"Mom! What are you talking about?"
Before Takashi could say anything, Yukino couldn't sit still after hearing her mother's words.
"I don't want him to take responsibility!"
The inner voice of the trashy guy in question strongly agreed and gave a big thumbs-up.
"Yukino, I'm speaking to Takashi-kun right now."
Yukino's mother turned to her daughter with a kind gaze and a voice soft and soothing like she was calming her younger daughter.
She looked like a doting mother on the outside, but beneath that gentle demeanor, Takashi could hear the forceful undertone that left no room for refusal.
It was clear to him: in the household, Yukino's mother held absolute authority—she was a dominant woman.
Takashi picked up a piece of freshly torched tuna sushi with his chopsticks, popped it into his mouth, and while eating, instinctively began analyzing her personality and strategizing how to continue the conversation.
"Now that things between you and Takashi-kun have blown up online, it's going to be very hard to resolve if you two don't end up together."
"Are you trying to bring shame to the family?"
Her words made Yukino's shoulders tremble slightly.
"She's right, Yukino!"
Having apparently reached an agreement with their mother, Haruno joined in on the persuasion.
"If you don't get together with Takashi-kun, what will you do then? Are you planning to never have a boyfriend, never get married, and grow old all alone?"
"You make it sound like if it's not him, I can't get anyone else!"
Yukino was clearly indignant.
Why did it feel like, aside from Takashi, no one else wanted her?
Was she really that bad?
"Just think about it. With all the commotion between you and Takashi-kun, the first thing any guy says to you in the future will probably be: 'Aren't you the girl who was dating Takashi? You two broke up?'"
Hearing her sister's words, Yukino's expression darkened.
This is all your fault!
As if realizing something, she glared at Takashi.
Noticing her hostile glare, Takashi raised an eyebrow slightly, his mouth still moving as he chewed his sushi.
Yukino's face instantly turned stone cold.
Eat, eat, eat—that's all you know how to do!
Why don't you just choke on it?
How can you still eat in a situation like this?
Who do you think caused all this?
If it weren't for you, none of this would've happened!
The more she looked at him, the more irritated she became.
Just imagining being with him made Yukino feel sick.
The worst part was that Takashi was a flirt and a player, constantly surrounded by pretty girls.
Yukino didn't believe for a second that even if he did get together with her, he'd ever settle down.
He'd just keep cheating on her over and over again.
Yukino didn't want to be with Takashi, but now everyone believed they were together, and the rumor had spread like wildfire.
Having dated such a scumbag, she knew not many people would want her anymore.
As for regular guys, it wasn't just a question of whether she liked them—they'd never get her family's approval in the first place.
And the kind of people her family would approve of? They'd probably want nothing to do with her once her reputation was ruined.
For a moment, Yukino had no idea what to do.
"Takashi-kun, the sushi here tastes pretty good, doesn't it?"
Trying to keep her daughter calm, Yukino's mother turned to Takashi with a gentle smile, clearly unbothered by his lack of manners as he devoured one piece of sushi after another.
"It tastes good, but I wouldn't come back here to eat."
"Oh? And why's that?"
Yukino's mother asked, clearly intrigued.
"The portions are too small. I'm not full, and there are too many rules."
Takashi glanced at the thumb-sized sushi on his plate and popped another one into his mouth.
"I have a big appetite. I can't get full in a place like this."
As he spoke, Takashi calmly stood up.
"Auntie, thank you for the meal. I've got a meeting to attend, so I'll be heading off."
Haruno frowned slightly, opening her mouth to say something, but stopped when her mother gave her a look.
Just as Takashi had suspected, in the Yukinoshita family, their mother sat at the very top of the food chain. Her words were absolute.
No one dared oppose her.
"Takashi-kun, good luck in the tournament," she said.
"If you make it to the finals, I'll come cheer you on."
Yukino's mother still wore that soft, serene smile and didn't bring up the matter between Yukino and Takashi again.
"Yukino, go see Takashi-kun out."
Reluctantly, Yukino got up from her chair and followed Takashi out of the high-end sushi restaurant.
Once they had disappeared from view, Haruno frowned in confusion and asked, "Mom, why'd you let him go like that? He didn't even give you an answer!"
Yukino's mother picked up a piece of sushi with her chopsticks, took a small, elegant bite, and slowly chewed.
The sushi Takashi had finished in a single bite, she consumed in three.
Not because she was pretending—she had been raised that way by the family since childhood.
"If I didn't let him go, were you planning on starting a feud with the Konoe family?"
Yukino's mother pinched the corner of a towel and gently dabbed at the corner of her mouth.
She would wipe her lips with the towel after almost every bite, regardless of how little she ate.
"Besides, didn't he already give us an answer?"
"When did he—"
Haruno trailed off mid-sentence, suddenly recalling what Takashi had said: 'The place is too small, I can't get full, and there are too many rules.'
Looking back, maybe he wasn't talking about the restaurant at all, but using it as a metaphor for the Yukinoshita family.
The Yukinoshita household was too small for him—he looked down on them.
Seriously, who do you think you are?
Just because you got a few rich ladies chasing you, you've forgotten your place?
In Haruno's view, Takashi was exactly the kind of woman who, after dating a rich second-generation guy and experiencing the luxurious lifestyle, started looking down on ordinary people—completely lacking self-awareness.
"What an arrogant guy."
That was precisely why Haruno hated Takashi even more.
Saying the Yukinoshita family was too small? And you're just an ordinary person yourself?
If it were Yozakura Hitomi or Shinomiya Kaguya saying that, Haruno would've had no problem with it.
But hearing it from Takashi, she could only think, "Who do you think you're fooling?"
Did he really think ten years of studying hard could surpass generations of their family's accumulated wealth and influence?
Did studying make him stupid?
"Still too young—hasn't been beaten up by society yet."
That's what Haruno thought inwardly.
"I actually find this little guy pretty interesting."
Their mother chuckled lightly, clearly having a different opinion from her daughter.
"Smart, confident, strong, handsome, ambitious, polite, knows his limits—the embodiment of perfection."
"He fits the image I had of a husband when I was young."
Their mother touched her cheek and sighed softly, giving off the feeling of "I was born before you, and now you're born as I grow old."
"Not good, not good, not good!"
Alarm bells went off in Haruno's head as her eyes widened in horror!
Mom, you're choosing a husband for Yukino, right?
You're not planning on replacing Dad, the house slave, and picking a new father for us, are you?!
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Damn Mrs. Yukinoshita??
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