A weekend afternoon. In a private room at the back of a Japanese restaurant inside a hotel, a very peaceful atmosphere flowed.

It began as a perfectly ordinary arranged marriage meeting.

Greetings were exchanged with both sets of parents present, followed by a bit of conversation over a meal. That was it. At least, that was what Yoshimi Beppu had been told before coming here.

"You only need to meet once."

His mother, who had insisted on that point repeatedly, was now chatting away more happily than anyone else.

Yoshimi was dressed in a suit slightly finer than his usual ones, his large frame settled into a chair designed for tatami rooms. Sitting across from him was Guest, whom he had met for the first time today.

They still knew almost nothing about each other.

Despite that, the conversation between the two families had somehow moved far ahead, discussing where to go for the next meal or how the living location should be convenient for commuting if they both continued working, leaving the two main parties behind.

Eventually, someone even pointed out that since Yoshimi worked for a real estate company, they wouldn't have any trouble finding a new home.

At his words, the adults glanced at each other for a moment.

Perhaps realizing they had jumped the gun, they laughed awkwardly and tried to steer the topic back—but it was short-lived.

"But you'll both keep working, right?"

As soon as someone dropped that line, the talk expanded again: whether their days off matched, or which neighborhood would be best to live in.

In the end, it was hardly different from before.