CH 157

“Mom, the joke is going too far…”

I will not question at this point as to why the matchmaking photos of these girls are in her possession.

If Kirasaka is involved, there is no use speculating or making any predictions.

She can’t be predicted, and I’ve seen that before.

Shizuku is wearing white while Kirasaka is in a blue kimono, and they don’t look quite the same age.

Well, this won’t stop people from coming behind them.

I wondered how much they charge for this kind of photo, and after looking at the well-captured photo once more, I turned to my mother.

This is too much, even if she’s my mother.

No, it is too much for both parents as well.

I don’t know what she was thinking when she chose Shizuku and Kirasaka as a potential partner, even though she was supposed to be negative about the idea of arranged marriages.

Did she decide that the daughters of her acquaintances were better than giving her son to a stranger…

I still can’t believe it.

What are you thinking and what even are you trying to do?

Mom stops my father, who is about to start talking about this unexpected event as if she’s looking at her prey.

She looked at me, smiled, and pointed toward the front door.

“Minato… could you please step outside for a moment, Kaede as well.”

“Wha-?”

“No, but…”

I can’t hide my confusion at the words she told me so gently.　

She urges me, who is supposed to be the focus of the conversation, and Kaede, who is not directly involved but is supposed to be a family member’s problem, to go outside.

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand once you get outside.”

Mom’s expression as she said this was that of a kind mother, just as how she usually is.

It sounds good to say that I believe her, but there’s no other choice, so Kaede and I got up from our seats as instructed.

Then we walked out of the living room, standing side by side.

Behind us, my father was throwing words at my mother, but I couldn’t hear them clearly through the door.

I continue down the hallway, change into my outdoor shoes at the front door, and step outside.

Nothing’s changed, it’s still the same.

But there were two women there.

Kanazaki Shizuku and Kirasaka Ren were standing there.

“Minato-kun, it’s been a while!”

“Hello.”

The two stood there looking as they usually do.

Shizuku was smiling and Kirasaka stood there with a clear expression.

Only Kaede and I were unable to grasp what was going on.

If the meaning of Mom’s words, “You’ll understand once you get outside,” was referring to the two of them, then naturally the answer should also come from the other party.

“I know you have a lot of questions, Minato-kun, so I’ll explain them to you one by one.”

And then Shizuku began to explain what had happened so far.

It all started back on the day dad called.

After hearing what Kaede and I had to say, Shizuku left and contacted my mom first.

She wondered if the arranged marriage was real and if it was true that my father was considering it.　

Mom came back to Japan only once during the Golden Week holidays, and even after returning to my father, she repeatedly tried to persuade him, but she was not able to solve the problem.

What she could, however, do was to postpone the date and time.

Normally, he had planned to set up a meeting before the summer vacation, but mom persuaded him to delay it until later.

However, since Mom herself was negative about the arranged marriage and still wanted to reject the other party at the time when Shizuku contacted her, the conversation proceeded more quickly than she had expected.

The arranged marriage is a fact, and the other party is even more positive about it than my dad himself.

The Shinra couple, who should be returning to Japan for summer vacation in the near future, will have to take Minato to the arranged marriage.

When she told them this fact, Shizuku came up with an idea.

She decided to run for the arranged marriage partner herself and have a confrontational relationship with them.

Even if it was just for show, if more than one matchmaking partner occurred, that alone would give the the other party a pause for thought.

Mom could also make time to convince Dad that there was a possibility that the other party would never talk to me at all…

This strategy relies on too many possibilities and is too forced.

Neither my mother nor Shizuku are stupid.

If Shizuku were smart, she would have known that.

That’s why she asked Kirasaka to help her.

Shizuku, who wanted to make sure that the arranged marriage would not happen, talked to Kirasaka, her acquaintance.

Without her cooperation, it would be difficult.

Kirasaka readily agreed to cooperate, prepared an exclusive photographer and stylist, and started producing fake photos for the meeting on the same day.

And now, we have photos in our home that are as good as or better than the real thing itself.

This was only a brief explanation, but I was able to grasp enough to understand the general situation.

However, I was not satisfied with it.

All I could do was sigh.

In fact, I sigh everyday, but even so, I can’t help but to do it again.

The next person, Kaede, also discussed things about Shizuku’s explanation, and now it was Kirasaka’s turn to speak up.

With a cold tone and a chilling gaze, Kirasaka said.

Even if you imagine this scene in your brain, I won’t be able to explain this feeling. However, I am sure I sensed something that told me she wasn’t in a good mood.

Kirasaka, who caught the silent atmosphere, said…

“I feel like I’m watching a puppy I’ve worked so hard to take care of, is wagging its tail at a stranger!”

“Well, I’m not being taken care of by Kirasaka, am I?”

Also, I’m not a puppy.

If I were such a cute creature, I would surely reign supreme in the ranking of cute boys at Sakuranaoka Academy.

There is no such category ranking, but even so….

The first thing I do is to take a look at the two again and sigh at how pushy they are.

Seeing this, Shizuku said with a wry smile.

“We’re not as ladylike as you think, Minato-kun, are we?”

It was a statement that I could not have imagined from Shizuku before the beginning of the new school term.

It must have been my imagination that there was a slight hint of anger in her words.

If it were a manga, she’d surely have those anger marks on her forehead.

The words I used a few days ago to describe Shizuku as a strong girl must have a slightly different meaning.

With that in mind, Shizuku and Kirasaka walk past me and Kaede next to the front door and into the house.

The two of them place their hands on my shoulders as if to stop me from escaping …were looking like Shura at the moment.

Then, as Kirasaka growled, and said something.

“I’ve also sent the pictures to the other party through Shinra-kun’s mother …you can’t run away.”

…It’s over.

Kirasaka, who uttered a single sentence that froze my whole body, grinned in an unusual harmony with Shizuku, then visited the Shinra household as if they were dragging me in.