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CHAPTER 3 – NEW HOME [1]
As I lowered my head one last time as thanks for great kindness before going home, I was scolded. Mrs. Saori said that I was being too reserved and Mr. Takato told me that I should rely on others more. Kaori didn’t say anything, but she seemed to be somewhat displeased.
Hmmm, I was thinking about how not to bother them but it looks like that wasn’t good. As usual, life is really complicated, huh. With that in mind, I was walking around and eventually reached the place where I was to live.
「Ugh, this is why rich people are just…」
It’s a high-grade apartment complex that’d clearly eat up not only my allowance but my earnings just from the rent, isn’t it now? I mean, how many floors are there even. I’ve never lived in a high-rise apartment before. Moreover, from the spaces between the windows, the rooms are pretty big, aren’t they?
Isn’t this like an apartment for families? It’s clearly not a place for living alone, that’s for sure.
「This isn’t the time to blank out. It’s already gotten late, I need to hurry and give my greetings.」
If I’m not wrong, the manager should be living in room 1. They should be done with dinner by now, so I should give the gift before it gets too late. Ring the intercom and…
『Who might it be?』
「I’m sorry to disturb this late in the night. I’m moving in today, my name is Kisaragi Kotone.」
『Give me a moment, I’ll open the door.』
A gentle-looking lady came out from the door. From how she spoke, this person should be the manager of this apartment. She seems pretty young but she’s got a child, right? Raising a kid while managing an apartment this large must be hard.
「I’m Itou Kyouko, I’m the manager responsible for this apartment.」
「I’ve introduced myself earlier, but I’m Kisaragi Kotone. Pleased to meet you. Ah, it’s not much but please accept these.」
「Why thank you. Nonetheless, contrary to what I’ve been told, you’re quite a courteous one.」
「Aah, so you have heard about me. Incidentally, would you mind if I asked what exactly you’ve been told?」
「Let’s see… I was told that you were quite egoistic and to feel free to throw you out if you cause trouble to the other residents. That’s why I had my guard up, but it seems that it’s unneeded.」
「I might be acting, you know?」
「If that was the case, then you wouldn’t ask that yourself. Despite how it seems, I’m quite confident in my eye for people. Ah, I’ll be giving you the key to your room, so wait here for a moment, okay?」
I can’t betray her trust now, can I? Besides, if Kotone was the one that met her, I’m definitely sure that this manager would kick her out. Kotone’s the type that doesn’t know a lick of modesty and prudence, so she’d just brute force conversations.
Yet despite that, she’d get irritated since the conversations would go nowhere, she’s frankly beyond saving.
「Alright, here it is. Your room will be room number 35 on the 3rd floor. It’s the very last room, so don’t be confused. Also, tell me if there’s something bothering you, I’ll hear you out.」
「I’ll rely on you at that opportunity. Now then, I’ll be excusing myself.」
Just as my first impression of her, she seems to be a kind person. Now then, time to go to the room. Still, from the room numbering, there are 5 rooms per floor. Just how big are the rooms.
「Ah, I need to greet the person next door.」
The person at room 34, right? I hope it’s not some scary guy or something. This is an apartment under the management of the Kisaragi family, so I’m sure that there aren’t any scary people here but still, there are people that just look scary too.
Hm? No one’s coming even after I rang the intercom. Being out of the house this late, I wonder what this person’s job is. If there’s no one then no choice, I’ll try coming again tomorrow.
「Yeah, just no.」
The moment I entered, those were my first words. From a regular person’s perspective, with there being a toilet separate from the bath, a kitchen-dining room, a bedroom, and a separate guest room; isn’t this just a whole house? This is clearly not a room for someone living alone. Ugh, I don’t even want to think about the rent.
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「Still, I expected there to be a pile of cardboard boxes, but there’s not even one. It’s going to be impossible if I have to buy clothes too. Ah, there it is.」
Opening a random closet, I see various clothes inside. However, they’re basically only either black or white, most of them dress shirts, what the heck. And only jeans for the bottoms, couldn’t they have thought of this just a bit more?
I’d say no to gaudy clothes myself, but this is extreme. Though I’m glad that there’s a jersey too.
「Rather, there are only clothes for this season, huh. So I’ll have to buy summer and winter clothes myself. Yeah, this would be an easy checkmate if I don’t get a part-time job. Also, there’s a PC, a portable audio player, and the fridge is loaded with foodstuff. Do they really have the intention of making me live alone?」
It’s too complete for a starting inventory. Also, for the smaller stuff. I’ll have to buy a bookshelf, a calendar, an apron, some cooking utensils, things to tie my hair with, and so on.
I guess I’ll be going to a hundred-yen store tomorrow. I should be able to procure these to some extent. A store specializing in those would work too, but I don’t have a lot of time and I can’t run the risk of me impulse buying.
「For now, I guess I’ll unplug the TV and the other things I won’t be using. After that, shower and sleep.」
Rather than physical exhaustion, I’m more tired mentally. Taking the body of a girl that just killed herself is too shocking. And then the part about suddenly living alone or being the daughter of a well-off family, just what is this situation?
For the laundry, I guess I’ll go with a once every three days frequency. Matching that, I’ll take a bath at the same time, reusing and decreasing the use of water, saving up on electricity. I really have a lot to think about.
「Still, she’s got a good figure.」
I was pretty panicked at the hospital so I didn’t notice but on closer inspection, Kotone’s got the curves going in and out. She’s living her life so lazily, how was she able to maintain this figure?
She’s really got breasts though. How big is this? Err, her underwear is…… E, huh.
「I shouldn’t get too conscious. I feel like I’d hate myself if I started thinking weird stuff.」
In reality, if I make a move, it probably won’t just end with self-loathing. My consciousness is still a guy’s, so I need to control myself. Or rather, washing this hair is annoying! How much shampoo do I use!? I’ll need the same amount of conditioner, right?
When I was a man, I only needed a single push’s amount, moreover, I’ll have to use a lot of water to wash all of this off now. Should I cut my hair to save up? But the nurse said it’d be better to grow it longer.
Besides, people would probably find it weird if I cut my hair short before advancing to the second year. If I do something conspicuous, it’ll likely cause strange rumors.
「Like maybe I’m just plotting something again. The worse one’s image is, the harder it’ll be to clean up. Or rather, my hair isn’t drying.」
I’m using a hairdryer but alas, the length of the hair makes it time-consuming. There’s surprisingly a lot of negatives. Rather, it’s amazing how women can do this every day. When I was still a man, my hair just dried out naturally, so I really didn’t think about it too much but with how a woman’s hair is, it’s this annoying huh.
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「Okay, sleep time. The longer I stay awake, the more electricity I waste.」
I turned off all the lights and crawled into the futon bed. Aah, the smell of brand new bedding. Still, this living-alone thing should have been for prompting self-reflection, but what is this sense of thoroughness? Well, if I didn’t have my sensibilities as a commoner, this might have been hell. Let’s see, set the alarm to 5 in the morning and, done. Goodnight.
Aah, it’s an unfamiliar ceiling. Thinking about the old cliche, I stop the ringing alarm. As expected, it’s still dark at this time. After drinking a glass of water, I comb my hair, tie it back, and change into a jersey. Preparations done.
「Now then, I guess I’ll start by jogging.」
Honestly, I already have muscle aches from yesterday’s activities but I’ll need more stamina in my job and so for the future, so body strengthening is necessary. The goal is to build this body to be as mobile as mine did.
Today’s the first day, so I guess I’ll just sweat out a bit. I understood yesterday that I have no stamina, so I probably won’t push this body too much.
「For now, I’ll just go run enough to break a sweat and go home.」
Let’s go with a random route. I fell asleep immediately, so I couldn’t even search for a map on the net, so I have absolutely no grasp of the area. Even in Kotone’s memories, she’s not really too familiar with this district.
Well, this is because she practically only travels by car and only goes to the expensive stores. Really, what did she plan on achieving?
「Really though, out of stamina in just ten minutes, are you serious?」
CHAPTER 3 – NEW HOME [2]
I’m just doing a light jog to sweat out, why are my legs already trembling in this short amount of time! Just walking normally would give you enough stamina to keep up with this though. My physical strength-related specs are too low…
I’ll have to assess my other specs eventually. I guess I should go to a batting center sometime.
「Hey, what are you doing there?」
While I was resting on a nearby park bench, someone spoke to me. I just heard this same voice yesterday though, so I immediately recognized who it was.
「Let me ask you the same, what are you doing Kaori?」
「My morning training. I’ll tell you since you probably don’t know, but I’m in the track club.」
「Is that so? I’m building stamina. After all, if I’m going to work, I’ll just cause trouble if I can’t move around because of exhaustion.」
「It’s really hard to believe that you’re the same Kisaragi. I have no idea whether something happened to change you though.」
「Ah, come to think of it, I still have the watch. I’ll have to return it later.」
「Don’t mind, mom said that it’s yours now. Besides, you plan on applying for a part-time job approval from the school, right?」
「That’s right. If I don’t get the proper permissions in advance, it might cause problems later and cause trouble for a lot of people.」
「Then contact me once you get to school. You probably wouldn’t be trusted anyway.」
「Are you really sure?」
Come to think of it, it’ll take time for the teachers to trust me even if I explain myself but I don’t understand why Kaori wants to help out. There just isn’t any merit to helping the school’s well-hated Kotone.
On the contrary, there’s probably nothing but demerits. Maybe she’s helping out for her parent’s sake.
「It’s fine. With how you are right now, there’s no one at school that would know that you’re Kisaragi at first glance.」
「Ah, because of the makeup, right. Thinking back on that, it was pretty terrible.」
「It’s not just that though. You’re pretty enough with no makeup, people wouldn’t normally make themselves look worse. Or rather, you didn’t have makeup on yesterday too?」
「Makeup is annoying, so I’ve had enough of it. I don’t know how to apply nice makeup well too, so I’ll just fight on without any.」
「With your looks, that might be good enough but are you really fine like that as a woman?」
「I don’t have much money, so I don’t have the leeway to buy cosmetics. So I’d rather choose just not to use any to begin with,」
「I really can’t believe that you’re a rich kid. Then I’ll be going now, make sure to contact me, okay!」
「Of course, I’ll be relying on you then. See you later.」
After seeing Kaori jog off, I began walking back home. I’m obviously out of energy after the jog, so I’m just walking now. With how the season is, the blowing winds are chilly but it’s perfect to cool down my body.
Now then, what’ll I have for breakfast? I haven’t washed the rice yet, so it’s off the menu. I guess I’ll toast some bread. Also a sunny side up, that’d be nice with a salad and consomme soup. At any rate, I’ll have to prioritize eating the ones that are quick to spoil.
「Ah, my neighbor’s back home. Or rather, that person is……」
As I reached the third floor, I happened to see the person in the room next to mine just about to pass through their doorway. For some reason, I’m meeting people I’ve met yesterday this morning. Anyway, I should get the housewarming present from my room and greet my neighbor.
She seems to have been from work, so I’ll have to greet her before she falls asleep. And a ding-dong.
『What is it?』
「Pardon for the early disturbance. I just moved in next door yesterday. It’s not much, there’s something I’d like to give as a gift.」
『Eh? This voice…』
The reaction seemed to me that she was rushing to the door, but I hear absolutely nothing from the outside. The soundproofing in this apartment is abnormally good. It’s probably good enough that even if you hold a party and make a ruckus, it won’t be heard from the next door.
「It really is you, Kotone!」
「Thank you for yesterday, Miss nurse. I never imagined that we would be neighbors.」
「What an amazing coincidence. Ah, now that you mentioned it, I haven’t given my name. I’m Satou Akane.」
「Ms. Satou, is it? Pleased to meet you.」
「Call me Akane. So Kotone, have you already eaten breakfast?」
「No, but I’ll be making some after this.」
Ah, I think I just saw Ms. Akane’s eyes glint. It’s pretty obvious that she’s planning on sponging off a meal though. Hmm, what should I do? Honestly, my finances aren’t so generous that I could give away to other people. Well, I guess one time is fine.
There are still the ingredients from my starting inventory anyway, and I’ll have to dispose of these unless I use them all up either way.
「If you don’t mind, could you make breakfast for me too? I just don’t have the strength and energy to cook.」
「Sure, but I’m going to shower first. Right now, I reek of sweat after all.」
「Then I’ll take a shower too. That aside, why are you so sweaty?」
「Early morning physical training.」
Ms. Akane’s eyes narrowed. Ah, come to think of it, I just got out of the hospital yesterday. Yeah, I guess she’d be worried that I’m already running around the day after being discharged. I’m feeling extremely good though.
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「Geez, be careful with your body.」
「I’m sorry for making you worry.」
「Take care of yourself more. If you ever feel bad, tell me immediately.」
「I understand. Now let me excuse myself a moment.」
For now, I should take a quick shower. I don’t have much time to dry myself, so I guess I’ll just wear a towel and make breakfast while being careful not to leave too many droplets on the floor. Still, it’s not going to be that much work.
First, the consomme soup. Ingredients are onions and carrots. While I have that heating up, I fry the eggs sunny side up and prepare the salad and toast. Upon finishing, I set them on the table. The condiments are salt, pepper, and soy sauce. I don’t know which Ms. Akane prefers after all.
All of this only costs me zero in expenses, so all hail the starting inventory.
「Kotone! At least lock your door!」
「I was thinking that you’d be here soon, so…」
「So…? You’re a girl living all by yourself, be more careful! These days, you never know what could happen. Also, dry your hair properly!」
I got scolded. She got my brush and hairdryer and helped me dry out, but repeatedly warned me in the middle of it all. What she’s saying is painfully true but please give me a break, I was a man just recently. It’s still early in the morning, so it’s mentally exhausting.
「Ah, Ms. Akane. The food is getting cold, so we should eat now.」
「Geez, you’re like a sibling that needs a lot of attention. Ooh, breakfast looks good. Well then, thanks for the meal~!」
「Thanks for the meal.」
Hmm, the soup is a bit thin in taste. Or rather, that’s the only thing that has enough flavor to judge by. The other food only needed heating or chopping to prepare after all. The eggs were perfectly half-cooked, so it’s acceptable.
「Man, you’re really good at cooking, Kotone. With this, you shouldn’t have any problems with being a bride.」
「I think anyone can make this much though.」
Um, Ms. Akane. Why are you silently averting your eyes? Don’t tell me, she can’t cook? Still, nurses typically have pretty irregular working times, so she probably eats out or settles with side dishes in general. In this case, let me try suggesting something.
「Would you like me to make breakfast again whenever our times coincide? On the condition that we’ll split the expenses for the ingredients, that is.」
「Really!? Then please do!」
Okay, with this I can save up a bit on the food expenses. I’ll allocate the saved money on coffee and other luxury items. I’m not going to last with only water as my drink. That was the case even before I died, but my friends called me a caffeine addict back then. Which I won’t deny.
「Ms. Akane, would you prefer coffee more? Or tea? Also, do you have anything you can’t eat?」
「I guess coffee. There’s not much I particularly can’t eat, so I’ll go with your choices, Kotone.」
「Understood. Would you like coffee now?」
「Hmmm, maybe not right now. After all, I’m sleeping right after this.」
Am I the only one that can still sleep immediately after drinking coffee? I don’t really think that it’s that different from any other drinks though. Oh well, for now, I need to clean up and change into the school uniform.
「Isn’t it still spring break at school?」
「I have to apply for written permission for my part-time job. And I really don’t feel like entering the faculty room in casual clothes.」
「A well-off girl working part-time, huh. Come to think of it, this is the first time you’ve ever cooked, right? And yet, I’m a lot worse……」
Sorry, I cooked my own food all the time before I died, so I have abnormally high girl power. And thanks to that, I can live even with low finances. Ah, the skirt’s length returned. I seriously don’t want to wear a skirt short enough to see the underwear, so I’m really glad.
Now then, let me relax a bit before heading to school. Aah, coffee tastes good.