I Started Dating Someone By Taking Advantage Of Her Weakness, But I Was Actually Dating Her Mother - Chapter 53-54: Stalker? (Part 13&14)

“Haah, separating like this makes it hard to face each other in the classroom.”

In the end, Jin spent time on the stairs leading to the rooftop until just before lunch break ended, then decided to return to the classroom.

(Tsukimizato-san is… at her seat.)

Jin entered the classroom and sat at his desk. Otowa was already sitting in the seat in front of him, preparing for the next class.

“Um, Tsukimizato-san, I’m sorry about earlier.” 

“I-I don’t particularly care about it. Also, don’t talk to me so casually.”

When Jin spoke to Otowa, unusually, she responded. Though her tone was harsh, just hearing her talk to him made Jin feel happy.

(After that, we couldn’t talk and it’s now after school time.)

In the end, the two didn’t exchange any more conversation and reached the end of the school day. Jin watched Otowa’s back as she busily prepared to go home, thinking about how he should talk to her.

“Well then, Kaneda-kun, see you tomorrow.” 

“Eh? Um, see you tomorrow, Tsukimizato-san.”

Otowa’s small voice interrupted Jin’s thoughts. Realizing she had greeted him, Jin hurriedly responded. After hearing Jin’s words, Otowa left the classroom.

(Hmm, maybe her mood improved a little today?)

Jin, who had been able to talk even just a little with Otowa when they couldn’t even have proper conversations in the classroom before, felt that her mood might have improved somewhat.

“Well, time to go home.”

Jin evaluated that there had been some progress and decided to go home.

“I’m home.” 

“Welcome home, Mom.”

At the Tsukimizato house where Otowa had returned, as usual, Otowa was preparing dinner until Yoriko came home. Just as she finished preparing, Yoriko returned home from her part-time job.

“Hey, Otowa.” 

“What is it, Mom?” 

“How was lunch today? Did Kaneda-kun eat the rice ball?”

(This morning Mom seemed really fired up about making the rice balls, so I guess she’s curious about the results.)

While changing clothes, Yoriko asked Otowa about lunch. Otowa remembered this morning and recalled how Yoriko had put more effort than usual into making the white rice balls she had packed for lunch.

“Kaneda-kun ate two white rice balls.” 

“Is that so?”

When Otowa told Yoriko the number of rice balls Jin had eaten, she looked satisfied and happy.

“But that means you only ate one rice ball, right? You only had one yesterday too. Aren’t you hungry?” 

“That’s fine. I traded it for a prepared bread called Ohiru no Sand with peanut butter that Kaneda-kun had brought.” 

“Ohiru no Sand, huh. When you think about buying one of those, you could buy two loaves of bread instead, so I can’t afford it. I would have liked to try it too.”

When Yoriko worried and asked about Otowa only eating one rice ball, Otowa told her she had traded it for the Ohiru no Sand with peanut butter instead. Hearing this, Yoriko looked very envious.

“Actually, he even prepared a fruit sandwich just for me. I didn’t think Kaneda-kun was someone who could be so thoughtful about details.” 

“That’s just like Kaneda-kun. That kind of detailed consideration is what’s good about him.” 

“Eh? Mom, did you say something?” 

“N-nothing at all. Come on, come on, listening to your story made me hungry. Let’s have dinner quickly.”

Hearing Otowa’s story, Yoriko thought about Jin and accidentally spoke aloud. Otowa, who couldn’t quite catch what she said, asked Yoriko, but Yoriko deflected and urged them to have dinner.

“I troubled Tsukimizato-san yesterday, and although we didn’t make a promise, I should buy something as an apology and bring it during lunch time.”

The next morning, Jin left home a little early just like yesterday and headed to the 24-hour supermarket to buy ingredients for lunch. 

Yesterday’s lunch break had been interrupted while spending time with Otowa, and they hadn’t made any promise to spend this day’s lunch break together. However, it was clear that he had troubled her by unconsciously licking the cream that had been around her mouth, so he decided to bring lunch as an offering with his feelings of apology.

“Um, excuse me.”

Jin had arrived at his destination supermarket and was about to enter the store when someone called out to him.

“Eh? Oh, Tsukimizato-san. What are you doing in a place like this?”

There was still some time before school started, and since Otowa brought lunch from home, Jin had no connection with her at this location. He was therefore surprised by the sudden encounter.

“Yesterday, I saw you here at the same time, so I thought you might come today too and waited.”

(To think that Tsukimizato-san was waiting for me, I’m so moved.)

“K-Kaneda-kun, why are you suddenly crying?” 

“When you said you were waiting for me, it made me happy.”

Since Jin hadn’t been treated very favorably at school, he was happy that she had waited to meet him at this early hour. He even teared up involuntarily, and she looked surprised.

“By the way, what’s with that outfit? You don’t look like you’re heading to school.”

Jin noticed that the person in front of him was wearing casual clothes and not her school uniform. He found this questionable and asked about it.

(I was so focused on meeting Kaneda-kun that I didn’t think about my clothes.)

“Eh? Ah, um, well. R-right, I’m coming back from work. I was thinking of going home now to get ready and then head to school. Ahahahaha.”

The person who had spoken to Jin was not Otowa but Yoriko. She had seen Jin at this location at the same time yesterday, so she thought he might come today too and left home a little early to stake out the place. Her desire to meet and talk with him was so strong that she didn’t think about her outfit, and when Jin pointed it out, she hastily said she was returning from work.

“I see, you’re working hard. Good job. So, you have business with me, right?” 

“Y-yes, that’s right. I wanted to ask if we could meet next Sunday. Would it be troublesome if I asked suddenly?”

Today was Friday, so Sunday would be the day after tomorrow. There was a possibility that he already had plans if she suddenly asked to meet, so Yoriko asked Jin hesitantly.

“Then instead of waiting, wouldn’t it have been better to ask at school?” 

“W-well, that’s true, but…”

Jin was convinced he was talking to Otowa. Knowing this, Yoriko knew what Jin said was correct, but since it was Otowa who went to school, Yoriko couldn’t be involved and answered with a troubled expression.

“I don’t have any particular plans, so it’s fine.” 

“Thank goodness. I was nervous thinking you might turn me down.” 

“Would the same place and time as last week be okay?” 

“That’s fine. Thank you. Let’s have fun together again.”

Yoriko successfully made plans to meet with Jin and was beaming with joy.