My wife believes me; how could I be a cuckold?

Eriko Miyajima, standing beside him, was completely dumbfounded. She stared intently at Makoto Asano, her wide eyes filled with indescribable shock.

This was the first time she had heard Makoto Asano talk about his family background since they had known each other for so long.

Because she knew that Makoto Asano was unemployed, she had always thought that he was an idle rich kid who didn't know how to study, or even a NEET who just sponged off his parents.

It's just that the "older" he was living off was very rich, which made him seem less miserable.

However, reality is completely different from what we imagined.

Makoto Asano is actually an orphan.

Moreover, he was an orphan who lost his parents shortly after birth and grew up alone.

Eriko Miyajima felt both admiration and pity for Makoto Asano's experiences.

In addition, she felt intense guilt.

It is well known that orphans usually grow up in a lack of companionship, and they are generally particularly sensitive to interpersonal relationships.

She had previously suspected that Asano Makoto might have ulterior motives towards her, and even deliberately distanced herself from him because of this.

I'm certain that it caused Asano-kun a great deal of emotional distress.

Thinking this, Eriko Miyajima prepared to apologize to Makoto Asano.

However, at that moment, the elevator had just reached the underground parking garage, and Makoto Asano stepped out of the elevator first, as if avoiding her.

Watching Makoto Asano's departing figure, Eriko Miyajima paused for a moment, unable to utter the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

After thinking for a while, she guessed that the other person might not want to hear her bring up this sad thing again, so they deliberately walked out first.

Well, absolutely.

Because he didn't act like a gentleman and let himself go first, as he usually does, but instead left the elevator first!

At that moment, Eriko Miyajima suddenly remembered the tone of Makoto Asano's voice when he said those words.

It was really very bland, as if he didn't care at all about not having parents.

But the more he acted this way, the more heartbroken Eriko Miyajima felt.

What a strong person she is!

As Miyajima Eriko imagined it this way, she couldn't help but think even more highly of Asano Makoto.

On the other side, Makoto Asano, who had already walked to the car and opened the door, was a little confused when he heard the notification sound in his mind: "[Eriko Miyajima's affection level +3, pure love value +30]".

He had no idea that Eriko Miyajima had been thinking about so many things in such a short time.

In reality, he had only answered Eriko Miyajima's question casually and had no intention of putting on a brave front to gain her sympathy.

Because he genuinely doesn't care much about it.

Although he was indeed born as a newborn to that young couple in this world, he didn't spend many days with them, and since they had been dead for a long time, he doesn't really have any special feelings for his parents in this world.

However, since there was an unexpected surprise, Makoto Asano naturally accepted it and then smiled as he opened the passenger door for Eriko Miyajima, who had followed him, and let her get in the car.

Although Eriko Miyajima wanted to say something more, she ultimately said nothing, remembering Makoto Asano's previous attitude of not wanting her to bring up the past.

However, she thought to herself that she must be more friendly to Asano-kun in the future and become Asano-kun's best friend, as a way of making up for hurting Asano-kun.

Then she thought it would be impolite to say nothing, so she decided to compliment Makoto Asano's new car.

However, when she sat in the passenger seat, she suddenly smelled a strange odor in the car.

The taste was hard to describe; it seemed somewhat sweet, and also somewhat fishy, ​​but it wasn't unpleasant. In any case, it was a hard-to-describe smell.

Asano Makoto, who had just gotten into the driver's seat and was about to start the car, saw Miyajima Eriko twitching her little nose and knew something was wrong.

These past few days haven't been busy; I've just been going back and forth between home and the gym every day.

However, since he didn't find the smell of Yuna Kanno particularly unpleasant, he was a bit lazy and didn't take the car to a car wash.

He hadn't thought about this when he let Eriko Miyajima into the car, but now, seeing her strange expression, he immediately realized that she must have discovered something.

Sure enough, before two seconds had passed, Eriko Miyajima, who hadn't figured out what the taste was, asked curiously.

"Asano-kun, is there a strange smell in the car?"

Chapter 60 Caught in an Affair?

"This was a free gift from the dealership when I bought the car. It seems to be Audi's latest car air freshener. What's wrong? Doesn't it smell good?"

Despite feeling incredibly flustered, Makoto Asano fastened his seatbelt and told a lie without batting an eye.

"Huh? Is that so? There's even perfume with this scent. I've really learned something new..."

Upon hearing this, Eriko Miyajima hesitated only slightly before believing Makoto Asano's statement.

Although it's a bit strange that the perfume smells like this, it's what Asano-kun said, so it must be like this, right?

This display of trust made Asano Makoto feel a little guilty, so he quickly changed the subject, saying, "The movie doesn't start until this afternoon, where should we go now?"

"Asano-kun, is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

"Uh, no, you know I rarely go out. Even if I do go out, I can't find any friends to go with, so I have no idea where to go."

This is a lie.

Putting everything else aside, he's already taken Yuna Kanno to several places.

Hearing this, Eriko Miyajima said with a hint of helplessness, "I see... Actually, I'm the same as Asano-kun. I haven't really explored Tokyo properly. I've basically been staying at home ever since I arrived."

This is the truth.

After being taken to Tokyo by Yuta Yamada, a place she knew no one, she basically stayed at home every day, only going out to take out the trash and buy groceries, and even then it was just to the supermarket near her home.

For this very reason, after losing her friends from her hometown upon arriving in Tokyo, she now has no chance to make new friends—Asano Makoto is probably the first.

Upon hearing this, Makoto Asano immediately saw this as a golden opportunity to poach Yuta's boyfriend, and feigned surprise, asking, "Huh? Hasn't Yuta taken you out to play before?"

Eriko Miyajima remained silent.

Yuta Yamada was a new office worker who was busy almost every day in order to make a good impression on his boss during the early days of his job.

Even on weekends, he would only take advantage of this rare time off to stay at home and rest, and rarely took Eriko Miyajima out.

This time, he finally figured things out and decided to go on a date with Eriko Miyajima to soothe her emotions, but then the company suddenly notified him to work overtime, and in the end, Makoto Asano thwarted his plans.

Seeing Eriko Miyajima's gloomy expression, Makoto Asano immediately changed the subject: "It's okay, I'll show you around Tokyo properly today."

He thought for a moment, then continued, "How about this, Eriko, you search on your phone for good places to go with friends nearby, and I'll drive the car out first."

After saying that, he immediately started the car and drove it out of the underground parking garage.

On the other hand, perhaps thinking it was indeed a good idea, Eriko Miyajima immediately nodded and took out her phone to start searching.

After she typed "places around Shinjuku suitable for friends to go out" into the search box, she suddenly found that the search results were very different from what she had imagined.

It's not that the search results are problematic, but rather that some of the wording in the search results is seriously flawed.

Even though the search term is "friends," most of the search results are not just "friends," but include prefixes like "male and female," or are simply words like "couples" or "married couples."

For some reason, seeing these words with such clear implications made Eriko Miyajima blush immediately.

She subconsciously tilted her phone screen towards herself, seemingly not wanting Asano Makoto to see the content, while secretly observing Asano Makoto's reaction out of the corner of her eye.

Fortunately, Makoto Asano was focused on driving and did not notice anything unusual about her.

However, just as Eriko Miyajima breathed a slight sigh of relief, Makoto Asano suddenly asked, "Eriko, did you find anything? Is there a suitable place?"

Caught off guard, Eriko Miyajima was startled and almost dropped her phone.

Makoto Asano turned his head and glanced at him, then asked with a puzzled look, "What's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?"

"N-nothing, my hand just slipped."

Eriko Miyajima spoke somewhat flusteredly while steadying her phone and pretending to be engrossed in reading a guide.

Although he felt something was off, Makoto Asano looked ahead again and continued driving seriously.

Having had this experience, Eriko Miyajima dared not think about anything inappropriate anymore. Although her face was still slightly flushed, she still read the contents of the document to Makoto Asano earnestly, as if seeking his opinion.

Asano Seiya started discussing things while driving.

After discussing for a while, the two decided to first stroll around the vicinity of Nishi-Shinjuku 3-chome until noon, and then go camping and picnicking in Shinjuku Central Park. After lunch, they would go directly to the movie theater that Yuta Yamada had booked nearby to watch a movie.

The morning passed quickly, and the two arrived at Shinjuku Central Park next to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building as originally planned.

Compared to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, which is ranked among the top 100 best cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan, Shinjuku Central Park is less well-known and has fewer visitors.

Indeed, when Makoto Asano and Eriko Miyajima arrived with snacks they had bought nearby, they found that there weren't many people there, only two or three couples picnicking on the grass.

After renting a picnic mat and tent from a shop near the park, the two laid out a large mat on the ground next to the waterfall and then placed snacks on it.

The sun wasn't very strong today, and the gentle breeze from the waterfall caressed my face—it was very pleasant.

Makoto Asano hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time.

He wondered if it was just his imagination, but he always felt very relaxed when he was with Eriko Miyajima.

He likes this feeling.

The two ate and chatted quietly, waiting for the movie to start.

But just then, Makoto Asano received a phone call while he was on the picnic mat.

Makoto Asano, who was clinking glasses with Eriko Miyajima and drinking, glanced down and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the back of his head.

He quickly grabbed his phone and held it to his chest, while simultaneously looking up to observe Eriko Miyajima's reaction.

Fortunately, Eriko Miyajima looked bewildered and asked in a puzzled tone, "What's wrong, Asano-kun?"

Seeing that she seemed genuinely unaware of the caller's name, Makoto Asano breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, in as calm a tone as possible, he said, "Excuse me, Eriko, a friend called me. Please excuse me for a moment."

"Okay! It's alright, Asano-kun. You go ahead, I'll wait for you here."

Upon hearing Eriko Miyajima nod and utter such understanding words, Makoto Asano made an apologetic gesture, then got up and left.

What he didn't notice was that the moment he turned his back to Eriko Miyajima, the expression on her face immediately darkened.

She just saw it.

The person who called Makoto Asano was named: Obedient Little Pet.