My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2  

Heart Flutter

Kiyoka simply stood there motionless, completely devastated.

He was unable to chase after Miyo as she turned and ran from the room, as if the soles of his feet were glued to the floor.

How? How could this happen?

Since the previous night, Kiyoka had asked himself over and over again how he could possibly resolve things, and now he was again unsure what to do.

“Well, obviously you’re not being sensitive enough of her feelings, Commander.”

Earlier that day, Godou had started spouting unsolicited advice, but Kiyoka had found it convincing and decided to make an effort to compromise little by little.

He was confident that he and Miyo’s feelings for each other had deepened to this point.

Kiyoka had asked Miyo for her love, and she had answered him.

“I love you, darling.”

That moment had made him so happy that it was like a dream come true. He was even embarrassed by the sheer elation he’d felt.

However, he also understood that his and Miyo’s relationship didn’t at all resemble that of lovers or married couples.

The farthest they’d gone was a childish kiss. From there, hugging and holding hands. They had maintained their overly chaste relationship—on par with children’s playtime—ever since.

He didn’t need someone like Godou to remind him of this; Kiyoka was worried that even after the wedding ceremony, they may not ever take the next step.

Which was exactly what had led to his blunder.

“Gaaah…”

Kiyoka held his head in his hands, heaved a heavy sigh, and crouched down.

If anyone saw him looking like this, he knew he would be teased about it for the rest of his life. Yet this was one moment where he couldn’t bear not to.

Last night was a huge mistake.

He had been too hasty. He had rushed things—it was all he could say. She’d had every right to say she hated him and to condemn him for being a shameless lecher.

Miyo hadn’t forgiven me after all, then.

If only he hadn’t acted so forcefully with her.

“…In fact, I…I h-hate you…!”

Her rejection stung deep in his chest.

Lecherous, shameless—she was completely correct. He had no excuses. He wanted to cry, but he didn’t deserve to.

After being tormented by his regret for a spell, Kiyoka rose vigorously to his feet. Then he quickly headed to his room and wasted no time in taking off his sleepwear and putting on his work uniform.

After roughly running a comb through his long hair, still slightly damp from the bath, he quickly tied it together with his light blue hair cord.

Then Kiyoka finished getting himself ready to head to work and left the house, as if to escape.

It was just like he was deserting under fire. A miserable, shameful retreat.

“So you spent the whole night here in the station? Yikes…pfft.”

Kazushi Tatsuishi wrinkled his brow before bursting into a guffaw. He’d arrived around noon, well after the sun had risen high in the sky.

Although he wasn’t a part of the military, he was a Gift-user and worked under Kiyoka, so he often had reason to visit the station.

Next to Kazushi, Godou was also clutching his stomach and struggling to suck in air.

“D-don’t laugh at him… Pfft, hyuk-hyuk… Th-the commander’s really serious here.”

Godou’s shameful attempt at reprimanding Kazushi brought Kiyoka’s irritation to its peak.

Kiyoka hadn’t confessed to Godou the details of what was troubling him.

But when his subordinate showed up that morning to hear the troops on the late shift talking about how the commander had suddenly turned back up at the station after going home that night, and how he’d holed up in his office and worked until sunup, Godou was able to connect the dots.

After that, Godou took things a step further by revealing it all to Kazushi once he got there later, leading to Kiyoka’s current predicament.

…Should I strangle him? No.

He didn’t have the energy or endurance for that.

Last night, Kiyoka had left the house, returned to the station, and spent the whole time at his desk. But he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything and wound up accomplishing nothing.

Worse still, whenever he would grow a bit absentminded, the things Miyo had said to him would fill his mind in a matter of seconds.

“…In fact, I…I h-hate you…!”

“I didn’t take you for being so lecherous!”

“You’re shameless! I can’t believe it!”

Just remembering this tore at his heart. But after reflecting deeply once more, he’d concluded that his conduct warranted such a biting reaction.

“Haah…”

When Kiyoka heaved a tremendous sigh, the laughter of his two subordinates grew more intense still. It was more grating than he could bear.

Above all else, Kiyoka was disgusted with himself.

“I’m angry.”

The image of his fiancée as she told him this flashed through his mind: her black, slightly teary pupils, and her upturned eyes and brows. Her lips, tightly pressed in a pout. And her glare, lacking any punch whatsoever, projecting vulnerability.

While Miyo had raged, a thought had impudently crossed Kiyoka’s mind: that she was adorable, lovely.

There’s something wrong with me.

It was clearly rude to think someone cute when they were truly irate.

But instead of feeling sad, or being tormented by pain, Kiyoka had felt only those inexcusable emotions, along with regret, after seeing Miyo look purely angry for the first time.

In fact, he’d even felt a bit touched to see that Miyo was secure enough to get angry at him.

As he ruminated on this all through the night, these emotions had simply circulated over and over through his head.

“I have to say, Commander, if you’re troubled, you don’t look it.”

Godou pointed this out while wiping away his tears from laughing too much.

“Oh, I know what it is. His love for his fiancé is overwhelming, even when they’re fighting, is that it?” Kazushi declared, nearly hitting the nail on the head together with a shrug of his shoulders and an exasperated sigh, to which Godou nodded.

“Right, just a lovers’ quarrel.”

“Yup, a lovers’ quarrel indeed.”

Despite normally getting on like cats and dogs, Kazushi and Godou had moments of being in perfect, exasperated sync. At this point, Kiyoka was too exhausted to be irritated by every little thing they said.

The phrase lovers’ quarrel did indeed apply here, but…

Even still, for her to get so angry like that…

He was happy that Miyo had gotten angry with him; it was testament to how trusting their relationship had become. But when he asked himself if it was in Miyo’s character for her to act this way, the answer was no.

In other words, he had hurt her so badly that she had been driven to behave completely unlike herself.

“You two.”

This time, Kiyoka resolved to put his pride aside.

Fully aware of the sullen look on his face, Kiyoka reluctantly asked a question of Godou and Kazushi, who, if their sly grins were anything to go by, already seemed to know they were in for something juicy.

“…What’s an effective way to apologize to a woman?”

Needless to say, the price he paid was being forced into sharing with them a topic that was going to condemn him to a lifetime of teasing.

Two days had passed since the night when Miyo had unleashed one outrageous remark after another on Kiyoka.

Things were still awkward and stilted between them.

This was because Miyo would end up saying things that didn’t reflect her true feelings whenever she went to talk with Kiyoka. Hence, the only option was to avoid conversation altogether. Now she was avoiding coming in contact with Kiyoka as much as possible.

She couldn’t hope for the situation to improve under such circumstances.

What in the world happened to me…?

She felt physically fine, and nothing about her body seemed abnormal. Furthermore, she could still engage in conversation normally with everyone other than Kiyoka.

“What’s wrong with me, Yurie?”

“Hmmm, well.”

Appearing at Kiyoka’s house for the first time in several days, Yurie lent an ear to Miyo’s concerns, looking deep in thought.

“Are you sure you’re not just feeling a bit nervous with the ceremony on the horizon?”

Her exceedingly reasonable explanation left Miyo silent.

If that was what someone with far more life experience than her like Yurie was saying, then maybe there was nothing more to it. Still, would mere nervousness cause her lips to move on their own?

“…I can’t believe I would say such terrible things to Kiyoka and not even be able to apologize.”

Whenever she tried to apologize or convey anything approaching that sentiment, her throat would immediately seize up and her voice wouldn’t come out.

Yet nothing untoward happened at all when she spoke with Yurie like this.

“Oh, it’s almost time for the master and mistress to arrive,” the old woman commented, happening to look up at the clock.

Kiyoka’s parents, Tadakiyo and Fuyu, were scheduled to come visit today. The two had never been to his house before, but as they would be staying in the imperial capital for the wedding, Tadakiyo had asked if they could come by.

Incidentally, Kiyoka had simply replied to their request with an offhanded “Let them do what they want.”

Regardless, Kiyoka was at work again today, so he wouldn’t be there to see his parents.

Just before noon, when it had grown warmer from the thin rays of sun peeking through the cloud cover, Tadakiyo and Fuyu both arrived by automobile.

“Hiya—koff, koff… Good to see you.”

A middle-aged man dressed in several layers, as though it were still the dead of winter—Tadakiyo Kudou—got out first, giving a casual wave.

His constitution was as poor as ever.

Next, a woman wearing a dress with a thick shawl over her shoulders grabbed Tadakiyo’s hand and stepped slowly out of the car. It was Kiyoka’s mother, Fuyu.

She looked much the same as when Miyo had seen her a few days prior; she was wearing an expensive dress and had a stern look in her eye.

“Quite a shabby shack, isn’t it?” Fuyu spat out at the first opportunity, putting her fan up to her mouth.

N-no surprises there…

“Welcome, we’ve been expecting you,” Miyo said, chuckling dryly on the inside.

Fuyu had never made any attempt to come to Kiyoka’s house up until now.

That was probably because it was located in a peaceful rural suburb, slightly outside the center of the capital, and she had learned through hearsay about what sort of house Kiyoka had bought for himself.

Even Miyo was able to get a rough idea beforehand about how Fuyu, with her taste in Western furnishings, and lavish, eye-catching items, would react to seeing a house so completely opposed to her preferences.

Although this quality of hers made her seem shallow and superficial, Miyo now knew that there was much more to her than that.

“Come now, Fuyu.”

“It’s the truth. It’s honestly appalling that the head of the Kudou family would be living in such a meager hovel.”

Fuyu was undaunted by Tadakiyo’s scolding.

After laughing at her response and putting on a chipper smile that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking, Tadakiyo turned his eyes to Yurie, standing at Miyo’s side.

“Oh, hello, Yurie. Fuyu’s kept me informed somewhat, but it’s good to see you again. I’m glad to see you in such good health.”

“Pardon me for going so long without keeping in touch. As you see, I’m still happily working as the young master’s servant.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine.”

“Please, come in.”

Waiting for the right moment once the greetings were finished, Miyo urged Tadakiyo and Fuyu inside the house.

But as they passed through, Tadakiyo came to a halt and stared curiously at her.

“Miyo.”

“Yes?”

“Hmm.” He nodded once as if convinced of something. Miyo unconsciously blinked in confusion over why he’d addressed her.

He then slipped right through the narrow entryway as if nothing had happened.

What was that all about?

Miyo turned to face Yurie, and they both cocked their heads, but neither of them could figure out what he’d meant by it.

While Yurie went to the kitchen to get the tea and snacks, Miyo showed Tadakiyo and Fuyu to the living room alone, offering them each a floor cushion.

The entire time, Fuyu continued to voice her displeasure.

“Why, there’s not a shred of dignity to this place. Nothing of the sort. Do you not agree, Tadakiyo?”

“Now, now, don’t say that. I’m sure…Kiyoka probably considered all the options at the time and thought this would be best.”

“How naive.”

The living room seemed small now that Tadakiyo, in his thick layers, and Fuyu, sharply dressed in Western fashion, were there. Ignoring her future mother-in-law’s dissatisfaction, Miyo turned her thoughts to Kiyoka’s past.

A fair bit of time had gone by since she had started living with Kiyoka.

And during their days together, Miyo had heard a few things about his past, fragmented though they were.

Kiyoka…must have been very hurt.

Apparently, he had begun considering this house when he’d decided to join the military, then he moved in right after graduating from the imperial university.

It was, needless to say, the death of Godou’s father that had prompted him to join the military.

Kiyoka was a kind man. As a Gift-user, as a military officer—and as the head of the Kudou family. He felt the weight of all his different responsibilities, and to meet them, he’d gotten hurt, had suffered, and had pushed through again and again.

With so much weighing on him, he had wanted to at least enjoy a quite private life, one that wouldn’t be threatened by a large number of people.

And he’d wanted to marry a woman who could adapt well to this lifestyle.

“…Kiyoka bought this place with his own money, not the family’s, so you should accept his thoughts on the matter,” Tadakiyo said, a far-off look in his eyes. Miyo wanted to nod vigorously in agreement.

Kiyoka had purchased the house with his own funds, reward money he’d earned from taking down grotesqueries as a Gift-user during his university years. It was clearly an expression of his resolve.

Fuyu glanced at Tadakiyo and simply huffed through her nose.

“Thank you for waiting.”

Yurie appeared in the living room, carrying a tray.

From there, the conversation turned largely toward reminiscing about days long past. The time when Tadakiyo, Fuyu, Yurie, Kiyoka, and Hazuki had all lived in the Kudou main estate.

Fuyu claimed that talking about the past was boring, and she chose to remain silent and sullen, but the conversation between Tadakiyo and Yurie grew quite lively.

“I was never really in the house very much, so I ended up relying on you all the time, didn’t I, Yurie?”

“Oh, come now, Master, you’re far too kind.”

“If it wasn’t for you, I doubt Hazuki and Kiyoka would have grown into the respectable people they are. I’m really grateful for all you’ve done.”

“…You have some complaints about how I educated them, then?” Fuyu quipped.

“Ah-ha-ha. Come now, Fuyu, you didn’t show the children very much attention, did you?”

As Miyo listened on pins and needles, her face stiffened.

Hearing these stories from the past was fascinating and fun, but Tadakiyo could be quite biting, despite the smile on his face. He was especially unrelenting on Fuyu at various points in the conversation.

The same thing had happened when Miyo had first gone to the Kudou family villa. Tadakiyo was always smiling, so it was easy to get the wrong impression, but he wasn’t a very kind person.

That was why Miyo was impressed that Yurie could brush him off, looking quite accustomed to it all.

“You were always focused on me instead of the children, after all. Heh-heh, cute, isn’t she? That’s another part I love about her.”

“T-Tadakiyo! What do you think you’re talking about?!”

Fuyu’s eyes goggled in shock, and she hurriedly tried to stop Tadakiyo. However, her husband remained aloof and unperturbed.

Miyo couldn’t help feeling pity for Fuyu.

In the end, Fuyu stood up, unable to bear another second of it, and left the living room, saying she was going to go see the rest of the house.

Yurie then offered to guide her, leaving just Tadakiyo and Miyo alone together.

There was a brief silence.

From beyond the screen doors left open in the living room, she could see the verdure of the lush flowers and trees in early bloom, looking slightly hazy from the dry spring dust.

She heard the warbling of birds and the rustle of an intermittent breeze.

As the inside of the quiet room filled with the sounds of nature, Miyo felt a presence about Tadakiyo that reminded her of Kiyoka.

…Father and Kiyoka really do look alike.

Her fiancé’s personality and his paleness took after Fuyu. Nevertheless, as she silently sat across from Tadakiyo, she noticed that the air felt like it did when she was with Kiyoka.

Like a sharpened, taut string, accompanied by a slight chill, yet with some amount of softness…that sort of atmosphere.

“Miyo,” Tadakiyo said abruptly. She stared back at him.

“Yes?”

“So where exactly did you pick up that curse of yours?”

Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t immediately grasp what he had said to her.

Tadakiyo’s words were so at odds with his demeanor, using his elbow on the table to prop up his cheek, spoken with an elegant bearing and look in his eyes, as if idly chitchatting, that Miyo’s thoughts continued to go around and around in her head.

“Huh…?”

The only thing she managed to force out was that single sound, hard to distinguish from a normal gasp of breath.

Tadakiyo gave Miyo an amused look. Apparently, he found the situation funny.

“There’s a curse on you right now. Calling it a curse is a bit excessive, though… Pretty amateurish work.”

“C-curse…? Um, on me?”

Her heart thumped with an ominous tone. Sweat began to seep from her hands.

Curses, or hexes, were a type of arts used by arts practitioners. Anything that produced a particularly negative result, even among other arts, was given this moniker.

Miyo had heard that as long as one went through all the steps and offered up the right price, even an amateur could potentially kill someone with them.

She’d struggled to get her question out, but Tadakiyo wore a cool smile and nodded.

“That’s right. It’s been bothering me since we’ve arrived. Have you not noticed it?”

“N-not at all…”

It was obviously a complete shock to Miyo. While she had studied them a little bit, her knowledge of arts was essentially zero, so she hadn’t realized it was there. The same was true for Kiyoka.

“K-Kiyoka didn’t say anything, either…”

No matter how awkward things may have been between them, curses were a serious matter. Miyo had a hard time believing that Kiyoka would purposefully ignore one on her.

Tadakiyo’s smile broke for the first time this visit. He blinked at her in shock.

“Really? Kiyoka really didn’t say anything about it to you?”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t believe it. Then, this must be his doing… No, what am I saying? Kiyoka would never use such a sloppy hex, especially not on his beloved fiancée of all people,” Tadakiyo mumbled to himself with a hand on his chin, deep in thought. As he did, Miyo grew anxious.

What should I do? What if this curse is something serious or life-threatening? Am I going to die?

“Hold on now,” Tadakiyo said, his gentle smile returning. “You don’t have to worry about this at all. It’s just a crude charm really—calling it a ‘curse’ makes it sound worse than it really is. It certainly isn’t powerful enough to cause any life-threatening damage, and it won’t harm you physically, either.”

“It—it won’t?”

“Yeah. It’s an itsy-bitsy hex—doesn’t even need to be dispelled right away. It’s just powerful enough to make you say some unfortunate things.”

“Unfortunate things…”

There were all too many examples. Tadakiyo had also described the curse as a “charm”; that brought something else to Miyo’s mind.

She found it hard to believe, but there was no reason for Tadakiyo to lie.

In which case, who had cast the curse on her…?

Looking at Miyo break into a cold sweat, Tadakiyo started to chuckle.

“That said, I can’t believe that Kiyoka of all people didn’t notice. He may be my son, but I can’t help laughing. Hee-hee, hah-hah-hah! Koff, koff!”

The situation clearly striking him as comical, Tadakiyo clutched his stomach and guffawed, convulsing with enough laughter to fall flat on the table. Then he broke into a coughing fit.

“U-um…”

Miyo, wishing to ask what exactly was going on, waited for Tadakiyo’s nonstop laughter to subside.

Finally, Tadakiyo managed to adjust his posture, take a few wheezing breaths, and turn to Miyo.

“The curse on you is very light and weak, but it’s also clumsy enough that the average arts practitioner should have been able to spot it with a bit of attention. Yet Kiyoka didn’t say a word about it?”

“That’s right.”

When Miyo nodded, Tadakiyo looked on the verge of bursting into more laughter, only to quickly cup his hand over his mouth, before stating his view of the situation.

“I think it’s likely that Kiyoka didn’t notice the curse.”

“What? But…”

If the hex was something even an average arts practitioner could pick up on, then how could someone like Kiyoka—who had a first-class command of their Gift and arts—have failed to notice? How could that be?

Tadakiyo answered Miyo’s question frankly.

“Too much excitement and joy.”

“…Excitement.”

Who was excited about what? He couldn’t possibly mean Kiyoka, could he?

That can’t be…

There wasn’t any other word less applicable to Kiyoka than excitement.

Of course, there were times when he was in a good mood. But he never once got carried away with it. At least not that Miyo knew of.

Tadakiyo slowly shook his head at her bewilderment.

“He must be really looking forward to your wedding. Overlooking such an amateurish curse is proof enough. He’s so excited, he’s not keeping a close eye on what’s around him.”

“Kiyoka is…?”

It sounded far-fetched. But when she considered the possibility that Kiyoka was strongly anticipating their wedding, Miyo suddenly felt heat come to her cheeks.

That makes me so happy.

He, too, felt the same intense joy as Miyo.

A warm sensation filled her chest—the warmth that Kiyoka had gifted her up until now. It was all swelling up inside Miyo, threatening to burst forth.

“…That’s a nice look on your face. I wish happiness to you both.”

Miyo could no longer see the coldness that was usually in Tadakiyo’s eyes. Instead, there was only affection, and it seemed to envelop her.

With her heart so full, Miyo could only nod in response to his observation.

She was happy. About anything and everything. Even this curse had showed her a new, unexpected side to Kiyoka, so she couldn’t bring herself to hate it.

It now seemed like all her torment from a short while ago had been but a dream.

Tadakiyo and Fuyu left shortly after noon, without taking lunch.

Miyo had consulted with Yurie about feeding them both, but as usual, Fuyu was stubbornly against the idea.

“I’d say it would be quite poor manners to expect me to eat a shabby meal in such a shabby hovel like this, wouldn’t you?”

After seeing Fuyu’s sharp glare, Miyo knew she had no hope of keeping them.

And so, Miyo fixed a simple lunch with Yurie, then made preparations for dinner. Yurie headed home once the sun had started to dip.

Orange evening sunlight streamed through the window.

While it hadn’t been perfectly clear weather today, the laundry Miyo had set out was completely dry. She neatly folded up the freshly gathered clothes and breathed a sigh of relief.

A charm… Perhaps Kimio knew something about it?

She found her thoughts drifting to what Tadakiyo had told her about curses.

There was one thing in particular that she was fixated on: the story Kimio had told her during the cooking class. Kimio had definitely called it a “charm.”

And that same night, Miyo had started saying inflammatory things to Kiyoka against her will.

The coincidence was too great to ignore. Plus, Kimio’s charm lined up with Tadakiyo’s explanation.

In which case, had Kimio knowingly placed a curse on Miyo, or had she simply brought up the story to her as a bit of fun and nothing more?

When Miyo thought back to Kimio’s demeanor at that time, she couldn’t find an answer.

Regardless, I need to talk about this with Kiyoka.

Miyo made a fist and quietly psyched herself up.

The curse hadn’t been lifted. Tadakiyo had told her that if she wanted to dispel it, she should make Kiyoka do it. Miyo assumed this was Tadakiyo’s way of telling her to work things out with his son.

Given the effects of the curse, he must have realized that Miyo and Kiyoka’s current relationship was a tad awkward.

It would require courage to talk to Kiyoka while she was still under the hex.

She was also still terrified that she might accidentally hurt Kiyoka again, so she couldn’t help balking at the task.

However, Miyo convinced herself that if she was simply explaining the curse to him, there wouldn’t be any problems.

It was totally dark outside. Once Miyo had finished preparing dinner, the sound of an automobile engine echoed, and Kiyoka returned home.

“I’m home.”

“W-welcome back…”

“Thanks.” Kiyoka seemed somewhat stilted as he replied to Miyo’s timid bow. “Father and Mother came by today, right? How was that?”

Kiyoka brought up the subject in passing, just as he had taken off his shoes and stepped beyond the entryway, prompting Miyo to steel herself and turn to him.

“Um, Kiyoka?”

“Wh-what is it?”

Although he had backed away slightly, Kiyoka matched Miyo’s gaze back down to her.

“Father told me something: Apparently, I’ve been cursed.”

She would never forget the look on Kiyoka’s face when he heard this.

His expression was somewhat inscrutable: a combination of dumbfounded, deflated, and slightly foolish.

“Uh, what? You’re cursed?”

After standing there flabbergasted for a moment, Kiyoka returned to his senses and quickly looked Miyo over from top to bottom.

“Really…? A curse?”

A pitiful look came to Kiyoka’s face. He seemed at a total loss and appeared ready to sink into the floor at a moment’s notice. Imprudent it may have been, Miyo found it adorable, and she tried desperately to stop a smile from coming to her lips.

“R-right, then! We need to dispel it, right aw—”

“Kiyoka.”

Miyo straightened up and quickly called out to Kiyoka again.

This was a golden opportunity. By asking the right questions of Kiyoka, just as Tadakiyo had said, Miyo could stop things from being so awkward between them.

“Kiyoka, have you been letting your excitement get the better of you?”

Perhaps due to the effects of the curse, her voice had a prickly tinge to it. But Miyo didn’t let this trip her up and stood firm.

Kiyoka immediately stopped moving and froze up once more.

“E-excited? Me?”

“Yes. Father said it himself. That you didn’t notice this curse because you’re so happy about the wedding.”

“Wh-what are you—”

Kiyoka began to object before falling silent. All of the sudden, his cheeks were redder than she had ever seen before, and he was furling his bangs.

“That… He might be right…,” Kiyoka said in a voice so fragile that Miyo questioned if she’d actually heard him or not. Her stoic fiancé was beside himself with embarrassment.

A tone somewhere between a moan and a grunt escaped his lips as he alternately opened, then closed, his mouth, until finally, he let out a long sigh of resignation.

“Haaah. I don’t really have any excuses here… That’s right. I was probably too excited. Too overjoyed at the prospect of marrying you.”

“Kiyoka.”

“God, I’m pathetic… Condition critical. Honestly, you could say just about anything to me right now, and I wouldn’t get the slightest bit angry…”

Kiyoka didn’t say the rest. The next moment, however, he took Miyo in his arms.

He was bent over slightly, and it felt as though he was enveloping her entirely.

“If you don’t like this, then tell me.”

Miyo didn’t mind. She tried to say as much but remained silent.

The curse hadn’t been dispelled yet, so if she opened her mouth right now, she would verbally berate Kiyoka again. She was totally fine with his hug, but she knew she would accidentally say she hated it.

The hex seemed to come into effect every time she tried to make her feelings clear to Kiyoka, forcing her to say the opposite instead.

So instead of answering him, she simply wrapped her arms around his back.

The broad, sturdy, and dependable back of the man who had fought for, protected, and shielded Miyo on countless occasions. What could she possibly dislike about brushing against him like this?

“I can assume what you said about hating me was the work of the curse, then?”

“…………”

She neither agreed nor disagreed with him. She didn’t even nod, just wrapped her arms around him a bit tighter.

“And I can trust what you said about liking me?”

“Everything from the past two days…is the fault of the curse.”

After Miyo finally gave Kiyoka a brief answer, he smiled at her with relief.

“That’s enough, then. I won’t ask you to forgive me for being careless, spineless, and not noticing the danger you were in.”

Miyo lightly closed her eyes.

There wasn’t anything to forgive him for. If her life had truly been in danger, then she was sure Kiyoka would have noticed. That was the type of man he was.

He held Miyo dear and showed her more tenderness than anyone else.

I like you… I love you.

Though she couldn’t say it right now, as soon as this curse was dispelled, she wanted to convey her feelings again, this time without any shyness or embarrassment. Though she might not adapt to calling him “darling” right away, she wanted it to eventually become second nature.

As Miyo gave her body over to the warmth being exchanged between them, Kiyoka whispered.

“Even if this was all the work of this curse, I was glad to see you get angry.”

“Huh?”

“Um, well, you just look so cute when you’re mad.”

“…”

How was Miyo supposed to handle this confession of his? She was seriously perplexed.

Was there anything to find cute about someone being angry? Did he mean to tell her that he’d always been thinking about how adorable she was, even when he’d worn that look of utter shock during their fight?

I-I’m not so sure about that.

Now in a rather complex state of mind, Miyo smoothly freed herself from Kiyoka’s embrace.

“Miyo?”

“Th-there really is something off with you, Kiyoka!”

Letting the words of the curse escape her lips, she fled from Kiyoka. However, there were no longer any dark clouds lingering in her chest.

The only thing that remained was her fondness for him.

The next day, Kiyoka and Godou met with their direct superior, Masashi Ookaito, in the station reception room.

They took a seat at a pair of sofas separated by a table: Kiyoka and Godou on one and Ookaito on the other. The major general looked conflicted.

“Sorry for coming out of the blue.”

“Not a problem, sir,” Kiyoka replied to Ookaito’s frowning apology.

Kiyoka had only just arrived at the station when he got word from Ookaito that he would be coming over to discuss a slightly troublesome matter.

The sheer abruptness of his request had made it clear to Kiyoka that it was something serious.

This was how Kiyoka and Godou had ended up sitting across from their superior.

“So what did you want to discuss?” Kiyoka asked, leading Ookaito to nod once and begin.

“Are you tied up this afternoon?”

“No, not particularly.”

“Pardon how sudden this is, but there’s a request for assistance that I’d like you to take on. It concerns grotesqueries, of course.”

This was all way too sudden—the words rose up in his throat, but he gulped them down.

With how humble and grateful his superior was acting, Kiyoka had no room to criticize him any further. Ookaito himself must have known perfectly well how absurd this request of his was.

The general seemed to sense Kiyoka’s thoughts. His harsh look tightened with even more regret.

“I’m sorry… The inquiry came from a married couple in the Nagaba family.”

“The Nagabas? They have quite a deep relationship with the military, don’t they? If I’m not mistaken, they have ties to the General Staff Office, too,” Godou remarked, and Ookaito affirmed.

“Right. That’s why it was really hard to refuse… Sorry for the trouble.”

“That’s not a problem, but what makes it so urgent?”

Kiyoka’s question was met with a deep, deep sigh.

“The other party in question insisted on consulting with you as fast as possible and forced it through. I tried to negotiate on my end of things, but then they started vaguely threatening to crush the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit if I didn’t respond immediately.”

High-handedness from the top brass of the military was nothing new.

The Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit had been established to incorporate Gift-users, a potentially powerful weapon, into the military to be part of their fighting force.

But it had been several decades since it was founded.

The goals and views that had inspired its inception were growing faint.

As a result, there were many people—even among the top brass—who ascribed to their own arbitrary evaluation of the unit. Some called it a thorn in their side, others were adamant it was unnecessary, and still others disparaged it as the do-nothing unit.

In essence, this was proof that their society was relatively peaceful, since the Gift-users did not need to be utilized as weapons.

Nevertheless, even Kiyoka hoped that the unit would be spared from being forced into these unreasonable circumstances going forward.

Might be a good idea to really drive it home before I quit.

He was going to be out of the military soon either way.

In which case, it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to push back against the top brass and try to create a better environment for Godou when he took over.

“I’ve been told this request stems from someone in the Nagaba family being haunted by a grotesquerie. This is your area of expertise, though, so I don’t necessarily have a full grasp of the situation.”

“I see,” Kiyoka said with a small sigh. “Not a problem. If that’s how it is, we don’t have any choice but to accept the request. We’ll be in trouble if we complicate our relationship with leadership. That said, can you promise that we’ll have discretion to handle the response ourselves?”

They wouldn’t know until they heard the full details, but it would likely take more than Kiyoka and Godou to do an actual investigation.

Ookaito agreed with Kiyoka’s point and nodded.

“That works for me. I’ll relay the message.”

“Thank you.”

With their business wrapped up for now, Godou heaved a large, exaggerated sigh.

“Major Generaaaal, am I reaaaally going to be the next commander?”

As the conversation shifted from business to private, Ookaito’s expression softened.

“If you don’t want to, then come up with someone else.”

“Major General, I don’t believe it is good to coddle Godou so much.”

“Sorry. We go way back. Just can’t shake the old habits.”

Ookaito looked apologetic at Kiyoka’s candid comment.

As evinced by his previous engagement and marriage to Hazuki, the daughter of the Kudou family, Ookaito had been expected to serve as a bridge between the military and the Gift-users from a young age.

He’d been connected to the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit even before he rose to the rank of major general and was installed as their overseer.

In fact, his relationship to the detachment went back to the period when it was headed by Itsuto Godou.

“But if you really don’t want to be promoted to commander, make sure to tell me soon. In all likelihood, I’ll need to start thinking about restructuring the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit once Kiyoka’s gone, along with the second unit, too.”

“So that really will be necessary, will it?”

“Of course. You’re leaving some big shoes to fill. Now, obviously, I’ll have you working as a collaborator even after you leave the military, but things aren’t going to be the same.”

Kiyoka intended to spare no effort in collaborating with the unit, not as a military officer but as a simple Gift-user.

Nevertheless, as Ookaito said, his absence would be acutely felt. They would need to reexamine the personnel of the organization to figure out how to fill the hole he was leaving behind.

The second unit in the old capital was filled with many skilled Gift-users as well.

Based on that, they would likely have to decide on new adjutants and squad leaders below the commander as well.

Things are going to change a lot around here.

Kiyoka felt a slight hint of sorrow when he reflected on his workplace and the extended period he’d spend there.

Given the urgency with which he’d contacted the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, Ookaito was unable to talk for long and left quickly after that.

Kiyoka attended to his usual workload with Godou and waited for the afternoon appointment concerning the incident they would be attending to.

The Nagabas arrived at the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station. They came across as rather stern.

“…I’m Nagaba. Appreciate the help.”

A kimono-clad man wearing a hat and carrying a cane, and a similarly graceful woman. The two appeared around Kiyoka and Miyo’s age, respectively.

While Kiyoka certainly wasn’t one to comment on such matters, Mr. Nagaba’s sullen, unfriendly countenance and brusque tone stood out at first glance.

The man’s wife, standing behind him at an angle, modestly introduced herself as Kimio. Despite the smile on her face, she looked frightfully frail.

“I’m the commander of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, Kiyoka Kudou. This is my aide, Godou.”

“Godou, at your service.”

After Kiyoka and Godou had introduced themselves, Nagaba gave a hmph, while Kimio averted her eyes and bowed her head as she responded with a grateful and apologetic “Thank you very much for your assistance.”

Though Kiyoka felt a vague note of discomfort in the air, he guided the two to the station reception room.

“Now then, can you explain in detail what you wished to discuss with us?”

After everyone had sat down, Godou took the initiative and drove the flow of the meeting.

Nagaba parted his sullen lips with a somewhat reluctant look.

“Before I explain anything, this is an extremely shameful matter for our family. It will be an embarrassment if it becomes widely known. I assume you will keep this all secret?”

“But of course. Protecting confidentiality is a basic part of our work. There’ll be no undue leaks of information, I assure you,” Godou replied. It was impossible to tell if he was flashing an ingratiating smile or his usual flippant one, prompting Nagaba to send him and Kiyoka a dubious glare.

“I wonder about that… Should anything happen, don’t expect to survive with your jobs intact.”

“Yikes… Yes, we understand.”

The amusement vanished from Godou’s eyes.

Godou, clearly repulsed by Nagaba’s comment, had said “Yikes” in a quiet enough voice that only Kiyoka could hear it next to him. Kiyoka could sympathize.

Nagaba’s relatives at the General Staff Office had pressured Ookaito to set up this meeting, and it appeared the man in front of them was cut from the same cloth as his family.

Beside him, Kimio scrunched into herself, completely shrinking away.

Nagaba’s issue was a very simple one: “My mother’s behaving strangely. Something’s haunting her, and I want you to exorcise it.” He continued to explain. “She’s acting like a beast, letting out bizarre growls and greedily devouring her food. She doesn’t seem to understand what we say to her, and when her condition is the worst, she’ll try to bite anyone who approaches her.”

Nagaba frowned with bitter disgust.

“Right now, we’ve managed to shut her away in one of the rooms of our manor, but this is obviously a terrible stain on our reputation, preventing us from carrying out our normal activities. I also grow concerned for my mother’s health, given her age. I want this taken care of quickly,” Nagaba concluded.

Godou replied in a grave, concerned manner, “I understand. From what I’ve heard, it would seem she’s being possessed by a low-level animal spirit. Though this is all just based off of what you’ve told us, so I can’t say for absolute certain yet.”

“Really. So can you do something about it?”

“Yes. First, we’ll send some of our people to investigate the situation. Then we’ll be able to say for certain whether this is the work of an animal spirit or not. If we can deal with the situation on-site, we’ll have them take care of it… Does that sound good, Commander?”

At Godou’s inquiry, all the eyes in the room fell on Kiyoka.

Although they couldn’t be too sure, the Nagaba family’s case did not seem as critical as Kiyoka had anticipated. For something of this level, Godou would be reliable enough, so Kiyoka likely wouldn’t get involved.

“Yes. That’s fine.”

“While I was informed that you, too, might now be investigating yourselves ahead of time, is that really the wisest idea? I heard that the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit valued its members’ abilities over all else. If that’s true, then wouldn’t it be best to have you two—who I’m assuming are the strongest people here—conduct the investigation?” Nagaba ranted, looking a bit irritated.

He could complain all he wanted, but Kiyoka and Godou had their hands full right now. With the wedding on the horizon, Kiyoka had taken a few days off work to prepare for it, which meant that Godou would have to pick up his slack.

Besides, they needed to give other members of the unit opportunities to develop experience as well.

“Forgive me, but that won’t be possible. However, you can rest assured that our men are all well-trained arts practitioners and Gift-users. They will have full knowledge of how to address your situation.”

“…Well, I’m fine with anything as long as you get my mother back to normal.”

After Kiyoka had replied calmly to him, Nagaba looked away in dissatisfaction before standing up, as if to say his business was finished.

“I’ll be taking my leave, then. When will you conduct the investigation?”

“Oh, we’ll get in touch about that shortly. We’ll need a few days, but please don’t worry.”

Godou got up as he spoke, urging Nagaba toward the exit.

Just as Kiyoka also began to rise from the sofa to see Nagaba off, however, he was stopped by someone unexpected.

“U-um, I, um, have something to speak to the commander about.”

It was Kimio, who had sat next to her husband the whole meeting in silence.

Something to say to me?

Kiyoka questioned what she could have to talk about outside of this latest matter, and he didn’t feel any need to be kept back.

Just then, however, he saw a shadow and solemnity he couldn’t ignore flicker in and out of Kimio’s expression, and he thought twice about rebuffing her without lending her an ear.

Kiyoka reluctantly sat back down. Nagaba, looking through the reception room window, said, “Fine, I don’t care. I’m heading back,” before immediately turning around.

Godou followed him, leaving Kiyoka and Kimio alone in the reception room. Nevertheless, Kimio still cowered as she had before and lowered her eyes.

The sight reminded Kiyoka of how Miyo had looked when they first met.

No actually… Maybe not.

Thinking back to the events of the night prior, Kiyoka felt slightly enlivened. However, he quickly collected himself again and faced Kimio.

“What do you need to talk to me about?”

At his frank question, Kimio timidly shifted her downcast eyes upward and began to speak.

“…Please, I need your help.”

“Excuse me?”

“I—I don’t know what do to…or what’s wrong with me.”

“If you’ve got something to say, come out and say it. I’m a busy man, and I can’t be in here talking with you all day.”

When Kiyoka gave his matter-of-fact reply, Kimio shuddered, and large teardrops began to spill from her eyes.

“My husband treats me terribly! He says horrible things to me every day, and there have been times where he’s hit me.”

“…And?”

“The same goes for his mother’s situation! He forces me to be the one to subdue his out-of-control mother and simply watches. No matter how much she bites or claws me, he pretends not to notice.”

Kimio lifted up her kimono sleeve and exposed her arm. Just as she had said, there were numerous wounds and scars that appeared to come from teeth and nails.

“I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Please help me!”

Kimio suddenly buried her head in her hands. Kiyoka stared at her with remarkable indifference.

Even he was surprised by how emotionally unfazed he was. A woman was crying in front of him, and he didn’t feel any pity or empathy for her.

…Actually, this was how it normally used to be, wasn’t it?

Kiyoka wondered why he had forgotten. This was what he had always been like before. He would remain extraordinarily aloof, no matter how much previous marriage candidates who arrived at his home would cry, scream, or rage.

His heart would not be swayed, completely indifferent to it all.

For better or for worse, he’d been through many emotional ups and downs lately, so he had completely forgotten about that.

“I’ll ask this first.”

Even Kiyoka was surprised by the flatness of his tone. Although he had strived to keep some level of formality with Kimio at first since she was a guest, this, too, had disappeared somewhere along the way.

“Why ask me?” he continued. “This isn’t a temple that shelters battered women. There are other places to turn to for help with domestic issues. If you truly want assistance, now isn’t the time to ask for it. Understand?”

“Oh… Well, but…”

Kimio looked away as tears welled in the corners of her eyes. Kiyoka fought the urge to heave a tremendous sigh.

“Also, you say you want my help, but I can’t really do much for you when your request is so vague. If there’s something you want me to do, be concrete about it. Then I can at least put in a word with the proper places for you.”

This was the biggest compromise Kiyoka could make.

The Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit was one division of the military, and their basic role was to handle matters involving grotesqueries. It would be a problem if they were expected to do anything more than that.

Tears continued to pour from Kimio’s eyes unabated.

“I-I’m just so scared of my husband and of the Nagaba household. I can’t bear it… Isn’t there some way you can make my husband be gentler? No matter how I plead with him, he won’t listen to me, but part of me wonders if perhaps he might begin to change if someone else cautioned him…”

“Then ask that of another man. You’ve come barking up the wrong tree. If you would like, I would be able to get you in touch with the police.”

This time, Kiyoka actually got up from the sofa. It would be meaningless to spare any more time for Kimio.

If she were an acquaintance of Kiyoka’s, or a friend, he might help her out on his own, but he couldn’t entertain her request any further as part of his work.

“I’ll see you to the entrance. If you have problems relating to grotesqueries, feel free to come back any—”

“W-wait, please!” Kimio yelled.

A moment later, Kiyoka felt something bump against him as he headed for the reception room door.

He turned his head and found that Kimio was clinging to his back.

Gradually, the touch of her hands and the warmth of her body seeped through his uniform. She was trembling.

“Y-you’re, you’re the only person I can turn to. Ms. Saimori told me that you were a kind man, and I was sure you could help… That’s the whole reason I came here today.”

Kiyoka’s eyes widened.

“Saimori?”

“Miyo Saimori. I’m a classmate of hers from elementary school… We happened to come across each other the other day, and she looked so happy…and she told me she was being treated well by her fiancé. S-so please.”

As Kimio explained the course of events that had brought her here using tearful, unsteady words, Kiyoka’s displeasure with her grew stronger.

While he didn’t know the full situation, this meant that Kimio had encountered Miyo, heard that her former classmate’s fiancé was treating her well, and thought that he might help her, too.

What sort of thought process is that?

Kiyoka wasn’t kind to anyone and everyone. If anything, he was more often described as cold, and unkind, so then how exactly had the woman concluded that he was someone to turn to?

“Ah.”

Kiyoka twisted around, shaking Kimio off him and putting a step between them. Kimio grasped at the air, her hands having lost their place.

Just then, Kiyoka learned something: Being embraced by a woman other than Miyo was a far more loathsome and off-putting experience than he ever would have thought.

“And?”

“What?’

Kimio looked up at Kiyoka in bewilderment when she heard his cold tone.

“You’re trying to say that because you were Miyo’s classmate, I should be nice to you, too? And save you, too?”

“N-no, that’s not it.”

As Kimio tried to explain herself in a fluster, Kiyoka stopped showing her any more sympathy.

“Sorry to say this, but I’m not compassionate enough to personally hear someone out because they claim to be my future wife’s classmate, nor do I have that much kindness in me to begin with. Find someone else.”

Given how strongly he was casting off Kimio, Kiyoka was sure that she, too, would think of him as an uncharitable and merciless man. But that didn’t matter to him.

“I don’t really care what anyone says about me…as long the people in my life and my fiancée know the truth.”

He remembered what he had declared to Miyo a few days prior. Even though he’d said that himself, he did think that was the perfect way to put it.

Kiyoka wanted to show kindness and concern only to Miyo. As long as she loved him, nothing else mattered to him in the slightest.

“C-Commander.”

Kiyoka gently brushed Kimio’s hands; she was still reaching out to him despite it all. When he continued out of the reception room and headed for the entrance, she followed after him with hurried steps.

“Is there really nothing you can do to help me?”

“Enough. Our unit will dispel the grotesquerie in the Nagaba household. We won’t, however, do anything more. I’ll pass on your circumstances to someone who specializes in dealing with routine issues.”

Faced with Kiyoka’s decisive, curt rejection that left no room for argument, Kimio shed one final tear and departed.

She looked tiny and forsaken as she left, but Kiyoka forced this out of his mind and turned back around.