Then, after an unknown amount of time, faint footsteps suddenly came from the second floor.
Interrupted from her thoughts by the sound, Touka raised her head and looked at Aoi, who was walking downstairs.
When Aoi came closer, Touka suddenly asked, "Aoi, why is the house so messy today? What happened?"
As if she hadn't expected her mother to suddenly ask that, Aoi looked at Touka in confusion and said innocently, "Huh? Is the house messy? It looks pretty neat."
"I just finished cleaning," Touka said.
"Oh… I'm not too sure then," Aoi blinked her innocent big eyes and shook her head.
Touka asked a few more questions, but still couldn't get anything useful out of Aoi, so she waved her hand.
Aoi immediately walked toward the bathroom.
Not long after Aoi entered the bathroom, there was movement from the stairs again.
This time it was Suiren.
Suiren had been walking downstairs with light steps, her expression calm and even smiling, but halfway down, when she saw Touka sitting upright on the sofa, her smile instantly froze, and her steps became stiff.
But she was already halfway down, and it would have been strange to turn back, so in the end Suiren still walked over to Touka.
"M-Mom, you're back?", Suiren greeted her a little timidly.
"Mm, I just got home today," Touka spoke while focusing her gaze on Suiren's face, taking in every subtle change in her expression.
"Suiren, I've only been gone a few days. Why is the house such a mess?", Touka repeated the question she had asked Aoi.
Suiren's skin was far thinner than Aoi's.
Looking at the slightly damaged tables and chairs, the faint stains still on the sofa, and especially the very spot Touka was sitting on, which was once the place where Hikari had held her and made it wet and soaked through, Suiren's heart pounded and her expression grew unnatural.
"I-I've been a bit negligent with cleaning. I'm sorry, Mom…"
She tried to keep calm while answering, but her lack of confidence and the way her fingers unconsciously clutched her skirt betrayed her unease.
Sensing something was off, Touka sneered, "Suiren, this isn't about whether you cleaned or not, is it? The house is this dirty, and there's even a smell. You're usually so diligent and love cleanliness, yet you didn't clean. Something must have happened."
"Tell me. While I was gone, who came to our house?"
Hearing the question, Suiren's face turned slightly pale. After hesitating, she answered honestly, "Recently… Hikari-kun came over to stay for a few days…"
"Hikari?", Touka's brows knit together.
Even though she had already suspected it, hearing the answer directly from Suiren still felt unbelievable.
Touka lifted her head and carefully examined Suiren, looking at her once obedient and sensible eldest daughter's slightly relaxed brows and tender, rosy face.
'Could it be… No way?'
Sensing something wrong and feeling uneasy, Touka was about to ask more.
But before she could speak, Suiren suddenly changed the topic, "Mom, there's something I want to tell you."
"What is it?", Touka frowned slightly, puzzled at being interrupted for once.
"Well… I want to cancel the engagement," Suiren said.
"Cancel the engagement! Why?", Touka looked at her in disbelief.
"Well… I don't really want to get married right now. It feels too early. And the person I was supposed to marry is someone I've never even met. I… I can't accept that, and I don't like it… so I want to cancel it," Suiren explained.
"No! It wasn't easy to settle that engagement. How can you cancel it!", Touka's icy expression finally showed cracks as she objected.
But to her shock, the usually obedient Suiren said, "Mom… I've already spoken to them and confirmed the cancellation."
"You… you!", Touka widened her eyes, staring at her once so sensible daughter, "Such a big matter, why didn't you tell me beforehand?"
Under her mother's gaze, Suiren didn't dare meet her eyes. She lowered her head, clutching her skirt tightly, but still forced herself to speak, "I… I think marriage is mainly my own matter, so… so I… I canceled it."
"You!", Touka glared at her.
But usually calm, she didn't dwell further on that point.
After studying Suiren closely, Touka suddenly said, "All of this is because of Hikari, right?"
Suiren froze slightly, lowered her head, and said nothing.
Even without an answer, Touka could already see the truth.
She pressed on, "These past few days, what exactly happened between you and that Hikari?"
Suiren lowered her head, "N-Nothing…"
Hearing the guilt in her tone, Touka clenched her teeth.
Looking at her once obedient daughter like this, she finally forced the question out directly, "Did you… did you sleep with Hikari-kun?"
Suiren's body trembled slightly at the blunt question, and she didn't answer.
"Did you or not!", Touka demanded.
"Mm…", Suiren made a barely audible sound and nodded faintly.
In an instant, Touka's face flushed red, her entire mature, beautiful face burning, her chest rising and falling sharply.
When she first smelled that strange floral scent upon returning, she had already had suspicions.
When she saw Suiren's expression, she had grown even more certain.
But hearing Suiren admit it herself still made Touka burn with anger.
Her own life in love had never gone smoothly. She had placed such hopes on her daughter, yet she had also gone astray.
It was something Touka simply couldn't accept. Her chest felt tight with anger.
Seeing her mother fall silent, face red and breathing unusually fast, Suiren quickly explained, "Mom, I… I was willing. I… I like Hikari-kun too… so we… we…"
But before she could finish, Touka abruptly stood up.
"You already had an engagement! You already had a fiance!"
"And you still did something like this with another man in this house. You really!"
"Get out. Go back upstairs and reflect on yourself!"
Touka scolded her sternly.
Hearing her mother's harsh tone, Suiren didn't dare say another word and obediently went upstairs.
Touka watched her daughter's retreating figure, her chest still heaving.
She truly hadn't expected that she would go out for a trip and come back to find her daughter's marriage ruined.
And it was her daughter's own doing.
It had been such a good match.
'Can this family never have even a bit of smoothness in love?'
Just as Touka was fuming, the bathroom door opened and Aoi slipped out quietly.
Seeing Aoi's sneaky yet unsurprised expression, Touka knew she must have been involved too.
She barked, "Aoi! You go back to your room too. You're not allowed to go out these days!"
"Okay!"
Even rebellious Aoi answered quickly, knowing her mother was in a furious mood.
After both girls went upstairs, Touka slammed her fist onto the table.
In her anger, she smashed several cups before cleaning up the shards and walking out of the living room.
At the edge of the corridor, she bent down and sat, her feet touching the ground.
She quietly looked at the flowers and trees in the courtyard. Though her mature face remained expressionless as usual, the anger in her eyes was hard to hide.
And with her chest still rising and falling sharply, it was clear her heart was far from calm.
That was indeed the case.
Knowing that her daughter's perfect engagement had been ruined by Hikari, Touka was furious.
She knew her eldest daughter's personality. Suiren would never have done something so outrageous on her own.
So this had to be related to Hikari. The thought that he had laid hands on her daughter made Touka even angrier.
She remembered that when they were neighbors, she had even breastfed him once.
And now that little boy who had drunk her milk had grown up and ruined her daughter.
Touka felt like she was about to explode.
At this moment, she truly wished she could drag Hikari over and beat him fiercely to vent her anger.
Sitting on the corridor, Touka clenched her fists tightly, her chest heaving.
After learning that her daughter's engagement had been ruined by Hikari, Touka was furious.
She wanted nothing more than to catch him and beat him up immediately.
But according to Aoi, he had probably already returned to Tokyo.
Her anger had nowhere to go.
"You brat! Damn brat! Damn you!"
Touka, who usually showed almost no emotional fluctuation, had never been this angry inside.
"Just wait, you damned brat! You're coming back to the village next week, right? When you do, we'll see how I deal with you!"
She clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms, already deciding that when he returned next week, she would teach him a harsh lesson, even take revenge.
———
"Ah-choo!"
Not long after leaving Miyuri's house, Hikari suddenly sneezed while walking.
"Who's thinking about me? Miss Mira?", He scratched his head, feeling vaguely that someone was thinking of him, but there were too many possibilities to be sure.
He was heading toward Inoye Shrine.
After he had finished "guiding" Miyuri and Sayako, Jinno Sumire had called him over, saying she had something to discuss.
But judging from her alluring tone, he reasonably suspected that whatever the shrine priestess had in mind wasn't exactly serious business.
Thinking back to what had happened at Miyuri's house, he couldn't help but sigh. Guiding others was tiring, and getting two people who disliked each other to reconcile was even harder. But once it worked, it really brought a sense of achievement.
Even while exercising together earlier, Miyuri and Sayako had been like fire and water.
But after his efforts, working above and below, left and right, putting in great effort to "mediate," the two mature aunts had finally let go of their resentment and forgiven each other.
They had even hugged each other and become good sisters sharing hardship together.
That sense of successfully resolving a long-standing grudge truly felt satisfying.
Thinking of Miyuri and Sayako probably still sleeping hand in hand, Hikari smiled faintly.
After stretching lazily, feeling light and carefree, he arrived at Inoye Shrine.
"Hikari-kun!"
Seeing him arrive, the shrine maiden at the gate hurried over warmly.
Now that Jinno Sumire managed the shrine and the entire Jinno family alone, and with everyone nearby aware that her relationship with Hikari was not ordinary, their attitude toward him was even more enthusiastic than before.
Under the warm guidance of the shrine maiden, Hikari arrived at the side hall where Jinno Sumire usually rested.
"Shrine Priestess, Hikari-kun has arrived," the shrine maiden said respectfully.
"You may go," Sitting properly on the seat, Jinno Sumire waved her hand with dignity.
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