Kokoro had told me that her parents didn’t like otaku stuff—the fact that she was suddenly so anxious to hide it probably meant that it was her mother who was the most biased against it. She doesn’t look like the kind of person to get mad about something like that though...
“Sorry about the mess. Here,” I said, offering her a glass of iced tea from the fridge.
“Oh no, it’s not that messy at all. Here, take this. A little souvenir from England.”
“Oh, thank you,” I said, accepting her gift.
“So, how are things? Are you and Kokoro getting along?” she asked me with a smile.
Of course, the narrative that we’d somehow planted in her brain involved Kokoro and me being deeply in love with each other, so much so that we were already looking forward to our marriage.
“Y-Yes! Very much so!”
“I hope she hasn’t started any arguments or anything of the sort. She can be a bit stubborn at times, my Kokoro, and she has a very harsh way of putting things.”
“O-Oh, not at all,” I said, despite wholeheartedly agreeing with her description. “She’s a really good girl, and I owe her a lot.”
My rebuttal wasn’t a lie either—I really did think that about her.
“Hm, I see. But if there’s anything about Kokoro that’s troubling you, you can always go ahead and tell me, all right?”
“Troubling me? Oh, no, she would never...”
Answering was hard enough, let alone keeping the conversation going, so I just let it die like that. I was just too nervous. Not only did I have to focus on pleasantries, but I also had to make sure I didn’t say anything that would make her realize that Kokoro and I had never been dating to begin with. I figured that the less I said, the better.
What’s taking you so long, Nishina?! Hurry up already! You said you’d be fast!
“She sure is taking her sweet time,” Mrs. Nishina commented. “You’d think she’d always keep your room somewhat presentable, since she’s the guest in it... but that’s just me. I wonder why she would have so much to clean up in the first place.”
“H-Hahaha... r-right... I-I’ll go check on her!” I said, escaping the living room and practically sprinting upstairs to knock on Kokoro’s door.
“Are you done?” I called.
“Wh-Where’s my mom?!”
“Still in the living room...”
“Come in then!” she said.
I walked into the room and found Kokoro standing on a chair, trying to put a box on a shelf above her. Since she was wearing one of those short dress-like things for pajamas—a nightgown, was it?—I was very close to getting a full-frontal view of her panties. I quickly looked away before she could tell.
“Agh, I can’t reach it! Can you help me?”
“U-Uh, s-sure...” I replied, stepping up onto the chair once she’d moved out of the way.
“Perfect timing by the way. There’s just one box left. Can I keep it in your room while Mom’s here? There’s, like, nowhere left to hide it in here, and if she saw what’s inside it, that’d be the end of me...”
“Sure, no problem,” I said, picking up the box and moving it to my room.
“Thanks!” Kokoro said as she followed me out. “That should be everything...”
“So, is your mom the one who can’t stand otaku?”
“Yup! I don’t think Dad really cares. She was so mad that one time she found me looking at some of this stuff you wouldn’t believe it. I managed to lie my way through it, but now I have to be extra sure that she doesn’t find me out.”
“O-Oh...”
I actually wanted to ask her more about that, but I didn’t want to make Mrs. Nishina suspicious by keeping her waiting for too long.
“Okay then, let’s go back,” I said.
“Wait a second!” She stopped me. “I wanted to discuss this with you a bit better before my mom showed up, but... don’t you think we should tell her that we broke up? Like, right now.”
“Right now?!”
“The sooner we do it the better, don’cha think?”
She has a point... If we keep the pretense up much longer, telling her parents we’ve broken up is going to be way harder. And she’s in love with someone else... I definitely didn’t feel ready to bring that up, but I knew we’d have to do it sooner or later.
“I’ll tell her, since she’s my mom, so just follow my lead, okay? I’ll say I fell in love with someone else, then you’ll totally get off scot-free.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
We headed back to the living room, prepared for the worst.
“Oh, Kokoro, there you are. Was it that messy up there?”
“Haha... Well, a bit, yeah...” Kokoro replied, sitting next to her mom. I took a seat on the chair facing the two of them.
“I heard from Ichigaya here that the two of you have been getting along nicely. I’m so happy to hear that.”
“Huh?!” Kokoro, shocked, shot a look in my direction.
What else was I supposed to tell her?! I thought we were supposed to lie for a while longer!
“You see, my biggest wish is for the two of you to continue loving one another. Even after you’re married, I hope you’ll be a lovey-dovey couple for years and years.” Mrs. Nishina closed her eyes as if in prayer.
Why are you talking about years into our marriage?! Slow down! This isn’t going how we planned at all!
“W-Well, I know you and Dad are like that, but, that’s kind of like... just your thing. Y-You shouldn’t force that on others, you know?” Kokoro replied, choosing her words with the utmost caution.
It is true that her parents look like a lovey-dovey couple though...
“Dad and me? Lovey-dovey? Pffft. Please.”
“Huh?”
Kokoro looked just as surprised as I was to hear her mother’s tone make a full one-eighty. In an instant, Mrs. Nishina’s kind, nurturing manner had transformed into an annoyed, even angry, one.
“What was I thinking, following him all the way to England, leaving you here? Hah! I should have let him go by himself. Well, at least I’m glad it turned out to be an opportunity for you to spend more time with Ichigaya.”
“M-Mom? Did something happen between you and Dad?”
“Oh, you should’ve seen him! All the time I’ve been in England with him, he’s been nothing but work, work, work. He’s barely had any days off! I know he needed to increase his connections within the company, but I ended up being alone most of the time, in a new and scary place where I couldn’t even understand the people around me! Since I don’t know any English, he was the only person I could talk to, but every day after work he was so tired that he couldn’t even have a conversation with me! I’d have ended up depressed if I’d spent any more time there. I couldn’t talk to you, nor could I see my friends here in Japan, what with the time difference and the cost of international calls. I was so relieved when he told me that the company was preparing to send him back!”
“R-Really? But I’ve never heard you complain about any of that...”
“I didn’t want you to worry, since I knew you were still getting used to your new life together.”
I see... Mrs. Nishina’s explanation made perfect sense to me, but I also thought, more than a wife, she sounded like a needy girlfriend. Basically, she was sad that her husband wasn’t paying enough attention to her. It was clear that she still liked him. Personally, I felt more sympathy for him, having to work so hard in an unfamiliar country.
“So... did you come back before Dad because of all that?” Kokoro asked.
“That’s part of it, but I also just wanted to move back as soon as possible. I’m sorry that I’m tearing the two of you apart by coming here, but don’t worry. As soon as you graduate high school, you’ll be able to live together again!”
“Huh?”
She wants us to live together after we graduate? I, um... I guess that makes sense, since she expects us to get married. But how are we going to tell her that we aren’t dating “anymore” after hearing all this?
“Actually,” she continued, “I’ve already found the perfect place for you both. And I’ve personally taken care of the down payment.”
“WHAT?!” we both shouted in disbelief.
“You can’t be serious!” Kokoro exclaimed.
“Why are you so surprised? Anyway, with this you’ll be able to live together again as soon as possible!”
“Why didn’t you ask me first?!”
“Kokoro? You don’t sound happy about this as I thought you’d be. You wanted to live with your boyfriend so much that you stayed behind without us, right? Well, I thought I’d make sure that you’ll be able to do just that.”
“Y-Yeah, but, I mean... you should have at least talked to us first...”
“Why? Are you going to tell me that you don’t see yourself living with him anymore after we agreed to let you stay just so you could?” Her mother was smiling, but the coldness in her voice was giving me the chills.
“N-No! I... I was just surprised, is all...” her daughter replied, frantically shaking her head.