Chapter 579: Mihara-san's Interest

Mihara-san picking me up to send me home was actually Otoha giving her chauffeur a chance.

A chance to be alone with me.

Otoha has long been aware of Mihara-san’s interest in me. According to Mihara-san herself, Otoha already knew about it even when we’re still together.

Mihara-san confessed to her about it, thinking it’s a duty she should report.

As for the reason for her interest in me... the large part came from how she became a witness of her Ojou-sama’s relationship with me, the rest came from how I became the closest guy to her.

It’s kinda weak as if it’s telling me that if she had more contact with men, she wouldn’t be interested in me.

Mihara-san came from a servant family of the Kaneko House. Ever since birth, she’s destined to serve them. Originally, she’s not supposed to be a chauffeur for Otoha but a maid or secretary assigned to her older brother.

However, she somehow excelled with more manly things than chores befitting of a maid. And with Otoha becoming the favorite granddaughter of the Family Head, she was reassigned to be Otoha’s exclusive servant.

In truth, Mihara-san is seven years older than Otoha. She was assigned to her when Mihara-san was still in middle school and Otoha had just started attending grade school.

However, being someone from the servant family, she had an accelerated study and already finished the high school curriculum before she was assigned to Otoha. Due to that, they’ve been together for 10 years already. More than just her servant, chauffeur, bodyguard and instructor, Otoha was already treating her as a close sister.

It was just Mihara-san who was stubbornly doing her job despite Otoha requesting her to treat her as a sister as well.

Although Otoha held absolute command over her, telling Mihara-san to level herself the same as the young lady of Kaneko House was something she couldn’t do.

In the end, Otoha gave up on getting her to accept it. But in her mind, Mihara-san was already an extremely reliable older sister.

Being a woman whose sole purpose was to serve Otoha, she actually vowed to never fall in love with someone even if that’s not against the rule. Her interest in me was no more than just interest in the opposite sex that she never felt to anyone before.

Who knows? Perhaps she’s unaware and it’s truly a foreign concept for her or she’s just restraining herself.

Either way, when Otoha was made aware of my confession to Mihara-san, that girl gave her this chance.

She even sent a message to me to take care of Mihara-san. According to Otoha, my confession was the trigger for her to try and push Mihara-san towards me.

She’s aware of my previous tendency after all. Unless I expressed my interest or like towards a girl, I will not strive on making that girl mine.

Otoha’s information was kind of outdated though. With Eimi, Saki and Arisa-senpai as an example, it didn’t matter now whether I was initially interested or not. I guess, it depends on the circumstances now. If there’s a situation or event where I got to spend some time with a girl, my interest in her may or may not inflate.

However, thinking back to my past experiences, if I wasn’t interested at first, the time I spent with someone might stack up along with my continued observation of them could lead to me gaining an interest.

Moreover, there’s also that urge to tease. Sometimes, I couldn’t help but do that. And... that’s a fairly positive indication of my being interested in someone.

Back to the topic at hand, Otoha giving a green light for Mihara-san to spend time with me was something I hadn’t expected.

With the chance presented in front of me, unlike earlier, I naturally took it.

In the span of time I spent sitting at the back of the car and watching Mihara-san drive the car, I conversed with her, trying to learn what’s going on in her mind.

Unfortunately, it’s not that fruitful. Between her job as Otoha’s servant and her interest in me, she stressed that the former would be her utmost priority.

She’s grateful for Otoha giving the chance but with her driving the car and her mandate to return to her Ojou-sama’s side as soon as possible, there’s no chance for us to truly spend the time together.

Anyway, it’s not like I was hoping for something to happen. For now, I wanted to learn more about her.

Nonetheless, before I got out of the car, I leaned towards the driver’s seat and stole a kiss from her.

It was a swift one to express my gratitude to her.

As for Mihara-san’s reaction, it was a deadpan expression. She did spend a few seconds tracing her lips though. Perhaps, trying to make sense of what just happened.

By the time she drove off to go back to the hospital, I messaged Otoha about the result and as expected, the girl was slightly frustrated upon hearing it.

She even sent another message advising me to put on my aggressive side to make Mihara-san fold under me.

Although there’s a possibility that I would actually do that before, I somehow wanted to peel off the sticker called ‘servant’ in Mihara-san’s personality bit by bit. That way, I will be able to see the Mihara-san that isn’t bound by her duty.

After sending that explanation to Otoha, the girl instantly initiated a call to me and through it, Otoha expressed her gratitude to me for thinking about Mihara-san’s well-being. She confessed that what I wanted to happen was something she also wished for.

“Tomorrow, if grandfather remains asleep, I will send her again to you, Ruki. Start by calling her by her given name. See if that will work.”

Her given name... Hitomi.

That will either be effective or useless at all.

“Are you sure about that? What if I succeeded and she decides to leave your side? And after leaving, she chose to be by my side?”

Although the possibility was low, given that she was raised to serve, that’s not impossible to happen.

“Uhh. Then I will be happy for her. She’ll become my sister, literally. But I doubt that will happen. It’s Hitomi-nee after all.” Otoha confidently smiled. Being with Mihara-san for 10 years, she’s the one who knows her best.

“You still call her that when she’s not around, huh?”

“You know her, Ruki. She hates it or rather, she wanted me to continue addressing her as my servant. She’s too hardheaded.”

That’s right. This is why I also think that it might be useless calling her by her given name. But I guess, it’s worth a try.

“Right. Right. Just like a certain Ojou-sama. I’ll go in, Otoha. Since you’re going to stay there, I’ll remind you to not force yourself to stay up all night.”

“I understand, Grandpa is already in good health. I don’t need to stress myself anymore... See you, Ruki.”

After saying goodbye to each other and cutting the videocall, I entered our front door and was once again greeted by my beautiful wife.

The day could be said to have more or less ended. Although I ended up skipping three periods due to the suddenness of Otoha’s grandfather’s collapse, it still worked out in the end.

Although I am possibly not that ready to meet her grandfather when he eventually wakes up, there’s no point in me stressing myself over it. I just have to encourage myself that it’s for my Otoha. Without his blessing, it will be hard for me to take her away from their family.