Mid-December.
"……."
Vrrr— screech—
In the deep pre-dawn darkness, a child wrapped head to toe in black clothes that no one would recognize got into Kaoru’s car.
The car he used publicly was a Volvo SUV, but Kaoru had also prepared a second, used car just in case.
It was an old Toyota sedan, the kind ordinary people rode around in, carefully chosen so it wouldn’t draw attention.
The child glanced around, then immediately climbed into the passenger seat. The windows were heavily tinted. A phone number no one could identify was still printed on the rear glass.
It looked exactly like a company car driven by a salaryman in sales. Kaoru, smoothly handling the manual transmission, drove the car toward the seaside on the outskirts of Tokyo.
He had been checking from the moment they left to make sure no one was following them, and once he stopped the car and pulled the handbrake, he said, "Ai, now we can— mmph!"
"Mm-hm."
The moment he turned his head, the child took off her mask, leaned in, and kissed him.
Kaoru was briefly caught off guard by the surprise kiss his wife had clearly been waiting to give him, but he gladly returned the bold gesture.
It was a thick, intimate kiss the two of them had never once shown in front of anyone else, not even the twins or the Saito couple.
It was raw and honest, a look and expression that laid bare only the secret weaknesses and desires the two of them alone knew about.
Hot breath brushed his face, and sticky, wet saliva soaked the inside of his mouth.
The obscene sound of tongues tangling together echoed through the car.
Ai wrapped her arms around Kaoru’s head as if to hold him close, closed her eyes, and poured out her affection and longing as if she wanted to swallow up everything about her husband.
Kaoru, feeling her emotions and heart, responded by gently stroking her ears and the nape of her neck with his hand, tickling her softly in return.
"Mmm— ahh… haah… heh…"
"……."
When the kiss ended, Ai lifted her dazed, starlit eyes and looked at her husband. Even though the streetlight wasn’t especially bright, her flushed face was clearly red.
Kaoru stared at his wife with wolf-bright blue eyes, then leaned in and kissed her again as if lightly biting her lips, before giving her that familiar smile of his.
"The engine… is still on."
"……ngh!"
It took her a moment to understand what he meant, but once she caught the implication, Ai’s face turned even redder.
Her husband knew her so well that, at times like this, he felt downright mischievous.
Kaoru knew all too well how restless she had been, wanting to see him, touch him, kiss him. He didn’t hide his smile as he stroked her soft cheek.
For his adorable wife, who still in some ways couldn’t hide her feelings like a little child.
Kaoru pretended not to notice and turned off the engine, then interlaced his fingers with Ai’s warm hand.
"If you’re cold, tell me. I’ll turn on the heater."
"I’m fine. I wrapped myself up really thick!"
At Ai’s meticulous cuteness, with her padded jumper pulled down and several thin layers underneath, Kaoru burst out laughing.
Her husband’s laughter.
Only then did Ai feel the anxious, unsettled corner of her heart finally calm down, even after the kiss.
So many feelings she couldn’t work through or ease with phone calls and texts alone.
Only after meeting her husband again after so long did they wash away cleanly.
Kaoru held Ai’s hand, met her eyes, and gently tidied her long purple hair with a tender touch as he asked, "How was today? Weren’t you tired?"
"Mm… same as yesterday. Radio, broadcasts, performances…. Oh! You know that ad shoot today? I heard one of the staff talking about you."
"…About me?"
"Yeah. They were praising you, saying you were so kind because you once caught them when they almost fell?"
At Ai’s words, Kaoru’s mind spun. He had never caught a woman before, so who was it? Ai, who luckily had been looking straight ahead through the windshield and missed the moment when his blue eyes flickered slightly, smiled and said, "How should I put it? The chubby older guy was talking shyly, and it was just like [Kumakun]!"
"…Ah. I remember now. Hearing [Kumakun] reminded me. He was the one in the black T-shirt, right? I think the company name was [Iconic]."
"That’s right! The bear of a man in the black T-shirt! I don’t know the company name, but that must have been him. Eheheh—☆ So you remembered too, Kaoru?"
As Ai laughed brightly, Kaoru scratched the corner of his eye and smiled too. If he remembered correctly, the man had probably been a staff member from the directing team. A man in his early forties, about 180 centimeters tall and quite heavy.
He had been so absorbed in the cue sheet that he wasn’t watching where he was going and almost fell, and Kaoru had caught him by the arm. He remembered the man thanking him sincerely.
So she remembered too. Thinking back on something that had happened half a year ago, Kaoru gave a small nod. Watching her husband like that, Ai broke into a broad smile and grabbed both his cheeks, rubbing them all over.
"Uu— my husband! You did a good thing, so Ai’s going to praise you lots and lots!"
"Guh—!"
As his wife, how could she not be happy to hear praise about her husband on set? Remembering how she had bounced all the way to the waiting room and been delighted as if it were her own achievement, Ai kneaded his face and hair with all the love and pride in her heart.
After their conversation flowed on for a while, and Ai’s lively laughter and Kaoru’s calm voice had gradually quieted down, Ai remembered something she had forgotten and spoke in a low voice.
"…The lawyer called me. I told you too, Kaoru, but they said we need DNA test results for the lawsuit. They said the president’s and Miyako-chan’s are needed too."
"Yeah. I’m already looking into a DNA testing company. Haha. Ai, don’t worry. Everything will work out."
To ease her worries, Kaoru took his wife’s hand.
"……Mm. I know. But it keeps… leaning this way, then that way as time passes. I keep wavering, I guess? I can’t help worrying…"
"……."
"I’ve even created my family register now, and all that’s left is to submit the marriage registration. All I have to do is become your wife and bring Aqua and Ruby… home. I want to be a good mother. So Aqua and Ruby won’t get hurt, and so they won’t feel left out."
Kaoru looked at the emotions hidden in Ai’s starlit eyes and smiled.
He understood Ai’s heart better than anyone. It was a trial too difficult to endure by clinging only to the hope that she could simply get through it.
She was afraid the arrows of blame would turn toward Aqua and Ruby.
And she was afraid that she, someone who had grown up in an institution and never received a mother’s love, might fail to become the support Aqua and Ruby needed, or fail to fulfill her role as their mother.
Kaoru knew better than anyone the private reasons behind Ai’s restlessness and anxiety.
"Ai."
"…Hehe. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said something like that."
"Our babies… they really love you. They smile when they see you, they like you, they want to cling to you. Sometimes I’m even jealous."
"…."
A warm smile. As a father and husband, he knew.
"You’re already a good mother. Aqua and Ruby prove it, don’t they? That you’re the one and only, wonderful and lovable… [ultimate mother] in this world."
"……."
"Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Practice more, study more where you’re lacking. The four of us can live happily together, Ai."
"Kaoru…."
Seeing the tears welling in those starlit eyes, Kaoru bent down and pulled his wife into a tight embrace.
At her husband’s heartfelt reassurance, Ai nestled into Kaoru’s warm, broad chest and only then could she smile in peace.
Just as she had been doing until now.
Thinking of Aqua and Ruby always smiling happily in her arms, Ai nodded from within Kaoru’s embrace.
As always.
As always, it would be fine.
The couple held each other for a long while, sharing their warmth.
-
Time passed quickly again.
Ai’s birthday was celebrated with fans at a venue even larger than the year before. In broadcasting, advertising, and everywhere else, people were falling over themselves to congratulate her and hold special events, making her rising popularity impossible to miss.
Then the new year came, and by the time January was nearly over, Kaoru and Ai submitted their marriage registration.
That was because the creation of Ai’s family register had also been completed, finishing the legal process.
"A witness? Of course I’ll do it. Kkhhheuk—! When am I getting married, then!?"
"You want me to be a witness? Wow, this is the first time since I did it for my high school classmate."
On Kaoru’s side of the marriage registration, Rentarou and Director Toshiro signed as witnesses.
Producer Sojiro was still out of the country.
"Be happy… and live a life no one can envy."
"So I just sign this like it’s a casting contract, right?"
On Ai’s side, President Ichigo and Director Gotanda signed as witnesses.
Ai, sitting in the back seat and sipping coffee, shot down Director Gotanda’s endless excitement with a bright smile and an unintended stab: "Nope~"
Of course, Director Gotanda did not give up. Clenching his teeth, he even brought his beloved fountain pen himself, finished signing, and left coolly.
"As for the married surname—"
"I’ll take Kaoru’s surname—"
"No, Ai."
"Huh?"
Kaoru smiled as he looked at Ai.
Ai, startled, stared into the emotions in Kaoru’s blue eyes and parted her lips.
Kaoru turned his gaze to the marriage registration and said, "The Kamiki family’s circumstances. I don’t care what happens to them now. I only want to live my whole life with you. I want to make a real [my family]."
He had never once felt affection as family. Sharing a surname alone did not make a family.
Kaoru understood that better than anyone.
He had no desire to pass down the cursed brand of the Kamiki name, a family name worse than that of strangers, to Ai and the twins, whom he loved more than anyone in the world.
[My family]. Kaoru desperately wanted a [family] that would become one whole with him.
"……."
"You’ll… allow it, right?"
A detached smile tinged with pain.
At Kaoru’s request, Ai could not hold back the feelings surging in her chest. Her starlit eyes sparkled with tears as she threw herself into her husband’s arms and shouted, "Kaoru!"
"Ghk. Ai."
And so the married surname… was decided not to be [Kamiki], but Ai’s surname, [Hoshino].
Her name changed from [Kaoru Kamiki] to [Kaoru Hoshino].
Looking over the details written on the marriage registration, Kaoru felt his nose sting with emotion.
At last… they were husband and wife.
Kaoru thought back on all the time and memories they had shared.
So many things had happened, but in the end, he and Ai had become husband and wife, and one family.
Over more than four years, a small connection had become fate, and in the time they had grown precious to each other.
They had come to live as partners who would spend their whole lives together.
There were still many obstacles ahead, but Kaoru had no doubt they would overcome them safely this time too.
He put the marriage registration into a document envelope and submitted it to the government office with the lawyer handling the lawsuit designated as their representative.
Thanks to the youngest son-in-law of the former judge-turned-lawyer handling the paternity lawsuit working at the office, no strange rumors leaked out, and a message that the marriage registration had been accepted safely was sent to Kaoru and Ai’s personal phones.
"……Then, can I really… call you ‘husband’ now?"
Ai looked at him with a playful but shy little smile.
For her, who had only ever dreamed of a married life, who had met Kaoru, given birth to the twins, and never once called him "husband" until now, it all finally felt real, and her heart kept trembling.
It was still a secret-filled relationship they could not reveal to others.
But just having a home where they could lean on each other when they were tired, and give and receive love, made Ai so happy and thrilled she could hardly stand it.
At Ai’s words, her starlit eyes sparkling like a supernova, Kaoru—unlike himself—blushed all the way to his ears and answered in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
"...R-right. We’re officially married… so. Husband…."
"…Kyaaaaaa♥ Huuuusband! Husband! Husband! Husband! Kaoru! My husband! Huuuusband!!! Kyaaaaa!"
"Whoa!"
The married couple, [Kaoru Hoshino] and [Ai Hoshino]. The dazzling curtain rose on the couple’s belated newlywed life.
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