Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093093152263860/episodes/16818792436242391687
Those words made my chest ache. Everyone else was still happily munching on bread and drinking juice, but the air between me and Toka’s father suddenly grew thick.
“…Yes.”
“Once we’re done eating, could I have a moment of your time?”
“Understood.”
Even as I answered, my heartbeat refused to settle. Toka innocently asked, “Ryo-kun, want some orange juice?” but I barely had the energy to smile back.
◇
After breakfast, I met Toka’s dad in the hotel lobby to talk. About her mom… Why would her dad bring this up? What’s going on?
Soft classical music played in the lobby as tourists spread out maps and took photos. But I barely heard any of it. Dad sat down on the sofa, hands resting on his knees, and stayed silent for a while.
“Look, Ryo, I’ll get straight to the point…”
“Save me the time and just say it already.”
Toka shattered the serious atmosphere!
Hey, I was super nervous here!? For better or worse, having Toka next to me just makes me lose all my resolve…
“T-Toka, I’d like you to step out for a moment…”
“No way. It’s about me anyway, right? Then I have the right to listen.”
“Well, yeah… that’s true, but…”
Dad was stumbling over his words. Toka had completely taken control of the situation.
“Come on, Ryo kun, say it. It’s okay for me to stay here, right?”
“Uh, well… even if you send it to me…”
“No way. Today, I want to properly talk to Ryo-kun about something.”
Dad fixed his gaze firmly on me. The intensity of that stare made my spine involuntarily straighten. Dads really are scary. Especially when it’s “her dad”—the destructive power doubles.
“Mmm… Fine.”
Toka puffed out her cheeks and reluctantly stood up from the sofa. But—
“But! If Ryo-kun cries, I’ll come right back!”
“I won’t cry! Stop treating me like that!”
Sounding like an elementary school babysitter, Toka toddled off to the shop at the back of the lobby. Even Toka seems to listen when her dad gets serious.
“So, about that talk…?”
“Reina-san said she wants to meet Ryo-kun.”
“Huh?”
The unexpected words left me speechless. It was so completely out of the blue, my mind went blank.
“Me, not Toka!?”
“Yeah. She wants to meet Ryo-kun.”
Why? Why now? Questions flooded my mind! I didn’t have any particular reason to see her…
“Why on earth…?”
“She said she wants to properly meet with you.”
“……”
As I froze, speechless, my father continued quietly.
“Of course, it’s not right away. Reina-san is still sorting through her feelings. But… she clearly said she wants to see you, to talk with you.”
..The atmosphere and words from that day still prickle deep in my chest.
That day, I snapped at Toka’s mom. I threw everything I was feeling right at her. I don’t regret it, but—I don’t know what face to make when I see her. I don’t know what words to say.
But—
“I understand. Would it be okay to schedule it after this trip is over?”
I couldn’t run away from this proposal. Thinking about my future with Toka, I knew I absolutely couldn’t avoid it.
“Ryo, thank you for everything you’ve done for our family.”
“But… am I really okay? I’m just a high school student, just Toka’s boyfriend…”
“I think that ‘just’ is what matters.”
Her father smiled slowly. I didn’t quite understand the meaning, but those words felt unusually heavy.
“Um… Can I ask you one thing?”
“What is it?”
I felt like now was the only time I could ask, so I gathered my courage and asked what had been on my mind.
“Well… How does Toka’s mother feel about Toka?”
“How does she feel?”
“Does she love Toka…?”
Even as I said it, I thought it was a strangely presumptuous question. But it had been stuck deep in my chest for so long, I had to ask now. Father lowered his eyes slightly and exhaled deeply.
“…She definitely loves her. There’s no doubt about that.”
The moment he said that, Father narrowed his eyes just a little and looked off into the distance.
◇
“So, what were you two whispering about?”
Back in the room, Toka asked me that question, of course!
She was holding a weird, moving keychain she’d bought from the lobby shop.
“Hmm, it’s not that it’s important…”
“Something you can’t tell me?”
Now that she mentioned it, the conversation itself wasn’t really something I couldn’t tell Toka. Why did Dad ask her to step away?
“Nah, nothing.”
“Nothing at all.”
“…Toka’s mom wants to meet me.”
“…Huh?”
Toka froze for a second. The weird character on the keychain was rattling and shaking, but Toka herself didn’t move a muscle.
“What did you just say?”
“So… she wants to meet me…”
The more she said it, the less she could believe it herself, her voice growing quieter.
“Wait, hold on! mom? Not me? Why!? Wait, you’re not like… her secret child or something, are you!?”
“Of course not!”
“Does that mean we were… forbidden love!?”
“This isn’t some soap opera!”
You idiot, Toka! Your imagination must be on the other side of the planet—you’re saying the craziest things!
“But why Ryo-kun?”
“I’m the one who wants to know.”
“I don’t really want to see my mom again, though…”
Honestly, I totally get how Toka feels. After all, her mom caused her so much pain.
“But I’ll definitely meet her! I’ll figure out what to say when we’re there!”
“Ehh? Why?”
“Because she’s Toka’s mom. I want to properly talk to the woman who raised Toka.”
“But Ryo-kun is my current guardian now.”
When I said that, Toka puffed out her cheeks like she was sulking!
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