After a phone call that lasted more than ten minutes, Erina Nakiri let out a deep breath. In the living room, Renz had already dropped Rina and Haruki off at school and was now lounging comfortably on the sofa, having returned home.
Not needing to attend school and living life as a freelancer was incredibly convenient. He had, quite literally, nothing to do. The only downside was that, in such an environment, one could easily rot away into uselessness.
"Whose call was it?" Renz asked as he noticed Erina ending the call. He got up and approached her curiously.
"Do you remember what I told you about last time?" Erina didn't hide anything.
"You mean about the cooking competition where you're going to be a judge?" Renz recalled clearly. His memory wasn't goldfish-tier; he remembered things.
"That's right," Erina continued. "I've decided to go check it out. Sooner or later, I'll have to start reconnecting with my social circle. But there's a bit of a problem."
"A problem?" Renz frowned.
"Yes. If I go as a judge, can you handle Rina and Haruki's meals?" she asked, rubbing her temples. Renz was confident in his cooking skills—everything short of being outright lethal was fair game. But that one glaring flaw? A recipe for disaster. Rina and Haruki had grown up eating Erina's cooking. Feeding them Renz's dishes would be like sending them on a one-way trip to the underworld.
"So... what do you suggest?" Renz asked, curious about her solution.
"If we stay home, we'll eventually become isolated in this villa, with zero interaction with the outside world. That's not ideal. So I was thinking—we should go together," Erina proposed after a moment's thought.
"Go together?" Renz raised an eyebrow, beginning to understand her point.
"Yes. But there's a huge issue," Renz said seriously. "I know absolutely nothing about your social circle. And won't our 'pretend' marriage be easy to see through?"
"The social circle thing is manageable," Erina said, pulling out her phone. "We have smartphones, after all. For people I'm close with, I can show you pictures and introduce them to you in advance." She continued, "When we meet them, as long as you recognize them and don't talk too much, it'll be hard for anyone to catch on."
In her mind, it was a simple fix.
But the truth was, it all depended on Renz's ability to react on the fly. What if someone approached them with a direct question? He wouldn't be able to just ignore them.
"Let me start with my family members," Erina said, scrolling through her phone. "This is my grandfather—Senzaemon Nakiri." A broad, muscular man appeared on the screen. The kind of person who clearly shouldn't be messed with.
Shouldn't she have started with her parents? Renz found it odd but said nothing. Maybe Erina had a special bond with her grandfather.
"These are my parents. Just remember their names; I don't have a great relationship with them," she said, her smile tinged with bitterness.
"Alright," Renz nodded, committing the faces to memory one by one.
"We probably won't run into them this time," Erina reassured him. "So don't feel pressured." She added, "My grandfather is really kind."
"But Erina, I have one more question," Renz said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "What kind of public image are we aiming for this time?" In front of the children, they had to act like a loving couple—anything less might leave a psychological scar. Renz understood what it was like growing up in a single-parent household. He didn't want Rina and Haruki to experience the same thing.
Erina really wanted to avoid talking about this. The issue was a thorny one, and ignoring it wouldn't make it go away.
"Just our usual image," she answered vaguely.
But Renz wasn't satisfied with that. As someone who once worked in esports, he knew all too well how ignoring internal issues in a team could lead to catastrophe in real matches. From his perspective, if their fake marriage was the main quest, then attending the cooking competition as a judge was a side quest. The quest objective was to complete the judging without their true relationship being discovered—and to integrate into her ten-year-later social circle. That was a pretty tall order.
Then again, a shift in mindset could make it all easier.
"I mean, how about we just date?" Renz suddenly said, voicing the first idea that came to mind. If they really started dating, wouldn't that solve everything? A fake couple becoming real—problem solved.
Wait. Oh no.
Renz snapped back to reality. This wasn't a game. In games, NPCs didn't have feelings. But this was real life. Even in dating sims, you had to build up affection points before a confession had any chance of success.
"Impossible! No way! What's wrong with you? Why would you suddenly say something like that? Isn't that too soon? I've never even thought about dating you!" Erina stammered, her eyelashes quivering as she flushed in disbelief. What kind of joke was this? Dating after knowing each other for just two days?
But then again... they did already have children.
Still! That's a special case! Oh no—did I actually spend a few seconds considering it?! What am I even thinking?!
Crossing her arms, Erina adopted a defensive pose. Yet, the tips of her ears—hidden beneath her golden locks—were as red as glowing agate.
"My apologies. I just blurted out what seemed like the simplest solution," Renz explained. In truth, he still believed the idea was logical. It was just emotionally hard to digest.
"Dating is out of the question. I have no romantic feelings for you right now," Erina emphasized. "I only—slightly—approve of your parenting."
"Still, during this trip, it's inevitable we'll face some tricky situations," she admitted. "In extremely special cases, I'll allow physical contact." She looked away. "Just remember—we're limited to holding hands or something like that."
"Don't think it means anything more."
"I figured if we just casually show a bit of affection, it should be enough to fool them," she added, "Like with Ms. Asakawa, the housekeeper who came today."
Renz nodded and then asked simply, "So, Erina... do you know how to show affection?"
A plain, innocent question. Yet it cut through all of Erina's bravado and made her long monologue evaporate like mist in the wind.
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Will Erina Nakiri be able to "show affection" convincingly, or will her inexperience lead to further awkward situations? And how will this newfound "physical contact" agreement change the dynamics between this 'loving' couple?
----Support with power stones