When Misaki came back in the evening, Sachiko had already been pretending to sleep. She could overhear that Yuki telling Misaki about the incident between the kids.
"I don't think it's that bad," Misaki said with a laugh, "I think Yumi's just excited and well, Sachiko can be very expressive if she doesn't like something so I hope Yumi won't be too sad for the whole thing.."
"Yeah, I guess I have to tell Yumi not to go too overboard too. I don't want to make Sachiko chan too uncomfortable.." Yuki said with a sigh.
Sachiko just silently wished that the toddler, Yumi, wouldn't come to play with her again but her wishes were futile as on the next day, Yumi came up like nothing happened and started excitedly talking about how they were going to play together everyday when Sachiko grows up.
'I DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH YOUUU!' Sachiko tried to scream but it came out as cries. So, Yumi tried picking her up to comfort her like Yuki did. But, unfortunately for Sachiko, Yumi didn't quite know how to actually hold a baby so she accidentally dropped her onto the floor.
Once Sachiko realized that she was dropped, she tried to protect her body with cursed energy but since the time was not enough to react fully, she felt a dull pain in her head as she hit the floor. She felt so dizzy and after a while, her world turned black.
When Sachiko opened her eyes, she saw a dark, endless space and there were little crystal balls floating in the space. She attempted to walk for the first time since she was reborn and she felt a strange sensation as she walked. When she looked down, she saw that the floor she was walking on was actually a water surface.
"Where..am I?"
Sachiko heard her own voice and was a bit surprised.
Why was she walking and talking?
Wasn't she a baby now?
But, as she looked into to the water, she saw herself from before she died. A nineteen year old girl, except her hair was now silver and her eyes had turned into hazel color. Other than that, she looked pretty much the same.
"...."
She didn't have much time to ponder as she felt that something was dragging her back and then she woke up again.
As she opened her eyes, she saw crying Yumi and worried Yuki. She then realized that she was being carried by Misaki and they were going somewhere.
"I'm sorry....I didn't mean to drop Sachiko chan. She was crying and I..I thought I could carry her like you did to calm her down.." Yumi said in tears as she tagged along. "Will she be okay? Mom..."
"We still don't know, sweetie.." Yuki said with a heavy voice.
Misaki looked down at Sachiko who was in her arms with a sigh and that was when she saw Sachiko's hazel eyes staring at her in confusion.
"Sachiko's awake!" Misaki exclaimed as soon as she noticed that Sachiko was looking at them. "I was so worried, my baby..Even though it was just a little bump on your head, when you weren't responding to us, I thought something happened to you.." Sachiko noticed that Misaki's voice was still shaking a bit and her eyes were still red.
Was she crying?
Then, Sachiko also noticed the surroundings. They were in the middle of the road.
'Wait, are they trying to take me to the hospital?' A thought came to her mind.
And, she was right, Misaki still brought her to the hospital even though Sachiko was awake now and responding well, she'd rather make sure that Sachiko was truly okay.
Other than the bump, Sachiko had no other internal injuries or whatsoever, which made Sachiko feel a bit perplexed about the weird dream she had. Or was that even a dream?
Misaki, Yuki and especially Yumi all looked relieved now, though, so Sachiko felt a bit better. Yumi looked even more sad at the fact that she dropped Sachiko and was really apologizing to her in toddler language, but other than that, Yumi was kind of keeping some distance from her, fearing that she would make Sachiko more trouble.
After that day, Yumi still showed up everyday to just talk to Sachiko and she brought a toy everyday to give to her. She would pat her head lightly and sometimes, watch her sleep but she never attemped to hold her or poke her anymore.
Seeing Yumi trying to make up in her way, Sachiko felt a bit bad for acting mean towards the toddler so she stopped her dramatic responses eventually to allow the toddler to kind of get close to her. After a while, Yumi became like herself again although a bit milder and more considerate. Sachiko also didn't mind the toddler so much anymore and thus, their relationship improved.
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Five months later
"Yumi chan, you are here already?" Misaki asked as she opened the front door at 6 am.
"Yesss, I asked Sachiko chan if I should come early so that we can spend more time together and she agreed!!"
Well, Misaki knew that Sachiko was only eight months now and there was no signs of her first words yet so she was a bit curious on how Yumi drew the conclusion.
"Really? That's amazing, how did Sachiko chan tell you?"
"She didn't pout like when she's annoyed!!!"
"Isn't it amazing?" Misaki said with a chuckle. "Come on in then, I'm sure Sachiko's waiting for you."
"Yesss!!!" Yumi said happily as she came inside and headed to Sachiko's crib. Sachiko was now sitting in her crib and practicing to reinforce her body in cursed energy. Since Yumi also couldn't see curses, she just looked at Sachiko excitedly and exclaimed, "Sachiko chan!! I'm here!!!"
'At 6 am?? I knew I should've bit her hand when I had the chance yesterday!' Sachiko thought as her training section was now interrupted by a certain toddler.
Yumi then started talking about the new cartoon she had been watching on TV and how she wished Sachiko could also watch and talk with her. And then, she proceeded to give Sachiko her snacks like Sachiko could eat them.
"Idiot Yumi.." Sachiko muttered and then realized that she was actually talking.
"Aunt Misaki!!!! Sachiko chan just talked to me!!" Yumi started jumping excitedly. Misaki ran over quickly at that and Sachiko just repeated the words, "Yumi, idiot."
Misaki gasped and started wondering how Sachiko knew the word "Idiot" when she never had spoken it in front of her.
"Sachiko chan, what does idiot mean tho?" Yumi asked with a tilt of her head.
"It means you're an idiot." Sachiko said with a straight face.
"...Oh..no, baby, you don't call people idiot, okay? Don't say that word." Misaki told Sachiko, and then she realized that Sachiko had just spoken a whole sentence. "Sachiko, you're a genius!! umm..just don't call people idiots, okay?"
Sachiko tilted her head as if she didn't understand Misaki.
'Yeah, no, that's not gonna happen. I waited eight months to finally be able to speak so Imma say what I want.' Sachiko thought to herself.