Marie was the first to know about Taro’s marriage because he had to ask her for the family register.
“This quickly?” Marie asked, rummaging through the drawers for the document.
“I suppose,” Taro replied. “The goal was always to find a partner who could help look after Taiga. Though, I still don’t quite understand why we didn’t just hire a nanny.”
“Could you spend the rest of your life with a nanny?” Marie said crossly.
“No, but Tregear is different,” Taro said, waving off the concern. “I told him a long time ago that if neither of us ever married, he should just move in with me so we could look after each other. We’re just doing it a little earlier than planned.”
“Right… and now you have a legal certificate. If that’s how you felt anyway, why bother getting married?” Marie handed him the register. She was truly at a loss for words with this son of hers he was undeniably, incredibly dense.
“Because of Taiga. He needs looking after.” Taro took the document and rubbed the back of his head. “If it weren’t for Taiga, I probably wouldn’t have gotten married at all.”
“Fine, just get out. Looking at you makes my blood pressure rise,” Marie said, shooing him out the door.
“Mom, why the sudden temper?” Taro muttered, bewildered as he was ushered out.
That evening, while Marie was relaying the story to Ken, she complained about how dense their son was.
Ken stroked his beard and chuckled. “How do you know he doesn’t actually know exactly what he’s doing?”
Marie gasped, grabbing Ken’s arm. “Wait, you think Taro knows?”
“Oh, no. That’s impossible,” Ken replied. “Your son navigates his relationships entirely by instinct. If you asked Taro why he wants to live with Tregear, he wouldn’t be able to give you a logical reason, but he’d do it anyway.”
“…I’m starting to feel sorry for Tregear. I’ll have to be extra nice to him from now on,” Marie said. She couldn’t help but think that Tregear must have committed some grave sin in a past life to end up entangled with Taro.
Taro didn’t go out of his way to hide the news of his remarriage, nor did he broadcast it. After taking Monday off to get hitched, he spent the rest of the week buried in his office. He was swamped.
Due to his frequent leaves of absence, a mountain of paperwork had accumulated on his desk. He had reports from subordinate instructors to review, training results to check, problems raised by the staff to solve, and upcoming combat simulations to prepare for.
“Brother Ace, are you going to pick up Zett?” Taro looked up as he saw Ace donning his cloak, ready to clock out. “Could you grab Taiga for me while you’re at it?”
“Sure. When are you finishing? You can come get him from my place then,” Ace said.
“Taiga might have to stay at your place tonight. I have to stay late and finish this; I’ll be sleeping in the office. Tregear is working overtime too, so there’s no one at home,” Taro explained.
“Alright, no problem,” Ace nodded.
Ace ran into Seven on his way out, who was there to drop off a report. Seven asked, “Heading out to get the kids?”
“Yes,” Ace replied. “Want me to pick up Zero for you?”
“If you wouldn’t mind. Something came up at the bureau a star is acting up, so I have to stay behind,” Seven said.
“Consider it done.” Ace drove to the school after work. He picked up Taiga first before heading to Zero’s classroom. As expected, Zett was right there with Zero. Ace couldn’t quite fathom why Zett was so obsessed with Zero.
Even Taiga, who was related by blood, sometimes found Zero annoying, and the two often came to blows. Yet Zett followed Zero everywhere, constantly calling him “Master.”
Is this some kind of new, embarrassing roleplay? Ace wondered, not quite understanding the youth of today.