I Became the Final Subjugation Target of That Era’s Light Novel

The next day.

I hadn’t heard the whole story yet, but my mind felt more at ease.

At least I was relieved that my relationship with Yuuki wasn’t as siblings.

The image of Yamashita-san—

“Hey, hey!”

“Miho, wait a minute.”

….

No, well, it’s not like Yamashita-san was approaching or anything.

It seemed like Yamashita-san was a bit taken aback that a middle schooler who shared no blood relation was being so friendly.

To be honest, how should I put this, Miho-san appeared much younger than I usually saw her. It wasn’t so much her body looking younger as her vibe giving off that impression.

Miho-san looked reliable as she came to pick up Yuuki on time. I probably felt that way because she was someone I had to look up to, but still, her taking care of Yuuki was more than enough to be seen as mature.

It was as if she was a mom, bringing us snacks while we played.

….

Hmm.

How should I say this, now that I think about it, Miho-san feels a little different. I guess you could say she looks ‘too’ mature.

I seriously contemplated whether I should say something or not, deciding not to dig too deep. It could just be a misunderstanding of mine. This topic was too sensitive to bring up directly, but there must be a reason why Miho-san was living at Yamashita’s place.

So if she really felt like Yamashita was some close uncle or even like a father figure, I could understand that.

Well, whatever a person does, as long as they don’t cross the line, right?

Puff.

I was more concerned about Yuuki.

At first, Yamashita-san seemed a bit flustered, but eventually, just like me, she decided to treat her like a daughter, even if a bit awkwardly, while splashing water around. No, should I say she was playing with her? To be honest, I couldn’t call that image ‘innocent’ either.

But, the problem is, there’s actually Yamashita-san’s real daughter here.

Little kids are quite jealous creatures. They feel jealous when a sibling shows up or even when a dog or cat comes into the house.

In situations like this—

“Yuuki.”

I grabbed Yuuki’s hand.

“Kotone?”

Yuuki, looking surprised, glanced at me after being caught off guard watching Miho-san playing with Yamashita-san, who was wearing a sulky expression.

“Do you wanna go play with Mom?”

“Uh, yeah!”

Actually, Kagami was a complete novice at ‘playing with kids,’ but Yuuki liked that Kagami was such a novice. Maybe it was because, as Kagami said, she resembled his mom a lot.

As I approached Kagami, who was sitting under a parasol, Yuuki dragged her hand, and Kagami looked a bit surprised at us before smiling.

“Kotone.”

Maybe because of our conversation from yesterday, Kagami seemed to view me positively. Honestly, I was just feeling more relaxed, treating Yuuki kindly.

Yuuki gazed up at Kagami as she patted my head. Kagami chuckled lightly and also ruffled Yuuki’s hair with her hand.

“Me too, me too!”

Before I knew it, Harumi ran up and shouted, raising both hands. After chuckling softly, Kagami patted Harumi’s head as well.

“Hehe.”

Did Harumi think she might be a nuisance? Fukuda-san, who was following Harumi from a distance, stopped, watched us, chuckled, scratched the back of his head, and then slipped away.

After observing that, I turned back to Kagami.

And while pulling Kagami’s hand, I said, “Mom, let’s go play at the sea.”

“Yeah, yeah! Let’s play!”

Yuuki also grabbed Kagami’s hand and tugged along.

“Oh my.”

Kagami got up from her seat, looking somewhat reluctant but not entirely displeased. By now, Harumi was also holding onto Kagami’s wrist.

Seeing Kagami finally stand up, the three of us simultaneously let go of our hands and turned around to run.

Behind us, we could hear Kagami following us lightly.

“Wow!”

Harumi was the first to shout as she jumped into the sea. Yuuki and I didn’t jump in that way but splashed into the water enough for the tube around our waists to bounce a couple of times off the waves.

Fukuda-san was watching us from a distance, maybe to make sure we didn’t go too deep?

“Mom!”

“I got it.”

I waved at Kagami as I yelled, and she leaped into the water—

Ah.

All the eyes around turned to Kagami.

It’s not that it was strange for an adult to jump in. Kagami looks young enough at first glance.

But, how should I put this, um.

Kagami’s body must be incredibly alluring from a man’s perspective. Above or below.

It’s a bit awkward to phrase it like that when it’s suspended in the air.

Splash—!

Kagami, who had sunk into the water, shouted, “Phew!” as she resurfaced, her hair flipping back, reminiscent of a scene from an old animated princess film I’d seen before.

“Wow.”

Harumi exclaimed in pure admiration. Luckily, Yuuki seemed completely oblivious in this regard.

….

What should I do about this?

Should I tell Kagami? But am I too young for that? If I were to mention that I understood such concepts, I could shock Kagami in several ways.

After all, Kagami had probably experienced giving birth young, and more than anything, she wished for me to have a normal upbringing.

Moreover, it felt a little… strange for me to think that since I’d already hoped for Kagami’s happiness.

“Kotone—Ah!?”

In the end, I didn’t manage to say anything, and when I splashed water at Kagami, she called my name, getting drenched with the splash.

That scene, in many ways, was just so Kagami that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Kotone~”

However, it seemed that Kagami also was beginning to feel very comfortable with me.

From the way she looked at me after she saw how I behaved with my friends at school, I sensed that Kagami seemed to have let her guard down a bit.

Phew!?

Kagami splashed water at me, making me exclaim while holding onto the tube.

I turned my head and enthusiastically splashed water back at Kagami. She did the same—

“Hahaha!”

Harumi excitedly jumped in, splashing water at both me and Kagami.

“Hey!”

Yuuki followed suit.

We splashed water at each other with such enthusiasm until we were all soaking wet.

And that was a lot of fun.

Hmm, I think I’m beginning to understand why Miho-san looked so happy.

*

On the train ride back.

Harumi, who had so much energy when we left, had completely exhausted herself after jumping around in the water until sunset.

So unlike before when we all sat together, now we were each next to our respective parents.

Well, Miho-san was beside Yuuki, though. It felt a bit guilty to have her sit alone.

Fukuda-san and Yamashita-san boldly sat apart. They both chatted comfortably like close friends, yet it seemed they weren’t friendly enough to sit too close.

Most importantly, Yamashita-san’s arms were so muscular that whenever Fukuda-san, who had a relatively standard build, sat next to her, their shoulders kept touching. Yamashita-san and Fukuda-san described it as feeling ‘dirty.’ Hmm, I could somewhat understand that.

Of course, I was seated right next to Kagami.

I wasn’t completely drained like Harumi or Yuuki, but I still felt sleepy, my head drooping.

Kagami kept looking at me as I drifted off. It felt like time passed incredibly quickly just from her watching me instead of looking out the window.

…. Time, huh.

Yeah, actually, I was a bit worried before coming to school.

What if I couldn’t make any friends?

I thought the time alone in my room might flow too slowly. Well, in a way, that wasn’t too bad since it felt like resting.

But still, time indeed flows faster when you’re having fun.

There’s still a lot of summer plans left. Besides just coming to the sea, we also planned to go to a festival.

Wearing yukatas with Kagami and enjoying the festival, watching fireworks together.

“Mom.”

“Yes, Kotone?”

“The festival, together…”

“I know. I remember everything.”

Kagami said with a smile.

“The moment you asked me to go with you is etched in my memory. I have no intention of forgetting it.”

As she said that, Kagami tucked a few stray strands of my hair that had fallen while I dozed off behind my ear.

Feeling that soft touch was the last thing, and I ultimately fell asleep, completely drained of energy.

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