When I started Suspecting my Wife of Cheating, I Somehow Ended up Living in the Middle of Nowhere - Episode 4

After reconfirming my relationship with my daughters, I came to the conclusion that things between me and them weren’t actually that bad. …Or at least, I decided to believe that. In the end, I didn’t get to eat cake with my younger daughter, Chieri—but she’s still willing to talk to me, and she’s a teenager, so it’s fine. Let’s just go with that.

Next, I started thinking about gathering evidence of my wife’s affair.

“Hey, Dad, are you heading out?”

It was my older daughter, Tomoko, asking.

“Ah… yeah. Just running some errands.”

There’s no way I could tell her, “I’m going to collect evidence of your mom’s affair.”

“You going to the home center?”

“Huh? Well, yeah, I was thinking of stopping by.”

“Yay! I’ll come too!”

Going to the home center with my daughter isn’t that rare. I never paid too much attention to what we bought there, but I don’t recall ever spending a lot. Maybe she picks up some cosmetics or something while we’re there. I usually pay for them out of my allowance, but if it’s something she wants, I don’t mind.

“You guys going out?”

My younger daughter came out of her room. As her dad, this was my chance to redeem myself for the failed cake mission.

“Chieri, want to come too?”

“Ehh…”

She didn’t seem very enthusiastic. Understandable—it’s that age when you don’t really want to hang out with your dad. I get it. I’m not the type to force her, anyway.

“I’m going to check out some brands. You coming, Chieri?”

“Brands? Then yeah, I’m coming!”

So, apparently, both my daughters were coming. But I’m not here to look at brand-name stuff!?

First, I took care of my own errand at the post office. Then, as promised, we went to the home center.

I knew what I needed today, so my shopping was done quickly. Afterward, I met up with my daughters again—Tomoko had said she had something she wanted.

“What were you looking for, Tomoko?”

“Oh, Dad. I’m just browsing today.”

Tomoko and Chieri were in the handheld vacuum section.

A whole wall of vacuums lay before us.

“You wanted a vacuum? Ours is broken?”

“No, it’s for cleaning my room. I want a handheld one…”

Apparently, she wanted it for her own room. What a responsible kid.

“Tomoko, what about the brands!?”

Chieri seemed eager to check out brand-name stuff. But wait… do home centers even sell that kind of thing?

“Chieri, look! Makita, Ryobi… Iris Ohyama is affordable and attractive toooo~”

Her eyes were sparkling. Turns out, the “brands” she meant were tool manufacturers.

She wanted to check out vacuum brands and dust collectors. Yep—she’s a tool nerd.

“Wait… THIS is what you meant by brands!? Not bags and stuff!? You tricked me!”

Chieri’s into fashion brands, so being shown tools wasn’t exactly thrilling.

“Oh! Dad! They’re doing a live demo of the Karcher pressure washer! Can I try it!? Looks like they have a low-noise version!”

“Ah, okay… but don’t go too crazy. Chieri’s with us too.”

“Got it♪”

Tomoko loves tool brands. When I once asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she answered “a laser level.” What on earth would she use that for in daily life!?

“Dad, while she’s busy with the tools again, I’ll be in the cleaning supplies aisle.”

Chieri doesn’t hate cleaning itself. She just realized she was tricked into coming to the home center, sighed, and went off to browse detergents.

In the end, we stayed at the home center for three hours until Tomoko was satisfied. She thoroughly enjoyed the pressure washer demo and also checked out laser levels.

There was a deal on cheap scrap wood, so I borrowed a circular saw and made a simple step stool. I drew the plans by hand, and Tomoko helped me out.

Chieri looked a bit bored during that time, but she did point out something useful: without rubber feet, a wooden stool would slide on our kitchen’s flooring. That was good insight.

My real goal for the day was the third stop—the supermarket, to see my wife at work.

There are several supermarkets nearby, but we stopped by the one closest to home—that’s where my wife works part-time. While shopping for dinner ingredients, I told my daughters what we needed, and they split up to collect everything. Super efficient.

But… I couldn’t find my wife anywhere.

I had heard she was working from morning to evening, but she wasn’t on the sales floor, and she wasn’t at the register. She might’ve been working in the back, so I can’t jump to conclusions… but this wasn’t how the plan was supposed to go.

We brought home the groceries from the supermarket and the items from the home center. Nothing was individually heavy, but there were a lot of them, so the three of us carried them in together from the car.

In the end, I didn’t spot my wife at the supermarket, and she still wasn’t home even after we got back. I learned nothing.

That evening, Tomoko helped me make curry for dinner.

Kiyomi Zenpuku’s Rage

My husband’s not home! Neither are the girls!
They must’ve gone out together, the three of them!

Why would they go anywhere with that low-income, low-education guy!? He’s a junior high school graduate! A dropout!

And he’s huge! Like 178 cm tall!? That’s too big! I’m only 156 cm—it’s scary!

Divorce is a done deal!
He (my lover) told me to come soon, and I will!