Arranged Marriage

C5: Accepting... A Girl?

Miko stared at herself through the mirror. Currently, she is now sitting on her study table in her room thinking thoroughly, making sure she can digesting all the information she just get from all the serious talk with her parents earlier. The young shrine maiden then sigh out loud while rubbing her temple. She lean to the table and lightly smack her own forehead on it. Miko close her eyes, just a few days ago she was a happy-go-lucky girl, streaming Mario Kart and talking with her viewers and now? Now she had to get married to some stranger her family assigned to her.

'Ugh, what luck..' Miko mumbled under her breath. After staying quiet for a few more minutes, Miko opened her eyes. There's this determination burning in her eyes as she already made her decision in this matter. Miko went downstairs where she found her dad and grandpa in the living room, talking about something. She takes a deep breath before approaching the old man.

"Alright. Fine. I accept it." she said with a slight groan in her tone.

Both of her parents were shocked hearing this but they stayed quiet, waiting for their daughter to elaborate more. Her grandpa just raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Nothing can be done anymore right? All I can do is be mature and accept it and just be done with it. Knowing that the other person is also a woman, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Since I don't have to make an heir."

Miko's grandpa only nods his head, showing that he's impressed with Miko's decision. Miko's mom who's standing at the door, stared at her daughter sadly. Deep down, she really does feel guilty about what her daughter has to go through. But as she knew, she can't do anything about it because her father, who's Miko's grandfather, is the shrine's head.

All the family matters will be decided by him. Even her own husband cannot object to her own father's decision. It is because her husband is from another family who was assigned to marry her, so her husband doesn't have any lineage in his blood to take over the shrine.

Miko's dad sighs as he can't help her daughter that much. He felt useless, because in her father-in-law's eyes he is just an outsider who is married into the family, so he didn't need his opinions.

"I am surprised though."

Miko's grandpa looked at the pink haired girl as he raised his brows.

"What is?" he asked with that hoarse voice of his while rubbing his beard at the same time.

"I mean, the other person is a girl isn't? I thought you were gonna be disgusted by it or something."

Miko's grandpa nod his head. This old man did that everytime he tried to answer Miko's question. Miko herself didn't understand why but the longer she watch her grandpa do it, the more annoyed she became but she held it inside her heart. She can't just lashed out at the old guy, it's just rude. Maybe that is his habit.

"I admit, I was caught off guard at first when Shinichiro¹ introduced his daughter to me. A girl? I thought to myself. But as I get older, the world is changing, not in a good way but I think I can slightly accept it."

(¹ = Grandpa's friends name = Miko's soon to be father-in-law )

"Since it's a girl, it just makes things easier, you two could just get married and then be friends, you guys don't really have to act like a married couple. Married in paper and name only so that I can save our shrine from getting bought by those stupid rich companies." There's a slight anger in his tone.

"Then, what about an heir?" Miko asked again, surely his grandpa's friends didn't do this for free.

"No need."

"Ha?"

"Like I said, he wants his daughter to get married so that other companies won't bother his family. You do know how much people want to marry his daughter because they want his property."

Miko nodded her head. "Rightttttt..., he's rich alright." Miko then sighs as she goes to her room while mumbling under her breath, "Fair enough."

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"Ahh.. If I know it's going to be like this, I wouldn't come home." Miko complained out loud as she was sitting on the dining table. It was already dinner time as she was so engrossed playing her switch in her room, trying to ignore the weight of her problem. Miko looked around, the house is awfully quiet at the moment.

"Don't say it like that." Miko's mother scolded her.

"But mom!"

"Shush you, you know I can't do anything about it."

Miko rolled her eyes.
'Yeah, right, you can't.'

"Dad and grandpa?"

Her mother set her plate in front of her. Tonight, they're eating chicken curry for dinner. Her mom sat in front of her. Both of them clap their hands together before saying 'Itadakimasu' and start eating.

"Dad went to drive grandpa to his friend's company."

"Seriously? At this time?" She looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall.

"Yeah. It seems like he's so excited to tell this good news."

"Yeah, uh-huh, good news. I can see that." Miko said sarcastically. Hearing this, Miko's mom frowns as she watches her daughter eat. There's a sadness on her face. She set her chopsticks down.

"Miko, are you sure you're okay with this? Won't you take more time to sort your thoughts or anything?" her mom is clearly worried about her decision earlier. The said girl can only sigh as she looks at her mom, giving the 'Isn't it obvious?' look at her face.

"Like, what can I do with it? Grandpa already decided on it in the first place. After thinking for a bit, I know I can't get any way out of it. Like, aren't you the one who's supposed to save me?" Miko's expression shows how angry she is at her mom.

"What?"

"I mean, think about it. You are his daughter. You are my mom. You're the one who's supposed to argue with grandpa about this marriage thing if you're that worried about me." Miko said while pointing her chopsticks at her mom, up and down.

Miko's mom starts to get mad at the way her daughter talks to her.

"You know that I can't! His decision is absolute!"

"That's the problem mom!" The young shrine maiden girl shouts as she smacks her hands on the table. She stands up as she looks at her mom with rage in her eyes.

"Both of you and dad keep saying that you guys are worried about me. Worried, worried, worried but you guys don't do a damn thing! If you truly are worried about me, then go! Complaint to grandpa! Talk to him! Discuss with him! Not just going along with his bullshit!"

Miko's mom is also standing up as she yells at her daughter.

"Then what about our shrine? You think I can just let them buy it without our consent!?"

"That's also the problem mom! Use your damn brain, we can just think of another way to avoid it!" The older woman in front of her was slightly shocked as she froze in front of her. But before she could talk again, the living room door was slammed open by her dad.

"Miko! That's now how you talk to your mother!"

Miko was so fed up with it that she decided to ignore her dinner. She makes her way to her room while ignoring her dad who's calling her name. Slamming her door, Miko locked it before slumping on her soft and fluffy bed. She then went under the blanket, stuffing her face into her pillow, she cried quietly.

'I hate this'

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Hallo

So, uh.. Hi?
Been a long time? (Not really)

Good news?
I have 2 more papers left.
Science (P1 & P2) and Economy (P1 & P2)

OK bye