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Chapter 21 – I don’t know where the landmines are, so many landmines…
「「「…….」」」
….Aw, awkward….
We are currently silently eating at the table, all 3 of us.
Although we are being silent, it’s not quiet as the TV is on in the background.
As always, Sakura-chan who is eating in front of me is smiling.
It’s supposed to be the smile of my cute imouto, but for some reason I keep feeling a cold sweat on my back.
Speaking of Momoi, she was looking at me as if saying『You broke your promise again didn’t you?』
No no, certainly that happened….but the cause of this is different…..
No matter how much I think about it, the cause is likely my interactions with Saijo…?
But I can’t say that in front of Momoi…
Even yesterday, she was probably angry that I was caught『Playing with the girl who cornered her』so I was scared of what type of gaze I’d be subjected to if she knew what happened today…
Above all, I want to do something about the girl who keeps smiling at me.
It was usually a healing smile, but this one made me feel uncomfortable…
「—-That person….looks like Onii-chan’s girlfriend…」(Sakura)
「「—-!?」」(Momoi & Kaito)
The cold sweat running down my back doubled at the words of Sakura-chan, who was watching TV.
「Heh—is that right?」(Momoi)
Momoi, who saw the person on TV, turned cold eyes towards me.
I pretended not to notice and looked towards the TV.
What was projected there, was a blonde girl with her hair tied into a pigtail.
At first glance, it certainly looked like Saijo.
Maa, in comparison Saijo only ties her hair to one side in a pigtail.
However, unlike Saijo who dyes her hair blonde. For the girl on TV–whose name seems to be Byodoin Aria, it was likely her natural hair colour.
Her hair was a pretty shade of gold and her eyes were a deep beautiful blue color.
She was the daughter of the Byodoin Conglomerate, one of the 3 major conglomerates in Japan, similar to Saijo.
The reason why such a girl is on TV is that she is a talented president in an elite high school that had become a hot topic recently.
This girl was currently running four companies whilst studying in an all-girls school. One of them seems to be the TV company that is currently interviewing her.
Perhaps she inherited the companies from her parents, regardless she was a hot topic because she was running these companies whilst still at school.
I wonder if one day she’ll appear on her own TV show…she seems to be half-American and her appearance is cute. Because of that she seems to be attracting a lot of attention.
That’s probably why she was appearing right now, to boost the TV shows ratings.
I knew about her for a while.
But you couldn’t call us acquaintances.
This girl has been the subject of rumors online for a long time.
Apparently, she has a very strong personality with an aggressive negotiation style where she grasps and exploits the weaknesses of the other party.
Despite never diving in too deeply, she has never failed in a transaction before using this style.
I wondered if it was possible to have an aggressive negotiation style without diving in too deeply, but it’s what she’s known for.
But….Byodoin Conglomerate…?
To tell the truth, on Saturday I’m supposed to visit a branch company of the Byodoin Conglomerate.
It was a meeting to discuss a new programming project…
To be honest, I feel like not going…
For me who is not good at talking to people, a face-to-face meeting is not something I’m good at.
That’s why, I’m hoping we only have to meet in the beginning, then exchange everything through email.
As expected, the face-to-face meeting seems a little useless…
By the way, I use the handle KAI to communicate with companies without using my real name.
When I first started, I was using my full name, but later on I changed it to my current handle. I never gave my home address, just my email address.
Well usually it would be impossible to hide my name as I receive the money after the project is completed, but there are exceptions as well…
Eventually I understood why special cases were allowed and why companies accepted them…
Regardless, the reason why I take these jobs is because it’s my hobby.
No at first it was just about the money.
However, I enjoyed the feeling of exhilaration when the program I wrote from scratch started working.
If I was going to write programs anyway, so it would be better if I got money for doing it as well. That way I can buy a lot of light novels and eroge, so I kept taking jobs from these companies.
Maa…I was making a lot of money extremely quickly….but alot of it was spent on the incident with Momoi…
「—-It seems that way….」(Momoi)
「Ha….?」(Kaito)
Whilst I was concerning myself with this weekend’s plans, Momoi said something that didn’t make sense.
Momoi was staring at me with eyes that had lost their light.
….I had forgotten…
Because I was lost in my thoughts, I had been staring at the girl on the TV for a while….
「You were staring at her so much, do you really like blonde girls…?」(Momoi)
「No, it’s a misunderstanding…」(Kaito)
「Misunderstanding? Then are you leading that girl on?」(Sakura)
Sakura-chan responded instinctively to my words.
Ah—her smile is finally gone, but her cheeks are puffed up.
Why!? I’m not scared or anything!
But it’s clear she’s angry from her facial expression!
「Um, Sakura-chan. I’ve said it many times, but I’m not dating Saijo okay?」(Kaito)
「But didn’t the blonde Onee-san say she was?」(Sakura)
How many times are we going to do this exchange…
「That’s why I’m saying….Saijo said it without permission」(Kaito)
「I thought I saw you with a loose-face when you were Saijo, but maybe I was wrong?」(Momoi)
When I responded to Sakura-chan for the umpteenth time, Momoi responded instead.
Wait what’s with this situation!?
The Momoi sisters are ganging up on me!?
「Momoi, what are you saying?」(Kaito)
I ask Momoi to find out what she’s talking about.
「Who knows? All I know is that you gave Saijo a Kabedon and an Agokui」(Momoi)
「Heh….?」(Sakura)
Aaaaaaaah!
I stepped on a land mine!
Momoi, what are you talking about!?
I don’t know why, but Momoi’s words made Sakura-chan start smiling again!
I can see the letters『Gogogogogogo』in the background!
—I spent an hour after this trying to convince the Momoi sisters–