Best Man Sougo

09 - The House

"Is this the house?" Kagura asked.

The couple had finally arrived at the address that Sougo's older sister gave. Even though this was Sougo's hometown, he couldn't recall this particular house or its owner. He double-checked the message he received from his sister and compared it with the number on the house.

"Yeah. This is it."

Based on the lengthy wall bordering the house, he could imagine the owner was quite wealthy. It made him wonder who exactly is his sister's groom. He opened the gate for Kagura and they headed past the courtyard to the main house.

"Hello! Is anybody home?" He called out at the doorway after sending a message to his sister stating that he had arrived.

Hearing a series of footsteps shuffle on the other side of the door, he watched a familiar sandy-haired woman pop her head out from the other side of the door.

"Sou-chan!" She gave her little brother a bear hug. "I'm glad you could make it."

With her hands firmly pinching his cheeks, she examined his face. "You look like you've been well."

"Yes, ane-ue." Sougo gave a curt smile before introducing his date. "I want you to meet my girlfriend, Kagura-chan."

Lowering the stuffed bunny from her face, she timidly reached out her hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Okita-san."

"Oh, she's adorable!" Mitsuba quickly forgot about her brother and switched her full attention to his date, fawning over her fair skin and long, silky vermillion hair. "Nice to finally meet you, Kagura-chan! I didn't know you had a girlfriend, why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." Sougo briefly explained, purposely not mentioning the important details.

"Come in. Come in." She pulled Kagura's hand towards the house and Sougo followed suit.

The trio made their way to the living room that had a scenic view of the garden in the courtyard. A bamboo water fountain rhythmically dropped its spout onto the base of the pond. Kagura couldn't resist checking out the garden filled with flowers and plants she's never seen before, ranging from lavender to the imported English ivy.

"Be careful. My fiancée loves these plants. He's a big fan of gardening." Mitsuba explained as the Okita siblings watched Kagura run around the garden. "He even grows his own fruits and vegetables indoors."

"Okita-san! There's a fish in the pond!" Kagura was currently examining the pond, going as far as sticking her hand in the water, hoping that the lone fish would graze by her hand. "Ooh. It has such cool scales. Orange. White. Black. All in one fish. Are you lonely, Mr. Fish?"

"My fiancée also loves koi fish. If I recall properly, there used to be more." Mitsuba dismissed the thought to address a more important issue. "Now that there are two of us here, won't it get confusing when you use 'Okita-san' to address the both of us?"

"Oh, right. I just said it out of habit." Kagura buried her head into the bunny again. "Um. I was actually talking to Sou-chan earlier."

The way his nickname rolled off her tongue was incredibly pleasing to his ears. It was far more endearing than when his sister called out to him.

"Oh, Kagura-chan~ How can you be so cute? I just want to eat you up. Just tell ane-ue if Sou-chan teases you, I'll give him a good beating." Mitsuba rubbed her cheek on top of Kagura's head.

Kagura giggled. "He's been nothing but nice to me. I promise."

"Good. That means I taught him well."