"Please, entrust your daughter to me!"
When Asakura uttered those words with absolute gravity, Gotō Naoki—Hitori's father—nearly dropped the tray in his hands.
The old father placed the tray of snacks and drinks steadily on the table. He took a deep breath to calm himself before asking again with a gentle, strained smile, "Um... you're Asakura-kun, right? I think I just had some strange auditory hallucination..."
"Please, entrust Hitori to me with peace of mind!"
"It wasn't a hallucination?!"
The father looked tremblingly at his eldest daughter, only to find her looking just as panicked as he was.
He said earnestly, "Hitori, I did tell you to get along with your classmates... but skipping the friends, best friends, and buddies stages to go straight to boyfriend/girlfriend—isn't that a bit sudden?"
"Ababa..." Hitori was nearly turning into an abstract painting, having no idea how to explain her relationship with Asakura.
"Please give us some time; don't tear Hitori and me apart!" Asakura said with an air of righteous determination.
"What am I, a wicked mother-in-law? Ugh?!"
Before Naoki could finish, he was bumped off the sofa by his wife.
"When did Asakura-kun get so close to Hitori?" Gotō Michiyo, Hitori's mother, approached them, her eyes sparkling with gossip.
"It's been about a month or two," Asakura replied after calculating the time.
"It's been that long already!" Michiyo looked at Hitori in surprise. "Hitori never showed a sign of it at home!"
"B-because... occasionally when I remember what Asakura-kun said... I think I'm dreaming too..." Hitori whispered, looking away.
"You're already dating and you still call him by his last name?" Michiyo narrowed her eyes and stared straight at her daughter, her tone thick with disappointment.
A-are? Is it a delusion? Even though Asakura came to meet my parents, why does it feel like I'm the one under pressure from Mom? Hitori wondered inwardly, shivering.
She caught Michiyo's gaze, which was still fixed on her, and shuddered. In a panic, she hesitantly changed her form of address: "...H-honey?"
"That's too big of a leap!" Naoki was "resurrected" from the floor.
"Usually, that's something a boy says to a girl," Asakura told Hitori with a straight face. "Like this: Honey~"
Hitori felt like she had been hit by an electric shock. She jerked, her face turning a deep crimson, and she slammed her head down as her eyes turned into swirling "mosquito coils."
Wait? Why haven't I noticed before? Is Asakura's voice always this deep and pleasant? It feels like it has a bit of that 'bubbly' texture... and I felt nothing when I said it, but hearing him call me Honey makes me so embarrassed. It feels like my chest is being squeezed hard—it's sour, but a little sweet... Dammit, what is this feeling? I've never experienced this! Could it be...
Hitori stole a glance at Asakura and found him looking back at her with eyes full of mischief and warmth.
Immediately, her heart rate jumped up another gear.
She clutched her chest, finally understanding.
Yes! There's definitely something wrong with my heart!
Asakura looked blankly at Hitori, who had peeked at him like a small animal and then started thumping her own chest for no apparent reason.
"Ah, don't mind her," Michiyo said with a smile. "Hitori often does strange things suddenly."
"I wonder who she takes after... even though she's a good kid most of the time, she's so pathetic in the most random ways," Naoki sighed.
"I don't mind. In fact, in my eyes, that's what makes Hitori interesting... cough, I mean, cute."
Asakura, having seen the world, replied calmly. He clearly had no intention of distancing himself because of Hitori's eccentricities.
This softened the attitude of Naoki, who had been slightly disgruntled by the boy who suddenly appeared to snatch his daughter. He crossed his arms and nodded, "If it's Asakura-kun, perhaps you really can get along well with Hitori..."
"Stop acting so high and mighty!"
Michiyo ruthlessly exposed her husband's secret. "You were just worrying about Hitori's future a few days ago!"
"Ah, even Dad thinks I'm a nuisance?" Hitori's pessimistic side flared up instantly.
"No such thing! Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. Even if you never get married and stay home your whole life, it's fine. Dad can support you!" Naoki guaranteed, patting his chest.
"But if I do that, even if it's comfortable at home, the neighbors' stares will definitely get weird, and when relatives visit and ask what I'm doing now I'll definitely die on the spot. Even so, deciding what to do in the future is hard; even with Dad's guarantee, just thinking about failing a job search and being ostracized by coworkers until I'm a shut-in makes me want to..."
Hitori began her dark, rapid-fire mumbling.
Seeing the gloomy aura around her thickening, Asakura didn't hesitate to deliver a light "knife-hand" strike to her head.
"Ow?!" The girl clutched her forehead, making a >_< face.
"A good sound means a good head."
"My head isn't a percussion instrument..."
"After you start dating me, I'll drag you out for forced socialization even if you don't want to."
"He's smiling but his eyes aren't?! It doesn't feel like a joke at all! Mom, Dad, as of today, Hitori is single again! Let's have a party to celebrate!"
"A boy who says that instead of just spoiling her... he's surprisingly trustworthy," Naoki nodded, crossing his arms with a father-in-law air.
"This is wonderful, Hitori. You've found someone you can be entrusted to," Michiyo said, dabbing her eyes as if crying tears of joy.
"W-what about my opinion?"
Hitori looked at her parents in shock. She immediately looked toward her younger sister, who had been watching the drama from the side with Jimi-hen (the family dog), trying to seek help.
"F-Futari, what do you think? Don't you feel resistant to a stranger suddenly appearing in the house?"
Asakura looked at the little one and saw her staring at him curiously. He couldn't help but smile, then performed a "magic trick" to pull a packaged Rabbit Dango out of thin air—well, it was just a sleight-of-hand trick since he wasn't in the range of the Spirit Kitchen, and he had the item in his pocket.
Gotō Futari took the Rabbit Dango and gave a bright smile. "I like this onii-chan! Okay, I'll leave my sister to you, onii-chan!"
"In Futari's heart, I'm only worth 495 yen?!" Hitori nearly cried at the instant betrayal.
"Is this the Rabbit Dango from Rabbit House that's supposedly so popular it's sold out every day? They have it in packaging now?"
Michiyo, as a housewife, was more well-informed than her husband. She looked curiously at the snack in her daughter's hand.
"This is a prototype," Asakura said. "It hasn't been released yet." He took out a few more spare dango and placed them on the table. "Please, try them and let me know what you think."
In reality, considering the cost of packaging and the fact that they sold out every day anyway, Asakura had given up on properly commercializing the packaged version.
"Oh? Asakura-kun, are you close with the staff at Rabbit House? Do you work there part-time?" Naoki asked curiously.
In Naoki's eyes, a boy who worked a part-time job during school to experience society would earn high marks.
"Something like that." Asakura smiled and nodded.
Surprise, I'm actually the owner of Rabbit House! However, saying that out loud would feel too much like "flexing," so he kept it quiet to avoid a cringey moment.
He then turned back to Hitori, who was still muttering about the "forced socialization" declaration, and tapped her forehead again.
"Awu..." The girl's self-deprecating trance was broken again by physical means, and she looked at him with a resentful pout.
"Stop being silly. If you completely abandoned socializing, are you saying you wouldn't even contact Nijika and the others anymore?"
"T-that's different!" Hitori countered weakly, unable to even convince herself.
"It's forced socialization, but I'm not a control freak. If you don't want to deal with ordinary people, why not just stick with Nijika and the others in the music circle? With an industry veteran like Kawaragi there, you won't be easily scammed, and you can avoid some detours..." Asakura suggested.
Furthermore, Hitori's "spell" was the [Song] type, which heavily relied on a medium. It was much easier to justify a band member singing in various situations than a normal person.
"But... it feels like a rock band can't really last a lifetime..." Hitori whispered.
Even if she had thought of "doing it together," when it came down to reality, it felt a bit impractical.
"Then stop playing when that time comes."
"Don't make it sound so easy! It feels like you're negating all my hard work!" Hitori was slightly miffed, but she didn't dare say it, only bumping her shoulder against Asakura's twice. It did zero damage.
"I didn't mean it like that. It's just that by then, we'll probably be married, right? Wouldn't it be fine to just stay home as a housewife?" Asakura said naturally.
"M-married...?!" Hitori's face turned even redder than before, looking like she might faint at any moment.
"Ah, were you just playing around with me?" Asakura looked at her in surprise.
"O-of course not! ...I-it's just..."
Hitori felt her brain turn into a mess. But before she could organize a clear thought, she heard a loud "trumpet" sound. She turned to find her father had produced a handkerchief from somewhere and was tearfully blowing his nose.
"S-so it's a relationship with marriage in mind... it seems I underestimated your determination!"
"Congratulations!" Michiyo clapped alongside him.
Futari rested her head on the arm of the sofa, staring intently at Hitori. "Sister, are you getting married? Can I be the flower girl?"
"N-not that fast... Gawu!"
Hitori's brain, already a mess, turned into complete mush. She could only make strange noises.
"By the way, I actually have one more thing to ask you, Uncle and Auntie." Asakura took a sip of tea and looked at the Gotō couple.
"Please, go ahead." Naoki's gaze was now much warmer, possessing the gentleness of an elder.
"Please, entrust Hitori to me!"
"Okay!"
"Why are we back to this? And why was Dad so quick this time!" Hitori complained in a small voice.
"Sorry, I was being too brief," Asakura cleared his throat and set his joking aside. "Actually, I plan to travel around the country during summer vacation, and I hope Hitori can come with me."
The Gotō couple fell into thought, glancing at each other.
"Is it just you and Hitori?" Naoki asked tentatively.
"No, there are others participating as well," Asakura replied.
The couple exhaled in unison. It was fine as long as there were companions. Looking at the boy's honest face, it wasn't like they were going to have an orgy or anything.
"That's good, then. After all, I'm not mentally prepared to be called 'Grandma' yet," Michiyo said with a kind yet meaningful smile.
"Since the companions are also girls, I'll be sleeping in a separate room from Hitori and the others," Asakura added.
The Gotō's looked even more satisfied.
"Then we'll leave it to you, Asakura-kun. About the travel expenses..." Naoki pulled out his phone, seemingly ready to transfer money.
"No need for that. I've been earning money at Rabbit House for so long specifically to use my own savings to take Hitori on a trip."
Asakura spoke with a smile.
He could practically hear the sound effect of the entire Gotō family's "favorability" toward him increasing.