Chapter 372: Arriving Home

Not waiting for Izumi-senpai's reply, I made my way out after checking that Shio's car wasn't parked there anymore.

In the end, I gave my target a piece of advice.

Let's just say it's part of the plan. Otherwise, I would just straightforwardly reject that offer of hers.

Ah. Either way, the meaning was still the same. I couldn't accept her offer. More than I want to steal her, the desire to be closer with Arisa-senpai bested that.

Nonetheless, it's not like I would give up if she distanced herself from me and pulled Arisa-senpai to do the same.

It's something within my expectation.

From that report of hers, she decided to continue being my Mentor. I just didn't know if it would change now that I rejected that.

In any case, let's just leave it at that. I still have a pile of issues that need my attention.

And one of the most important was my path to continue progressing for that future.

Rae gave me an advice to marry someone rich if I wanted to solve the major problem that we would face.

However, even if I decided to do that, it won't happen anytime soon.

Besides, there's still a lot of paths that I haven't tried yet.

Mizuki even asked me if I wanted to come with her to observe the work that she's doing for the Hasegawa Family even if she's still a high schooler.

Naturally, I accepted that and she gave me a date for it, next week.

In the meantime, she's continuing to impart to me the knowledge she acquired from her experience.

My parents will also arrive next week.

I honestly don't know what will happen by then.

They're aware of what I was doing this past month through the couple next door. I sometimes run into Akane's parents and they would try to pry from me about the happenings in the house even if Akane was already telling them about it whenever she would visit them.

Although I began talking more to my parents after that one time wherein I asked for my father's consent when I reserved a hotel room for my date with Akane, I still have no idea how they will react after seeing Miwa-nee, Akane and perhaps Shio in our house.

Their job was a mystery to me. I thought I tried asking about it back when they could still stay at home and not spend their time outside but neither of the two was giving me a clear answer.

My mother told me that they're both office workers but what kind of office worker would always be travelling outside the country?

Right. Most of the time, I would receive postcards from different countries sent by them, complete with the pictures they took.

They don't use social media. As for their excuse, it's against company policy.

Well, I am aware that their job is highly suspicious but what can I do? Interrogate them? Do I even have the right to do that?

I just know that there's a reason why they're not telling me about it. If in the future they're ready to reveal what their job really is then I will be all ears.

For now, knowing that they're still alive and living their life out there is enough.

Some might think they're a failure of a parent but they began leaving the house for a prolonged period of time starting my middle school.

At that time, my desire that was in full throttle had already led me to become independent.

Before that though, they're always asking me if there's something wrong with me and if something's on my mind, they want me to talk to them.

I remembered that I ignored all of those and told them that there's nothing wrong with me. There was even a time when they brought me somewhere to meet a woman.

If I'm not wrong, that woman was a Psychiatrist because of how she kept on asking me questions that I thought were nonsense.

However, after that one instance, it didn't happen again.

I guess that's the time when they became aware that something happened to me.

Ah. No. The sudden change in how I treated Akane was probably the first instance for them to suspect that something changed within me.

The question is… Did they suspect Miwa-nee?

I had no idea. According to Miwa-nee, after the wedding, their interaction became less and less.

Besides, Miwa-nee was also unaware of what happened to me. If not for sitting us down in the living room to give us some lecture, she wouldn't know that I changed completely compared to how she remembered me before leaving.

Haa… Either way, that's already over. I wouldn't expect full support from my parents in what I wanted to do but I at least wanted to hear their real thoughts about it and ask them for more advice.

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When I arrived home, Fuyu and Akane were accompanying Minoru in the living room. And as always they're playing on console wherein Akane was being thrashed by Minoru in another fighting game.

Fuyu who's watching behind them was also amused upon seeing her friend getting frustrated against a kid.

And Minoru, that kid had a smug expression on his face whenever he would look back at Fuyu as if he was trying to show off to her.

When I entered the living room, Akane stood up and jumped in my arms, while Miwa-nee, who's preparing our dinner, sent me a smile.

As for Shio, she's already at her apartment. Since she began sending her messages through Messenger starting this Monday, it's now a norm for us to talk through it. And while I was on the train, I used that free time when I was just sitting to check in on my girls.

Well, although I was replying to everyone, there was some notable conversation I had with Ria who showed tried showing off something she learned recently, Otoha who's still trying to complain to me about her status of being grounded and Aoi who specifically showed me that her unruliness was lessening by cooking their dinner for today. Yep, Aoi was so unruly even at their house that her parents already gave up in trying to make her do something.

She's the type who would do better if she wasn't being micromanaged. And by showing off that she's doing that, the girl was trying to appeal to me. And that was proven when she asked me if I could see her.

I responded positively but I couldn't tell her the date yet since there's still a lot piled up in front of me.

However, just my acceptance of what she wanted was enough for her to be overjoyed.

After jumping on my arms and asking for a kiss, Akane then became like a kitten who's refusing to leave my embrace.

Well, this wasn't her quirk, compared to the past two days, this clinging on me felt more normal. My silly wife was just trying to show off in front of Fuyu.

In this regard, she's doing the same as what Minoru was doing.

And no. This wasn't her intimidating her friend, Akane was probably trying to regain her image in front of her after being beaten completely by a kid.

"Yuuki-san, I'm sorry for the trouble and thank you for accompanying Akane."