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Chapter 16 – In Shibuya
Two days passed since we went to Tōjō Karen’s house and gave her a special lesson.
“Ryuji Sakamoto! I have something to tell you!”
The atmosphere of the class was slightly different that morning.
That was because a beautiful girl who I had never seen before stormed into the classroom, different from the Tōjō who came every morning.
Red bobbed hair with slight waves, long eyelashes, and big, moist eyes like a deer.
She put on light pink lipstick on her lips and put a black hairpin on her front hair, which she usually didn’t use, showing her straight forehead.
When Tōjō Karen, who completely transformed into a beautiful woman who looked like a painting in about three days, entered the class, the people in class 2-B, who belatedly noticed her identity, were shocked.
“Hey, hey, are you serious? A normal sports girl turning out to be the ultimate beauty?! What a sudden development.”
“…do you see that?”
“Otaku feels bad.”
“Stop! Don’t look at me like that! Keep your distance! Don’t move! Don’t run away!”
Watching the idiot trio split up in real time, I watched the completely new born Tōjō Karen walk away and stand in front of Ryuji Sakamoto sitting by the window at Kishimoto’s advice.
In her hand, she held a white piece of paper that said “challenge” in nice cursive, not a pink love letter.
Tōjō Karen suddenly held it out to Sakamoto’s chest.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a challenge.”
Tōjō Karen crossed her arms proudly, saying so.
“This weekend, you should go on a date with me in Shibuya.”
Even if her appearance changed, the way she talked didn’t change until the end.
The atmosphere of the class flared up in a flash after hearing her confident date request.
Naturally, Sakamoto Ryuji’s childhood friend, Yaguchi Maya, did not stay still.
“W, what do you mean! This! I can’t believe you’re asking him out! There’s a limit to rudeness!”
“Get out of here, Yaguchi. This is a problem between me and Sakamoto.”
“Well… I have a reason to meddle!”
“What are you to Sakamoto?”
Then, Yaguchi was speechless.
She hesitated and replied late.
“I’ve known him since I was a kid! You can’t interfere that much!”
“If I become his girlfriend, I can.”
While the two were fighting catfights, Sakamoto, who was vaguely holding a love letter named ‘Challenge’, tried to say something to Tōjō.
“Well…”
Then Tōjō shook her head, cutting him off firmly.
“I’ll hear the answer on the weekend, not now. At least don’t run away if you’re a man.”
Was it because the spirit was so overwhelming?
“Ah, all right.”
In the end, Sakamoto said yes unexpectedly.
After hearing a definite answer from him, Tōjō coolly turned around and left.
But it was visible to me.
Her face turned red like an apple.
On the surface, she acted bravely, but it looked like she asked for a public date with the utmost patience.
I gave her a quiet thumbs up as she tried to go out by the back door.
Then, as she walked out with a stiff movement like a robot, she smiled faintly and nodded.
I knew how the original story ends, but I couldn’t help but cheer for her from my perspective.
I’m proud of you, Tōjō Karen.
Just steal the heart of the main character.
***
“Karen-chan’s confession was no joke! Totally powerful!”
“R, really?”
At lunchtime, Tōjō Karen, who naturally ate a lunchbox with us, was embarrassed by Kishimoto’s compliment and twisted her hair.
As I knew her with wild hair which were originally untidy, I expressed interest in the shine of her hair that changed overnight.
“Oh? You mean this? I told my dad yesterday that I went to a hair shop where celebrities go. I don’t know exactly how much it is, but I think it cost a lot of money.”
Ah, I had to admit it.
There had been little in the world that money couldn’t solve.
At that time, Kishimoto, who was eating salt-flavored cup noodles for lunch, asked.
“Did you decide what to wear on your date? You can’t go out wearing a school uniform on a date.”
Then Tōjō stammered, avoiding her gaze, as if she had never thought of it.
“Ah, not yet.”
“Then let’s go buy it after school today! I’ll pick clothes that look good on Karen-chan!”
“Rika…!”
Tōjō looked at Kishimoto with a tearful eye.
She looked as if she had found a friend for life.
Shopping among women was irrelevant to me anyway, so I silently ate my lunchbox, and Kishimoto called me again.
“Of course, Ryu-chan will go with us, right?”
“…Do I?”
“Yeah! Ryu-chan is also an associate who decided to help with Karen-chan’s crush!”
Seeing that she emphasized the word associate, she seemed to try to block the corner of the escape in advance.
I didn’t want to be dragged to the shopping mall and act as a servant, so I thought of excuses, but nothing came to mind.
If I refused in the first place, I thought there would be problems later.
“All right, I’ll come.”
I was afraid I would be late to go home again today.
***
After school, we took the subway to Shibuya, the nearest downtown, to buy clothes for Tōjō’s date.
Shibuya.
A popular street of youth and fashion.
Along with Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, it is considered one of Tokyo’s top three new towns, and it was a hot place just a few stop away from Minato-gu, where our school is located.
Most of the people walking on the street were in their 20s and 30s, wearing colorful clothes with their own personalities.
Of course, it was not strange to wear a school uniform because we were students, but we were automatically intimidated because it was a simple outfit compared to those people.
“Ryu-chan, people keep looking at you.”
“It’s because of you two.”
“No, I don’t think so at all.”
Tōjō glanced at me as she said so, and soon put her hands in her pockets and caught sight of the splendid panorama of Shibuya.
“Where should I go first? I don’t know because I’ve never been to a place like this.”
Then Kishimoto, the person who brought us all the way here, confessed with a bright smile.
“I don’t know either?”
Then, she was surprised and asked again.
“What? You asked me to come here.”
“I lived in Shizuoka until recently, so I don’t know! Without Ryu-chan I still get lost when I’m on the subway!”
Something was off when she tried to force me to join the party.
She called me to use me as a navigation system, not a porter.
I felt like I had been to Shibuya more than the two of them, so I sighed and nodded my head.
“Then let’s go to the Tokyu department store1 first.”
“Ah! That’s a good idea!”
When you don’t know where to go, it was better to go to a place where everyone was gathered.
And these rich girls wouldn’t be short of money even if they went to a department store.
I took the lead in walking because the two girls didn’t know the way.
I felt that the more people were there, the more attention I was getting, but I pretend I didn’t notice.
I would get tired if I paid attention to things like that.
Soon we entered Scrambled Street, one of Shibuya’s symbols.
***
Tokyu Department Store is a large general shopping mall with eight floors above ground and one basement floor.
Since the number of stores alone exceeds hundreds, it was not bad to come here unless there was a clothing store to go to in Shibuya.
We took the escalator on the first floor and headed to the women’s clothing store on the third floor.
The entire floor was made up of shops that only handled women’s clothes, it was a space that had to be rejected by men.
When I peeked around, I also saw a women’s underwear shop and a swimsuit shop.
It felt like I was in an off-limits to men area.
However, today’s main purpose was to buy clothes for her date, so I was forced to accompany them.
“Ah! That outfit is pretty! This one too!”
Kishimoto, who was a former model, got around the women’s clothing stores like a fish in water.
Tōjō, who was caught by her, seemed unfamiliar with this kind of things, but she didn’t look so bad.
I followed them slowly with my hands in my pockets.
Finally, they entered a luxury store.
As soon as Kishimoto went inside, she picked up some clothes without hesitation, put them on Tōjō’s body, and pushed her back to the changing room to change.
Then, unlike usual, Tōjō, caught up in Kishimoto’s pace, unexpectedly entered the dressing room.
Soon after, her startled voice came from the inside.
“Wait! This cute style of clothes doesn’t look good on me!”
Kishimoto told me to wait a moment and strode into the dressing room where Tōjō entered.
“Ri, Rika?”
“Oh my! I’ll do everything for you, so stay still!”
“It’s a sensitive place, so be gentle!”
A strict conversation that seems to come out often in love comedy came and went in the dressing room, and after about five minutes, Kishimoto came out with a refreshing look.
“What about Tōjō?”
“She’ll be out in no time.”
As she said so, I waited a moment, heard a rustling sound behind the curtains in the dressing room, and Tōjō walked out wearing something other than a school uniform.
“Rika, this skirt is too short….”
Kishimoto, who looked lovingly at Tōjō, who was very shy in her first frilled clothes, asked me furtively.
“What do you think?”
“It looks good on her.”
It wasn’t empty words, it was sincere.
You said the clothes were wings, that’s true.