[AFTER] Chapter 231 – Let’s go on a family picnic!

Time Stamp: Early Adulthood

With a few more years of experience under his belt, Takei was now a father that could handle anything that came his way.

Marie had turned four-years-old earlier in the year and Akari was planning to have another baby soon. That meant he was plenty busy with his daily tasks, but Takei enjoyed the busy life anyways since he felt it was fulfilling.

"Papa, can we go out to play today?"

While Takei was preparing breakfast, Marie surprisingly spoke up and asked him for something. This was quite a rare occurrence since Marie was a docile child who didn't ask for much.

"Oh, that sounds quite nice. Let's ask mommy when she wakes up," Takei replied.

Since today was Takei's turn to cook breakfast, Akari was allowed to sleep in. They typically took turns cooking breakfast every other day, so Takei would be able to sleep in tomorrow.

Marie went up to Takei and grabbed onto the hem of his shirt. "When will mommy wake up?"

"It should be soon..." Takei scratched his stubble while he thought. "Ah! Why don't we go wake up mommy together?"

"Wow! Let's go wake mommy up!" Marie excitedly jumped up and down.

Cute. She definitely gets her mannerisms from her mother.

Takei finished cooking the last omelet on the pan and proceeded to set out the plates on the table. "Onwards to victory!"

"Heehee, papa is so goofy," Marie giggled.

The two of them headed to Takei and Akari's room to wake up the sleeping beauty. As expected, Akari was still happily snoozing under the covers.

"Mmm... honey... not there... hehe... you're such a bad boy..." Akari muttered in her sleep with a smirk on her face.

I wonder what she's dreaming about? Hold in there, dream version of me!

"Mommy, wake up!" Marie gently shook Akari's arm.

After a few more shakes, Akari finally stirred from her slumber. "Mm, Marie? It's morning already?"

Akari yawned and sat up to see the warm scene that was in front of her. Both her husband and daughter came to wake her up, so she was in a very good mood.

"Mommy, can we go out and play today?" Marie innocently asked with her all-power puppy eyes.

Akari took one glance at Marie and instantly faltered. She then turned towards Takei and sighed.

"How did you endure this for so long?"

"Who knows?" Takei chuckled.

Marie had certainly inherited many things from her parents. Akari's puppy eyes that are capable of destroying Takei's sanity was among the long list of Marie's inherited traits.

Takei was used to giving up when the puppy eyes were used, but this was Akari's first time tasting her own medicine.

"Okay, let's go have a picnic today!" Akari embraced Marie while rubbing her cheeks against Marie's. "Mommy will cook a lot of yummy food, okay?"

"Yay! I love Mommy and Daddy!"

Marie hugged both Takei and Akari as she expressed her love for them.

For a long time, the idiot couple didn't know if they were good at parenting or not. But seeing the wide smile on Marie's face was enough for Takei and Akari to feel that they did something right with their parenting.

"Let's go get ready for the picnic!"

***

The first step to any picnic was to make sure there was good food involved. If the food at the picnic was bad, then the entire picnic would be ruined.

That's why Akari immediately went to the kitchen after she finished eating breakfast to make some sandwiches for their outdoor excursion later in the day.

"Hey, Papa?" Akari pointed towards the assortment of vegetables and fruit on the countertop. "Can you wash those for me?"

"Of course."

Takei and Akari had gotten used to calling each other papa and mama in order to not confuse Marie. It took a while at first, but they were now very comfortable with doing it.

"Here are the fruits and vegetables that you wanted."

"Thanks~"

Since the two had been cooking together for about a decade, they were very efficient and in tune with the other person. Some of their college friends came over one time and thought Takei and Akari were using telepathy to cook together.

When Akari told them, "It's not telepathy, it's love!" I almost died laughing. The reactions that they gave me were top-notch!

"Papa and Mama sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Marie merrily hummed a nursery tune that she had heard from watching cartoons on the television. Although Marie wasn't yet old enough to know what it meant, she enjoyed the rhythmic sound of the nursery rhyme enough to have it stuck in her head.

Taking a break from washing vegetables for a second, Takei glanced over at the couch where Marie was sitting. While him and Akari were busy preparing for the picnic later, it seemed Marie was hard at work on drawing a picture.

"Marie, what are you drawing? Papa is very interested~"

"I-It's a secret."

"Eh?"

Takei didn't expect to get an instant refusal from his own daughter, so he went over to Akari to cry on her shoulder.

"Hic... Marie doesn't love her father anymore... hic..."

"It's about that time where girls get rebellious towards their parents~"

"She's only four?!"

After two hours of cooking and bantering, the idiot couple finally finished their preparations for their outdoor excursion later. Everything they needed was finally ready, so they could leave whenever they want.

"Marie, it's time to go!" Takei told her as he finished packing some last minute essentials.

"Mmph, okay!" Marie cutely replied. "Can Mama and Papa come here first?"

Takei turned towards Akari with a bewildered expression and she shrugged in response.

"Okay, Mama and Papa are coming."

The two of them headed over to the living room and waited for Marie to tell them what was going.

"Ehehe, I drew a family portrait! Look!"

Marie proudly showed Takei and Akari the crayon drawing that she had been diligently working on for the past two hours.

The picture was a crudely drawn family portrait of the three of them having fun at a picnic. Although the quality of the drawing couldn't be compared to anything Leonardo Davinci drew, it made Takei and Akari incredibly happy to see their daughter show her love for them.

"It's beautiful," Akari said as she wrapped Marie in a tight hug.

Takei joined in on the bear hug right after. "Daddy loves the picture so much! I'll hang it on the wall for everyone to see!"

For many years to come, Marie's picture would be on the wall of the living room just above the fireplace. Although she didn't know it yet, the picture would become a piece of art that everyone admired.

And that was how the legendary portrait of the Tanaka family came to be.

—

The fluffy family picnic arc begins!

Serious-san: What should we name our kid?

Sugar-chan: Let's name him after an anime character!

Serious-san: Absolutely not.