The person at the doorway was hidden in shadow, their face completely obscured—like a mysterious new character appearing in a late-night episode. Shiratori Seiya, still holding his phone, froze for two seconds, then lowered the device. His vision gradually adjusted to the darkness, allowing him to roughly make out the other person's outline.
His gaze swept over her chest—wait, that's not helpful for identification—and his right index finger twitched slightly. He softly probed:
"Mio?"
Hearing him ask that, the girl in the shadows took two steps forward. The cold moonlight fell across her face, revealing it was indeed Mio. Shiratori Seiya felt an inexplicable sense of relief—at least it wasn't a ghost or a yandere with a knife—and asked:
"Why are you here? It's so late. Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"
Takahashi Mio smiled at him—a small, nervous smile—glanced back, quietly slid the door closed, and walked up to Shiratori Seiya, saying:
"Aren't you the same?"
She placed her index finger to her lips in the universal shh gesture and lowered her voice to a whisper:
"Shh, quiet. Mama's a light sleeper. It would be bad if she found out."
"Then why aren't you going back to your room quickly?"
Shiratori Seiya picked up his phone again and saw that the friend request he'd sent to Yokoyama Miyu still hadn't been accepted. His brows furrowed unconsciously.
Has she already gone to bed?
He wondered if he should call Fujiyama Takeo back and try a different approach.
Takahashi Mio watched him—his brows tightly knit as he stared down at his phone, completely focused on something else—and she instinctively clenched her fists at her sides.
Is he really that angry?
Today, when she saw Shiratori Seiya show up at her house—unexpected, unannounced, but there—her heart had almost overflowed with satisfaction. Like a character who just unlocked the secret ending.
But after the initial rush of emotion came the worry.
Although it seemed like everything had been resolved smoothly today—her parents hadn't disowned her, no one had thrown anyone out—she had, after all, hidden this whole plan from him. She'd gone behind his back, forged a marriage certificate, and staged a whole drama without so much as a warning text.
It was just a shame that things had happened so quickly and urgently today that she'd had no opportunity to talk to him alone. Not a single moment of privacy.
She had originally planned to apologize and explain everything to him tomorrow morning, over breakfast, when her father was sulking in the yard and her mother was busy in the kitchen.
But just now, as she lay down next to her mother and was about to drift off to sleep—eyes closing, consciousness fading—she suddenly remembered: Shiratori Seiya was originally supposed to go watch Hasegawa Saori's match today.
Oh no.
After a brief moment of emotional whiplash—crap crap crap—she suddenly realized the situation had become much more serious than she'd thought.
If it weren't for the Hasegawa Saori incident, what she'd done, though excessive and reckless, would at least have had a good outcome. Her parents were... tentatively accepting. The immediate crisis was averted.
But the reality was the opposite. Because of the Hasegawa Saori incident—because she'd made him miss something clearly important to him—Shiratori Seiya's resentment toward her had likely increased severalfold. She could see it in his eyes, in the tight set of his jaw.
Thinking of this, Takahashi Mio looked at him with an apologetic, almost puppy-dog gaze and said:
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come back on my own without telling you. I'm sorry... I will never do this again. Can you forgive me?"
Hearing her say this, Shiratori Seiya glanced at her—a long, unreadable look—then put down his phone and said in a flat, measured tone:
"Why apologize? It seems you can handle things perfectly well on your own now. I was just completely unnecessary coming over today, wasn't I? My dear wife."
"..."
Takahashi Mio's red lips parted, the small smile she'd been holding onto disappearing like morning frost. After a moment of hesitation, she grabbed his sleeve—a desperate, childlike gesture—and said in a voice barely audible, meant only for the two of them:
"Actually... that was fake. The marriage certificate, I mean. I forged it."
"I'm not an idiot. Of course I know that. But is that the real issue here? Do you honestly think I would have refused if you'd talked to me about this first? Or what?"
Listening to his extremely cold tone—colder than the winter wind outside—Takahashi Mio's lips quickly flushed with color as she bit down on them. Tears welled up in her eyes, glistening in the moonlight. She stared at him, aggrieved and defensive, and said:
"I, I didn't... I just thought that I couldn't always rely on you for everything. This was my problem after all—my family, my dream, my father. I thought it would be better if I could resolve it myself..."
"Your problem?"
Shiratori Seiya retorted sharply, his expression not softening in the slightest. If anything, it hardened.
Although the outcome of this incident had—in hindsight—been a close call, a near miss that somehow worked out, he truly disliked this kind of sudden, unannounced excitement. He preferred things to be well-arranged, systematic, progressing according to a plan like a well-paced story arc. He couldn't control unforeseen circumstances—those were just part of life. But Mio's actions? Those were purely self-inflicted chaos. She'd created trouble for no reason, disrupted his plans, and now he couldn't even reach Saori.
He suppressed the irritation simmering in his chest—like a pot about to boil over—stared into her eyes, and questioned:
"What do you mean, 'your problem'? Your career, your life, your studies—aren't all of those your problems? When have I ever complained about helping you with any of them? And more importantly, shouldn't things be prioritized by urgency? This wasn't urgent—you had time to talk to me."
"Also... from this incident onward, I hope you understand something. We are one. If one of us suffers, the other doesn't get off easy either. That's what being partners means."
Hearing him say this—the words hitting her like a combo attack—Takahashi Mio's heart stirred.
Her previous worries suddenly diminished significantly, like fog burning off under morning sun.
She felt that although Shiratori Seiya was scolding her now—harsh, direct, no sugar-coating—it seemed as if their relationship had somehow grown closer because of this disaster? Like a couple who survived a boss battle together.
One...
Not knowing what exactly crossed her mind, Takahashi Mio's face felt a little hot—a blush spreading across her cheeks. But at this moment, being lectured by Shiratori like a disappointed protagonist, she still mumbled with red-rimmed eyes:
"I know. Don't be so fierce..."
"I know you had a rough day today—coming over without any preparation, and then... then walking into this whole mess. It's my fault. Can you please not be angry anymore? At least the matter is resolved now, right? I will definitely tell you first if I ever encounter something like this again..."
She bit her lip, then added quietly:
"And... actually, I did try to discuss it with you before..."
Hearing this, Shiratori Seiya frowned, squinting in confusion:
"Discuss it with me? When?"
"It was the night you took Miki-nee home... I did go to talk to you about it. But you weren't home then..."
Her voice dropped even lower.
"I'm sorry... You were supposed to watch Hasegawa's match today, weren't you? It's all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been put in such a difficult position..."
Listening to Mio's tearful, trembling voice, Shiratori Seiya scratched his eyebrow—a tell of his own—and felt that continuing this line of criticism would be counterproductive.
Too much is as bad as too little. Better to take things slowly, teach her little by little, like leveling up a character through side quests.
Not planning to dig deeper into this issue for now, he thought for a moment, then asked:
"So... have you ever considered what would happen if your parents find out the certificate is fake? This is bound to come out sooner or later. Have you thought about how to resolve that?"
Seeing that he was no longer pursuing the matter—that the storm had passed—Takahashi Mio raised her hand to wipe away the tears clinging to her lashes. She let out a long, shaky breath, her emotions seemingly much calmer. She feigned nonchalance and said:
"That's simple enough. If they find out, we'll just say we broke up. The 'marriage' is already registered—what's done is done. There's nothing they can really do about it."
She hesitated, then raised her eyes to meet his, a flicker of genuine worry breaking through her mask.
"Oh, right... you wouldn't tell Hasegawa about this... would you?"
Hearing this, Shiratori Seiya glanced at her and said:
"Depends on the situation."
Even as he said it, he knew that when the time came to explain this to Saori, it would probably be unavoidable. Better to clarify things beforehand than to get dramatically misunderstood later like a rom-com protagonist walking in on the wrong scene.
However, seeing Takahashi Mio's worried expression—like a character who just triggered a bad flag—he didn't speak too definitively. No need to provoke Mio into doing something even more unexpected.
"Oh."
Hearing "depends on the situation," Takahashi Mio already understood. Given Shiratori Seiya's personality, saying that was just saving face. He would most likely tell that crazy woman everything.
Feeling inexplicably nervous, Mio bit her lip and looked at him with puppy-dog eyes.
"Then... when the time comes, can you put in a good word for me? I was forced into it too, I had no choice—"
Buzz. Buzz.
Her words were cut short as Shiratori Seiya's phone suddenly vibrated. He picked it up and stared at the screen. Yokoyama Miyu had accepted his friend request. Before he could even type a greeting, her message came through first.
"Yokoyama Miyu: Shiratori Seiya?"
"Shiratori Seiya: Excuse me, President Yokoyama. Do you know how Saori is doing right now? She hasn't answered my messages or calls."
"Yokoyama Miyu: You still have the nerve to ask? Did you forget what you promised her? Look at the time. What's the point of asking now?"
Reading this, Shiratori Seiya felt completely deflated—no temper left to speak of. Honestly, he'd rather Saori herself be the one yelling at him.
Just as he was about to follow up, another message popped up.
"Yokoyama Miyu: Besides, why are you even asking? Didn't Saori go back to find you early?"
"Shiratori Seiya: Find me? Saori knows where I am?"
"Yokoyama Miyu: She didn't call you? She said she was heading home after today's match..."
?
Shiratori Seiya stared at her message, a thoughtful look crossing his eyes.
If, as Yokoyama Miyu said, Saori went back to find him... Saori definitely didn't know he was in Nagoya. So she would certainly go to his apartment.
With that thought, he called Hojo Shione right in front of Mio.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Hello?"
The phone rang a few times—just as it was about to go to voicemail, Hojo Shione's voice came through. It sounded a little hoarser than usual. Like she'd been crying. Or maybe just woken up.
"Hello, Shione. It's me."
"Ah, Seiya. I know. What's wrong?"
"That..."
Shiratori Seiya closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, about to ask her to check if Saori was at his place.
But before he could speak, Hojo Shione's faint voice drifted through the receiver:
"Seiya... are you asking about Hasegawa? Please don't worry. She's right beside me right now. Do you want to talk to her?"
?