In the living room of the Shinra household, Kaede was frowning after Shizuku’s departure, looking dissatisfied.

“It’s wrong to suddenly decide on an arranged marriage without even explaining it to Nii-san.”

“..It’s not wrong if it’s that guy.”

What came to mind was the face of my father, whom I had not seen in nearly half a year.
I was born with my father’s image, and he had no expectations of me, nor any interest.

It was because he himself was aware, as I once was, that there are things that cannot be changed even by effort.

Therefore, he never expected too much from me, but only the bare minimum.

It is not that I dislike such a father.
It would have been harder for me if he had excessive expectations when  comparing to my talented imouto.

So, I don’t think anything of it.

I owe him a debt of gratitude for raising me as his son, and I love him as a family member, but I don’t respect him.

I don’t think he would want to be respected by his son either.

Still, it is true that I am confused by the news that came so suddenly.
Neither Kaede nor I have quite accepted the reality that we have been confronted with.

“I thought arranged-marriages were an event that used to happen a long time ago.”

“Nii-san, shall we turn him down?”

Kaede, sitting next to me, asked as she took my hand.

I could feel a slight tremor from her firm grip.

“…I’m going to decline first, but I don’t know how far the story has already progressed.”

Frankly, I’m not interested.
I think there are probably fewer people in this day and age who would accept such a sudden offer and say, “Yes, I understand.”

I am one of them.

However, I need to hear how this story came about and the disagreements between mother and father before I proceed any further.
The only thing I can do right now is to contact mom and ask her to take care of the remaining work.

“Kaede …I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Y, yes. …I understand.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.”

After patting Kaede, whose expression was darkened with anxiety, I got ready to go out.
It’s just a simple change of clothes, phone, and wallet.

I took a back street in the neighborhood, different from the road I usually take to school, and headed for someone’s house.
After walking about ten minutes, I pressed the intercom at the house and heard the other party’s voice through the window.

“Yes, who am I speaking to?”

“It’s me, Yuuto.”

Your friendly neighborhood, Ogiwara-kun in times of trouble, Yuuto-kun the smile manufacturing machine, Yuuto-kun the woman killer.
Heading to the house of Yuuto Ogiwara, who had many aliases, I just nonchalantly stated his name as my own in front of his house.

“What’s the matter, it’s unusual for Minato to come to my house.”

“Things have gotten a little messy.”

I cut him off just like that, and told him the gist of the story.

A sudden phone call from my father, that he had been talking about an arranged marriage, and that it would be taking place in the near future.

When I explained this, Yuuto’s expression changed as if he was surprised.

“You have someone …who’s willing to be your arranged marriage partner?”

“Oi… don’t be rude …I’m still worried about this, maybe someone quite a bit older will show up.”

Yuuto, who uttered those remarks, laughed and started thinking, saying that he was just joking.
I had previously asked Yuuto to help me with the Shiraishi case, and he seemed to have a pretty good idea why I was here.

“You came here to talk about the Shiraishi case because you might be stuck at home on this matter, right?

“Thank you for being so quick.”

If Shiraishi contacts me while I’m involved in household matters, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to respond.
At that time, I would leave it to Yuuto to handle the situation temporarily.

Neither Shizuku nor Kirasaka should be able to do that.
Those two are not compatible with Shiraishi.

Shizuku has a tendency to be reserved, and Kirasaka is the opposite, unreserved.
For Shiraishi, she is someone who anticipates the flow of conversation. But Yuuto is someone who can be flexible in his interactions, and thus, the right person for the job.

“I’ll skip Shiraishi’s story since you already knows it, but there are three possible outcomes.”

“First one being sticking with her idea of being the student body president, the other being the executive committee …what’s the third one?”

“Both.”

Hearing the third option, Yuuto smiled bitterly.

“It’s also a choice …isn’t it?”

“Well, …it’s only a possibility.”

Even the smallest possibility, as long as it came to my head, I add it.
We should be able to settle on one of the two main ideas, but even so I should still be prepared in case she wants to fulfill both of them.

So, I told Yuuto that I wanted him to contact Shiraishi to let me know what her current thoughts were on the two main ideas.

“I don’t mind contacting her, but wouldn’t it be better if …Minato contacted her instead?”

“Do you think …I’d be good at texting with girls?”

“Impossible.”

Immediate response.
He stated clearly.

Then, he smiled and nodded.

“Ok, I’ll contact Shiraishi-san from my side …anything else?”

“I’ll call and let you know when the situation at my house will be taken care of on my end …If I may, I’d like to hear Shiraishi’s thoughts once before that.”

My small brain doesn’t have the capacity to handle such issues for such long periods of time.
Besides, it would be preferable for me to be able to go about my troublesome affairs without having to think about them.

Yuuto said he understood, and then anxiously questioned me.

“Does Kanazaki-san know about …that, uh, arranged marriage?”

“Oh …I talked to her earlier. She just left saying he had something to do.”

“I see. …then that’s fine.”

Yuuto sighed, perhaps worried that I was keeping it a secret from Shizuku.
We exchanged a final goodbye and I left, asking him to contact me later.

“Well …did Kanazaki-san go to Kirasaka-san’s house or something?”

Yuuto muttered to himself as he looked at his friend’s back till it was completely out of sight.

Leaving his words to be drowned in the sounds of residential area. 
“Yosha!” he said and started contacting his kouhai to fulfill a request from his best friend.