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“I have very good reasons for you to get engaged right now, but you’ll have to wait until Kazusa graduates to find out the specific reasons.”

"..."

Himeko felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, her head buzzing. What would happen after Kazusa graduated? What big event would occur after Kazusa graduated? Her mother, Yoko, and Kazusa all knew the reason, but she was kept in the dark. No wonder Kazusa said those things this morning; was it all for this conversation at noon?

"Could it be... that my Yang Nai is simply not good enough for you? That's really... If that's the case, I will further train her to be a qualified wife until you are satisfied with her."

Miaozi's words brought another layer of bitterness to Ji Xiaolu's heart. She was actually saying that he could disapprove, but he had to get engaged. He looked at his mother again, but her expression remained unchanged, and she did not change in any way because of Miaozi's words.

"I'll ask you one more time, do you agree or disagree?"

Mom Daphne asked again, and Himeko looked around, pondering once more. What was their intention in doing this? And if Mom really wanted her to get engaged to Haruno, there was no need for this kind of place. She could simply go home and tell her, "You're getting engaged to Haruno." Why bring it up here, at this time, and ask for her consent... Ah!

Himeko glanced at Yukinoshita, but her mother grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, urging him to answer quickly.

Himekoji suddenly realized why they were here, why they were saying these things at this time—he understood everything now. His mother's question, "Agree or disagree?", seemed to be directed at Himekoji, but it wasn't really directed at him. It was directed at Yukino, or more precisely, at Yukino herself.

Hurry up and understand their intentions! You bastard Yukinoshita, don't you always like to argue with others? Why aren't you arguing now?

Because Himekoji's mother was holding his shoulders and he couldn't signal to Yukinoshita, the entire room was silent and the atmosphere was very heavy as he didn't answer.

"Meow~"

"Maji" in Yukinoshita's arms let out a cry and squeezed out of her arms. It jumped from the floor next to Yukinoshita into Himekoji's arms. Then it turned its belly towards Himekoji, rolled over in his arms, and scratched Himekoji's arm with its little paws.

"Wait, wait...Magic..."

The cat ran away from her arms, and Yukinoshita looked up as if waking from a dream. After seeing the cat acting so defenseless and affectionate in Himekoji's arms, she slowly sat down again. Her originally gloomy eyes brightened a little, but she kept her lips pursed and remained silent.

Do I really have to ask Mom a third time? Do you agree or disagree?

Seeing Himekoji start avoiding the question by petting the cat, Daphne pressed her for an answer. Himekoji, meanwhile, was internally cursing Yukino. Why was she so clueless at this crucial moment? Even though it was just a test, if things went wrong, she might actually have to get engaged to Haruno, and that would be the end of her!

"I..."

"I..."

Himekoji spoke for the second time, finally closing her eyes and making up her mind.

"I disagree! Why is it like this... It's so strange... Mom, my sister, even Aunt Daphne... This sudden engagement and all... How could my sister agree so readily... Even though Himekoji was so conflicted..."

Yukinoshita suddenly stood up, her head bowed, yet she continued to speak her mind without pause.

"Ah la la..."

Yang spoke first, interrupting Yukino's rapid-fire words.

"Sister, please don't speak yet."

"Oh my," Yang Nai's eyes widened as she unexpectedly met her mother, Miao Zi's, gaze. The two stared at each other for a long time before suddenly bursting out laughing.

"Mom, you..."

Yukinoshita sensed something was amiss and quickly turned her gaze to Himekoji and his mother. Himekoji's face was full of helplessness, and he was rolling his eyes, while Daphne covered her mouth and chuckled, as if she were saying "You little idiot."

"You...everyone..."

Yukinoshita suddenly felt like she had been tricked. Her cheeks flushed red at a visible speed, and she glared at Himekoji with a "Why didn't you warn me sooner?" look. Himekoji, on the other hand, shrugged and said, "Please, my dear Yukinoshita, you're the one who called me here, okay? You didn't say a word about what happened on the phone. I'm the one who's completely confused now that I'm here!"

Chapter 303 Therefore, [Yukino Yukinoshita] had no other choice.

"Then you... then you... why don't you just refuse directly?"

She covered her face and sat down again, her body twisted into a ball.

“That’s not the problem, Yukino,” her mother, Taeko, said. “Marriage is the beginning of a new life for everyone, and it’s the most important decision to make at the start. If you really have no feelings about it, why are you standing up to oppose their marriage?”

“So it wasn’t me who wanted to get engaged in the first place,” Haruno snapped her fingers at Yukinoshita and said, “Ta-da! Actually, it was you who wanted to get engaged! That was just a test for you. After all, no matter how important the family’s decision is, they won’t ignore the opinions of any important family member. You have to remember that.”

"I...am engaged...to...him?"

"If you don't want to, you can just say so. Then I'll take Haruto back with me."

Daphne clapped her hands gently and tilted her head.

"Eh—? Well, I think it's very unwise to talk about engagement without any foundation of feelings developing. Like Mom said, marriage is the beginning of a new life for everyone, and it's not right to decide something so important in just a few minutes..."

"It seems she doesn't agree. Let's go."

Daphne didn't want to listen to Yukinoshita's long-winded speech any longer. She grabbed Himekoji's hand and prepared to get up. Yukinoshita was fine, but her mother and sister were anxious and tried to stop her.

"Mom, didn't you just say you wanted to hear my real thoughts? My thought is that now is definitely not a good time to get engaged, and if the person I'm engaged to has to be him, I think we need to do a lot of observation and research first... To be honest, I don't even understand what dating is all about. Is it really okay to skip this very important prerequisite and just talk about marriage?"

Despite her stubbornness, Yukinoshita still held firm to her principles. Although she felt there was something she should hold onto, there were also things she had to insist on. She wouldn't give up until things were clearly explained.

“Listen up, Yukino,” Haruno came to her side and explained seriously, “No one knows what ‘dating’ is from the beginning. You, who have never tried it, naturally cannot know. And ‘not knowing’ is not a reason for you to reject your true feelings. Besides, engagement and dating are not mutually exclusive, are they? You can get engaged first and then date.”

"Uh...but..."

After hearing what Haruno said, Yukinoshita seemed a little hesitant, and Daphne stopped pulling Himekoji and turned to look at her.

"If marriage requires observation and research, then let's study it slowly as you get to know each other after the engagement. Since you are a few months older than Haruto, let's tentatively set the wedding date for Haruto's twentieth birthday. What does Mrs. Daphne think?"

“These kinds of things require both people to be willing, so I won’t try to change Yukino’s mind. But I do want to remind her that—” Daphne turned around and pointed at Himekoji, “I have a reason to get Haruto engaged before you both reach your third year. If you don’t agree, Yukino, I certainly won’t force you. The next candidate is… I think it’s Kasumigaoka Utaha? The next one could be the young lady from the Gido family, but… that one has a slight problem.”

"Kasumigaoka-senpai...? How could this be..."

Yukinoshita was taken aback by Daphne's words, and Daphne was clearly not joking.

“I know Haruto wouldn’t object to either you or Kasumigaoka getting engaged, so if you object, I’ll take Haruto to Kasumigaoka right now. From what I know of her, she’d agree without me even having to ask. Oh, don’t think I’m threatening you. You see, I only came to your house to talk about this because I’ve got my eye on you. Otherwise, I could just go to Kasumigaoka’s house directly. As for the child… they’d probably agree to a marriage right away—even if it’s not legal.”

Daphne shrugged, shaking her terrifyingly long hair, the huge crystal hair clip drawing attention.

"now that..."

"Yukino, can't you see clearly? You have to take control of your own future."

Yang quickly interrupted Yukinoshita in a hurry.

"Huff—, fu—, huff—" Yukinoshita took several deep breaths, finally pinching her chin and turning around to say, "If that guy... Himekoji is okay... getting engaged first is fine... but that doesn't mean—"

"Okay, Haruto, do you agree?"

"agree."

“Well, it’s decided then,” Daphne beckoned to a maid named Ryoko, who opened her briefcase and took out a sealed file bag. Daphne took the bag and handed it to Yukinoshita Taeko, saying, “Let’s study it when we get back, but don’t let Yukino see it.”

"Well... okay."

Taeko accepted it.

“Oh, right, there’s one more thing,” Daphne beckoned to Ryoko again. This time, Ryoko took out a small stack of neat documents in a transparent bag. Daphne took out the documents, three copies in total, and handed a pen to Yukinoshita, saying, “The engagement contract. If there are no problems, please sign it. Of course, Haruto should sign it now too.”

"Um..."

Yukino took the contract and read it word for word. Of course, marriage is a matter of personal choice in Japan, and this contract couldn't guarantee that Yukino would be legally responsible if she didn't marry Himekoji. It wasn't that kind of thing. It was more like a covenant or oath, with some obligations that both parties had to abide by. After carefully comparing the three copies and finding that they were identical, Yukino signed her name quickly. Then, Himekoji also signed his name, and her mother even took out his seal and stamped a copy.

As for Yukinoshita, she hasn't had her seal made yet, so she won't stamp it for now. As for the wedding date, it will naturally be as Hinano just mentioned, when Himekoji turns 20 and officially comes of age.

"Here's one for you. Please keep it safe," Daphne said, handing the first signed contract to Yukino. She then put away the other two copies, saying, "We'll keep one copy, and we'll have a lawyer seal the other one. If there are no other issues, we'll have it notarized a month before the wedding."

Chapter 304 Too lazy to bear it, [Yukino Yukinoshita] chooses to live a life of leisure and waiting for death.

“Okay, okay, then we’ve finished what we can do,” Daphne said happily, her eyes narrowing as she watched the two of them sign the contract. She clapped her hands like a schoolchild, making the other two members of the Yukinoshita family exchange bewildered glances. She put away the documents, put her hands together next to her head, tilted her head, and said, “How about we leave first and give the children some time?”

“That’s true…” Taeko covered her mouth as she looked at Yukinoshita, a relieved smile on her face, as if her daughter had finally gotten married. “Now I don’t have to worry about you coming back too late or having other activities… I suppose you prefer to listen to him rather than me, right?”

"...Mom, you say such strange things too."

“Heh…” Taeko chuckled casually, walked up to Himekoji, bowed to him, and said, “Young man who once told me ‘your daughter is in my hands,’ this time your daughter is officially handed over to you. Now that the engagement has been decided, we will no longer interfere in Yukino’s life. If you have any questions, you can contact Haruno at any time to talk to her.”

"Of course, sister-style donburi is out of the question~"

After seeing that everything was fine, Yang Nai immediately reverted to his usual teasing and irreverent self, making Yukinoshita and Himekoji extremely embarrassed with his words. As for his mother, Taeko, who was usually extremely strict, she seemed not to have heard what Yang Nai said today, and didn't even look at her.

"Bam—"

Yang Nai cupped his hands into a megaphone and muttered, "Make sure to take precautions before marriage!" After saying that, the whole group disappeared, leaving only Himekoji and Yukinoshita standing there, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Today was such a surreal day. I was suddenly called by Yukinoshita and we got engaged in less than half an hour. Himekoji still doesn't feel it, but compared to Himekoji, Yukinoshita probably feels it even less. At least he is fully aware that he has no say in the matter of marriage, while Yukinoshita doesn't.

“That’s great,” Himekoji said jokingly as she sat down to break the awkward silence, picked up the cat named “Maji” and said to Yukinoshita, “You owe me so much, you’ll spend the rest of your life repaying it.”

"...No way."

Yukino turned her back, covering her bright red cheeks with her hands. Her head was still a little dizzy. Just an hour ago, they were discussing how awkward Yukino's situation would be after Hinano got engaged to Himekoji, and now she herself was engaged to Himekoji... Such a reversal. Yukino could only say: That's just too... good.

"Go over there for a moment."

After standing for a few minutes, Yukinoshita felt that her cheeks had returned to normal. She went to Himekoji's side, gently tapped his chin, and asked him to sit a little closer to her.

"Oh."

Yukinoshita has several sofas. She clearly wants to sit with Himekoji, but she's too embarrassed to sit down directly. Instead, she asks Himekoji to sit a little further away so that they can maintain some distance before she sits down herself.

Himekoji stepped aside, and Yukinoshita hesitated for a moment before sitting down again, her back very straight. Seeing Himekoji petting the cat and not saying much, she suddenly spoke up: "I remember you said you'd never dated a girl before, so... now that we're engaged, how are we supposed to date? There are still over two years until the wedding..."

"That's true. Come closer for a moment, I have something good to show you."

Himekoji patted his pocket and gestured for Yukinoshita to come closer. Yukinoshita leaned closer to him suspiciously, and the distance between them shortened to the point where even the cat "Maji" could place its front paws on Yukinoshita's legs and its hind paws on Himekoji's legs.

"Then, let's start with the first step."

Himekoji ran her left hand, which had just reached into her pocket, across Yukinoshita's back and gently placed it on her left shoulder. Then, she pulled her towards herself, and the two of them fell onto the sofa together amidst Yukinoshita's soft gasp.

"so--?"

"So what so?"

"So, does the first step in dating mean two people lying on the sofa together, cuddling?"

"...I just thought it would be easier to do it this way. Of course, some people start with kissing. Do you want to try?"

"That will be enough for now."

Yukinoshita was so speechless that her eyes rolled back. "Start with kissing, why not start with having a baby?"

"Give me Magic."

"Wanzhi doesn't want me to hand it over to you."

"You're not Magic, how do you know it doesn't want to?"

"You're not me, how do you know I don't know it doesn't want to?"