No sooner had Ren Katsuragi stepped out of the room than a video call from Yue Katsuragi came through.
"Moshi moshi, Mom?"
"Baby, did you miss Mom?"
In the video on Ren's phone, Yue was wearing a cute cartoon clownfish pajama set, hood up.
She looked nothing like her daytime work. Right now, she came across warm and domestic—like a doting mother.
"Missed you, missed you. But Mom, why are you calling so late? Something wrong?"
Sitting cross-legged on the floor and leaning against Koharu, who was already lying behind him, Ren looked at Yue with a face full of smiles.
Koharu also leaned in, nudging her big head next to Ren's to get herself in the frame.
"Can't Mom call Baby even if there's nothing wrong?"
"If Baby has this kind of attitude, it would be better to just ignore Mom. You're making Mom sound unreasonable~"
Seeing Ren being so perfunctory, Yue's eyes became aggrieved, and she went full melodrama.
"Look, look. Mom hasn't even said a few words, and Baby is already impatient with Mom~"
"Mom's life is bitter. Baby, tell me, after carrying you for ten months…"
Ren broke into a sweat.
Ren chose to cut off his own mother mid-performance.
"Love you, Mom!"
"Love you too, Baby~"
Yue changed her face instantly, responding happily to Ren.
Weren't children basically born to be teased? Although Yue had always stopped Sayuri Sawamura from teasing Ren, she never tired of teasing her own son.
"Mom…"
Ren's eyes began to turn resentful; now it was his turn to start his own routine.
After all, Ren was Yue's own flesh and blood. Yue understood immediately what her son wanted to do and promptly cut him off to get to the point.
"Baby, Auntie Sawamura lives right next door to you. Go say hello when you have time."
"Auntie Sayuri Sawamura… lives right next door to me?"
Hearing what his mother said, Ren's face stiffened in disbelief.
Some bad memories gradually surfaced…
"Little Ren, I'm your older sister, okay? Remember to call me Onee-san Sayuri~"
Sayuri Sawamura, sporting twin tails, brushed off Yue's nostalgic campus stories and ran off alone to meet her best friend's child.
Ren, who was still little at the time, was reading a book under a tree. Although he had doubts about the arrival of this strange auntie, he still responded seriously: "Hello, Onee-san Sayuri."
Seeing Ren greeting her like a tiny adult, Sayuri was delighted—like she'd found a treasure.
"Little Ren, what book are you reading?"
"Do you want Onee-san to hold you while reading together~"
"Come on, come on~"
"Ren-Chan, your face is so soft. Let Onee-san pinch it and then snuggle with Onee-san~"
"Say cheese~"
When Yue found Sayuri, Sayuri had one arm around Ren's neck, forcing the cute little boy into the camera frame.
Ren, who had never been treated like this in his clan, had his eyes completely dimmed from Sayuri's torment.
Pulling the life-drained Ren behind her, Yue stood in front of him like she was shielding him from a thief.
"Eldest Miss Yue, I gave birth to a daughter. What do you say? I think we can arrange a betrothal for the two children."
Sayuri wasn't satisfied yet and attempted to exchange Eriri Spencer Sawamura for Ren.
"Heh, Sayuri, don't even think about it!"
Protecting Ren, who was clutching the corner of her shirt tightly behind her, Yue rejected Sayuri's wishful thinking without hesitation.
This also became one of Ren's few dark histories.
That day, after hearing Eriri's full name clearly, Ren still hung her on the tree, partly out of the thought of taking revenge for how Sayuri treated him when he was young.
Call it paying interest on her mother's sins.
Memory ends.
How could Yue not understand Ren's meaning? She said seriously, "No matter what, she is an elder. This is what you should do."
Regardless of what Sayuri had done to Ren in the past, she was ultimately her best friend and Ren's elder.
Etiquette could not be abandoned.
Yue could talk tough privately in front of Sayuri saying she would skin her alive, but on the surface, the respect that should be given would be given.
"Understood. I'll go in a while."
Seeing his mom getting serious, Ren spoke up to agree first.
"How long is 'a while'? Are you playing word games with Mom?"
Yue didn't buy Ren's tactic of avoiding the sharp edge and directly gave a specific time.
"Within this week, you must go visit her."
"Otherwise, Mom will come personally and drag you over to visit."
No one knows a son like his mother. As soon as Ren's eyes drifted, Yue knew what bad idea Ren was cooking up.
"Mn, mn, mn. I know, Mom. I'll definitely go this week. I'll definitely go."
"Impatient with Mom?"
"How would I dare~"
The Sawamura Household
"Mom, when did someone move in next door?"
Eriri, who didn't want to draw manga after dinner, rubbed her bulging little belly and looked at the lights on in the villa next door with some surprise.
The villa next door had always been uninhabited, but now the lights were on.
"Just recently."
Sayuri, who had washed the after-dinner fruit in the kitchen, carried a small fruit platter piled high with cut fruit to the coffee table. She used a small fork to pick up a piece of apple, put it in her mouth, and spoke nonchalantly.
The gluttonous Eriri was just about to fork a piece of pineapple from the platter when her hand was slapped away by Sayuri.
"What are you doing! Mom."
Retracting her slapped hand, Eriri rubbed the back of her hand, which was slightly red, and spoke aggrievedly.
"Nothing. Eriri, do you know who lives next door?"
"I don't know…"
"Then why don't you take the initiative to go say hello to the neighbor, Eriri?"
"Does Mom know who the neighbor is?"
"Mom knows."
"Wouldn't it be fine if Mom just told me directly?"
Eriri reached out her sinful little fork toward the fruit platter again, and the back of her hand was slapped red by Sayuri once more.
Seeing that she had reminded her to this extent, yet Eriri still only thought about the fruit platter on the coffee table, Sayuri looked at Eriri with that look every parent gives when their kid refuses to get it together.
Has my daughter really been raised to be useless? Raised into an ultimate idiot otaku who is a proper young lady on the surface but secretly only knows how to draw humiliation doujinshi?
Taking advantage of the good opportunity while Sayuri was deep in thought, Eriri seized the chance, extended her little fork, quickly stabbed several different kinds of fruit pieces, and stuffed them all into her mouth at once.
Eriri's cheeks were stuffed bulging with fruit pieces, looking exactly like a little hamster hiding food.
Chew... chew chew...
After swallowing the fruit in her mouth, Eriri reached for the fruit platter again. Remembering Tomoya Aki's instructions after school today, she didn't forget to mention it.
"By the way, Mom, Tomoya's club is going to be disbanded by the school. Can you help out and talk to the school?"
Eriri's words woke the dreamer. Sayuri, coming back to her senses, laughed out of extreme anger.
"Still eating?"
Just as the little fork was about to hit the target, Sayuri picked up the fruit platter directly and walked toward her own room.
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