I, who tortured the readers, was knocked to the ground by them!

"Sorry, it's been a long wait."

Wearing a floral dress, Sato Wakaba walked out of the restroom with her head slightly lowered, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Sakurai Itsuki looked at the extremely reserved person in front of him and felt quite unfamiliar with him. He couldn't reconcile this image with the carefree and unrestrained person he remembered.

Sakurai Itsuki asked, "Who told you to drink so much water? I saw you drinking one cup after another, and I almost thought women were made of water!"

Sakurai Itsuki and Sato Wakaba have finished their lunch with Uncle Sakurai.

After lunch, Uncle Sakurai waved goodbye, saying he had other things to take care of, and quickly left.

He always appears and disappears so mysteriously, I never know what he's busy with.

It's almost like an NPC who only appears out of nowhere when the plot requires it.

After lunch, Sakurai Itsuki returned to the Sato family home to pack her luggage, preparing to conclude her trip to England.

Since it was the last stretch of their journey in London, Sato Wakaba and Sakurai Itsuki didn't take a taxi. Instead, they strolled along, chatting as they went, wanting to savor the last bit of the London street life.

However, this romantic atmosphere was somewhat ruined by Sato Wakaba, who had already asked to go to the toilet for the third time.

"Because my uncle keeps saying embarrassing things, and you don't argue back, and when I do argue back, you two pretend you didn't hear me. So I can only drink water."

Sato Wakaba complained.

In fact, besides relieving embarrassment, there are also some physiological factors.

When a person is under high tension and excitement, the sympathetic nervous system becomes excited, leading to dry mouth and throat.

This is, of course, due to someone's attitude.

That uncle treated them completely as a couple who would get married in the future, so why didn't he deny it at all?

Isn't this forcing her to misunderstand?

"Ah, that person, arguing with him is useless, it's just a waste of breath, haven't you realized that? Besides, didn't you never care about being misunderstood before?"

Sakurai Itsuki figured that since the uncle wouldn't listen or believe her anyway, she might as well save herself the trouble of explaining.

Of course, Sakurai Itsuki doesn't actually dislike such misunderstandings.

"That's different, isn't it? That's your uncle!"

"Sato Wakaba said."

For someone like her who considers marriage sacred and inviolable, being mistaken for a lover or fiancée makes a huge difference!
Especially since they were his relatives.

Sakurai Itsuki, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned: "So what?"

Sato Wakaba asked, "Aren't you afraid that after a while, all your relatives back home will think you're going to marry me? What will you do then?"

"It's just a misunderstanding by my family, why are you so concerned? I don't really care, do you hate this?" Sakurai Itsuki asked.

Sato Wakaba pursed her lips and said, "If you were to use this as an excuse to confess to me, I might not necessarily agree. It's not romantic at all."

Of course she couldn't possibly dislike this, otherwise why would she have just kept drinking water after only muttering a couple of unsuccessful attempts to argue back?

She was so happy, incredibly happy, absolutely ecstatic. She felt a hundred times happier than when she heard the news that No Game No Life was getting a second season.

Sakurai Itsuki waved his hand, paused, and when he didn't hear Sato Wakaba continue speaking, he asked, "Aren't you going to say you're a good person today?"

Today's card-giving ceremony seemed a bit too brief compared to the past, and it lacked that crucial phrase, "You are a good person."

Sakurai Itsuki turned around and found Sato Wakaba blushing and glaring at him with a rather resentful expression.

"."

The two fell silent for no apparent reason.

Finally, Sato Wakaba yelled, "Because you're an idiot, a big bad guy! I'm never talking to you again!"

After saying that, Sato Wakaba angrily decided to "abandon" Sakurai Itsuki and strode forward.

I wasn't just joking around with him!
This time, she was unusually serious!
What kind of attitude is that?! Seriously, it's so annoying!
Sakurai Itsuki watched the figure striding away and muttered, "She can only be a lady for three minutes."

She reverted to her somewhat wild and willful self.

Was she serious just now?
She might not agree to my request. In other words, if I had confessed my feelings just now, would she have had a chance to say yes?
She has said that she only plans to date people she wants to marry.

She won't date anyone who isn't aiming for marriage.

That is
Sakurai Itsuki was standing there, lost in thought.

The person who had said he would never talk to Sakurai Itsuki again just three seconds ago had stopped ten steps away and turned around to stare fiercely at Sakurai Itsuki.

The look in his eyes seemed to say, "If you don't come and coax me, I'll really get angry and ignore you!"

Sakurai Itsuki already had plenty of experience dealing with this kind of situation.

After briefly considering his wording, he followed.

Sato Wakaba, that's the kind of girl she is.

She's willful, wild, and not ladylike at all. If she's even slightly unhappy, you have to coax her.

Her quirky mind is always full of wildly imaginative ideas, and then she'll tug at your elbow, begging you to go along with her and make them come true.

Occasionally, she might tell a few small lies, and when she makes a mistake, she always tries to get away with it by saying she's cute.

But if things continue like this, then I'll have to keep living with her.

My Savage Bride?

It's not that it's impossible.

"I'll leave you here! I'll study hard in college!"

Despite her reluctance, Sato Wakaba still managed a bright smile when saying goodbye to her family.

When she got home, she changed out of the dress that made her chest look particularly large and put on a very casual home outfit.

Sato's father looked at the two people standing in front of him with great reluctance, as if he was about to burst into tears at any moment: "Take good care of yourself in Tokyo, and let us know if anything happens."

Sato's mother rolled her eyes at her husband: "Alright, I've already said that if Wakaba gets into trouble, someone will take care of her. Itsuki is a reliable person, so don't worry."

Over the past few days, Sakurai Itsuki has become quite familiar with this family.

Even Sato's mother now calls him "Itsuki" all the time.

Upon hearing this, Sato's father immediately wiped away the tears that were about to well up in his eyes and glanced at Sakurai Itsuki with some awkwardness.

After this period of time, he was convinced that his precious daughter had probably been kidnapped by this brat.

But this guy in front of him was someone he couldn't find fault with for the time being. He was handsome, tall, earned a lot of money, and was considerate in his words and actions.

Faced with Sato's father's somewhat "malicious" gaze, Sakurai Itsuki quickly said, "Don't worry, I will do my best to take care of her. Of course, actually, Wakaba takes care of me more often."

Sakurai Itsuki felt that this dialogue was strangely reminiscent of a scene where, before a bride is about to marry far away, the groom stands in front of the bride's family and says, "From now on, I entrust your daughter to me."

He seemed to be somewhat influenced by the conversation between his uncle and Sato Wakaba, and for some reason, he was reminded of the scene of a wedding procession.

Sato's mother nodded: "Wakaba is indeed a child who is easy to take care of. You two should get along well."

Sakurai Itsuki nodded: "I understand. Thank you all for taking care of me these past few days. I need to get ready to board the plane soon, so I'll be going now. See you next time."

Seeing that it was getting late, Sakurai Itsuki politely said goodbye to the Sato family.

"Brother-in-law, don't go." Sato Nanoha reluctantly tugged at Sakurai Itsuki's sleeve with her small hand.

This little girl is particularly attached to Sakurai Itsuki.

As for the term "brother-in-law," Sato Wakaba has corrected it many times, but Sato Nanoha still occasionally chooses between "brother-in-law" and "older brother" at will.

Because the clever Sato Nanoha discovered that every time she called them that, whether it was her older brother, older sister, or even her mother, they were quite happy.

Besides Dad
"Nanoha, your Sakurai-nii brother has a lot of things to do! You can't keep clinging to him, listen to me." Sato Wakaba said to her younger sister, hands on her hips.

She still didn't use the term "brother-in-law" like her younger sister. Sakurai Itsuki squatted down and gently patted her head: "You have to be good. Next time, your brother and sister will come to see you together again."

Sato Wakaba, standing to the side, blushed slightly as she watched Sakurai Itsuki gently coaxing her younger sister.

He said there would be a next time.
Is he still willing to come back to his home in London with him?
"Oh, oh, oh, oh." Sato Nanoha pouted and nodded, but still couldn't bear to cry.

After comforting the crying Sato Nanoha, the two hurriedly dragged their luggage and ran quickly through the airport.

I finally boarded the plane back to Tokyo just before the last boarding deadline.

"Phew, thank goodness I made it!" Sato Wakaba clutched her chest and breathed a long sigh of relief.

She turned to look at Sakurai Itsuki, who was also panting heavily beside her, and smiled slightly: "It's rare to see you running like this, even though you always slack off during the school's physical fitness tests."

Sakurai Itsuki nodded: "There's nothing I can do. I'll miss my flight and it'll cause delays. My vacation is already at its limit."

"Ugh, Nanoha is such a hassle. And you, you spoil her too much. We didn't even get to go to France as planned."

Sato Wakaba secretly complained about her younger sister.

Before returning to Tokyo, Sato Wakaba had originally planned to take him to Paris, as she had heard it was much more romantic than London.

However, his younger sister always clung to Sakurai Itsuki and couldn't bear to let him leave.

Sakurai Itsuki stayed in London for an extra day and spent another day playing with the children.

The romantic fantasies the two initially had about France all vanished.

Sakurai Itsuki didn't think much of it: "She's your sister, it's only right that she's a little troublesome."

"What do you mean by that? Are you mocking me?" Sato Wakaba felt offended and poked Sakurai Itsuki's cheek hard with her finger.

Sakurai immediately retorted, "Can't you just think of it as, because she's your sister, it's okay to go through a little trouble?"

Upon hearing this, Sato Wakaba immediately showed a satisfied expression: "Oh, I see. You surprisingly like children, even though that girl is so annoying."

"Actually, I think it's nice to have such a troublesome child in the family. It's heartwarming and adorable."

Sakurai Itsuki said.

"What do you mean? You prefer daughters to sons?"

I don't know why, but I suddenly asked that question.

"Of course, I'll probably be a doting father to your daughter, just like your father. As for sons... well, sons are just annoying creatures, I know that all too well."

Sakurai Itsuki answered.

"Oh, I see."

Sato Wakaba lowered her head slightly; it turned out he preferred daughters.

Since he doesn't reject children, that means that actually...
He doesn't have absolutely no interest in things like dating or marriage, or those troublesome things he talks about.

So, do you want to have a daughter in the future?

Wait, what am I thinking?

Sato Wakaba reached out and patted her burning face; they were still far from settled.

"What are you doing? Why are you suddenly slapping yourself?"

Sakurai Itsuki heard a crisp slapping sound beside him and immediately asked.

Because other passengers in the cabin couldn't help but glance in their direction, Sakurai Itsuki felt so embarrassed that he wanted to pretend he didn't recognize the person next to him.

He's not that "socially anxious".

"It's nothing." Sato Wakaba immediately waved her hand awkwardly. "By the way, besides promising Nanoha you'd come to London again next time, what about your place?"

Sakurai Itsuki's mind flashed back to her conversation with her uncle, and she paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, this?"

Sato Wakaba: "I think your dad is actually a very amazing and great person."

The two now know the full story.

At noon, Uncle Sakurai, propping his chin on his hand, began to tell a story in a rather rambling manner: "Your father, you're a manga artist, you must have seen those old-fashioned harem manga male protagonists, right?"

"He's the kind of guy who's handsome, gentle, reliable, and capable, but also a bit slow on the uptake. In short, he's the kind of guy that girls really like."

"Don't let his current middle-aged appearance fool you. He used to be the envy of countless people, surrounded by girls who were all head over heels for him."

Sakurai Itsuki firmly believed this.

Even though he's getting on in years, Sakurai's father is still a handsome, dashing man who looks dashing all the time.

Sato Wakaba quietly sighed, "No wonder they're father and son, they're truly of the same ilk."

However, Ashu wasn't oblivious; everyone knew that this damned guy was just pretending.

Of course, the fact that his father was popular with girls when he was young was actually irrelevant to Sakurai Itsuki.

The story that follows is the main point.

It turns out that Sakurai Itsuki's biological mother and his current stepmother were actually sisters who were as close as brothers for many years.

Unfortunately, in their youth, they both fell in love with the same man, Sakurai Itsuki's father.

The best friends were forced to make a decision between friendship and love.

In the end, Sakurai Itsuki's mother won, while the stepmother was heartbroken and eventually left the two of them alone.

This is also why Sakurai Itsuki never met or heard of his stepmother when he was young.

That well-educated and reasonable woman was not actually a woman her father had just picked out from anywhere.

Even more unbelievable is that Sakurai Mitsuki is not her stepmother's biological daughter.

To be precise, Mitsuki should be her sister's child.

In the last century, after Japan entered a period of economic downturn, Mitsuki's biological parents went bankrupt and irresponsibly chose to end their own lives.

The stepmother picked up Mitsuki, because she didn't want Mitsuki to be seen as a child without a mother, so she raised this niece as her own daughter.

Back then, she raised Mitsuki all by herself.

One can imagine how much suffering he endured in Tokyo, a city plagued by economic downturn and rampant male chauvinism.

But she still didn't choose to find another man.

Because she still loves the man she has already missed, to the point that she can't let go even after he gets married and has children.

When Sakurai's mother was terminally ill, she learned about her sister's current situation.

So, knowing that her days were numbered, she took the initiative to facilitate this matter.

After I pass away, let her marry into the Sakurai family, bringing Mitsuki with her. Take good care of her and Mitsuki, and don't let her suffer.

This was Sakurai Itsuki's mother's last wish.
In that instant, Sakurai Itsuki understood why his stepmother treated him so well, while his father always favored the other two.

"Since you agreed to Nanoha's request, can you grant Wakaha's request? If you find it difficult, I can accompany you."

Sato Wakaba turned around, looked at Sakurai Itsuki who was deep in thought, and slowly placed her hand on his, speaking with unusual gentleness.

Sakurai Itsuki nodded: "What are you talking about? This is something you started without my permission."

I'm so sorry.

This time, she didn't try to get away with it by being cute; instead, she apologized sincerely, a hint of disappointment flashing in her eyes.

"So, you started this whole thing, so you have to come back with me."

Sakurai Itsuki said this.

The next instant, her pupils contracted sharply, as if the world had stopped. (End of Chapter)