• It’s the POV of the ex-fiancé from the original world, right after Mia was transmigrated to another world.

In front of her sister Arisa and her former-fiancée, Makiru, Mia suddenly collapsed and vanished into thin air.

At first, the two mocked her, thinking she was being a drama queen. But even for the ignorant couple, seeing a person disappear right in front of their eyes was shocking.

“What’s going on? How did my sister disappear…?”

“W-what’s this? Some kind of magic trick? But why would she…”

“Huh? Is this a TV prank…?”

Suddenly, the two became worried that someone had been watching them. They searched the house for hidden cameras, but there were none. At the same time, no matter how long they waited, Mia didn’t return. However, this incomprehensible situation only made them angry rather than worried.

“What’s with her?! Does she think this is funny?!”

“She’d go to such lengths to harass us… She’s trying to make things difficult for us… Big Sis is so mean…”

“Don’t worry about it, Arisa! It means the nuisance is gone, so it’s a relief!”

“I guess that’s true…”

They rejoiced at first, but the days that followed were like hell.

Originally, Mia was taking care of Arisa, her children, and their parents. Without Mia, there was no one to cook, do the laundry, or clean. As such, the house was a total mess. When the children cried, there was no one to soothe them.

Since Arisa begged, “I’m sad because Mia said such mean things to me, so can’t you stay…?” Makiru happily stayed over at the Aoba house. However, unable to bear the mess the house was in, he finally told Arisa.

“Hey, the kids are crying. Can’t you do something about that?”

“But I’m not feeling well… I’m weak, you know that, right, Maki…?” Arisa said tearfully.

Makiru couldn’t complain anymore, lest he became the bad guy.

With no other choice, Makiru decided to try to soothe the kids himself. However, they would continue to cry when held them and refuse to eat when he fed them. Nothing seemed to work, and he soon found himself at a loss.

“Hey, Arisa… Are things really going to get better? Also, why are you on your smartphone? Aren’t you supposed to be sick?”

“Are you… doubting me…? Even though I’m suffering so much…”

“I-I-I get it, I get it!”

In the end, they got by through buying fast food, but that was it. No one did the cleaning or laundry. Even though both Arisa and Makiru were capable adults, they thought, “Why should I do it?” After all, all that time it had been Mia’s job.

With each passing day, there was less room to walk on the floor. Not only were they running out of clothes, trash was also piling up. Despite that, no one did the housework properly, so they were forced to live an unpleasant life as a result.

Makiru tried to go back to the apartment where he lived alone, but Arisa stopped him.

“How terrible… Are you abandoning us? Makiru, you said you’d be their father…. Please, there’s no one else I can rely on but you…”

Arisa wouldn’t let him go. After all, to her, Makiru was the sacrifice that’d take care of her in Mia’s place from now on. As if she’d let him go that easily.

Arisa’s parents, unable to bear it any longer, decided to take care of the children. They didn’t have the heart to neglect them. However, Arisa pretended not to notice until the very end.

Then, one day, after work, Makiru went out drinking with some coworkers.

“Uwakishi, you seem down lately. Did something happen?”

“Well, actually… My fiancée disappeared.”

Arisa was cuter and more delicate, so I wanted to protect her… Even if she complained, Mia always did the housework, so it was convenient… I wish she’d come home already. But seriously, where did she go…?

Makiru redirected the resentment of having to take care of Arisa and the children at Mia. He blamed her for disappearing on her own.

“Disappeared? Moved out or something?”

“Uwakishi, were you living with your fiancée?”

“Uhm, well… something like that.”

Of course, he couldn’t tell them that she disappeared into thin air, so he made up a suitable excuse.

“Mia… uh, her sister has three children. With her leaving, they’ve been being neglected and the house is in shambles… Honestly, it’s so frustrating, especially since there’s no one to do the housework.”

“What? But childcare and housework… what do they have to do with your fiancée and her sister?”

“Her sister, Arisa, is in poor health… So, Mia, being the eldest, has always taken care of the children in her place. I mean, they’re family, so it’s only natural. And yet, Mia had the gall to disappear and leave behind those children and her sickly parents! Just how heartless is she?!”

The moment Makiru spoke with a beer in hand, his surroundings became quiet all at once.

“Eh? Huh? What? What’s wrong? Did my terrible girlfriend put you off?”

“No, I’m put off by you…”

“Huh?!”

Maki fully believed that people would sympathize with him and say, “What’s with her?! Such a terrible girlfriend!” But now, everyone was looking at him with disdain, making him extremely flustered.

“I mean, those children weren’t even hers… Raising them on her own must’ve been difficult.”

“She also had to take care of her parents? Isn’t that too harsh? Of course she’d want to run away! Calling her heartless and all that… Are you being serious right now?”

“What… really? But don’t women usually do housework and raise children?”

“You… in this day and age, that’s just outrageous!”

“But families should help each other out, right? Arisa is frail, while Mia is the eldest daughter, so it’s only natural that she’d help Arisa when she’s in trouble.”

Makiru’s mother was the type of parent who doted on her son and spoiled him. Growing up, his mother would always say, “Makiru, you don’t need to do housework,” and, “Once you grow up, you should get married and let your wife do all the housework.” As a result, he grew up with the mindset that housework and child-rearing were women’s work.

“Helping those who’re weak or in trouble is only natural!”

“By that logic, you should’ve done housework and helped her take care of the kids. She must’ve been in trouble.”

“I’d do it if I could, but housework is a woman’s role. It’s not like I didn’t do anything, either. I played with the kids, too, from time to time.”

“But playing with them isn’t the same as taking care of them. Did you feed or put them to bed?”

“I-I did! After Mia left, there was no one to take care of them, so I had to do it…”

“Then, you understand how rough Mia had it, don’t you?”

“That’s…”

…Indeed. Mia had been doing such hard work for years… for years!

Meanwhile, Makiru was fed up and wanted to give up after only a few days. He realized that Mia wouldn’t have gone out drinking like this. Instead, she quietly did the housework and childcare for everyone.

“Uwakishi, let me tell you this, nowadays if you think of child-rearing as ‘helping out,’ you’ll get in trouble.”

“B-but it’s not like they’re my children…”

Despite saying arrogant things to Mia like, “The kids need a father,” and “The kids are so pitiful,” to the point of planning to marry Arisa, Makiru said such a thing without a second thought.

“The same goes for Mia, right?”

“Uwakishi, as her fiancé, did you ever think about protecting or helping Mia?”

“Well, like I said, Mia is Arisa’s older sister, and it’s only natural for families to help each other…”

“You keep saying that, but did her younger sister ever help her? Hasn’t it always been one-sided?”

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