My Happy Marriage (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 2.3

An Average Day for Kazushi Tatsuishi

Kazushi Tatsuishi was the young head of the Tatsuishi family.

Though much of his twenty years of life had been quite restricted—a fact his unworthy younger brother surely would have vehemently denied should he hear it—he was currently living out his days comfortable and free.

As such, Kazushi’s mornings started late.

When he would awake atop the mattress in his room, the sun would usually be close to its zenith.

“Nwahhh… I slept too much.”

Sitting up, he gave a stretch. The alcohol from the night before had completely left his system, and he wasn’t feeling too bad. Now then, he thought in his freshly woken brain, it was time to figure out what he was going to do today.

At that moment, someone began banging nonstop on the door of his room.

“Master Kazushi! Master Kazushi, please wake up! It’s almost noon!”

A young boy, his voice unstably deep and prone to cracking due to puberty, yapped incessantly outside his room.

Once it came to this, the boy wouldn’t stop until Kazushi answered; he very well might force himself into the room.

“Good grief! What would he do if I happened to be in bed with a beautiful woman right now? Sheesh.”

Mumbling, Kazushi obediently opened the door.

“I’m awake. Ichi, can’t you wake up your master just a bit more quietly?”

“As long as you’re awake. Save your complaining and eat your breakfast already. I’m stuck waiting on you before I can clean up.”

The young boy said this curtly before turning on his heel. His name was Ichita Kainuma, and he was the only servant left in the now empty Tatsuishi household.

Ichita’s parents had worked in the Tatsuishi estate, so the boy had been coming to the place for ages. Now, however, he had taken on all the housework as a live-in servant for Kazushi, the lone remaining resident.

Incidentally, the majority of the servants employed by the Tatsuishi house up until then had been dismissed, with Ichita’s parents going off to work as servants for another wealthy family somewhere.

Kazushi took his combined breakfast and lunch under the glaring gaze of Ichita before getting himself dressed in his room and heading toward the entryway.

Until very recently, several servants would have already been silently cleaning around the manor at this time of day, but these scenes were absent now.

Still, Kazushi didn’t find the empty house lonely in the slightest. In fact, it actually felt refreshing to him. Previously, there had been a dreadful atmosphere hanging about the manor, largely due to his father.

“Yup, another beautiful morning.”

“I told you, it’s already noon.”

Ichita gave this cold retort from behind, a broom in his hand and looking ready to get some sweeping done.

“That was quite sharp there, Ichi.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’re heading out, please hurry up and leave.”

With Ichita practically chasing him out, lacking one iota of deference toward his master, Kazushi once again strolled aimlessly out to the noontime capital.

He didn’t have any particular destination in mind.

Draped in a flashy haori coat, he strutted about as he saw fit.

Heading into town every day, regardless of whether he had any reason to, was a habit he’d formed back when he felt the need to escape the stifling atmosphere of his family’s estate.

“Where should I go today…? Hm?”

Squinting his eyes, Kazushi spied some men in a very familiar uniform slightly removed from where he stood. Why, one of them appeared to be an acquaintance of his.

Well, I can’t just pass by without teasing him a little, can I?

With a light spring in his step, Kazushi approached the person in uniform—a military uniform.

“…This foul curse only targets boys and girls in their teens, and—”

“Heya there, fantastic morning, isn’t it?”

“Ugh. Kazushi.”

The man he had called out to and interrupted was none other than Yoshito Godou, who gave him a blatant wince.

He appeared to be in the middle of a patrol, and there were three other unit members with him, but Kazushi had no interest in them.

His only target was his colleague, who he delighted in teasing.

“And it’s past noon, for crying out loud! Are you seriously wandering around looking like that in broad daylight?”

“There’s no harm in dressing the way I want. You’re really starting to resemble Mr. Kudou, the way you nitpick the small stuff like that.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Buzz off.”

“My, aren’t you the serious one, Godou.”

“Tch, enough already! You’re interrupting our work here! Scram.”

Kazushi couldn’t suppress a smile, watching Godou wave his hand at him as if he was shooing away a bug. It really was hilarious to see a man so earnest at his core pretend to get worked up.

And that was what made teasing him so fun.

“All right, all right. But we should head out for drinks together again soon.”

“Like hell I’m going out with you!”

In a good mood from having seen Godou so indignant, Kazushi departed with an even lighter spring in his step and resumed roaming around without any real destination, window-shopping along the way.

After walking a little while, he passed by a young girl along the roadside wearing a rather well-worn kimono.

“Oh, Kazushi.”

The young girl, her hair braided and tied up into a loop, called out to him as they passed each other.

Who was this again?

He had encountered many a woman throughout his life. Kazushi racked his brain, sifting through the overwhelming amount of potential answers.

“You haven’t been coming by our place lately.”

Seeing her smile after saying this, he finally remembered.

She was a waitress at a café he had frequented. She was a sociable and talkative girl, and he had often enjoyed chitchatting with her.

Kazushi had stopped going to the café because he’d gotten sick of it, but it wasn’t that he disliked the place. He was simply quick to grow bored.

“Oh, I guess I haven’t, huh.”

“Honestly, you forgot who I was just now, didn’t you?”

“No, no, I could never forget a girl as cute as you!”

“There you go again. Ever the smooth talker.”

Behind the young girl, cheerfully laughing out loud, Kazushi saw an unbecoming black fog. It resembled some type of curse, and while it didn’t seem to be affecting her at all now, it would likely cause physical and mental harm to her if it stuck by her for long.

Curses definitely aren’t a good look on a cute young girl like her.

As Kazushi flashed a smile, he casually pulled out his trusty fan from his sleeve.

“Well, I need to get going now,” she said.

“Ha-ha, sounds like you’re busy.”

“I am. But you should drop by the café again. I’ll always have time for you.”

Kazushi tapped the young girl’s shoulder as she went on her way, and the black fog dispersed immediately.

“Got it. I’ll swing by soon.”

“I’ll be waiting, then! Bye!” the girl said, hurrying off. After watching her depart, Kazushi began walking off in the opposite direction.

On top of entertaining himself by teasing his close acquaintance today, he had also helped someone out; that put him in a good mood.

Continuing on a bit farther, he arrived at a peaceful park.

Near the park pond was woman in a kimono who cut a beautiful figure carrying a lace-trimmed parasol.

Well, well, well.

She was probably the wife of some noble, as she had a personal attendant.

He couldn’t get a good look at her face, but he could surmise just from the air about her that she had to be quite a beautiful woman.

Kazushi wasn’t sure why, but he was having a particularly lucky day.

It wouldn’t be very manly of me to leave without talking to her, would it?

Without much thought, Kazushi approached the woman, like a butterfly drawn in by a flower—until he froze with his smile on his face.

It was then that the woman, noting his presence, relaxed her fair and refined countenance into a smile.

“Oh…Mr. Tatsuishi. Hello.”

“H-heya there, Miyo.”

A cold sweat beaded on his temple. He had been in real danger. If he had tried to do anything untoward to Miyo Saimori, then Kazushi would have literally lost his head.

All that aside, the shabby and miserable young girl he once knew had drastically changed. Kazushi was shocked he had mistaken her for the wife of a high-ranking noble. Though in a way, that was exactly who she was going to be.

“Lovely weather, isn’t it? Out for a stroll?”

“Indeed, I am.”

Miyo nodded slightly at Kazushi’s question. This mannerism was just as lovely, and while it was no concern of his own, Kazushi grew worried about her attracting unwanted attention.

However, before that, there was something he needed to address.

“What is that in your hand there?”

There was a black fog escaping from Miyo’s free hand. Miyo frowned at Kazushi’s question.

“Um, there was a gentlemen handing them out. He said it was a lucky stone…and pressed me to take one.”

Sitting in the palm of Miyo’s hand was a small, semitranslucent rock. The rock was white, but it was emanating the black fog nonstop. This was another curse.

I see now.

Kazushi didn’t understand why, but apparently, there was a freak going around passing out curses.

“That stone is bad news.”

“Really, you think so, too? It did seem…a bit creepy.”

“Can I see it for a moment?”

Kazushi took the stone from Miyo, clenching down on it and crushing it. The effects of the curse completely vanished from the unexpectedly brittle stone.

“That should do it.”

“Thank you very much. “

Kazushi broke into a smile as he saw Miyo’s look of relief and peace of mind.

He appeared to have done yet another virtuous deed.

“Oh, no worries, it was a piece of cake. Give Kudou my regards.”

“I will. Good day.”

Leaving Miyo as she smiled and waved, Kazushi turned in the direction of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station with a glint in his eyes…

Awwww.Guess that means work after this.

…all while inwardly drooping his shoulders in disappointment.

By the time Kazushi had finished his slate of odd jobs and returned to the Tatsuishi estate, the sun had long set. Given that he would often come home at the crack of dawn, this was actually early for him.

He had assisted with destroying the base of operations for the criminal organization spreading this curse everywhere, so he was quite exhausted.

That being said, Kazushi had mostly just watched from the sidelines as the Great Demon Commander had run roughshod over the criminals after learning his fiancée had nearly been put in harm’s way.

Phew… Huh?

No one had come to greet him in the entryway. Kazushi cocked his head and stepped inside his abode. Searching for Ichita, he reached the dining hall, where he saw the boy with his face down on the table.

Near Ichita was his dinner, long gone cold, and a small rock releasing a fog.

“Sheesh, looks like work followed me home.”

Kazushi crushed the stone with an exasperated smile before taking a seat and beginning his meal.

The food Ichita made him tasted rather average, but Kazushi was still fond enough of it to eat it cold.

He’d had quite the eventful day.

However, his physical fatigue felt almost pleasant somehow, and his heart was perfectly satisfied. Maybe having a day like this wasn’t so bad every once and while.

That thought came to Kazushi as he watched his servant’s tranquil face and rhythmic, sleepy breathing.