The passers-by are surprised when Kento suddenly shouts, “Ah-
Like!! I already like her to the point that I no longer can get myself out of
this situation!!! Do you have any objections, moron-!! (..how come I didn’t say
it that time.. Thinking that I should wait when I’m older, when I’m taller, and
become more manly.. ..Actually, everything is..an excuse.. And when I’ve became
aware of it, I just turned my eyes away and that girl has become more mature
than me.. She’s already 18 years old.. This time, a lot of things happened..
That girl did quite well.. ..What about me? Did I already become a guy who is a
match for her..? *stomach growls* Oh no! What time is it.. *it is already
night* Ugh~~ I must quickly go back. By the way, I still haven’t bought the
gift!!)” Dark Maria says, “Dinner is at 7pm, latecomer.. You know that, right.”
She slams the door. A note says that it is the back door. Sitting down by the
tree, Kento thinks that since it is his mother watching the door, definitely not
even ants can’t get in. He is ready to sleep outdoors. He looks up to the moon
and wonders what the heck he is doing. He is startled when a cloth flies in
front of him. Someone says that she heard that he has been locked outside.
Kento calls out to Mei. Mei tells him that it is no good to be like that and he
must respect the curfew. Kento angrily thinks whose fault is it. Mei tells him
that she has made these..so quickly eat them. It is 3 pieces of onigiri [rice
balls]. Kento wonders why she used a cleaning rag to cover the onigiri. Trying
to tell himself that Mei doesn’t have any malice in it, Kento cries over not
really wanting to touch it. Mei happily says that he ought to be hungry. Kento
blushes a bit and decides to take a little bite. After taking a bite, Kento starts
coughing and asks Mei if she got the sugar and salt [mixed up].. Mei gives him
some tea from a thermos. Kento shouts that it is bitter. Then, Kento says that
this is for her. It is a sheep keychain. Holding it on her finger, Mei says
that it is SHABBILY cute♡ Kento shouts that shabby is
unnecessary. He turns away and apologizes to her for it isn’t nice and
considerate like Rihito’s. Mei asks him if this is her birthday gift. Kento
blushes and didn’t reply. Looking surprised, Mei also blushes and says, “Thank
you.. Something both shabby and cute.. I like [those] the most..” Kento blushes
as Mei slightly puts the sheep near her face. Kento thinks that she has always
been slow[-witted]. “When did she [learn] to already skillfully and easily say
those kind of words..” Mei tells him that they go in together. Thinking about ‘being
skillful’, Kento declines and says that he’ll go in later by himself. Mei says
okay, bye, better don’t catch a cold. Watching her walk away, Kento sadly
thinks, “..it’s no good.. It really quite painful to be at her side..” With
cross arms, thoughtful Rihito is standing behind a tree near downcast Kento. The
next chapter will be the finale of the ‘choosing the son-in-law arc’.
Comment: With only one more chapter in this arc, I don’t
think the love triangle will be resolved. It seems that it is a trend to some
of the series I’m reading about = do you wait until you’ve become a ‘great’ person
before confessing to someone or just go ahead and hope that the other party
accept your ‘self-perceived inadequacies’? The first one is indeed a ‘sure way’
of getting accepted but then, it is also risky since some other guy might come
by and snatch that person from under one’s nose. That is the typical problem
faced by complacent childhood friends in shoujo series. It doesn’t help that
the ones they like are very clueless over their feelings since being nice to
them are taken for granted as ‘treated this way because we are friends’. The
second way is also ‘sure guarantee’ that you get the other party especially if
the feelings are mutual but risky since if one is ‘inadequate’, the relationship
might not last. It does seem that what pained Kento in the end of this chapter
is Mei matured faster than him so would that mean that he has to ‘improve’ himself
again? When will it end? He still couldn’t bring himself to confess to her even
if she reacted well with his birthday gift for her. It seems to be partly
because of lack of self-confidence or fear of rejection especially since Rihito
is way better than him. Well, their interaction here is nice though I wonder if
it is enough to make Rihito jealous but Rihito is concern enough to ‘spy’ on
them and thinking of something. Well, it seems that Kento is already
contemplating to improve himself too..though for him to ‘be mature’, I guess he
won’t tease her as much anymore. Scans by 深雪汉化组
Quote of the day:
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived
forwards. ~ Søren Kierkegaard