only slightly increasing magical performance or mana capacity. But elves can communicate with these spirits, so they receive greater benefits and many have high aptitude for magic.
Eris spread her own mana outward and covered us with her magic.
Then the faintly visible cherry-pink magic began to take on the shape of a little person.
"Ara? From that gaze, can you see me?"
The little person that had been flying around, as if soothing my child, stopped in midair when it noticed our gaze.
Her clothing is definitely a kimono — the kind worn long ago in Yuki's Japan. It's a beautifully crafted piece with intricate patterns.
"Y-Yes. Are you the Spirit of the Cherry Blossoms?"
"That's right-dosu. Though the concept of ‘spirits' here is a bit different from what you're thinking. Torino-han has certainly been through quite a lot. Still, he's been blessed with such a lovely child, so I wouldn't say it's all hardship now, would I?"
Eh?
Just now, did it just call my husband—Yuki—by his real name?
"Y-You... how do you know Yuki's real name?"
"Oya? That's simple-dosu. I'm also a divine spirit who came from Japan. Ah, forgive me for the late greeting. My name is Konohanasakuya-hime. Of course, since I'm in a distant other world, this isn't my main body — it's one of my weaker avatars. Anyway, I got sidetracked. Everyone from the Land of the Rising Sun—Torino-han's homeland—knows me. They are all my children."
Came from Japan?
"Luna-han really is a handful. I can't blame her for taking my children to another world given the circumstances, but taking Torino-han along was quite the gamble."
"Shut up."
Luna had appeared at some point and was glaring at the cherry blossom spirit.
"Ooh, scary, scary. Well then. As you can see, I mean no harm. I simply felt it was finally my turn to appear."
"Your turn?"
"Yes. The names of this child and that child over there..."
Looking at my child and Rurua's child, the cherry blossom spirit murmurs.
At her murmur, my and Rurua's mouths moved reflexively.
"Sakura."
"Sumire."
Sakura—yes, because she was born on this day, I thought this name was fitting.
"Sakura and Sumire. To use words that are the very image of the Land of the Rising Sun as names is quite audacious, dosu na. No, is it precisely because it is this different world, arinsu na?"
"Yes."
"I have certainly heard and acknowledged it. Sakura—the language of flowers is spiritual beauty, excellent education. Sumire—the language of flowers is, well, since Rurua-han has blue hair, it is the language of the blue violet flower, arinsu na. Watchfulness, affection... Now, a modest blessing to the new children of the Land of the Rising Sun, born in a distant, different world."
As the spirit spoke, another breeze carrying cherry blossoms entered through the window.
The babies happily raised and waved their tiny hands.
"Now, what I can do ends here. The rest is up to the parents and the people around them. Well, I do intend to come see their faces every now and then, but even so, it will be one year from now, dosu."
The spirit's form began to blur.
Her magic power was fading — it was clear she would disappear soon.
"...Luna-han. I'll let this one slide for now, arinsu. Torino-han looks so happy, so I'll keep quiet about those things, arinsu."
"Don't you dare say anything!! And besides, your way of talking is a complete mess! You've mixed together all kinds of dialects!"
"That is also Luna-han's fault, arinsu. The information volume of the soul fragments that managed to make it all the way here was small, so various things got mixed up, arinsu. Good grief, you really are a troublesome Luna-han, naa."
"Shut up!!"
As Luna yells, the faint mana disperses and disappears.
"Honestly. If I summon that one, I end up with an incredible mess to clean up afterward. Yuki knows that too, which is why he ignores it on purpose..."
What is 'that'?
Could it be my husband's friend?
But what does she mean by "summon"?
While I am thinking about that, the sound of someone running toward this room is heard from the hallway, and the door is flung open.
"Seraria!! Rurua!! I've thought of all kinds of names for the kids!! Let's decide together!!"
My husband enters, holding a bundle of papers.
"""""Ah."""""
The gazes of everyone except me and Rurua gather on us.
"Um..."
"That... Danna-sama, I am terribly sorry, but..."
"Hm? Did you guys think of some over there too? Let's write them down together—"
My husband quickly pulls out a pen, preparing to write them down.
I'm sorry.
Because...
""We already named them.""
A double tehepero from me and Rurua.
Yeah, you'll forgive us, right?
Then, the wind once again entered with a blizzard of cherry blossoms and snatched away the bundle of papers in my husband's hands.
『As always, you end up in that kind of role, arinsu naa. Well, it is just like Torino-han. But it would be boring if someone threw a wrench into the beautiful names that were just decided, so I shall be taking these with me, arinsu.』
"NOOOOOOOOOO!! The fruits of my all-nighterrrrrr!!"
My husband stared at the papers drifting away beyond the window, while cherry blossoms danced through the air.
"Sakura, thank you for being born."
"Au."
For the sake of this child's future, I have to work even harder.
