Judging from her daughter's attitude, Kao also knew she probably wouldn't be able to extract any fun details.
But she would still try.
After all, it was her daughter's boyfriend. How could Kao not be curious?
Not to mention anything else, just the fact that the guy had the courage to confess to Utaha was enough to make Kao extremely curious about this boy.
You had to know that, because of Utaha's personality, Kao had more than once secretly taken her husband to the school to have a 'chat' with the principal and teachers... Without such measures, with Utaha's coldness and mercilessly sharp tongue, could she have safely finished middle school?
However, as adults, the most they could do for their daughter was to prevent her from suffering substantial bullying at school.
As for the psychological pressure that might be caused by verbal cold violence, Utaha, who had been engaging in passive-aggressive, profanity-free toxic banter with her own mother since the third grade of elementary school, already had more than enough mental resilience.
Trivial things like 'not talking to you' or 'not playing with you' couldn't even break her defense, okay.
Ahem, accidentally went off on a tangent again, let's pull it back a bit.
'Since I'm already here, it's fine if I don't get to see him, but I can't even ask for a name, can I? That would truly be a disgrace to the name of Kasumigaoka Kao!'
"Why did you only ask Yuki-chan out on your day off?" Casually throwing out a seemingly irrelevant but actually guiding question, Kao sat up straight with a light smile, her hands folded neatly on the table.
"Could it be that, besides Yuki-chan, Utaha has no other friends?"
"Well, well, it's fine, it's fine. Even if that's the case, it's fine. You've improved a lot, at least you're a bit better than before. Congratulations! Congratulations!"
"#!" (Vein popping)
Don't think I can't hear your sarcasm! Woman!
With a non-existent popping vein on her forehead, Utaha revealed a smile hiding a hint of danger, her tone as gentle and virtuous as possible.
"Not at all. Right now, I have lots of friends, Mother."
"Really? I don't believe it." A trace of triumph flashed in Kao's wine-red eyes at her daughter falling for the trap. She sneered and continued, "I gave birth to you and raised you. How could I, as your mother, not know your personality?"
"Only a well-behaved child like Yuki-chan could tolerate your terrible personality. Seriously, I'm so gentle, generous, and understanding. Why can't my daughter learn any of it Sigh~~"
.....Save it. Gentle, generous, and understanding? A woman who spends all day being passive-aggressive with her daughter, kicking her dad's butt, and making him massage her feet.
Do you deserve to say that? Do you think you deserve it?
Oh, I think you don't deserve it at all.
Skillfully ignoring her daughter's vicious glare, which looked like she was about to pounce and bite her mother to death at any second, Kao raised her eyebrow slightly, her tone clearly carrying a hint of provocation.
"Then tell Mom the names of the friends you've made~ Don't worry, if you can say their names, Mom will consider them your friends and absolutely won't say anything."
"After all, I know my daughter hasn't even been out of middle school for a year, and she already can't remember the names of her classmates."
"....." For some reason, even though her mother was right—she indeed couldn't remember a single middle school classmate's name—Utaha still felt a sense of heartache.
Puffing out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, Utaha turned her face away like a sulking child. Without looking at her mother, she muttered softly, "I'm different now. How could I still be as childish as I was in middle school."
Then, completely unaware of her mother's slightly raised lips, Utaha obliviously started listing her friends' names for her mother.
"I have tons of friends now. Kyoko, Yuki, Ishikawa-kun (yeah, he counts too), Ayasaki-san and Kouno-san, and from Shuchiin, Shirogane-senpai, Shinomiya-senpai, Fujiwara-senpai, Kei-chan.... (blah blah blah)"
At first, Kao was still smugly thinking in her heart, 'Utaha is as easy to trick as ever.'
But as Utaha counted on her fingers, her little mouth spitting out name after name, the expression on Kao's face gradually began to turn blank.
Although Utaha going from having no friends in middle school to suddenly knowing so many people in high school like a rocket had caught Kao off guard,
at least it wasn't that ridiculous. Same school, after all~ Perhaps Tokyo students were very inclusive, so tolerating Utaha's little quirks wasn't a strange thing.
But why... why was her daughter, who clearly studied at Toyogasaki, able to know upperclassmen from the Student Council of Shuchiin, such a prestigious school?
And, "Shinomiya?" "Fujiwara?" Was she, Kao, hearing things?
Feeling inexplicably heart-tired, Kao decided to give up thinking about "why her daughter's social circle inexplicably expanded to a magical extent after coming to Tokyo" and instead redirected her attention to the one name she wanted to hear but hadn't heard yet.
Kao narrowed her eyes slightly. Staring straight at her daughter counting on her fingers, she decisively seized the moment when Utaha's guard was slightly lowered and interrupted.
"What about Ayase-chan? Is she also Utaha's friend?"
This natural, seemingly casual question from her mother completely bypassed Utaha's transferred vigilance. She answered very naturally and smoothly.
"Ayase? She's Miyahito's lit...tle... sis...ter...."
Hehe, 'Miyahito's' little sister. Gotcha!
And, my dear daughter, I heard very clearly. Just now when you were listing names, you only used first names for your female friends. For male friends, you only used their last name plus an honorific.
'Miyahito'. Mom has never heard of such a last name before.
Looking at her daughter, who was frozen as if someone had pressed the pause button, Kao, having gotten what she wanted, finished her coffee with deep satisfaction.
Putting the cup down with elegant composure, a faint, gentle smile gracing her cheeks, she looked at her statue-like daughter with curved, smiling eyes.
"Remember to bring Miyahito-kun home for Mom to see when you have time, Utaha-chan~"
Having said that, in an excellent mood, Kao raised her hand slightly to call the waiter to settle the bill. Then, she softly hummed "Yuki no Hana" (Snow Flower), her daughter's favorite song, which her daughter had successfully recommended to her.
Standing up, with her right hand resting lightly on the back of the sofa, Kao turned back with a bright smile to look at Utaha, who was still sitting dumbly on the sofa. Her tone was gentle, yet carried a satisfied, brisk lightness.
"Let's go, Utaha. Dad is still waiting for us to go back for dinner~"