---

“I win.”

“Kuu…”

With one merciless move, Ria puts the finishing touches on Shinku.

They played an analog game called [Kutouna]

In this game, you play as the leader of a cult of fanatics and summon an evil god while collecting faith and blood and successfully evading the interference of the other cult and the police.

The game is played with 30% luck and 70% skill, but Ria has won all the games ten times in a row. Each time, Shinku was frustrated and challenged her to fight again.

Up until a few minutes ago, the four of them, including Yunika and Haruka, had been playing the game, but since it was complex board game, and by the time they finished, three hours had already passed. Yunika and Haruka were resting with the cats because they were tired.

Shinku, showing no sign of fatigue, looks for a new game from the stack of analog games beside her. She selected a new game that she and Ria could play together, and held it out to her.

“This is the next game!”

“Fufu…Okay”

Ria smiles at Shinku, who is completely absorbed in playing games.

Ria puts away the cards spread out on the tatami mats and spreads out an logic type analog game that Shinku has newly chosen.

Seeing Ria’s happy appearance, Haruka’s eyes narrow at the corners of his mouth.

“You guys are having fun.”

“Fufu…”

A little further away from the group, Haruka was lying down and reading a paper picture book.

Yunika was lying on the tatami mats, playing with two cats.

“Look, Obi. It’s hard to believe that they were once wild animals, they’re so defenseless.”

Yunika calls out to Haruka, who is on the other side of the cats. He took his eyes off the picture book and looked next to the cat, which was lying on its back. It occasionally wiggles its body and licks its paws.

Thinking that he might offend the cat, he put his hand on the cat’s stomach and stroked it gently.

The cat glances at Haruka, the owner of the hand. After that, it twisted its body to escape from the hand. When he let his hand go, the cat begins to sleep on it’s back again.

The cat was more defenseless than the cats at the cat café that he visited with Shinku sometime ago.

Since Haruka put down the picture book and started to watch over the cats, the two cats are now looked at between Yunika and Haruka.

Neither of the two cats seemed to mind that they were being watched as they pleased, and each of them groomed their fur freely.

Yunika lay down and looked at Haruka, who was sometimes playing with the cats.

Somehow, she imagined that Haruka was her husband and the two cats were baby twins, and her face got hot.

(I feel that Obi would definitely help out when taking care of our children.)

She could easily imagine them raising their babies with lots of love, smiling when they cried at night, actively changing their diapers, taking a walk with them in a baby carrier, and so on.

Yunika hurriedly let the fantasy fade away.

Now she laid on her stomach, resting her chin on her arm and glancing at Haruka with a sideways glance.

（It’s easy to imagine, but I have to see it for what it really is. He is a man who can be violent at a drop of a hat, even if he has a good reason to so. He could be one of those so called DV husband.)

Yunika is reminded of Haruka’s big stand-up fight the other week. With a serious expression on his face, Haruka fights for Ria.

Yunika’s ears turned red at the image of Haruka burned in her mind.

“~~~~~!!!!”

She slammed the tatami mats with the back of her foot. She was embarrassed.

“Aa, now that I think about it…”

“What’s wrong?”

Haruka wondered at Yunika who seemed to have suddenly thought of something.

“Obi, since we’re free, so let’s do fortune telling.”

“You like fortune telling?”

Haruka looked at Yunika with a surprising expression.

“You may not know this, but it’s been a bit of a hot topic at school since the day before yesterday.”

In fact, various fortune-telling apps have been popular their classroom the whole week.

They started getting popular from one classroom to another until it became popular in Haruka’s class too.

It can be a good opportunity to get to know someone of the opposite sex you are interested in, and it can also be a good source of conversation. And the upper caste students who are usually friendly with the opposite sex have less hurdle to move to such a topic.

Akito brought in some men in the middle caste, and the class was temporarily hooked on fortune-telling.

If she was honest, Yunika is one of those who think fortune-telling was trivial.

Even when she was still in elementary school, Yunika disliked the girls who were happy or sad at the result of fortune-telling and who were excited about it.

Yunika never liked that mindset that the result of fortune telling would make any difference in her life or not.

But now she could understand the feelings of the girls who spent their time clinging to the results of fortune telling.

Yunika wanted to know how good her compatibility with Haruka was, even if it’s through an obscure and barren thing such as fortune telling.

Yunika operates a floating window and sends it to Haruka.

[Marriage compatibility reading. This page tells you how your married life will be like.

Please agree to our privacy policy.]

“Marriage compatibility reading…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just for fun.”

Haruka smiled bitterly and gave his consent on the terms.

The app analyzes the provided memories and thoughts of the couple, and simulates what the future will be like when they get married.

It may be more accurate to call it a highly accurate future simulator than a fortune-teller. At least, it was not a simple thing compared to the old days.

[Compatibility of marriage between Haruka and Yunika, 94%.]

Yunika was shocked when she saw the result.

“H-huh? You and I are more compatible than I thought.”

[The compatibility of the two is very good and they will have a happy married life.

They tend to have more children, so their love for their children may be divided, and the children may feel that they do not have enough love for them]

“W-well, that can be solved by loving them a lot, can’t it?”

With a slight look of frustration, Yunika mentions her concern about the results.

“The result showed more than five children. Yunika likes children, doesn’t she?”

“Huh? I don’t like children that much. I don’t think I’d like to have a baby after having experienced it once because it seems to be very painful.”

“So you’re going to have one.”

“Well..I do want to have a baby.”

To cover her shyness, she patted the cat beside her.

Yunika was relieved to know that the result of the highly accurate simulator, which is nothing more than a fortune-telling machine, indicated that Haruka would not become a DV husband.

Silently, Haruka stroked the cat just as Yunika had done.

Yunika saw that and felt as if they were already husband and wife. The two cats between them look like baby twins.

As if to bring her back to reality, Shinku shouted out.

“Yay, I won desu wa!”

“I finally lost.”

Shinku is pleased and Ria smiled at her. It seems that for the first time, Shinku has won.

“Ria, you’re not taking it easy this time, are you?”

Yunika remembered what happened during tennis match with Ria. Ria shook her head quietly in return.

“No, I didn’t.”

“It was a game that is based on luck, so I managed to win.”

“Ah, I see.”

Yunika nodded her head in understanding. Indeed, if the game doesn’t rely on luck, there’s no way she would be able to compete with Ria.

“You’re lucky that the game doesn’t use a dice, Claudia-san.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ria is capable of controlling what face the dice lands, so even in a game with a strong element of luck, Claudia-san will lose if dices are involved.”

“What? You’re like an alien.”

Shinku gaped at Ria with a fearful expression. Ria smiled at her in a puzzled manner, but she didn’t deny it.

“What were you two doing? I heard something about fortune-telling.”

Ria asked Yunika and Haruka, mean while Shinku was held a cat that was grooming on the tatami and smiling at it.

“We were doing marriage compatibility reading because we had nothing to do. Why don’t Ria and Shinku try it too?”

“I have nothing but bad memories of fortune-telling desu wa.”

“Well Shinku’s compatibility with Kureha, whom you like, is the worst, isn’t it?”

Yunika casually probed at Haruka while she mentioned Shun’s name being Shinku’s favorite, but she doesn’t get the reaction she was afraid of. Yunika is relieved inside.

“I mean, Kureha-san had a bad chemistry with most of the women.”

“Really? That’s surprising.”

It was a little surprising for Haruka, who still had strong memories of how Shun had been getting along well with several women, even though Miyako was Shun’s true love. He thinks that fortune-telling is just like that after all.

“The highest was Mika at around 60%, right?”

“That’s right, zero for Uta-san. Mine and Yunika’s at 5. Hibiki-san was 35. Shirogane-san was around 50, if I recalled correctly.”

“That’s low.”

Ria giggles and smiled.

“I’d like to try that marriage compatibility reading with Haruka too.”

“I’ll send you the address of the app.”

Ria goes to the address sent to her and downloads the application for the marriage compatibility reading.

Haruka again consented to the same “personal information” window that appeared on the screen. Ria agrees as well, and the app begins to analyze their data.

[The compatibility of marriage between Obi Haruka and Ise Ria is 100%.

A kind and tolerant husband and a tender-hearted wife who understands her husband more than anyone else. The two will build a happy family together.]

“Well, the outcome was pretty obvious.”

“I know right~”

The two of them laughed at the results.

Yunika, who had thought that her own record would not be beaten, was struck with vertigo.

Moreover, Haruka and Ria acted as if the result was a foregone conclusion. Yunika’s eyes, which had never cried even when she was harassed during elementary school, was slowly filled with tears.

“Why don’t you try too Claudia-san?”

“…I don’t mind.”

“I hope it will be over five percent.”

“Maybe about three.”

Shinku already had the application, and the agreement screen appeared right in front of Haruka’s eyes. It was the third time he agreed to the consent.

[The degree of compatibility between Obi Haruka and Claudia Shinku is 98%.

A father who is kind and shows his love generously, and a mother who is strict but deeply loving. A warm and happy family will be highly stable as long as they have a child.]

“Too high!”

“N-ninety eight?! No way…”

Ria is frankly surprised, and Yunika was stunned.

“Huh? What a terrible application. Why is Kureha-san five while Obi-san is ninety-eight?”

“Because Haruka is someone who would properly care for his future children, I think?”

“I think he’ll abuse them at some point, considering he looks like that.”

“Abusive…”

At Shinku’s terrible joke, Haruka smiled bitterly as if he was taken aback.

“It’s almost time to go, let’s have dinner first before we leave.”

“How long has it been since 2:00PM? I didn’t notice it at all.”

“You’re getting carried away, Shinku. That’s because you’ve been playing that complex board game.”

The four left the lazy cats behind and headed for the cafeteria.

After eating a simple but delicious meal, the group went to the large balcony under the guidance of Haruka.

Sitting on chairs on the balcony, the group sat down for their meal.

“I like it very much. The sound of the rain, the noisy frogs, I love it all. All for three thousand yen.”

“What? There was an admission fee?”

“Yes, there was. but I paid for everyone.”

Yunika stared at Haruka with a puzzled expression on her face while Haruka confirms it without hesitation.

“I heard that you bought some expensive clothes for Shinku, where did you get so much money despite having a Vanilla profile?”

“My Nee-san is very rich. I don’t have any hobbies, so I don’t have much opportunity to spend money.

I only spend money on daily necessities such as skin care, hair products, accessories, clothes, and shoes.

By the way, when’s your birthday, Yunika?”

“It’s on October 16th. Are you going to give me a present?”

Haruka nods in reply to Yunika.

“Since we get along pretty well, it’s only natural that I would get you something for your birthday.”

“Is that how it goes?”

Yunika laughed, as if she went crazy.

“When is your birthday, Claudia-san?”

Haruka asked Shinku who was a little far away. At that moment, Yunika’s smile disappeared as if she was a blown out candle.

“August 11th desu wa. I’m expecting the best present.”

“Aye aye.”

Haruka pulls up his calendar and recorded their birthdays.

“Aren’t you going to ask Ria’s birthday?”

“I already know.”

Haruka smiled back at her, and Yunika’s heart ached like a needle pierced her chest.

（If only… If only I’d learned to talk to him sooner… If only we had sat closer to each other like Ria did…)

Yunika thoguht about the things that she couldn’t control.

She was already completely absorbed in Haruka

Because she haven’t experienced what love was… she doesn’t know how to cope with it.

She couldn’t help but sunk down.

After that, Haruka and the others went back to the Japanese-style room and played another heavy board game for four hours.

Although they did not move their bodies, they were very tired from the use of their brains.

The androids would clean up the mess if they left them alone, but the four of them put away the games they had played and put them back where they belonged.

“Well then, let’s go home.”

“We’ll see you again, Neko-chan.”

Shinku shook hands with the paws of a cat and touched its paw with her index finger and thumb.

The four left the room and went to the covered parking lot on the first floor.

Naturally, it is darker outside than when they arrived, and visibility is very poor.

“Obi-san, I won’t forgive you if you get us into an accident.”

“Don’t worry, the AI will take care of us on the way home.”

Haruka got into the car and switched it to the AI control.

The car departs to the destination. The visibility is poor due to heavy rain and night, but the AI has no problem.

“All of us are tired, let’s sleep on the way home.”

“I’ll let you do that.”

The small rocking of the car, the sound of the engine, and the sound of the rain hitting the body of the car lulls Haruka and the others to sleep.

Lulled into a deep sleep, Haruka let go of his consciousness.

The next time he woke up, the car is already on the highway near his house.

When he looked next to him, he saw that Ria was awake.

“Good morning, Ria.”

“Good morning, Haruka.”

“Those two … They seem to be still sleeping.”

When Haruka looked behind him, he saw that Yunika and Shinku were sleeping peacefully.

“Wake up, both of you. We’ll be at the station soon.”

They did not wake up at once, so Haruka called to them several times, and they finally responded.

“Nnnー?”

With sleepy eyes, they wake up slowly.

“We’re about to arrive at the station.”

“Eh, when did we get here?”

Yunika looks around. This area must be familiar to her. She gazes out of the window.

Finally, the car arrived at the destination, the Reisen station.

“Thank you, both of you, for accompanying me today. It was a lot of fun.” (Haruka)

“See you on Monday, Yunika, Claudia-san.” (Ria)

“Good day to you, Obi-san, Ise-san.”

“Today was fun. Let’s play again.”

After exchanging greetings, they left Yunika and Shinku at the station.

As they parked the car, Haruka watched their backs are moving away.

Then, there is silence in the car for a while.

They have been out of sight for a while now, but Haruka does not move. Ria looked doubtful and called out to Haruka

“Aren’t you going? Haruka?”

“…. Hey, Ria…”

Ria senses the change in the air around her. Her heart throbs and her cheeks flush.

“W-what…?”

“Can’t we take a break for a while?”

Ria’s heart is stirred up by Haruka’s words.

Ria turns her head down and keeps silent.

Instead of urging her to answer, Haruka leans on the steering wheel and waits for Ria’s answer, looking ahead.

“…… Yes, it’s okay.”

Ria answered in a small, mumbling voice.

As if that were not enough, she makes eye contact with Haruka in the driver’s seat and tells him her intention.

Haruka looked into Ria’s eyes and smiled softly. He operates the navigation system and sets a new destination.

The headlights come on, and the AI starts the car toward the destination.

Ria continues to look out the window at the bright cityscape without moving her head.

A heart mark is floating in the depths of her eyes.

---

Translator Notes

DV: Domestic Violence