You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! Volume 7 (Light Novel) E-Book

Kota Nozomi

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: You Like Me, Not My Daughter?!
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 173

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

After three long months away from her daughter, Ayako is finally back home from her business trip to Tokyo, and she’s brought back a big surprise: she’s pregnant! It’s only been a few months since Takumi and Ayako started dating, but the excitement of living under one roof ended up getting the best of them, so they accidentally skipped a few steps and took this giant leap forward. Now that there’s a baby involved, things are going to get much more complicated... Will Ayako be able to manage the challenges of first-time pregnancy alongside her career? And Takumi may be a great support for her, but he’s right about to graduate and begin dedicating himself to job hunting—will caring for Ayako and preparing for fatherhood all the while stretch him past his limits?

Leseprobe

Prologue

♥

“I’ll take care of her.” Just how long had it been since I’d said those words and taken in my five-year-old niece, Miu? It felt like ages ago, but at the same time, it felt like it’d happened just recently. At my sister and her husband’s funeral, I’d confidently declared that I would accept her as my own child to a room full of my adult relatives. I had talked big, letting my heightened, fierce emotions take over.

When I thought about how I must’ve looked, I could feel my face burning up from the embarrassment. I was a young woman who’d just barely entered her twenties, and I’d been quite cocky. I’d never been responsible for anyone else before, nor had I held a proper job. I’d had no idea how the world worked, yet I’d comported myself as such to a room full of adults who each successfully ran their own households.

Looking back on it now, my actions that day were reckless. But be that as it may...I didn’t regret what I’d done. I definitely could have handled the situation better, but Miu was the one thing I would never take back about it. No matter how many do-overs I got, I’d always make the same choice—I would take in Miu and become her mother. Without a doubt, I would become a mom—it was, in fact, probably the best decision I’d made in my entire life.

I was truly glad that Miu had become my daughter and that I’d become her mother. It felt like fate that I’d found the resolve to make that choice when I did—and actually, it felt fated in more ways than you’d expect. After all, it wasn’t just my relationship with Miu that’d begun that day; technically, that was also the first day I’d met him.

That said—although I felt really bad about it—I couldn’t remember much about him since my mind had been occupied with Miu that day. He, however, remembered it clearly. It was the day that he’d first seen me—the day that I’d first stolen his heart.

He’d told me all about it just yesterday. He’d seemed a little embarrassed yet somewhat proud as he passionately told me about the day he’d fallen for me. Jeez, no matter how old you’ve gotten, you sure are the same, Takkun...

I silently and slowly opened my eyes. Before me was a large mirror. I couldn’t help but gulp when I saw my reflection.

In the mirror was a pure white dress. It was bright and sparkled beautifully. It was a garment of integrity and virtue—the kind of outfit a bride wore. I’d tried on countless types to figure out what I was going to wear, gone on a bit of a diet for this day, and even visited a beauty salon three days ago to get some body treatments done. There had been plenty of other things aside from the dress that we’d planned for together too, just for this very day.

“Hee hee...” I felt strange.

I never did think I’d be wearing a bridal gown. It wasn’t that I’d steeled my resolve and prepared to be single for the rest of my life, but...the day that I took Miu in, I’d felt that I’d have to give up on all those kinds of things—I’d figured I’d never have a relationship, get married, or have a child of my own like a regular person. I’d decided to give up on all those things to raise my daughter into a successful adult...yet before I knew it, I’d gotten all those things that I’d given up on.

It was all thanks to Takkun. He’d gifted me with all the forms of happiness that I’d been okay with letting go of. He’d loved me for over a decade—since he was ten years old—and he’d given me more happiness than I knew what to do with.

When I closed my eyes, I could see all my memories popping into view. His sudden confession; our first date; Miu’s feelings; all the tediousness that’d occurred up to the start of our relationship; our sudden long-distance status, which had ended up not happening, and our cohabitation that’d followed; the first night we’d shared together; then there was also that time, and the other time, and that other thing... I couldn’t count them all. I couldn’t hold them all. I’d made so many memories with him, and they filled up my chest to the brim.

They weren’t all happy memories, and there were times when things hadn’t gone so well, but I could now proudly say that every moment of our time together had brought me happiness. Every memory marked a priceless day that I’d spent with him.

Well, um, because of what I was wearing, I couldn’t help but feel mushy and emotional, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was experiencing the ending credits of a movie, or the final volume of a novel, but...it wasn’t like my life was ending today. Our lives were going to continue on for many more years. That’s why today, this day, was just the beginning of a new chapter—a turning point in our lives that was just a little bit special when compared to our usual day-to-day lives.

Someone knocked on the door to the dressing room.

“Mom.” My dear, beloved daughter popped her head out from behind the door.

Chapter 1: The Pregnancy and the Announcement

♥

Days start early when you’re a single mother. My mornings would often begin with me rubbing my sleepy eyes and getting out of bed early since I had to pack a lunch for my high school daughter. That was the normal, everyday thing for me—my daily routine as a thirtysomething-year-old. Or rather, it was supposed to be...

“Oh, good morning, mom.”

It was seven in the morning. I’d taken my time to wake up and head into the living room, where breakfast was already on the table. Miu was in the kitchen, already dressed in her school uniform. She had once again woken up before me and made us breakfast.

“You could’ve slept in a little more.”

“I can’t just spend the whole day sleeping,” I said as I sat down.

It had already been two weeks since I’d returned from Tokyo, and Miu had been acting like this ever since, always waking up earlier than me and preparing breakfast for the two of us. Aside from cooking, she was also taking care of the laundry, cleaning, and shopping. She’d become proactive about helping around the house.

Miu had always been quite the capable girl who could handle chores and cooking no problem, but up till I’d come back home, she would never help around the house, no matter how many times I’d asked. Well, to be fair, she would actually help out if I wasn’t feeling well, but by the same token, she completely lacked the initiative when I was doing fine. I wasn’t sure whether it was laziness or if she just had no compunctions with letting me dote on her.

But now, despite all that, Miu was making herself useful in a way she’d never done before—and the reason for it was, to be honest, incredibly clear.

“They say that some people have trouble sleeping when they’re pregnant. If you’re not feeling well, just sleep in and don’t force yourself to get up. I can handle everything on my own.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve been fine so far. I slept a full eight hours last night.”

“I see. That’s nice,” Miu said as she placed a cup of coffee on the table before me in a curt manner. It wasn’t regular coffee, however, but rather an herbal tea known as “dandelion coffee” that was made from the root of the dandelion plant. Technically, since it lacked coffee beans, it wasn’t actual coffee—and furthermore, it was also caffeine-free, meaning it was safe for children and pregnant people to drink.

Yes indeed...I’d been served a beverage specifically safe for pregnant individuals. As you might have guessed, I was currently with child. I’d officially confirmed it with an obstetrician, and at present, I was three months along. It wasn’t that visible yet, but my stomach was slowly, very gradually, starting to grow.

“Hee hee...”

“What, mom? Why are you laughing out of nowhere?”

“No, it’s nothing. I’m just happy,” I said with a smile. “It’s nice that you’ve suddenly got your act together.”

Miu didn’t say a word. “I wonder if it’s because you’re ready to be a big sister,” I continued on. “That’s fair. Now that you’re going to have a younger sibling, you need to be able to keep up with your responsibilities—and if you ask me, you’ve got this, big sister!”

I meant it as a compliment, intending to praise her recent behavior...but Miu must have thought that I was teasing her.

“Well, I had to pull it together,” Miu said, slightly pouting. “After all, a certain someone let living with their boyfriend turn their brain off and forced us down a road none of us had planned for. At least one person around here needs to have their act together.”

“Urgh...” After she’d pointed it out, there was nothing I could say back. After all, she’d, well...more or less hit the nail on the head.

Ten years had already passed since I—Ayako Katsuragi, thirtysomething years old—took in my niece and began raising her as my own daughter after my sister and her husband had passed away in an accident. After some twists and turns, I’d started dating Takumi Aterazawa, the college student who lived next door and was a whole ten years younger than me. Several more twists and turns followed, and we’d ended up living together in Tokyo for three months. With two adults living under one roof, it wasn’t like nothing was going to happen—and sure enough, in a manner of speaking, the two of us had ended up happily joining together as one. It’d been both his and my first time, so a lot had happened to get us there, but we’d somehow managed to progress our relationship.

And, well, um...because our relationship had taken that step forward, it’d led to us skipping over about ten steps at once.

“It’s honestly pretty embarrassing,” Miu said cuttingly while we were eating breakfast. Her words stabbed me right where it hurt. “What did you and Taku go to Tokyo to do?” I couldn’t respond. “You went for work, right? For your job?! You said you wanted to be a part of the anime adaptation of the series you’re in charge of, and Taku said he wanted to go both so he could support you and so he could gain work experience through an internship.”

I didn’t know what to say...

“And yeah, I know you two were riding high since you’d just started dating, and I can understand that you didn’t want to be apart from each other. I’m sure Miss Yumemi understood those things too, and that’s why she set things up for you two to live together.”

I just sat there silently as Miu went on.

“She probably trusted you, you know? She must’ve believed that you wouldn’t lose control just because you were excited about suddenly living with Taku—she probably figured you would balance your work and personal life and act with some forethought.”

I could hardly say anything back to that...

“It was the same for me. I trusted you too,” Miu carried on. “I thought that you would progress your career while Taku gained experience for his own future... I believed you two would return from Tokyo having grown as adults, and as a couple too. I was waiting here alone because I honestly believed you would manage to carry yourselves forward.”

Miu then gave me a look of deep exasperation as she let out a heavy sigh. “I never would have thought that, in spite of everything, you would do something as thoughtless as returning home knocked up.” It felt like she was driving the knife she’d stabbed into me even deeper.

“You know, I’m in high school now, so I expected that two adults who were dating would end up doing those sorts of things...” Miu admitted. “Like, I knew that it would happen because you were living under one roof, but still...a child is a whole different thing, you know?”

“Urgh...”

“Not to be a boomer, but, I mean, isn’t there an order to how these things should go? It’s only been a few months since you officially started dating, and you haven’t even started thinking about marriage, or even had a conversation about it for that matter...yet here you are with a bun in the oven.”

“U-Urgh...”

“Was the whole ‘work trip’ thing just a cover for you to go honeymooning?!”

“W-W-Waaah! Stop it! Don’t bully me anymore!” I couldn’t take it any longer and crumbled to pieces. “It wasn’t like that! We didn’t go to Tokyo to have fun! I did my work! I did what I put my mind to!”

Miu fell silent to give me a chance to explain myself.

“But, um, it’s just that...some of the things I put my mind to happened at night, so I just kind of landed on one of the possible outcomes of that...” Th-This is rough! This excuse is terrible!

“If your belly is anything to go by, what you put your mind to and what you were supposed to do clearly couldn’t have been more different!”

“Hurgh!” She had completely destroyed my argument. My daughter, a high schooler, had thoroughly dismantled my excuse. I had nothing I could say back.

If one asked whether I’d made the maximum effort to be careful so I wouldn’t get pregnant...I wouldn’t have been able to earnestly say that I had. I had to admit that there was a part of me that’d had my guard down and thought, “I probably won’t get pregnant.”

Huh. This is strange. Isn’t this sort of sex ed usually something that the mom has to teach the daughter? How did we end up the other way around? Wow, my daughter sure has it together...

“U-Urgh... That’s enough bullying, Miu... I’ve already had my ears lectured off by mom and dad...”

As soon as we’d returned from Tokyo, Takkun and I had both announced the pregnancy to our parents. We’d decided that we couldn’t keep it a secret. As for how that’d gone over...let’s just say the resulting commotion was so extraordinary that words failed to describe it. We probably should’ve expected as much, of course.

Takkun’s parents had known about us dating, so their reaction wasn’t as bad, but I had a particularly rough time telling my own parents. I had to explain how Takkun was my boyfriend—that is to say, their daughter, a single mother in her thirties, was dating a twenty-year-old college student, and said twenty-year-old was my baby daddy. It was much too shocking for them.

“It all ended up okay though, right?” Miu asked. “You’d been keeping Taku a secret, but now your relationship’s out in the open.”

“Well...” That might have been true, but there must’ve been a better way to deliver the news to them.

“It seems like grandma and grandpa made up their minds to support you two.”

“Well, we do have a child on the way, so...”

Perhaps the shock of my pregnancy was too intense, as there wasn’t much time spent digging into the “My boyfriend is a college student” part of the whole thing. It was as if it was too late to bother with, like now was no longer the time to worry about something like that. Though it wasn’t my intention to announce my relationship under circumstances like this, perhaps I could say that things still turned out all right.

“Maybe in spite of everything grandma and grandpa were more happy than anything else.”

“Huh?”

“They were probably worried about you, after all. You had a grown kid despite never being married... Their generation holds marriage as the be-all and end-all, right?”

I paused to consider it. It was probably true—they’d told me things like “We gave up on you giving birth,” after all. They hadn’t pestered me too much about it over the years, but they’d probably had some concerns about the fact that I hadn’t yet settled down at my age. In the modern world, marriage wasn’t everything, and there were plenty of people who didn’t get married...but many people in my parents’ generation seemed to believe that for a woman to be happy, she needed to get married and have children.

“You might’ve done things out of order, but at the end of the day, their daughter was finally able to conceive in her thirties—they might have some gripes about how it went down, but ultimately, they’re probably happy and relieved.”

“Miu...” A warm sensation filled my chest, but I still wanted to say something back to her. “You’re exaggerating. I’m not so old that they’d need to worry about me.”

“What are you talking about?!” Miu said, snapping back at my casual statement. “Having your first child at your age... You’re practically having a full-on geriatric pregnancy!”

“Wha—” G-Geriatric?! Ugh, what an awful-sounding word!

Generally speaking, if you were having your first child when you were thirty-five or older, it would be called advanced maternal age. In other words, I—a thirty-[REDACTED]-year-old—was...um, yeah. Well, anyways, that bit can be left ambiguous.

“Y-You’re wrong, Miu... I’m still plenty young... I’m barely on the edge of advanced maternal age—so on the border that it’s basically a toss-up either way.”

“How pathetic,” Miu said with a sharp glare. “You can’t run from your age, so you should just accept it. It’s undeniable that you’re at a higher risk than someone in their twenties, so you need to face the facts and deal with it.”

“O-Okay...”

“Also, even though you’re pregnant, you’re still in the first trimester, which means things aren’t stable yet. Don’t forget that your body isn’t just yours anymore, mom. You’ve been pretty careless, so get it together.”

“Okay...” I couldn’t do anything but nod in response.

Miu had really stepped up after my pregnancy. She had already become an impressive big sister...or rather, she was acting like a mother-in-law.

♠

I had a friend named Satoya Ringo. He was a beautiful young man with an attractive face and a slender frame, and he was often mistaken for a girl—and as a matter of fact, he actually cross-dressed fairly often.

To be clear, though, according to him, he wasn’t cross-dressing, but rather he was just wearing what looked good on him. He didn’t specifically want to dress like a woman, nor did he want to become a girl, and he was only attracted to women—case in point, he currently had a girlfriend.

In a sense, he was a bit of a strange guy, but he was a dear friend of mine. I’d known him since I started college—we were in the same department, so we’d had lots of opportunities to do things together. If one were to ask who my closest friend was right now, I would probably say it was Satoya.

Satoya had also helped me out with Miss Ayako. He’d given me advice many times, both before and after we’d started dating. Though he’d say that he was just doing it for fun, making himself out to be some mean-spirited person, I felt that he’d been pretty empathetic about everything. At times he’d been kind, while at other times he’d been harsh, but he consistently supported my romantic endeavors.

I could say with all my heart that Satoya Ringo was a precious friend who I could trust. For that reason, the first person I wanted to talk to about what’d happened—outside of my family—was Satoya.

I was currently facing circumstances with an inevitable outcome—a situation that I had to face. Depending on the person, they might look upon my actions judgmentally, and no matter how much prejudice or contempt they sent my way, I wouldn’t be able to complain. Satoya, however... I was sure he of all people would understand. I was positive he would sympathize with me. I knew for sure he would cheer me up and comfort me—

“What the hell, man?” Satoya said with a look that was beyond exasperation. There was a look in his eyes that suggested he couldn’t be more contemptuous if he tried. “I can’t believe you. What kind of college student gets his girlfriend pregnant? Jeez... I never expected you to be the sort of man to end up like this,” Satoya said, his head resting in his hands.

“U-Urgh...” All I could do was sit there and take it as he ripped me to shreds.

We were at Satoya’s place—I’d asked if we could come here because I’d wanted to avoid anyone else hearing us discuss the topic in question. When I’d announced Miss Ayako’s pregnancy to him, rather than try to be encouraging, all he could manage was biting disapproval.

“I-Is that really what you say to a friend after he musters up the courage to tell you something...?” I demanded.