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Chapter 62
There Are Some Things Best Left Unknown Precisely Because She’s Pure
Translated by HamletJr
Edited by HamletJr
“…Y’know.”
“What’s up?”
Ryuichi muttered as he gazed at the counter with his adult senior, an adult working with him at the club.
“I was just thinking how the manager has a talent for opening people’s hearts and minds.”
“Ah, true. Like with you, or especially with you, and now that I really think about it, with you.”
“…Shut up.”
“C’mon, don’t sulk like that.”
Ryuichi wasn’t happy with his senior’s words, but he had to admit, he did make sense. Today, just like usual, he was working part-time at the club, but what was different from usual was that Shizuna was with him. Of course, there was a mature and explicit side to this place, so Shizuna was working without leaving the manager’s side.
“It’s nice to see you worrying about a particular girl like this.”
“What do you mean, ‘nice’?”
“It means you’re actually living out your youth.”
The senior continued his words with his back against the wall, arms folded.
“Me and the others working here are more of the wild, rough type. That’s why we missed out on our youth during our school days.”
“………”
“So from our point of view, you and her are dazzling, and more than anything, we’re glad to see you change like this after watching over you for so long.”
The senior stroked Ryuichi’s head quite strongly. It was strong enough to almost ruin his hairstyle, but strangely enough, Ryuichi did not shake his hand off and let him do as he pleased.
It was then that the woman whom Ryuichi had previously asked to accompany Sohei approached them. The woman, Mihara, giggled when she saw the two of them looking friendly.
“My, my, aren’t you two close?”
“Yep. Me and Ryuichi got this connection, you see?”
“…Gross.”
“Hey.”
“Fufu.”
For the record, they weren’t slacking off, they were just in the middle of a break of sorts. The senior…whose surname was Seto, retold Mihara what they’d been talking about earlier.
“We were just talking about how good the manager is at opening people’s hearts.”
“Hmm, well, you’ve got a point. I think he has a good handle on outcasts like us.”
It seemed that Mihara thought the same way as them. While they talked about how great the manager was and how he had many traits that made him a good person, the conversation naturally turned to Shizuna, who was standing next to him.
“So, Ryuichi, how far have you thought things out with that girl?”
“How far?”
“You know, like marrying her and other future plans like that?”
“…Ah~.”
After being told that much, Ryuichi sank into thought. He cared about Shizuna, and in order to progress to a new relationship with her, he had become lovers with her and wished for even more. She had also supported him for a long time, and she’d told him she would stay by his side now and in the future as well, so of course he was thinking about that future to some extent.
“…Marrying, huh.”
Marriage, the graveyard of life… It was a bit of an unromantic thought for him to have. To Ryuichi, marriage didn’t hold a positive image in his mind, and that was because he’d seen what had happened to the two people closest to him. But then again, it was through the system of marriage that Ryuichi and Shizuna had been born and were able to meet in this way. Of course, it wasn’t just Shizuna; the same went for Chisa and Satsuki too.
“……?”
While he was thinking about marriage in this way, he spotted a familiar figure. It was Hamasaki, a teacher at the school Ryuichi and his friends attended.
“That guy… So he comes to places like these, too.”
Ryuichi had thought of him as an unflappably serious teacher, yet it seemed like he came to places like these, too. It wasn’t like he was a married man, and there was no rule that said he couldn’t come just because he was a teacher, so from Ryuichi’s point of view, he was a customer… But, well, Ryuichi had no intention of meeting him at all.
“What’s wrong?”
“That guy over there is a teacher at my school.”
“Hmm?”
Seto and Mihara also curiously turned their gazes at Hamasaki. However, leaving Ryuichi aside, it would probably be a little troublesome if Hamasaki saw that Shizuna was working here. When Ryuichi turned his gaze to the manager, he immediately noticed Ryuichi’s gaze and seemed to understand his intentions.
“How could he tell from just that?”
“Is the manager an alien or something?”
“He’s not human, that’s for sure.”
“…That’s cruel of y’all.”
Shizuna tilted her head for a moment, but once she got a look at Hamasaki, albeit from a distance, she turned her gaze to Ryuichi, gave a small nod, and retreated to the back. Then, at a timing so perfect that it was too good to be true, Hamasaki and Ryuichi’s eyes met. His efforts to persuade Shizuna hadn’t worked, and none of his words had reached her mother, Sakie, either. As for Ryuichi, he’d given up on saying anything to him, but he still regarded Ryuichi as an enemy so much so that he glared at him whenever their eyes met.
“…Guh.”
“…Hmm.”
However, Hamasaki looked away awkwardly, perhaps feeling guilty about coming to an establishment such as this. Ryuichi laughed at this amusing scene and went to Shizuna, thinking that things likely wouldn’t turn particularly troublesome after seeing Hamasaki like that.
“I never would’ve thought a teacher would come here.”
“Well, I guess that overly serious teacher is still a man, too.”
But still, although he expected Hamasaki would complain a lot about him working part-time at a place like this despite being a high schooler… Well, if anything, he would be sorely lacking in persuasiveness if he did, so he was conversely looking forward to seeing how Hamasaki would react.
“How’s it going working alongside the manager?”
“Yes, it’s a lot of fun. I don’t get to interact with the customers as much as help with the cooking, but even so, not only the manager but the other waitstaff are very nice to me… Yup, it’s so much fun. ♪”
“I see. I’m glad to hear that.”
Shizuna’s smile made Ryuichi breathe a sigh of relief. And so, despite the run-in with Hamasaki, nothing in particular happened afterward in the store, and his part-time job with Shizuna came to an end without incident. Hamasaki did not get involved in any particular way this time, but it was best to consider the possibility that he might say something to them at school.
“Ryuichi-kun, I’d like to stay at your place tonight.”
“C’mere.”
“Okay.”
Shizuna nodded happily at Ryuichi’s brief words. They were just about to head home, but it seemed that there were troublesome customers everywhere in the nightlife district.
“Hold up, wait a minute~.”
“Hah?”
“What?”
A man had called out to the two. He did not look at Ryuichi at all and only seemed to be targeting Shizuna.
“You were working earlier, weren’t you? You were by the manager’s side the whole time, so I couldn’t talk to you, y’know?”
“………”
Apparently, he had been looking for the right moment to call out to Shizuna for a long time. She wasn’t in her uniform, but one could tell from her body shape that she was a student, and above all, Shizuna was a superb-looking woman—seeing someone like her at a club was enough to attract the annoying fly known as a man to her.
“C’mon, take your phone out. Let’s exchange contacts.”
This man was apparently the type to act on his desires. But then, the man finally turned his attention to Ryuichi as well.
“I’m fine going after him, so come on over and have some fun with me later, ‘kay?”
Shizuna’s eyebrows twitched upward. He had thought about the possibility of this happening, but he wondered if this still would’ve happened had they gone outside and simply stayed away from the store where the manager was.
“Sorry, but no can do. She’s my girl; maybe you’d be better off with the fine man back there, y’know?”
“Huh?”
Putting aside Shizuna, who was rapidly muttering about how Ryuichi had called her his girl, the man turned around, not knowing what Ryuichi was talking about.
“Heeey, bro, even if she’s only temporary, I don’t like it when you bother our workers, y’know?”
“Hiiiiiiih?!?!”
It was the manager who’d appeared behind him soundlessly. He placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and strengthened it as if to say that he wouldn’t let him go. The man quickly shook off his hand and ran away as if he was fleeing from a demon.
“How ridiculous.”
“Well, I guess that’s what happens when they’re in your presence, boss.”
“I wonder why the man looked so terrified?”
“Huh?”
“Oh?”
Ryuichi and the manager’s eyes widened at Shizuna’s words. Apparently she didn’t understand what Ryuichi had meant when he referred to the manager as a ‘fine man’, nor did she understand why the man ran away while protecting his buttocks.
“Well, it’s best to keep you as pure as you are now.”
“???”
“There are some things in this world that you don’t need to know,” Ryuichi told her.
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