Once their date ended, Yuta escorted Marie home before he headed home himself. He decided to reject the Tanakas' invitation to eat dinner, since it was a bit late and he didn't want to intrude any more than he already had. As he was lost in his thoughts thinking about the events of the day, Yuta saw the sight of a shabby-looking house in the distance. This was the place that he lived.

Since it was only him and his mom, their incomes weren't high enough to be able to afford a nice-looking home. His mother worked two jobs, while Yuta also worked a part-time one at the library. Yuta's dad died while Yuta was at a young age so he was forced to become the man of the household in order to protect his mom.

"I'm home!" Yuta yelled down the hallway as he closed the door behind him.

Moments later, an older woman came from the living room with a tired expression and a gentle smile on her face. "Welcome back, Yuta. How was your date today?"

"Date? We just went out to the aquarium, so it definitely wasn't one. Our outing was fun though," Yuta swiftly waved his hand to deny the idea of a date.

His mother sighed and shook her head. "Was it just you two alone at the aquarium?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then, that's a date. What else would you call a man and a woman going out by themselves?"

"..."

In this case, Yuta couldn't deny that his mom had a good point. Yuta and Marie did indeed go on an outing together with only the two of them, so it was undeniably a date even though he didn't want to admit it. But the question was, why did he feel this way?

Marie was a good friend of his and he was happy to be on amicable terms with her, but he felt unworthy to stand by her side. The current Yuta wasn't a remarkable person like she was; he was just a poor kid trying to make ends meet while she was someone who was on a completely different level in every sense.

"Judging by your expression, it seems like you're undervaluing yourself again while thinking about something," His mom correctly guessed. "Let's see, your thoughts might be along the lines of, "I'm poor and useless so I'm no good for her," is that right?"

"It's scary how you know what I'm thinking about so well..." Yuta playfully shivered in fear.

In response, his mother laughed and tousled his hair. "How long do you think I've been your mom?"

Kanoko Takebayashi was nothing less than a superwoman. At a young age, she had lost her husband and was forced to take care of their young son by herself. By taking on many jobs whilst taking care of her kid, Kanoko managed to secure a stable life for her and her son.

Knowing of the hardships she had to go through since he had witnessed it firsthand, Yuta loved and admired her for what she was able to do with such an unfortunate hand in life.

"As your mother, I know best about how you're a good kid, so please don't put yourself down just because we're not that well-off. Just be confident and be yourself," Kanoko advised him.

"Are you sick? It's not like you to give good advice like this," Yuta chuckled.

In response, Kanoko grinned and lightly chopped his head. "Hey, I give good advice all the time!"

"All the time? You mean none of the time?" Yuta retorted.

"Why you..." Kanoko's left eye twitched as she looked at Yuta with the eyes of a predator looking at its prey. "This was your fault so don't blame me, okay?"

"D-Don't blame you for what...?"

"This!" Kanoko yelled as she ran towards Yuta and began tickling him until tears started coming out of his eyes.

"Ahahahaha, geh... w-wait, I'm sorry! Hahaha, stop- Bahahahaha!"

With no remorse towards her own son, Kanoko tickled him mercilessly until she was satisfied. Although this might be an odd sight to other people, this playful behavior and no holding back was a sign of affection between Yuta and his mom. They had always been close with each other since it was only the two of them for so long.

After the tickle fest finally ended, Yuta talked about the events of the day with his mom. He even included his worries about being too inferior to stay by Marie's side since he wanted to be completely transparent with his mom.

"Hmm, this is complicated... is what you were expecting me to say, right? Well, to me, it looks like you're just overthinking it."

Contrary to what Yuta had thought she was going to say, Kanoko looked at him with an expression of exasperation and explained her reasoning.

"From what I've heard, it seems like that girl likes you for who you are and not for what you have. She most likely wants to spend time with you to get to know you better, so you better treat her right. If you don't, your mother is going to be mad~"

"Ahaha, will do."

Yuta already knew that he needed to treat Marie well without his mom needing to tell him. It's just that he was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Marie wanted to hang out with him.

I mean, what does she see in someone like me? There's probably at least a couple hundred people who are more rich, smart, and resourceful than me, so why?

Even if his heart made him doubt himself, Yuta knew that he shouldn't stay still. Staying still would not result in him finding his answer, rather he would be stuck in the same place if he didn't move forward. Knowing that, Yuta took out his phone and stared at a certain contact in his phone list.

"If I want answers, then there's no one better to ask than this person, huh?"

—

Takei returns next chapter with a sneak peak towards a certain future person?!

Serious-san: Ah, so Yuta's mom finally made her entrance!

Sugar-chan: She seems like a good mom~