Meanwhile, after a long day of work, Kurashiki Reika, who had just arrived home, closed her car door.
Click~
Wearing a wine-red women's suit, she walked with her long legs wrapped in sheer black stockings, her finely crafted low-heeled shoes making a 'clack clack' sound as she walked to the door leading from the garage to the first-floor living room.
Clank~
Taking out a key from her bag, she unlocked the door handle.
After entering, she grabbed a pair of all-white, blue-flowered cotton slippers from the shoe cabinet by the door.
Changing into the slippers, she unbuttoned her suit jacket, revealing the white shirt underneath that was almost bursting at the seams.
Reika walked into the brightly lit living room and glanced at her daughter lying on the sofa playing games and then asked:
"Reina, have you had dinner?"
Hearing the question, the golden-haired girl, who looked almost identical to Reika, didn't change her lying posture but lowered the volume of her game's sound as she responded:
"Yes, I have. There's still food in the pot. You can heat it up."
Having eaten a bit with Kyouka earlier, Reika wasn't particularly hungry.
What was more important was the discussion she had with Kyouka in the morning.
She wasn't one to procrastinate.
Now that she had the time and her daughter wasn't out, it was a good opportunity to break the news.
Throwing her shoulder bag on a nearby single sofa, Reika sat by her daughter's legs, crossed her elegant but not fleshy black-stockinged legs, and said:
"Stop playing your game for a moment. I have something to tell you."
With her hands gripping her phone, her fair fingers kept tapping the screen. Reina Aoshiki, who liked to wear her hair down like her mother, sat up while curling her bare, well-proportioned legs under her loose gray shirt, and responded:
"What is it? I'm listening."
Unbothered by her daughter's lack of focus, Reika closed her eyes slightly, propped her elbow on the sofa armrest, and casually massaged her temples as she spoke in a calm tone:
"I found you a fiancé. Find some time to meet him."
Like a marble falling to the ground and bouncing continuously, Reina's fingers froze at her words.
She put down her phone, smoothed her disheveled hair, and stared incredulously at her mother's calm demeanor.
"What did you say? When did I get a fiancé?!"
"This morning, your Aunt Kyouka and I decided it."
Expecting her daughter's reaction, Reika opened her eyes and directly stated:
"If all goes well, you, your sister Yuka, and Koharu will all be his fiancées."
As her words went by, the girl's already wide eyes now looked as big as small bells, her chest heaved with rage as she retorted furiously:
"Are you out of your mind? What kind of stupid things are you saying? You want me to be someone else's mistress. Are you my mother?"
"I'm telling you, I don't agree with this!"
"I'm informing you, not discussing it with you."
The spoken words remained as light as ever, yet the tone was as cold and hard as ice, leaving no room for negotiation.
Kurashiki Reika straightened her body, nestled in the sofa, and said coldly:
"If you had taken even a little interest in the company's affairs, I might have considered it."
"But you said it yourself, with your current careless and willful demeanor, how could I entrust the company to you?"
"How would you know I couldn't do it if you didn't let me try! You're at the company all day, what do you know?"
Angered, she stood up, only slightly shorter than her mother.
Her delicate willow brows furrowed due to her mother's presumptions, and Kurashiki Reina, facing her mother's stern gaze, sharply retorted:
"Marry off yourself if you want to, stop meddling in my affairs, I can find a lover myself."
She had no reaction to her statement about finding a lover.
Kurashiki Reina allowed her daughter's capricious behavior, but only to an extent.
"Just for fun is okay, but keep your body pure for me. Once I set a date with your Aunt Kyouka, you will come with me to meet someone."
"You b..."
Angered, the girl clenched her teeth, about to hurl some swear words, but seeing her face, which resembled her own, she swallowed the curse back.
Unable to stand her mother's overbearing attitude of 'whatever I say goes, you better listen well'.
Kurashiki Reina picked up the mobile phone from the sofa, and without turning back, headed towards the second floor:
"I'll say it again, marry if you want to marry, stop meddling in my business!"
.
.
.
21:55.
For children then in elementary school, this time is already past their bedtime.
At this time, not going to sleep meant getting spanked by adults.
For middle or high school students, that time was also not early.
After washing up and taking a bath, they needed to head back to their rooms to prepare for sleep, as there would be another day of classes tomorrow.
But for college students, this time was equivalent to eight in the morning, or just after lunch at one in the afternoon.
It was the start of staying up late to binge-watch TV series, or staying up late to watch anime or play games.
So, when Sasaki returned home, the two college students in the house were huddled together on the sofa like a couple of warm penguins.
Watching them intently stare at the TV screen while eating chips, holding their breath now and then, and the dark living room without any lights turned on.
Sasaki guessed they were watching a horror movie.
Standing at the entrance between the hallway and the living room, after confirming they hadn't heard the door open, he slowly crouched down.
Then gradually moved towards the back of the sofa and snuggled into the couch with Koharu.
Tachibana Yuuka, munching on chips, watched on the TV screen as the protagonists walked down a long, dark corridor, unaware of a clawed hand slowly descending from the ceiling and couldn't help but hold her breath.
Just then, a palm suddenly landed on her shoulder.
Since she was snuggled up with Koharu.
She subconsciously thought that Koharu was frightened by the scene, and wanted to cling to her for a sense of security.
So she didn't think much of it.
As she watched on the TV, the slender arm from the ceiling reached close to one of the protagonist's scalps.
And just then, Koharu sitting right next to her, suddenly said:
"Yuka, stop it, don't pinch my shoulder, it's ticklish~"
"Uh-huh~"
Hearing Koharu call her name,the girl blankly extended her hands out of the blanket.
Revealing her hands, pale and beautiful as snow under the white light of the TV.
"I hadn't pinched your shoulder, you..."
Suddenly realizing Koharu was holding her hands to her chest, Yuuka's heart tightened, and her eyes widened in shock, taking a deep breath.
She was certain there were only the two of them in the living room.
Mom was still in the bath and hadn't come out, Fuyumi hadn't returned from a dinner with classmates.
Whose hand was this?
Her heart beat wildly, as if stuck in her throat, making the feel increasingly suffocated.
Seeing her hands emerge from the blanket, Koharu had a similar expression.
The two of them looked at each other, letting the heavy palm rest on their shoulders, not daring to make any movements.
Just as they were nearly crushed by the suffocating atmosphere.
Suddenly, a shrill scream from the TV tightened their hearts, and they started to scream frantically.
"Ah!!!!!!"
"There's a ghost!!!!!"