I Started Dating Someone By Taking Advantage Of Her Weakness, But I Was Actually Dating Her Mother - Chapter 47-48: Stalker? (Part 7&8)

“Mom, why did you suddenly make that weird noise?” 

“N-nothing’s wrong.”

Otowa looked strangely at Yoriko, who had let out a surprised voice.

“Before, Mom, you took my place and really gave it to Kaneda-kun, even securing a trophy, right?” 

“Oh y-yeah, I guess something like that did happen.”

(Otowa thinks the operation was successful because I made Kaneda-kun buy that dolphin plushie. I can’t tell her that we met the following week too.)

When Otowa was invited on a date after Jin had gotten hold of her weakness, she believed that Yoriko, who had taken her place, had skillfully made him suffer. Learning this, Yoriko had thought she couldn’t give details at that moment and had gone along with the story.

“Just to confirm, did Mom reveal her true identity to Kaneda-kun?” 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t quite bring myself to say it, and he seemed to believe I was you.” 

“I see. Your acting skills are amazing, Mom, to be able to keep it hidden.”

(I’m sorry. I was mostly just being myself.)

While Otowa was impressed by Yoriko’s acting skills, Yoriko, who had barely acted at all and had interacted with Jin naturally, apologized in her heart.

“About that Kaneda-kun, last week it was just greetings, but this week he’s been trying to talk to me. He was so desperate that I had no choice but to give in.”

(I told him not to talk to me at school, but he probably wanted to talk to me so badly that he was trying to talk to Otowa. I’ve done something really unfair to Kaneda-kun.)

Hearing Otowa’s story, Yoriko could sense Jin’s feelings of wanting to spend time together.

“Sigh, I don’t want to make friends at school though.” 

“Why do you think that way, Otowa?” 

“Because if I make friends, we might end up talking about going somewhere after school or on weekends. That would mean extra expenses, right?”

Otowa explained to Yoriko her reasons for not making friends at school.

“So it’s because you’re thinking about the household budget. Normally I should tell you not to worry about that and to make more friends, but hearing your reasoning, I can’t say it strongly. I’m really sorry for making you feel this way.”

Considering the Tsukimizato household’s finances, it was clear that if Otowa spent money playing with friends, it would affect their budget. Therefore, Yoriko wasn’t in a position to speak strongly to her about it. The two spent their dinner time having this kind of conversation.

“Hum, hum, hum.”

The next morning, Yoriko was making plain rice balls for Otowa to take with her for lunch. When there were dinner leftovers, she would stuff them into the rice balls, but such days were rare, and today’s were simple ones without any filling.

(I hope Kaneda-kun will eat the rice balls I made.)

With that thought, Yoriko made three rice balls instead of the usual two.

“Huh? Mom, aren’t there more rice balls today than usual?” 

“You promised to eat together with Kaneda-kun, right? He might be happy if you share even one with him.” 

“Hmm, he did eat them deliciously yesterday, but I told him to bring his own lunch today, so I wonder…”

Yoriko wanted Jin to eat her homemade rice balls, so she prepared one extra.

“Otowa, here you go.” 

“Thank you, Mom.” 

“Well then, I’m off to work.” 

“Have a good day, Mom.”

Yoriko handed Otowa the box containing the plain rice balls and left the house to go to work.

“Alright, this should be good for today.”

The next morning, Jin finished inputting his stock trading orders and shut down his computer.

“It’s a bit early today, but let’s head to school.”

Jin left home earlier than usual to take care of a certain matter.

“During commuting hours, you can only get food from convenience stores and such, but if you come here, you can get all sorts of things besides food, so it’s convenient.”

Jin had come to a supermarket located a bit away from his house. This store was open 24 hours and had relatively reasonable prices, so Jin used it occasionally. It was a very convenient store, but since it was far from home, he thought he’d use it every time if only he didn’t have to make the trip.

“This is my first time coming at this hour, but I see there are other people thinking the same thing.”

The store was somewhat deserted due to the early hour, but there were glimpses of people who had stopped by on their way to work or school seeking food for breakfast and lunch. Among them were some people wearing uniforms from the same school.

“Hmm, what should I choose?”

Jin went to the prepared foods section and looked at the lunch boxes. The reason he had stopped by this store was, needless to say, to secure something to eat for lunch. For people stopping by on their way to work or school, despite the early hour, there was a rich variety of rice balls, bread, lunch boxes and such available, making it hard to decide which to choose.

“Lunch boxes are good too, but they might be difficult to eat in the middle of the stairs. So bread or rice balls would probably be appropriate.”

If he were eating at a desk, a lunch box would be an option, but on this day he had promised to eat with Otowa on the stairs leading to the rooftop. Therefore, Jin was thinking that rice balls or bread might be better, prioritizing ease of eating.

“Alright, I’ve decided on this.”

Jin put his chosen items in his shopping basket, completed the checkout, left the store, and headed to school.

At the same time Jin was about to enter the supermarket, Yoriko was passing in front of the same store on her way to work.

“Well then, I need to work hard today too to pay back the debt.”

Yoriko worked part-time at a sewing factory located a short walk from this place. It was the same repetitive work every day, but she was thinking positively about working hard to repay the debt left by her ex-husband.

“Ah, could that back figure be…”

As Yoriko was walking and casually looked into the distance, she spotted the back of a figure that resembled someone she very much wanted to meet. Yoriko was overcome by the impulse to run and confirm if it was really him.

“As I thought, it’s Kaneda-kun. He went into the store. But if I chase after him here, I’ll be late for work.”

Yoriko saw Jin’s profile as he was about to enter the supermarket and was certain it was him. She was overcome by the impulse to chase after him, but if she entered the store now, she risked being late. Yoriko was pressed to make a decision about what to do.

(Kaneda-kun must be securing his lunch at this store every morning. Tomorrow I’ll come a little early and wait here.)

Thinking that Jin bought his lunch food at this store every morning, Yoriko reluctantly decided to approach him the next day and headed to the sewing factory where she worked.