28 A Day in Marriage (1/2)
The wrist watch on Arata's left arm ticked to 4 PM, along with the chime that started the action time. Attori just sent a text about her getting there so late so if he could go around 4 to help, she would love him more. The boyfriend, trying to impress the mother, did what was asked of him. He went to the Hibiya station on his own, and met with Kanaru.
”Attori not with you?” The mother greeted him from afar and only spoke as he entered the booth, ”I thought you would be arriving together.”
”I took a break from school today. She said dance class practice extended all of a sudden.” Arata smiled at the mother before putting on his apron. He then went to the front and took as many orders as he could to help out the swamped mother.
That continued for the next hour, until the customer crowd dissipated with satisfied smiles on their faces. Kanaru then started washing the used mugs, and Arata was left drying the drips left by the beer on their barrels. He also wiped the counter clean and dry.
”So, you took a break from school?” Kanaru hummed as she got near Arata. ”Why do you smell like women's perfume?”
”A perfume lady at the mall sprayed her product in the air. It got on me.” The man chuckled. It did happen on their way home. Since it was the afternoon action time by then, Arata chose to walk Yukari to their house and got to the train station afterwards, leaving him no time to change clothes. He was still wearing the expensive ones he just bought.
”Well, that's a good excuse.” Kanaru shrugged as she hung the dried mugs. She then walked near the man and looked at him as if inspecting the way he dressed. ”You look more than a normal student, with all that good stuff. Did you come from a well-off family or something?”
”Are you afraid Attori will get rejected?” Arata answered her with another question. He could not just tell her about Imperial Kitchen; he doubted Attori remembered he owned that place.
Even though he did not reach that kind of phase in life in the world where he was a loser, the player knew that some people did think discrepancies between nuclear families affect their children's chances of getting married. With Attori's situation, she would probably be rejected by a lot of parents. In fact, even Arata could say the game MC's parents would reject her for sure. They liked Keiko a lot more, based on the prologue of the story.
”Well, aren't you a mind-reader?” Kanaru laughed out as if they were talking about a simple joke. She then hummed as if hiding a sigh under it. ”Well, who would even want their son married to my daughter? She took after a mysterious person in the family, and would go bonkers after a series of provoking.” The mother rubbed her neck. ”I know it was my fault she grew up like that, so I can't curse someone else to live with her.”
”Wow, even her beloved mother looks at her like that...” Arata frowned at the direction of the mother. ”With all due respect, Kanaru-san, I'm not sitting through you insulting my girlfriend like that.”
”Not coming up with a usual 'you're the mother, you shouldn't be insulting your own child' comeback?” Kanaru chuckled, noticing that she must have triggered Arata's anger. She then waved her hand as if dismissing the thought. ”Well, anyway, I'm just checking. I would probably kick you to next week if you start encouraging me and joined me in saying bad things about her.”
Arata lost his voice all of a sudden. He was not expecting a test to be so obvious yet so discreet. He was defeated, and so he just scratched his head before tending to the store front again, looking out for any customer.
He then remembered. He smiled at Kanaru. ”Kanaru-san, have you eating lunch?”
”I just take heavy breakfast so I could the say without lunch. Then again, you're offering to cover for me until Attori gets here?” The mother smiled deviously, comparable to how Attori would do it. She then brought her palms together and pressed them against her cheek. ”Thank you for the break~!”
”Take care, Kanaru-san.” He waved at her as she went out of the booth. He watched her get near him to pet his head before leaving.
A satisfied snuff came to him as he sat down on a seat allotted for them. Silence had engulfed the booth as he sat there all alone. Despite being used to being on his own before, he just could not sit tight. His smile plastered on his face began to wriggle in awkwardness. He then sighed and brought his phone out to fiddle with it. For some known reasons to him, he could only access messages through his phone. He sobbed aloud, knowing no one was there.
”Arata-kun!”
A familiar voice then startled the man. He shot his gaze at the store front and saw a blond girl wearing the usual dirndl with a white bodice and green skirt, pieced together by a brown corset. Looking at her longer, her hair seemed like a wig, which were as fake as her freckles. Arata stood up to greet her.
”Uhh, hi?” The god was trying to familiarize himself with her.
”Geez, Arata-kun, it's me, Momoka!” She waved at him. ”Is my costume really that good?”
”Uh, Mo... Momoka!?” Arata was stunned for a second and ecstatic the next. ”Momoka! What- what are you doing here!? It's so nice to see you!”
Momoka was one of the date-ables Arata already maxed before the patch. She was a cafe-club worker before, but finding her in Hibiya Oktoberfest in a costume surprised him a lot. To be told, she was already thirty, but she does look half her age. She had a small stature and average bust size. Her skin looked smooth, and her voice reminded him of a real highschooler. Then again, she was far beyond that point, and could even be Arata's mother already.