Motokano to no Jirettai Gisou Kekkon Volume 1 Chapter 3

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The Two’s Banquet

❀

A few days have passed since my newlywed life with Haru began. Today, I went home to visit my family.

“Being at home really is the most relaxing~”

“It’s only been four days, what are you saying.”

As I sat on the high-class sofa inside my private room that I had lived in for 22 years, Hayashida threw in a retort with some black tea she offered me.

“You’re back early. What a brief newlywed life it was.”

“That’s not it. I just came back to bring some luggage with me.”

The Tamaki Family’s household is roughly one hour by car from the flat Haru and I live in. Today, I used the bus— a public means of transportation without relying on my family’s servants, and came here.

Phew. As the fast learner that I am, I already learned how to master the travel by bus. Now I’m not some sheltered spoiled lady anymore!

“I figured that I only needed the bare minimum, but…Now that I’m actually living away from my home, there are a few more things I’d like.”

The object I wanted the most this time—-is a hair dryer. There was one in Haru’s apartment as well, but it was a cheap version, nearly not strong enough to properly dry a woman’s long hair. My hair won’t get dry at all, so I wanted to bring the one I was using at home.

“That’s right, I was the one who came back running. I triumphantly slammed down my letter of resignation, only to come back crying because my marriage was cancelled. I am that kind of woman after all.”

“Hey now, nobody said anything about you…”

If you’re going to use a self-deprecating joke, at least make it a joke, okay? Don’t just get depressed for real.

“Is Haru-sama at university today?”“Yup. In the morning it’s all lectures, in the afternoon he’s going to look up something on the professional certification, and in the evening he’s got a party with the people of his seminar.”

“Professional certification…That reminds me, Haru-sama is trying to get his certificate this year.”

“Yeah. During his enrollment, he’s trying to get as many certificates as possible that are related to real estate.”

Professional certification in this case refers to the one of a registered real estate agent. I’m not too familiar with the details, but it apparently is a necessary certification in order to work in the real estate area. Haru’s family—the Isurugi Group has always been a proficient family in that area.

They have a lot of enterprises under their wing, but the strongest is real estate after all. Haru himself had been instructed to work at the Isurugi Group as well, later entering the real estate business. In order to achieve this flawlessly, he’s been working towards that…Really, what a diligent guy he is.

“What a wonderful person Haru-sama is.” Hayashida said, deeply in admiration. “He always had excellent grades, and managed to pass the entrance exams for an elite university. Yet, he hasn’t let up after getting into this university, and even works part-time, improving himself. In hindsight of his employment at the Isurugi Group, he has been working hard for as long as I can remember. He may be younger than me, but I deeply admire him…” There, Hayashida glanced at me.

Her gaze was filled with scorn and pity.

“Yet, there are good-for-nothing spoiled ladies who merely used the connections of their parents to get into a private university, only to then skip on the lectures and even end up held back a year.”

“Y-You don’t need to tell it straight to my face! It doesn’t matter as long as I graduate!”

I tried to argue back, but…in the end, it only made me feel more embarrassed at how that made me sound like an actual good-for-nothing. I mean, you’re wrong, okay. Haru is just too much of a hard-worker that no matter what I do, compared to him I just seem like a loser! I’m totally normal…No, maybe a bit lower than normal…still on a level where I’m not completely lost!

“…I get that Haru’s busy. He’s working a lot part-time, and studying hard every day to get his certification…That’s why I’m trying my best to help with the housework as much as I can.”

“What a wonderful mindset. To think that Rio-sama would pour her heart into housework…it must be the power of love.”

“That’s right, it’s the power of…Wait, no no! Stop putting words in my mouth!” I was about to nod along, only to frantically retort back.

That was close, I was almost about to fall for this guided question.

“I don’t feel anything for him anymore, how many times do I need to repeat myself? The reason I’m doing all the housework is…just that, you know? I wouldn’t want him to complainining that his grades dropping is my fault!”

“How stubborn. You two had been in a relationship before, right? If a former couple ended up living under the same roof, it wouldn’t be weird for an old flame to light up again.”

“Not happening! There’s going to be no reconciliation! We’re over and done!” I desperately argued. “M-More than anything, Haru is always acting cheeky! Always fiddling with his wording, constantly belligerent!”

“………From how I see it, the reason Haru-sama becomes belligerent is because Rio-sama always starts a fight.”

“Despite him being younger, he doesn’t respect me at all! He also uses casual language all the time!”

“If I remember correctly, you were the one who told him to use casual language, right? From a certain point in time, when Haru-sama started using polite language with you, you would start screaming, crying ‘Don’t use polite language with me!’, am I wrong?”

“I-I wasn’t crying at all! I was just a bit sad, is all!”

Damn you, Hayashida! You know every single inch of my dark past!

“…I-I mean, when Haru went up to middle school, he suddenly started talking all polite…”

“That tends to happen, yes.”

“Since he talked to me like that…I-I just started feeling lonely!”

“I see. Basically, you were already head over heels for Haru-sama at that specific time, Rio-sama.”

“Wha? Ugh…N-No, I mean…W-Well, I can’t deny that I had these kinds of feelings for a short period of time, but…”

That is the only thing I can’t deny. After all, we temporarily held mutual feelings for each other, and formed the bond of becoming a couple.

“However—that is all in the past! That story has ended!”

“Is that so. Then, I will leave it at that. I can see that you have no intention of returning to how you were before. However.” Hayashida continued. “What if Haru-sama were the one who wanted this past relationship back?”

“Eh…?”

“If he happened to still have lingering feelings for you, and wanted to return back to how you were once before—namely to turn into a fully-fledged married couple instead of the fake one you were now, what would you do, Rio-sama?”

“T-That’s…”

Haru is supposed to have lingering feelings for me? There’s no way that…But, what if. What if Haru said he wanted to redo it…

“…Well, I might consider it…”

“So as I thought, you—”

“I-I will only consider it! Only if he comes apologizing and crying while begging on his knees!”

“…For crying out loud. I fully understand it now. Your relationship might seem simple yet complicated, but deep down all too straightforward.” Hayashida showed a bitter smile. “I hope that you can become more honest.”

“You can say that again. If only he’d be as honest as he was before…”

“I’m talking about you, Rio-sama.”

“I am always honest.”

“Is that so. Only your own desires and pride are what portray your honesty.” Hayashida spoke with thorns in her words. “Let us assume that he still has lingering feelings for you. If you were to always be on guard around him, acting stuck-up at any conversation, then he might get fed up with you for real. You have to become more honest…and show an opening to signal there is still a chance.” Her tone had an odd mixture of annoyance yet kindness mixed into it.

Hearing this advice…

“W-Why would I have to do something like that for Haru…” I responded with a calm expression, but the inside of me ended up in disarray.

Hmm…Show him an opening to signal that there is still a chance, huh…

☀

8pm passed. I arrived home from my seminar’s dinner party, only to be greeted by—

“Ahh~ Haru, welcome back~” Rio spoke with a coquettish voice, her face slightly red.

She wore loose room clothes, sitting on the sofa, as she waved at me with a glass in hand. The ice inside the glass let out a clunking sound. On the table in front of her, I could see an opened whisky bottle, as well as a normal carbonated water bottle. Whisky with carbonated water—creating a so-called Highball drink. She’s also got several cheese-based snacks on the table.

“Were you…drinking?”

“Yup, a bit.”

“……”

“What’s that face for? I finished all the housework, so I won’t stand any complaints, okay? Or, am I not allowed to enjoy my evening?”

“Nobody was complaining.”

I was just a bit surprised. We did keep in touch even after breaking up, but I didn’t know she enjoyed a bit of alcohol in the evening. Especially not all on her own.

“Hehehe. Unlike a certain someone, I’m already at an age where I can drink.”

“Sounds fine by me, just don’t overdo it.”

“Oh my, are you worried about me?”

“Taking care of you in case you collapsed would be a pain, is all.”

After getting a sip of water in the kitchen, I tried to leave the living room behind me, but…

“Hey, where are you doing?” Rio stopped me.

“Taking a bath, why?”

Looking at Rio, who didn’t have any makeup on and wore loose clothes, I figured that she already finished her bath. That’s why I assumed the bath was ready, and if the water had already gotten cold, I could always take a shower.

“Sheesh…Listen.” Rio let out a sigh, and continued. “Why can’t you just read the mood a bit?”

“…What are you on about?”

“You don’t get it? Your…w-wife is drinking all on her own.” She glared at me, and continued with a sulking tone. “A husband would offer a bit of his time to spend with her.” She said, and tapped her open hand on the sofa next to her.

It appears as if my wife is the type to get clingy when she’s drunk.

“Alright, cheers!”

“Cheers.”

We bumped our glasses together, creating a faint clunking sound. Of course, since I was underage, I couldn’t just drink any alcohol, which is why my glass was pure carbonated water. I don’t necessarily dislike it, so it’s fine. If anything, I can’t stand carbonated juice instead.

“You sure are diligent, Haru. You’re in university, yet you won’t drink any alcohol.”

“I’m still underage, so of course I won’t.”

“So you didn’t even drink anything with the people from your seminar?”

“It wasn’t some drinking party, but a normal celebration. We didn’t drink a single drop. Professor wouldn’t let us anyway.”

“What a stiff and boring university life, huh~” She said like she didn’t care at all, gulping down the contents of her glass.

I wanted to reach for a snack, but—My heart skipped a beat. Her voluptuous chest, barely covered by her loose clothes, happened to enter my view…Man, they really are huge. Because I’m sitting next to her, I could get a look of it up close. Since she previously took a bath, she barely wore a loose shirt and some pants, which made them seem even bigger than usual…Wait a second? Since she came out of the bath…is there a chance that she’s not wearing a bra!? These giant two fruits are free from their restriction, right in front of me—

“Hm……? Ahh.” At the same time, Rio seemed to have caught on to my gaze.

For a second, she reflexively hid her chest behind her arms, only to immediately show me a teasing grin.

“…Sheesh. You’re looking at my breasts again, right?”

Immediately after her words reached my ears, my face turned beet red.

“I-I wasn’t.”

“Liar liar your pants are on fire. You definitely were looking, I could tell.”

“Even if I was, that was just a natural reaction of a man. You’re the one at fault for wearing this kind of defenseless clothing.”

“Ahaha, what kind of excuse is that? I’m not that defenseless…Ah, don’t tell me…” Her grin ran even deeper. “Did you think…I wasn’t wearing a bra because I just got out of the bath?”

“……!”

“Bulls-eye, huh? I see, I see, that’s why you were staring at me. Fufu, what a perv you are, Haru~” She spoke with a typical Onee-san’s voice, slightly pulling on the collar of her shirt.

Thanks to that, I could see a black string on her shoulder.

“See, I’m properly wearing a night bra.”

“N-Night bra…?”

“You put that on before sleeping, it’s more loose of a bra. When you have my size, you need to be careful that they don’t lose shape too soon~” She spoke of a woman’s problems, all too unfamiliar to me. “Fufu, what a shame that I wasn’t actually bra-less.”

“…Shut up already.” I could only avert my face from her grin.

“Being big like this is a lot of trouble, you know~ They got even bigger recently, and getting a fitting one is more and more troublesome.”

They are still growing!?—I screamed inside my head, but kept an iron facade on my expression. Rio was still looking at me, enjoying my reaction during this lewd conversation, so I can’t give her too much material to tease me.

“Hmpf…” She must have been annoyed that my reaction was too calm for her taste, which is why she approached me even further, looking up at me. “Hey…are you interested in what cup size I am?”

“…Not really.”

“If you’re that adamant on it, I might be willing to tell you~ Say ‘Rio-sama, I beg you’, and I’ll make this a special service just for you.”

“Again, I’m not interested.”

I was really interested, dying to know even. But, I ignored that desire, and spoke with a calm voice.

“Really…Don’t just bother me like that just because you’re a bit tipsy.”

“……Hmpf~!” Rio pouted, gulping down the rest that had been in her glass. “Ahh, so boring. You’re so weird.”

“Which is it?”

“You were so cute before. Saying ‘I love you, Rio-nee’, clinging to me.”

“…How far in the past are we talking?”

Me calling ‘Rio-nee’ is a thing of at least 15 years ago.

“How nostalgic~” Rio gave a faint smile, and had a distant gaze in her eyes. “We often played marriage with Grandma, you remember?”

“…That happened, right.”

How could I forget. I’m way too embarrassed to say that out loud, but these memories are still the most precious to me up to this day, stored in the deepest part of my heart.

“Well, we are technically still playing marriage right now.”

It’s a false, pretend marriage. Not one formed out of love, but only for both of our benefits. This really—is just us playing marriage.

“Ahaha, you’re absolutely right in that.” Rio let out a heartfelt laugh.

After that, she showed a slightly painful expression.

“Though…I feel like we’ve gotten worse at it.” She continued. “We’ve both grown up to become adults, huh. In both heart and body. Even though we would always say ‘I love you’ and ‘Let’s get married’ when we were still young children.” With these words—

She rested her head on my shoulder.

“Eh…” I was left bewildered because of this sudden action.

With intoxicated eyes, Rio looked up at me.

“Mmm…I’m feeling a bit tipsy.” She spoke in a sweet voice, leaning against me even more.

With our bodies teaching, I could feel her warmth. A comfortable scent drifted up from her hair, letting my heart race even faster.

“H-Hey…”

“Don’t run away.”

When I wanted to reflexively pull away my body, she chased after me. She put her hand on my lap, emitting even more warmth.

“…You drank too much.”

“Probably. But…isn’t that fine? Now I can say the things I normally can’t.” She said, with slightly dampened eyes. “Hey, Haru…Be honest, how do you feel about me?”

“…!”

“Are you really, really really, over me already? Do you not feel anything…even when I cling to you like this?”

“Rio…”

Of course—I was feeling a lot. Her eyes, her face, her voice, her body, her scent, everything was far too charming, I was about to cast away all my reason and pride just to embrace Rio right here, right now. But…

Although it pains me to say it, my reason had already caught on to something. From the very first moment, I felt like something was off. And now, I understand what that was. I sadly understood—

“……”

Without saying anything, I stole the glass from Rio.

“Eh!? Ah, wai—”

I shook off her attempt to steal it back, and put my mouth on the glass. Immediately, I—didn’t taste anything resembling a highball. Instead, it tasted like a vitamin-type energy drink mixed with carbonated water.

“…Makes sense why I didn’t pick up any scent of alcohol.”

The first sense of discomfort that bothered me—was the scent. Rio acted like she had enjoyed quite the amount of alcohol, but neither the air around nor her scent supported that. Even up this close to her, the only scent I could pick up was the one of her shampoo. Following, I put the mouth of the whisky bottle to my nose—and yet again, no alcohol.

She seemed to have switched the contents, quite possibly another type of energy drink with the same golden color as the one in the glass. Someone who is more acquainted with alcohol might have been able to tell the difference, but since I’m still underage, I wouldn’t know any better.

“So you changed the contents, and acted like you were drinking alcohol.” I gave Rio a sharp scowl. “Aren’t you a sly one. What were you planning?”

“…Heh…hehehehe…” Rio had her face cast down, but a faint snicker started to escape her mouth, which eventually turned into a full-blown laughter. “…Ahahaha! S-So you saw through me! I will praise you for that!” She sounded like a criminal that had been caught red-handed. “I really wanted to see that amusing face of yours a bit longer~”

“…! I knew it…you really were making fun of me…?”

“O-Of course! Everything was just acting! A plot! Hehehe, you really are a simpleton. Just because I was pretending to be tipsy, you let down your guard right away!” Rio blabbered as if she was panicking. “Did you think you could win me over with the right atmosphere, and because I’m your ex? What a shame, it was all just a ruse! It was perfect acting on my end after all~”

“Wasting your time on something worthless like this…Use that effort for something else…”

“…Hmpf. Trying to act calm despite being charmed by me.” Rio let out an arrogant snort.

“Who was charmed? I knew that something was off from the very beginning.” I stood up from the sofa.

I left the living room behind me, heading to the changing room. After closing the door, I sunk to the ground. I held my head in both hands, and ruffled through my hair to let out my anger

“…Ahh, shit.” I felt frustrated, and annoyed.

Of course, those feelings weren’t directed at Rio, despite her playing with my heart.

“Why…why did I have to realize?”

I felt annoyed at myself for being precautious enough to pick up on this small irregularity. If…If I hadn’t caught on to Rio’s plot. If I had let myself get dragged along the atmosphere, giving in to my desires and embraced Rio…What would have happened? Something might have happened. Of course not, in the end it was just a joke.

‘Pfft, you idiot, were you really getting your hopes up like that? It was just acting, and the alcohol is a boring old energy drink~ And yet you totally fell for it!’

The chances of her using this as a means to tease me for the next ten years is pretty high…but there might have been a slim possibility of that not happening. This might have been Rio just waiting for me to become honest…

“No, that is just wishful thinking.” I let out a deep sigh.

I can’t tell what Rio is thinking. The only thing I know for certain…is that she was super cute, even if it was acting. Her loose clothing, glittering lips, the warmth and scent I picked up this close to me, everything was engraved deeply in my memories. I don’t think…I can sleep tonight.

❀

I saw Haru enter the bath, so I called Hayashida to report what had happened.

‘—I see, so it failed.’

“Yeah, one step off.”

‘How regrettable. I do think that the ‘I’ll act drunk and have him take the initiative’ operation had great potential.’

“Yeah, what a sha—Hey, no! That wasn’t the original plan!” I raised my voice, retorting. “I-I was just acting drunk, showing an opening, to sniff out how Haru feels about me. That’s all there was to it…”

‘If you really wanted to show an opening, you should have gotten drunk for real, right? Then, Haru-sama would not have seen through it, correct?’

“I-I wouldn’t want that…”

Originally, I had planned to get drunk for real. However, I had a change of heart last second, and switched the contents of the bottle.

“I-I mean, if I really got drunk…I wouldn’t even know what would happen if…you know…?”

‘……’

“In the one in a million…No, one in a trillion chance that we got taken along with the mood, and went further than before, I’d be the only one drunk out of us…and I don’t want that!”

‘So you were expecting something.’

“I-I wasn’t expecting anything! I was merely careful and mindful of any possible danger! Y-You know what I mean, as a woman and all…”

‘Well…you should just get married already. Oh wait, you did.’ Hayashida threw in a sarcastical complaint, and ended the call.

I pushed the phone against my chest, and sank down on the floor.

“Ugh…” My heart was still racing fiercely.

Even though I didn’t have a sip of alcohol, my head was scorching hot.

“Ahh, for crying out loud…I really should have gotten drunk, huh.”

If I had gotten drunk just as Hayashida said, or if Haru hadn’t caught on to me being fake drunks…what would have happened? If my intuition didn’t play tricks on me, then…I’m sure that Haru was shaken. That cool and collected attitude of his shattered to pieces, as I felt his passionate gaze. He was definitely seeing me as a woman. That’s why, if I had been drunk for real, then—

“…No, that is just me and my wishful thinking, I’m sure.” I let out a sigh.

In the end, I don’t know how Haru feels. The only thing I know for sure is…that his staring gaze wouldn’t leave my mind. Even though I didn’t have a drop of alcohol, it felt like my entire body was on fire. I don’t think…I can sleep tonight.