Unlike Utaha, who had to drag a suitcase to go home, Miyahito traveled light, carrying only his guitar back to Chiba.
But that was normal.
After all, unlike Utaha, who had to take the Shinkansen for an hour or two to get home, going back to Chiba City for Miyahito felt like just taking a quick tour around the different wards of Tokyo.
Sitting in his seat with his guitar, wearing headphones and listening to music, Miyahito's fingers occasionally swiped and tapped on his phone.
`[Utaha: I really don't know why I have to give my hard-earned money to a bunch of incompetent fools. It's been so long and they still haven't upgraded the train seats.]`
Looking at Utaha's complaining message, Miyahito didn't even need to think to know her face must be terribly dark right now.
Shaking his head with a mix of amusement and helplessness, Miyahito replied.
`[Miyahito: Then just buy a first-class ticket next time. It can't be helped that second class is a bit lacking.]`
`[Utaha: No way! A first-class ticket is almost 2,000 yen. Like you said, my money doesn't grow on trees! (￣^￣) Hmph!]`
`[Miyahito: Then there's nothing I can do ╮(╯_╰)╭.]`
`[Utaha: I don't care! You think of something!]`
`[Miyahito: Eh? Isn't that too unreasonable!?]`
`[Utaha: Miyahito (づ￣ 3￣)づ]`
`[Miyahito: .....How about I book a first-class seat for you next time? You know what, I've got money! ╭(′▽`)╭(′▽`)╯]`
`[Utaha: ....]`
Seeing the string of ellipses Utaha sent, Miyahito couldn't help but laugh out loud.
....
Wakō City, Station Plaza.
"Darling, is it really necessary to come this early?" Knowing today was the day his precious daughter was coming home, Kasumigaoka Naoki had immediately put aside his work after receiving his wife's call yesterday, running around making preparations for her return.
However, just as he had gotten up early this morning, preparing to head to the port to rush-buy the freshest, her favorite big lobsters, his wife asked him this.
He had been dragged out by his wife, who never woke up before 10 AM on her days off.
Turning to look at his wife, who was wearing a cyan bohemian-style dress and a hand-woven, wide-brimmed sun hat, Naoki glanced at his watch with a helpless expression.
"It's only a little past ten. Utaha's train doesn't arrive until 8:45."
"Aren't we just wasting time coming here this early?"
Kasumigaoka Kao, who possessed the exact same wine-red eyes as her daughter and an even more voluptuous figure, shot her husband a flat look. Then, with a slightly meaningful drawl to her tone, she said coolly,
"What? Is Mr. Naoki tired of being with me now?"
"After fifteen years of marriage, are you finally sick of this aging, fading wife of mine?"
"...."
Naoki inhaled sharply.
With practiced ease, he lowered his gaze to the slender hand fiercely pinching the soft flesh at his waist. Grown man though he was, Naoki looked at his perfectly composed wife, tears welling in his eyes.
"...Am I that kind of person?"
"Hmph."
If Miyahito had been present at this moment, he would have been shocked to discover something.
That "Hmph" from Kao—whether it was the tone, the expression, or the rhythmic cadence—was exactly identical to the "Hmph" Utaha let out when she pinched his waist.
To put it bluntly, it wasn't just similar. It was a perfect, one-to-one match.
"Seriously, I was just complaining." Rubbing the spot on his waist his wife had just pinched with a pained expression, Naoki complained aggrievedly. "Did you have to pinch so hard? It's bruised, Kao..."
"Do you want me to show you right now?" Kao shot her husband a sideways glare. "Or maybe you'd prefer to see it tonight?"
Even after all these years of marriage, Kao still loved to casually drop jokes with a speed of 120 mph.
Sigh. I can only hope our good daughter doesn't inherit her mother's bad habits.
With a slightly helpless expression, Naoki reached out and took his wife's hand.
Kao didn't object. She just rolled her beautiful, wine-red eyes and shot him a flirtatious glare.
"Speaking of which, I wonder if Utaha is coming back alone this time, or if she's bringing two people back?"
Just as the couple was watching the bustling station entrance, waiting for their precious daughter to appear, Kao suddenly dropped a sentence that made Naoki's face change drastically.
"Two people?" Naoki turned to look at his wife, who didn't look a day over thirty, and asked in a feigned calm tone. "What? Did Utaha tell you she's bringing a friend home?"
"A boy or a girl?"
"Saa~"
Kao turned her head, giving her husband a meaningful look, and continued in a sing-song voice.
"I have no idea. Could be a boy? Or a girl?"
"Hmph! I'll see which brat dares to lay a finger on my Utaha while I'm not looking!" Hearing the hidden meaning in his wife's words, Naoki immediately caught on. "If he dares to have designs on my daughter, I'll personally invite him home to admire my prized 'Izumi Kanesada'."
Hearing her husband's grandiose threats, Kao looked at him with a highly complex expression.
Her husband, a lawyer, is viciously planning to invite his daughter's 'suspected boyfriend' over to look at controlled weapons?
Is this really okay?
At the same time.
At the station entrance not far away, a very familiar figure pulled a suitcase, slowly walking into the couple's line of sight amidst the flow of people.
Whether it was Naoki, who was still muttering his 'conspiracy', or Kao, who was looking at her husband like he was a misbehaving bear cub, both of their faces simultaneously broke into happy smiles as that graceful, lovely figure walked toward them with elegant steps.
With her hands behind her back pulling her suitcase, her face beaming with a pure, childlike smile, Utaha happily said to her parents,
"I'm home, Mom, Dad."
Looking at their daughter, whom they had missed for so long, standing in front of them with a bright smile and greeting them as gently and obediently as she always did, a single thought suddenly welled up in Naoki and Kao's hearts.
'Our daughter has grown up.'
"Welcome home, Utaha."
After sharing a smile, Kao opened her arms and gently hugged her returning daughter.
Meanwhile, Naoki naturally reached out to take the luggage from his daughter's hand, gently patting her head.
Feeling the warmth her parents conveyed to her heart, Utaha smiled very happily.
Only.
It would be even better if Miyahito were here too.
'Next time I come back, I have to introduce Miyahito to Mom and Dad.'