Lonely Me And The Lonely Caring Goddess - Chapter 289: To My True Family.

To My True Family.

Kazunari and Masaomi-san moved to the small personal office in the garden, under the pretext of discussing the next part-time job.

According to Masaomi-san, this place was perfect—no one could overhear them, and they’d immediately notice if anyone approached.

In other words, from his perspective, this was a conversation he had no intention of letting Mayumi-san or Sara hear…

Combined with the weight of Masaomi-san’s demeanor, I couldn’t help but feel tense. What exactly was he about to say?

“Alright… Before we get to the main topic, let me say this upfront. What I’m about to tell you is something Sara doesn’t know. Only the three of us—Mayumi, her mother, and I—know this. It’s not some overly dramatic secret… Well, back then it caused quite a commotion, but now we’ve come to accept it as a memory. That’s why we’ve never told Sara, and we don’t think we ever need to.”

“Um… If it’s that serious, wouldn’t it be better to tell Sara-san instead of me? I hate to say it like this, but… I’m not your blood-related child. I’m not a true parent and child with you…”

Of course I understood that both Masaomi-san and Mayumi-san had accepted me as part of the family, as if I were their real son. I felt it deeply.

But it was still “as if.” At the end of the day, I remained their stepson. And for me—someone with no blood ties—to know something even their real daughter Sara didn’t… Was that really okay?

“Kazunari-kun, you’re right. There’s no blood relation between us, and no matter what, the fact that we’re step-parent and step-child won’t change. We haven’t even formally adopted you yet. But… both Mayumi and I already think of you as our real son. That’s why we’re truly happy that you and Sara are together.”

“…Masaomi-san.”

What do I do…

Hearing him say that so earnestly…

It makes me happy… Really happy… But if I let my guard down… No, hold it together!

“Sorry for springing this on you so suddenly. But this is absolutely our honest feeling. Receiving that gift from you today made me realize it all over again. So please—stop thinking things like ‘there’s no blood tie’ or ‘I’m not real family.’ The reason I’m telling you this now is precisely because I see you as my true son.”

“…Understood.”

Something warm surged up inside me, threatening to overflow, but I forced it back with sheer willpower and managed to compose myself enough to listen.

The fact that even Sara didn’t know still nagged at me, but Masaomi-san had gone this far. For now, I needed to focus on hearing him out.

“Thank you. Now, to the main point… Kazunari-kun, don’t you think Mayumi’s behavior toward you has been getting a bit excessive lately? To put it bluntly, the way she expresses her affection for you feels like it’s strayed far from what’s normal. I can’t help wondering if, when I’m not around, she’s been doing all sorts of unreasonable things with you.”

“Uh… well…”

Yeah… Excessive was one way to put it. Escalating, even.

Lately, if I let my guard down, she’d immediately try to initiate skinship. There were plenty of incidents that came to mind… but it was hard to say out loud.

Still, during the parents’ observation day, even I thought she went too far…

“I see… So it really is the case. I’m sorry. It seems I’ve caused you more trouble than I realized.”

“No, absolutely not!! Mayumi-san has taken such good care of me, and… being doted on like that makes me happy. Knowing she accepts me to this extent—it’s never a bother!”

From my reaction, Masaomi-san seemed to sense something, but I truly never once felt Mayumi-san’s actions were a nuisance.

There were times I thought she overdid it, sure—but even then, I knew it came from how much she cared about me. So no, I never thought of it as troublesome or unpleasant.

That much was certain!

“I see… Thank you. It makes me happy to hear you think of Mayumi so carefully. Allow me to thank you again properly.”

“No, I should be the one thanking you…”

The atmosphere turned a little awkward…

But from what Masaomi-san was saying, this conversation was about Mayumi-san’s behavior toward me, right?

“As for Mayumi… I believe she truly sees you as her real son. Not ‘like’ a son, but her actual son.”

“Her… real son?”

“Yes. Truly, genuinely.”

Truly, genuinely her son… Meaning Mayumi-san treated me not as a “stepson” or “like a son,” but as her real, biological son?

I see… Now that he mentioned it, a lot of things clicked into place.

Especially lately—her way of interacting with me had clearly gone beyond what one would expect even from a stepmother.

But even if she saw me as her “real son,” would a parent really go that far with a high school-aged boy…?

“To begin with, I think Mayumi liked you from the very start. You were the only boy Sara ever got along with, and she could tell how much you truly cherished Sara. And… this might sound strange coming from me, but it seems parts of you remind her of me when I was young. Seeing your fresh, innocent reactions probably brings back fond memories of her student days and makes her happy. I feel bad about that aspect, though…”

“N-no, I… kind of figured that out already. And I know how genuinely happy she was about my feelings for Sara-san.”

“Yes. But… I think that’s only the surface-level trigger. Deep down, unconsciously, Mayumi…”

Masaomi-san hesitated, his words faltering.

He looked like it was incredibly difficult to say. Which meant whatever came next was that important—to both him and Mayumi-san as a couple, and to Mayumi-san’s innermost feelings.

Was it really okay for someone like me to hear this…?

“I’m sorry. I know telling you this will place a burden on you to some degree. But since you’ll be part of this family from now on and continue living alongside Mayumi, I believe you should know. So please, let me tell you.”

After that preface, Masaomi-san closed his eyes for a moment, taking a slow breath—as if steeling himself, shifting gears.

“This goes back to before we were married, or around that time… When we first talked about children, Mayumi said she wanted a boy. I wanted a girl. So we thought, at least two kids… Of course, as long as they were born healthy, the order didn’t matter to me.”

“………”

“Mayumi wanted a boy because, when she was little, she’d always wished for an older brother. Back when we first became close, she’d say things like, ‘I wanted an onii-chan,’ or ‘If only Masaomi-kun were older…’ She said it a lot. So after we married and started trying for kids, she kept insisting the first one had to be a boy, and the second a girl.”

“And then… we got married, and eventually Mayumi became pregnant. We were overjoyed. Even though we didn’t know the gender yet, Mayumi kept saying with absolute certainty that it was a boy. But then… she miscarried. It was still early in the pregnancy, so we never even learned the sex.”

What do I do… This was far heavier than I’d imagined.

I didn’t know what to say, couldn’t find the words. Masaomi-san didn’t seem to expect any particular response… or maybe that was just how it felt to me.

So for now, I could only listen in silence until the end.

“Mayumi was… devastated. It took her a long time to look forward again. You might not imagine it from how she is now, but back then, it was really bad.”

“I… see…”

“Yes. So when Sara was born, we were just… so incredibly happy. Boy or girl didn’t matter anymore. The fact that she was born, just that she existed—that alone filled us with joy beyond words.”

Recalling that time, Masaomi-san’s face broke into a truly blissful smile. The emotion reached me so strongly that I could almost picture the scene from back then…

And the lump I’d been holding back earlier threatened to rise again.

I… I…

“That’s why Sara was so precious to us. And fortunately, she took after Mayumi… Call it parental bias if you want, but we were convinced she’d grow up to be a stunning beauty. Though that ended up backfiring when she developed her aversion to men—I never saw that coming.”

“Yeah… But for me, that’s actually part of why things worked out.”

“Haha, true enough. So when you said you were dating Sara, I was genuinely shocked. I couldn’t believe it. But since it was the man Sara chose, I was prepared to accept you both no matter what. As a parent, there was still some loneliness, of course… but if it was the person Sara picked, there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with him. And I was right. What’s more, in the end, you’re even fulfilling the wish I once had.”

“I… As long as I could be with Sara-san, I didn’t need anything else. I still feel that way. Back then, if things had become impossible, I even considered taking Sara-san and going back to my parents’ house. But I knew that even if we did, unless her parents truly accepted us from the heart, Sara-san could never be truly happy. That thought would linger forever. For Sara-san to be happy, I had to earn your and Mayumi-san’s approval. So finding the best possible way for everyone to accept us—that was my responsibility. Because making Sara-san happy is my role. I won’t yield that to anyone. The path where Sara-san can be happiest is also the happiest path for me.”

When the arranged marriage talk came up, I hadn’t ignored the worst-case scenarios.

But I’d thought of it only as an absolute last resort.

Personally, I desperately wanted Masaomi-san and Mayumi-san to acknowledge me. For Sara-san’s sake, I couldn’t give up.

That’s why I never hesitated to accept the conditions offered—if it opened the way, I welcomed it. And honestly, those “conditions” were something I was thrilled to fulfill anyway.

“Making her happy is my role… huh. Haha, never thought I’d hear those words directed at me one day. I wonder if that’s how Mayumi’s father felt back then… Or maybe he just thought, ‘Kids these days, so cheeky.’”

“Masaomi-san?”

Masaomi-san chuckled nostalgically, almost to himself…

I caught the word “otou-san,” but… was that “o-tou-san” as in Mayumi-san’s father—her “father-in-law” to him?

“Yes. My instinct that ‘if it’s the man Sara chose, he can’t be wrong’ turned out to be correct. And you already have the strongest possible backing—Nishikawa’s president and her mother. No worries there at all. Work is something you can learn slowly through experience. But connections? Those don’t come so easily. You have a talent for drawing people in and making them your strength. That’s what I believe.”

“Uh, um…?”

Masaomi-san was getting visibly excited, praising me—and of course it made me happy.

He clearly had high expectations for me, and that made me want to live up to them. I felt a surge of determination to keep pushing forward.

But… right now, the main topic was…

“Oh, sorry—I got sidetracked. What I mean is, I have that much faith in you. So we’ll keep supporting you two from here on out.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep doing my best! And… about Mayumi-san—”

“Yes, back to Mayumi. What I think is… the way she sees you isn’t just one thing. You’re the boy who cherishes Sara, who makes Sara happy, who reminds her of her past, who brings back memories of my younger self… and—”

Masaomi-san looked straight into my eyes.

Fixed, unwavering.

So I held his gaze. I already had a guess at the answer, but I had to hear it. For the sake of truly becoming part of this family.

“…She unconsciously overlaps you with the child we never got to name or see. That’s why her affection goes beyond what’s reasonable—because she’s pouring that extra love into you as well.”

And the words Masaomi-san spoke were exactly what I’d anticipated… precisely what I’d feared and yet understood.

Now everything made sense—why Mayumi-san had shown me such overwhelming affection all this time.

“It might be a troublesome thing for you to—”

“Thank you… Hearing that makes me feel even more that Mayumi-san is my real mother.”

But… even knowing this, my feelings toward Mayumi-san didn’t change at all.

If anything… quite the opposite.

“…Kazunari-kun?”

“Even if that’s part of it, Mayumi-san still sees me as Kazunari. Rather than overlapping, I think she’s doting on me for that child’s sake as well. If you look at it that way, doesn’t it mean she sees me as her real son in two different senses? To me… that’s nothing but happiness.”

I believed the idea of “overlapping” could be reframed from a different angle.

Thinking of someone as a “replacement” carried negative connotations, but… I didn’t think Mayumi-san—or even Hanako-san—saw me as a substitute. Instead, they were loving me “on behalf of” that child as well.

That felt more natural, more accurate.

“So hearing this… makes me feel even more strongly that Mayumi-san is my real mother. And Masaomi-san, who shared something so important with me… you really are my real father, too.”

Normally, saying something like that would have been mortifyingly embarrassing.

But Masaomi-san had opened up about something so profound.

Now that I understood Mayumi-san’s feelings, I wanted to respond to them. I wanted to convey my true feelings to Masaomi-san…

And once I thought that, the words came out surprisingly easily.

But after holding everything back for so long—the happiness, the emotion—I…

“I see… Yes, you’re right. Indeed… Mayumi must be pouring the love she had for that child… into you as well…”

“Yes… Yes!! So… so I… I’m… I’m… hap… happy…”

No more… I can’t…

The image of their joy when Sara was born floated vividly in my mind, filling me with emotion. Knowing the reason behind Mayumi-san’s feelings for me… Seeing Masaomi-san’s truly joyful expression…

So Masaomi-san and I both, for a while…

We simply couldn’t find words.

***

“Kazunari-kun, thank you for listening. I’m really glad I could tell you.”

“No… thank you for sharing something so important with me. Now I can accept Mayumi-san’s actions even more openly than before.”

Before, there were times I wondered if it was really okay, if it was alright to let things go that far. But now that I understood how Mayumi-san felt about me, I could embrace it without reservation.

Of course… only as long as it didn’t trouble Sara-san. That was the absolute condition.

“Thank you. I’d always been worried about it, but knowing the reason made it hard to say anything when I saw how happy Mayumi looked around you. I’m truly sorry.”

“No, now that I know the circumstances, I think it’s only natural you felt that way. Please don’t worry about it. I’m happy with Mayumi-san’s affection too. Just… in front of Sara-san…”

“Yes. I’ll subtly remind her about that.”

“Yes. And when Sara-san isn’t looking, or as long as it doesn’t make her uncomfortable… I think it’s fine to let Mayumi-san do as she likes a little. So if we can find a good balance there…”

The same went for Hanako-san. As long as they didn’t trouble Sara-san or make her feel bad, I was willing to accept that much.

Sara-san would always come first—no exceptions.

“Really… causing trouble not just for Sara, but for Mayumi too.”

“It’s not trouble. So please don’t worry!”

“I see… Thank you. I’ll leave it in your hands from now on.”

“Yes.”

“One more thing—please keep today’s conversation a secret from Mayumi. It’s almost certainly unconscious on her part, and I don’t want to force her to confront it.”

“Understood. But… is it really okay not to tell Sara-san?”

“Since we don’t even know the name, gender, or appearance, telling Sara she once had an older sibling would probably just confuse her. But now that you know, if you ever judge it would be better to tell her, feel free. Actually, coming from you, I think Sara would be able to listen calmly.”

Me, telling Sara-san something like this? It felt too heavy a responsibility…

But if Masaomi-san said so, then perhaps someday.

“Understood. If a time comes when I think it’s necessary, I might bring it up.”

I didn’t know what kind of situation that would be, but if it ever felt right…

“That’s fine. I’m entrusting Sara to you. Everything about her—I leave in your hands. Yes… if there ever comes a time to tell her… it would probably be when Sara—”

“When Sara-san…?”

“Haha, getting ahead of ourselves. Anyway, tell her when you feel the time is right. Or don’t tell her at all—that’s fine too. We never planned to in the first place.”

“R-roger that?”

If there was an appropriate moment you had in mind, it’d be nice to know…

But I guess that’s something I have to decide for myself…?

***

“Nfufu, what’s with you two, Kazunari-kun and Masaomi-san? You both look oddly happy~?”

After that… Masaomi-san and I at least went through the motions of discussing the part-time job before returning to the main house.

Sara-san had apparently been about to come call us, so I was relieved she didn’t see us in that pathetic state. Masaomi-san probably felt the same.

We sat down at the table and started eating, but both Mayumi-san and Sara-san seemed to sense something off about us. They kept tilting their heads curiously in our direction.

“No, it’s nothing. Kazunari-kun gave me a present too… and it made me so happy. I think I finally understand how overjoyed Mayumi was.”

“My, Kazunari-kun, you prepared one for Masaomi-san as well?”

“Yes. It was to express my everyday gratitude… to Okaa-san and Otou-san.”

“Fufu… Kazunari-san really is wonderful. Please let me thank you properly later as well.”

“Eh? But Sara-san already—”

Sara-san had already given me words of thanks, a storm of kisses, and plenty more.

Anything beyond that would be complete overkill.

“That’s one thing, this is another… Later, I’ll give you lots of head pats and ‘good boy’ treatment, okay?”

In the end, that’s just what Sara-san wants to do… No, I want it too, so I’ll gladly accept… Yes.

“Hahaha, you two really get along well. It’s wonderful.”

“My, you seem awfully composed? I thought you’d make that sour face like always when Sara says things like this.”

“I’m fine now. I’ve decided to leave Sara completely in Kazunari-kun’s hands from here on out.”

With that, Masaomi-san shot me a meaningful wink. So that’s what he meant earlier, including things like this…

“My goodness, was Kazunari-kun’s present really that wonderful? Well, good for you, Sara-chan~”

“Well… of course it was. But since Kazunari-san worked so hard, Otou-san was finally able to accept him wholeheartedly.”

“No, I didn’t really—”

“Fufu… No need to be modest. You did wonderfully today, Kazunari-san. Tonight in bed, while I hold you, we can—”

“…W-wait, wait a second!! Did you just say ‘in bed’!? A-and ‘tonight too’!?”

Ah… Sara-san…

That was one of the top-secret, never-to-be-spoken matters…

Masaomi-san obviously didn’t know (supposedly), and Mayumi-san didn’t either. Bringing it up now completely destroyed Mayumi-san’s earlier claim of “maintaining moderation”…

“Sigh… Weren’t you going to stop interfering in our affairs?”

“This and that are completely different!! Y-you two are still high school students—d-don’t tell me you’re… s-sleeping together!? I-Kazunari-kun, wait, let me explain—”

“Eeeeeeh!? No, that’s!!”

“Honestly, Masaomi-san, enough already! Can’t you trust your precious son? And making a fuss during dinner… I’m sorry, Kazunari-kun. Here, aah~n…”

Mayumi-san’s actions made no sense at all, but she casually held out some tamagoyaki toward me… so I opened my mouth to eat it—only for Sara-san to beat her to it, popping a piece right into my mouth.

“Fufu… How is it, Kazunari-san?”

“Oishii desu…”

Sara-san’s tamagoyaki was the strongest in the world. Nothing else came to mind but “delicious.”

“Aaaah, Sara-chan, that’s mean!? Okaa-san was first—”

“I don’t know anything about that. Or rather, the only one allowed to do this to Kazunari-san is me, you know?”

“S-Sara!! We’re still talking—”

Ah… somehow… it’s so peaceful.

But today really was a wonderful day.

Learning about Mayumi-san, understanding Masaomi-san’s feelings, realizing just how fully I’d been accepted…

Now I could truly see the two of them as my real parents—another father and mother.

So yes—I had finally become a true member of the Satsukawa family.

That was the kind of day it had been.

“Kazunari-kun! You still need to explain—”

…Hmm. Maybe I’m not completely trusted yet… after all?