Translator: Ranzan
「Huh?」
「What, not Leticia?」
「We thought you totally meant Leticia.」
Triplet sisters made the same, but three different faces covered with the same look of surprise.
At their reaction, Taiyou was doubly surprised.
「No, Leticia…」
「Leticia comes to where you lives as well, Taiyou.」
「She"s already…」
「There"s four there.」
「There? …Oh.」
He was lost at what they were saying, but because the three had the same eye movement to check the numbers drifting by 「in the back of the eye」like Kohaku did, he knew that they had checked the corrected numbers of women in his 「idol worship」group.
That meant that Leticia was one of those numbers now.
Taiyou couldn"t say yes or no about it.
There were thoughts he had concerning Leticia, but he was currently putting them all aside.
However, even though he had put those thoughts aside, he had one more thing to ask.
「Even so, aren"t you three going to buy something for yourselves?」
「Us?」
「No…」
「We"re fine.」
All three turned their faces to him and responded it wasn"t necessary.
They weren"t being reserved or even holding back, but seemed that they really had nothing to buy.
When Taiyou was told something like that, he still felt like he should object.
Since he had decided to make all of his 「wives」happy, he thought that way.
So much so that he might force them to say something that they wanted, he thought.
—From now, a limited-time sale is beginning.
As he was about to open his mouth, the speaker over him announced the beginning of a limited sale.
「Suzu-chan, Kaza, chan.」
「Yes!」
「Taiyou, see you later!」
As they said that, they all rushed away from him.
All the sudden there was a wife-war over the sale. Suddenly overlooking everything for the limited sale, they had left him by himself.
「…what now?」
He was left alone with his cart, puzzled that all the girls had left him.
「Oh, is that you, Taiyou-kun?」
「Hm?」
He turned upon hearing the gentle voice, and there was Aoba"s mother, alone, Nazuna Yamagata.
She hadn"t changed much since the last time he saw her, wearing a soft dress with a cardigan around her shoulders, with that same fickle nature as always.
As Aoba"s mother, she was also his mother-in-law, so he turned his body towards her and bowed.
「It"s been a long time.」
「Are you okay, Taiyou? Has the summer been hard on you?」
「Not at all, and thank you for asking.」
「Well, that"s pleasant to hear.」
Because of this chance meeting with Nazuna, Taiyou thought of something.
Aoba"s other mother, one out of three, Miho Akita.
「That reminds me, how is Ms. Miho doing?」
「She"s in handcuffs.」
「What?!」
Taiyou doubted what he had heard. Taiyou had asked about her condition, but it seems the answer he got turned the conversation in a different direction.
Is this an apple? No, his name is Bob…almost like one of those weird unrelated conversations in his English textbook.
Unconsciously, you would think of her as a person that people gathered around…strange people, too.
「Miho was injured as well, last time she went to Juunishima.」
「Oh, yeah.」
The conversation was linked somehow, so Taiyou quickly nodded as a reply.
「She still hasn"t healed. She keeps saying that she wants to do ch.o.r.es and won"t listen, so she was shut in her room and handcuffed. I have the key so she can"t leave the room either, see?」
At that, she took out a small key to show Taiyou.
I see, Taiyou thought.
Saying that she wanted to do ch.o.r.es was just a line that Miho might use to get out.
She was the type that might do unreasonable things unless you tied her up.
「But having her like that, isn"t it hard when she has to do something, like use the bathroom and so on?」
「It"s taken care of.」
Nazuna put a hand on her cheek and smiled at him.
「I had her handcuffed to another person, so when the time comes, they can drink it from her.」
「So you"re into that type of weird stuff!」
He reacted to her loudly, so all the women around looked at him.
「What? Did you misunderstand something I said?」
「Whaa…」
「You"re saying that you don"t drink from Aoba?」
「No, no, no, no, no…」
「So maybe she drinks up yours then?」
「I don"t drink hers and she doesn"t drink mine!」
「Ah, that"s too bad.」
Taiyou didn"t have a reaction to that.
Too bad, he didn"t know how to accept a statement like that at face value.
Of course, the expression in that situation was strange, and if it was anyone else but this mother-in-law, he would have immediately declared it so.
However, he could feel something different in what she was trying to day.
Something different from her usually fickle ways, something unique.
He knew that she was quite a different type of woman that the ones he knew already, and because of that he couldn"t read her well.
「But more than that, Taiyou-kun.」
「Yes?」
「It seems that something"s been worrying you lately.」
「Wha?」
Is she trying to trick me into talking? He thought, and responded slowly.
「If you"d like to talk about something, I"m all ears.」
Taiyou was silent.
He was lost at what to talk to her about.
Two things in the conversation he had with the sisters that surprised him, but since it was his problem, perhaps he shouldn"t talk about it, but on the other hand he thought he might.
After thinking a bit, he decided.
「Well, I guess I will.」
「I don"t need you to be reserved with me. You"re my son-in-law, after all.」
「Thank you.」
Taiyou thanked her, and explained to her his problem.
Since he came to this supermarket, he noticed that the three sisters only thought of getting things for Kohaku and Aoba, and didn"t think at all about getting things for themselves.
So he explained that to Nazuna.
「So, what do you think?」
「I see.」
Nazuna thought a bit.
「I think you"re quite the happy fellow.」
「…huh?」
Taiyou was lost for words again. He thought the answer didn"t match the question he asked.
Perhaps he thought that she interpreted this as him boasting about his wives, so he tried to follow up with more information.
「Well, they"re not buying anything for me either, but just for Aoba and Kohaku.」
「Yes, I know that.」
Nazuna nodded.
「That"s why I said you"re happy.」
「…what does that mean, if I may ask.」
「Miho never buys anything that she wants. She buys a few things for the man she"s around, but no matter where she goes, it"s always either for me or for Atsuko. She"s been worrying about Aoba a lot, but, she always put herself last.」
「Miho-san…」
「Miho loves the man she"s with, so, because you"re seeing the same thing, you should be happy, is all I"m trying to say.」
「I see…why is Miho doing all that though?」
「That"s my secret.」
She put her finger to her lips with a look of mischief.
「What?」
「That"s our precious secret, so I can"t tell.」
「…I see.」
Taiyou tried to smile.
「Maybe I"m boasting a bit too much about my wives.」
「You said you wanted to talk, so you"ve done nothing wrong.」
「I guess so.」
「Well, then, I must go. Hang in there, Taiyou.」
「Thank you.」
He didn"t ask her what hanging in there meant.
From the conversation he had with her, he knew that if he kept the conversation going, she was the type to come up with some other crazy response.
He watched her walk away, and said thanks again and again.
The three sisters doing the same as Miho. All doing the same thing.
Know this was enough for Taiyou.
「「「Taiyou-san!」」」
Their voices merged, the three sisters returned.
They all had the booty from their limited-sale battle in their hands.
As they came back to him, they didn"t talk of themselves.
Only of Kohaku, Aoba, and Leticia.
All they talked about was Taiyou"s other wives, and if they could make them happy.
The same thing as Miho. The same as his senior in the harem game.
「Kotone, Suzune, Kazane.」
「「「Yes?」」」
He held them all close to him.
In his arms, they all reacted with great surprise.