"I still trust your judgment."
"And the other party's family background meets our expectations too."
"I'll support you," her father said.
"Thank you, Dad." Haruno smiled.
"First, I need to make one thing clear," Oreki hurriedly cut in.
Because he realized there was something very wrong with this conversation, he quickly said, "I am not dating Yukinoshita."
"You may have misunderstood."
"This isn't a meeting with the parents."
"Oh."
Yukinoshita Father seemed to nod lightly.
He clearly didn't believe it.
"I already have someone I'm going to marry," Oreki added.
"Oh." Yet Yukinoshita Father merely nodded again.
"..." Oreki.
Oreki had seen that exact expression before on Arisu Sakayanagi's father's face.
It was the expression of someone who had completely entered their own world, whose thoughts were already set, and who would not care about anyone else's explanations no matter what.
A very self-centered look.
What a headache.
Haruno!
Oreki quickly looked at the person who had stirred up this whole farce.
Miss Haruno leaned straight back against the sofa, looking at her cute nails painted with purple nail polish.
She deliberately refused to look toward Oreki.
-0-0-
Was this on purpose? Was this on purpose?
Didn't you still want to improve your parents' relationship?
Though Oreki complained in his heart, he also understood that this was Haruno making a small sacrifice, giving him a status that let him get closer to her parents.
And then help her parents reconcile.
After all, how was a stranger supposed to get involved in someone else's family? How was he supposed to approach someone else's parents without drawing suspicion?
And how could he speak in a way that would make the other party's parents listen?
For Haruno to make this kind of sacrifice meant that she actually cared greatly about her