Unchanged

Shishio and Hana stared at each other for a moment.

"Mom, this is Shishio-kun."

Yui introduced Shishio to her mother without noticing the strangeness between the two.

"Hello, auntie. My name is Shishio Oga." Shishio showed a gentle smile like he had met someone for the first time.

"Hello..." Hana also greeted him back softly with a complicated expression on her face. While she was glad that he acted like he didn't know her, she felt conflicted by how heartless he was. She wondered whether he didn't feel anything about what had happened previously, or was she the only one who got subconscious about it?

Somehow Hana felt slightly annoyed and depressed.

"By the way, mom, why is the light off?" Yui asked in confusion since the light wasn't turned on even though it was almost at night.

"Ah, the light seems to be dead after you went to the training camp, and the handyman seems busy, so they can only come next week," Hana said calmly and wasn't affected by the dead light.

"What about dad?" Yui asked with a frown.

"He is on a business trip, right?" Hana said with a light smile as if trying to mask something.

Yui didn't know what to say after that, but Shishio suddenly said, "If you don't mind, why don't I change the light for you?"

"Eh? Can you do that?" Hana asked in surprise.

"Sure." Shishio nodded. "Do you have a stair and the change light?"

"There is one in the storeroom. I will bring you there." Hana nodded and was about to guide him there, but Yui stopped her.

"Mom, let me do it!" Yui raised her hand quickly.

Hana looked at her daughter and said, "Maybe, you should change your clothes first. You're sweaty."

"Ah? Really?" Yui was dumbfounded and tried to smell her body since she was afraid of the smell of sweat, but Shishio moved closer to her, sniffing her hair slowly, wafting a sweet smell, which was kind of nice.

"You don't need to worry. You smell nice."

"!!!"

Yui blushed and retorted. "Pervert!" She quickly ran to her room and said, "I will change my clothes!"

Shishio shook his head and realized his mistake since Yui wasn't his girlfriend, so his action might be too close. He then looked at Hana, who stared at him with a complicated gaze.

"Is there something wrong, Auntie?"

"...Your relationship is so close," Hana said with an awkward smile.

"It's okay. Anyway, where is the storeroom? Let me help you."

"Oh-oh, please follow me."

Hana turned before she pouted, showing annoyance by his indifference. Last time, this guy was raring to go and so hard, yet today this guy was so cold and pretended that he didn't know her, which annoyed her.

Shishio chuckled and thought that this woman was cute.

The two walked together to the storeroom at the back of the house.

Hana opened the door and turned on the light. "I wonder where it is..." It might be because she hadn't visited this room for a while and didn't know where the light and the stairs were.

Shishio could also see some dust on the side, which made him wonder what kind of day Hana spent when she was alone without her husband and daughter.

Was she lonely?

Shishio was curious.

Hana looked around before she found the stairs. "Ah, I found the stairs!" She was happy, but at the same time, she thought of cleaning up this room tomorrow.

"Is this one?"

"Yes!"

Hana turned and was startled since Shishio was beside her, so close that when she turned her head, she kissed his cheek.

"Hana-san..."

Shishio held his cheek while looking at Hana in surprise. "I didn't expect you..."

"I - I..."

Hana was startled and panicked, but when she saw his smile, she was annoyed and slapped his shoulder several times. "Shishio-kun!" She realized that he might deliberately stand so close to her, so when she turned, she would kiss his cheek.

"Are you annoyed that I pretend not to know you?" Shishio asked with a teasing smile.

"...." Hana.

Shishio was speechless and said, "What do you think Yui-senpai will think if I know you?"

"...."

Hana was checkmated by Shishio.

If Shishio didn't pretend he didn't know her, with Yui's imagination, she might think something that she shouldn't.

"...I am sorry."

"It's okay. I don't blame you since I will also feel annoyed when someone pretends to ignore me."

Shishio patted Hana's head naturally.

While Hana felt comfortable, she realized the current mistake. She stared at Shishio helplessly and said, "You know it might not be strange for me to become your mother, but you dare to pat my head."

"But you're not my mother."

As long as they didn't share blood, Shishio felt it was safe.

However, he also knew he couldn't pat her head too long and took the stairs out of the storeroom.

"Where's the light, Hana-san?"

"Oh, I got it." Hana took the light to the side, but then she said with a serious expression, "Shishio-kun, while I don't mind for you to call me by my name, you should call me auntie when Yui is around, alright?"

"You don't need to worry."

Shishio nodded while realizing that the fastest way someone could be so close to someone was through the body.

In other words, touching.

While the two had only met twice, they had touched each other's bodies, so they were naturally close.

"When Yui-senpai was gone, what were you doing?"

"I didn't do much. I just cleaned up the house, rested, or slept."

When Yui was gone, Hana really didn't do much since she didn't have any particular hobby. While she liked to bake, there was no one who would help her to eat since she didn't want to get fat.

What could he say?

Shishio felt Hana was like a maid instead of a housewife, yet this is how life was.

When her husband was working, she took care of the house.

Yet was her husband really going to work?

"How about you? Why are you here?" Hana asked with a frown since this was what she wanted to ask the most. She almost felt her heart jump out when she saw him.

"Yui-senpai invited me to have dinner together. If you feel it is a trouble, I will go back, though."

"No, it's okay." It was Yui, who took the initiative, so Hana couldn't say anything. "Shishio-kun, what's your relationship with Yui?"

Shishio put the stairs right under the dead light. "Our relationship? I think it is just a close junior and a senior." He climbed the stairs and took off the dead light before extending his hand to Hana. "Where's the light?"

"Ah, here!"

Hana gave the light to Shishio, and their hands happened to touch each other, which gave her a shiver for some reason. She also received the dead light from Shishio and waited for him to handle this matter. She could see how well his action was and how he seemed accustomed to this.

"Have you done this, Shishio-kun?"

"I can mostly fix anything if you ask." Shishio stepped down the stairs and said, "If you have another problem, it is better to call me. I think I can do a better job than those handymen. I can even handle the pipe in your house." Somehow his expression became subtle when he mentioned pipe.

"Is that okay? Won't I trouble you?" Hana was more than happy if Shishio could help her, but she was afraid she might trouble him. Still, she didn't realize the subtleness in his words.

"Of course, if I am free. If I am not free, then I can only postpone the time."

"Well..." Hana nodded and felt his words were reasonable.

"Do you have a phone number? I will give you mine, so you can call me if there is trouble." Shishio took his phone and showed it to Hana.

"Wait a moment, let me get mine." Hana went to the kitchen to take her phone, yet she didn't realize that Shishio had gotten the number of her phone so naturally.

To take a number of the opposite, you should prepare an excuse.

Still, if one was confident, they could just ask directly, but in the end, they had to make an excuse like they wanted to talk or something.

Hana was a married woman, so it was impossible for him to use a direct excuse like he wanted to know her better. Instead, he had to make it look like he had a reason to get one.

As for the rest, it depended on the skill of one since chatting with someone was also part of skill similar to art.

"Alright."

Shishio saved Hana's number and said, "Then, I will return the stairs first."

"Oh, I will help you!" Hana said.

"Aren't you busy with dinner?" Shishio asked.

"It's okay. It's okay." Hana wanted to talk with him more since she only knew him from Yui's mouth. She wasn't blind and could tell that Yui was in love with him, so she wanted to know him better, wondering what kind of young man Shishio was.

It definitely had nothing to do with what had happened before.

"What's wrong? Your face is red," Shishio asked and put his hand on Hana's forehead. "You don't seem sick."

"I-I am okay!" Hana pushed him away and tried to calm her heart. She must admit that this guy was dangerous, but even so, there was one question that she wanted to ask him, yet before she asked this question...

"Shishiron! Mom! Where are you? Ah, the light has become bright again!"

Hana opened her mouth before she closed it again. She looked at Shishio, who entered the storeroom, before she said, "Ah, Yui, we're here."

"Ah? What are you doing there?" Yui trotted toward them and looked around curiously before she came behind Shishio.

"The room is small, Senpai. You make the room narrow and hard to move."

"How rude! Are you saying that I am fat?!"

Looking at the two who were so close to each other, Hana felt a complicated feeling before she took a deep breath and put on her usual sweet smile.

"That's right. It seems that you have become slightly fatter, Yui."

"Mom, you too!"

Hana smiled and laughed, thinking this might be a while she had fun.

Shishio glanced at Hana and thought her sweet smile was beautiful, yet it was also scary since he wondered how he could hide such a deep negative emotion under that bright smile.

Anyway, his plan didn't change.

Shishio was going to wait until Hana became a widow.