She felt a little sorry for Utaha.
Before formally inviting Chisato to her home, she had never imagined that her mother's instincts would be this sharp, detecting the truth despite her leaving no obvious clues at home.
Now that her mother knew, and as a parent, she was bound to intervene, it was inevitable that once Kazusa left, she herself would officially become Chisato's girlfriend.
That meant Utaha could no longer maintain a visibly close relationship with Chisato.
But that was never her intention!
However, at this point, no matter how she tried to explain, it was useless. Mud had already splashed onto her pants—whether or not it was actually dirt no longer mattered.
She could only take things one step at a time.
"You and Chisato are already dating."
"..."
"Most likely, you've already held hands and kissed, haven't you?"
"..."
Eriri lowered her head silently, her face turning red as she averted her gaze.
Even though it was the truth, hearing such things come from her mother's mouth still made her feel embarrassed.
"Let me guess. Recently, you've spent several nights outside. You said you were staying over at Utaha's place, but in reality… you were at someone else's house, weren't you?"
"…Mom, please stop."
Eriri covered her face.
"...!"
Sayuri looked at her daughter's reaction and let out a deep sigh, feeling conflicted.
Right now, her emotions were mostly centered around anger, forming a complex, indescribable sensation.
She was angry because her daughter had secretly gone that far with another boy.
If her husband found out that their precious little girl had already thrown herself into someone else's arms, he would undoubtedly break down and cry.
No, this wasn't the time to worry about that.
She needed to get the full story first—and also find out just what kind of boy this Chisato was.
Heaven help her, she really hoped her precious daughter hadn't been sweet-talked into anything…
"Leave the dishes for now. We need to have a proper talk."
Sayuri took off her gloves, took a deep breath, and led Eriri to the living room sofa.
"Tell me everything. How did you and Chisato meet? How did things develop to this point? Explain it all, in full detail."
"Mom…"
"Be honest. Don't try to hide anything. If you refuse to talk, I'll go upstairs and ask him myself."
"It's not that I won't tell you… I just want to know how you found out."
Eriri's voice gradually weakened as she lowered her head, her gaze dropping to the floor.
Sayuri sighed.
"I'm your mother. I've been watching all the changes in you these past few weeks. I raised you from childhood—you think I wouldn't notice?"
But that alone wasn't enough to convince Eriri.
"If that were really the case, you would've talked to me much earlier instead of waiting until today."
She needed to understand exactly how her mother had figured it all out. If she didn't, she wouldn't know how much to reveal in her explanation.
Under Eriri's gaze, Sayuri slowly closed her eyes. Then, she touched her temple with her index finger and fell silent for a moment.
Finally, she leaned forward, picked up her phone from the coffee table, and played a video without saying a word, holding it out for Eriri to see.
At first, Eriri was confused.
But when she recognized the girl in the video as herself—sleeping, unconsciously making seductive movements, and letting out incredibly alluring sounds—her eyes widened, and her face turned red as if it were about to drip blood.
"…Mmm… No… Chisato… Mmm, Chisato~…"
The video cut off at that moment. Sayuri locked her phone screen and looked at her daughter, who was now in a daze, her emotions mixed.
She had originally filmed that video as a joke, intending to tease her daughter later. She never expected it to become evidence in this conversation today.
"Wh-when did you record this?!"
"It was a while ago. A morning not long after the school year started."
Sayuri answered truthfully.
At this point, it seemed there was no choice but to have an honest conversation.
…
On the second floor of the Sawamura house, inside Eriri's room.
Chisato sat at the desk, a light novel open before him, taken randomly from the bookshelf.
He glanced at his phone to check the time.
It had been over half an hour since he returned to the room after lunch.
He knew that when Sayuri called Eriri downstairs, it wasn't really to help with the dishes—she must have had something she wanted to discuss privately.
But even so, over half an hour had passed, and Eriri was still nowhere to be seen. That was definitely unusual. After all, his current status in this house was still that of a "guest."
Has Sayuri figured out the true nature of his relationship with Eriri?
Chisato rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
But Eriri had been so confident before, insisting there was no chance of exposure.
And he himself had behaved properly since arriving here, making sure not to do anything out of line.
By all logic, they shouldn't have been found out…
Maybe he should use the excuse of going to the bathroom to take a look downstairs?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the door opened.
He turned around and saw Eriri entering the room first, followed closely by Sayuri.
However, Sayuri did not step inside. It seemed she had followed just to get a look at Chisato. She simply stood outside the door.
"Chisato, if you're free, why don't you stay for dinner?"
This was an unexpected turn of events.
Chisato quickly glanced at Eriri, who gave him a silent cue. Without hesitation, he accepted,
"Thank you very much. I'll be in your care."
"Good. You two… do your best~"
With that, Sayuri closed the door and walked away.
Before Chisato could even ask, Eriri walked up to him, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and slightly lifted her head, revealing a deeply troubled and guilty expression.
"Sorry, Chisato… Something unexpected happened. My mom found out about us, and things just got a little more complicated…"
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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