Marriage and Compromise

The next day.

In the classroom after class and during recess, I let out a deep sigh.

“Yo, Nishinari. You look like you’re in a coma.”

“What is it~? If you need advice, we’re here to help you, remember~?”

Taisho and Asahi come over.

They always come to me when they want me to listen to them. It’s probably not a coincidence that they both come ……. Both are the mood makers of the classroom and very attentive. If they sense that someone is in distress, they may unconsciously approach them.

“Um, I’d like to ask you both, what is …… matchmaking like?”

“Eh!? Don’t tell me, Nishinari-kun, you’ve been approached about a marriage proposal!?”

“No, it’s not me, it’s just a friend of mine.”

“What a surprise. I thought I was betrayed.”

Betrayal? I tilted my head and Asahi explained.

“Nowadays, only a few big companies do matchmaking. From our social status, I guess we think of matchmaking as a “ball and chain” kind of thing.”

“Sometimes, even at our level of status, our parents will suggest that we get engaged to someone. But it’s not so formal as to be called a marriage proposal, …… and, of course, we have the right to veto it.”

Taisho adds to Asahi-san’s explanation.

Betrayal …… I was mistakenly thought to be a guy who was trying to get a reverse marriage proposal…….

“Does the marriage proposal have a veto right in the first place?”

“Depends on the family, no…… , I’d say it depends on the parents.”

Taisho said with a troubled look on his face.

“At the level of Konohana-san and the like, maybe they don’t have veto power. But such a thing is usually explained well from a very young age. ……The world is very strict these days……, so I don’t think they will do anything too forceful, you know? If the gap between parent and child is too deep, they might end up at odds over the management of the company later on.”

In Hinako’s case, because of her character, her marriage partner had not been decided.

As I was satisfied with Asahi-san’s explanation, I became convinced of one thing.

Tennoji-san can refuse …… the marriage proposal if she wants to.

But she doesn’t. Perhaps the reason for this is that Tennoji-san is adopted.

Tennoji-san wants to return the favor to the Tennoji family that raised her. For this reason, she had no intention of refusing the matchmaking proposal from the beginning. Considering the firmness of her determination, I am sure she intends to accept any offer of marriage with any partner. She has no choice but to accept it.

But is that really the right thing to do?

Is it right for me to support Tennoji-san?

–There’s no reason to do so.

I’m not going to pretend I haven’t noticed. I’ve seen it many times already.

Tennoji-san is not interested in a marriage proposal. I’ve seen that on many occasions.

When the idea of a marriage proposal came up, Tennoji-san looked gloomier than usual. When I asked her if she felt comfortable with the proposal, she replied, “I will remain silent.” I was not stupid enough to miss such an obvious sign.

“Nishinari-kun, are you all right? You look awfully uncomfortable……”

“I’m fine ……. I was just trying to figure out how to break up a marriage proposal.”

“Are you sure you’re fine!?”

Asahi-san is astonished.

“Um, I don’t know, but I don’t think you should …… do anything …… rash, okay?”

“It’s common in fiction. The kind where the heroine is about to get married reluctantly, and in order to save her, the hero gets in on the marriage proposal and steals the bride away. I’d like to do that at least once myself~……”

“If Taisho-kun did it, it would just look comical, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t underestimate me! I’m cool when I’m serious, too!”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Taisho was in a fit of rage, and Asahi just let it slide.

“The smartest solution in reality is for the two parties to talk to each other. In this day and age, the probability of a successful marriage proposal is not very high, and even the other party will take into account the possibility of rejection to some extent. If you think about it that way, the obstacle to refusal becomes lower…….”

“It’s both an advantage and a disadvantage of the information age. Instead of making it easier to find a good partner, it’s like there are always multiple candidates. Even those ones claimed to be the best, are actually the second or third choice ……, so there is little damage if they are turned down. It’s a very difficult thing to do in this age.”

“But I hear that such tactics gradually become tiresome, and before you know it, you’ll be reaching for just about anyone. ……It’s not limited to marriage proposals, but when you are faced with many candidates at once, it gradually becomes tedious to choose, and you end up reaching for the most reasonable option. Then, later on, you regret that you chosed the wrong one in the first place. Before you know it, the option of not choosing …. has disappeared from your mind.”

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean. It’s exactly the same as when I started learning to trade stocks. When you have a lot of choices, you get numb and think, ‘I’m going to compromise and make a decision’.  I think, “What’s the point?”. And then I mistake that compromised decision for a praiseworthy action and feel a certain sense of accomplishment. Only after losing a lot of money did I realize my mistake.”

“Only such people make fun of people who are prudent, saying, ‘You don’t have the ability to take action!’ Isn’t that just because they don’t want to admit to themselves that they compromised?”

“…… Stop making fun of the old me.”

Taisho looked at me with a complicated face, as if he knew what I was talking about.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Nishinari-kun. We talked about it all by ourselves.”

“No……, it was a story I wanted to share with job hunters and users of matchmaking apps.”

“Matchmacking apps….?”

“Job hunters…?”

Bourgeoisies.

It seems that when you reach the status of these two individuals, job hunting and matchmaking apps are out of the question.

“But you know~, I’ve also heard that marriage is all about compromise~?”

“I don’t want to hear that. Dreamless talk is poison for children.”

“At least half of the students at the Academy are heirs of companies before they are children.”

Asahi-san said with a wry smile to Taisho, who covered both his ears.

Before being a child, they are the heirs of a company.

Asahi-san’s words left a strong impression on me.