"I'll ask, but I can't guarantee he's free." Haruno replied.
She didn't want Shinra to come into her mother's sight so early. One reason was Yukino, and the other was a bit of selfishness.
"After all, it's been almost a month. We didn't invite him to our home before, but now that the results are out, we know to thank him."
Use people when needed, ignore them when not needed.
Such a way of doing things is a bit inappropriate, right?
Although as a member of the Yukinoshita family, Haruno knew very well that the main reason the family didn't invite him immediately wasn't that the results weren't out yet, but that they really didn't have much free time. With the pressure of company orders there, inviting someone to the house at this critical juncture—would it be to thank them, or to ask for help?
And now that the results were out, inviting him immediately—although she knew it wasn't like that, she couldn't stop others from overthinking.
Yukinoshita Mother's expression froze upon hearing this. Then she pondered for a moment and said, "You are right."
She introspected: "It was my lack of consideration."
"Since that's the case, I'll trouble you, Haruno, to convey thanks to him on behalf of me and your mother first." Yukinoshita Father mediated.
Facing these two most important women in his life, Yukinoshita Father was often the one sandwiched in the middle acting as a lubricant.
Compared to his eldest daughter Haruno, Yukinoshita Father didn't need to worry much because she was always sensible and knew the importance of things.
What gave Yukinoshita Father the most headache was his younger daughter Yukino. She had always had a bad relationship with his wife and even moved out to live alone. Since he provided the house, his wife complained about him quite a bit.
As for why he agreed to let Yukino move out and live alone knowing his wife would complain?
What else could it be?
He ran out of options.
Whether it was his younger daughter Yukino or his wife, he couldn't bear to let either of them suffer grievances. Being sandwiched in the middle was unbearably uncomfortable, so he could only do this.
But fortunately, after Yukino moved out, the relationship between his wife and her finally stopped deteriorating.
As a price, the last time the whole family gathered was during the summer vacation last month. This made Yukinoshita Father miss his precious daughter somewhat.
He wondered how she was doing, if she was eating on time, if she was sleeping well, if she had made friends...
Ah, sorry, this last one is a bit too much to ask. Let's change the wish.
Of course, although the younger daughter's social problems were worrying, looking on the bright side, at least for now, he didn't have to worry about strange insects approaching Yukino with bad intentions.
Sure enough, a daughter getting married is something every daughter-con father least wants but has to face!
Especially for a father like Yukinoshita Father who had two daughters, such pain would have to be faced twice in the future!
Speaking of this, Yukinoshita Father didn't have to worry about the younger daughter for the time being, but he was extremely worried about the older daughter Haruno.
After all, the older daughter Haruno was just too outstanding. While being talented and beautiful, she was also very good at socializing. It was inevitable that she would attract some unwanted attention. Take his colleagues in politics for example; many had already shamelessly asked him for their sons if the two children could get to know each other.
Do you really just want them to get to know each other?
I don't even bother to scold you.
Regarding similar requests, Yukinoshita Father uniformly rejected them with the excuse that his daughter had just started university and needed to focus on her studies, no matter how tempting the conditions offered by the other party were.
Regarding his daughters' marriage, Yukinoshita Father had only one attitude: Can give his daughter happiness, and his daughter herself likes it.
Both conditions must be met simultaneously. If even one was missing, he wouldn't agree, let alone letting his daughter enter a political marriage for the future of the Yukinoshita family.
On this point alone, no matter who came, he would not back down!
Mm, including his wife.
Thinking of this, a sense of heroism like a martyr surged in Yukinoshita Father's heart, leaving the Yukinoshita mother and daughter beside him stunned, thinking: 'Dad/Husband, what kind of stimulation did you get at work again?'
Although she didn't know what her father was imagining again, Haruno still agreed to his request.
She really should thank Shinra properly. Obviously, such a big favor couldn't be repaid just by cooking a meal for him.
Cooking for a lifetime would be more like it...
Hmm, but this task should be given to Yukino. After all, she is also a member of the Yukinoshita family, and judging by her appearance, she should be happy to accept this commission.
"Speaking of which, Haruno, how is your relationship with that female classmate?"
"Female classmate?"
"Eh?"
Yukinoshita Father was stunned. Wasn't it a female classmate? He clearly heard his wife say...
Haruno explained with a smile: "The one who invited me to the banquet was a female classmate, but the one who told me the news was another cute junior."
Haruno also graduated from Sobu High. From this perspective, saying they were schoolmates/classmates didn't seem wrong.
Just say, does going to the same high school count as being schoolmates?
"Cute junior..." Yukinoshita Father chewed on this piercing term.
He rarely saw Haruno use such terms to describe the opposite sex. Or rather, Haruno rarely mentioned her male friends in front of the family. However, this convention seemed to be broken now...
Danger, Danger, Danger!
Yukinoshita Father's 'insect radar' had been stretched to the maximum. Thinking about it now, why would the other party provide such important news to Haruno? It must be known that if such insider information was thrown into the stock market, cashing out a few hundred million yen would be a piece of cake. Could it really be for the so-called friendship between schoolmates?
Probably not!
The other party must have taken a fancy to his daughter to be so attentive.
And judging from his daughter's current performance, she seemed to buy this.
Thinking about it this way, Haruno's rebuttal to his wife just now seemed to have some unspeakable meaning.
Mm... seemingly objective, but actually siding with the outsider.
That sentence 'After all, it's been almost a month. We didn't invite him to our home before, but now that the results are out, we know to thank him' looked in every way like she was fighting for her little boyfriend.
The more he thought about it, the colder Yukinoshita Father's heart became, so much so that he suspected his eldest daughter had already started dating long ago, just hadn't told him and his wife.
Now that the other party helped the family so much, it was a perfect opportunity to lay cards on the table.
Hiss... No, don't want that!
Yukinoshita Mother didn't think so much. Although she was also a bit surprised, she was more curious about the cute junior Haruno mentioned.
After all, Yukinoshita Mother knew very well how high her daughter's standards were. A member of the opposite sex who could make her look at him differently was obviously not simple.
Of course, if Haruno planned to date him, Yukinoshita Mother felt she still had to check him out personally. As long as there were no major problems, she was quite supportive of her daughter's romance.
"Since that's the case, I'll leave the decision of when to invite him to meet to you, Haruno." Yukinoshita Mother decided to entrust the decision-making power of this matter entirely to Haruno.
Yukinoshita Father opened his mouth. He wanted to say he had an opinion, but he was the one who proposed this idea initially.
Shot himself in the foot, so to speak.
After holding it in for a long time, Yukinoshita Father, feeling really uncomfortable inside, asked: "That junior of yours... h-he... how is he?"
Actually, Yukinoshita Father wanted to ask what exactly Haruno's relationship with him was, but the words turned into asking how he was as a person when they reached his mouth.
"He's very nice. Handsome, good family conditions, and most importantly, very capable..."
Haruno was such a smart person. She knew her father's psychological activities like the back of her hand... no, she knew them clearly.
Therefore, she specifically listed some of Shinra's advantages in front of Yukinoshita Father. This woman is bad to the core.
Hearing Haruno's words, Yukinoshita Father's suspended heart completely died. He could only force a smile to maintain the last bit of dignity and said, "Th-That's good..."
Yukinoshita Mother glanced at her husband, then signaled Haruno with her eyes to stop and not stimulate him anymore.
He's your father; don't you feel sorry for him?
Receiving her mother's eye signal, Haruno didn't continue to stimulate her old dad. She was just giving her father a preventive shot in advance. After all, the one who was going to fall in love wasn't her, but her sister.
Based on her father's doting on Yukino, the blow might be even greater for the latter.
...Mm, even the opportunity to get close first was provided by him.
Haruno thought slightly black-belly-edly, then took a sip of whiskey. After her body gave a slightly tipsy reaction, she stood up from the sofa, said something to her parents, turned around, and returned to her room.
As for Yukinoshita Father, he was still immersed in the sorrowful emotion that his daughter might be dating.
Yukinoshita Mother glanced at her husband and couldn't help shaking her head. However, she didn't say anything. As a couple for so many years, she knew very well how her husband felt right now. Comforting him now wouldn't help much. Instead of wasting time on that, she might as well go prepare bathwater for him first.
...
The school festival, which had been prepared for nearly a month, finally convened as scheduled.
Dark curtains covered the entire venue, leaving no gaps. The only light sources on the scene were the mobile phones in students' hands and the emergency exit lighting.
School leaders and invited guests sat in seats prepared in advance below the stage. On the table in front of them were corresponding nameplates and a bottle of purified water. Behind them were the students of Sobu High. Teachers stood in the aisles on both sides of the venue, acting as security personnel to prevent students from sneaking away.
Besides the guests who were going to speak on stage, the only people on the scene who could see the event were the executive committee members responsible for maintaining the opening ceremony.
In the darkness, a noisy sound came from the earpiece in Shinra's right ear. About a few seconds later, a familiar female voice came from inside.
"This is Yukinoshita. I hereby notify all personnel that the event will proceed on time. Please report any problems immediately."
As the Vice Chairman, Yukino naturally became the field controller of this opening ceremony. Chairman Sagami Minami was currently nervously clutching the speech draft in her hand backstage, praying not to make a fool of herself when speaking on stage later.
After Yukino finished notifying, several static noises followed.
"Lighting, no problem."
"This is PA, no problem."
"This is backstage. Personnel preparation is slightly delayed, but should be able to catch up with the opening."
After the inquiries from various departments were conveyed to Yukino, she spoke again after organizing: "Received. Everyone stay in position until I give instructions."
Hearing this, Shinra took off the earpiece and handed it to Hachiman beside him.
It wasn't that he planned to quit, but he needed to go on stage to speak as the student representative next. He was just handing the headphones to Hachiman for safekeeping for a moment.
With less than a minute left before the opening, Shinra, who came backstage, also saw Student Council President Meguri ready to go, waiting for the lights to turn on to immediately get on stage.
The gymnasium also quieted down at this time. Everyone held their breath and waited, no longer whispering.
Shinra looked down at the time on his phone, counting down ten numbers in his heart. The moment he counted to 'one', dazzling lights burst out on the stage.
Meguri-senpai stepped onto the stage. Amidst the applause of the audience, the school festival opening ceremony officially began.
In the earpiece that Shinra couldn't hear, Yukino was intensively arranging various tasks.
"The music is about to end. Next... Chairman Sagami, prepare to go on stage." The girl instructed calmly.
The voice was accurately transmitted to the in-ear monitor of Meguri on stage. Catching the end of the opening performance, President Meguri announced: "Next, a speech by the Chairman of the School Festival Executive Committee."
Sagami Minami walked onto the stage. Her expression was quite stiff. The gazes of thousands of spectators were all focused on her. Because she was too nervous, she didn't even notice that she had stopped before reaching the mark in the center.
The hand holding the microphone was trembling uncontrollably. Just as she was about to say the first word, a screeching sound came from the speaker. This was caused by the microphone being too close to the speaker.
Because the timing was too coincidental, a burst of laughter came from the audience below, beating back the courage Sagami Minami had managed to muster.
After the harsh sound disappeared, Sagami Minami still couldn't make a sound.
Meguri hurriedly helped out, picking up the microphone and saying: "...So, Chairman, let's start over!"
Hearing Meguri's words, Sagami Minami finally recovered. Fortunately, nothing went wrong next. Amidst stumbling words, the Chairman's speech ended.
Scattered applause immediately came from below the stage. Obviously, the Chairman's speech wasn't that ideal, so much so that for the audience, the end was a relief.
After the Executive Chairman finished speaking, it was time for the student representative, Shinra, to speak.
Before going on stage, Hachiman walked up quickly.
"Yukino said to speed up your speech. The Chairman's speech just now exceeded the scheduled time. The time left for your speech is only half of the original."
Coincidentally, this sentence was heard by Sagami Minami who just walked off the stage. An emotion named 'embarrassment' immediately appeared on her face. She wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say. Finally, she could only watch blankly as Shinra walked straight onto the stage.