11 In-Laws

Yukiko sat on the dining room table, her fiancé across from her. To the right of Yukiko was a young girl in a wheelchair, while the young girl that had stuck her tongue out at her was sitting to the right of the wheelchair girl. There were four empty seats after the stuck-her-tongue-out girl.

In the seat to the left of Yukiko was her mother-in-law, Yamamoto Aoi. And to her mother-in-law's left was the old man that Yukiko had met for the omiai, Yamamoto Haruhiro. Of course, that old man was Aoi's husband.

Instead of a traditional Japanese breakfast, what was in front of each family member was a plate filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, and a buttered toast. To drink there was a large glass of milk. Yukiko could only unhappily drink her milk and unhappily spear her eggs, but on the outside it seemed as if she enjoyed every sip and bite.

"Yukiko-chan, are you enjoying the meal?" Yamamoto Aoi pleasantly smiled at her new daughter-in-law.

Yukiko finished chewing and then wiped her mouth on her napkin before she replied, "Of course, Okaa-sama!"

Beaming, the old woman nudged at her husband. "See this young girl?" she laughed. "You were smart to accept the omiai."

Haruhiro turned to Yukiko and smiled before he turned to his wife. "Of course. I'm the best, after all."

"Yes, yes," his wife dismissively said before she returned her attention to Yukiko. "Are you ready to go to school tomorrow, Yukiko-chan? I can call you Yukiko-chan, right?"

Yukiko smiled at her mother-in-law and wiped her mouth again. "Of course Okaa-sama can call me Yukiko-chan." In fact, they could call her whatever they wanted to. But they can't send her to high school.

She finished that shit in a year.

However, before she could voice her dissent, her mother-in-law turned to Ryunosuke. "Ne[1], Ryu-chan. You'll take care of her, won't you?"

"Of course, Okaa-sama." Ryunosuke scraped his fork on his plate before he sent a polite smile towards Yukiko. Obviously, Yukiko also returned the smile with a one of her own.

"Hana wants to go too!"

The attention of the table went from Ryunosuke to the girl that stuck her tongue out at Yukiko, and Yukiko could tell that the mood immediately plummeted. She looked over her father-in-law's expression, and noticed the that ice had frosted over his previously kind expression.

Even her mother-in-law, whom her very nature seemed to be kind and friendly, had frozen into an expression of deep hatred. However, when she noticed Yukiko's calm gaze sweep over her, her expression softened before hardening when she looked back at Hana.

"Hana," a quiet yet soothing voice choose this moment to speak, and it was like a spring breeze had blown across the room, soothing their raised hackles. Yukiko turned her head and made eye contact with the young woman in the wheelchair. "You're too stupid for high school."

At that, Hana deflated and continued to eat her breakfast. The tense atmosphere quickly melted into a semblance of what it was before, but there was one exception- the girl had not broken eye contact with Yukiko.

Smirking inwardly, Yukiko knew that this was a challenge. This girl was the one who had sent Hana last night. There was no doubt about that. Tilting her head slightly up, Yukiko knew that the one who blinks first would lose.

At that moment, a deep voice called out from behind the two girls, and Yukiko nodded once she noticed Chiaki blinking. She won.

Chiaki turned her wheelchair to face the voice that spoke and was pleasantly surprised to find her older brother, Yamamoto Haru, behind her. "What are you doing here, Onii-sama[2]?" her voice became noticeably softer than when she spoke to Hana.

"What are you doing?"

Chiaki took this moment to glance back at the dining room table before she blushed, realizing how pointless her question was. "Quickly sit down and eat, Onii-sama."

Haru chuckled before he swaggered over to the dining table and sat in the empty seat to the right of Hana. However, he had made a very exaggerated effort to avoid looking at, or even acknowledging, Yukiko.

Yukiko grinned wolfishly at the both the boy, Hana, and the other girl.

The more the merrier.

She stabbed her fork through a clump of eggs before she chomped it off, chewing furiously. Before she teaches them a lesson, however, Yukiko had to somehow convince the chef of making a regular Japanese meal.

Otherwise, she would miss rice too much to actually care about what those two brats were planning.

Nodding inwardly to herself, Yukiko ignored the looks from the two girls and made small-talk with her mother-in-law.

...............

It had been two hours since breakfast, and Yukiko was about ready to give up.

No matter how many times she tried to explain to her mother-in-law, she somehow could not manage to tell her that she had already graduated from high school. Instead, she was forced to accompany her to a shopping spree, where the old woman bought anything from pots and pans to gardening supplies.

And the one who had to carry it?

Yukiko.

Her mother-in-law decided that it would be better for the two of them to leave incognito, so there were no guards around them. Instead, the duo walked the streets armed with their phones and one of the numbers of their guards on speed dial.

Sighing, Yukiko turned around to look at her mother-in-law as she cheerfully shoved more and more clothes into their cart.

She was sure that her arms would fall off.

"Mother-in-law," Yukiko began, but before she could continue, the old woman was gesturing for Yukiko to be silent as she took a call.

"Hai? Oh, Fusae-san! It's been such a long time..."

Yukiko could only watch in dismay as the old woman merrily spoke to her acquaintances while still not forgetting to place clothes into their shopping cart.

What was Yukiko to do?

She really truly didn't want to go to high school!