Husband and Wife Passes by each other

Husband and wife pass by each other. ~ Depressed ordinary husband and encouraging superhuman wife ~ 

Author: Miruru

While listening to the sound flowing from the TV, Takashi was ironing a shirt for his wife, Kasumi.

Not exactly a stay-at-home husband.

Takashi had diligently studied since his student days, entered university without retaking exams, and smoothly worked for a well-known company without any issues.

Thanks to his efforts, his annual income reached around six million yen in his twenties, and now at thirty-two, he's aiming to surpass eight million yen. He even considers himself quite successful among his peers.

With his wife, Kasumi, and daughter, Akari, Takashi should be living happily with his precious family. However, recently, Takashi felt a shadow cast over that happiness.

"Recently, the progress of women in society is remarkable, isn't it?"

On a talk show, a balding man of uncertain expertise was speaking with a wide-open mouth.

Takashi glanced at the TV and carefully moved the iron to prevent wrinkles on the shirt.

Household chores were Takashi's responsibility. While they were living together, household tasks were evenly divided, but after marriage and having a child, the balance gradually shifted towards Takashi. Now he handles nearly all household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry.

The reason is simple: Kasumi earns more. While there wasn't a specific request from her, from the day Takashi learned his wife's income exceeded his own, he gradually took on more household responsibilities.

Otherwise, he couldn't feel settled.

Kasumi is a good person. Since their time as lovers, she never demanded brand-name bags or made him pay for meals. Yet, she's not the domineering type that treats men as enemies; she always respects him.

She's too good for him.

Too good for him. Takashi has been thinking about this phrase, once a joke, quite often lately.

Is he really suitable as Kasumi's husband and Akari's father?

Kasumi's income keeps rising.

Kasumi works as a product planner for a cosmetics company.

When she joined, the company was small. However, thanks to the success of new cosmetics she planned, it grew rapidly and became a well-known entity in the industry.

Having played a significant role in the company's growth, she was promoted to an executive position and now handles responsibilities that contribute to the company's future, despite her young age.

Takashi thinks they're worlds apart. While he has a position in a large company, his promotion was straightforward: he listens to his superiors. His early promotion meant he wouldn't climb any higher.

In other words, he'll remain a section chief. Takashi's income won't rise significantly from here.

Takashi folded the shirt he had finished ironing. With their daughter growing older and no longer crying at night, he had time to do household chores leisurely in the late hours. Thanks to this, the chores he tackled on weekends were mainly just ironing. However, the slow flow of time was gradually wearing down Takashi.

Right after Akari was born, Takashi took paternity leave. He did so to support Kasumi's return to work. While not entirely unplanned, Kasumi unexpectedly became pregnant with Akari, and during her hospitalization, she often spoke about work. Takashi understood her passion for her job, so he didn't have any complaints about taking paternity leave.

And Akari was cute. Though she cried easily, had frequent accidents, and her thoughts were a mystery, her occasional smiles, round eyes, and voiceless giggles were a heartwarming kind of cuteness that Takashi adored.

Kasumi wasn't uncooperative when it came to parenting either. On the contrary, she was utterly smitten with Akari.

The three of them should have been functioning well as a family.

Takashi finished folding the shirt and put it in the dresser before changing the TV channel. The opinions of those unclear experts on the TV weren't worth listening to.

Recently, Akari started attending elementary school. This made some tasks increase, but with no need to assist with meals or bathroom visits anymore, Takashi's life became much easier. Balancing work and household chores no longer felt burdensome.

Because of that, he ended up thinking about mundane things.

Takashi never really had much self-confidence to begin with. He wasn't the type to be loud in class or cause a ruckus. Other than Kasumi, he had never been liked by other women.

When Kasumi, his university classmate, confessed her feelings, he thought it might be a mistake.

His lack of confidence persisted for a while after they started dating, until Kasumi invited him to spend the night. Looking back, the fact that he let her take the lead is quite embarrassing.

Takashi was always conscious of his sweaty body odor. Ever since high school, when girls in his class said he smelled bad, he had been avoiding others, especially women.

Because of this, he didn't even hold hands with his girlfriend. However, Kasumi, growing impatient, eventually made the first move.

Since then, he gained a bit more confidence. Knowing that someone would accept him even as he is made him somewhat more positive.

Now, that confidence is crumbling once again.

Going to work, doing tasks that anyone could do, coming home, and handling household chores at a basic level. There were many younger, more skilled junior employees at the company, and even in cooking, Kasumi's skills surpassed his.

Is he really needed?

Certainly, if he were to disappear now, their life would fall apart. But with Kasumi and Akari, who share her blood, they would likely rebuild their life quickly.

In fact, their life might become even richer. Despite being busy, Kasumi could cook delicious meals and express her love, and Akari could help with chores. Imagining a relationship without impurities like himself unsettled him due to its beauty.

Takashi could only see himself as a replaceable and inferior product.

Kasumi was worried about Takashi.

After finishing work and loading her belongings onto the passenger seat, she sighed while driving home. Was he worried about his income? True, when Kasumi's income exceeded Takashi's, he clearly expressed frustration. But while he did seem frustrated, he didn't have that hollow look about him. Kasumi liked that he didn't conceal such negative emotions. She liked being with him because he never pretended to be something he's not and didn't show off.

Kasumi and Takashi met during their university days.

The moment she noticed him was when she attended a lecture for the fun of it after her grades were finalized and attendance was no longer mandatory. He was sitting at the front, engaged in lively conversation with the professor.

With the same faculty and department, they occasionally exchanged messages on their messaging app, and although unlike other guys who would usually approach her, he never sent unnecessary messages. For some reason, that intrigued her.

From then on, she invited him on dates, spent time together at various places like restaurants, movies, aquariums, and shopping, and gradually fell in love with him.

Takashi wasn't exactly confident; in fact, he lacked confidence to a certain extent. However, he was even kinder to others.

Inviting him on dates, confessing her feelings, and engaging in intimacy were all initiated by her, but it didn't matter.

Kasumi loved Takashi for respecting and accepting her.

While both were job hunting, Kasumi had consulted Takashi. She felt uncertain about joining a stable company; she wasn't sure if she should really start there or if a bigger company would be better. She remembers talking about something along those lines. It was probably more like a venting session.

He listened without interruption until the end and said to her with a soft smile, "I don't know which is better, but I want to support what you want to do." Instead of advising from above, he always stood by her side and gave his opinion.

Kasumi believes that Takashi's words from that time played a part in making her who she is now.

When their child was born and even after childbirth, he always put himself last and prioritized Kasumi and Akari.

Hearing colleagues and seniors at work talk badly about their husbands, and hearing them envy Takashi, always made Kasumi feel proud.

Kasumi respected Takashi. She felt his value as a person couldn't be measured by just his income, and she loved him.

In terms of his professional life, Takashi was also outstanding. He quickly adapted to the company and even reached the position of section chief after joining a big corporation due to a lack of personal ambition. Now that she's an executive herself, she realizes that people like Takashi, who don't engage in boss's outings, quickly rise in their careers because they are truly trusted.

Takashi would modestly say he's stuck at the section chief level, but Kasumi was well aware of how challenging it is to advance quickly in a strict hierarchy at a large corporation. She sometimes interacts with higher-ups at big companies as part of her job, and she knows they are often rigid. She respected Takashi for surviving in such an environment.

Because of that, she had been worrying about Takashi lately, particularly his mental state.

After Akari was born and they both finished their parental leaves, she was concerned about him. While she had the intention to help out, she ended up relying heavily on Takashi as he greeted her with a tidy room, warm food, their adorable child, and his loving presence when she returned home from work. Kasumi noticed that while she was grappling with her own dilemmas, Takashi began perfectly balancing work and household tasks. Akari had grown, so she required less attention than when she was a baby, but Takashi's adaptability was remarkable.

Seeing him promptly tackle household chores after coming home from work without lazing around made Kasumi fall for him all over again.

Lately, she had noticed he was spending more time watching TV leisurely when she got home, which was comforting.

The anomaly occurred last week.

That day, just like always, she said, "I'm home," but there was no response. Even if Akari was sleeping at that time, the lack of response from Takashi was odd.

When she went to the living room, she saw Takashi staring at the TV screen with empty eyes, flipping through channels.

Since they started dating until now, it was the first time Kasumi saw Takashi in such a state.

From that day on, when she paid closer attention to Takashi, she noticed that various things were gradually becoming odd.

Firstly, he stopped talking about himself. Takashi had never been one to talk much about himself, but he had never been this resolute in avoiding the topic.

And, just like when they first started dating, she noticed he was concerned about his body odor.

It was a complex he felt deeply, but since meeting him, Kasumi had never once thought he smelled bad. While Takashi did sweat a bit, the scent of his sweat was actually pleasant, and Kasumi liked being embraced by his larger frame.

The first time Kasumi initiated something intimate at night, Takashi hesitated and touched her gently. Even though she asked to be held and kissed, he didn't respond.

When she asked for a reason, he said, "I'm dirty. And I smell. I don't want to taint you."

Kasumi was infuriated.

He is a humble and kind person who continues to worry about his body odor. The word "smell" that he heard from others must have been bothering him for a long time.

Kasumi repeated over and over, "You're not smelly, you're not dirty, I love you." Each time she whispered those words, her heart raced as she saw Takashi respond with a ticklish yet happy smile. As she kept whispering, she remembered Takashi gradually starting to comply with her requests.

It made her feel like she had lifted a curse off him, and that made her happy.

Even after marriage and after Akari was born, she believed that Takashi hugging her was a sign of trust.

Because of this, it was a shock for Kasumi when Takashi began worrying about his body odor again. Had someone said something to him at work?

Come to think of it, she had never heard Takashi complain. As mentioned before, he wasn't much of a talker about himself, but he had a tendency to attribute any bad situation to himself.

Surely, he was blaming himself. There had been a similar instance before.

Kasumi was beautiful, and with men constantly hitting on her, when she started dating the quiet Takashi, people around them were surprised and said various things like it didn't match or was unexpected.

If even Kasumi felt that way, Takashi must have received harsher words. There was even a time when he brought up a breakup.

"I can't become the kind of man worthy of you," Takashi had said back then.

Kasumi was furious at his presumptuous words. When she cried and shouted, "I fell in love with you because you were worthy! Not the other way around!" Takashi looked stunned, and the situation escalated further.

Kasumi now believed that she should have been clearer at that time. Takashi was an irreplaceable presence to her.

How many husbands out there perfectly handled both household chores and parenting, had a stable job, and listened to their wife and daughter's stories with a smile? The car they were in was much bigger and fancier than the one Takashi drove.

When they discussed buying a car together, Takashi had said, "Since a talented beauty executive will be riding it," and they ended up getting a much better car than Kasumi had expected. She needed him to realize just how wonderful it was to have a husband who said she looked good in a car that she wouldn't normally drive.

Kasumi gripped the steering wheel with determination. Although it would take a little longer to get home, the mixture of loving anger towards her oblivious husband was burning within Kasumi.

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