Chapter 95: Summer Festival, But I Have to Meet Two Sets of In-Laws
After the final exams, Toyosaki hadn't yet started summer vacation. The school administration combined the summer festival and school trip—two periods meant for student relaxation—into one continuous stretch, allowing students to enjoy themselves thoroughly.
The summer festival was similar to the school cultural festival, with each class independently preparing an activity. There would also be a small evening performance.
Most of this had little to do with Ren. He remained part of the silent majority, only voting in agreement, but would politely decline if anyone tried to make him work for free.
Actually, he occupied the top position in the class hierarchy, so no one gave him trouble. Despite keeping a low profile, his classmates had still discovered that Ren was the songwriter with millions of fans.
When it came to such an extraordinary figure, they only dared admire from afar, which suited Ren just fine as it left him free to enjoy his peace.
However, there were some matters Ren still needed to attend to. One of them was that Hitori had signed up for the evening performance, planning to appear with her band.
Given Hitori's significant growth in this area, Ren didn't need to worry too much, especially since Nijika and the others were there too.
The most important thing for Ren was to prevent Hitori's parents and Karen's parents from meeting.
He had visited both sets of parents and given them gifts. If they were to meet now, with their years of life experience, it would be hard for them not to figure out the relationship between their daughters and him.
Fortunately, Satou and Yuno wouldn't create this kind of crisis for him, otherwise he might have been sweating bullets—parental pressure was still quite intense.
Luckily, Karen wasn't in the same class as them, making encounters less likely. Plus, with the two classes preparing different activities, slightly staggering their schedules would prevent any meetings.
"Brother-in-law~ I missed you so much! You haven't come to see Futari in so long~"
On the day of the summer festival, the Gotou parents arrived at school first. Ren went with Hitori to meet them, while Yuno and Satou pretended to be ordinary classmates wandering around campus without accompanying Ren.
After meeting them, Futari hugged Ren's leg with a big smile, even trying to climb up him.
Seeing this, Ren picked her up and settled her in the crook of his arm. Before he could say anything, Futari kissed his cheek to express how much she'd missed him.
"It was finals season recently, I've been very busy."
After being kissed, Ren smiled and offered a casual explanation. Visiting too frequently wasn't appropriate, and he had other girlfriends to spend time with too.
Thankfully Anon didn't attend Toyosaki, otherwise he would have been exposed already.
"But you always invite sister to play with you on weekends! Why don't you invite me?"
Futari pouted angrily. She didn't know what exactly Ren meant by being busy, but out of four weekends in a month, Hitori spent three away from home.
She must have been secretly playing with Ren without bringing Futari along—how mean!
"How about we play together during summer vacation?"
Ren didn't explain too much to Futari, since she might not understand anyway. Instead, he simply changed the subject, promising to find time to take Futari out during summer break.
"Pinky promise~"
Futari, who hadn't seen Ren for nearly a month, wore an expression of disbelief as she extended her small hand to pinky-promise with him.
"Ren, don't spoil Futari too much. She's starting to not even listen to me anymore."
Michiyo watched their interaction with delight, though she couldn't help offering Ren some concerned advice. Despite Ren having only visited a few times, the gifts he brought for Futari had completely won her over—no little girl could resist the princess dresses he gave her.
This led to situations where when Futari stayed up too late watching TV and Michiyo told her to go to bed, Futari would protest that "Ren would never rush me like this," implying Michiyo was a bad mother.
"She's not even at the rebellious age yet and already opposing her mother. What will happen when she actually becomes a teenager?"
"Is that true, Futari? Your brother-in-law doesn't like disobedient children, you know."
Though not taking it too seriously, Ren still teased Futari playfully. After all, if a brother-in-law doesn't spoil his little sister-in-law, who should he spoil?
"No~ Futari is very good!"
Futari wrapped her arms around Ren's neck, blinking her eyes cutely.
Ren didn't dwell on the matter further. After some casual conversation, he led the Gotou couple around the school, explaining the campus layout while Hitori followed quietly by his side.
After about half an hour of touring, Ren's phone rang. He returned Futari to Michiyo's arms, but the little girl refused to be held and suddenly claimed she could walk on her own, prompting Michiyo to pinch her cheeks in mock frustration.
"Uncle, Auntie, I have something to attend to, so I'll take my leave now."
Checking his phone, Ren saw a message from Karen. Her parents had also arrived and were asking to meet with him.
He calmly explained the situation to the Gotou couple, who understandingly didn't delay him from handling his matters.
Before leaving, Ren gave Hitori's hand a gentle squeeze, and she responded with a quiet nod.
Hitori then led her parents toward the soccer field to explore the food street area.
Meanwhile, Ren retraced his earlier route back to the school gate, where he encountered Karen. She waved cheerfully before linking arms with him, and they went together to greet her parents at the entrance.
"Ren, you're as energetic as ever after all this time, and you seem to have grown taller too."
Upon meeting Karen's parents, Mr. Himemiya greeted Ren warmly.
"Well, it's that growth spurt age after all. And you, Uncle, appear even more mature and steady since we last met."
Ren responded with a smile before leading them on a campus tour, explaining Toyosaki's layout just as he had done earlier.
Eventually, Karen took her parents to the soccer field while Ren rubbed his slightly stiff cheeks from all the smiling.
Entertaining future in-laws was exhausting work, especially while remaining vigilant about the possibility of running into the Gotou couple again. Fortunately, the two sets of parents hadn't encountered each other yet, allowing Ren to breathe a temporary sigh of relief.
Karen and the others were settled, but parents weren't so easily convinced—this required time for them to gradually accept things.
If they had discovered his harem during high school, Hitori's parents would have strongly opposed it. But what if they persisted until university or even their thirties?
By then, even if they felt it was inappropriate, they would likely come to accept it.
However, Hitori couldn't keep restraining the Gotou couple indefinitely. Once Nijika and the others arrived, she had no choice but to leave for rehearsal.
Ren wanted to find a corner to hide in to avoid encountering both sets of parents at once, but the school was only so big. In the morning, it was manageable, but by afternoon, Ren ran into the Gotou couple again, and Futari naturally climbed onto him.
If Ren tried to refuse, Futari would use her advantage as a child—her eyes would inexplicably fill with tears, putting on a "if you reject me, I'll cry" face.
Seeing this, Ren had no choice but to helplessly hold her, which finally made her tears turn to laughter.
And the more you fear something happening, the more likely it is to occur. While carrying Futari and heading with the Gotou couple toward the indoor gymnasium for the evening event, Ren still ended up running into the Himemiya couple.