Ojiro grew up not knowing much about love. As a child, he can remember one of his earliest experiences with romance under his sisters and mother's care.

"Girls, I'll leave Ji-chan to you for a moment. I will go prepare the bath for dad, alright?" His mom called out to her sisters behind the sink as she finishes washing the dishes.

"Haaai~" both her sisters responded.

"You know what? I heard that when mom and dad got married, she refused to sleep with him in the same bed. For a year!" Tsubaki, Ojiro's sister, younger than Ayaka, squeaks while she plays with her vegetables on her plate.

Ojiro, at his tender age of seven, looks up to his sister with sudden attention from the cartoons he's watching, even though he doesn't understand any of the topic of the conversation she is pulling him into.

It was known that his mom, who came from the small town of Amami in Osaka, was forced to marry his father at a young age. She just graduated high school back then, and meanwhile, his dad, a working man who manages his father's businesses and properties is almost a decade older than her.

Both their family's great-grandfathers have deeply bonded in the past, and with the purpose of keeping the relationship between the two families close, they've decided to marry their children to each other.

In the first months after her parents got married, it was said that his mom rebelled and ran away from home. She dreamt of finishing college, but since she got married, she should follow the Japanese old customs, just like what they taught her growing up: that the wife should surrender to her husband. Meaning she should stay at home, keep the house in order, and attend to her husband's needs.

"Moh, dame, Tsu-chan. Don't say something like that in front of Ji-chan," his sister Ayaka chided, placing the plate of steaming hamburger steak on the table.

"Ji-chan, finish your food so you can take a bath with Oto-san later, okay? He's coming home." Ayaka carefully places Ojiro's portion on his plate, using a chopstick.

"Haaaai!" he claps delightedly and digs in to his food.

"Come on," Tsubaki groaned. "Listen. Here's the interesting part. Dad didn't give up. He pursued her, and then eventually, mom fell in love with him as well, and then later on, they had you. Isn't it romantic?"

"Deshou?" Ayaka giggled. "But I can see you're not eating your vegetables there. Didn't you tell us you wanted to get taller so you could marry Mamoru-kun?" She referred to Tsubaki's ikimen idol crush.

"Moh," she picks the broccoli on her plate, disappointed, but then, Ojiro had expected this sister of his to be fast enough to find something interesting from their oldest sister to pick on. "Hey, where did you get that?" she asked, pointing to Ayaka's bracelet made of pink flowers.

Her sister snatches her arm away, hiding it behind her.

"Betsuni?" She mumbled, blushing.

"Ehhh~"  she teased, pinching her sister's side.

"Ow!"

"Did Shin-kun finally confessed?" Tsu-chan pried on.

He then proceeds to watch his sisters with so much curiosity while they are giggling excitedly, whispering to each other about boys in their school.

The time the doorbell rings, his mom answers it quickly who appears from preparing the bath, and Ojiro's innocent mind, which who is keenly observant, would take note of how his mom's face lightens up every time she greets his dad by the door, asking him about how his day went.

"Okaeri!" He and his sisters greet their dad in chorus and then position themselves in their seats.

Once their dad has settled in his seat, everyone starts eating silently with him, and his mom will attend to their dad. Opening a bottle of beer for him and refilling it when it was emptied. Their dad's tiredness from work is reflected in his gloomy face, but Ojiro is quick to notice how it changes when he converses with his mom.

The happy memories that were brought by the mysterious thing called love, Ojiro's mind as a child, as much as he remembered those times, he also witnessed his loved ones suffered because of it.

He remembered how his sister Tsubaki got brokenhearted when her idol crush, Mamoru-kun, got married. She cried and refused to go out of her room. His sister Ayaka pleaded with her to eat dinner, so to cheer her up, Ojiro helped his Ayaka-nee cook Tsu-nee's favorite food and brought it to her room.

One time, in the middle of the night, Ojiro overheard his parents arguing about something across the room. He sneaks in while clutching his plushy to hear what they are saying.

"Can't they just leave us alone? I don't want our children to go through all of this," his mom sobs.

He can see his dad wrapping his arm around her in a comforting manner, murmuring some words that would calm her down.

Ojiro might be too young for him to understand, but he knows that every time he sees his oka-san like this, it is always about their ojii-sama.

Their ojii-sama, the eldest in the Korishima family, is the most important and well-respected member. As someone who rules the family, he has all the final say in making important decisions, just like when he arranged the marriage between his parents.

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