The grandmother's hands hit her lap as she stood up half-way, her face turning instantly flushed and rebellious with sudden rage.
"GO TO YOUR WIFE THIS INSTANT, AYATO!" she screamed, her voice filled with an aggressive authority that made the iron fan Rattle.
"Go look her straight in the face and tell her never to use the word nonsense regarding our ancestral traditions again! Tell her to keep her sensible, modern talks entirely to herself!"
Ayato pulled back, his shoulders instantly slumping his neck into his collar.
His lips twisted into a forced, deeply apologetic pout. With his eyebrows raised in a desperate plea, he looked exactly like a child getting thrashed by a school teacher. He held his hands up to calm the situation, his chest rising and falling nervously.
"Please, Mother, please... calm down, I beg you." Ayato stuttered out, his face burning with embarrassment as he tried to lower his hands to signal her to quiet down.
"Let us change the topic. Did the neighbors mention anything about the storm clouds today? I noticed the sky was turning rather—"
"DO NOT DARE TRY TO SHIFT THE CONVERSATION AWAY FROM YOUR INCOMPETENCE!" the old woman shouted, her eyes locking into his like hot coals as she lectured him thoroughly.
"When I came into the Kamitani household and heard of these rituals, I felt deeply insecure and terrified! But I never once looked down upon our bloodline! I never mocked our sacred customs! I performed every single tradition required of me without a single word of complaint! I did not behave like your wife, who dares to call our family history Nonsense!"
Ayato bowed his head so low his forehead nearly touched the tatami mats, his heart hammering against his ribs in pure panic. "I am incredibly sorry, Mother!" he muttered miserably. "I will never mention it again. I apologise."
In his mind, a cold, hard rule locked behind his teeth 'I am never, ever going to speak the word 'nonsense' in front of this woman for as long as I live.'
A tense silence settled over the room, filled only with the low Whir-click, Whir-click of the heavy iron fan dragging the sticky July heat across the mats. Ayato swallowed hard, his mind racing before he slowly peeked back up, a small, lingering doubt forcing its way out of his mouth.
"Mother... just out of pure curiosity." he whispered hesitately, keeping his eyes low and submissive. "What if... what if Kento were to bear the mark on his right rib instead of the left? Is such a deviation even possible?"
The grandmother froze. She turned her head slowly, her eyes widening into a terrifying, icy glare that she Ayato right to the floor. Her jaw tightened, her mouth opening as a sharp, angry word began to form on her lips—"You—!"
"I am sorry! I am so sorry!" Ayato cut her off instantly, throwing his hands over his head in a blind panic as he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Please forget I said anything! I will never, ever mention my silly, foolish thoughts again!"
_AFTER A WHILE_
Ayato stood perfectly still in the narrow, quiet hallway, his hand hanging just an inch away from the wooden sliding door of his bedroom.
Before touching the door, his fingers froze.
'Go to your wife this instant! Tell her never to use the word nonsense regarding our ancestral traditions again!'
His mother's furious, screaming words were still ringing loudly inside his ears, making his head throb. Ayato let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to empty his entire chest, closing his eyes tightly for a brief second to shake off the echo of her rage.
CLACK-SLIDE.
When his eyes flicked open again, he slid the door back, stepping through the doorway and into the room.
He glanced across the familiar space. As he had entirely expected, the room was divided by a heavy, chilly silence.
In the far corner, her back turned completely toward the entrance, Yuna sat perfectly still on the tatami mat. Only the long, glossy strands of her brown hair and the rigid line of her shoulders were visible; her face remained completely hidden in the shadows.
Meanwhile, Kento—who was supposed to be in the middle of a quick feeding session—was alone in an entirely different corner of the room. The thick baby was sitting flat on his bottom, completely busy in his own world.
Thump-tap. Thump-tap.
He lazily banged a small wooden block against a toy drum, mumbling a string of milky nonsense to himself. "Da-baaa... muuu... buh!"
"Haaah..." Ayato let out a soft, long sigh, the sound escaping his lips as a knowing look of worry crossed his face.
He looked at his wife in one corner, and then at Kento in the other.
'Yep, just as I thought...' his mind noted with a calm, cool confirmation. 'The feeding was a total lie. She just needed a quick excuse to get out of that suffocating Living Room before she lost her temper.'
He looked back at her stiff, silent back.
'She's a lawyer too, so she knows exactly how to escape a bad situation. But if I walk over and call her out on this lie directly... she is going to absolutely explode. A direct fight will just blow the roof off the house. I need a much smarter way to handle this.'
Ayato's eyes shifted from his wife's stiff, terrifying back over to the opposite corner of the room.
Clonk-thud. Clonk-thud.
Kento was still completely busy trying to rip the head off his plastic astronaut, totally clueless about the heavy tension in the air.
Ayato stared at the chunky baby for a split second. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He tapped his index finger against his chin, his lips slowly curling upwards into a sharp, deeply amused smirk.
'Perfect. Time to exploit a little loop-hole.'
He sneaked a quick glance back at Yuna's frozen body, his heart racing just a little bit at the complete danger of his next move. He slipped his hands casually into his pockets, walking right past his silent wife.
His footsteps were entirely weightless as he crossed the mat and dropped down flat onto his knees right in front of the chunky baby.
"Well, look at you, big guy," Ayato began, his voice deliberately carrying a light, conversational tone that bounced off the quiet walls. He leaned over, watching Kento try to rip the head off his plastic astronaut. "Is your tummy completely full already? My, my... you must have eaten at the speed of lightning."
Kento blinked his oversized green eyes up at his father, letting out a bubbly, wet sound as he dropped the block entirely. "Da! Buuuu..."
"Is that so?" Ayato murmured, his tone dripping with a soft, teasing playfulness as he gently nudged Kento's fat thigh, though his eyes were locked toward the rigid body of his wife across the room.
"Mommy said it was precisely time for your milk, but it looks to me like you're just playing around in the corner. Did Mommy forget to feed the little angel, or was someone just using my big boy as a little shield to run away from the battlefield? Hmm, Kento?"
"Auuuu! Da-daaa!" Kento babbled happily, letting go of the astronaut to reach his small, soft fists directly toward Ayato's nose.
Ayato kept his eyes locked tightly onto the baby, smiling warmly at his son while his mind raced at a hundred miles an hour.
'Perfect, keep babbling, Kento.' Ayato thought, his heart pounding against his ribs as he prepared to pull the trigger on his trap.
'Your mother is listening to every single word. She's a brilliant lawyer, but there is absolutely no legal defense for a fake feeding session. Let's see how she handles this direct hit.'
The bait was set. And it didn't take long for the trap to snap shut.
Yuna's shoulders stiffened violently. The next second, she snapped. She spun her body around with a sharp, aggressive twist of her cotton dress, her green eyes flashing with an absolute, burning irritation as she glared across the room.
"FINE! YES! It was a complete excuse just to get out of that suffocating room!" Yuna shouted, her voice rose that instantly cut off Kento's babbling.
She threw her hands up slightly, her breathing turning shallow. "Are you happy now, Ayato?! Is your mind finally satisfied?! Is your soul finally at rest now that you've caught me?!"
Ayato didn't look flustered at all. Instead, a soft, incredibly gentle smile broke across his face.
He stood up, walking across the tatami mats slowly until he reached her side. He dropped down next to her, leaning in close with a playful, teasing glow in his eyes.
"My soul will only be truly at rest when my beautiful wife stops being so incredibly angry with me." he murmured in a soft, soothing tone.
Hoping to dissolve the thick wall of ice between them, Ayato slowly extended his right arm, gently reaching out to wrap his hand around her tensed shoulder to pull her closer.
But the second his fingers brushed the cotton fabric, Yuna reacted with lightning speed. With a sharp, angry slap of her own hand, she smacked his fingers away with a loud SLAP, instantly moving a full foot backward across the woven mat to keep a strict, cold distance between them.
---
🌸 AUTHOR'S NOTE 🌙
Hello, everyone! (〃ﾟ3ﾟ〃)
This chapter was surprisingly fun to write because poor Ayato found himself trapped between two impossible opponents. One is his mother, who refuses to tolerate any disrespect toward tradition, and the other is his wife, who refuses to tolerate the traditions themselves.
And somehow, this poor man believes he can survive by using an eight-month-old baby as a lawyer's loophole. (≧▽≦)
Honestly, I laughed a lot while writing this chapter. Beneath all the mysteries and hidden truths, I wanted to show that even loving families can turn ordinary disagreements into battlefields of their own.
And perhaps...
Marriage itself is sometimes a battlefield where nobody truly wins, but everyone still chooses to stay together. (•ᴗ•)
As always, thank you for reading and supporting THE DIVINE WHORL. I hope you enjoyed this little clash between tradition, modern thinking, and one poor husband caught in the middle. ✨
Happy reading! 🌙🦋
(人´∀｀)｡ﾟ+
— SakuraShinomiya
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✦ 🔮 A GLIMPSE INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER 🔮 ✦
"What awaits beyond this page...?" 🌙
(灬･◡･灬)♡
"SAD MY FOOT!"
"Because I know my lovely Yuna..."
---
❓ QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER ⚔️💍
Marriage is often called a partnership...
But after reading this chapter, do you think it can sometimes become a battlefield too?
And more importantly...
Who do you think poor Ayato should apologize to first? 👀
👵 Mother?
💚 Yuna?
🍼 Or perhaps Baby Kento for using him as a lawyer's loophole?
(〃ﾟ3ﾟ〃)
---
🎬 BEHIND THE SCENES! 🌸
You know...
I originally intended this chapter to be serious.
Then Ayato happened. (￣▽￣;)
Somewhere along the way, I realized I was no longer writing a family discussion.
I was writing the survival story of one husband trapped between an angry mother and an angry wife.
And poor Kento?
He just wanted to play with his astronaut. (≧▽≦)
Honestly, I laughed more than I expected while writing this chapter.
Sorry, Ayato.
But you brought this upon yourself. 😈✨
----
🌙 The stars may fade, and memories may sleep...
But the Spiral continues to turn.
Until we meet again beneath the same forgotten sky.
(＾∇＾)ﾉ♪
— SakuraShinomiya