Gimai Seikatsu

The sky was grey, my breath white, and the cold air blowing against my cheek hurt ever so lightly. At around 6 am, the sky to the east began to light up ever so faintly, but it was still pretty much dark out. When we have to get up and leave this early, it becomes pretty clear that Tokyo and Nagano are quite a distance apart from each other. You could reach the tourist spot Karuizawa with the bullet train, but since my old man’s family lives fairly deep in the mountains, that’s not gonna work.

We’ll only be there for two nights, but preparing everything was still a hasty mess. We all went around the house checking for what we needed, what we needed to buy, and what we wouldn’t need. It’s honestly been a while since I’ve experienced this much stress. In fact, the last time was probably when Ayase-san and Akiko-san moved here. Back then we moved together like a flock of birds moving everything inside the house.

In contrast to that, we’re now actually acting like a family, preparing to head out for what could be considered a vacation, and I didn’t dislike this feeling. The one who seemed the most nervous out of all of us was Akiko-san. These two haven’t held a marriage ceremony yet. In other words, this is the first time she’ll meet my old man’s relatives. Though she’s met my grandparents at least. I think they had a meal together.

In order to get married, an adult man and woman only need each other’s consent, and the family can’t go against their decision from a legal standpoint. Even if they were against Akiko-san being my old man’s wife, there’s no reason to worry. At least, again, legally and on the surface. However, reality is always cruel and realistic. Plus, unlike random acquaintances, it’s hard to completely cut your relatives off from your life. If they hate you, it eats away at your mental state. Whether that’s a grandmother, cousin, or parent.

…Or even your step-sister. Even if you hold genuine dislike towards the other person, you’ll regularly run into them, so it’s hard to avoid each other. And since Akiko-san pretty much was fighting a long-distance battle, she didn’t hold back when it came to thorough preparation. The fight had already begun. And she’d be fighting the enemy on their home turf.

We packed everything necessary into a bag, which included drinks, snacks, a change of clothes, toiletries, and a wallet—Basically regular traveling equipment, but the most important thing was souvenirs for the family, after all. These we hadn’t forgotten. Three boxes of wrapped snacks for the three families were all stored away in the trunk of the car.

Akiko-san glanced down at the checklist in her hand, making sure we had packed everything. Part of that was New Year’s presents for the younger children. She even had their names written down with the corresponding amount. This is probably thanks to her experience serving customers as a bartender. She must have asked for all the names of these children from my old man. Once again, she’s displaying perfectly adult behavior and what is expected from an adult. Being mindful of your surroundings lets you get off without major problems, and you don’t lose out on much. It’s the way of the adult, I guess.

When I imagine myself getting married, and realize that the same thing will be expected of me, I can already feel my head hurting. And it gives me stomachaches. I do like my cousins, but that doesn’t change the fact that all this extra work sounds like a pain. Can you just have these sorts of important social gatherings and events on social networks instead? But even as my thoughts drifted around, my hands kept moving.

Then again, most of my belongings easily fit into a sports bag. I don’t need to change that often, and the only thing I can’t forget is my school homework. When I was younger, I’d usually take like three or four copies of books with me, but now I can just save them on my phone. Sometimes the progress of technology isn’t so bad.