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Chapter 51 Part 2

The apartment Akiko lived at was located among the buildings built in a peaceful plot of land surrounded by fields, and it looked as if it was built relatively recently.

The green, modern building was two stories high, and looking at the balcony, it appeared that more than half of the apartments were occupied.

From the outside, it looked somewhat roomy for one person to live alone, and it also had a parking lot.

Akiko, who opened the door as soon as he rang the bell, was not in her usual housekeeper-ish plain appearance with her hair neatly pulled back into a bun.

She was probably relaxing at home on her day off.

Yuu was happy to see Akiko in a different appearance from her work mode.

Her semi-long black hair seemed to be naturally let down.

She was wearing makeup, albeit a light one, which allowed him to see how well-featured her face was even better.

She was wearing a long black summer sweater on top and tight, three-quarter length blue jeans on the bottom.

Not only was the collar of the sweater wide enough to clearly show her collarbone, her skin was seen through except for her breasts, so it gave off an adult sex appeal despite it being a casual attire.

「Ah, huh, Y, Yuu-sama… You really?! Hawawa, what should I do… Err….」

Yuu took the hand of Akiko, who fell into panic after opening her mouth wide in surprise.

「Akiko-san, please calm down. Today, I’ve come because I want to thank you for all the help you’ve given me thus far, and while we’re at it, talk about all sorts of things, but are you okay with time?」

「Yes?」

Yuu showed her a small box from a cake store he was holding in his other hand. It was something that he had bought as a present on his way there.

For a moment, Akiko looked at the box of cakes.

Her long hair fell down on her cheek and hid one of her eyes.

However, when Akiko realized that Yuu was still holding her hand, her eyes widened and vermillion gradually appeared on her cheeks.

After receiving Akiko’s consent, Yuu turned back to Kanako and Touko.

「Well then, we will be temporarily standing by at MALSOK’s Saiou branch office. If you call the branch phone number I gave you earlier or the pager directly, we will come and pick you up.」

「Yes. Got it.」

After parting with his security personnel, Yuu took the liberty to head up to the room Akiko lived in again.

「It, it’s cramped and dirty, but please….」

Just from taking a cursory look from the front door, Yuu could tell… That those were words of humility.

Akiko must have never cut corners, not only in her work but also in her own home.

The interior of what appeared to be a 1LDK apartment was so clean and tidy that you could see her personality, and it was decorated with lace decorations, patchwork, and other elaborate decorations.

Yuu had never seen a woman with womanly qualities as great as hers in this world.

No, if anything, it was because their roles in the society had been reversed and women did not necessarily have to do the housework, so as a housekeeper, her qualities might have stood out.

As soon as they entered the living room, which was about 10 tatami mats in size with a TV and a two-seater sofa, Yuu caught sight of a childish picture titled 『Mom』 on the wall of the room.

At the same time, a girl suddenly showed up.

She seemed to have been sitting at the study desk set up by the wall.

「Mama?」

「Oh, this is my daughter. Say hello.」

The girl obediently nodded and looked straight at Yuu.

「Hello. I am Kawamata Chihiro.」

The way she lowered her entire upper body as she bowed was so adorable.

Her straight, quirk-free black hair was like her mother’s and was parted to the left and right in braids. It was the same hairstyle as Shixxka-chan from the anime featuring a cat-shaped robot.

When she raised her face, Yuu could see that although the outline of the bashful Chihiro’s face sported a childlike roundedness, the area around her eyes and nose was very similar to Akiko’s.

He was convinced that she would surely turn into a beauty in the future.

「Hello. I am Hirose Yuu. I was in your mother’s care until the day before yesterday.」

「Previously, I went to Yuu-sama’s house to work.」

「Hmm.」

「How old are you, Chihiro-chan?」

Moving closer directly from the front, Yuu crouched down and lowered his gaze.

「I, I am seven years old!」

「Which means, you’re in elementary school…」

「I am in the second grade.」

「I see.」

Maybe a part of it was because she was Akiko’s daughter.

Before talking about lolicon and the like, children of this age were simply adorable.

Chihiro’s outfit was a loose white t-shirt with frills on the collar and shoulders, and black denim shorts.

Unknowingly, Yuu naturally stretched out his hand and patted Chihiro on the head.

「Ah….」

Chihiro was a little surprised, but she surrendered herself to Yuu’s petting and squinted her eyes.

Yuu stroked her head for a while, but immediately pulled his hand away with a start.

「Ah, I subconsciously….」

In his former world, it would have been a crime for an old man to carelessly call out to or pat a girl.

Yuu looked at Akiko in a panic, but she didn’t reproach him at all and showed a calm smile on her face.

「Most girls have no opportunity to come into contact with an adolescent boy like Yuu-sama, so…」

Looking closely, Chihiro herself was smiling radiantly, seemingly very delightful.

「I, I see….」

Unless they had a male family member or relative, for most girls, the only young men they got to see were the few idols or actors who existed on the other side of the cathode ray tube.

For that reason, in creative works common to children and adults, the heroine had a boy childhood friend, whom she met when she was almost hit by the car that was picking up the boy. That was still a relatively common trope, but there were also story settings where the heroine, who was charged with a special mission, dressed up as a boy and blended in at a boys’ school, or a beautiful boy with no relatives was adopted into an all-female family. Those settings were very unlikely to happen in real life, but such stories had been created with one twist or another, and they had gained popularity.

For Chihiro, Yuu was an idol who suddenly appeared in her ordinary life.

Inwardly, she was extremely excited, but she was showing a calmness she had inherited from her mother.

Even so, given that she was still a child, there were limits to it.

「Y… Yuu-sama…?」

「Hmm? What is it, Chihiro-chan?」

With her cheeks gradually turning red, Chihiro opened her tiny mouth.

「Will you be Chihiro’s papa, Yuu-sama?」

「Huh?」

「Wha?! Chihiro, what are you saying?!」

Chihiro rushed to the desk and took out a comic book from the drawer.

「This!」

Looking at the cover, it had a title of 『Papa is a High School Boy』.

It was very shoujo manga-like, depicting a handsome high school boy with light brown hair and a slender face holding up a twin-tailed elementary school girl and smiling.

In his former world, Yuu got the feeling that there were dramas and other creative works in which the mother was a witch, idol, or high school girl, but in this world, it seemed that the pattern was reserved.

Incidentally, the main character in 『Papa is a High School Boy』 was a girl in the fourth grade, and her mother was 28 years old. She was a single mother who lost her husband, who used to be her high school classmate, early.

The point where she was dispatched as a housekeeper to a house that had a high school boy was similar to Akiko’s.

While working there, she fell in love with the boy, who was in his second year of high school, but because of her job, she kept her feelings hidden until the end of her contract.

However, the boy’s parents passed away in a car accident. As the main character’s mother, who also lost her husband in a car accident, comforted him while he was sinking in sorrow, the two were attracted to each other and decided to start living together without waiting for the boy to graduate from high school; it was that kind of story.

When Yuu flipped through the first volume of the comic, which had been handed over to him, and looked at the end, it happened to depict the scene where the high school boy was welcomed into the house of the main character girl and they were about to start living together.

「Oh, I see.」

「Y, y, you don’t have to take that kind of manga so seriously….」

「Do you want me to be your father, Chihiro-chan?」

「Ah! Th, that’s….」

Just now, she went and said that all because she was swept by the momentum, but as expected, when she was asked as such, she seemed to realize that she had just said something outrageous, and was fidgeting while holding the hem of her T-shirt.

「I’m still only 15 years old, after all. I can’t think of getting married anytime soon, I guess. But I do want to continue to eat Akiko-san’s home-cooked meals. Besides…」

Yuu patted Chihiro’s head again.

「I bet it would be nice to have a cute girl like you for a daughter, Chihiro-chan.」

「Howawawa….」

Chihiro’s face immediately turned bright red.

That was Yuu’s true feelings.

He was able to get married before he was born again, but they ended up divorcing before they had children.

Yuu himself really wanted to have a child with his wife.

「I, I am going to prepare lunch, so…!」

Akiko went to the kitchen in a fluster, something he rarely saw when she was working as their housekeeper.

「Oh, nice! I’m looking forward to your cooking, Akiko-san.」

Comparing Chihiro, who surrendered herself to his petting, and the back view of Akiko, who tied her hair into a bun as she was about to cook, Yuu floated a smile.