Things seemed to return back to normal for Kouji and his girls. A bright change after everything that had happened. He left out the part of meeting Teru’s mom from the others though. While it was scary, that woman likely would not be a problem for them in the immediate future.

So he was enjoying a nice quiet day alone at home with no worries at all. Nothing about now seemed like anything was going to change that, but plenty of things have always changed his plans. This time around, it came in the form of a knock on the door.

“Hello?” He answered, and before him were the servants of Yuma’s household.

“Hey.” Todoro greeted him warmly. His partner, Mikune had no words to say to him.

“I see this isn’t going to be good.” Kouji responded to his new situation with disappointment. Whenever these two showed up in his life, he had a tendency of getting knocked out. “What do you want with me now?”

“Well, the bosses do want to have a chat with you.” Said Mikune, clearly referring to Yuma’s parents. Given the circumstances when he last met with them, it was obvious what the details of this conversation would entail.

“Okay, I’ll come with you guys.” He had no plans on fighting them on it. Not that he would want to, since it was a serious conversation he couldn’t avoid with her parents. Plus, even if he disagreed with them, then the boy was likely to be knocked upside the head and forced there. At least this way he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore brain damage.

“You gonna be all right with the ride?” Asked Todoro. “I know that you’re not exactly good with cars, so maybe we could-”

“Please don’t knock me out again.” He replied. “It’s okay… I still hate being in one of these things, but it’s not as bad as it used to be.” Though sitting inside of this limo did fill him with dread. It wasn’t something that the boy couldn’t handle anymore. Thankfully, he had begun building better resistance to his fear, even if it would likely never go away.

After a short trip, even if to him it felt like a really long one. The trio had made their way back to the Onodera residence. Here, Kouji would be having that conversation with her parents that he knew he was going to have eventually. Honestly, someone his age shouldn’t be seriously discussing with his girlfriend’s parents about marriage. At the same time though, it wasn’t like he had the most typical of relationships with her.

They knew about the harem stuff. It seemed so far that they accepted it, but for how long? Out of all the parents, they were expecting him to wed Yuma so that he could help, if not take over the family business. He did feel a bit guilty that they wanted him to take away what was going to be inherited by her. Simply because of whatever it was that made the girl who she was.

“I see the young master has finally arrived.” Shinkai greeted him as the boy entered the building. Their relationship had been rough, to say the least. Though after his date with Yuma, things seemed to finally have reached an understanding. Even if that man may think he wasn’t the right person to be married to her. In some ways, Kouji might agree, at least because of the reason of why he’d be married in the first place.

“It’s so nice to see you again!” The butler led him into the main living space. There, Yuma’s parents were there waiting for his arrival. Seeing them did make him wonder where that girl was during this time. She was likely home, but did she approve of this conversation? Was she even aware? And more so, was she going to be a part of it?

This marriage stuff impacted her as much as it did him, if not more. After all, she was the other half of this apparent couple. So shouldn’t she have more say in this? At least, as much say as she could actually speak. “So how have you been?” Yuma’s mom, Etsuki, asked.

“I’m doing well.” He answered, sitting down in front of them before a teacup set up clearly for him. “I think we all already know about what’s going on. So I suppose we can skip the formalities.”

“Ah, a man who wants to get straight to business.” Yuma’s dad, Tsuguto, laughed. “Now that I can get behind.” It seemed his statement only served to convince these people that he was somehow the right person for their little girl.

“Actually, I’m a little surprised you’re so okay with me.” Kouji would’ve thought they’d hate him because Yuma wasn’t the only girl for him. Were they so desperate with options? That didn’t sound right to him though, since they were still a pretty powerful family. Surely they’d have other contingencies.

“We can’t deny that there’s some concerns about you.” Said Etsuki. “But she really cares a lot about you, and you’ve always seemed to try to do the right thing.”

“Thank you for the kind words.” He replied. “But honestly, it’s not like those kinds of things really make me the best person to be taking over any businesses.”

“While you may have a point.” Tsuguto conceded. “We’re more than happy to help the two of you make that transition. It wasn’t easy when I first took over, but thanks to my father I learned a lot.”

“It is nice to have your support.” He breathed a sigh of relief. At least they weren’t going to force him to be some kind of owner when he graduated high school. “And I know Yuma’s a good person too, please don’t count her out so easily.”

“You certainly have a lot of faith in our daughter.” Etsuki replied. “It makes me glad she has a boy who believes in her.”

“Agreed.” Her husband followed up. “Which is why it’d be great if you could both marry right after graduating from the academy.”

“Ah…” Kouji took a sip of his tea after hearing that statement. Then slowly, the realization hit him. “Wait, marry when?”