Chapter 216: That Carefree, Beautiful Youthful Time

Ever since his wife suddenly got a whim that morning to visit their daughter in Tokyo, and after arriving in Tokyo around ten and accidentally spotting their daughter preparing to leave the apartment building, Naoki had been dragged along by his enthusiastic wife to stalk her.

Following her all the way until three or four in the afternoon, Naoki was starting to reach his limit.

Reaching out to stop his wife, who was trying to keep following their daughter and her classmate, he looked helplessly at Kao, who was glaring at him with dissatisfaction.

"That's enough, Kao."

"We've been following her for almost a whole day."

...So what? We haven't caught Utaha's little tail yet!

Seeing Kao's completely nonchalant expression, Naoki let go of her hand, raised his hand to rub his forehead, and said with a troubled tone.

"At least tell me why."

"Why what?"

"Why are you suddenly stalking your own daughter." Naoki crossed his arms, wearing an expression that said 'You're turning the tables on me?' "Don't tell me it's just a whim. I don't know my wife to be that patient about stalking her own daughter."

"...." Hearing this, Kao unconsciously averted her gaze slightly, her righteous tone carrying a trace of imperceptible guilt. "I just had a whim! Is that not allowed!? Is·it·not·allowed!?"

It is allowed.

But can you look me in the eyes when you say it?

"Sigh."

Although Naoki really liked this side of Kao, she was ultimately a mother of a fifteen-year-old daughter. He still felt that it would be better if Kao could be a bit more mature.

Not to mention anything else, at least when their daughter comes home, she could manage not to argue and bicker with her every day, and not make the atmosphere in the house feel as tense as a confrontation game.

Oh, sorry, that's a tangent.

"If you don't tell me, I'm going back to the hotel." Staring calmly at his fidgeting wife, Naoki held his ground with his gaze and said exasperatedly, "Or, we go straight back to Wakō."

"How can you do that!" Hearing her husband threaten to go back to Wakō, Kao immediately disagreed. "We agreed to stay in Tokyo tonight and go to Nara for a hot spring tomorrow!"

"....." Naoki didn't speak, just looking at his fussing wife with a calm gaze.

In the end, Kao had no choice but to compromise.

"Aren't you curious?" Pouting like a young girl, Kao tugged at her husband's sleeve, her watery wine-red eyes looking up at him as she shook his arm and whispered, "Look at middle school Utaha. Did she ever act like this? Shopping, eating, and picking clothes with classmates. This isn't something the old Utaha would do. Besides, that child barely had any friends. It was a miracle if she even spoke to a classmate once or twice a year."

Silently shifting his gaze away from his wife's cute, acting-cute demeanor, and emphasizing in his heart 'she's trying to bluff her way out of this', Naoki nevertheless reached out and held her hand, continuing along her line of thought.

"That's true, but isn't that a good change? Maybe Tokyo students are of higher quality, so Utaha is willing to make friends with them."

Halfway through his sentence, Naoki saw his wife looking at him with an 'Are you kidding me?' expression, and his voice suddenly lost its confidence.

"D-did I say something wrong?"

"No." Kao continued to look at her husband with the same expression, then let out a small sigh, her tone sounding somewhat defeated. "Whatever you say is right."

"?"

For a split second, Naoki had the urge to tell his wife, 'Riddlers, get the hell out of this world!'

But after briefly considering the various consequences he might face if he actually said that, Naoki ultimately suppressed the impulse in his heart.

"You go back to the hotel and rest first." As she spoke, Kao waved dismissively at her bewildered husband. "You have to drive tomorrow. I'll go back to the hotel myself later."

Is she annoyed that I'm in the way?

"I'm not annoyed." Although she said she wasn't annoyed, the words 'annoyed' were clearly written all over Kao's exquisite, fair face. "When it's dinner time, after I book a restaurant with my good daughter, I'll call you. For now, just go back to the hotel and wait for me~"

Finishing her sentence, Kao walked briskly toward Utaha, who had just walked out of a nearby clothing store, her hands behind her back in a manner that didn't quite match her age.

Left behind, Naoki watched his wife's retreating back. After spacing out for a moment, he shook his head with a helpless smile.

Forget it. He was already very used to this kind of treatment.

Who asked him to be at the very bottom of the family hierarchy? As the lowest rung on the Kasumigaoka family food chain, Naoki had long gotten used to being occasionally abandoned by his wife and daughter.

"Well, they say that."

After walking out of the mall, Naoki looked up at the clear blue sky dotted with a few leisurely drifting white clouds, and muttered to himself with a bored expression.

"A perfectly good day off, and I have to spend it alone in a hotel?"

Saying this, the slightly distracted Naoki turned around, and in a moment of carelessness, failed to notice three boys walking toward him, chatting and laughing.

He accidentally bumped into one of the three boys, the one walking on the outer side.

After the two who accidentally bumped into each other steadied themselves, before Naoki could even speak, the boy he bumped into—who looked to be a high school student based on his age—apologized first.

"Ah, are you okay? I'm sorry, I bumped into you by accident."

"Uh, it's fine. I should be the one apologizing."

Since it was just a minor bump, Naoki quickly brushed off the little incident. He offered the polite boy a warm smile and a nod of acknowledgment before parting ways with the group of kids.

"Miyahito, really, how can you be so careless."

"I just didn't notice for a second."

"Yeah, the President is right. Miyahito-kun is unexpectedly a bit clumsy."

"Yu, don't always listen to Miyuki-nii talking nonsense."

Listening to the cheerful conversation of the three boys walking away in the opposite direction, Naoki suddenly thought of himself back in high school.

That carefree, beautiful youthful time.

How nice.