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Sister-in-Law Invasion
☀
That entire morning, I felt like I was on edge.
“Haru, aren’t you drinking a bit too much?”
Right as I was about to brew my third Dolce Gusto coffee, Rio put the brakes on.
“…Yeah, you might be right.”
Drinking three full cups in the morning might be too much after all. Whenever I can’t relax, I just subconsciously want to carry some coffee to my mouth. For the first time in our newlywed life, a guest will come visit us. The problem is, our surroundings don’t know that this is just a fake marriage. That is why we have to make sure that we act perfect on the outside, and not raise any suspicion. Not to mention that it’s this person—
“…For crying out loud. So anxious early in the morning, it’s irritating. Just watching me makes me all restless myself. Can’t you sit still?” Rio seemed to be annoyed at me walking up and down in the living room, throwing me a complaint. “Is Akino-san coming over really that big of a problem?”
“……”
“Also…shouldn’t I be the nervous one? The sister-in-law of my husband is coming over to visit us, and yet…why are you all stiff like a robot?”
“…There’s a lot of reasons.” After returning these words with a bothered tone, I sat down on the sofa. “Since Akino-san is the very first guest coming over, telling me not to be nervous is too much to ask for.”
“…Are you that bad at dealing with Akino-san? I’ve talked with her a few times, but she didn’t give me that bad of an impression. I think she’s like anybody else. Polite, with manners.”
“She’s got her outer appearance down to a T.”
But—since I’m an actual member of the Isurugi Family, I know of her real identity—No, what I know might only be the tip of the iceberg. What is at the bottom of her heart is something unbeknownst even to me.
“You heard about Big Bro Sora, right?”
“Y-Yeah.” Rio stuttered over her words, and continued. “…He left, and has yet to return right, that Sora-san.”
“Yeah.”
Isurugi Sora is the second son of the Isurugi Family, and my second oldest brother. The first one I call ‘Brother’, whereas Sora I call ‘Big Bro’.
“Big Bro Sora must have disliked the formalities and restrictions of a distinguished family.” I remembered the time when I last met him, and explained.
Isurugi Sora had always been the most talented out of us three brothers, reaching a level of a genius, a child prodigy. Not to mention that he doesn’t brag about his talent at all, instead gentle and mild-mannered. He’s practically at the center of every gathering, a gentle young man gathering and carrying the hope of the people around him.
However, he practically stood against the family’s discipline, formality, and traditions, which is why he often got into confrontation with our parents or my oldest brother. Ever since he started working for the Isurugi Group, these confrontations grew in number.
And then, two years ago, he suddenly disappeared from the family entirely. He went down from the rails guiding his life, and started walking the path he decided on.
“Well, it’s not like he’s gone missing. I sometimes contact him…and since he’s free from the family, he’s enjoying his life.”
My old man and other relatives seem to be left out cold, but he’s keeping regular contact with me. I heard that he’s working on a new project in America.
“If Sora-san is doing fine, that’s all I need, but…I feel bad for Akino-san. She married into a family, and yet her partner left.”
“…Yeah, I guess.”
Two years before he left the family—these two had already been married. Akino-san ended up being left behind. From the unfamiliar world’s view, she might seem ‘poor’ and ‘pitiable’. She got married, changed her name, and moved in with her husband—only to be left alone.
However…that alone isn’t enough for me to suddenly be able to deal with her.
“Anyway, in front of Akino-san, we have to make sure to perfectly play the married couple.”
“I know that much. If anything, you should be careful the most. No blushing or running away when I’m trying to act lovey-dovey, okay?” Rio was teasing me as always.
However, I couldn’t really play along with that right now.
“Please…She is dangerous. She is the one person that is not allowed to find out about this being a fake marriage.”
“…Y-Yeah, I got it.”
My desperate attempt must have gone through her, as Rio nodded with a pale expression. I knew that I was making a big deal out of this, but that needed to be done. In front of her, we could show no opening. After all, she is my reason as to why I had to get married quickly, disregarding Tamakiya’s situation. She is the origin of this situation, you could say.
And there—Ding dong.
The doorbell rang. My body twitched in response, but I somewhat controlled myself, and stood up. Both Rio and I headed towards the front door. When I opened it—a Japanese beauty awaited us.
“Good day to you, Haru-san, Rio-san.” She greeted us with a calm voice, gentle tone.
As always, she wore a black kimono. Ever since she married into our family, I have never seen her wear anything but that kimono. She possessed drooping eyes with a pleasant face, but the light glimmering in her eyes was sharp, possessing an awe-inspiring color. Her large stature seemed like a flower so beautiful, and although her figure was different from Rio’s, she emitted a similar charm.
“It has been a while, Akino-san. I’m happy you came to meet us.” Rio gave a polite greeting.
“I’m sorry for bothering you today. This is a gift, so please accept it.”
“Wah, thank you very much.” Rio accepted the plastic bag.
Following that, Akino-san looked over at me with a cool gaze.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, Haru-san.”
“…It’s not been that long. We met at the marriage ceremony.”
“Oh my, don’t be like that.” Akino-san let out a snicker. “I have been waiting impatiently for the day that we could meet again. After all, you are my oh so cute and adorable brother-in-law.” She spoke with a graceful voice, and a peaceful tone.
However, I felt a shiver run down my spine.
Isurugi Akino is the wife of my second brother, and an older sister-in-law. As a matter of fact, two years ago, when Big Bro Sora left the family, and this talk spread, she received inquisitivity from both the inside and outside.
‘How pitiful for Akino-san. She managed to marry into the family, and yet her husband ran away.’
‘I heard a rumour that she only dominated Sora-san, which is why he left.’
‘Ahh, she sounds a bit troublesome.’
‘I never expected them to last long anyway.’
‘She’s probably going to leave, huh.’
‘Of course, with what kind of face could she keep living in her husband’s family.’
‘Right, things might be different if she had children, but…’
‘She’d probably be happier leaving.’
However, starting from the conclusion—she stayed. Showing no shame at all, she kept her Isurugi name, and remained in the family. Almost as if she was trying to say ‘I’m the victim here, though?’. She had always worked as Big Bro’s advisor at the Isurugi Group, she is acting in his stead.
With her unparalleled intellect and skill at management, she brought great value to the group. As someone outside the family, not to mention who married into it, if you let her have free reign on the organization, you’d imagine the reactions from her surroundings, but maybe because they felt indebted after what happened with Big Bro, neither my old man nor anybody else protested. That was probably one part of her calculations.
She used the image of a ‘pitiful wife whose husband ran away’ in order to rise inside the organization. Right now, she is one of the few executive staff. In the Isurugi Group, she is the youngest person reaching executive staff level, albeit not being from direct descent. Her way to victory is paved by ambition and strategy—that is most likely who Isurugi Akino really is.
And honestly speaking, I am not too comfortable with her around. Around the time she barely married into the family, she was…well, normal. That being said, we didn’t exactly get along right away, but also didn’t despise each other, just keeping an adequate distance you could expect. However, after Big Bro disappeared, our relationship rapidly changed.
“Ah, you just take a seat, Haru. No need to worry, I can take care of the hospitality.”
When I wanted to help with getting the drinks, Rio rejected me like that. As a result, I returned to the living room, where Akino-san greeted me with a snicker. She must have heard our exchange in the kitchen.
“What a hardworker Rio-san is.”
“Yeah. She must be excited to have our first guest over.”
“She feels like a new wife, quite adorable if you ask me. I wonder if I was acting like that as well when I barely got married?”
“…You’ve always been calm and reserved, Akino-san.”
“Ara ara, are you praising me?”
“I am, yes.”
“Fufu, then I will gladly accept that compliment.”
After we’ve exchanged a few words, Rio came back with some drinks and sweets. She put down Dolce Gusto coffee on the table, and split up the cake Akino-san brought with her. We enjoyed a bit of that, when…
“So, how is your newlywed life coming along, you two?” Akino-san asked.
“Well…I think it’s going well. Right, Rio?”
“Y-Yeah. Of course, we’re getting just fine, Haru…Haru-san.”
Maybe it’s because of her sister-in-law, but she added a random ‘san’ after my name.
“I’m glad to hear that. A married couple has to get along after all.”
“Ahahaha…” I could only return a vague laugh.
From her standpoint, it was hard to say anything.
“So then—” After taking a sip from the coffee, Akino-san continued…without showing any change in expression, just indifferently. “When can we expect children?”
““…..!?””
Rio and I were about to spit out our tea.
“C-Can you not suddenly bring up something weird like that, Akino-san…”
“My, Haru-san, I wasn’t saying anything weird now, was I?” Akino-san acted like she didn’t say anything out of the ordinary. “After getting married and living together, planning children is the next step, isn’t it? I’m sure that your parents are dying to become grandparents.” After saying this with a warm smile, she gave Rio a sharp gaze. “Rio-san, now that you have married into the Isurugi Family, you need to be prepared to become a child-bearing mother, am I wrong?”
“T-That’s…um…”
“—We haven’t thought about children yet.” Since Rio found trouble answering, I cut in. “We might have gotten married, but we are still students. At the point where we have our parents pay our school expenses, we cannot consider getting children. That is why we will bring up this idea after we’ve graduated from university.”
“T-That’s right. That’s…what we decided on.”
“My, is that so. Well, there is no need to rush, you both are still young after all.” She continued. “And also, now that you two are living under the same roof, these things can happen even without previous planning. After all, the two of you are still young.”
“Ahahaha…that might be the case, yes.” I could only laugh it off.
Why is she trying to make things more awkward than they already are.
“…As if that would happen. We didn’t even go all the—Mguh.”
Since Rio was about to spill the beans, I rushed to cover up her mouth. Please, just play along, will you. We need to show her that we’re an active married couple that’s jumping to bed every single day!
“We do pay attention to this sort of thing, but…if it happens, it happens. Right, Rio?”
“Y-You’re right, Haru-san. What happens, happens.”
“Fufu. My my, aren’t you lively.” Akino-san listened to our awful way of covering things up, and continued. “The day where I get to see my cute nephew might not be too far, it seems. After all—you two are lovey-dovey enough to sleep in the same single-size bed.” She said it so nonchalantly, but the both of us froze up.
Why…why does she know what kind of bed we have? It’s true that we’re using a single-size bed since it was just me living here before Rio moved in, but…how does Akino-san know of that? She didn’t even see the bedroom, and I was hell-bent on not showing her either. Making up any kind of excuse would be difficult if she figured that out after all. So, how…
“This flat belongs to the Isurugi Family after all. If I wanted to, I could confirm the layout and furniture of the rooms.” As if she had felt my doubts, Akino-san explained calmly. “It has only been a week since Rio-san moved into this apartment, but I have yet to see any moving workers enter to bring you a new bed. That means that the bed is still the same from when Haru-san had been living here alone, correct?”
“………”
“I figured that you would be buying a new bed after moving together, but…You two must be content with a single-size bed, I assume? How nice, it feels like you really are a young couple…Or, is one side possibly sleeping on a futon?”
“………”
“No, of course not. A newlywed couple would not purposefully sleep in different locations. If you are brought together by love, sleeping together is the norm.”
I could feel a cold sweat running down my back. This is bad, seriously bad. What she’s saying might be a heavy accusation, nothing more. Even if you’re a married couple, you don’t necessarily sleep in the same bed. There must be couples in this world who don’t share the same bed after getting married right away. All she’s basing this on is a hypothesis.
The problem however—isn’t with the contents of what she’s saying. The biggest problem is that she’s been watching our lifestyle together. She’s aware of who’s entering and leaving the home, and is trying to shake us by revealing the fact of her having eyes everywhere. That bad feeling I had, it makes sense now.
She’s doubting us. Doubting me and Rio about our marriage.
“…Ahaha. We thought of buying a new bed, but because of everything else going on, it just slipped our minds.” I tried my best to make up a believable story, and embraced Rio’s shoulders as she sat next to me. “But, we’re doing just fine even in our small bed.”
“Wha…” Rio showed a shocked reaction for a second, but gave in with just casting her face down in embarrassment.
“Oh my, how passionate. I’m about to get burned here.” Akino-san spoke with a calm smile as always, not showing any change in expression.
I don’t know how much of that she just bought, can’t tell if our acting was enough to convince her.
“Oh, that reminds me. To celebrate your marriage, I brought a gift with…Hm?” Akino-san put her hand in the chest pocket of her kimono, only to show a troubled expression. “I’m sorry, I must have forgotten it in the car.” She continued with an apologetic tone, looking over at Rio. “Rio-san…Would you mind grabbing it for me?”
“Eh…?”
“I’m really sorry. I am actually wearing new geta1 today, but I don’t think they fit me…Going back to the car and returning…would be quite troublesome.”
“…If that’s the case, then sure.”
“Thank you very much. The car is parked in this flat’s parking lot. Just ask the driver inside, and he will be able to help you.”
It was a tedious errand, but since it came from her sister-in-law, Rio probably couldn’t say no. Hence, she stood up from the sofa, and stepped out of the room. Left behind were only me and Akino-san.
“…I’ll go get some more drinks.” I grabbed the cups, and stood up.
It’s not that I was running away, but being alone face-to-face with her for a longer amount of time was quite awkward. I was about to enter the kitchen, when—
“…Fufu.”
Squeeze, someone tightly hugged me from behind. It was a tight hug, possibily from only one person.
“Wha…”
“We’re finally alone.” As Akino-san wrapped her arms around me, she whispered these words with an almost teasing and sweet voice.
It was the exact opposite of the calm and confident voice she used before.
“Really…how cruel of you, Haru-san. You already have me, and yet you went and got married with that girl.” She complained, and ran her fingers across my chest and stomach.
They were alluring actions, almost as if to charm a man like me.
“I’ve been so lonely and lonely…spending nights alone many times, comforting myself thinking about you—”
“…Let go.” I twisted my body, brushing off her arms.
“Ahnn…Really, you’re so rough, Haru-san.” Akino-san let out a purposefully alluring voice. “Fufu, you’re as pure as ever.”
“Being pure or not isn’t the problem.” I let out a sigh.
For crying out loud…why did my bad premonition have to be right again. This woman—still hasn’t given up on me.
“Will you give up already? I’ve declined your proposal countless times. We won’t get married.”
“…Yes, you really declined it over and over. No matter how much I showed my love for you, proposed, you would reject me. I was about to lose confidence as a woman, you know?” After shrugging her shoulders, she looked up at me. “Am I really that devoid of charm?”
“That’s not the problem here…Things won’t work no matter what. After all, you’re Aniki’s wife.”
“However…that person is no longer with us.” She declared with a cold voice. “In the Showa period, it was common practice for the woman to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband.”
“We’re in the Reiwa period now, and Big Bro isn’t dead.”
“He is pretty much the same as dead.” She said in full contempt. “Well…I thought I had been living a wise life, but I clearly failed in my choice of husband. The first son is already married, and the third son is too young, so I chose the second son, but…I didn’t think I would marry such a reckless and irresponsible man.”
“………”
“This being the case, I realized that I should have aimed for Haru-san from the very beginning.” She showed a charming smile, and spoke of her own desires without hesitation.
That’s right. From the very beginning, she was only after the influence and fortune of the Isurugi Family. Any love for her husband Big Bro? None. She merely chose him because he wasn’t married yet. Through various methods and techniques, she forcefully got the marriage with him through. After he left, this witch of a woman—looked for a replacement, a new husband.
The next person in line, of course, would be me. She cut off her husband, and aimed for the third son instead.
“You must understand where I’m coming from, Haru-san. A woman who has been left behind by her husband, in a family she is unfamiliar with, can only end up lonely and left out.”
“…I feel like you’re doing just fine though.”
“I’m just trying to act strong on the outside, but I’m lost and in shambles inside. Either way, there is no need to show any consideration for such a good-for-nothing husband. The next time I see him, I will give him an iron hand with the divorce papers.”
“……Even if you got divorced from Big Bro, I don’t have any plans of marrying you.” I showed her the ring on my left hand. “I’ve already gotten married.”
“…That’s right.” Akino-san showed a purposefully troubled expression. “Unlike your two older brothers, Haru-san isn’t exactly pop—Excuse me, you are very diligent and pure, so I figured I could take my time with capturing you…but to think you would get married as a university student. Really, I feel like I got oil poured on me.”
“……”
“Are you not regretting getting married to a selfish girl who grew up in a sheltered upbringing? I am very certain someone like me can satisfy you much better than a young girl like her. Both in your daily life…as well as our nightly married couple activities…” She ran her finger tips along her lips, and narrowed her eyes with a smile.
“…I’d prefer it if you didn’t talk badly about my wife. She is the person I chose after all.”
“Then, are you satisfied with that woman?”
“Yes.”
“Even at night?”
“O-Of course.” It was an obvious lie, but I could only nod along.
After all, for a married couple, doing this sort of stuff at night is perfectly normal. However…
“Fufu, full of lies.” Akino-san let out a snicker.
Like a wasp spider, she was closing in on her prey, building the net to not let me escape.
“Haru-san, you—still haven’t embraced her at night, have you?”
“……!”
“I’m quite sensitive when it comes to that. Looking at your distance…you don’t seem like a married couple who have spent the night together like that.” She continued, as she closed the distance between us. “I can still pick up the strong stench of a virgin from you, Haru-san.”
“…I-I don’t believe that.”
“No no, It’s a thick stench I’ve gotten from you ever since the day we met…The smell of a virgin.”
“……” It felt like my heart was shattered to pieces.
I-Is my lack of experience really that apparent?
“I thought that something was off with that sudden marriage between the two of you, but today I’ve confirmed it for myself. Haru-san…this is nothing but a fake marriage, right?” Akino-san deduced. “As for your goal with this…it must be to save the little maiden’s ‘Tamakiya’ from its financial problems. You used this marriage to achieve that, correct?”
“……”
This is bad. Things are going down the drain even faster than I expected. Akino-san had already seen through us. Her observing eye and attachment to me had led her to reach the truth—that Rio and I entered a fake marriage.
“…I don’t quite understand what you are talking about. I’d like you to not do guesswork with another person’s marriage.”
“Playing dumb won’t work, Haru-san…Even if you try to deny it, what I have to do won’t change.” She said, closing the distance between us even further. “Fufu, I would have held some level of resistance towards stealing a newlywed man, but if you haven’t even shared the night together, merely acting like this was a marriage, then I don’t have to hold back at all.”
One step, another step, as she showed me an alluring smile. I tried to walk backwards, but eventually reached the wall.
“It might be hard to tell because of the kimono, but I’m actually well-equipped beneath that, you see? If you have any desire or wish, feel free to tell me. I will definitely satisfy you, Haru-san. To a level where you will not be satisfied embracing any other woman any longer.”
“W-What are you…”
“You still don’t understand it? I’m asking you to make me your mistress.” She said.
She was smiling, but her tone sounded serious. I could tell that she was dead set about this, even if I wanted to or not.
“If this fake marriage is necessary for the sake of ‘Tamakiya’, then I will wait. However, living together with a woman that you won’t embrace must be hard for you, right? That is why I thought of offering my assistance in relieving your urges.”
“Relieving my urges…”
“If you wished for it, I would be willing to give you service wherever and whenever. Until the day you agree to become engaged to me.”
“……”
She’s serious. She’s planning on marrying me. Use everything at her disposal—not stopping at trying to seduce her husband’s young brother, her own brother-in-law, all to secure a better position in the family. It was all just to not lose her influence. At the same time, to gain even greater influence in the family.
“How about it, Haru-san? This compromise will be beneficial to you, correct?”
“…I can’t.” I said.
My answer had been decided from the very beginning.
“There’s no compromise. No matter what you do, I won’t marry you. I have no plans on proceeding our relationship any further than this.” I spoke with no hesitation. “Because I love Rio—love my wife after all.”
These words came out easier than I expected. At the same time, I felt pathetic. As long as the person herself isn’t in front of me, and as long as I don’t have to act like a good husband, I can say ‘Love’ this easily.
“We are not a fake couple, but rather married partners bound together through love. That’s why I can’t betray my wife like that.”
“…Tsk.” She openly clicked her tongue. “Really, all the men of your family are the same…”
Despite showing a sweet and angelic behaviour until now, Akiko-san now seemed bothered in anger and frustration—However, this only lasted for a moment. This rage disappeared as quickly as it came.
“It can’t be helped then. I figure that the opinion coming from your mouth won’t change anytime soon, so—I shall instead ask your lower body.”
“Eh…wha!?”
Without giving me any chance to react, Akino-san moved in on me. She brought her body close to mine as if to embrace me, and ran her hand along my thigh. Even if I didn’t want to, my body automatically responded, twitching in shock.
“H-Hey…what are you thinking!?”
“If persuasion is futile, then I can only win you over by force, right?”
“By force…?”
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on going until the very end, so rest assured. I will only service you with my hand or mouth, and it’ll be over by the time Rio-san returns. Since you don’t have any experience, you won’t last long anyway. Fufu, it might be over in an instant, even.”
“E-Even I wouldn’t be that fast…Wait, that’s not important right now, give it up already!” I tried to push her away by force, when—
Bang! The front door was slammed open, followed my heavy footsteps approaching us. Shortly after, the door to the living room swung open.
“W-What are you doing!?” Seeing the two of us practically entangled, Rio screamed with a beet red face.
I could see that reaction happen, yeah. Or, it might be acting, but her reaction is too perfect. It was like she walked in on her beloved husband being wooed by his sister-in-law.
“What is the meaning of this, Akino-san!? L-Let go of him! Right now!”
“…Well.” Akino-san let out a sigh, and moved her body away from mine. “You were back quite fast, Rio-san.”
“…I couldn’t find this gift anywhere, and the driver didn’t know what I was talking about…Not to mention that I had a really bad feeling about this, so I came back running.”
“Oh my, that is quite the shame. To think you would be this sensitive.”
“Don’t play dumb, and explain yourself. What are you doing to Haru just now? What…were you trying to do with him?” Rio’s voice was filled with anger and rage, as she scowled at Akino-san.
However, Akino-san remained as calm as always.
“It seems as if we were interrupted.” She looked at me.
Fixing her kimono, she turned her back towards me.
“I shall allow myself to leave for today.” She was about to leave the room, when. “Ah, that reminds me.” She muttered, and put her hand in her chest pocket.
What she took out—was a wrapped present. The part about her forgetting it in the car must have been a lie, as she had it on her the entire time. She gave it to Rio with her usual smile, and continued.
“Haru-san, Rio-san, congratulations on your marriage.” She left behind these words, and stepped out of the apartment.
Her words might have sounded kind and gentle, but in reality, they seemed like nothing but sarcasm.
“…I wasn’t really doubting you or anything.”
After Akino-san left, I sat down on the sofa, mentally exhausted, when Rio opened her mouth with an uncomfortable tone.
“The reason you got married to me…I was thinking that maybe Akino-san was aiming for you now that Sora-san was gone.”
“…Well, I guess that makes sense.”
There’s no way she would just blindly believe me. Thinking about it rationally, it didn’t sound too far off. As a matter of fact, in the Showa day and age, it wasn’t too rare for a widow to marry the older or younger brother of her late husband, but that doesn’t mean we can just push it to modern day.
“Your sister-in-law would be aiming for your own chastity…I was worried that you’d be having weird fantasies about that, since you’re unpopular and all, but…”
“…You were worried about that?”
“Seeing how Akino-san was acting today, I get it. She’s actually serious.”
“Yeah, although I’d rather not admit it.”
She is definitely serious about this. Although this looked like nothing but a bad joke, she already thought this through.
“Ever since Big Bro Sora left, she’s been constantly approaching me, even after I started living here on my own. Hiding it sounds like a pain so I’ll be honest, but…she often invited herself in here and made food for me.”
“…H-Hmph. Really now. Well, not like that matters. It’s not my business who you invited to your room before us getting married.”
“I didn’t invite her, she barged in even after me saying no.”
“By the way…S-She never stayed over, right?”
“That is the only thing I would not back down from.”
That line I didn’t allow her to cross. It was always a lot of trouble to chase her away after trying to stay over with whatever reason she needed to add…If she really stayed over, I wouldn’t know what would happen.
“…It’s not just me, she’s started approaching other people. It was the same with her previous marriage to Big Bro Sora, but she’s the type to not fear any measures. She’s already started talking to my parents.”
“No way…S-So then, your parents…?”
“They’re still discussing it on simple terms, but…Neither my old man or mother seem to be against it. If anything, they’re probably still feeling guilty for what happened with Big Bro Sora, and hence didn’t deny her proposal first thing.”
“Oh…”
“They’re not approving it either, but…my mother told me something on the lines of ‘Since you can’t find a girlfriend on your own, isn’t Akino-san good enough for you?’…”
“Well…” Rio didn’t quite know what to say.
Hey now, can’t you deny those words? Or at least provide some follow-up? But yeah, my parents are a real pain. They don’t know that Rio and I were temporarily dating back in high school, so to them, I must have the ‘Years of life = Years without girlfriend’ image to them.
“…If Akino-san managed to move everyone, and turn the Isurugi Family into her ally, I’d be the evil guy who isn’t willing to marry her. Without any joking around, the Isurugi Family can become dead serious at the weirdest things.”
“…So that’s why.”
“Yeah, I needed to get married as quickly as possible. I figured that Akino-san would give up if that happened.”
This problem occurred because I wasn’t married yet. So, if I got married only on paper, that would resolve the problem—Or so I thought.
“…I was too naive. I underestimated Akino-san.”
A marriage only on paper won’t be enough to shake her away. She was never the kind of person who would give up on me because of a simple marriage.
“As far as I can see today…she’s totally doubting us.”
She was always doubtful, but after seeing how we acted today, she must have confirmed it. If anything, she probably was certain that we’re faking it.
“W-What should we do…if she tells someone…”
“…No, we should be fine in that. Even if she herself is sure of it, she has no proof.”
Another outsider besides her shouldn’t be able to tell that we’re not actually in love. If we were living separately, things may be different, but as long as we live in the same apartment, we are a fully-fledged married couple.
“Even if she were to spread weird rumours, it’d only hurt her image. She’s not stupid enough to do that.”
“I-I see.”
“But, I don’t think she’ll stay silent for too long. We need to come up with some countermeasure.” I thought about it, when.
“…Hey.” Rio asked. “Why are you that against marrying Akino-san, Haru?”
“…Huh? I mean, how could I. I’m married to you right now.”
“That’s not what I meant…You’ve been ignoring her approaches even before you got married to me, right? I was just wondering why…”
“……”
“T-There’s no deeper meaning to it. I was just curious. Akino-san is so beautiful, and clever…And although you might be saying this and that about her, I can tell that you still think highly of her.”
Well, that isn’t necessarily wrong. I think highly of her in the sense that I can’t let down my guard around her at all.
“…But, all of that doesn’t matter, as she’s Big Bro’s wife. Also…even if that entire setting didn’t exist, I don’t feel like marrying someone so frightening as her.” I argued.
If I got married to her, let alone dominating me, she’d probably train me to become a pet, and just the thought of that terrifies me.
“Not to mention—” I started, glancing at Rio.
“…Hm? Not to mention…what?”
“No, nevermind.”
How could I tell her the biggest reason that I didn’t want to marry Akino-san—that I still am not over Rio. Even if it tore me apart, I could not say that to her face. That’s why I chose the second biggest reason.
“…I’m pretty sure that Akino-san actually likes Big Bro.”
Rio’s eyes opened wide.
“Eh…Huh? B-But…didn’t she marry Sora-san for his fortune and influence…?”
“I’m sure that this was the initial reason. But, she must have developed feelings throughout their marriage. What started as a pretense in search for momentary goods ended up in love growing inside of her, or something like that.”
“………”
“After Big Bro left…I saw her once. She was looking at the pictures of their marriage ceremony, and she was crying to herself…”
That happened when I was still attending high school, living at home. I walked around the residence at night, and heard weeping noises. After looking for the source, I found Akino-san’s room. Through the faintly opened door, I could see her sitting on the bed, looking at the album of her marriage ceremony with Big Bro.
Tears were streaming down her eyes, as she let out faint groans. She tried her best to suppress any voice like that, but the hands turning over the pages didn’t stop. Like she was reliving her precious memories of the past, unable to obtain them any longer. At the same time, I heard her faint mutters.
Sora-san, Sora-san—She repeated the name of the person who had left her behind over and over. It was proof of endless love, one that you could be jealous of.
“…If that’s true, then why doesn’t she go to meet him right away? If she begged him to come back, then…”
“She can’t do that. Not with her needlessly big pride.”
“No way…”
“I think that she’s this desperate to win me over so that she forcefully makes herself forget about Big Bro. This is probably the result she came up with after trying to sever herself from the past.”
Acting like she wasn’t bothered, acting like she wasn’t hurt, she’s trying to move forward by forcing herself on that path. Even though she’s still riddled with pain, full of lingering feelings for Big Bro. To someone like me, who also has lingering feelings for someone else, I understand her pain all too well.
“…Well, I don’t have any proof for that though. There’s a great chance that she’s already over Big Bro, and that this is what she truly wishes for.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Either way…I don’t want to get married to her. She doesn’t like me, and I don’t like her that way either.” I grew silent for a second, only to blurt out what I really felt. “A marriage is something you should only form with the person you love.”
“…Eh?” For a second, Rio froze up, staring at me in disbelief.
Slowly, she started to grow red, and seeing that reaction, I finally understood just what I had said.
“…No, we’re different, though! Our marriage is an exception! What I just said is the general idea! The general idea, so don’t get the wrong idea!”
“I-I got it, I won’t misunderstand!”
We both started blushing, averting our eyes. Really, we can’t fault Akino-san at all. We might not be much different. I wonder where our married life, which started with calculation and pretenses, will lead.
1 Japanese wooden clogs
CClaw Translations 