CH 67

Chapter 8 – Mother’s homecoming (7)

Translator – Vodka

Sorry, I forgot to upload the chapter, fell asleep. Also, I edited the TN at the end of the last chapter. MC was attacking his non-appreciative personality, not sarcasm. My bad.

The dining table at the Shinra household was overflowing with vigour.

Recently, there has been a lot of laughter in the house.

It went without saying that the impetus for this was the school year promotion.

I was put in the same class as Shizuku and Yuuto, and I became acquainted with Kirasaka.

I met a troublesome junior and was somehow forced into joining the student council……I felt like this period of two months had been more eventful than most of my entire life until now.

My surroundings were desolate even until the last year. Somehow, it now had an increasing number of people who were at the centre of all the attention at school.

What an anime-like development.

I always ended up thinking about a contrary situation.

I wouldn’t be able to keep living like this forever.

The change in relations among people would change how one would spend their days.

I had often heard that only a few words could cause the graph of likability to nosedive.

I couldn’t throw away the possibility of earning Kirasaka or Shizuku’s animosity with a few words and finding them to be hostile towards me after an hour.

I couldn’t completely throw away the possibility of earning their animosity with just a few words and finding them to be hostile towards me after an hour.

If I was asked whether I was happy about the current situation I was put in……

Well, the answer to it would largely differ based on an individual’s sense of values.

A person who loved to socialize with people would perceive this situation differently from a person who liked to stay alone.

I was the latter, by a long shot. I wanted to spend my days peacefully, but it had been a bit too lively for me……

I wanted to stay in my futon and spend my days peacefully……

[TNT – “Futon” is Japanese style bed]

The moment I had expressed this desire of my mine to Kaede, she had given me a cold look. So, I had given up on this dream several years ago……

After all, Onii-chan didn’t want to be hated by his sister, you know?

Family was important, absolutely important.

“Is it tasty, Onii-san?”, asked Kaede.

I was seated at the dining table, which had a line-up of an even more sumptuous meal than our usual dinner table.

Mom sat across the table, as we had our first meal together in a long while. She looked happy as she got to enjoy her daughter’s cooking. Kaede was looking at her with a smile.

Apart from that, there were two beautiful girls who had also joined us at the table. They extended their hands to reach out to the food on the table in. They too seemed to be in a good mood.

I picked up a piece of my favourite food, Karaage, and carried it to my mouth.

[TN – “Karaage” is deep-fried food]

Hm, delicious.

Since mom had informed us of her decision to come home in a short notice, Kaede must have had to make the preparations in a hurry. However, the flavour had thoroughly permeated the food. It was a flavour that I had loved.

“……Delicious”

I replied with only one word, to which her reaction was her reaching out to the food. Was she satisfied with only that?

“Kaede-chan’s cooking is truly delicious! Please teach me the recipe next time”

“Yes, I would love it if you could teach me the recipe too”

“I would be happy to! Let’s cook together next time, ok?”

Shizuku and Kirasaka were completely letting their guards down around my family. The very fact that a smooth conversation had just taken place between these two girls was proof of that. It would be unthinkable for them to otherwise, have a peaceful conversation like this.

Even then, I was feeling uneasy for some reason.

You could say that it was an uncomfortable feeling, or maybe it was a doubt I had……

Mom came back home only to meet with me and Kaede?

I felt like she hasn’t talked about the true reason behind her visit yet.

My mom had a face full of smiles. It felt like that she was waiting for the correct timing to say it.

After the five of us we were done eating most of the cooking, we rested for a short while. During that interval, Kaede had prepared us her special coffee.

Everyone enjoyed their coffee in silence.

“Come to think of it, Minato-chan, I had something to talk to you”

Mom opened her mouth. It would seem that she had decided to finally come out with it.

She seemed to have difficulty in bringing up the topic.

Was it because Shizuku and Kirasaka were here, or was it just that the contents of the conversation weren’t good for me?

I waited for her to continue with vigilant ears. Mom continued,

“Minato-chan, do you have any interest in marriage?”

“Buh!”

[TN – what is the English SFX for spraying something out of your mouth? I simply translated the alphabets]

The coffee reverse geared not only from my mouth, but it came out of my nose too.

……It was dirty, and my nose hurt a little too.

For her to be asking someone like me about my marital aspirations……even for mommy, wasn’t that quite the interesting joke?

However, the army of women reacted a little bit to her question.

The three girls had all brought out hand-mirrors, from god knows where, and started tidying up their hair. It was as if they were preparing to go to sleep.

Where did you even hide those?

“I don’t”

I clearly conveyed the absence of any such wish.

If I was to entertain this kind of conversation carelessly, there could be hell to pay for it in the future. So, I had to set this straight.

The source of this information was animes and light novels.

You make a careless remark in this kind of situation, and then, a few days later, a fiancé candidate suddenly shows up at your house for a formal marriage interview……I had seen this kind absurd of development several times.

However, mom continued.

“I too want Minato-chan to marry the girl he likes, so don’t worry!”

“……I can’t see where this is going”

I felt like we weren’t exactly on the same page.

Her way of speaking implied that she had presumed that I knew what she was talking about.

“Eh? Haven’t you heard from dad?”

Mom titled her to the side in confusion. Then, she looked at Kaede.

However, it seemed that even Kaede wasn’t aware of what she was talking about, as a question mark floated above her head.

“Dad didn’t say anything about it, huh……actually, you see, there have been talks about Minato-chan’s formal marriage interview”

Marriage interview? What’s that? Was it tasty?

Formal or not, under what kind of circumstances, does it ever come to a marriage interview?

Probably my dad had been caught upside down by someone and made to agree to this ridiculous affair?

Rather than saying that I was surprised, it took me a while to register her words.

Being suddenly told that there have been talks about my marriage interview, it was obviously going to be tough to wrap my head around it.

A wordless silence pervaded the living room.

I locked eyes with mom. I was so taken aback by everything that had unfolded until this point, that I couldn’t look away from her.

The surprise already couldn’t be concealed any further.

However, I thought about this situation with my head that had started to regain its composure. Having a formal marriage interview in this day and age, when you weren’t even getting married?

It doesn’t look like it has been set in stone yet, but supposing, it does turn out to be something stupid like that, how should I make my escape? I guess saying that I have someone I like wouldn’t work, huh?

While I had an intracerebral conference going on regarding what to do in the worst-case scenario, there were three girls beside me, trembling all over.

The stern expressions on their faces resembled a volcano moments before its eruption. It wouldn’t be strange if they exploded at any time. I dreaded at the sight of them trembling.