I Was Sleep-Deprived at a Matchmaking Meeting and Ended Up Engaged - Chapter 1

“My friend begged me so persistently that I set up this meeting, but then the girl suddenly got a boyfriend. You go in my place—do this for my sake. Just nod along and eat something delicious. I’ll even buy you clothes,” my pushy aunt Hanami said. With my sleep-deprived brain, Ayato could only reply, “Haaah…”

On the appointed day, still in a daze, Ayato went to the designated place wearing the clothes Hanami had bought him. Work and personal life had been ultra-hard around that time, after all.

“I already told them ‘Leave it to me!’ I can’t back out now and say I couldn’t find anyone. This is someone I’m indebted to. Besides, you’re always just working anyway—you don’t even have a girlfriend. Just go to this meeting for me. All you have to do is make some small talk and eat good food,” his cousin Kai said. Because of that, Yoshinori went to the arranged meeting. He’d been busy around that time anyway, and thought it’d be more troublesome to keep arguing. Well, it seemed like all he had to do was show up. Yeah, just show up, Yoshinori thought with his foggy brain.

Little did they know they’d soon come to regret going while sleep-deprived.

At a hotel’s first floor. The meeting place was a private room with large windows overlooking a long-established traditional restaurant. As elegantly prepared dishes were brought out one by one, Ayato stared at the shrimp wrapped in something on his plate, running simulation after simulation in his head about how to work more efficiently later.

“Ayato, isn’t this nice? I had high hopes when I heard it was Kai’s cousin. He’s really wonderful.”

“Yes, it’s delicious.”

“Yoshinori, she’s incredibly beautiful, right? Exactly your type.”

“Really, it’s delicious.”

Their mismatched responses somehow matched perfectly. Ayato’s aunt Hanami and Yoshinori’s cousin Kai smiled at each other, thinking the two were so focused on each other they weren’t even processing their words.

“Well then, we’ll leave you young people to it.” Kai glanced at Hanami as if to say, “Right?”

“Of course. Though Kai, you’re still young too!”

Catching up about work recently, the two of them left. Suddenly quiet, Ayato felt his mind clear for a moment. He looked outside—a beautiful garden with a red drum bridge came into view. Soul-cleansing. Though in that brief moment of clarity, he should have been looking at his partner’s face, not the drum bridge. Well, when you’re sleepy, your judgment tends to lack.

What little rationality and intelligence remained in Ayato’s sleep-deprived state was entirely devoted to work, even faced with delicious food and a handsome meeting partner.

“I’m glad Ayato seems pleased too. Their family background is good, after all. Sis, you should get a new formal kimono,” Hanami said, already planning the wedding. Listening to this, Ayato told his mother and Hanami in the living room, “I’ll take a quick nap then head back to the office,” and returned to the second floor.

“Kids these days are so detached. Even with her marriage practically decided, she acts like it’s someone else’s business,” Hanami’s voice followed. Whose marriage is being decided? Ayato wondered as he dove into the fluffy bed.

“Otsukare-samanser!”

“…What, did I time travel just now?” His colleague Midori Yasui looked alarmed.” What era is that gag from?

“I heard it’s making a comeback recently,” Ayato said, poking Midori’s hair.

“Looking at your classic hairstyle makes me feel like I time traveled,” he added. Midori had recently been into Taisho Romantic and Showa retro styles, wearing her hair in an old-fashioned radio roll—twisting braided sections around her ears.

“What, doesn’t it suit me?” The petite Midori glared up at him intimidatingly.

“No, surprisingly it goes well with your suit and looks cute. How do you even do this?” As Ayato examined her hair up close, another colleague, Yuya, arrived.”

“Otsukare-samanser!”

“Time travel again.” Midori muttered.

Yuya was the athletic type, but they got along fairly well. Back in school, Ayato thought he could never relate to sports club guys no matter how handsome, and apparently they felt the same. Maybe they’d both broadened their perspectives as adults. He could actually talk comfortably with this typical athletic handsome guy. Probably because they shared common topics like work and drinking.

When he’d mentioned this to Midori and others before, they’d said, “Why lump them together as ‘athletic handsome guys’? Do they not have human rights?”

“Ayato, you’ve finished your work for now, right? Want to grab drinks with everyone today?”

“Ah, yeah. Let’s do that.” He could use more sleep, but drinking with everyone was a good change of pace.

While planning the drinking party, something caught the corner of his eye. A somewhat intense-looking handsome guy in a dark suit talking with the department head next door. His features were too perfectly arranged, giving a pressuring impression. For some reason, a red drum bridge appeared behind him.

Yoshinori had come to a client company. In the hallway ahead, he noticed a group of men and women clustered together. A tall, model-proportioned beauty caught his eye—a well-defined face with soft, long black hair. Her eyes looked intelligent yet somehow gave a cute impression. For some reason, a shrimp wrapped in something floated in his vision before her.

The two stared at each other.

“Um, could it be, you are…?”

“Could it be, you’re…?”

Beside Ayato, Yuya muttered, “What’s with these two? Long-lost siblings?”