Kanomama wa hatsukoi no hito - Chapter 3-2

 Chapter 3: The Girlfriend's Growth—Taking Her Virginity Too - 2

After keeping watch over his girlfriend as she slept, Urusuke goes down the stairs and enters the living room, where Sae is sitting.

From the start of his conversation and sex with Hanao until its end, about an hour and a bit has passed.

I wonder… was she planning to wait faithfully for three whole hours…

In any case, Sae looked up in surprise as Urusuke came in.

“Urusuke-san—”

“Are you going to keep calling me that?”

Seeing Urusuke give a wry smile, Sae laughs too.

“I’ve been completely fulfilled by you—what about Hanao?”

“She’s asleep in the room,” Urusuke said, bowing his head. “…I’m sorry, Sae-san. I had sex with Hanao.”

“…I… see. I thought as much.”

After all, they were in the same house, sitting silently without even turning on the TV. Even in a fine home like the Hijiri family, the moans and vibrations from upstairs carry just a little. Sae knows about the sex between the two.

But hearing it directly from Urusuke stirred a swirl of complex emotions within her. Understanding, loss, disappointment, relief, joy, and jealousy… feelings she couldn’t fully identify.

Sae closes her eyes, and Urusuke sits patiently across from her.

After a while, she opens her eyes, as if she has fully processed everything. Urusuke nods in acknowledgment.

“—Hanao truly valued the promise she made with you, Sae-san. The promise that sexual activity is prohibited until marriage.”

“That girl…”

Sae is filled with anguish realizing that the rule she set, to prevent Hanao from repeating her own youthful mistakes, was being faithfully upheld by her daughter—even after seeing her mother’s infidelity.

“So—that’s why I got engaged to Hanao. I figured that would make it… sort of a gray area*.”

“Eh…?”

Urusuke bowed once more to Sae, who had pressed a hand to her mouth.

“I’m going to marry Hanao, Sae-san. It’s a bit of a request after the fact, but… will you accept it?”

Sae—momentarily stunned by the shock—instantly composed herself. She slid off her chair onto the floor, placed her hands in the formal three-finger posture, and lowered her head. She was performing a dogeza.

“Sae-san!?”

To the panicked Urusuke—

“Urusuke-san… I’m no one to speak, as a filthy mother who has betrayed her own daughter—but Hanao, please take care of Hanao. Make her happy. If I’m in your way, you may cast me aside—it’s perfectly fine…”

It was a plea, as if squeezed out.

“Sae-san… that’s—remember, we made a promise. I’m yours.”

Urusuke crouched and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, but Sae shook her head.

“That’s enough… truly enough. Please, forget about me and focus on the two of you. Of course, as your mother-in-law, I’ll support you both.”

“Sae-san… that’s why earlier as well—”

It was a single voice that broke through their endless back-and-forth.

“It’s perfectly fine… if it’s you, dear mother.”

““!””

When they whipped around, they found Hanao standing there, having only slipped her shirt back on.

““Hanao.””

“You two seem very close. I can’t help feeling a little… jealous.”

Urusuke and Sae, speaking in perfect unison, both flushed at her words. Hanao couldn’t help but smile at her mother’s reaction.

“No way, what are you talking about, Hanao—”

“I’ve learned about the things dear mother kept hidden… about dear father as well.”

Sae was utterly speechless.

“I’m sorry… for being pressed about it.”

Urusuke whispered an apology to her as she turned around.

“The reason you didn’t remarry, dear mother, was out of consideration for me, wasn’t it? … If that’s the case, then your affair with Kogi-senpai is something I must also take responsibility for.”

“No, that’s not—”

“Kogi-senpai, please just stay quiet for a while.”

“Yes.”

Whenever this topic comes up, Urusuke has no say. He immediately closes his mouth.

“Don’t… don’t say something foolish like that, Hanao. The two of us with Urusuke-san… such a distorted relationship—”

Despite her mother’s attempts to persuade her, the daughter shook her head.

“Dear mother, your wounds also stem from the distortions in your relationship with dear father.”

“!”

“If that’s the case, then the way those wounds were healed must also have been… distorted, right? Even if it was a twisted relationship, through your intimacy with Kogi-senpai, dear mother found healing. Am I wrong?”

“Th-That is——”

Sae, unable to respond, once again lowered her gaze to the floor. Hanao crouched beside her and wrapped her in an embrace.

“I like Kogi-senpai. And I hold deep respect and admiration for you as well, dear mother. —Even after learning about your relationship, my feelings haven’t changed.”

Sae’s shoulders shook under Hanao’s embrace—and so did Urusuke’s. Unfazed by them, Hanao went on.

“If it’s you, dear mother… and if your partner is Kogi-senpai… if it brings peace to your heart, then I don’t mind.”

She declared, with complete confidence, words that sought a twisted relationship.

Hanao.

Urusuke was momentarily taken aback, but he stayed silent. He wasn’t in a position to question Hanao. There was simply no arguing with it.

“Hanao… will you forgive me? A mother so tainted, so cowardly—”

“Dear mother, I’ve come to realize something recently… I appear to be rather greedy.”

Tears welled up in Sae’s—and Urusuke’s—eyes as they looked at Hanao, asking, “Eh?” She lifted both hands, as if holding something aloft.

“Kogi-senpai… and dear mother as well. I cannot allow either of you to leave me. I cannot bear being parted from Kogi-senpai, and I cannot accept dear mother leaving my side either.”

She paused briefly, then fixed her boyfriend with a lingering, tearful gaze.

“Of course, I will not allow the two of you to exclude me.”

A chill ran down Urusuke’s spine as he rubbed his stomach, still smarting from the elbow strike.

“That’s why—”

Hanao buried her face in her mother’s ample chest, her expression hidden from view.

A few seconds of silence passed. In that moment, the girl transformed into a daughter.

“…Please… don’t leave me… Mama.”

At that soft whisper, Sae sucked in a breath—

“……! Ah… ahh… ahhaaaaaa………! I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…! Hanao… Hanao… I…!”

Sae’s shame only deepened, and she pulled her child close against her chest.

To… To think I’ve forced this girl to make such a twisted decision… This girl, who… who was only following the rules born of my own despair and selfishness, steeped in nothing but sin…

From her point of view, it was a proposal she simply couldn’t turn down.

I have no choice now but to accept Hanao’s wish… I’ll never leave this girl again. Never again.

And as Urusuke watched the mother and daughter, he became certain that his feelings for his girlfriend weren’t just about her looks.

Such incredible generosity… just as I expected from the girl I fell in love with…

He had been chasing only the image of Sae. Even if that was all it was at first, the feelings he had built up with Hanao were real. That’s how he felt.