"Is she her mother?"

"No way! Doesn't she look too young?"

"B-But if she is, then...just how old is she?"

...Come on, it hasn't even been 5 minutes since we came in, give me a break. Is it impossible for you people to look at me and think, 'Oh, she looks nice!' Is that too much to ask for?! Because if it is, then I guess I must be one hell of a greedy bitch.

"Mama..." Of course, Sora seems to be aware of the eyes focused on us. Urgh, these annoying assholes are scaring my little girl! Should I just send them a nasty glare to make them turn to somewhere else? Somebody once told me that I have some pretty evil-looking eyes, so it should do the trick. But... I don't want to set a bad example for Sora... No. That wouldn't be a bad example! I'd be teaching her a way of self-defense against nosy and annoying people! It'd be justified! I'm TOTALLY not making excuses just because these people deserve it! Nononono, I would never do that!

"She said Mama..."

"So...she is her mother after all?"

"Poor thing, so young..."

..."Kay, this is seriously starting to infuriate me. Can't they just shut up? I swear, the mouths of women in their thirties are just insanely tireless gossip machines. Shouldn't they be like, you know, focusing on their kids, and not on me?

"How unsightly... did her parents not teach her how to keep her legs closed?"

......Excuse me? I...DID NOT just hear what I think I did, right? Hahaha, yeah, there's NO WAY somebody would have the balls to say such a thing in a place full of children. Yup, yup, yup. I must be going crazy!

.........Like hell I am. I turn around to look at the speaker, and—HOLY FUCK A FOSSIL?!

In front of my eyes, I see the most skinny, fragile looking woman you can imagine. Like, she seems so old that I'd say she's probably between her seventies and her death.

...Awww, was that joke a bit too much? Sorry, not sorry.

Her entirely white hair is well brushed, but seems rusty and worn-out. She is wearing a thick coat that doesn't allow me to see how zombie-ish her arms are, but her face is more wrinkled than my underwear right after being in the washing machine. It looks as if she was wearing one of those ugly-ass plastic masks you can buy in superstores during the Halloween season. Honestly, she looks so pitiful that I feel a bit bad about that old hag.

HA! As if! Fuck that bitch!

Anyway, how the fuck did she get in here? I wasn't allowed to go in when Ms. Alice believed I was Sora's sister, so how did this old mummy get in? Did she climb out of a tombstone hidden in the garden or something? Although well... it's also possible that she's the mother of one of the kids here... which makes me feel bad for the kid in many different ways.

Not that it's my problem.

"Heh, not only promiscuous, but a coward as well, it seems. Seriously, kids these days..."

...Don't fall for her childish provocations, Sakura, you are more than mature enough to let her words slide. This is neither the time, nor the place to forcibly send a dinosaur back to the Jurassic. Although it's quite infuriating, to be honest. I'd love to smack that denture of hers out of that hellhole she calls mouth, but... there are too many eyes around us. I could honor her serious efforts to anger me, but if I did enter a verbal fight with her, I'd also be putting myself in the spotlight, which I'd hate with all my being. And Sora is with me too, so the best thing I could do right now is retreat away from this old hag. I shouldn't let my baby girl listen to those kinds of words, after all. I mean, she doesn't understand what they mean, but still...

"Baby, should we go look for Achilles and Lily?"

"Nn? ...Nn!"

I take Sora by the hand and start moving away from the sack of bones who made it clear she wants to pick a fight with me. The old lady snorts proudly as she sees us walk away, but doesn't try to stop us. I'm glad. In real life, drama can actually be evaded by being smart, you see? I'm not saying that you always can, but it's definitely possible to do so. Even more so when it comes to conflict between you and a stranger.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I turn around to look for Achilles and Lily, who should be standing here somewhere. In less than a few seconds, I finally find them interacting with some parents on the other corner of the lobby. Well, Achilles is interacting with them—talking and stuff—while Lily lays on his arms with a grumpy, bored face. She has her chin against Achilles's shoulder, and so ends up making eye contact with me when I approach the group from behind. Then, she spots Sora next to me and waves her hand at her.

"Fufufu. Why don't you wave back at her?" My girl seems a bit indecisive about what she should do, so I decide to give her a small push, just to show her the ropes. Lily and the girls earlier are Sora's first friends ever, so she still seems to be a bit awkward about what "being friends" means. Though there's not much I can teach her about friendship, considering I have only ever had one friend myself...

A-Anyway! Continue!

"Ah! ...Nn." Sora follows my words and waves back at Lily.

In response, Lily turns to look at her father's face and points in our direction. Achilles turns to look at us, and I smile awkwardly as I hesitatingly wave my hand at him, just as Sora did just now.

...What can I say? Sora had to get her shyness from someone, y'know?

Achilles smiles back and rather than waiting for us to approach him, he bids farewell to the people he was chatting with, and starts moving toward us.

"Sakura! Good to see you, it's been a while." It hasn't even been 10 minutes since we met outside, though... I save that comment in my mind and simply smile in response.

"Hi, Mr. Ach—"

"Sh! Sh! Sh! I told you to just call me Achilles, didn't I?" Urgh, you annoying weirdo. Why don't you understand that doing that makes me feel even more uncomfortable than using honorifics? Can't you just be a prideful idiot like most other people in this world? Haaaah, it's just...haaaaah...whatever. I feel defeated, somehow.

"That's right...Achilles."

"Good!" I smile awkwardly at his excited response, but before I can say anything else, a voice echoes from the center of the room.

"Dear parents, we are now going to begin with the activities we have planned for today." Oh look, it's Ms. Principal. Everybody turns to look at the tall woman as she gives her instructions.

"For this, we are going to divide all of you into groups. To make it easier for us to handle such a large number of parents." Oh...groups? That doesn't bring back good memories... Back when I was in school, every time my teachers made group activities, I always ended up together with the most lazy, mean, and stupid idiots in my class...I always ended up doing all the work by myself...

"Mama? Are you o-kay?" Sora tugs on my coat.

"Yes, Sakura, are you alright? Your eyes look dead inside..." Crap, I wasn't supposed to be showing that.

"I-I'm fine, thanks." I pat Sora's head to reassure her, and smile to dismiss Achilles's words.

Ahem, so uh, yeah, leaving those memories aside, the point is that luck has never been on my side.

...Although, well...no...saying 'never' might be a bit too much...

I pick Sora up in my arms and gently pinch her somewhat chubby cheek. It's true that I've been unlucky most of my life, but... I wouldn't mind if that was because all my good luck had been reserved to making this cutie.

"Mawma?" Sora, probably noticing how I'm smiling like an idiot, tilts her head to the side and speaks in a funny tone—due to how I'm still holding her cheek.

"Fufufu, it's nothing. I was just thinking that maybe I'm much more lucky than I realize."

"???" She doesn't get it, but that's fine. She'll get it eventually: how she means the world to me.

Anyway, back to the Principal.

"I know most of you don't know each other, and I believe this to be a good opportunity to become acquainted, so we'll let you form your own groups. We'll give you 5 minutes to form them, so go ahead. We need five groups with seven families each."

Oh... I was concerned about having to group up with those nosy ladies and that decrepit grandma, but it seems that wasn't necessary. With that out of the way, who should we group up with? I know Achilles is a good option, as we are already acquainted and all, but what about the other 5 sets of parents? Well, with Achilles by my side, they should be easy enough to find. When you're timid, the only thing you need to do when forming a group is to find an outgoing character who can gather the rest of the members for you. And so now that I have found my outgoing idiot, I just need to—...huh? Achilles?

...

...Where the fuck did he run off to?! He was right here a moment ago!

I frantically start looking around, but can't seem to find him anywhere.

Wawawawa! How did he hide so well in a few seconds?! He didn't even make any sound! Is this guy a ninja or something?!

"Mama! Mama!" Baby, now's not the moment, can't you see your Mama is too busy panicking?!

"There!" ...Huh? Sora points at the other end of the room, and when I turn my face in that direction, I see Achilles talking with some other parents.

...As expected of my baby girl, she knows exactly what I'm thinking!

"Haha...Thank you, baby."

"Hehehe...Nn! Nn! Mama's funny!"

...F-Funny? A-Alright, let's just...not think about how my daughter is laughing at me for now. What's important right now is dealing with the matter at hand, which would be finding a group before time's up. I hate that feeling you get when time's up and you found no team, so let's just get done with this. I don't think Achilles would refuse to group up with me, so I just have to go there, and ask to form a team with him and possibly with the people he's talking to. I have no idea what to do if they refuse me, but... I guess I'll deal with that when the moment comes.

I slowly approach the group of adults, and stand next to Achilles and Lily. Lily notices us right away, and greets my girl with a "Soraaa!" to which she replies with a nervous "H-Hi Lily..." Awww, look at the two friends socializing while being carried by their parents... so cute.

...As for Achilles, though, he is so lost in the conversation that he hasn't noticed we're right beside him. The other parents present, who have noticed my presence by now, are staring between me and Achilles with eyes full of curiosity. They are probably waiting for him to introduce me or something, as they saw how I was looking at him when I arrived.

"Ah, Sakura! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!" A few seconds later, Achilles finally notices my existence, mainly due to Lily thrashing around in his arms while trying to hold hands with Sora. Also, what the fuck is that 'There you are!' supposed to mean?! Dude, Achilles, YOU were the one who left me behind without saying a word! Why the hell are you acting as if I dumped you?! You unreasonable asshole!

"Hahaha..."

"Come on closer, I'll introduce you."

"It's fine, it's fine." I can introduce myself very well on my own, thank you very much. I stop him with a slight wave of my hand and turn to look at the crowd of curious adults. *Gulp* T-This is quite the big crowd, hahaha...is it too late to take Achilles's offer? N-No, don't get cold feet now, Sakura! You can do it! J-Just make sure you don't stutter!

"Hello, my name is Sakura, and this girl right here is Sora. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Sakura. My name is Julia, and this here is my husband Pete, and our son Jack." The first to reply to my introduction is a good natured young woman. She seems to be in her mid-twenties to her early thirties. I'm leaning a bit more towards the former. She stretches her hand out towards me, and I shake it the best I can while juggling Sora around.

The other parents then go on one by one to introduce themselves. Some of them are alone like me, and some others come in couples, like Julia and Pete. They all seem like nice people. As expected of Achilles, he has a nice eye for people.

"Do you think we could group up with you for today?" Once everyone is done with their introductions, I finally muster the courage to ask the question. What? I need to prepare myself before asking, you know? Being rejected is scary after all.

"Of course, of course! We were precisely missing one more member, so it's perfect." Julia takes the lead, smiling, and everybody follows after her with a nod.

"Thank you so much."

"Don't worry about it! More importantly, we were just talking about how we should all go out some time! The kids can play together while we chat over some coffee and snacks! What do you think?" One of the other parents, a brown-haired lady with short hair, smiles as she makes a suggestion.

"Doesn't it sound like fun, Sakura?" Achilles claps in excitement, and all the other parents nod in agreement.

......Eh? N-No? Well, no, I mean, I guess it does sound like fun, but...I feel like the conversation topics would run out pretty fast, wouldn't they? Like, what would we talk about?

Our kids are very young, so we can't talk about how they get into problems in school, or how they arrive late at night and we have to scold them. The only thing I imagine we could talk about is maybe how they didn't let us sleep when they were babies, or how they throw tantrums every time they have a chance. And even so, I don't have much to say in those two topics.

I did have to calm Sora down every time she woke up crying in the middle of the night, but it wasn't too much of a hassle, because I didn't sleep much anyway. Every night, I had to stay up either doing homework, studying, or working. Yup, I was already working by the time my girl was born. And so, I slept a few hours at most every night. It's a good thing I had a severe case of insomnia, 'cause I wouldn't have been able to survive those days without it. I know it isn't healthy to sleep so little, and I still have some pretty damn marked eyebags that show that, but I never thought it was a bother. Not having to carry crying Sora around until she fell asleep again, at least.

And with the other topic, Sora doesn't throw many tantrums. She is normally very calm, as a matter of fact. Like, right now, she's just waiting in silence looking here and there, while the other children present are all bothering their parents in some way. Lily just doesn't seem to be able to keep still while in Achilles's arms, which has the poor guy losing his balance every two seconds. The son of Julia, Jack, is non-stop tugging on his desperate-looking dad's pants, and the daughter of the brown-haired lady is crying while being carried by her husband. Sooo, yeah, my angel, who's only playing with her fingers in my arms, is the odd one out here. I'd be really worried about how calm she is if my Mom hadn't told me that I was also a very relaxed kid when I was her age.

And so with all that said, I can't imagine myself just sitting at the table with these guys while saying nothing. I know I'm probably exaggerating, but... I don't know, I just... don't think I'll be able to be part of the conversation without boring everyone. Think about it, there's a reason why I only have one friend, y'know?

"Sakura?"

"A-Ah, excuse me?" Wawawawa I was so lost in thought I didn't notice what was going on! Julia is standing in front of me with her phone out. ...Did she ask me for something?

"I'm sorry I got a bit distracted, what were you saying?"

"Ah! That's fine. I was asking for your phone number so I could add you to the group chat we are making." Hah?! Did I miss so many important things in the conversation just now?! My number?! A group chat?! What the hell are these people talking about?! W-Well, let's just play along for now, I can ask the details later.

"Ah, of course."

"Great, can you type it here?" Julia lends me her phone for a moment, and I type my phone number on it. Then, I give it back to her, and she saves the contact as 'Sunshine - Sakura' in her phone. Wow, that brings back memories; when I was in elementary, my Mom also used to write my school's name before the names when saving the contacts of my classmate's parents. Pretty smart, I guess.

"Very well, time's up! Now, does everybody have a group?" A few minutes later, the Principal resumed her instructions, and the activities began earnest.

—-----------

Afterword

Holy fuck I finally did it!

...Ahem, I mean, I'm sorry for the three weeks of wait. I'm truly sorry. Not only has it been a couple of awfully busy weeks for me, but I also had to rewrite this chapter 3 times before finally having something I was content with. And they were all very different in nature.

The first one was one mainly a straight-man comedy act between Sakura and Achilles. I thought it was entertaining, but when I came back to revise it, I just felt it was missing something; it felt empty. And so I discarded it.

The second draft had a weird, long conversation between Sakura and Ms. Alice, but I discarded it because it didn't really contribute much to the story.

In the third one, Sakura entered a verbal confrontation with the same old lady that insulted her at the beginning of this chapter. It was probably the most intense out of all the drafts I did for this chapter. It had curses, and insults, and all that stuff you would expect when fighting with words. It was fun writing, but I finally decided against using it because it felt too unnatural—out of place. Not only did it feel like something that would never ever happen in real life, but it also didn't go along well with the character vision I have of Sakura.

And so at last, I ended up with this 3000 word chapter that makes absolutely no progress in the plot whatsoever. But! That doesn't mean it's a useless chapter, because it does have some important character details. I know many of you out there prefer a proper plot with action, drama, and the like, rather than going too deep into the characters. I know that, but... I am writing this to be a story about the characters. I'm not going to force an overcomplicated plot in the story just for the sake of it, not to mention at the beginning of the story. So, yeah. I just felt like I needed to say that, in case you thought the plot was too slow—which I won't deny.

Anyway, once again, allow me to apologize for the three weeks without a chapter. I'm really sorry, and hope it won't happen again for as long as I upload this story. From the next week onward, we are resuming the weekly schedule of a chapter every Tuesday.

And so, thank you for the time you took to read this chapter. As always, like, comment, save, or do whatever you want to do with this story if you are liking it so far, and if you're not, then that's fine too. Whatever may be the case, I hope to see you again next week, with—hopefully—the last chapter of this kind of weird and totally unplanned nursery school arc! じゃあね！