How to raise a random guy's wife

“There was a lot of preparation work done beforehand,” Kato Megumi explained. “But I was also a little worried at first.”

As everyone ate, they chatted, sharing their impressions of their first time attending and interesting guests they noticed.

Eriri seemed a little hungry and kept trying to eat.

After the celebration banquet, everyone parted ways.

The school idols left together, their youthful exuberance making Kobayashi Sora a little wonder if she was getting old.

"I'll take you back," Kobayashi Sora said, looking at the others.

"I'll go with Eriri." Kasumigaoka Utaha waved her hand. "You can take Megumi with you."

Although I'm worried about Eriri's condition, with Kasumigaoka Utaha there...

Kobayashi Sora nodded. "Alright, see you later."

"Bye-bye." Kasumigaoka Utaha waved and left with Eriri first.

"Are you tired?" Kobayashi Sora asked, looking at Kato Megumi.

Well... a little bit.

"Come up." Kobayashi Sora squatted down in front of Kato Megumi.

Carrying her bag, Kato Megumi leaned on Kobayashi Sora's back, wrapped her arms around his neck, and whispered in his ear, "I'm not tired now."

“It’s New Year’s Eve,” Kobayashi Sora said, wrapping her arms around Kato Megumi’s legs. “I can only take you home.”

"Otherwise, what are you going to do?"

"Do whatever you want."

"You scoundrel." Kato Megumi tightened her arms slightly. "And you?"

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been back,” Kobayashi Sora replied. “Of course I have to go back for New Year’s Eve.”

"what......"

"what happened?"

"I haven't met my mom and dad yet."

"Then I'll find some time to take you back."

"Ah."

Kobayashi Sora was a little surprised, "I thought you would take a long time to consider it."

"I've been thinking about this for a long time," Kato Megumi said, blushing. "I just haven't told you yet."

"I don't want to carry you anymore."

"Ok?"

"You're so cute, it feels so uncomfortable when I can't kiss you while I'm carrying you on my back."

"You bad guy." Kato Megumi lowered her head and gently kissed the bad guy on the cheek.

Chapter 285 A Joke

"Yinglili."

Passing by the park, Kasumigaoka Utaha stopped and asked, "Want to play on the slide?"

"..." Eriri looked up at her.

"Tsk." If Eriri were to retort, Kasumigaoka Utaha would still be able to handle it.

But if we remain silent like this...

Eriri silently withdrew her gaze and continued walking forward.

Then he got caught.

Eriri's slender body was no match for Kasumigaoka Utaha's strength, and she was forcibly turned around, accompanied by Kasumigaoka Utaha's tightening of her arms.

"Ugh!" Eriri's bewildered face was lost in a deep chasm. Although it was winter and she was wearing many layers of clothing, but...

"Kasumigaoka Utaha!" Eriri broke free from her restraints. "What are you doing?!"

"So you can talk after all." Kasumigaoka Utaha chuckled, tossing her long, black hair. "Want to play on the swings?"

"......want."

On the last day of December, two high school girls were swinging on a swing in the cold wind.

Kong Qing has already told me about what happened at the guild hall.

"Ah."

"You stopped him."

"Today is the last day of his eight months of hard work. We can't let him be taken away for assaulting someone."

“That’s true,” Kasumigaoka Utaha said, looking at the clouds changing shape in the sky. “I feel like he would rather be taken away after throwing that punch; that would be more satisfying.”

Is he angry?

“Of course,” Kasumigaoka Utaha replied. “A partner who worked hard together, an artist who would finish his work even when seriously ill, an important member who elevated everyone’s achievements to another level, how could he not be angry when someone said those things to him?”

"I mean... is he angry with me?" Eriri asked, head down. "Because I stopped him."

"Your approach will only make him angrier, but it won't change the object of his anger."

“I see…” Eriri’s voice was low.

"After all, you're the one who makes money for him."

"The last sentence is redundant."

Kasumigaoka Utaha chuckled, "I know."

“Actually… I thought I had let go.” Eriri’s voice was distant. “When he came to find me, I was quite happy.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha's gaze fell on Eriri.

“When he told me that I was different from you, I thought… but then…” Eriri paused, “If I had just thought he was talking nonsense, it wouldn’t have mattered, but… I could understand his thoughts, I understood them immediately.”

"Oh?"

"You know, back in elementary school, we parted ways because I was ostracized. Later, I made a lot of new friends, but he remained an otaku and even dragged a lot of people into it." Eriri murmured, "Back then, I was thinking, why... couldn't he be a secret otaku like me? I was forced to break off our friendship, I couldn't even talk to him at school, and I had to ignore his existence. I don't know how many times I cried in secret when I was alone."

“So, when he says he doesn’t agree with you and wants you to be a consumerist like him, you can understand his thinking.” Kasumigaoka Utaha’s eyelids lowered slightly. “But you’re different from him, aren’t you?”

"Hmm... Why can't he be like me? I always think that. But when I see him, when I see him talking about otaku with other people, I feel like he's so brave. I want to be like him, openly sharing my hobbies with others. But... I don't have that courage." Eriri smiled bitterly. "It was cowardly me who abandoned him, and that guilt has been haunting me ever since. If I could become a really good illustrator and create lots and lots of works he would like, that would be some kind of compensation—that's why I've been working so hard until now."

Eriri's small hands gripped the cold chains of the swing tightly. "But...but..."

"Because you're my follower! You have no other friends besides me, you're just a coward who always follows me around... If you become powerful, then I'll be all alone. So no matter how many people agree with you, it doesn't matter who they are, for me, the title of number one creator cannot be given to Sawamura Spencer Eriri."

Even childhood sweethearts with similar experiences can still have different thoughts.

Forced to separate from you, unable to be like you, I deeply admire and envy you, and in my own way, I strive to become a better version of myself for you.

Forced to separate from you, I can't let you be like me, ignoring your efforts, continuing my own life, stubbornly denying everything about you, waiting for you to become my follower again.

When the two meet, the harder the former tries, the further away the latter becomes. The further away they are, the more the former tries, and the more distant the latter becomes.

The latter is alright, since it didn't involve any effort.

But the former...

What about Eriri's hard work all this time?

Doesn't her long-standing guilt just become a joke?

A ridiculous joke that I can't laugh at.

“Even if that’s what he thinks, it’s okay… but why did he have to tell me…” Eriri couldn’t understand why he could say those things so casually…

No.

He's always been like this.

From your own perspective, say everything you want to say.

However... the Eriri of the past would have understood it from a different perspective.

The blonde girl with twin tails looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha beside her and asked, "Utaha, what... what was I doing before?"

With a slight push from her calves, Kasumigaoka Utaha swung leisurely, "Be yourself."

"Is it my own fault?"

“You’re lucky.” Kasumigaoka Utaha twitched the corner of her mouth. “If you hadn’t acted according to Eriri’s plan, you might have taken a long time to discover his true colors. Discovering is better than not discovering, and discovering sooner is better than discovering later.”

"really?"

“You say you haven’t let go, but you have already. If it were the old you, you probably would have focused on the later parts, just like he said, and been moved to tears by him,” Kasumigaoka Utaha pointed out. “But now, after letting go, you’ve seen the problem.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha was also acting strangely before.

Even though Aki Tomoya has played many bishoujo games, why does he act like a block of wood when faced with a beautiful woman who clearly wants to date him?

Until one day, she saw a joke.

An adult teases a child by offering them a choice between 10,000 yen and 500 yen.

The child always chooses the 500 yen option.

The child knows that 10,000 yen is more than 500 yen.

However, if the child chooses 10,000 yen, no one will offer to let them choose next time.

Chapter 286 Kobayashi Kashiwa

A very funny joke.

Kasumigaoka Utaha, however, couldn't bring herself to smile.

When a fox can't reach the grapes, it will say the grapes are sour.

But in the fox's mind, that bunch of grapes he couldn't reach had become a unique delicacy.