CH.22: EVENT 1

The next day, as usual, I look at the state of the field early in the morning and depending on the condition I take care of it, I feed the chickens and have breakfast.
And when I was trying to get ready to head to the dungeon after a little rest, mother stopped me.

“What is it, is there something?”

“I called you because there is. Okay, this.“

That said, it was a suit that was handed over.

“A suit? Are we going to a wedding somewhere?”

“Though it’s not a wedding, it’s something close to that.”

“What is that?”

“Well, wait for it. Because a person will pick you up after a while. Please change before then.”

Mom said so with a faint smile.
Somehow I have a bad feeling, but I change into the suit and wait to be picked up.
How long have I been waiting?
After I waited for a while, the car came home.
And then, the chime rings.

“Excuse me~. I came to pick you u~p.”

“Ye~s. I’m going now. Finally, you came.”

It can’t be helped.
Shall I go?

I stand up, leave the entranceway and go outside.
The district official ojisan was there. (TN: for those who doesn’t know ojisan means ‘old man’ in a friendly or sarcastic way of saying)

“Oh! Takuya-kun, you look go~od in those clothes. Well, shall we go?”

“Eh~, where are we going?”

“Eh? Don’t you know?”

“Yeah, nothing. Only that I was suddenly handed a suit and change my clothes and wait because I’ll be picked up.”

“Oh, I see~. Let’s keep it secret until we get to the destination.”

The official ojisan is grinning as he came up with a prank.
I knew that it was something bad when I look at his face.
There is no choice but to get in the car.
The official also gets in the car and we depart.
I did a little chat until we got to the destination, but he didn’t tell me where I’ll be taken and what I’ll do.
The place where the car arrived was the front of an elementary school gym.
And on the signboard in front of the gym was written ‘Omiai meeting of 〇〇 town’ (TN: for information of Omiai click here and, yeah, there is no name to the town)

“Ojisan, maybe, here?”

I ask while pointing at the signboard.
Then, the official ojisan nodded.

“That’s right. So, I organized this event as a place of meeting for young people who have not married yet, to get married and stay in this town.”

“Ah, that. It was on TV, a group omiai?”

“Yeah, that. If we don’t do that, aren’t the young people coming to this town rare?”

Certainly.
Tourists who come to a rural town where there aren’t a lot of specialties are something rare.
Most of the people coming here come together with someone who went out or either in a working relationship with them.
So, the people who return just return temporarily, also those who can work leave their family behind.
That being the case, the population is decreasing as there are more people going out to other places.

“Haa, well it’s okay. Then, I’m going home.”

I said that and turn around.
Then, the official ojisan grasped my arm in a hurry.

“Wa, wait, Takuya-kun, where are you going?”

“Where, I’m returning. At home.”

“Don’t. As a single man, participation is compulsory.”

“Haa!? What’s that!?”

“Most of the young men remaining in this town are mostly left to succeed their house. You know that, right?”

“Ah, I know. It’s the same for me.”

“So, young men have no place to meet and many are single. That said, as the number of children doesn’t increase, the population will decrease.”

Well, that’s the natural flow.

“Although I made this event to stop it, if Takuya-kun who is one of them return, it will be useless.”

“No, no, no. It won’t change anything if only I get out, right?”

“No~, it will change. Listen! Let’s say that Takuya-kun comes to this event and get out with a wonderful woman. Then, if there’s nothing wrong you can have children. That alone will cause that the population to increase by at least two people.”

“Is it only two people? That isn’t a change.”

“It’s a change. Because if you have a child, when the child becomes an adult, he will get married. Then the population will increase again. And if the grandchildren do the same, it will increase again. Look, that would increase the population quite a bit.”

“If that happens, isn’t it? It hasn’t happened, so it’s meaningless to think about that.”

“However, there is a possibility if Takuya-kun comes. If you go home, that possibility will be lost. So, you can’t return.”

Uwa~, it’s damn troublesome.
I wonder how they can meddle in the people life.
It may be a problem that the population is declining, but it’s my choice to not get married, let me decide freely whether or not to go.
Moreover, while we were talking, other officials have come, could you stop gradually surrounding me slowly to not escape?
Thanks to that, other people are coming and the enclosure is getting thicker, so it’s getting harder to escape.
It can’t be helped, I have no choice but to go.

“Okay, understood. It’s okay if I appear, right? if I appear.”

“Oh, Did you understand?”

Saying that the ojisan clapped me on the shoulder.

“Well then, please go inside and wait until your partner comes.”

The ojisan has another business so he leaves the place.
However, others officials were watching. Moreover not a few people.
After all, I can’t escape.
I unintentionally sighed.

I entered the gym while being watched by the officials.
The inside was pretty decorated and there were several tables.
Looking at that, I felt that they have put a lot of force into it.

“Oh~, Takuya. You came.”

When I was called I turned and it was Shinji, a high school classmate.
At that time I was on good terms with Shinji and have a lot of conversations about games and manga.

“What, Shinji?”

“Nothing, why?”

Shinji put his arm around my shoulder over-familiarly.

“I mean, why are you here? You were married, weren’t you?”

“Ah, that. I got divorced last year.”

“A~h, my bad.”

I didn’t know he got divorced.

“Well, don’t mind it. Because we were living apart for a long time ago. However, it was only last year that I could divorce because I couldn’t pay for reconciliation fees.”

“What happened to the child?”

“The child went with her. Thanks to that, I could come to fool around with women freely. But what it’s surprising, it’s that you have come.”

“A~h, I was fooled and was brought here.”

“Ah, I see. That makes sense. Because you told me that you were not going to marry. Is that true even now?”

“Ah, it hasn’t changed. Unless there is a good partner, right?”

“Such partner, will appear?”

“It probably won’t be possible. That’s why I’m giving up.”

“Perhaps, you can meet someone in here?”

“……Although there is a possibility, such possibility is close to zero.”

“You don’t know that? Perhaps, it can happen. So, what kind of things are good?”

“Someone who can get along.”

“Someone who can get along, that is impossible unless she understands your hobbies, right?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Such person won’t come to this place, right?”

“Well, isn’t coming right? This place is not like going to Akihabara or at one of its stores, right?”

“Right? Only an otaku can understand another otaku. I don’t think that it’s a bad hobby, you know?”

“A normal woman thinks that being an otaku is gross.”

“There are people who don’t have a prejudice in such a thing but it’s a small number.”

“It’s very rare to meet such a person.”

“You are better than an otaku. I think that it’s okay to not think that you are gross because you don’t collect figures or posters.”

“For these people, it’s the same. An otaku is totally gross.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s so.”

When we’re having such conversation, a large bus arrived in front of the gym.

“Oh? Apparently, it seems like they came.”

“Looks like it.”

Women descended in succession from the large bus.
The group omiai begins.
Honestly, I’m not interested, but I’m going to go along until it’s over.