Please Give Me Your Son

After leaving the student council room, we headed toward the parking lot where Satsuki-san was waiting.

"Arisa-chan's coming over today, right?"

"Yeah! I wonder what got into her, wanting to suddenly stay the night? Maybe she had a fight with her mom or something?"

It's true that the last time she came over, she'd been planning it well in advance, but this time it came up on the day-of. There must have been some trigger, but she dodged the question, saying she'd talk about it tonight.

"Well, whatever it is, who cares! More importantly, I'm so looking forward to it! Can the three of us sleep together again?"

Kaede was proposing the three of us sleep together again. Kaede was embarrassed to say it herself, but she loved both me and Arisa. The three of us being together was something very special to her.

When we got to the school parking lot, Arisa was waiting in her gym uniform. She must have come straight from practice without changing back into her uniform. Thinking about changing clothes reminded me. What about Arisa's dress shirt and underwear for tomorrow?

"Hey, Arisa, are you okay for a change of clothes?"

I asked just in case, considering the possibility that Arisa might have spaced out about it.

"Ugh… I completely forgot… Hey, Shouya, would it be okay if we swung by my place before going to yours?"

Arisa hung her head and asked if we could stop by her house on the way. This confirmed both that Arisa had spaced out, AND that Arisa hadn't actually been intending to stay over since this morning because of a fight with her mom. She'd just suddenly hit on the idea of staying over right there on the spot today.

"Got it. Tell Satsuki-san where your house is."

"Thanks～"

"Hey, Arisa, if you're going to stay over at our place a bunch of times from now on, how about you bring extra underwear and clothes and leave them in my room? That way you can stay over anytime!"

"That's true… that might work… Hey, Shouya, is that okay with you? Me staying over all the time?"

Arisa asked for my approval. Like when Kaede contacted her mom earlier today, it feels like the final judgment often gets entrusted to me, to the male's will. That just goes to show how delicate the men of this world are, and how much consideration they're given.

"I'm fine with it… I have fun when you come over, Arisa…"

"Shouya! Thank you!"

Overjoyed, Arisa pounced on me. A faint scent rose from Arisa's chest, a mix of her usual smell and the scent of antiperspirant.

"Ah… sorry, I must smell sweaty…"

Realizing she'd just finished club practice, Arisa quickly pulled away from me. Like Aizawa-senpai before, the women of this world worry too much about their own smell, I think.

"No, you smelled nice."

I figured Arisa would be hurt if I tried to smooth it over awkwardly, so I said it casually, like it was nothing. Arisa turned bright red and started flustering.

"G-Geez! You always say things like that so easily!"

"Hey, Shouya, normal boys, you see, they don't like the smell of girls. So you're amazing, you know? Chatting this close to a girl, hugging her like that."

Masami-onee-chan explained for me since I clearly didn't grasp the situation. Men can pick up on a woman's natural scent (not fabric softener or perfume), and in the past this had been a good smell to them.

However, with the recent decline in male libido, men have come to either not perceive it as a good smell or even find it unpleasant. Inferring from Onee-chan's explanation, I'd guess that because my libido is strong, I'm able to perceive women's scents as pleasant.

"You really are amazing, Shouya!"

Once Kaede confirmed anew that I didn't shy away from women's smells, she hugged me. It might be a bit rude to Kaede, but for the sake of verification I buried my nose against the nape of her neck and inhaled deeply. There wasn't a single unpleasant smell to it. If anything, it had all sorts of nice scents, and I was desperately trying to keep my member from getting worked up.

"Ah, Kaede, that's not fair ♪ Me too ♪"

Masami-onee-chan, envious that Kaede had hugged me, latched onto me herself once Kaede let go. After that, Sakura, who'd come late, plus Karen-onee-chan and Arisa, all hugged me again too.

 

*

 

"Ah, here is fine."

Arisa directed Satsuki-san and we pulled up in front of her house.

"Okay, I'll go grab my stuff!"

With that, Arisa ran into her house.

After a little while, Arisa came back to the car with a fairly large bag.

"Shouya… my mom says she wants to meet you… will you come? It's totally fine if you can't!"

Arisa peeked at my expression and broached the meeting with her mom. She's my fiancee's mom, after all, so I'd been thinking I'd have to greet her at some point, but I didn't think it'd be this soon. I steeled myself and answered Arisa.

"Got it. I'll come."

I decided to follow Arisa and meet her mom, who was waiting at the entrance. Even from a distance you could tell she was tall, with the same hair and eye color as Arisa. Her appearance really makes you think this is what Arisa will look like when she grows up.

But like our own mom, she doesn't look like she has a high-school-aged child. In this world, conveniently, there are only beautiful women, and you never see anyone who looks aged either. Maybe the very genetics of humans here are different from my previous world.

"Ah, sorry for the sudden imposition, Shouya-kun. I'm Arisa's mother. Nice to meet you."

The fact that she said "nice to meet you" means she apparently knows my circumstances. That aside, Arisa's mom had a low voice, and I got the feeling she'd be scary if you made her angry.

"Nice to meet you… Arisa is always taking such good care of me…"

"Hehe. We're the ones in your debt. Arisa is always talking about nothing but you, Shouya-kun. I was worried she might be being a bother."

"Not at all! A bother, no way… Arisa is always helping me, always worrying about me… she's kind and cute and cool and honestly more than I deserve as a wife!"

In my eagerness to dispel any unwarranted suspicion against Arisa, I'd blurted it out. On top of that, I'd meant to bring up the marriage thing more properly, but it had just slipped out in the heat of the moment.

"I-I see… thank you. For saying all that about our daughter. She's rough and clumsy and noisy, but I'd be glad if you two get along for a long time."

As she said that, Arisa's mom bowed her head deeply. Seeing her, I followed suit and bowed too.

"Arisa, you make sure to protect Shouya-kun properly, you hear? And give my regards to Kaori-san."

"Yeah…"

Looking over at Arisa, she was bright red and looking down. Maybe she'd gotten embarrassed because I'd just gushed about her in front of her mom.

"Well then, have fun tonight, you two. Take care."

Arisa's mom kindly saw us off. Going by my previous-world sense, I half-expected something like "I'm not handing my daughter over." But in this world it's reversed, so I guess at some point Arisa is going to get told by my mom, "I'm not giving you my son!"?

I vaguely thought about future marriage stuff as we headed back to the car. Incidentally, things with Kaede and Sakura have already been settled in terms of marriage, and we've told Mom too. Marrying within the family is a fairly common thing, so the conversation went smoothly, and Mom was overjoyed about it too.

Of course I intend to marry Masami-onee-chan and Karen-onee-chan as well, but we haven't conveyed our feelings to each other yet, so it's not really set in stone.

"Ah, welcome back, you two. What was the talk about?"

"I went to tell her we're getting married, and basically say 'please take care of us.'"

"I see～ Then, Arisa, want to talk with our mom today too?"

"Eeeh!? So suddenly… I'm not mentally prepared…"

"It'll be fine! Mom is definitely going to approve! Because you two are this lovey-dovey close!"

Being called lovey-dovey to my face is a little embarrassing, but if that's how it looks from the outside, then there's nothing to worry about. I love Arisa so much that I can't even imagine not marrying her at this point.

"It'll be okay. I'm with you… if she says no, I might run away from home."

"Sh-Shouya-sama?!"

The one most shocked by my words was, surprisingly, Satsuki-san.

"Satsuki-san, Shouya was obviously joking～ He just means everything'll be that fine."

We all laughed at Satsuki-san not catching the joke, and we set off heading home.

 

*

 

After arriving at the house, Arisa and I decided to talk with Mom before dinner. If we were going to enjoy the maids' cooking, we wanted to clear up our worries first. We decided to talk in the living area of my room. There was a dining table, so we sat there and started the conversation.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about? Arisa-chan?"

Mom, being sharp, probably already had a good idea what Arisa was about to say, but she was deliberately not saying it. It's only proper for Arisa to bring it up herself.

"Kaori-san… please let me marry Shouya! Please!"

Arisa bowed her head so low to Mom that her forehead nearly touched the table.

"… I understand what you're saying, Arisa-chan. There's one thing I have to tell you before I can approve a marriage with Taku-chan… are you prepared to hear it?"

"Yes!"

Arisa met Mom's gaze with eyes full of strong resolve and answered.

"The matter is about Taku-chan's body. Taku-chan's rank is A. And not just any A. He's an A-rank that far exceeds the standard, at the level where you could call him Special A or even S. Taku-chan is a far more important presence than other men."

Hearing about my rank, Arisa seemed shocked. I could hear her draw a sharp breath beside me.

"With that in mind, Arisa-chan… do you have the resolve to marry Taku-chan… no, Shouya?"

Mom's tone was firmer than before, and her expression was more serious than I'd ever seen, as she questioned Arisa's resolve.

"I do! Rank or whatever, it doesn't matter! Shouya is precious to me… and I've always thought it was my role to support and protect Shouya with everything I have!"

"I see… I understand… please take good care of Taku-chan, Arisa-chan."

After a brief pause, Mom looked at Arisa and granted her permission to marry. In that instant, the tension left Arisa's shoulders and she went limp. I hurriedly caught her by the shoulders.

"Hehe ♪ Arisa-chan, you were so cool ♪ There's no way I was going to stop the two of you from marrying, but I felt I had to bring up the rank thing before the marriage… marrying Taku-chan comes with a lot of weight to carry."

Where had the cool mom from a moment ago gone? Now the kind, warm mom was back.

Come to think of it, even though I don't usually pay attention to it, I'm one of the most precious men in this world, and even among those, an especially precious one.

I reflected that I needed to keep in mind, when dating women, that I might be making them shoulder a heavy burden.