Chapter 23

Chapter 23 \nTwenty-third Episode\n

Currently I am being guided towards the living room. However, it is not halfway. It seems that Kazuki-san is responsible and kind.

“T-This here is a vase!”

Kazuki-san who is walking by my side moves quickly, puts her knee on the floor, and points to a vase on a table on the side of the corridor and explains with a smile.

I know. I know that that is a vase.

“Well, the floors are put inside, umm, umm…”

Kazuki-san then points to the flowers inserted in the vase and her face turns red.

You don’t have to explain it if you don’t know.

By the way, the flowers inside the vase are lilies, probably Casablanca. I don’t have confidence in my words though. [1]

“T-This is a picture!”

Kazuki-san stood up and points to the wall just above the vase.

“I-It’s a picture of a sunflower! I am certain that someone drew it!”

It seems probable that someone drew it. Rather, that sunflower picture, it feels like something any unknown painter would use to train. Speaking of sunflower drawings, anyone could have done it. So saying that someone drew it…

This sunflower drawing, looks like one of those 15 most famous drawings of sunflowers. This is not real. Yes, it surely is a counterfeit, so it will probably be from some famous person.

“A-Aha, ahaha, ahahaha!”

Kazuki-san, whose pupils are starting to move in various directions, starts to laugh with her face bright red. I don’t care about those things; I just want you to guide me to the living room earlier.

But while we advance Kazuki-san stops and kindly explains various things that we come by on the way, so we take too much time to arrive at our destination. Thanks to her kindly explaining to me what anyone would know, I start to feel like I am being treated as a stupid somehow. I guess she is not a bad person.

But now I think that the real reason why Kazuki-san has not found a boyfriend is not her appearance.

About an hour has passed, and now we are on the second floor.

“T-This is the second floor, it is expensive! Because it is upstairs! Ahahaha!”

Kazuki-san walking in second floor’s corridor says something that is common knowledge.

I think that normally you wouldn’t get angry, but when she explains too many things that are common knowledge, it feels like I’m being treated as a stupid and I get irritated. Moreover, because she is saying those things with no intention to offend me, I can’t focus my irritation on her.

I mean, why are we going upstairs? I want to go to the living room. I’m hungry, so I would like to have dinner sooner, but rather than that, I want to change my clothes quickly. I would like to tell that to Kazuki-san, but after arriving at this house for the first time, she took the bothersome task of showing me around, so I can’t complain.

Although I was relieved to meet with Kazuki-san, I may have relied on the wrong person.

“E-Em…”

Kazuki-san who had been laughing, suddenly stopped. And then she comes close to me with her face red to the ears.

“Y-Yo-You are sexy”\nShe comes close to me and mutters that while moving awkwardly, with a face that has “Should I say it or not?” written all over her face.

Is this sexy? Where is it sexy? No matter how I look at it, this is just awkward.

Well, is it that? In Kazuki-san’s point of view I am a transcendental beauty dressed lightly.

I kind of understand that the beauty values have reversed, but I don’t understand it, to me nothing has changed, so I can’t be fully convinced.

“E-Em…”

Kazuki-san who was somewhat depressed raises her voice.

Kazuki-san who can be described as cool rather than cute, has a destructive power when she looks at me with her face bright red.

“W-Would you like a convenient woman?”

And she dropped a bomb from her lovely lips. A convenient woman, what is the meaning of that.

Rather, why here? Is that why we went upstairs?

“I-I’ll do anything, anything you ask. Moreover I am a proper adult compared to Shizuki, so I can pay properly. And I will never bother you”

Kazuki-san is whispering with a trembling voice that seems like it will fade away, while breathing hard and trembling herself, it seems that she gathered all her courage.

As expected, there is nothing but respect for Mitsuki. She also said the same thing.

“Well, we are wealthy, but because of my mother’s policy, even as students we have to work as soon as we can, we all have done so because it is my mother’s idea to experience society and start to understand it, so we can know our surroundings and how to handle it”

I listen to Kazuki-san’s words as she speaks with her trembling voice, and now I understand why Shizuki is working part-time.

Was there such a reason?

I understand. Matsuki-san is a wise woman. Matsuki-san should have lived a life full of hardships.

Whatever you do, you will be treated coldly just because you are ugly. I understand that too well.

Don’t put your eyes away from such a world, get into society as soon as you can, gain experience and live strongly. Matsuki-san surely thinks that this will benefit her daughters later.

“I-I don’t have any hobbies, I just pass my free time inside my room. Thinking about the things I would do if I were beautiful, while having such delusions I enjoy my time, I am such miserable woman…”

The voice that my ears caught was one of someone about to cry.

If I was beautiful, is it? I am the same. What if I was born handsome and became popular, how many times have I repeated that delusion?

I finally understood how serious it is.

“Please laugh”

Kazuki-san tells me, so she can self-depreciate herself.

I can’t laugh. There is no reason to.\nHow many times have I been beaten because I am ugly? How many times have I been kicked because I am ugly?

The expression of this girl who is standing next to me; the girl who took my seat. Despairing because the world has told her to do so. She has such a face. I can’t forget this expression even if I wanted to forget.

“W-Well, so because I do that, I don’t have anything to spend my money on, so I end up accumulating it…

I heard those words, and I had a bad feeling. And that feeling hit just right in the mark.

Kazuki-san with a distorted smile took her hand into her pocket and took out five thousand yen bills crushed and presented them to me.

“W-Well, since I don’t usually spend money, I only carry this with me, but there is a lot saved. So…”

Kazuki-san presents to me 5000 yens while showing a distorted smile and her eyes on the verge of crying.

“I-It’s okay to keep dating Shizuki; I will never disturb you two, just think of me as a convenient woman, please think of me as a good convenient woman. So, so… Your time, could you sell it to me?”

Hearing those words, I thought, Oh, this definitely is Shizuki’s sister.

Surely, they can only believe in money. No matter how ugly you are, you can live if you have money. There will be something if you have money. It is a horrible story, but that is reality.

Neither do I, but here is a page that does explain. 

“Money… I don’t need it”

I refuse Kazuki-san’s offer. This is nothing different from denying Kazuki-san. However, I can’t accept it.

If I receive it…

Kazuki-san is probably older than Shizuki by one or two years. Unlike Matsuki-san and Mitsuki, she is still young. It is unknown what kind of encounters she will meet in the future.

“A-Ahaha, ahahaha… You don’t like me that much?”

Kazuki-san who got her money denied by me dropped her shoulders, her tears start to fall by her cheeks, and laughs with a dry laugh while smiling.

“Well, I’m not that different from Shizuki, but you accepted Shizuki, am I uglier than Shizuki?”

My chest is tightened when I hear those words.

“I-It’s different…”

You are not ugly. I can’t say that. Saying that to Kazuki-san would hurt her more. Even when I see her as beautiful, the world evaluates Kazuki-san as ugly. Whatever I say won’t change that reality.

“Is it different? Ahaha, are you going to comfort me? It’s okay, I’m used to being treated coldly… But, but…”

Kazuki-san muttered while smiling with her dry smile, and then she raised her right hand. And threw the 5000 yen bills towards me.

“I can’t forgive only Shizuki! If it was Mitsuki or Yuzuki-neesan I could still accept it! But I can’t lose to my little sister! Smile, laugh! I am such a small woman!”

\n“Yes, if Shizuki is with you, it’s okay anytime”

When I answer Kazuki-san’s question with a smile, Kazuki-san saw me.

If it is with Shizuki. She has already understood that part. But she can always call me. If she needs someone to talk to when she feels lonely.

I wouldn’t feel bad if I was told that by a beautiful girl.

“A-Are you not ashamed of walking outside with me?”

She looks at me and asks while trembling.

I would like to say that I don’t feel embarrassed at all, but she won’t believe it even if I said that, so it’s useless to think of something to say. Then—

“Why don’t you try it?”

As I answer, Kazuki-san starts eyeing me again from top to bottom. And this time she did so without spending a lot of time.

“Y-Yes”

Although half-skeptic, Kazuki-san nodded.

“Eh, movies and amusement parks, that… I want to go there”

Kazuki-san murmured with a low voice with her cheeks dyed red.

“That is good. With Shizuki we three should go” [1]

I nodded as I answer with a smile. Then Kazuki-san smiles with her eyes shining.

Fufu, this person, is easy to handle. I mean, I can pretty much understand what she is thinking. And I think that she is kind of weak willed because her mind is dwarfed, I am sure of that. Because I was like that.

When I was listening to Kazuki-san’s talk through the door, she was complaining a lot. If I think about it now, that was to herself.

Kazuki-san is a person who can let out her stress by herself, unlike Shizuki and Mitsuki. She was complaining by herself and letting out her stress. In other words she is someone who can relieve herself alone.

I thought of such a thing, and became very excited in my thoughts.

Kazuki-san is similar to me. Once I understand how to handle her, it may be possible to build a friendly relationship. If so, it may be possible that a true girl friend was found. I became unbearably happy at the thought. [2]

I put it this way because he is making sure to mention her as a principal part of the group of three. 

She got friendzoned so hard there.