Chapter 219: Figure Out How to Deal with Your Dad Yourself, Don't Count on Me!

Damn this woman!!

Biting her back teeth slightly, Utaha glared at her fearless mother with a threatening, growling look, just like a bristling cat.

Shameless! Absolutely shameless!

How can you say such thick-skinned things! Coincidence? Touch your conscience. When you say things like that, doesn't your conscience hurt?

As Utaha made this 'malicious' guess in her heart, her gaze inadvertently fell on a certain heavy, ample chest sitting across from her mother, and the little person in her mind couldn't help but freeze.

Alright, pretend I said nothing.... With all that fat, what conscience is there to touch? It's all flab! It's fat!

However, as Utaha roasted her like this, she seemed to have forgotten... Her figure and facial features shared over a seventy percent similarity with the mother sitting in front of her. Not to exaggerate, aside from the slight resemblance to her dad around her eyebrows and eyes, she was currently just a slightly smaller version of Kao.

Oh, wait, no. Utaha had blossomed more since middle school, so she should be just a half-size smaller.

"It's about time you gave up resisting, Utaha." Resting her cheek on her palm, her gaze falling on the pile of shopping bags next to her daughter, Kao raised her chin slightly and said.

"Ayase~ Who exactly is that?"

"..."

Utaha silently averted her gaze, determined not to say a single word.

For her daughter's reaction, Kao felt not a shred of surprise, as it was entirely expected.

"It's just dating. It's not like it's something shameful to hide in the dark."

Noticing that the moment the words left her mouth, Utaha's body gave a barely perceptible shudder, a faint smile of 'plan successful?' appeared on the corners of Kao's lips.

"I'm not your dad. I can't be bothered to oppose you dating. If anything, it's better if someone comes to claim you sooner rather than later, so I won't have to worry anymore."

"...Could you be any more excessive?" Seeing that the secret could no longer be hidden, Utaha silently turned her face, looking at her smiling mother with three parts disgust and three parts defiance.

"Claim... Mrs. Kasumigaoka, are you sure you gave birth to a daughter? And not an object?"

"I can't be blamed for that either."

Spreading her hands, Kao said with a carefree attitude.

"Apart from your face and figure, well, I'm obviously the most excellent... You can't cook, you can't do housework, and your twisted personality is more than I can bear..."

Facing her daughter's murderous glare, and as Utaha's face grew darker and darker, Kao counted on her fingers, getting more and more carried away as she scolded.

"All you do all day is hide in your room and read books. You don't get along well with your classmates at school, and you always put on a cold, 'I don't want to talk to you' attitude. Seriously, with a daughter like this, how could I, as a mother, not worry that you'll end up dying alone~"

Hold it in! You must hold it in, Kasumigaoka Utaha!

This woman is your mother. You can't hit her, you can't hit her, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely you cannot hit her!

Taking a few deep breaths to exhale the rolling black waves in her heart, Utaha's face regained its calm. With a gloomy expression, she glared sharply at her mother, who was still wearing a harmless, faint smile, and said through gritted teeth.

"Please, go back to Wakō City right now. Okay!?!"

"Mm, not okay."

Utaha, who was decisively shut down by Kao, almost suffered internal injuries from that retort.

The mother and daughter stared at each other, locked in a standoff for a short while.

"When are you bringing him home to meet us?"

Leisurely picking up her refilled coffee and taking a small sip, Kao asked nonchalantly.

"Bring who home?"

Utaha looked at her mother with a blank, innocent expression, acting as if she had no idea what her mother was talking about.

Seeing this, Kao didn't speak. She just lifted her eyelid slightly, giving her daughter a 'What do you think?' look.

However, Utaha maintained her harmless demeanor and remained equally silent.

After another short while.

"Fine, have it your way then." Picking up her coffee, Kao put the cup back down without drinking this time, as if her words carried a double meaning.

"It's just a little girl's whims anyway."

Hearing this, Utaha frowned slightly, her tone inevitably gaining a hint of seriousness as she asked back.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing."

Imitating her daughter's posture, crossing her arms and leaning back against the seat, Kao turned her face toward the mall corridor outside the shop, secretly saying to herself.

'This reaction, hmm, confirmed. Utaha probably just started dating not long ago.'

Silently estimating the time based on Utaha's reaction, Kao calculated.

'So it was sometime last semester? My daughter is unexpectedly easy to handle. All in all, it only took three or four months for her to hand herself over. She really just gave herself away on a silver platter.'

As she thought, Kao suddenly felt that something might have gone wrong in her education of Utaha, from a little brat to a young lady.

It shouldn't be. Neither she nor Naoki had any tsundere elements in their personalities, let alone being a... simp.

But why did their daughter give herself away so simply and at lightning speed right after starting high school?

"Sigh....." Watching her mother space out, her expression shifting from calculating to emotional, and finally to dejected, Utaha let out a speechless, shallow sigh.

Without even thinking, she knew that her mother, who was mostly out of it except during working hours, was definitely pondering something again and had somehow tangled herself up in it.

After watching her mother's face-changing act for a short while, Utaha suddenly remembered something. Before she came to Tokyo to study, her dad had once solemnly, and even a bit scarily, warned her: "Boys, especially high school boys, are beasts driven by hormones. When you study in Tokyo, Utaha, you must protect yourself. If anything happens, call Dad immediately." Remembering this, Utaha couldn't help but pause.

A hint of hesitation appeared in her gaze as she looked at her thoughtful mother.

Although Kao was indeed spacing out at this moment, her peripheral vision inadvertently caught her daughter looking at her with a complex expression. Thus, Kao paused her thoughts and, as if she could predict the future, spoke before her daughter could.

"I won't tell your dad. Mm, even in the future, I will remain the same."

Since I practically caught you red-handed today, and you're still being stubborn and refusing to tell your mother anything.

Then later, when you bring your boyfriend home to meet your dad, don't blame me for standing by and doing nothing.

'Figure out how to deal with your dad yourself, don't count on me!'