Chapter 462: Friendly Enough To Fight
Translator: Reflet
Editor: ryunakama
Both mother and daughter were very unique.
Firstly, there were three matriarchs in the family.
The head of the household, Toshiro, had gotten intimate with all three of them.
And none of the three mothers were part of the family registry.
And to this day, no one had made it clear to Aoba, their daughter, who the real mother was.
From a young age, Aoba had seriously thought of all three of them as her real mothers.
Even now it wasn’t any clearer. As a formality, she had conducted a gene test, and to Aoba’s relief, the information she got back mentioned was regarding “whether one of the three mothers is the real mother”.
The answer was a yes. That made Aoba happy.
That was one aspect.
The other aspect was Aoba. As a high school student she had already “gotten betrothed”.
Aoba had become the bride of a boy named Natsuno Taiyou. She left her family to live with Taiyou.
So this was another long-awaited reunion for both mother and daughter.
“So what’d you come for today?”
“I have a request, but Mom and Mother aren’t here, so maybe I’ll leave it for another time.”
“Just tell me what you came to ask. I can even go and ask them myself.”
“Mm, yeah, good point.”
Aoba nodded after giving it some thought.
“I was wondering if I could go and learn from Dad where he works.”
“You’re talking about Toshiro?”
Atsuko asked, surprised.
“What? You felt like taking on Toshiro’s line of work?”
“I’m thinking that might be good, yeah.”
“…What caused this to happen?”
“The other girls are just too amazing…”
Aoba began.
She talked about what she had been fretting about recently and the little exchange she and Akiha had at the school.
Combining those together with her feelings, Aoba talked to Atsuko.
“I want to become a woman who looks even a little fitting to be alongside Natsuno-kun. So I want to be able to learn from Dad.”
“So pesky.”
“Eh?”
Aoba asked, surprised.
“I’m talking about that rodent of a son. He irritates me.”
“N-Natsuno-kun didn’t even do anything to you.”
“I mean, he just goes and snatches my beloved daughter’s heart. Now I can’t have her back, can I?”
“Mamaaa.”
Once she knew Atsuko was joking, Aoba breathed a sigh of relief before pursing her lips.
Both mother and daughter laughed together. It was fun, merry.
After they had laughed for some time, Atsuko spoke again.
“Sure. If that’s what you want, I’ll go and tell Toshiro about it.”
“Eh? But Mom and Mother are…”
“Hm? You mean the majority vote thing?”
Aoba nodded.
When deciding things in this household, the majority of affairs were decided not by the head, but by the consultation of the three women.
Anything decided by the majority vote would be absolute, and anyone living in the house would have no choice but to follow.
The Miyagi household had always had that custom. Other than Aoba’s phase of teenage rebellion, there had not been one exception to this.
Aoba had always assumed that there were no exceptions among the females, too.
“Sure, we decide by majority vote when there’s a difference of opinion.”
“Then?”
“Aoba, you don’t get us. You don’t get how much we understand each other.”
Atsuko grinned.
“Eh?”
“Yes, of course we do have a majority vote when we disagree. But what about when you decide things? Would that cause us to have a difference of opinion? Will someone object?”
“Ah…”
“So that’s why.”
And so they reached an agreement.
☆
Juunishima Shingetsu no Kami Youran was riding in a plane.
It was a private jet owned by the Juunishima family that the head used for foreign travel.
Youran and Sakura were riding in it.
Inside the conference room modelled after that of Air Force One, the half-sisters were facing each other.
“What are the plans after landing?”
“Please ready yourself. In order to accommodate your wish to not stay long, we have a fairly tight schedule. Think of the time we’re there as a minute-by-minute schedule.”
“Haah? Why do you push everything on me? I know for a fact you wanna get back quickly too.”
“Not as much as you do. I’ll do whatever work that I must.”
“So now you’re a goody-two-shoes, huh?”
“I’m more surprised at you as of recently. Are you sure you’re not reverting back to a child?”
“Haah? The heck are you saying? I’m a woman of action too.”
“That would be wonderful. You are Shingetsu no Kami after all.”
The two of them disputed.
Neither was willing to give in to the other, and at first glance they seemed to not get along well.
The people around them and the staff were just staring vacantly.
Not nervously, vacantly.
Everyone was astonished.
And the same thought was in all of their minds.
When in the world did these two start getting along so well?
Youran and Sakura were notorious for not getting along.
No, it was far past just not getting along.
The two half sisters were political opponents in a noble family, trapped in a bloody battle of bloodlines.
When the two of them convened in the past, on a surface level they were speaking to each other cheerfully, but hiding thorny words beneath the surface and pricking each other with them.
Now it was the complete opposite.
At first glance, they appeared to be verbally abusing each other, but this was in fact the dialogue of two people who were very close to each other, a conversation between amiable acquaintances.
Everything was different in their current relationship from before.
Everyone around them was astonished, or maybe the right word was bewildered.