(Ah, Reimako woke up.)
"Mmn..."
"D-did you have a good sleep Rei?"
"I did...Thank you."
She is still had bleary eyed as she looks around,
"Ah...We're back at the Famille'"
"Sorry you had to carry me all that way."
"Oh, no worries."
"You can put me down now though."
"R-right..."
I hastily lower her back to the ground.
She gives me a curious look.
"What's the matter, Mina? Your face is red."
"Eh? Oh...N-nothing, nothing at all...Everything's fine, eheheheh."
I suspect she isn't quite convinced.
There is a strained atmosphere and so I change the subject.
"Ah, Rei. About that discussion at dinner."
"Eh...?"
"When you and your parents were talking about your future plans,..."
"Oh, that."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Well...Th-that's..."
She looks away, seemingly troubled.
But she eventually lifts her head and whispers shyly.
"I would say it's more like I had a dream when I was a child,"
"O-okay."
"Well...I..I wanted to be a chef, and have my own restaurant."
"That's great then,"
"To be a chef and have your own restaurant."
She nods in response.
"I've always liked cooking, even as a child."
"So I had this errant dream where I might work in the food industry." She continued.
"I see now..."
(Now that I think about it, she did look like she was having a lot of fun teaching that cooking class.)
"But..."
"But...what?"
She smiles sadly.
"That's all it is...A dream."
"It doesn't need to come true."
"Huh?"
"I've decided that I'm going to go to college, find a normal job in a normal company."
"Well you can finish college and still continue to pursue your dreams..."
She looks down for a moment with uncertainty in her eyes.
She seems just as uncertain as she raises her head once more.
"I've worried my parents too much in the past..."
"I need to go to college to set their minds at ease..."
(Well, pursuing your dream might be hard they may be a lot of repercussion with the choices you make and aiming to find a normal job is practical than aiming to be a chef and owning a restaurant. Besides the fact the capital you need to start your own business, she's more of a realist than I thought...)
(It seem to me that some of her dream is still alive though...)
It's what like her step mother said...
She had the tendency to put the needs of everyone around her before her own.
She's holding back on what she really wants for herself.
(Is this a case of her putting other people before herself?)
"Well, there's not much point in standing here just talking about it."
"Let's go inside, Mina."
"O-okay..."
I nod the cogs turning in my mind.
(Her parents have asked me to help her with her dreams...)
(And I want to help her aspire to them for my own reason as well...)
"Aah...Auntie has the best cooking."
(But she's being realistic about it.)
"I'll ask her for the recipe next time..."
"Teehee."
She smiles her usual, happy smile.
Standing beside her, I am wracking my brains for an answer.
(What is the right thing to do...?)