Standing outside the Akazawa house was a dignified and slightly nervous young teenager.
Takei was busy fidgeting with his clothes and hair as he was about to knock on the Akazawa's front door.
He was currently wearing the outfit that he had picked out yesterday with Ryuto, as well as the watch that Akari had gifted to him.
Takei hoped that this would be sufficient enough to impress Akari's parents, but he was still quite nervous despite the fact.
Flora and Yuuto had advised Takei earlier to bring a gift along with him in order to make a better first impression.
To be on the safe side, Takei had bought some flowers beforehand to bring with him.
After confirming that everything was all good, Takei mustered up his resolve and knocked on the door.
Some noises of shuffling footsteps could be heard beyond the door, but it promptly opened soon after the footsteps had receded to a stop.
"Takei? You're here early."
The goddess greeted him as the door opened to reveal her beautiful figure.
Akari was wearing the white frilly one-piece dress that she had purchased in the past along with Takei.
Just like how it had fit her perfectly then, it fit her perfectly now as well.
The white dress accentuated her curves to only a moderate degree, while also maintaining her original allure.
"Cute" was the only word to describe her. Certainly, Akari was beautiful and elegant, but the thing that stood out the most was her cuteness.
The innocence that was radiating from her snow white dress was reaching an incalculable amount.
"Got to make a good impression, right? Haha..." Takei laughed nervously.
As expected of the loner who lacked social interaction with other people, he was sweating bullets at the thought of interacting with his best friend's parents.
Akari pondered the level of danger for a second before responding to Takei. "They're not bad people. It'll be okay...hopefully."
Takei stepped back in fear. "What's with that last part?!"
For what it was worth, Akari made Takei's fears slightly worse.
"Hurry up and come in, the food's going to get cold!"
Disregarding her past ominous warnings, Akari pushed Takei into her house.
This visit actually just so happened to be Takei's first visit to Akari's house.
The reason being that Takei was always hesitant to visit a girl's house whose parents weren't home. It felt too inappropriate to him so he decided to abstain, to Akari's dismay.
Entering through the front door, the interior of the house looked like a normal family's household at first glance. Well, normal besides the large amount of bookcases that adorned the walls.
As expected of the CEO of a popular international bookstore chain, there was an unprecedented amount of books in the house.
"Have you read all of these?" Takei asked.
Akari looked unsurprised at his expected question. "Most of them at least. Books are a big thing in our family as you can tell."
She then led him through the hallway and into the kitchen where the rest of her family resided.
Takei entered the kitchen and saw two people who were already seated at the table waiting for him.
One was a refined man with an air of nobility around him, while the other person was a woman who looked like an older sister version of Akari.
Needless to say, these were her parents.
At this realization, Takei immediately bowed down and greeted them politely.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Akari's friend, Takei Tanaka. Thank you for the warm invite."
Both parents seemed a bit stunned to see such a polite teenager. It was often normal nowadays for teenagers to be rude and disrespectful to older people, so it was a welcome surprise.
They were also quite intrigued at who Akari made friends with, so they kept their curiosity to a bare minimum.
Putting their surprise aside, Akari's mother decided to first introduce herself. "Yuriko Akazawa, it's a pleasure to meet you. We've been wanting to meet the person who's been good friends with our daughter, so the invite was no trouble."
Sensing the goodwill from her introduction, Takei handed over the bundle of flowers that he had been carrying.
"These are for you, as thanks for letting me spend this evening with your family."
Yuriko looked at the flowers and a sly grin appeared on her face.
"Shouldn't you be giving this to Akari instead? I hear you've been getting more intimate with each other."
"Mom!"
The goddess shouted at her mother while a familiar red color splotched her cheeks.
"Fufufu, it's been a while since I've seen you this riled up."
Even withstanding the goddess's angry shouting, it seemed that Akari's mom had her beat.
While this exchange was happening, there was a piercing stare that was being directed at Takei.
Using the process of elimination, it could be concluded that the last person that has yet to be introduced was Akari's dad.
Turning his head to face him, Takei recited his introduction once more.
"As I said earlier, my name is Takei Tanaka. Thank you for inviting me to your home."
In contrast to what Takei had expected however, there was a blunt and curt response awaiting him.
"Haruto Akazawa, pleasure meeting you."
That response ended up scaring him a bit, but Takei managed a poker face to ensure that his feelings wouldn't be transmitted.
"Likewise."
He decided to reply to Haruto with utmost respect to show that he wasn't being rude.
However, Haruto didn't even say a single word after Takei replied to him.
A tense atmosphere was slowly filling the room as a result of this.
Luckily for Takei though, the argument between mother and daughter finished just in time to save him.
"Alright, let's leave it there for now. Both of you please sit down for dinner."
Yuriko diffused the current situation and changed the flow completely.
That communication power must've been inherited from mother to daughter. Why couldn't I have gotten any better traits for my parents?!
Akari and Takei both sat down, as instructed, and glanced at each other.
Both of them were anxious to see how this dinner would unfold.
---
Meter will return soon.
Serious-san: Mwhahaha, you fools have empowered me too much! I'll receive my power spike next chapter!
Sugar-san: Geh... He's grown too cocky...