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The Hiiragi Family’s Circumstances – 1
Since Hiiragi-chan was heading back to her parent’s house, her apartment would be empty for two days. She told me that I could freely use anything in her apartment, but the idea of going there without Hiiragi-chan being there gave me a weird feeling, so I decided to obediently wait for her to return to her tidy apartment.
We were keeping in contact through texts and phone like usual, but that day, the phone call that came was not from Hiiragi-chan.
“Hello? Thief-kun?”
“Eh? Natsumi-chan? Why are you calling from Haruka-san’s cellphone…?”
“It’s because I didn’t know your phone number, so I borrowed Haru-chan’s cellphone. More importantly, it’s terrible!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Haru-chan—she might be getting married!”
“Haaaaaaaaaaaah!?”
What’s with thaaaaat!?
“Ah. Is she marrying me?”
“Nope. That’s completely wrong.”
Well, of course.
“Wait. What’s happening?”
“You knew that Haru-chan really didn’t want to go back home, right?”
“Eh… What?”
“If you don’t know, it’s not really something I should be saying so I won’t tell you… Anyways, it’s been decided that there will be some marriage interview.”
Hiiragi-chan never really seemed to want to talk about her family, or her parents. I didn’t want to force her to tell me, since I believed the time would come where she would tell me about it. However, it seems that it came in an unexpected form.
“Still, she’s with Thief-kun, so she strongly refused. However, she was forced to accept.”
“What about Haruka-san? What is she doing right now? Is she close by?”
“No. Right now, she’s under house arrest… I think she doesn’t want Thief-kun to know about it.”
House arrest? What is going on? She’s like a damsel in distress.
Natsumi-chan’ve voice over the phone seemed more panicked than usual, as she repeated over and over again, “What should I do!?”.
“Calm down. The marriage meeting, when is it going to happen?”
“Tomorrow!”
Will it go from a forced marriage meeting into actual marriage? If I wait, Hiiragi-chan will some come back—No, but if she refused, wouldn’t she normally be put under house arrest by her family again?
“I’ll go tomorrow. Do you know where it is?”
“Y-yeah. I heard that the person was a servant that liked to talk.”
Is Hiiragi-chan’s family perhaps a really rich one? Natsumi is even going to a rich girl’s school after all. She just said servant without any hesitation at all.
Now that I think about it, I don’t know Hiiragi-chan’s alma mater. Maybe it’s the same as Natsumi-chan’s…?
“The location is Youto Hotel, the 32nd floor. The time is noon at 12! Sorry, that’s all I know.”
“That’s enough. Thank you.”
Ending the call, I closed my cellphone.
Youto Hotel should be a luxury hotel in the next prefecture over. From here, it should take about 2 hours by train.
I said I would go, but what can I do by going there. Run off with Hiiragi-chan? Just like a hero in a story?
At a marriage interview, the parents of both sides would probably be there talking to each other. If I act as the bad guy and run off with Hiiragi-chan. What about after that—what about the future?
If the me right now were to say my greetings to Hiiragi-chan… There’s no way for their impression of me is going to be good. There’s the negative element of me being a high school student right now and her being my teacher.
Still, I can’t just stand by and watch. These are parents, who even in this age, insist on having a marriage interview, and force a house arrest if refused. If I just leave it alone, I don’t know what would happen to Hiiragi-chan.
Spending a sleepless night, I stuff as much money as possible into my wallet, and left the house.
It’s a good thing I worked part time.
[Thief-kun, you’re going to stop the marriage interview, and then what?]
I received a text message from Natsumi-chan. It seems that she copied my phone number that Hiiragi-chan had entered into her cellphone.
If I stop it here, in the end, the same thing might just repeat again.
[Even so, I can’t just bite on my fingernails and watch.]
A specific way to counteract it really doesn’t come up in my mind though.
I tried to refute Natsumi-chan as much as possible. My future with Hiiragi-chan would fall into a bad place, but if I don’t do anything, it’ll become even worse.
[That’s nice. Haru-chan, is quite loved.]
Nishishi, Natsumi’s laughing face floated into my mind.
[Thief-kun, do your best! I’ll be cheering for you!]
After getting on the train and arriving at the closest station, I soon found the hotel that was set to be the venue.
It was a tall building that you would have to look up at, and once I entered, I looked at the hotel guide. At the top-most 32nd floor was a high-class restaurant. The view below was probably also really nice.
It’s a good thing I didn’t come in my school uniform. I knew that it was a hotel beforehand, so today, I secretly borrowed a suit to wear from my father. If you just take a quick look, it doesn’t feel out of place. Looking at my face though, I can instantly be recognized as being too young.
I’ll grab Hiiragi-chan before it starts and ask her about the situation.
While I looked around the lobby for my beloved goddess, even though the time was approaching, I couldn’t see her at all.
She’ll definitely pass through here though. It’s now passed 12.
I hope not, but maybe there’s some special path or elevator for VIP’s… For instance, an elevator that would allow you to go from the underground parking lot to the top-most floor.
It’s possible.
Panicking greatly, I get on an elevator and head to 32nd floor.
After getting off the elevator, I quickly entered the restaurant and had a host guide me to a seat.
Looking around for a bit, I found Hiiragi-chan.
Today, she was wearing a mature evening dress, her shoulders exposed, and a bit open around the chest. It’s sexy and looks good on her, but I feel that it’s not something that matches Hiiragi-chan’s tastes.
She currently had on an awkward smile. Next to her were people that looked like Hiiragi-chan Papa and Mama. Across from her was today’s marriage interview candidate and his parents.
The other man seemed to be in the first half of his thirties. He felt like a rich man with a good amount of age to him.
In order to ask about the situation in more detail, I first need to let Hiiragi-chan know that I was here. However, she probably didn’t have her phone… How should I do it…?
I saw a waiter approach Hiiragi-chan’s table and had an epiphany.
I raised my hand.
“A bottle of red for me please.”
“Understood.”
Since a cheap brand wouldn’t be great, I got a slightly expensive one.
Maybe it seemed like I was used to ordering, maybe it was due to the suit I was wearing, or maybe it was because the atmosphere I had was like that of a middle-aged man, the waiter didn’t mind my age and brought a bottle of red wine just as I had ordered. Unexpectedly, being a bit bold seems to make it harder to notice.
I wasn’t going to drink this wine though.
Temporarily going to the restroom, I organize my dress to make it look like that of a waiter. I also change my hairstyle to match.
Holding the bottom of the bottle with my hand, I approached Hiiragi-chan’s table with a composed face.
Bingo, they were going through a course dinner like I thought. Moreover, it was currently on the meat dish, the perfect timing for red wine.
With a solemn expression, I held the bottle of wine that I bought and said, “A 1996 bottle of Bordeaux red wine,” or something like that. I had never dreamed that the knowledge that I learned during my part-time work in my university years would come in handy here.
With a waiter like attitude, I poured it into Hiiragi-chan’s glass. The parents were all smiling, but since Hiiragi-chan continued to look down and depressed, not looking in my direction at all and so she didn’t notice.
Kon, I struck the glass with the bottle. And at an easily heard volume, I apologize.
“My apologies.”
She took a sidelong glance, and our eyes met.
“Ah.”
“Rather than wine, would a beer have been more to your taste?”
“Yeah…”
Hiiragi-chan was struggling to keep her tears from falling.
“The restroom is located over there, please use it if you need to.”
It better get through.
Whether or not my thoughts were transmitted, Hiiragi-chan nodded repeatedly.
Alright. Before I was found out, I made a small bow and distanced myself from the table.
Hiiragi-chan stood up from her seat, and headed towards the restroom. I hurriedly followed and chased after her.
“Seiji-kun.”
Without going inside, Hiiragi-chan was waiting at the entrance, and when she saw me, she hugged me.
“Fumiiiiii… Seiji-kun… Seiji-kun…”
With a weird way of crying, Hiiragi-chan blew her nose and cried into my chest.
“Wai——!? Stop. There are a lot of people here.”
Well, it was inside a hotel. There were people everywhere.
I then found a set of emergency stairs, and pulled Hiiragi-chan’s arm towards the deserted area.
“Are you working here…?”
While still hugging my tightly, Hiiragi-chan asked.
“Of course that isn’t the case. It’s because I heard about today from Natsumi-chan…Are you okay? Isn’t it difficult?”
“Thank you for coming. Also, I’m sorry for worrying you, I’m fine. I was just kind of forced into the marriage interview this time. Of course, I feel bad for the other person, but I’m rejecting it.”
“I see. That’s good…”
Still, isn’t it a bit too forced? Leaving me aside, if it’s Hiiragi-chan, there would probably be many willing to take Hiiragi-chan as a bride even without a marriage interview.
“You came to help me, right?”
“It isn’t that, but… No, it is, but…”
“Mou, which is it?”
It was the smile that I knew very well.
This time, it was my head that was petted.
“I’m fine. It won’t get more than this. It’ll turn into a walk after this, and it’ll be super super boring, but I’ll manage with a fake smile.”
“You seem surprisingly okay.”
She stroked my chest in her normal manner.
“Nope. It’s because Seiji-kun came, you know?”
She smiled, and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Considering how his future self was already with Hiiragi, I would say that this interview would be refuse but I want to know what effects would this do with respect of her parents as they saw his face… probably won’t remember him but still.
Also, First and thanks for translating it.
Times like this make me wonder how the original timeline went.
– To prevent being a loner, he confessed
– To gain the father’s blessing, he got a job even earlier.
– To gain the mother’s blessing, he’ll __?
So, anything with Hiragi didn’t happen in the first timeline. Anything where the MC has money wouldn’t happen in the second timeline. But, what about the third? I’m very curious what changes there will be for this timeline.
It’s very plausible that this occurrence is part of what led to the future that was just shown where the father agreed but the mother didn’t agree to a marriage, and that from here on, he will have to change something to change the outcome to get the mother to agree as well.
yeah, thanks
Even if she refused now, I bet that there will be more of such interviews in the future if the parents didn’t know that their daughter was in a relationship already. So maybe she will just confessed that she had someone that she liked and is currently dating but kept the man is question as a secret.
Thanks.
Wait, did the waiter serve wine to Seiji despite him being obviously underaged?
Isn’t locking an adult somewhere unlawful imprisonment, or kidnapping? Also, marriage interviews seem to be common in LN and manga, I dunno about irl Japan, but if my parents did that to me, I’d be changing my surname.
With some rich traditional family it happen quite often.
I was forced into one before….
While im still in junior high
Indeed, would my girlfriend or other friends/acquiantances encounter such a situation, I would recommend them to report their parents because of unlawful imprisonment and support them. I believe that would be the best choice. Of course it would worsen their relationship with their parents, but reasoning with people who imprison their children would be hard anyway.