One week later, at the Yukinoshita Residence.
"Mo-mother, he... he seemed a bit suspicious of me..." Flat-nee-san's face was slightly flushed after returning from her 'date' with Lott, barely managing to squeeze out the words.
Her mother had indeed used her account to send Lott a private message and successfully arranged a meal.
However, regarding Lott's questions about her, Flat-nee-san was practically clueless.
At first, Lott thought Yukinoshita Yukino was just nervous meeting him in person and would open up. But as the conversation went on, he found it strange. Because they had discussed some topics during their chats before, so why was she hesitating and unable to answer now?
"Didn't I tell you to memorize my chat history with him? How could you still make mistakes?" Mrs. Yukinoshita said, frustrated that her daughter didn't meet her expectations.
Yukinoshita Yukino wanted to say something more, but her mother cut her off preemptively.
"Alright, go back to your room. I'll think of something." Mrs. Yukinoshita indicated she didn't want to hear excuses, as she'd probably die of anger if she heard anything.
Seeing her mother's utterly disappointed expression again after so many years, Yukinoshita Yukino opened her mouth several times.
In the end, she couldn't come up with anything substantial. She sheepishly returned to her room on the second floor to emo.
After thinking for a long time, Mrs. Yukinoshita finally gritted her teeth, returned to her room, took a key from the drawer, and inserted it into the slightly rusty keyhole of a wardrobe.
She opened the innermost drawer. Inside was... the Shuchi'in Academy uniform from Lott's generation years ago. The one Yukinoshita Yukino wore in high school.
Although dissatisfied with her second daughter in many aspects, she was still flesh coming out of her body. How could Mrs. Yukinoshita not have feelings for her? She had carefully kept all the clothes her daughter had worn since childhood. But she never imagined she would take them out for this purpose.
Ten minutes later, looking at her reflection in the mirror with her hair down and a bit of makeup applied, Mrs. Yukinoshita nodded in satisfaction. It's just... Looking down at her exposed navel, a flash of embarrassment crossed Mrs. Yukinoshita's face.
It wasn't because the clothes had shrunk or anything. It was purely because a certain part of her was much more ample than her younger daughter's, pushing the collar up.
'Should I order a new one?' Mrs. Yukinoshita had just entertained the thought but immediately rejected it in her heart, 'No, Lott might notice.'
Thinking this, Mrs. Yukinoshita took out bandages from the first aid kit, 'Wrap! Wrap it tightly!'
…
During dinner that night, Mrs. Yukinoshita, who had changed back into her everyday kimono attire, said abruptly:
"Yukino, bring up your account. I'll arrange to meet him again."
"Mother, I... I can't do it..." Flat-nee-san's morale had been completely shattered.
"It's just sending messages. You don't have to go after arranging the meeting. I have another plan." Mrs. Yukinoshita's tone still carried the authoritative air of the head of the household.
Hearing this, Yukinoshita Yukino could only obediently pull up the chat interface. Although she was curious about why her mother wanted to arrange a meeting but didn't need her to attend, feeling Mrs. Yukinoshita's long-absent forceful presence and under the bloodline suppression, she didn't dare ask more.
"Mother, have you... lost weight?" Yukinoshita Haruno, sitting on the other side of the table, spotted the key point.
A flicker of unnaturalness passed over Mrs. Yukinoshita's face.
"From being angry with you two!" She said harshly.
The two daughters looked ashamed and quickly lowered their heads, not daring to say another word.
…
At home, Bulma was knitting a sweater for Trunks, who wasn't due for another six months. However, her knitting was a complete mess, even worse than what Ogerpon was knitting beside her.
Lott suddenly received a message. Seeing the content, his eyebrow twitched involuntarily.
Although he had seen too many people in his previous life who were timid in reality but bold online, the university version of Yukinoshita Yukino had given him too many doubts today. Her personality just didn't match up with how she was during their chats at all. Though the reason she gave in the message that she was just too nervous today.
Lott hesitated for two seconds but still agreed. After all, during Bulma's pregnancy, she had given him quite a few practical suggestions.
"Bulma, I'm going out tomorrow."
…
The next day, Lott arrived at the agreed-upon location, a small restaurant with a rustic feel in X-City. The head chef, also the only cook, was a young woman with an introverted personality who wasn't good at communicating with people, named 'Tadokoro Megumi'.
"Long time no see, Megumi." Lott raised a hand in greeting.
"L-long time no see, Lott-san." It was hard to imagine that this young woman with a socially awkward look had also once been one of Totsuki Academy's Elite Ten.
According to Tadokoro Megumi, she didn't want to interact too much with customers, which is why she opened this inconspicuous restaurant in a remote part of X-City.
After greeting Tadokoro Megumi, Lott turned his gaze and saw 'Yukinoshita Yukino' sitting in the corner.
"Why the face mask? Do you have a cold?" Lott walked over and sat next to her.
"Mm, a... a little bit..." 'Yukinoshita Yukino' lowered her head, her voice slightly hoarse.
She had no choice! Her daughter's long black hair could be imitated by taking out the hairpin. Her figure could be imitated by wrapping bandages. But her voice was more difficult, so as a last resort, she had to use this trick.
"Is that so... Oh, by the way, recently, that kid Trunks still has over half a year before he's born, but Genos and the others are already making arrangements for his birth celebration. Although I don't believe in son better than daughters, I'm a bit worried the kid might become arrogant after being showered with all that affection from birth. Do you have any methods?" While waiting for the food, Lott initiated a topic.
Frankly speaking, Lott preferred the mature, steady, and non-reckless personality of Future Trunks from the original work.
Well, although Lott himself was quite reckless, he also knew it would be difficult for Trunks to develop that kind of personality.
After all, the Future Trunks from the original work became the only non-reckless Saiyan precisely because he had lost everything.
He couldn't just cosplay as the androids from the future timeline and kill off the entire main cast for that, could he? Wait, wasn't he considered part of the main cast? So should he kill himself?
'Yukinoshita Yukino' thought for a moment and replied, "How about instilling an appropriate sense of crisis? Like how my Yukino..."
"Hmm?" Lott's brow twitched slightly.
'Yukinoshita Yukino' quickly corrected herself, "Like how, after my father passed away, I also learned that the world can be cruel. I think you could create some difficulties for Trunks to solve on his own in the future."
"Oh~ That's actually a pretty good idea." Lott nodded.
After chatting for a while, Lott found that the intellectual and elegant Yukinoshita Yukino from the online chats had returned, 'Is it just as she said, that she just too nervous yesterday?'
Seeing the appreciative smiles that occasionally appeared on Lott's face, Mrs. Yukinoshita chuckled inwardly, 'Good, good. As long as we continued dating like this a few more times, waiting until Lott's favorability towards Yukino reached 60 points... At that time, I just needed to find an excuse to go to the restroom, then call Yukino over to hand off the baton, and the two could go to a hotel together in the evening. Perfect!'
But speaking of going to the restroom, Mrs. Yukinoshita was actually starting to feel the need...
"Excuse me, Lott-kun, I need to use the restroom."
…
"Phew..." Five minutes later, having put on the skirt she hadn't worn for at least ten years, Mrs. Yukinoshita took off her mask in front of the mirror to touch up her makeup. After all, she was also forty now and didn't have a bug item like Pure Gold like Bulma.
Although very little, time had still left some traces on her.
Just then, a voice sounded from behind:
"Shino, are you finally going to cuckold your husband?"