Chapter 103 The Last Selfishness (5)

The current time was 6 pm. After confirming that most of the attendees had gathered around their assigned tables, the representative of the staff, Tomoo-senpai began her speech.

She began her speech by thanking the attendees for participating in the party, followed by a few words of encouragement for the third-years wholl be busy studying for exam season. Lastly, she briefly explained the schedule for the day and gave the attendees some precautions.

The speech was short enough that the attendees didnt get bored from hearing it. Seeing her like this, I realized that Tomoo-senpai is an amazing girl. Even though she was holding her speech in front of all these people, she didnt seem nervous at all.

With that said, everyone, a toast for all of us!

Following Tomoo-senpais words, everyone bursted out in excitement.

I looked around to find Umi and Amami-san. The santa hats made them easily noticeable as expected.

Together with the two of them were Nitori-san and Houjou-san. All four of them were smiling, I guess they were happy that they could finally enjoy their time together for the first time in a long while.

Seeing this scene, I was convinced that Umi would be fine on her own, so I went to Tomoo-senpais side.

Good work, senpai.

The party barely started, you know? Also, is it time?

Yes. Sorry about this, senpai, I have to leave for now

Dont worry, Ill take over your work at the reception desk. Theres nothing big happening in the first hour anyway, you can take your time, just make sure to come back later.

She gave me an hour worth of time, that should be enough.

I gave her my armband and went outside.

There was a large tree in front of the civic hall, it was the place where I promised to meet both of my parents.

Maki, Im here.

Mom

Mom waved at me when she saw me coming out of the hall. She seemed out of breath, she must have come in a hurry.

Maki, is it really okay for you to leave the venue? The party just started, right?

Mhm, I got the presidents permission. Sorry that you have to come all the way here, mom

Well, Im on break right now, so this much isnt a problem. Why did you call me here though?

Wait a second, mom. The other person should be here soon.

The other person?

I got a call

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and answered the call.

The screen displayed the name Minato Kyouka. I got her phone number from our exchange earlier this afternoon.

{Good evening, Maki-kun. As promised, I made some time for you.}

Thank you very much. What about Dad?

{Im with him right now. Should I bring him there right now?}

Yes, please.

I hung up the call and looked toward the entrance and found both of them dressed in their suits.

Mom followed my gaze and seemed to have guessed what was going on after she saw both of them.

Thank you for coming, Dad. And sorry, I lied.

Maki I see how it is

Under the tree, for the first time in a long time, the members of the Maehara Family finally met again Or rather, Mom and Dad finally met up with each other again.

Its been a while.

Right

After exchanging a few words, they looked away and fell into silence. Maybe they felt awkward because this was the first time they met each other ever since they signed the divorce papers .

Whats wrong, Mom? Dad? Its been a while since youve seen each other, no? Dont you have anything to say?

Even if youre telling me that Is this lady over here Minato-san?

Yes, maam, my name is Minato Kyouka, Im pleased to meet you.

Im Maehara Masaki. Dont worry, Im not his wife anymore, you can boil him or whatever for all I care.

I dont think Im good enough for him

Is that so You never change, huh? Always messing around with womens feelings like this

Seeing Minato-sans reaction, Mom glared at Dad.

In response, Dad let out a deep breath.

You dont understand

Here you go again, You dont understand you said. Why are you always like this? You never face your problems properly and keep running away from them. If I pissed you off, then at least try to bite back, you coward.

Curse me all you want Maki, if you have nothing to say, then Im going back. Im busy

No, please wait a minute, Itsuki-san.

Dad was about to turn around and leave but before he did, Minato-san grabbed his hand.

Let go of me, Minato. Also, were still in working hour, call me Chief.

No. I will do neither of them.

Minato

Are you going to keep running away from your son like this?

Hearing those words, Dad stopped trying to shake Minato-san off.

Itsuki-san, please listen to what Maki-kun has to say first After that, you could run away if you want to

I see So this is what you meant by having urgent business earlier You lied and skipped your work for this? Are you prepared to bear the consequences?

Yes. Im prepared, Itsuki-san.

You

Minato-san pulled out an envelope out of her pocket. That was enough to show her resolution.

She was a strong woman.

Ill give you ten minutes

Thank you. Maki-kun, go ahead.

Okay.

I thanked Minato-san and stood between my parents.

Mom, Dad, can I hold your hands? Who am I kidding? Why should I need your permission?

Eh?

A-Ah

I ignored my parents who looked confused and grabbed their hands.

This was the first time in a long time that I felt the warmth of both of their hands. I never thought that I would be able to do this ever again.

Both of their hands warmed my cold hands.

Once again I realized that both of them were precious to me

Mom Dad Can you make up for me?

And so, I spoke out my selfish wish.

Can you stop fighting and get back to normal? I dont want to choose between the two of you I want to be together with you like before

Maki, you

Maki

I poured more strength into my grip.

Ill work harder than before Ill study harder, Ill try to get into sports I made friends recently and Ill continue to make more friends and get along with them

The emotions that Ive been hiding poured out in the form of tears.

I love you both I cant choose between the two of you, I want to be with you both

I knew that this action was pointless. It was way too late to do this and I would only trouble them by doing this.

But if I didnt do this, I could never move on from my past. I needed this to leave the past behind me and make new memories with Umi and other people I cared about

Maki! Sorry, Im late

Umi No, its fine, its just getting started Hows everything?

All done. I told them if they dare to do it again, Ill beat the living s**t out of them.

Is that so?

Im glad that everything was settled for her. Everything would be fine, shes Umi after all, she can take on anything.

Besides, Ill be there to support her.

Well, thats all, Mom, Dad Sorry for saying something like this out of the blue

I only wanted to tell them that, I didnt intend to change anything. But it did make me feel better, I had to thank Daichi-san for his advice.

Right, Dad, about the things were talking over the phone

About whether or not youll live with me?

Yes, that.

I nodded and let my parents hands go. Then I went over to Umi and grabbed her hand.

Dad Actually, I fell in love with this girl here. I dont know why she also fell in love with me, but she has been by my side through my worst times

Asanagi Umi.

My first friend and my first love.

Minato-san told me about your hardships and I understand. You cant even tell your family about it because of the nature of your work, but even so, you kept working for us and I appreciate that But that, I dont want to be separated from this girl

That would be the end of this story.

Of course, I still had regrets about this matter. If I could turn back time, I would do it, but at the same time, I didnt want to be away from Umi.

I see So youve found someone huh?

Yes. Though I think shes too good for someone like me.

Youve changed, huh, Maki?

I guess so

Three months ago, I would never spout cheesy lines like this.

Well, I guess Ive changed after all.

Dad let out a sigh.

Got it Then try not to be like me, okay? Who knows when we will meet each other again, but Ill always wish for your happiness, Maki

Thank you, Dad Good luck with your work

Mhm Well, now that youve decided this, I have to pay your mom for your custody money Being an adult is such a pain in the a**.

Then, for the first time today, Dad smiled.

It might be painful for him because he might not be able to see me anymore, but he still smiled despite that fact.

I loved him so much.

Mom, Dad, can I ask you something?

What? Youve been toying with us and youre saying that you still have something in our mind? Hm?

Well yeah, Im not done yet. I want us to take a picture under that tree.

Thanks to the decorations and the snow, the gigantic tree looked like a Christmas tree and it made a good background for a picture.

I wanted to take a picture there to fill the last page of the Maehara family album.

This was my last selfishness, the thing that I had planned out together with Umi.

What do you think?

I dont know Having a family photo after weve divorced feels off, but Well, since this is our sons wish, I guess I have to fulfill it, huh?

Hehe I guess so

For a moment, I could see the shadow of them back when they were still together.

But I knew that I couldnt change the past. That was why I did all of this, to move on from the past and move toward the future.

Umi, can you take a picture of us?

I can, but Im bad at taking pictures So, I brought some helpers~

Huh? Helpers?

Yeah. Oi, you guys, its time!

Eh?

Umi called out to the nearby garden and three figures appeared.

It was cold~ But finally, its my turn!

I came here without Sis permission, so youll have to go with me to apologize after this, Maki!

Are you sure its fine for me to be here? I feel so out of place

They were Amami-san, Nozomu and lastly, Nitta-san.

I thought Umi was the only one who came, but it seemed like she brought the whole gang over.

Well, I kind of expected this to happen. No way that Amami-san would let Umi wander around in the cold alone.

Well, you can take the picture then, Nina. Youre good at it, right?

Yeah, Im better than most people at least Well, I owe both Rep and Reps dad something, so Ill gladly do it.

So I gave Nitta-san our phones and stood between my parents.

Mom, Dad, are you having fun?

I guess so, yeah.

Mhm, Im having fun alright.

Haha, whats with that answer? You really havent changed, Mom.

Okay, is everyone ready?~

And so the pictures were saved in each of our phones.

Inside the pictures, there were happy smiles of Mom, Dad and I.

Alright, since everything is done, we should join in too, Umi!

Yuu Well, fine. Come here, Seki.

Kay. You too, Nitta.

Eh? Me too? Then wholl be taking the pictures? Ah, that Big Sis over there, can I ask you?

Alright.

After giving Minato-san our phones, Nitta-san joined us.

There were seven of us here and it was hard to fit everyone, but we were having so much fun that it didnt matter.

Ill start taking the pictures Uh, what should I say on this occasion again?

Just say whatever you like, Big Sis! Well go along with you, dont worry!

Alright, then

The lively voices of high school students echoed under the snowy Christmas night.