Volume 2 Epilogue

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♥

The next morning…

“Takkun, you look pretty tired… Did you not sleep well?”

“…I guess so. After all, I was barely able to sleep.”

“I see. It’s hard to sleep in an unknown place, isn’t it?”

“Well… It was mainly because of you.”

“…Eh?”

“You move around too much in your sleep, Ayako-san.”

“N-No way! D-Did I hit you?!”

“No, you didn’t hit me… but you seemed to be hot during the night and were taking off the blanket.”

“Eh…?”

“When you were taking off the blanket, you only had the bathrobe on you, so I didn’t know where to look…”

“Eh? Eh?”

“In the end, I spent the entire night covering you up with the blanket.”

“T-There’s no way… W-Wait a minute! What do you mean with ‘I didn’t know where to look’…? What kind of state was I?! What kind of unsightly view was I exposing?!”

“D-Don’t worry! I managed to control myself and not take pictures!”

“Don’t ask me to not worry and then say that!”

After we had that nice exchange, we went out the room, paid for our room on the machine in the entrance of the love hotel.

Just in case, we went out separately and met up later, then we got into the bus together.

The rain had stopped completely.

After returning, just as Takkun promised, he borrowed Tomomi-san’s car and took me to the workshop.

After picking up the car with replaced tires and returning home… I finally realized that everything was over.

It was a hectic date, but somehow, it reached its ending.

Or it should have been that way, but…

“…Hehehe.”

“Hey, mom… It’s a bit disgusting, so stop laughing by yourself.”

At night. I was cooking dinner in the kitchen when I heard Miu’s disgusted voice, who was sitting down in the living room’s sofa.

“Eh…? W-Was I laughing?”

“You were. You have been ever since you came back… Was your date with Taku-nii that fun?”

“Wha… N-No, it’s not that… What are you saying now? I only laughed because I remembered something funny, it has nothing to do with Takkun…” I started making up excuses in a hurry… but it was 800% a lie.

In fact, I’ve been thinking about Takkun the entire time.

Remembering what happened yesterday… or rather, remembering the date we had until this morning, I was brimming with happiness.

It was as if I was in a dream and I couldn’t return to reality.

And those happy moments seemed to reflect on my face. Ah… Right. It’s certainly disgusting. I’ve been smiling alone the entire time…

“Well, your returned next day morning on your first day, so I guess it’s normal that you’re so happy.”

“L-Like I said, nothing like that happened…”

“Mom… If I have a sibling… Can I choose the name?”

“You’re being too hasty! Besides, I’ve already explained you it to you a lot of times, but we haven’t done anything like that yet—”

“Yet?”

“~~?! N-No, it’s not like that! It was a manner of speech! A-Anyways, nothing happened!”

I desperately tried to prove my innocence.

And Miu started to laugh.

“But that means that things are moving on, huh. Have you already made plans for the next date?”

“Well… Yes.”

“Huh… I see. Where will you go next time?”

“I don’t know yet… Takkun will tell me when he chooses.”

“Hmm? I see. You should pick the next date’s location.”

“W-Why? Wouldn’t that be weird?”

“Why would it be weird?”

“Because,” I said. “He’s the one in love with me.”

After saying that… Huh?

I felt something was wrong…

Somehow… I felt as if I had said something extremely arrogant.

And it wasn’t as if it was some misunderstanding.

Because I, after all, can’t invite him on a date.

If I did… It would be as if I was saying I liked him. As if I would accept his confession. So inviting him myself… was so embarrassing that I couldn’t do it.

That’s why it was normal for him to ask me out… Huh?

That was normal?

Was it okay to think something like that was normal?

Suddenly, Oinomori-san’s words came to my mind.

— Katsuragi-kun, you don’t have anything to worry about. He’s the one thinking really hard about what to do, you just have to wait and let him court you.

—You always have control in that relationship

—It’s a wonderful situation if you think about it. You don’t have to do anything; you can just let him do the heavy lifting. It’s a wonderful situation if you think about it. You don’t have to do anything; you can just let him do the heavy lifting.

—It’s like playing with the young man’s heart you have on your hands. In a certain way, I think that this is a situation many women wish for.”

I rejected those words.

I couldn’t act in such a dishonest way.

I wanted to fight his feelings directly without running away.

I had denied it fully… And despite that…

What was I doing right now?

I had had so much fun in our first date that I was now looking forward to our next date, wondering where he would take me.

This wasn’t any different from “playing with the young’s man heart” like Oinomori-san had said…

This is strange… Why?

Even though I was only trying to fight his feelings directly…

“Hmm. I see.”

While I was lost in thoughts all alone, an indifferent sound came out.

“God… In the end… The date was a failure.” Said Miu, sounded disappointed and dejected.

Failure?

What did she mean failure?

Our date couldn’t have been more of a success.

“Argh, that’s enough. Stop it already, I’m done with all of this.”

Despite my confusion, Miu muttered with complete indifference.

Then, she got up the sofa and walked towards me.

With a calm pace, she got closer to me.

“Mom, I guess that after all, I’m not going to support you anymore.” Said Miu.

And then she looked straight at me with clear eyes.

“I’ll go out with Taku-nii.”

At first, I didn’t understand what she said.

My head couldn’t understand the words.

But little by little, I started to understand.

And her eyes, that looked like they were seeing right through me, didn’t allow me to escape from reality…

“You spent all the time denying things. For an old woman like you, Taku-nii’s pure love is just a drag, right? In that case… That’s fine, you don’t have bother anymore. Since you don’t like him… Then I’ll keep him. I’ll make Taku-nii happy.”

“…W-What are you saying…?” I said with difficulty.

Miu kept getting closer to me, one step at a time.

With a strong will in her eyes and her lips curved as if trying to provoke me.

It was the first time.

This was the first time I saw Miu act this way in 10 years.

Before me, there was a daughter I didn’t recognize at all.

“Oh, now that I think about it, you were always going on about Taku-nii and I dating, weren’t you? Didn’t you say that it was your dream for the 2 of us to get married?”

“…”

“You should be happy, that dream will come true!” Miu smiled.

Very widely.

“Hey, mom.”

She stood in front of me and spoke.

As if she was challenging me, trying and testing me.

And looking in the deepest part of my heart.

“You’ll support me, won’t you?”

My daughter asked me… No.

It was a declaration of war.

And I…

Image I was missing from Ch6:

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Chapter took longer to release due to someone sniping a manga my scan works on, so I had to help out with that. Volume 3 coming after I do the side story. Also I suck at photoshop and graphic design.