Hiiragi"s Mother — Part 4
When I asked the second time for confirmation to have her talk to Hiiragi-chan, she immediately nodded.
"If it"s a request from my future son-in-law, I can"t really refuse."
She jokingly smiled and said such impactful words before leaving the reception room. That quality of teasingly saying something ironic was pa.s.sed onto Natsumi-chan, I see.
The reason that Hiiragi-chan in the future wanted to proceed with marriage without consent was due to her fight with Hiiragi Mama. If Hiiragi Mama has taken a liking to me, then she shouldn"t turn into an obstacle. Making up with Hiiragi-chan might not be necessary, but still, I honestly want them to return to a normal good relationship.
Natsumi-chan deeply leaned back into the sofa.
"Puhaaa. I was wondering what was going to happen there for a second, but that ended well."
She took out a cell phone from her pocket, and pressed a b.u.t.ton.
"Aaaahh. I was scared for a moment there…"
From the phone, Hiiragi-chan"s voice could be heard from the speaker.
"Umm. What"s this?"
"I thought it was weird getting a call from Natsumi, and when I picked up…"
"The conversation that we just had… Haru-chan has been listening in on it from the very start. "
She laughed and waved her phone. The length of the conversation had surpa.s.sed twenty minutes.
"Seiji-kun?"
"Yeah. What is it?"
"Thank you…. Ah. She"s calling me now, so let"s talk after!"
It seems that the awkward make up between mother and daughter was about to begin.
After the conversation ended, Natsumi-chan returned the cellphone to her pocket.
"For the Hiiragi family, it"s been hard to have a male born into the family. Even Papa was married into the family, you know?"
"Aaah… so that"s why it was decided like that without your father."
If I marry into the family, then marriage is okay. It"s not exactly something that should be discussed without her father, but if the power in the family was held by the mother, then I can understand.
"In other words, we"re a matriarchal family. Even my grandmother had my grandfather married into the family, and this has stayed in the family for a really long time. Since Haru-chan doesn"t listen to what she"s told, she probably would have essentially been abandoned, and I would have had to take on marriage interviews and had someone marry into the family."
"I guess rich people have their own worries…"
I said that as if it was someone else"s problem.
"So… do you know what I"m trying to say?"
"What? Is it that Haruksan is going to get a good spanking?"
"Nope, that"s not it… Thief-kun, it"s that you protected my freedom. The freedom to tell the person I like that I like them, and the freedom to marry them."
"I didn"t do something that big."
"Didn"t I say this before? Love is something that a girl risks her life to attain. Of course it"s big."
She laughed.
"In a time like this, I wonder how should I convey my thanks…"
"It"s fine, don"t worry about it. All I wanted was for your mother to make up with Haruksan."
"I now understand very well why Haru-chan is so in love with you."
Taking a sideways glance at me, Natsumi-chan swung her legs back and forth like a child.
"Is she okay, Haruksan?"
"Do you want to see how things are going?"
After I nodded, we left the reception room.
Natsumi-chan thought they would be in Hiiragi Mama"s room, but when we arrived at the room, we found multiple servants standing outside the room secretly listening.
"If you guys don"t work, you"ll get scolded, you know?"
Shhh, the 4 or 5 servants all raised their index fingers.
"Harukojousama and the mistress aren"t in a situation where they can converse, and yet, why all of a sudden…?"
The servants who had expressed their confusion opened up s.p.a.ce allowing Natsumi-chan and me to also eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Your lover… Sanada Seiji-san… he"s quite the charming person, isn"t he? I was able to talk to him earlier."
"I know, right? He"s the boyfriend I"m proud of."
"Mind your words… Hah, never mind, it never works with you."
Natsumi-chan jabbed me in the side with her elbow.
"You"re being praised."
"Stop teasing me."
After admonishing the joking Natsumi-chan, I lent my ear to the conversation on the other side of the door.
"Mother… I"m sorry for being so defiant over so many things… I could never say it before… but, I don"t regret the things that I have done… I also don"t intend to change…"
"Now that I think about it, the things that I did, maybe have only been forcing things on you, Haruka. While saying that it was for the Hiiragi family, I… somewhere in my heart, I might have been a little bit jealous of you being so free."
I heard the sound of sniffling. I don"t know who it is, but I think that it"s probably Hiiragi-chan.
"See, don"t cry like that so quickly. Even from before… you were always a child to cry a lot…"
Hiiragi Mama"s voice was shaking a little bit, but then, silence continued for a bit.
"How about next time, we have some tea? Let me hear about your work, and also about Seiji-san."
"Yeah…."
"You"re welcome to come back whenever you have free time."
Hearing Hiiragi Mama"s tone becoming softer, Natsamu-chan and the servants began to cry.
"Haru-chan, isn"t that great…"
"Why are you guys crying so much?"
"Be quiet…"
We heard the sound of footsteps, so we backed off for a bit.
Seeing Hiiragi-chan walk out while wiping her tears, I chased after her.
"Haruksan."
"… Seiji-kun…"
Boldly in the daylight, I hugged Hiiragi-chan in the hallway.
"Thanks to Seiji-kun, I was able to do it. I made up with her."
"No. It"s because you had courage. Today, even the last time you came back home. If you didn"t, even I wouldn"t have known whether you wanted to make up with her or not."
"Normally, you wouldn"t know that anyways."
"I just had a feeling that you might have felt that way."
Hiiragi-chan once again cried into my chest.
"Thank you. Thank you…"
Please stop looking up at me with teary eyes.
She soon closed her eyes, and begged for a kiss.
"Ummm. I"m sorry for interrupting you in this pa.s.sionate moment, but everyone is watching, you know?"
Hearing Natsumi-chan call out to us, we instantly separated. From the shadow of the pillar next to her, there were a few maids looking at us with deep interest and pa.s.sionate gazes.
"Kohon… Let"s go home."
"L-let"s do that."
"This is why stupid couples are so…"
Natsumi-chan shook her head while smiling.
Leaving out the entrance, a car immediately arrived with Yoshinaga as the driver. After getting out from the driver"s seat, he bowed his head towards me.
"Sanadsama. I apologize for the rudeness earlier. From what I have heard, you have been recognized by the mistress. Congratulations. This Yoshinaga, is in complete admiration of you."
"There"s no need to be so respectful, it"s alright."
"From now on, please instruct me as you will."
Why thank you. Somehow, this almost makes me want to be more considerate.
As we got into the car, Hiiragi Mama came out to see us off.
"Haruka, Seiji-san?"
"What is it, Mother?"
I tilted my head as she said something that probably should have been said quite a bit earlier.
"Since you"re teacher and student, please be mindful of your actions. I don"t want a criminal to come out of the Hiiragi family."
"W-we won"t do anything weird like that."
I also put in my own follow up.
"It"s okay. I will make sure to try and restrain her."
"That"s almost as if you"re saying I have no self-control."
"Well, Haru-chan, no matter how you think about it, you"re quite impulsive."
"Even Natsumi…"
Seeing Hiiragi-chan pout, Hiiragi Mama chuckled.
"As long as Seiji-san is around, I think I can be relieved. But, negligence is forbidden… Definitely, do not let anyone find out."
Hiiragi-chan and I looked at each other and nodded at the same time.
""Yes.""
After settling our parting greetings, the car began to proceed quietly.