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Enjoy.
When I Returned From Another World I Was A Silver Haired Shrine Maiden: Chapter 22
Funeral (Part 1)
One month has passed since I returned to Japan, I was at a funeral.
It was none other than my own funeral.
However, I would have to be missing for six years in order for Ikutari Kisaragi to be treated as legally dead, so this funeral was a declaration from my family that they would treat Ikutari as a dead person, it was a ceremony in order to break the bonds.
It has been over a year since I fell off the ferry, it would be normal to think that I was already dead. But, my family had refused to do a funeral up until this point due to the slight possibility that I was alive. Then I (Alice) appeared and that possibility disappeared.
The funeral was held at our house, it was meant to be a quiet one with only our relatives.
An altar decorated with flowers was placed in the living room, a photograph of me at my high school entrance ceremony was placed in the center of it.
The photo is of me with a very serious face, it made it look like I was dissatisfied with being decorated like this.
「Please accept my condolences.」
One of my familiar aunts, whose name I can't remember, talks to me.
「… I'm grateful.」
「So you're the Alice talked about in the letter. I heard about you from Ikuo-san.」
A letter was sent to our relatives about this funeral, it explained the death of Ikutari, and it also talked about how we would take in Alice, a daughter of an acquaintance from a foreign country who lost her relatives.
This was one of the purposes of the funeral, I had the opportunity to introduce myself as Alice to my relatives.
「Nice to meet you, I am Kisaragi Alice. I was accepted by father-in-law and mother-in-law as an adopted daughter of the Kisaragi family. Please accept me as part of your family.」
「Oh, your Japanese is very good… You're also very beautiful, like a doll. It seems you've also had troubles with various things…」
「Yes… However, I received help from father-in-law and was given a place to live here. I am very happy.」
「You are a small but strong girl… In this way, it was possible for you to be accepted by Ikuo-san, you deserve credit for that.」
Though that is the truth, the contents are different from what she's thinking.
I smiled ambiguously and gave a muddy answer.
「Obsan, it has been a while.」
Yuna, who had just come from the corridor, greets our aunt.
「Oh, Yunchan. It's been a while, you have become quite the beauty.」
「Thank you. Obsan is beautiful like always, I'm envious.」
Yuna naturally approaches my side, she takes my hand in her own.
「Oh Oh, obchan is flattered… In addition, you two seem like real sisters when you are together like that.」
「I think of Alice like she is my true imouto! … It's been like that ever since I met her.」
「Onee-chan…」
Yuna takes the opportunity to emphasize our good relationship.
Because Ikutari was declared dead at the same time as Alice was adopted, it was important to prevent rumors that Alice was adopted as a replacement.
Me and Yuna are in matching outfits. It was a short-sleeved black one-piece dress with ankle-length white socks. The aim was to emphasize that we're sisters, it seems to have been successful.
… Even though we are in the same outfit, it makes me sad that Yuna looks like a clean and proper young lady whereas I am treated like a child that is acting like an adult.
Incidentally, since the day I came home, Yuna has kept her hair black and hasn't tried to dye it again. This made it so that we contrasted each other well when standing side by side.
After that, mom came and began talking to obsan, so we left the living room. In the hallway I saw someone who I didn't expect.
「Saeki-sensei…」
It was Saeki-sensei who was in charge of my class last year. I heard that he is also Yuna's teacher this year as well.
He was a 30 year old single male teacher, he was a cheerful teacher who gave off the impression of an older brother who you could rely on. However, his appearance today was of a depressed figure that one could never imagine based off his usual appearance.
「…? Do you know me?」
「Th, that… I heard from my onee-chan…」
Yuna comes beside me and gives her greeting.
「Hello, sensei. This is my imouto.」
「Oh, Kisaragi… I'm sorry, it was my poor supervision that lead to your older brothers death.」
「Sensei, did we not talk about this many times. The accident during the school trip was due to his own carelessness, sensei isn't responsible.」
He was an enthusiastic and serious teacher, it seems that he came to apologize several times as he felt responsible for what happened during the school trip. Even though the accident was completely my (ikuto's) fault…
「Sensei, please don't feel responsible. He went to the observation deck by his free will and carelessly fell over the railing. There is no need for sensei to apologize… I'm sorry.」
Though I knew it was an unnatural act, I still felt I had to apologize to sensei.
After all, it's because of my thoughtless behavior that you are troubled.
I wonder what sensei thought about having, what he thought was, my non blood related imouto, that he had never seen before, apologizing to him.
His face had a troubled look on it as he thought about how to reply to my comment.
「This girl is Alice, my new sister-in-law. She plans to transfer into our school during the second semester, so at that time, please treat her well.」
Seeing the situation, Yuna sends out a lifeline.
「… Is, is that so… If anything happens, feel free to rely on me.」
Sensei says so while awkwardly rubbing his neck before passing by and moving to the living room.
When he was gone, Yuna looks at me with a cold gaze. As if she was silently asking me 'what are you doing'.
「What I did caused trouble for a lot of people…」
「It's natural that would happen… Be sure to reflect on it, okay?」
… Sensei, I'm truly sorry.