ch161-ch180 · 174-ch174
Chapter 174: The Bow-and-Scrape Strategy
"Wh-what a big house, isn't it."
I manage to squeeze the words out.
"I don't think it's all that big, though..."
True—with the neighbors' houses this size too, it doesn't really stand out.
Compared to ours it's maybe one size up.
But our house sits in a brand-new suburb of Chiba, and this is an upscale residential district in central Tokyo.
Between those two, there's a heaven-and-earth gap.
A rich girl, huh...
Maybe we were simply in different stations of life all along.
(No—don't get timid.)
Calm down.
The real question is why Kasumi-san pulled this surprise.
Am I being tested?
No, that can't be it.
Maybe she just couldn't bring herself to say it?
Okay, settle down. That conversation can wait for somewhere else.
"You're back? That was fast."
And she went and outflanked me anyway.
From behind us appears a tall, glasses-wearing middle-aged man.
No mistaking it...
"Papa..."
So this is Papa.
Does that make him my father-in-law?
"Mm. So that's why she suddenly announced she was coming home... I see. First, come inside."
Ah, he's noticed me.
Words won't come.
For now, at least, I can bow.
"May I come inside?"
"Of course. This is your home, isn't it? I've been telling you to come back all this time. Didn't your mother tell you?"
"Papa... Haruki-san, let's go."
She takes the hand of me—still frozen mid-bow—and pulls me toward the house.
"Mmm."
Kasumi-san's holding my hand, and now my father-in-law is going 'mmm' at us.
Aikawa and her old man, the bears, didn't look alike at all—but this parent and child do.
The height, the glasses, all the way down to the verbal tics...
"Father-in-law, thank you for having me!"
"Mmm-mmm-mmm! 'Father-in-law,' you say? So that IS what this is about?"
No, it isn't.
Well, it isn't NOT that, but that's not what today is.
Today is supposed to be a simple homecoming, first one in years.
Right?
The front entrance sits a little above ground level, and at the top of the steps Kasumi-san turns around.
"Papa. I'm home!"
What a lovely smile.
"Kasumi... welcome home. ...Sniff."
And this one's about to cry.
"Welcome ho... Oh my? Oh my, my, my, my. Kasumi, dear, without a single word of warning... I'm so sorry, dear—your father went out for a walk. It may take him a little longer still. I told him not to go, but he simply could not sit still, you see..."
We rang the doorbell and stepped inside through the front door, and out comes the woman who is presumably my mother-in-law.
She doesn't resemble Kasumi-san much at all.
She's short, too—Kasumi-san is completely her father's daughter.
"He's here."
My father-in-law's face appears from outside.
He just needed a moment to fix his face, that's all.
Right—I must introduce myself.
I never properly introduced myself to my father-in-law either, did I.
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Kasugano Haruki. Thank you for having me. It's nothing much, but please accept this."
I bow to my mother-in-law, then bow to my father-in-law behind her.
The bow-and-scrape strategy.
That's my play for today.
While I'm at it, I hand the souvenir Kasumi-san bought earlier to my mother-in-law as well.
She'd handed me her purchase like it was the most natural thing, and I'd carried it this whole way. So this was all Kasumi-san's plan from start to finish.
Kasumi-san, you scary, scary girl.
"Oh my, how thoughtful. I'm Kozue. That's Fumio over there. My, but you are young. How many years younger than Kasumi are you, I wonder?"
My mother-in-law is Watanabe Kozue-san.
My father-in-law is Watanabe Fumio-san.
I'll need to keep them straight—though can I just call them Father-in-law and Mother-in-law?
"Mother, the talk can wait. First, show them inside."
"Ah, Mother... I'm home."
"Yes, yes."
Kasumi-san's 'I'm home' came out bashful, but her mother breezes right past it and heads off.
She and her mother had apparently been in contact, so maybe this is as good as it gets?
"Mmm-mmm-mmm."
The only one who cried was Father-in-law.
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We're shown into the living room, whereupon Kasumi-san goes off to help her mother prepare the tea.
Do NOT leave me alone with my father-in-law...
"Back when Kasumi was a student, I was strict about her curfew. More than once, when she came home late, I told her not to bother coming home at all."
"I see. So that's why she reacted like that just now..."
Fortunately, he's the type who talks freely on his own, so the conversation is somehow holding.
"I regretted it... All this time, you know."
She hasn't been back for six years, after all.
Tonk—tea is set down in front of me.
Kasumi-san.
Once she's placed tea for everyone, she sits down beside me.
"I'm so sorry. It was all so sudden, we had nothing prepared. We did open your souvenir, though. Kasumi, honestly—if you're bringing a guest, you tell us beforehand. I hadn't even done my makeup properly. And after dressing up properly since I knew you were coming, too..."
Mother-in-law returns carrying sweets and takes her seat.
She's taken off her apron and put a jacket back on, I notice.
The seating: Father-in-law across from me, Mother-in-law across from Kasumi-san.
"It was a surprise."
Pye.
"Um, you look lovely, so it's perfectly all right?"
Bow-and-scrape strategy!
Time to lay on the compliments.
"Mmm-mmm-mmm!"
Kasumi-san and my father-in-law both give me the dead-eyed stare.
They really are identical.
"Oh my, thank you. Kasugano... Haruki-kun, was it? Looking again, you really are young. How old are you, dear?"
"Eighteen."
"GAHOH, HOH. ...Eighteen? Younger than I imagined. A university student, are you?"
Father-in-law, mid-sip of tea, chokes and fires his own question at me.
It's your daughter's first visit home in years—talk with YOUR daughter, please...
"Haruki-san is a high school student."
Kasumi-san answers for me.
"........."
"........."
A beat of silence, and my father-in-law and mother-in-law lock eyes.
"Our daughter deeply apologizes!!"
The next instant, both of them are out of their seats, executing a flawless dual prostration.
They've gone above and beyond my bow-and-scrape strategy...