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EP.32 Rika’s counterattack
Yesterday, I ate and played well with the president and the members of the student council until late at night.
After dinner, the three of them ate fruits that my mother cut for dessert, chatted, and left around 9 o’clock.
Anyway, that was how it went, the first day of events passed and the morning of the second day of Golden Week dawned.
“
I’m bored.”
Again today, I woke up at 4 a.m. and was bored because of the extra time, even after finishing my daily routine work.
I had no complaints about living by the rules, but it was also worth considering that there was suddenly nothing to do during Golden Week.
Except for reading manga, I didn’t have any hobbies.
I didn’t have a computer or game console in my house.
Thanks to this, I had nothing to do but lie on the floor and search a video on my cell phone, but I suddenly jumped when I received a message.
Ring!
「Hello! Ryu-chan! You didn’t forget your promise to come to my house today, right?」
I replied right away.
「Rather, I was waiting for you to contact me.」
「I asked Papa the other day, and he said it’s okay if it’s today. So come to my house by 12 o’clock. Mama wants to treat you to lunch because I’m always indebted to you.」
After sending the message, Rika sent the address through the messenger.
It was a map from Seijo, where she lived.
The road was simple, so I thought I didn’t have to worry about getting lost.
I checked the time on my phone, it was only 9 o’clock.
Moreover, Seijo Station was only two stops away from Chitosefunabashi Station, where my house was located, so unlike the day before, I would not be late if I left around 11 o’clock.
I took out all the golden samurai I had on the bookshelf and packed them in my bag in advance.
When I would meet Mr. Kishimoto, I was going to get all his signatures.
On top of that, I also packed a marker for signing and a signature paper.
With this, I was all ready to go to Rika’s house.
I was invited, but I was wondering if I could go empty-handed, so I decided to buy a box of nutritional tonics at the mart on the way.
Like professional writers, he looked like he would eat nutritional supplements and pile it up next to his desk.
Excited at the thought of meeting my esteemed Kishimoto-sensei1 in three hours, I went to the bathroom to wash, with my clothes that I picked with much more effort than usual.
***
Dressed up neatly, I left home at 11 o’clock as scheduled.
Setagaya is the most densely populated area in Tokyo.
The floating population was quite dense, and when I approached the subway ticket gate, the people in front of me slowly moved away.
To be honest, I was usually uncomfortable with this situation, but I was grateful that it shortened my time.
I put my Suica on the IC reader, stood in front of the subway platform and waited for the next train to come.
It wasn’t long before the train arrived in the platform, and after the passengers got off like a low tide, I was able to crumple myself into the train.
As I stood holding the pillar by the door, I could feel the people around me glancing at me curiously.
I knew better than anyone what kind of eyes people looked at me with.
Well, I couldn’t give up now on the muscles that I’d worked so hard on, and I didn’t thought I looked bad like that.
Because I was afraid of other people’s eyes and prejudice, it was weird to force my body to fit it.
I decided to focus on my cell phone screen until I arrived at my destination.
***
It was only two stops away from home, so it took only about 10 minutes to get to Seijo Station.
When I got out of the subway platform and came up to the ground, even thought I was in/it was the same Setagaya, the neighbourhood that unfolded in front of me seemed to have a completely different atmosphere.
It felt like I moved from Gangbuk to Gangnam in Korea.
Just by looking at the clothes of the people walking around, I could see that they were wealthy.
I stopped by a mart near the station and bought a box of tonic.
It was a pretty painful expense for a high school students’ pocket money, but it was worth it if you thought it would be eaten by your favourite writer.
Seijo was one of Tokyo’s most famous rich villages, large detached houses were the main ones rather than apartments.
As I passed the sidewalk, I peeked over the wall on tiptoe feet, and there were common two-floor houses with swimming pools that could only be seen in movies.
And today’s destination, Rika’s house, was a little away from the subway station.
Due to the nature of the job of a writer whose privacy is important, it seemed that he purposely bought a house far away from the station, with a large floating population.
As I walked eagerly up the hill following the map Rika sent me earlier in the morning, I finally stopped in front of a three-floor house surrounded by a large wall.
“It’s here.”
When I rang the doorbell in front of the gate, a familiar voice came from beyond the speaker.
「Ah! Ryu-chan! You’re finally here! Come on in!」
Rattle!
Rika manipulated the lock from inside, and the gate opened on its own.
I carefully opened the door and went inside.
“Wow
.”
I wasn’t often admiring things, but I thought I should do it that day.
It was as if I could only see it in a movie.
A spacious green lawn, a private swimming pool, a garage packed with foreign cars, and a three-floor duplex house.
Thanks to the monotone painting of the entire building, the first impression I had was that it was neat.
I walked slowly along the stone path leading to the front door.
A golden retriever running around the yard came running and waved his tail at me as if he was glad to see me.
Considering that most animals were afraid of me, I could say that he was really easy-going.
I gently scratched the back of the cute guy’s neck and started walking to the front door of the house.
Before I reached the front door, the tightly closed door opened, and Rika in her casual clothes popped out.
“Surprise!”
When I looked calmly at her bright face, Rika put her hand on her waist, inflating her cheeks in a dull way.
“Don’t you have to act surprised in this situation?”
“No, I’m sufficiently surprised. I just don’t know how to react.”
When I answered like that and rubbed the golden retriever’s head pulling on the crotch of my pants to play with him, Rika called his name.
“Taro!”
Then the guy who didn’t want to let go of my pants immediately ran to Rika and tangled like a gum.
When I looked at her with envy, Rika smiled like a cat and said with open chest.
“Our Taro is so cute, right?”
I admitted the fact frankly.
“If I have a chance, I want to raise one too.”
“Hehe.”
Rika, who raised her nose pleasantly as if she had been praised, beckoned and said to come in.
At her suggestion, I closed the front door carefully and went inside.
“Excuse me.”
Then someone approached from the living room.
“Oh my~ welcome~”
I turned my head there to say hello, and then flinched when I found a blonde beauty that was completely identical to Rika.
“Uh
 We
”
I was trying to guess if it was Rika’s sister, but I was in a moment of conflict.
Because at this timing in love comedy, there was a high probability that it was the mother, and not an older sister.
However, she looked too young to have a 17-year-old high school girl as a daughter.
She looked like she was in her mid to late 20s at the most.
Wasn’t it Rika’s real sister, not her mother?
I was going to ask if it was Rika’s sister as I originally thought, but I stopped again like a broken robot because I wondered what I would do if it was really her mother.
If you make a mistake in calling someone when you first meet them, the atmosphere is bound to get weird/awkward afterwards.
Then should I ask if she was her mother, like a cliché?
What if she was really her sister?
It would be an even more irreversible awkward atmosphere.
When I thought of all various possibilities, I thought the answer was to ask if it was her sister.
Not to mention her real sister, a mother could look younger than her natural age, so she couldn’t take my question in a bad way.
OK. I made up my mind.
“You’re Rika’s older sister?”
When I asked so, the blonde foreign beauty, who looked just like Rika, smiled and waved her hand.
“Oh, my, look at him. You’re going to start with flattery when we first meet? I look a little young, but not enough to hear the sister talk about my daughter.”
Fortunately, with a light sigh of relief after I made the right choice, I held out the nutritional tonic box in my hand.
“I didn’t want to come here empty-handed, so I bought this on the way here.”
Then Rika’s mother looked slightly surprised when she saw the nutritional tonic box I was handing to her.
“It’s okay to come empty-handed. Why do you have to do this? Come on in. I was a bit nervous with my daughter in the morning because she said you were going to visit.”
“Mama!”
Rika’s mother smiled as if she is having fun teasing Rika, who blushed hurriedly blocked her mother’s mouth.
I thought that the love comedy world was amazing because no matter how much I looked at it, they didn’t look like a mother and a daughter, but like sisters with an age difference, and while appreciating it, I followed them to the kitchen.