The Chestnut-Haired Man (栗色の髪の彼, Kuriiro no Kami no Kare?) is the second chapter of Volume 2 of the My Happy Marriage series.
Summary[]
Miyo continues her lessons with Hazuki. Between studying, lessons, housekeeping, and suffering from nightmares, Miyo gets very little sleep, which has an obvious effect on her health. Hazuki and Yurie both note this on a trip to town and urge to take a long rest after they return home. Miyo practices her new skills with the shop employees and earns praise for her efforts from Hazuki. However, the summer heat and her lack of sleep causes her to swoon, but she is caught just in time by a chestnut-haired young man in a suit. After he leaves, Hazuki notes that he seems to come from a noble family. Yurie scolds both of them about the importance of taking care of oneself.
Ookaito uses his connections to have someone dispatched from the Ministry of the Imperial Household to meet with Kiyoka. The man introduces himself as Arata Tsuruki, whose family ran a mid-sized trading company that has recovered from the brink of bankruptcy twenty years ago. Kiyoka finds him suspicious. Arata tells him about the situation at the Burial Grounds. Two weeks ago, someone lifted the seals on the Burial Grounds in the middle of the night. Ever since then, the Ministry has been working to recover the released souls and find the culprit, but they had only recovered seventy percent of the souls. As the Ministry doesn't have enough practitioners, they are finally turning to the military for help.
Kiyoka asks Arata why he was sent, as he doesn't work for the Ministry or the military and his family isn't known to be one of the Gifted families. Arata explains that he works as a negotiator for his family's company and that he is occasionally asked to take on these kinds of jobs as well. Arata also knows that Kiyoka is recently engaged and expresses envy. He returns to the main topic and informs Kiyoka that his unit has been granted permission to use their Gifts to battle against the aggressive spirits. Arata gives Kiyoka the documents with the written orders and tells him he'll be dropping by every once in a while to check on their progress.
After Arata leaves, Kiyoka finds himself worrying about the Burial Grounds incident in addition to Miyo's health. Suspecting that the Usuba family's Gift has something to do with her nightmares, Kiyoka had asked the private investigator from before to look into Sumi Saimori's background. The private investigator had looked into girls' school records in the imperial capital and searched for students with the name "Sumi," as it is highly likely that she was enrolled under a fake family name. Kiyoka suddenly recalls that he has seen the name "Tsuruki" somewhere else before and finds it in the documents that the investigator gave him. Wondering if it's a coincidence or not, Kiyoka decides to investigate the Tsuruki family.
A few days has passed since Miyo fainted in town. Her health continues to worsen. She makes lunch for Yurie and Hazuki, who compliments her on her cooking. Hazuki herself has poor cooking skills, which dragged down her grades in girls' school and was one of the factors that led to her divorce. Hazuki tells Miyo about her failed marriage, in which she married a military man. However, her inability to do housework caused friction between her and her in-laws. Things were harmonious for a while after she gave birth to a son, but soon everything went back to the way they were before. One day, her husband told her that they were divorcing. Angry that she wasn't given a choice in the matter, the couple argued until the divorce became official. Hazuki regrets that she didn't work harder to improve herself and save her marriage. She tells Miyo that what's most important is doing your best in the moment and be true to your own feelings. Miyo, listening to Hazuki's story, wonders if she can ever be a good wife if she doesn't even understand what a family is. Despite her worries, she is solely dedicated to staying by Kiyoka's side.
In the evening, Miyo sees Kiyoka sitting on the veranda, looking tired. She sits down next to him. He apologizes for being busy recently and asks her if she wants to tell him about anything. Miyo, not wanting to worry him, lies that there is nothing bothering her. She asks him about his thoughts on what Hazuki is to him and feels jealous when she hears how natural and easy their relationship is. She realizes that is what family is. Now that she knows what the warmth of a home is like, she feels that she has become greedy because she wants to be a part of his family as well. Kiyoka asks her to tell him if she feels lonely or in pain, and when she tries to deny it, he confesses that he feels lonely because he can't see her often. Miyo finally admits to him that she also feels lonely without him. He notes that she has started to relax and be less formal around him. He tells her to be selfish and lean on him.
The next day, Miyo receives a sudden visitor‐the man who caught her when she was about to faint the other day. He is looking for Kiyoka, but as Kiyoka went to work, Miyo invites him in to take a rest. The man introduces himself as Arata Tsuruki. He knows Miyo as Kiyoka's fiancée and expresses his disappointment in Kiyoka for not noticing Miyo's poor health and forcing her to study so relentlessly. Miyo tries to defend him and Hazuki and states that they are only going along with her request. Arata apologizes and takes his leave, but just before he goes, he tells her that he can give her a role that only she can fulfill and to contact him if she's interested. He sneaks a business card into the sleeve of her yukata.
Miyo is preoccupied by Arata's words and behavior for the rest of the day. Despite his words, Miyo refuses to give up on her lessons and wants to become someone who Kiyoka would be glad to have by his side. She is so preoccupied with her thoughts that she doesn't even notice when Kiyoka comes home until he calls her name.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Hazuki Kudou
- Miyo Saimori
- Yurie
- Arata Tsuruki
- Masashi Ookaito
- Kiyoka Kudou
- Private investigator
Mentioned characters[]
Chapter Notes[]
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