ACT 1
The gentle sunlight pouring in through the window caused Tetsuhito Suoh to slowly open his eyes.
Above him were the wooden boards of the ceiling and the old-style Japanese light fixture hanging down from it: a light bulb inside a wooden frame covered by fibrous washi paper.
He sat himself up and took a glance around his room. The floor space was covered by haphazardly discarded clothes and trash, so that one couldn’t even see the tatami mat flooring underneath.
Back when his wife was still alive, things had been different; even if he’d carelessly tossed his dirty clothes on the floor, they would always get tidied up while he was away at work.
And in the mornings, upon leaving the bedroom, his nose had always been greeted by the delicious smell of fresh miso soup.
But now, such things would no longer ever—
“Hm?” As soon as Tetsuhito left his room, he found himself sniffing the air. It was faint, but certain: the scent of freshly cooked miso and rice.
As if pulled along by the smell, he made his way to the living room. On the table sat rice with fried eggs, salted grilled fish and miso soup — all the parts of a traditional Japanese breakfast, lined up and waiting.
“Oh, hey. Morning, Dad. I was just about to go call for you.” The young man who greeted him did so in a slightly brusque tone, with his face turned away as if he were embarrassed. That face bore a slight resemblance to Tetsuhito’s late wife.
This was Yuuto Suoh, Tetsuhito’s only son, who for the past three years had been missing, his whereabouts unknown.
Compared to three years ago, he was much taller.
His voice was deeper, too.
His features were more adult, his face more like that of a man.
Tetsuhito had been face-to-face with his son several times since his return, but he still couldn’t help feeling strange about the gap between the Yuuto he saw now and the one from three years ago.
Tetsuhito hid his unsettled inner feelings behind his usual, slightly grumpy-looking expression, and looked down at the food. “Morning. What brought all this on?”
As soon as he said the words, he regretted them.
He was pretty sure there was a better way for him to say things like this. This part of him was what had caused his son to hate him, but it wasn’t an easy thing to fix.
However, though his son frowned and looked a little displeased, he didn’t break off the conversation there. Yuuto just gave a short laugh. “Heh, well you helped me out yesterday. And, well. This is also kind of an apology for misunderstanding you all this time.”
He said this with his face still turned to the side. The way he grew embarrassed in situations like this — perhaps that part of Yuuto more resembled Tetsuhito himself.
“Hmph,” said Tetsuhito. “Well, if you’ve already gone and made it... I’ll eat it.”
“O-okay.”
The two of them sat down in their chairs, both rather awkwardly.
Just as Yuuto had said, their talk yesterday had, if nothing else, relieved the tension and ill feelings between them. That said, they had still been completely separated for almost three years. Tetsuhito didn’t have the slightest idea what to say or talk about with his son.
He was terrible at conversation by nature to begin with, and he had spent his life devoted solely to making swords and nothing else (or rather, he had foolishly allowed himself to live that way). And so, he was extremely unskilled at dealing with other people.
Here my son is making the effort to bridge the gap, and yet I’m such a disappointment, Tetsuhito thought to himself with reproach.
As he was reflecting this, Yuuto took a sip from the reddish-brown soup bowl in front of him, then gave a wry smile and spoke up again.
“Sorry. The miso soup’s not even the right temperature, is it? And the flavor’s too thin. I’m a hell of a long way from being anywhere near as good as Mom.”
“Today was your first time trying,” Tetsuhito assured him. “Of course you’re not going to approach her level of skill that easily.”
“Yeah, true. Mom really was something, wasn’t she?”
“...Yeah.” Finally able to simply and honestly agree with his son, Tetsuhito felt a sense of relief, as well as a sense of gratitude toward his wife.
Compared to his own clumsy, obstinate self, he felt Yuuto’s responses were much more mature. It was a bit moving to see how well his son had grown over these three years.
Tetsuhito felt joy at his son’s growth, but the fact that he hadn’t been able to be there to see it also left him with a sense of sadness. Loneliness, even.
Yuuto’s next words only confirmed his suspicions. “So uh, I know it’s kind of bad to say this so soon after we’ve patched things up. But... I’ve got to leave again.”
Tetsuhito already knew.
His son had long since left the nest, left his protection, and become his own man.
“I’m... probably never going to come back here again,” Yuuto said, looking Tetsuhito straight in the eyes. “B-but it’s not ’cause I hate you or anything, nothing like that. It’s just that the circumstances aren’t gonna let me.”
Yuuto’s mouth was dry with nerves, and his fists were tightly clenched under the table, his palms sweating. In the end, telling this to his father was definitely hard for him to do.
In part because of their three-year lack of communication, their interactions this morning had been a little strained and awkward, but any hatred he’d had for his father was completely gone now.
Yuuto’s grudge against his father had come from the incident involving his mother, but now he knew that had been only a misunderstanding. There was also the fact that he’d grown psychologically over the past three years, and had a better understanding of the fact that Tetsuhito was just a man who was clumsy when it came to dealing with others.
There were no hard feelings left, and Yuuto was once again acknowledging the man as his father. That was exactly why he felt a strong sense of guilt at leaving behind his one remaining blood relative to be alone in this house.
Tetsuhito took a sip of his tea, then gave a long exhale. “...Yggdrasil, was it?”
“Ah! You know about it?” Yuuto raised his voice in surprise.
His father responded to his panicked question by shrugging his shoulders and giving a wry laugh. “I’ve gotten most of the gist of it from Mitsuki-chan. Regularly. She’s a good girl.”
“I see. Damn that Mitsuki. She went and did that behind my back and never even said a damned word to me.” Yuuto grumbled and complained, but he had a subtle smile on his face.
I’m seriously marrying a girl I don’t deserve, he thought to himself.
If she had brought up the topic back while he was still living in Yggdrasil, it wasn’t hard to imagine that he would have been prideful and obstinate and said, “You don’t need to do that!” or something to that effect.
Mitsuki understood that about him, and so must have deliberately not asked for his permission, and given reports on his well-being to Tetsuhito, who would have been worried about him.
Following that train of thought, Yuuto realized something else. “My smartphone... Dad, thanks for not canceling the phone plan, and for paying the bill every month for me. It really helped me out.”
Yuuto bowed his head and expressed his heartfelt gratitude.
It was something he should have been able to figure out with just a little bit of thought. Indeed, he’d probably realized it deep down for a long time now.
The reason Yuuto’s smartphone was still able to make calls and connect to the internet was because someone kept paying the bill for it.
He’d simply been unable to admit that to himself, and pretended not to realize it, keeping himself from thinking about it.
But now he was able to come to terms with the reality and accept it.
“I just forgot about it, is all,” Tetsuhito said. “You’ve seen the house; I’m the type who lets things go untended.”
“Yup, sure, I figured that might be the case, but even still, it really did help me, so at least let me thank you.”
“Don’t bother. Being thanked when I haven’t done anything feels wrong.” Tetsuhito furrowed his brow and his normally-sour expression got even more sour.
At first glance, it looked like he was upset, but Yuuto realized this was simply his way of hiding his embarrassment.
It had been a long time coming, but Yuuto was finally getting an understanding of the kind of person his father was.
He was bashful and shy, awkward and clumsy; the old-fashioned type of man who thought it was shameful to express one’s emotions; devoted to craftsmanship and earnest to a fault.
What a pain in the neck father I’ve got, Yuuto thought to himself with a wry grin.
“Well then, I guess I’ll ask you properly now,” Yuuto said. “Sorry, but would you keep paying the bill for my phone plan for me? I’ll give you this as an advance payment on it.”
Yuuto held out the headpiece made of pure gold that he’d worn as part of his outfit in Yggdrasil.
As an ornament that served as a symbol of the patriarch of the Wolf Clan, it was an item very precious to the clan, but he didn’t have much other choice here.
Considering what the future might hold in store, maintaining his phone’s ability to communicate with the network in the modern world was a matter of utmost priority.
“You’re not just asking for a favor, you want to pay for it yourself, huh?” Tetsuhito remarked. “Looks like you’ve grown up a bit.”
“I should have, what with all I’ve gone through in the other world.”
“Hmph, talking like a wise guy.” Tetsuhito trailed off, and mumbled under his breath, “You didn’t have to do that, I would have paid it for you anyway. Don’t treat your family member like a stranger.”
“Hm? What did you say?” Yuuto asked.
“Nothing. Just talking to myself.” Tetsuhito folded his arms and scoffed. Despite agreeing to Yuuto’s request, for some reason, he looked a little sullen.
“Come on, what is it?” Yuuto asked. “Did I do something that upset you?”
“It’s not important. Don’t worry about it. Besides, instead of me, you should be busy thinking about how to pay back what you owe to Mitsuki-chan. She’s helped you out a whole lot for these three years, right? And if you’re not ever coming home again, then it’s all the more important...”
“Ah, right, that’s why I’m taking her with me.”
“Make sure you show your— what?!” Tetsuhito’s went wide-eyed, deepening the wrinkles on his brow, and he cried out in surprise.
Tetsuhito always seemed to wear a slightly grumpy, stone-faced expression, so seeing him give such a reaction was pretty rare. It showed just how shocking Yuuto’s words must have been.
Yuuto continued, as if launching a follow-up attack. “Oh, yeah, by the way, I’m getting married to her.”
“Wha... wh-what...?!” Tetsuhito’s jaw dropped, and he couldn’t form any words.
This was perhaps the first time in Yuuto’s life that he’d seen his father this thrown off balance.
As he continued speaking, internally he celebrated a little bit.
“I mean, she’s coming with me to a remote and dangerous place like that, after all. I’ve got to step up and take some responsibility, right?”
“N-no, that’s... b-but w-wait, what about her parents?! Have you gotten their permission for this?!” Tetsuhito barely managed to stammer out the questions.
It was a perfectly natural thing to ask. And at the moment, it was the biggest dilemma on Yuuto’s mind.
Yuuto took a long breath, exhaled, and then gave a wry grin and shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s what I’m about to go do.”
As Yuuto sat browsing the internet, Tetsuhito called up to him.
“Hey, Yuuto! Mitsuki-chan’s here!”
Yuuto glanced at the clock to see that it was already past four p.m., meaning school had let out. Time really did fly by when he was concentrating on things.
Yuuto raised his voice enough to be heard downstairs. “Yeah, I know! I’ll be right down!”
Quickly descending the stairs and making his way to the entrance, he found Mitsuki there smiling brightly at Tetsuhito.
When she noticed him, Mitsuki’s smile blossomed even more brightly. “Oh. Yuu-kun!”
It was different from before, when they’d been stuck in the space between childhood friends and lovers. Right now, she was officially Yuuto’s girlfriend, and the girl he’d made a promise to marry. With his father right there too, it felt a little embarrassing.
“I heard you were able to make up with your father,” said Mitsuki. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Ah, well, yeah, you know. ...Actually, I hear you were telling Dad about me this whole time?”
“Huh?! Oh, that’s, um...” In a flash, Mitsuki’s beaming expression changed to confusion, then nervousness as she hurried to explain herself.
Yuuto chuckled, and rested a hand gently on Mitsuki’s head. “Thanks.”
“Ah... Sure!” Her flustered body language disappeared in an instant, and she returned to a wide, happy grin. “You’re very welcome.”
This girl’s expressions really do turn on a dime, Yuuto reflected. It really gave him a sense of peace.
“Well, no sense standing around talking at the door; come on in,” Yuuto told her.
“Right, thanks for having me.” With that, Mitsuki took off her shoes inside the entrance space and placed them neatly beside the other pairs lined up there.
Those proper manners were befitting of a daughter of the Shimoya family, which had, for many generations, been in charge of the religious affairs of this rural community.
It was evident she had been raised well.
“Uh... a-ah... th-that’s right.” Tetsuhito suddenly spoke up as if he’d remembered something important. It sounded as if he were badly reading from a script. “I just remembered... I have some unfinished work I need to do. Yuuto, I’ll be in the workshop, so, um. I won’t be back for about four to five hours.” He hurriedly started to put on his shoes to leave.
The clearly bad acting was just too much. Yuuto scowled as bitterly as if he’d swallowed a bug and shouted at his father. “Hey, don’t go getting any stupid ideas, Dad! I didn’t ask her to come over here for... for that!”
“Ah... oh... um...” Mitsuki’s face turned red as a tomato.
Apparently she also understood what Tetsuhito was trying to do for Yuuto. She was a teenage girl, after all. She would have to have some interest in that sort of thing.
However, Yuuto really hadn’t asked her to come over for anything romantic today.
“We’re just going to discuss what we need to do to get ready for going to Yggdrasil! W-we’re not gonna do anything weird, okay?!” Yuuto was yelling, as much telling this to himself and Mitsuki as he was telling his father.
Indeed, that was the true reason Mitsuki had come to his house today.
After all, he was here in the modern world right now. Returning to Yggdrasil empty-handed would be a waste. What he wanted to do was get his hands on as many modern tools as possible that he could still use in Yggdrasil, and go back fully prepared.
For that purpose, he was planning to spend today looking through online stores with Mitsuki, but now his father had gone and made things weird.
There was just a little over half a month left until the next full moon, so time was limited. There was so much he had to do and think about, and if he got sidetracked onto unnecessary thoughts like this, it was going to interfere with his ability to think straight, and that would come back to bite him hard later.
A bit indignantly, Yuuto explained all of this to his father.
“Hm, I see,” said Tetsuhito. “Sorry about that. I jumped to conclusions.”
“Yeah, you did, seriously...” Yuuto sighed and slumped his shoulders. He felt so awkward now.
“Still, if that’s what you’re doing, then it’ll get expensive,” Tetsuhito remarked. “Wait here for a minute.”
Tetsuhito turned on his heels and went to his own room, returning after a quick moment.
“Here, take this as my apology.” He tossed an envelope into Yuuto’s hands. “Use it however you like.”
Yuuto looked down at the envelope. It was something he had seen before: Right after he’d returned to the modern world, he had found it lying at the entrance to the house, addressed to him.
He remembered there was around 200,000 yen inside.
Back then, he’d been unwilling to accept it, and even now, it was far too much to be appropriate for an apology. However...
“All right. Thanks, Dad.” Yuuto held up the envelope and expressed his appreciation. “It really helps.”
“Mm.” Tetsuhito grunted brusquely, and gestured with his chin for the two teenagers to hurry and get going up to Yuuto’s room.
As always, the man was too embarrassed and clumsy to deal with these situations in words.
Faced with the countless rows of products, Yuuto couldn’t hold back a sigh of amazement. “Even though it’s all just a hundred yen, this is such a great selection...”
He was in a 100-yen-shop in the department store near the train station.
At first, he’d tried to just do the necessary shopping over the internet, but sitting in that small room with Mitsuki, they had both tensed up every time their shoulders so much as touched. In the end, he’d decided he couldn’t handle shopping in that awkward atmosphere.
“Y-you know, it’s such good weather, it’s a shame to do this cooped up in the house, why don’t we go shopping outdoors?” he’d burst out at last.
“Y-you’re right! This is the perfect day for shopping! ...Chicken.”
With that exchange, the two of them had made an impromptu change to their plans and headed out together.
If Yuuto was being honest with himself, if he’d stayed in that situation, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to keep from making a move on her.
Of course, technically they were each other’s betrothed, so that wasn’t exactly an issue, but it was only the first day after he’d confessed and proposed; it still felt unprincipled.
She was the person he’d sworn to spend the rest of his life with; Yuuto wanted to treat her as special, with respect.
“What do you think?” Mitsuki asked. “We should be able to get a lot here pretty cheaply, right?” She leaned forward just a bit and looked up at him proudly.
That playful aspect of her was incredibly cute, like a small baby animal, but Yuuto couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.
“Mm, yeah, you’re right.” He just nodded in agreement with her instead.
In fact, Yuuto had always left anything shopping-related to his mother in the past, and he had been absent from the modern world for three years now. He was pretty ignorant in these matters.
In fact, at first he’d intended to just walk around the interior of the department store normally, but Mitsuki had pulled him over here saying it would be better to start here.
Even with plenty of financial assistance from Tetsuhito, their funds still had a limit. The more cheaply they could get the things they needed, the better.
However, Yuuto furrowed his brow. “But, aren’t you worried about the quality? You know, ‘you get what you pay for.’”
Yuuto had the impression that cheaper goods were bound to break more easily. He was probably never going to be able to come back to this world, so for the things that were most essential, he wanted them to be solidly made.
“Of course there are things that it’s better to spend more money on for quality, but what about these, for example? Wouldn’t it be better to buy them here?” Mitsuki pointed confidently at a section full of various types and lengths of cables, hanging on hooks and sorted by type.
She ran over to grab one of them, and came back, holding it out to Yuuto.
“You need to make sure you have plenty of these, right?”
“Ahh, true, we do need a lot of these.” Yuuto looked down at the USB cable in his hand, and gave a wry grin.
The ability to charge their smartphones was of the utmost priority. They needed them to look up information, and to communicate with their families, along with many other important uses.
The very first thing he’d ordered from an online shop was four extra large solar-charging batteries. And the USB cables needed to hook those solar batteries up to their phones were thus an absolute necessity.
“If you go shopping for these at an electronics store, they’re several hundred yen apiece, you know,” said Mitsuki. “These things wear out anyway, so rather than focusing on quality, I think it’s probably better to focus on getting a lot of them. Even the more expensive ones have a habit of breaking.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
For Yuuto, it was no exaggeration to say that, during his life in Yggdrasil, his connector cable had been his lifeline. So he’d been very, very careful with handling it, but even then, it had still gotten really badly worn over three years. Going forward, if he was going to live in Yggdrasil permanently, he’d want a large supply of backups, just as Mitsuki was saying.
“And then there’s... Ah, over here!” Mitsuki called. “It’d be more convenient if you had a lot of these too, right?”
She pulled on his sleeve and brought him over to a section full of binoculars.
Yuuto had already ordered a good pair off of the internet, but these looked pretty useful too. They were not only cheap, but small and compact, so he could buy a bunch.
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?” he asked.
“Of course I have. After all, soon enough I’m going to be part of the Wolf Clan, too.”
“Uh, y-yeah, that’s true.” Yuuto felt a warmth in his chest, and a small smile spreading on his face.
The Wolf Clan was already a true family to him. He hoped that Mitsuki would come to like them, too.
The fact that she’d been thinking about the welfare of the Wolf Clan made him as happy as her thinking about him.
As the two of them walked home, Yuuto gave a wry chuckle. Both of his arms were laden with nylon bags stuffed full with the things they’d bought.
“We sure bought a lot, huh?” he commented.
“Yep, since it was cheap.”
He hadn’t originally intended to buy this much, but the price had been right, and he’d found himself tossing one item after another into the shopping basket.
100-yen-shops were a frightening place in that respect.
“Oh, that reminds me, we’re having curry tonight,” Mitsuki spoke up. “I know you like Mom’s curry. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?”
“Good question...” Yuuto gave a bit of a pained smile.
Lately, evening meals at Mitsuki’s home always included at least one of Yuuto’s favorite dishes. It wasn’t hard to guess that was to motivate him to come eat dinner with them.
Mitsuki’s mother had the run of the kitchen, and she was showing that she approved of Yuuto as a potential boyfriend for her daughter. It was something to be grateful for, but it also made him feel a little guilty.
He steeled his resolve. He had to do things the right way.
With an intense and serious expression, Yuuto finally broached the subject.
“Tonight, I’m thinking I want to tell your parents about taking you to Yggdrasil with me.”
Mitsuki had been smiling up until this point, but at Yuuto’s statement, her expression froze, and she visibly tensed up.
“Y-you’re going to tell them?” she asked in a feeble voice.
He could practically hear her unspoken feelings on the matter: That situation was something she’d rather avoid if at all possible.
In truth, Yuuto himself felt much the same. Discussing their plans with her parents would surely be a mentally and emotionally taxing ordeal. Just thinking about it made his stomach hurt.
Honestly, he would love to avoid that confrontation if at all possible.
But even so, he had to.
“You know we can’t just not talk to them about this,” Yuuto said. “Think how shocking it would be for them to have their daughter suddenly just disappear.”
“Y-yeah, true. I-I guess it would be a little more than just a shock, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, it would.”
“B-but, still... They’re definitely not going to give you permission...” Mitsuki looked down at the ground, her expression pained.
Yuuto nodded. “Yeah, trying to convince them to let me take you is gonna be an uphill battle, that’s for sure.”
He’d be asking them to let their daughter be taken off to be married in some foreign land that was a hotbed of warfare, and she wouldn’t exactly be free to return whenever she wanted, either; in a worst case scenario, they’d never be able to see her again at all.
The chances they’d give him their approval were slim to none. In fact, any proper parent would be firmly and resolutely opposed.
“Um, maybe it would be better if we told them after we’ve already gone...” Mitsuki hedged.
“No, just running off like that is only gonna be our last resort.” Yuuto firmly shot down the suggestion.
Mitsuki’s mother had been a part of Yuuto’s life since he was very young, and had often taken care of him. Even now, she was supporting his and Mitsuki’s relationship. Yuuto couldn’t disrespect such a good person by eloping without a word; it would be inexcusable.
As luck would have it, there was still a decent amount of time left until the next full moon. The moral thing to do here was to do absolutely everything he could in that time to convince Mitsuki’s parents of his sincerity. He was going to be asking to take away their precious daughter, after all.
Of course, if it really came down to it, he was prepared to take her along with him no matter what, even if that made him into a kidnapper.
“In your dreams, you piece of shit punk!!” Mitsuki’s father Shigeru spat angrily, and slammed his arms against the table with enough force to knock over the teacups on top.
It was, of course, a perfectly natural response for someone who had just been told that a boy wanted to take his only daughter to some far-off place she might never come back from.
“I am serious about this,” Yuuto said. “I know exactly how selfish I am being. But please, give me your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
He withstood Shigeru’s indignant outburst without shrinking back and spoke calmly, looking the man straight in the eyes.
Shigeru’s face only grew more and more red. Yuuto understood that his words were only putting more fuel on the fire, but it was what he had to say, so there was no helping it.
“You’re not even a man, just some damn kid who didn’t even make it through school! What the hell do you think gives you the right?!”
“True; here, I’m not worth anything, and I haven’t accomplished anything. But I can promise you at least that I will not let your daughter suffer from any financial burdens.”
“Don’t talk like you know, smartass! Like you have any idea just how hard it is to support a family...!”
“Ahh, that reminds me, Yuu-kun,” Miyo interrupted. “You said that in the other world, you were something like a king, right? I guess depending on how you think of it, she’d be marrying into wealthy royalty. Ooh, it’s just like something out of my Harlequin romance novels!”
Just as the family breadwinner Shigeru was trying to rant about the harsh reality of his role, Miyo cut in with a flighty remark and sighed wistfully.
In one remark, she’d turned the tense atmosphere in the room on its head.
Yep, that’s Mitsuki’s mother, all right, Yuuto thought with amusement.
“What are you even saying, honey?!” Shigeru shouted. “You know all of that crap’s just something he made up!”
“Well, I might not be ready to believe his whole story at face value, but that headpiece of his was made of pure gold, after all.”
“Ngh?!” Shigeru was dumbstruck.
As expected, the physical evidence had been much more effective than any verbal claims Yuuto could have made.
Personally, Yuuto didn’t like those sorts of gaudy ceremonial accessories, and he’d tried to avoid wearing them, but Jörgen had always stubbornly insisted that they were necessary to demonstrate the dignity and authority of the position of patriarch. Now he found himself feeling grateful to his second-in-command.
“He was able to get his hands on something like that in just three years, while still providing for himself, so maybe we don’t have to worry about things on that front,” Miyo went on.
“Hey, whose side are you even on?!”
“If you have to ask, I suppose my daughter’s side.”
“What?!”
“Wha?!” Yuuto asked, startled.
“Huh?!” Mitsuki squeaked.
Miyo’s words took all of them equally by surprise.
Yuuto had certainly never considered that Miyo would take his and Mitsuki’s side in this so easily.
“I... I... have you lost your mind, woman?!” Shigeru finally shouted.
Shigeru’s remark to his wife was over the line, but nobody at the table was inclined to blame him for it at that moment.
Miyo herself didn’t seem to be perturbed in the slightest, and chuckled. “Oh, I’m pretty sure my head’s on straight. My mind’s just focused on making sure my daughter can be with the person she loves.”
“Rrgh...! That’s only true right now! Y-young people fall for each other all the time at the drop of a hat; if you bet your whole life on those feelings, you’ll just end up miserable! Once she’s over him, she’ll find someone else.”
“I wonder if she’ll be so lucky, though...” Miyo put a hand to her cheek and sighed.
Shigeru’s argument was from common sense, and certainly was supported by how things often went in the real world, but his wife shook her head in resignation.
“This girl of ours has been going on and on about nothing but Yuu-kun ever since she was a little thing, after all.”
“M-M-Mom?!” Mitsuki blushed and grew flustered, and began waving her hands to try to stop her mother from saying more.
Even though the two of them had already professed their feelings to each other, apparently Mitsuki still felt embarrassed at having her mother talk about just how long she’d loved Yuuto with him right in front of her.
“They say young love is lucky to last for more than three months, but she’s been the same ever since elementary school,” Miyo went on. “And you know how they say long-distance relationships never work, but things haven’t changed at all for her over these last three years. This isn’t just some delusion or fleeting young crush, you can be sure of that much.”
“Mom...” Deeply touched, Mitsuki began to tear up.
“A woman’s true and greatest happiness is in being able to be with the person she loves.” Miyo smiled. “And I’ve known Yuu-kun here since he was a little boy. I have faith that he can make Mitsuki happy.”
Yuuto gasped. “Th-thank you... thank you very much.” His voice trembled a bit.
Yuuto had no real standing here; he’d effectively been a runaway and a delinquent for three years. He was overcome with happiness that Miyo was willing to recognize someone like him as a worthy partner for her only daughter.
Shigeru, by contrast, did not. His shouts indicated that things were hardly going to go as easily with him.
“W-well, my wife might be okay with it, but I’m not! I’m not allowing this, you hear?!”
He was clearly even more upset than before thanks to the fact that he felt betrayed by his wife having taken the other side.
“If you just reject him out of hand without listening, we can’t really discuss this, now can we, dear?” Miyo asked calmly.
“Discuss?! We don’t need to discuss anything! No means no, and that’s all there is to it!”
“Oh, there you go getting all stubborn. I can’t tell which one of you is the real child here.”
“Child...?! That’s going too far, and you know it!!”
“Oh, really? But it’s true. Right now, Yuu-kun is acting much more calm and mature than you are.”
“Grrrrr...!”
Seeing that the two were starting to get a little heated with each other, Yuuto hurriedly intervened. “U-um, please don’t fight. This is my fault, after all. I can leave and we can try this again another day.”
He was incredibly grateful that Miyo had taken his side, but he didn’t want that to cause a rift between her and her husband and make things worse for everyone.
He was already trying to take away their only daughter; he didn’t want to harm their relationship with each other. No apology would ever make up for it if that happened.
However, Miyo ignored Yuuto’s concern and grew even more assertive. “Look, see? That’s an adult.”
“Rrrgh...! Fine. I’ll at least hear him out. That’s all I have to do, right?!”
Giving up, Shigeru thumped his elbow down on the table and rested his chin against his hand. “Hm-hm! Now that’s more like the man I married,” Miyo said happily.
“Hmph!” Shigeru turned aside sullenly at his wife’s compliment.
Miyo giggled at this, then winked at Yuuto. It seemed that their little argument had been little more than a ploy on Miyo’s part to get Shigeru to concede to having a real discussion.
She was a woman who might come off as carefree and gentle, but she knew exactly how to pull the leash, as it were, on her husband when it counted.
Yuuto shuddered at the thought that, in the future, he might well find himself completely wrapped around Mitsuki’s finger in much the same way.
Still, at the same time, that also seemed to him like quite a happy future to look forward to.
“So, Yuuto, was it?” Shigeru asked pointedly.
“Y-yes, sir!” Yuuto reflexively sat up perfectly straight, at full attention.
Shigeru’s expression was as foul as ever, but there wasn’t as much burning anger in his eyes anymore; he seemed a bit more composed.
“So you want to take my only daughter, still in her teens, and go off together. You should have known that we’d be fiercely opposed to letting you do that, right?”
“Yes. I knew, and I was prepared for it to be a very long fight to convince you both. Actually, I can hardly believe Aunt Miyo so readily took our side in the matter.”
“Oh, my. If you ask me, I find that surprising,” Miyo put in. “I’ve always thought of you like my own child, Yuu-kun. And if you marry Mitsuki, I really will be able to call you my son. Of course I’d approve of this.”
Miyo puffed out her cheek in annoyance; a childish gesture a little unbefitting for her age. That cute, slightly childish mannerism was so much like Mitsuki. The two of them really were similar.
“Let’s just put that aside for now,” Shigeru said, waving a hand dismissively at his wife.
“Well!” Miyo responded indignantly.
The way the two of them were so open and unreserved with each other must have come from their long years of being together in marriage. Even when they argued and fought, they showed a certain understanding of each other, which indicated a good relationship.
“So if you already knew I was just going to be against it, why did you come here to discuss it with us?” Shigeru asked.
“I’m sorry?” Yuuto tilted his head to the side, not understanding the question at first. “Well, I couldn’t just leave without telling you. That would be wrong, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s exactly right.” Shigeru nodded. “But you could have just eloped with her, and then informed us after the fact. That would have been faster and easier. And we wouldn’t have been able to stop you, after all. But now that you’ve told us, we can try and guard against that. You’re not stupid; I can tell that much about you just from having talked to you these past few days. So why did you go out of your way to come here and let us try and stand in your way? Why did you choose the option that would be the most trouble for you?”
Shigeru was looking directly into Yuuto’s eyes as he asked these questions.
Yuuto got the sense that his character as a man was being tested here. He was being measured, to see if he was worthy of being entrusted with Shigeru’s daughter.
Yuuto swallowed, and then slowly opened his mouth to speak.
“You’re right, sir. If I just wanted to be together with Mitsuki, that would be the most certain method of achieving that. However, if I did things that way, that would just make you scared and worried about your daughter, wouldn’t it? You wouldn’t be able to trust that such a cowardly man could really make Mitsuki happy.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ve learned a lot of lessons over the past three years, and one of them is this: Choosing to take the easy way out in the moment will only make things worse down the line. It’s true that it will likely be very difficult for me to get full consent from both of you, but I believe that I should do everything I can to prove myself to you in good faith, and try to get you to see me as an acceptable person. As the man who is taking away your precious daughter, I thought that was the absolute minimum I owed you.”
“...I see. I understand now why my wife thinks well of you,” Shigeru said grudgingly. “You’re pretty decently put together for your age. I still don’t believe any of that stuff about a parallel world, but whatever you’ve been doing for the last three years, I can definitely see that it was good for you.”
“Th-thank you very much.”
“Hmph. It’s too early to thank me. Whether or not I hand my daughter over to you is another matter entirely.”
“I understand, sir.” Yuuto nodded. “I didn’t expect to be able to earn your approval in just one day, either. If you’ll spare the time for me, I would like to come discuss this with you as many times as necessary.”
“Well, in that case, let’s take our time and have ourselves a real talk. After all, I don’t know you like my wife does. Honey, bring me a drink!”
Snort! SNOOORE...
“Ugh, geez, Dad, you’re so embarrassing...” Mitsuki stood with a disappointed expression, looking down at her father, who was now lying red-faced and asleep on the sofa, making a racket with his snoring.
“Hee hee, I’m sure your father must have gotten excited at the thought of getting a new son,” her mother said. “He drank much faster than usual, after all. Well, it could also be because he’s having to let go of his daughter, too, I suppose.”
Miyo smiled gently and chuckled to herself as she put a blanket over the top of Shigeru.
“You say that, but... do you really think he’s accepted me?” Yuuto asked a bit anxiously.
Miyo shrugged her shoulders at this. “We’ll see. He’s a bit of a tsundere, you know — not exactly honest with his feelings. He’ll never say a kind word to your face, Yuu-kun, but despite it all, I think he’s taken a liking to you.”
“I can only hope...”
“Hee hee! Well, I’ve been married to the man for almost twenty years now, so you can trust me on this.”
“All right. It’s just, how do I put this, it all happened so fast that it still doesn’t feel quite real... I said this to your husband earlier, but I was prepared for a long-term struggle.”
“Oh, my, that just means you think too little of yourself. I’ve told you this before, Yuu-kun: You’ve really grown into a fine young man in these past three years. I can tell that you must have gone through a lot of experiences; that depth comes out even just talking with you, like we are now. And as for this man here, he’s the chief of the human resources department at his company. There’s no way he hasn’t noticed the same thing.”
“Um, I’m humbled, ma’am.” Yuuto was a bit embarrassed at being so directly complimented to his face.
Still, though he felt humbled by the praise, he also recognized that he had indeed grown as a person in the last three years, thanks to having overcome the many harsh struggles he’d been forced through.
He was honestly happy to have someone else recognize that in him, too.
Miyo looked at him with motherly kindness in her eyes, and said, “As you are now, I can be comfortable with leaving Mitsuki in your care. I know she’s still young and inexperienced, but... please... take care of... her... okay?”
She struggled to finish her sentence as she began to cry.
She was trying to let go of her daughter, a girl who still had barely entered high school. Of course she would be sad. Of course it would make her feel lonely.
She kept saying she was comfortable with it, but of course she must also have a mountain of worries and fears. And she was swallowing those emotions in order to acknowledge Yuuto as worthy of being Mitsuki’s partner for life.
Yuuto stood up straight and proper, and addressed her formally. “Yes, ma’am. I will treasure your daughter for the rest of our lives.”
And within his heart, Yuuto swore that he would honor those words above all else, come what may.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login