Chapter 84: Independence ①

Reading Settings

Translator: Soafp

---

“Ehhhhhhh—!? Yuzuki is going to live together at Ren's house too!?”

When we went downstairs and gathered around the dinner table, I briefly explained what had happened in the room earlier.

Of course, I left out the part where Yuzuki had been crying and seemed mentally unstable.

As expected, Nodoka leaned forward and let out a bewildered shout.

Yuzuki lowered her gaze.

“Sorry, Nodoka. I won't get in the way or anything…”

When she apologized like that, Nodoka probably couldn't bring herself to push any harder.

She quietly pulled back the upper body she had leaned forward.

Honestly, under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been strange for at least a slap to come flying my way.

Maybe because the other person was Yuzuki, Nodoka couldn't fully direct her frustration at her.

“If Ren decided that, then I don't mind… but still, it kind of feels like I'm the only one being left out, so maybe I don't like it…”

With the tip of her chopsticks pressed against her lips, Nodoka puffed out her cheeks.

Even the corners of her eyes were starting to moisten.

This is bad.

This was genuine jealousy.

I hurriedly tried to call out, “N-Nodoka!” but at that moment—

Mom cut in.

“Honestly, my son really doesn't understand a woman's heart! I wonder who he takes after. This is where you say Nodo-chan should live with you too.”

No, from a parent's standpoint, shouldn't this be the part where you stop us?

Maybe she was trying to calm things down because Nodoka looked like she was about to cry.

More importantly, when did she start calling her “Nodo-chan”?

“Got it. Nodoka can live with us too. Of course, if we get your parents' permission. I'll help convince them too.”

“R-Really? Ehehe, ehehehe… Somehow it feels like I'm climbing the staircase to adulthood… maybe this is nice…”

Nodoka's cheeks loosened into a foolish grin.

Seeing that, I quietly let out a sigh of relief inside my heart.

…That said, the first proper reason for me to greet her parents being “please let your daughter move in with me” felt way too high-level.

“Come to think of it, we need Ayumi-san's permission too.”

“That's not a problem. I sent her a message on LINE, and she said it was okay.”

Yuzuki took out her smartphone and handed it to me.

[—Honestly, I already thought of Ren-kun as something like a son-in-law anyway, so I don't mind. If anything happens, I'm sure Ren-kun will properly take responsibility.]

Ayumi-san trusted me way too much…

Still, opposition would make things complicated, so personally I was grateful.

“By the way, Ren-kun.”

Airi spoke while stuffing food into her cheeks.

“Wha ar yoo goin ta doo abou da room?”

“…What? Swallow before you talk.”

“But it's soooo delicious. Nodoka-san's cooking.”

Well, she wasn't wrong.

After gulping it down, Airi continued.

“So, what are you doing about the rooms? There aren't any empty rooms left, right?”

“Hmm… Yeah, trying to cram all three of you into Airi's room would be too much.”

“I see. Then let's do this. Kitayama-san and Nodoka-san can sleep in my current room, and I'll sleep with Ren-kun—”

“There's no way that's happening, Senpai!! If all three of us slept together that'd be one thing, but absolutely not just you and him!!”

Nodoka stood up so abruptly her chair screeched, wrinkles forming between her brows.

Yuzuki looked back and forth between Mom and me before speaking softly.

“I-I'm fine even if I don't force myself to live with Ren…”

“No. Yuzuki absolutely has to stay too. I'm not accepting objections.”

“Eh? Ah, o-okay…”

I'd responded more strongly than expected, causing Nodoka and Airi to widen their eyes.

It wasn't a lie that part of me wanted Yuzuki nearby to help me overcome my trauma.

But the truth was, I was afraid that if I left her alone, something irreversible might happen.

I wanted her somewhere within my sight, even just a little.

“Ren, why not do this instead?”

Mom interrupted again.

“At this point, just live on your own. No—become independent.”

“Huh?”

“Don't ‘huh?' me. Sure, maybe it's a little early, but it's something you'd have to do eventually anyway.”

No, I definitely think it's too early.

“If it's money, you can handle that yourself, right? Besides, speaking from a woman's intuition, your brides don't look like they plan to ever let you go. So isn't that basically marriage already?”

“When exactly did I become a married man?”

“Anyway, your brides probably don't want to live together with their in-laws either. For their sake too, become independent and live together yourselves.”

“Alright, I get your point, Mom. What about Dad?”

“This idea actually came from your father.”

“Hm? Dad?”

Why?

Dad was normally the conservative type.

He was always the one saying students should focus on being students first.

“He said every time he accidentally ran into a young girl in the house late at night, his heart nearly stopped. Seems like your father's been under a lot of stress too.”

“Ah…”

Yeah, unlike Mom, Dad probably felt awkward beyond belief.

“For your father's sake too, become independent.”

“…Fine, I understand. But I barely know anything about real estate, so I want your help looking for a place.”

“Got it. Oh right, here, take this.”

Mom stood from the table and disappeared into the bedroom.

A moment later, she returned holding an envelope.

“Here.”

“Huh? What's this?”

I opened the envelope.

The instant I saw inside, my eyes widened.

—It was cash.

“It's a congratulatory gift. Since you're becoming independent, I wanted to do at least this much as your parent.”

“Mom…”

“I'd been saving little by little for years, thinking I'd give it to you when you got married. Honestly, now that you earn way more than your father, I wondered if it even meant anything anymore… but these kinds of things are about feelings, after all.”

My nose stung unexpectedly.

While struggling to contain the emotions rising in my chest, a certain thought crossed my mind.

“…Exactly when did you start planning to make me independent?”

This all felt way too prepared.

“When I started suspecting you all had finally crossed the line.”

“…”

So everything really had been completely audible downstairs.

Now my face was heating up for an entirely different reason.

---

One week later.

We gathered once again at Kokoa-san's apartment, working on summer homework just like before.

Yuzuki, Kokoa-san, and I were steadily making progress without trouble, but—

“Aaah, I'm tired!”

Nodoka collapsed face-first onto the table and declared defeat.

Airi stretched both arms far behind her and then rolled dramatically across the floor.

“Ren-kun, I think I might have a fever.”

“A studying fever?”

“Maybe.”

Checking the clock, I realized more time had passed than expected.

It was probably about time for a break.

As though she had been waiting for the perfect moment, Kokoa-san stood up from her seat.

“Then let's take a little break! Actually, I made sweets for everyone today!”

“Eh? Sweets??”

Nodoka's eyes, which had looked as lifeless as a dead fish moments ago, immediately regained their sparkle.

Yuzuki also lifted her face instantly to look at Kokoa-san.

Come to think of it, both of them really liked desserts.

“Don't expect too much, okay? Honestly, they're probably not as good as store-bought ones.”

“But they're homemade, right? That makes me kind of excited.”

Still lying on the floor, Airi turned only her head toward Nodoka.

“Oh? So Nodoka-san can't make sweets? Even though you're good at cooking?”

“Senpai, cooking and baking are completely different! I'm not exactly an expert on sweets either, but with cooking, you can estimate measurements and adjust the flavor afterward, right?”

“You can't do that with sweets?”

“Nope. You have to measure everything exactly down to the gram, and even if the taste is slightly off, you can't fix it once it's baked. Even tasting the batter doesn't really tell you how it'll taste after baking.”

That was something even I didn't know, and I found myself genuinely listening.

But the one whose eyes widened the most at that explanation was Kokoa-san herself.

“Heeeh, really? I didn't know that!”

“Wait, didn't you make these yourself?”

“Ren-sama, it's not like I personally mixed every ingredient from scratch! I used a store-bought mix~”

Well, when you think about it, that made sense.

Even so, the fact she took the time to bake them while busy was already more than enough.

Soon after, Kokoa-san carried over a tray from the kitchen.

On the plates were colorful cookies and neatly sliced pound cake.

““Oooh…””

At least visually, they looked pretty impressive.

Even to me, someone who wasn't especially interested in sweets, they looked delicious.

Everyone reached for the plate at the same time, but then—

“Oh, by the way, I can't guarantee the taste!”

At Kokoa-san's words, all our hands froze instantly.

Representing the group, I asked:

“Why not?”

“Because I haven't taste-tested them myself! And this is the first time I've ever made sweets!”

“…”

I hesitated for a moment, but then grabbed a cookie first and put it in my mouth.

If she used a store-bought mix and followed the recipe properly, there shouldn't be much room for disaster.

Besides, Kokoa-san was surprisingly good at pretty much everything she tried.

I decided to trust her.

“They're honestly really good.”

“R-Really?”

“If Ren-kun suddenly foamed at the mouth and collapsed right now, it would complete the romcom perfectly.”

“What era of romcoms are you living in, Airi…”

The pound cake was just as delicious as the cookies.

As expected, Kokoa-san really was talented.

Maybe she and Airi were fundamentally similar people, just with different specialties.

After that, everyone casually chatted while snacking on sweets.

“Ren-sama, you said you're planning to become independent, right? Where are you going to live?”

“Yeah… I'm looking for a secure apartment with decent space somewhere within commuting distance to school, but it's surprisingly difficult.”

Every place had some kind of issue.

Too far away. Missing facilities. Strange neighbors.

The reasons differed each time, but none of the apartments felt quite right.

Finding a good place was apparently going to take more time.

“Then then, Ren-sama! What about this apartment building?”

“Huh?”

Kokoa-san smiled innocently.

“You should just move into the same apartment building as me!”