"Miku, the bigger place you mentioned... is this it?"
Miku twirled the shiny keychain with her fingers, walked over, and spoke a few words into the communicator. The gleaming black gate slowly opened, and she turned around, revealing the same subtly superior smile that Naga had seen before, and waved to him.
He rolled up the car window and drove into the garage. He saw a smart and capable maid standing at the garage door, bowing to him. His heart started pounding faster and faster.
Is this... the start of this luxurious lifestyle?
Miku strolled over slowly, looking at the mansion in front of her with some resentment, and muttered, "That guy started taking care of this place more than a month ago. It seems... he's really confident."
"Young Miss, I didn't have a chance to introduce myself yesterday. I am Makino Naru, and you can call me the head maid here. I hope you will take good care of me in the future." The maid who led Naga into the garage stood respectfully at the door, starting with a standard ninety-degree bow. "This must be Mr. Yumeno. Hello. If there is anything I do not do well in the future, please give me your guidance, Young Miss."
Not used to being treated like this, Naga chuckled awkwardly, scratched his head, and turned to look at Miku.
Miku seemed to have been reminded of yesterday's unpleasant memories by Naru. She frowned and said, "There's no need to waste time introducing anyone else today. I'm just bringing my fiancé to meet you. The moving company will deliver my luggage later; you can help me put it in the bedroom." Without even glancing at Naru, Miku took Naga's hand and went straight inside.
Walking up the stairs to the third floor, Miku used her key to open each door one by one. When she opened the innermost room and saw that it was decorated in a simple and bright feminine style, she nodded with slight satisfaction and turned to Naga, saying, "This is her room. I told her to move over here yesterday, and we'll live on the other side."
It seemed that living with Asami was now a fait accompli. Naga carefully avoided the topic and asked, "What's downstairs?"
"There's an entertainment room, and a private room for her. I don't want to see it, but I can guess what's inside. There are also a few guest rooms, just like the ones upstairs. Except for the one reserved as a nursery, they're all temporary accommodations." Miku walked back to the bedroom next to the stairs, arms crossed, looking at the space inside the door, seemingly considering how to decorate it in her preferred style.
"Temporary accommodation?" Naga asked curiously. "Will so many people come to stay here?"
"Of course." Miku shrugged. "I've made it very clear that my concessions have limits. Just because she can hug me doesn't mean she can use those perverted things on me." She turned her head and stared at Naga warningly. "The same goes for you. If you have any outrageous ideas, just call your toys. Don't you dare contradict me!"
He then vaguely understood the real reason why Miku hadn't been too angry about his womanizing at the company. Under the subtle influence of such a father and such a sister, she subconsciously still regarded women who were purely sexual partners as toys, such as Kae. Once she no longer posed a threat to her position, she immediately lost her hostility.
Thinking back to how he had so readily handed his rival, Kae, to Asami, Naga felt a strange chill run down her spine. Miku, truly worthy of being the Fujikawa family's daughter.
After all, she had spent her formative years in that kind of environment. From the moment she stepped into this Western-style house, Miku began to exude the air of the eldest daughter of the Fujikawa family, which made Naga feel somewhat uncomfortable and even a little strangely distant.
Sensing Naga's unusual behavior, Miku quickly glanced around the house before pulling him by the hand and leading him into the car. Only then did she ask, "Don't you like it here?"
He couldn't very well say that he didn't like Miku showing her hidden side, so he could only nod and say, "Yeah, it's a little hard to get used to."
Miku leaned back in her chair, saying with a hint of helplessness, "I don't like it here either. I still prefer to move into the secondhand apartment we bought after we got married. I would cook for you in the small kitchen every day, clean every corner spotless, and prepare a hot bath for you when you got home." She paused, then shrugged. "Unfortunately, that dream has already waved goodbye to me."
He started the car and said from the bottom of his heart, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
"Let's not talk about that anymore. We always have to look forward." Miku smiled and gave an address that Naga was familiar with. "Let's go here next."
"You...want to see him?" Naga asked, somewhat surprised that Miku would choose to go to the Fujikawa family at this time.
"Yes, I told him to cancel all his work and wait for me at home. Knowing his personality, he should be losing patience by now, so we'd better hurry." Miku answered casually, as if the discord between her and her father was already a thing of the past.
"What do you want to talk to him about?" Naga asked cautiously, somewhat worried that his deal with his future father-in-law would be exposed. Although he had resolved Miku's anger with Dream Eater, Naga knew that the bomb had been planted, and the resentment and dissatisfaction buried deep in his subconscious could potentially erupt again.
Miku quietly watched the buildings flashing outside the car window. After driving through several intersections, she whispered a sentence in a somewhat ethereal tone, as if in response.
"Since my dream of severing ties with the Fujikawa family and starting a new life has shattered like a bubble, as the eldest daughter, I will not leave any of what belongs to me to Ami."
Naga was not present at the meeting between the father and daughter. He was politely invited to the tea room, where a stunningly beautiful woman in her thirties, dressed in a kimono, patiently demonstrated her skillful tea ceremony techniques without uttering a single unnecessary word.
It was already the height of summer. Naga, having drunk some tea, wiped his sweat and gazed idly at the scenery in the courtyard, counting the number of times he swung his water bottle up and down to tap the stones.
Even in such a purifying environment, Naga still felt uneasy. He could only hope that the old fox wouldn't use their agreement as leverage to cultivate a familial bond with Miku. Otherwise, Miku, who would naturally feel betrayed, might erupt in another fit of rage—something completely unpredictable.
After waiting quietly for nearly an hour, Miku finally opened the sliding door of the tea room with a smile and waved to him.
He quickly rubbed his sore and numb legs and strode over. He cautiously observed Miku's expression; she didn't seem to have anything particularly unusual about her. However, he decided to wait for Miku to speak first.
"He wanted us to stay for lunch. I declined," Miku said cheerfully after getting into the car.
Having dawdled for quite some time, and with lunchtime fast approaching, Naihe smiled and said, "So where are you planning to eat? It's on me."
"There's a shop not far from here that makes really good udon. Treat me to some!" Miku licked her lips and excitedly began to lead the way.
Seeing that she seemed to be in a good mood, Naga tried to sound casual as she asked, "After talking for so long, what have we been saying?"
Miku glanced at him and said, "It's nothing, just confirming some facts and informing him of some things. That old fox is probably still clinging to the hope that he can have a son. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have a younger brother."
Knowing that Miku didn't want to talk about it in detail, Naga didn't press the matter further and instead changed the subject with some trivial chatter.
After lunch, Miku had Naga accompany her to pick out a few formal dresses and bought him a high-end suit. The card used to pay was one he hadn't seen before; it was likely one of the results of his conversation with Fujikawa Kengo that morning.
After wrapping the clothes and tossing them into the trunk, Miku picked out a beautifully packaged gift box from a nearby gift shop, put it in the back seat, gave Naga an address, kissed her cheek, and said with a smile, "This is our next destination. Let's drive, my knight."
"It's my pleasure, my princess." Naga finally felt relieved after responding to her exaggerated tone and started the car, listening to Miku's melodious and clear laughter.
Miku's destinations were truly unexpected, one after another. After parking the car, Naga looked at the clearly visible "Shingo" on the nameplate of the house next to them, paused for a moment, and asked, "Uh... do I need to get out this time?"
Miku shook her head. "You should wait for me. You've already met anyway." She got out of the car, picked up the gift box, went over, pressed the doorbell, and said a few words into the intercom.
Less than ten seconds later, the inner door suddenly opened, and Akiko Shingo, wearing slippers, stared in disbelief at Miku in the doorway, her chest heaving rapidly beneath her thin pajamas.
Miku flashed a bright smile, waved to her, and walked over. "Auntie, it's been a long time!"
As Akiko watched Miku walk up to her with a smile, she raised her hands with trembling hands, wanting to hug her niece, but she was too timid to actually do so.
Naga saw Miku open her arms and hug Akiko, and almost simultaneously saw tears welling up in Akiko's eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his chair, and leaned back. He guessed it would be quite a while before he had to wait again.
Was this dream-devouring experience what Miku gained—a sense of relief from everything? With this question in mind, Naga closed her eyes.
The short nap did not bring him any rest; instead, he broke out in a cold sweat and woke up in a panic with a racing heart. A feeling in his heart was relentlessly reminding him that the Dream Eater's abilities were drifting away.
Where exactly... did things go wrong? Despite having gained enough, Naga still felt reluctant to part with that magical ability. However, he was only slightly better off than knowing nothing about it. Yui, who was seriously studying this ability, had already left his life, and as for the senior Yui had mentioned, he had no idea how to contact her.
"It's over...it's over." He opened his phone, looked at the photo of Miku's cheerful smile on the screen, and murmured.
On the way back, Naihe asked her curiously, "Have you and your aunt talked things out?"
Miku nodded, a helpless smile on her lips. "I was young before and didn't understand many things. Now, at least I know that there are many things in this world that you can't simply choose not to do just because you don't want to, really don't want to, really, really don't want to, or would rather die than do...
She paused for a few seconds, held her lower abdomen with both hands, and said softly in a gentle tone, "I think if I become a mother in the future, I will definitely become a weak and easily bullied woman."
"No, I won't allow anyone to bully you from now on. Not even Aya." As if a flame were burning in her veins, Naga stared at the road ahead and said solemnly.
Miku smiled, blinked, and didn't say anything.
"Silly girl, just tell me what it is." At this moment, even if she asked him to abandon everything and elope with her, he would nod without hesitation.
Miku closed her eyes and said slowly, "You absolutely cannot let Ami get pregnant. Also, I want our first son to... take the surname Fujikawa."
Naga gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, slowly nodded, and heard the clear sound of her heartbeat.
He understood Miku's meaning almost immediately.
The moment that son named Fujikawa is born, everything that Asami owns will be stripped away completely...
When they took Miku home, it was around nine o'clock in the evening. Two hours after dinner, they went to the nearest square, bought a few cans of beer, sat on the steps, drank, pointed at the huge TV wall across the street, and whispered to each other.
Miku clearly showed her reluctance to go back, but in the end she still suggested going home—not to the second-hand apartment she had carefully selected and decorated, but to that huge, sturdy mansion.
"I suddenly feel like our wedding day is still so far away." Even though it's only a month away, Miku still looked out the car window and said softly, "Just thinking about having to face that guy alone for a month makes my nostrils feel like they're about to burst into flames."
That guy, of course, refers to Ashi, who was already waiting inside the gate.
She opened the gate herself, walked to the car with a smile, and knocked on the window next to Naga.
He glanced at Miku, then lowered the glass. "Ami, I brought Miku back."
"Brother-in-law is so considerate." Asami's alluring gaze passed over Naga's body and landed directly on Miku.
"Alright, you have to go to work tomorrow, so go home and rest early. I'm going in." As if she didn't want Naga and Ami to have too much interaction, Miku opened the car door, got out, and strode into the house.
Ashi quickly chased after her, calling out, "Sister, sister, wait for me!"
Naga didn't leave immediately. He watched quietly as the two sisters opened the door and went inside one after the other. A little while later, the lights on the third-floor windows came on.
He stared at the silhouette of Miku projected onto the window by the lamplight, frowned, took out a cigarette, drove the car into the dark shadows beneath the wall, and silently began to smoke.
The smoke, like a white ghost, twisted and filled the space in front of him.