The Family Dinner Before Departure (Family Line)

At the dinner table, Nakayama Miyuki sat beside the head seat and added another spoonful of nikujaga to Eri's bowl.

Eri hurriedly held the bowl down.

"Mom, that's really enough. If I keep eating, the baby I give birth to is going to be overweight."

"There's no harm in eating more." Miyuki put down the spoon, turned her gaze to Nakayama Takuya, who was putting food into Kazuki's bowl, and spoke in an even tone.

"What time is your flight tomorrow?"

"Two in the afternoon."

"When will you be back?"

"The exhibition ends on the eleventh. I'll be home by the thirteenth at the latest."

Miyuki did not answer. She unhurriedly took a sip of soup, set down the bowl, and only then said, "Another ten days. Didn't you already go once at the start of the year? Eri is pregnant, and you're still running off every day."

Nakayama Takuya's chopsticks paused as he was picking up food, his face full of helplessness.

"Mom—"

"—"

"I didn't say I wouldn't let you go." Miyuki's tone was not harsh, but every word was very clear. "Eri is carrying a child and living at home, and Kazuki is here too. When you go on a business trip, three women at home take turns looking after them, so we're not exactly short of hands. But count it up yourself. Right when Eri needs you most, you're flying around outside at the drop of a hat."

Kazuki sat in his children's dining chair, his head tilted as he listened to the adults talk. The chopsticks in his hand poked at the rice in his bowl, and Nakayama Takuya reached out to straighten his chopsticks for him.

"Mom, I really can't push off work matters. E3 is an exhibition for the game industry led by