novelThe Third Bride/ True Motives
| ← Ch.073 | Ch.075 → |
Effort, Friendship and Success there was a time period when these three things were a big deal. There is a "road to the kingdom" type element to this ideal, whereby being able to attain those three things was considered to be the perfect life.
However, is it really possible to achieve success purely just by making an effort?
Strictly speaking, there was certainly such an age. Opportunities were everywhere and even if you didn't put in any effort.......... there was a period of time where you could still achieve success.
However, these people who had things easy for them started to fantasize about what it would be like to put in the hard work....... Face adversities and hardship, and overcoming those obstacles in order to reach success. In order to meet the public demand, many stories that followed this format started to appear one after another.
Nevertheless, the real world was not such a sweet place, even if you put in a huge amount of effort, it doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will be successful.
Natsuno Taiyou, knew this. At a comparatively young age, he had already developed this knowledge about the society.
Therefore, he stopped making an effort. If a huge amount of effort was made and yet there was no guarantee of a reward, why should anyone go out of their way to expend all that energy? It was such an absurd thing and that is why he stopped doing it.
No, to be precise, it is more correct to say that he stopped "exerting effort in things that did not guarantee a reward".
He escaped to the world of games.
Inside of a game, specifically within the RPG genre, the game system endorsed the action of repeated grinding, and the more that you grinded you are guaranteed to become stronger.
The strength you gained was proportionate to the effort you exerted, whenever you put in the work there will always be some sort of compensation given.
This did not mean that Taiyou gave up on his real life.
It was just that he was completely absorbed in the game system, and in real life he was covered with a light feeling of hopelessness.
However, now...
He had once again started to come back to his real life. Making an effort and acquiring more strength, he wanted to make his "Brides" live a happy life.
That was his goal.
Taiyou made his resolve to achieve those goals, as a means to achieve those goals he was thinking of ways to adapt himself to the requirements.
He believed that with the power he had he was definitely able to have his "seven brides". However just because he had these powers, he didn't think that it was guaranteed that he would make his "seven brides" happy.
Therefore, he was going to make his best effort to arrive at those goals....... He was desperately thinking about the means to achieve the maximal optimal results for his efforts.
The method of changing the power he was guaranteed to gain from his repetitive work and with the minimum amount of loss, convert that into his brides happiness.
Finally, he was able to come to a conclusion.
「....... What kind of situation is this?」
This was first thing he said when he came back to his senses.
He was not able to grasp the situation at all, since to him, just a little while back there was only Kohaku and Yurikago in the room, but before he knew it the three sisters and Aoba were home, and even Akiha was here.
Even though this living room was capable of physically supporting many people, having so many people come into this room made it very lively.
Taiyou was really curious about the circumstances of how this came to be.
「Did you finally overcome it......?」
Kohaku spoke in a profound manner.
「No I haven't overcame anything. If you show that kind of triumphant look that only exists in a manga, I'll be troubled」
「However, you have a face that tells me you've decided on something. It's like the face of a male that is about to go on the hunt jya」
「.........I only thought of this idea that I wanted to try doing, after asking for some opinions on it I would like to decide on what to do next」
「I understand, we're going to have a family conference jyana」
「Family conference? No I want to ask you—」
Taiyou was about to finish his sentence but then he shut his mouth. To his side, the three sisters had this worried expression as they looked straight at him.
Seeing such a lovable sight his chest became hot and *chu* a wet sound of kissing resounded as he gave the three of them a kiss each.
It was only a brief kiss, but it was a kiss that melted their hearts.
The three of them were surprised and moved deeply.
「Because this will be our first family conference that will decide our future together, I will be happy if you girls let me hear your opinions on the matter」
「「「Yes!」」」
「Oh, that seems kinda wonderful」
Akiha felt admiration when seeing such a spectacle. Taiyou looked at her and said this...
「There is...... Probably no need for me to ask why you've come here right」
「Of course」
After seeing Akiha nod her head, Taiyou turned his attention to Aoba. Looking at her straight in the eyes with a serious face.
Aoba faltered and slightly stirred.
Just now he had kissed those three girls and now he was looking right at me, what is he planning on doing I wonder? That was the kind of worried expression she had on her face.
In a certain meaning she was worried for her chastity, but Taiyou had no intentions of the sort.
Still with the serious look on his face he asked Aoba.
「What about you, what do you plan to do in the end?」
「Eh?」
「Just a little while ago, I visited your parent's house, and spoke a bit with your three mothers. I felt somewhat angry when I was there, and I've come to comprehend a little bit about why you left home」
The moment Taiyou said this, it was like a series of events started that made Aoba once again sink in a depressed state. Although he felt guilty seeing such a face, it was definitely a necessary factor to discuss so he continued onwards.
「The me right now, has a moderate amount of power, and whilst I am capable of sheltering you, it would be inappropriate to continue this forever right? If you just run away from home without any sort of goals, sooner or later you will arrive at the northern provinces or at the bottom of hells door」
「What are you..... Trying to say?」
「A purpose」
Taiyou raised his index finger.
「What do you desire?」
「I......」
Aoba looks downwards. Biting on to her lower lip, it seems like she was trying to endure something desperately.
「Hey you, aren't you being a little hard on her?」
Akiha spoke up.
「I already avoided my harshest manner of speaking though 」
「What's with that? Your harshest manner of saying it?」
「I have it open, so why not enter my harem—」
—-Pan! (Slap!)
Before Taiyou was able to complete his words, a dry sound echoed.
The moment the word "Harem" came out of his mouth, Aoba rapidly lifted her face and swung the palm of her hand. Aoba who has just slapped him had tears accumulate in the corner of her eyes. Just like Taiyou said, to Aoba right now, this was the harshest way of speaking to her.
「You can be relieved, I had no intentions of saying that. In fact, in the present situation—」
Breaking off what he was going to say Kohaku spoke out.
「That's true, the you right now is unwilling to invite her to your family jyana」
「......We also think the same」
「Although we really wish to create a harem」
「It's not okay to include just anybody」
Kohaku started it off and the three sisters followed through. People who knew the girl's personalities would be surprised that they would have such an opinion.
「I know it already, after all I'm just a burden..... 」
「That's not really what I was getting at, well that's not the point anyways. My question is, what do you want to do?」
「Even if you ask me what I want to do, I......」
「Let's arrange all the information that I currently know. In your house there are four adults, one man and three women in his harem. Up until now, you've managed to deal with it somehow, but this time around he plans on obtaining another woman into his harem, moreover this girl is a high-school girl. Because of this you've gotten mad and left home. Am I correct up to here?」
「Only four people? If you count the amount of concubines and mistresses he has had my father has even more than that you know?」
「We aren't talking about your situation where it's almost like an aristocratic household, so please be quiet for now」
Yurikago interrupted their conversation and Taiyou rejected her input, before asking Aoba again.
「So how about it, what do you want to do?」
「....... 」
「Do you want to ruin this new fourth girl? Although I don't know who she is if we do enough investigation we can probably do something about it. At worst, we can just make her disappear」
「Tha—」
Aoba was going to rebut his words but she swallowed down her own words and looks down again.
「However, even if we did something like that you would only escape your worst case scenario, isn't that right? You told me that you hated people who cheat, and that you've endured the environment at home for years. Even if this fourth girl disappears, all that will happen essentially is that you will avoid the worst scenario but you will still revert to a level of environment that you could barely live in previously. Even so, if you wish for it I can lend you a helping hand, if that is what you truly wish for」
「......」
「Miyagi-san!」
When he called out her name in a large voice, her body shuddered and with a frightened expression she looked towards Taiyou's face.
「If you stay silent like that I won't know what you want, right now I'm asking you what you want to do? Are you planning on just running away forever, never solving the root of the problem itself?」
「I.... That's not......」
「Miyagi Aoba!」
「Hii」
This time he called out her full name, when he did, she finally looked straight at him, with a scared expression...... or a surprised expression on her face.
「Please, let me hear what you really want to do」
He spoke in a strong manner as if urging her to answer. He looked straight into her eyes as he spoke.
In that moment, a variety of expressions flashed by Aoba's face.
Complex emotions surged into her mind, and those thoughts became expressions on her face.
Finally, a face of resignation and acceptance showed and staggeringly she began to talk while partly sobbing.
「I..... want to know who my real mother is..... 」
This was the desire that is she has had for many years.
| ← Ch. 073 | Ch. 075 → |