There was a standard family dinner set out on the table.
The classic hamburg steak, white rice, and fermented vegetables adorned the long wooden table that was in the middle of the dining room.
Takei and Akari were sitting next to each other, while Haruto and Yuriko were sitting directly in front of them.
At Yuriko's suggestion, they all began to eat after giving their graces to the food.
Takei noticed that the food tasted a bit different that it usually tasted, so he assumed that either Yuriko or Haruto made the food instead of Akari.
It wasn't bad per say, actually it was probably extremely delicious to the average person, but Takei was not the average person. After tasting the goddess's cooking, he could no longer eat normal food the same.
"Is there something wrong?" Yuriko asked, with a concerned expression. "You're wearing a complicated expression on your face."
Takei raised his hand and began to feel his face to ascertain the expression that she was talking about. Indeed, Yuriko seemed to be correct. The expression on his face felt a bit stiffer than normal.
"My apologies, the food tastes great. It's just that..."
Trying to find a way to explain the situation as best as possible without creating any misunderstanding, Takei had to stop his sentence to think about how to phrase his reply.
"...I think I prefer Akari's cooking. No disrespect to you, but I think my stomach has been captured."
Stating something so blatantly disrespectful could be seen as a foolish decision by many, but Takei had faith in Akari's parents. They may not have been the best parents, but he knew they cared for their daughter at the very least.
Absorbing the compliment that Takei had aimed at her, Akari averted her gaze and looked away from him.
The red tinge that was spreading across her face was evident to everyone in the room.
Smiling faintly, Yuriko sensed the good will between them.
"That's completely fine? I don't mind if you prefer her cooking over mine. That just means she's wife material."
"Mom!"
The usual banter finally resumed with the goddess being angry with her mother due to the waves of embarrassment that she was bringing.
Also as expected, there was an observant gaze directed at Takei.
He had learned that it was better to ignore this stare for the moment, but he still felt a bit anxious at being probed.
All of a sudden, Akari's phone began to ring. It was an odd hour to call since it was dinnertime, but Takei didn't want to interrupt with a complaint.
"Ah, hello? Oh... I'll get to it right away."
Akari answered the phone and nodded as the person talking to her instructed her on something.
After confirming the situation, Akari ended the phone call and turned back to everyone.
"I have to do something in my room real quick, so I'll be back soon."
Both of her parents gave her the go-ahead to do what she needed to do, so she politely left the room as a result.
That meant that Takei was sitting in front of her parents by himself, which was an outrageously scary experience for him.
Takei nervously looked up to them while he was eating the food on his plate, only to lock eyes with Haruto.
There was no way for him to escape now, so he decided to continue the staring contest that was happening.
After a few moments of tense staring, Haruto decided to cut through the silence.
"Is there anything you wanted to say to us?"
An unexpected question struck Takei in the heart.
It was a question that was definitely used to test his character.
They undoubtedly wanted to know what Takei had to say to them.
Thinking about this, Takei had many things to ask about, but there was one thing that took precedence over all of them.
"Why are you two such shitty parents?"
"..."
Takei asked a very inappropriate question that was easily recognized as very inappropriate to ask your friend's parents.
It was a gamble to ask such a question, but he didn't care.
Takei had enough of their poor choices that had led to their half ignorance of their daughter.
"Have you seen how she had felt about your absence in her life? Have you ever thought about how she felt? You two chose work over your daughter? Pathetic. Absolutely disgusting."
He kept on shouting profanities at them, resulting in some very harsh words being said.
Even then, Takei didn't care. This was something he had to do no matter what. He had to stand his ground for Akari's sake, even against her parents. There were no compromises that he wanted to take.
"If you love your daughter so much, why do you do this to her? It's inexcusable, and I'm sick of it."
Letting go of all the anger inside of him, Takei shouted as much as he possibly could.
Eventually, he ran out of things to say.
Not fearing what the outcome would be, he resolutely stared at both of their shocked expressions.
Taking a few moments to recollect themselves, normality finally returned to their faces.
Instead of the angry faces that he expected to see, Takei saw a pair of regretful and pained faces.
Yuriko was the first one to speak, with a deeply sorrowful expression on her face.
"We...knew that she was lonely. However, we didn't know the full extent of it. "
Obviously, a lot of work for the parents could be strenuous for a child growing up. Some parents might think it was fine and necessary, but it was an overwhelmingly large detriment to child growth and their relationships with their family.
"Akari would always tell us to focus on work, so we listened to her. We never would've thought that she was hurting this much. She would always greet us with a smile when we got home..."
So that's why their relationship didn't seem that tense. She never ended up being selfish for once and asking her parents to put her first...
As Yuriko trailed off, Haruto decided that it was time for him to step in. Replacing the stoic and stern expression he had, was the face of a saddened parent.
"Firstly, I apologize for my behavior up until now. I was testing to see what type of person you are, and I was not disappointed at all. My daughter has made a splendid friend."
A gentle and warm smile appeared on his face as a result of him recognizing Takei.
The stern and reserved behavior that Haruto had been using was actually just an act that was used in order to test Takei's character.
It had worked out in Takei's favor because he went up against that oppressive aura and withstood it. As a bonus, Takei lashed out at the both of them for being terrible parents.
The realization had hurt them greatly, but they were still grateful for him pointing it out.
"Secondly, we had no idea that we were hurting her this badly. Changing the past is impossible, so we'll atone by trying to spend as much time as possible with her in the future. Work will become a secondary priority."
Takei nodded in response to Haruto's new proposal. It wasn't a surefire fix to Akari's loneliness problem, but it was a step in the right direction.
As he was agreeing to what Haruto was saying, Takei realized that there had to be one more thing that Haruto wanted to address.
"Wait, secondly? Is there another thing you want to talk about?"
There couldn't be anything else, right?
Haruto cleared his throat and slightly averted his gaze.
"Will you please stay by our daughter's side? It would make us a lot more comfortable."
Even the mighty chief executive officer of an international bookstore company could get this bashful about his daughter.
Seeing the resemblance between father and daughter, Takei smiled gently at the man who asked him for such a selfish thing.
"You didn't need to ask."
---
Meter will return in the next chapter.
Sugar-san: Haha, my time will come in the next chapter!
Serious-san: Only one chapter of seriousness... Why does the author hate me?