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CHAPTER 30 – TO A WEIRD DIRECTION [1]
After treating the bodyguards parfait, I asked them for a ride home and the day finally ended. I’m pretty sure I won’t be going to another pub again until I reach the legal age. And now, at present. I’m eating breakfast together with a pouty-looking Akane.
「To think that you’d eat delicious food while I’m not around. Moreover, for free.」
「I told you about it beforehand, haven’t I?」
「If not for my work, I wanted to go along too. After all, I know that if I offer Kondou as a sacrifice, I probably won’t end up getting collateral damage.」
The cause of the collateral damage is probably going to be Teacher Saeki. And seeing how Kondou is to be sacrificed without any hesitation, I really feel bad for him. Keeping Akane and the others company after becoming an adult seems like a lot of trouble.
「It was amazing. The amount she drank, that is.」
「All the more since it’s free drinks. I wonder if the guys left for the afterparty survived without casualties.」
How many bottles did she empty in an hour again? And since the principal drank as much as he was urged to, I can’t imagine him being fine. Did he actually read the mail I sent to him? I really hope he didn’t mess up.
「Okay! Let’s have Korean barbeque1 for dinner then!」
「I don’t have the financial leeway for that.」
「Please. I want to eat some beef occasionally too. I’ll even pay for the meat, so please.」
「Hmmm…… I suppose it can’t be helped.」
If she’ll pay for the meat, then I guess it’s fine. If I stop by the shopping district’s meat shop, I’d get a bit more as a freebie too. It’s gotten a lot more economical going to the shopping district than a supermarket now. Why did I even go around finding supermarkets before?
「Then let’s do it on your next day off, Akane.」
If we’re having a Korean barbeque, Akane will probably drink a lot, and the excess can be used for different dishes at a later time. I might get to eat beef for several days after. Yup, it’s nice to have some every once in a while.
「Yay! And now, sleep time.」
「Don’t run out of energy and fall asleep here. Please go to your own room.」
「Somehow, it felt like it’s fine for me to live here. I’m not really in my room outside of sleeping, too.」
「What about your husband?」
「I already told him that I’d be here if I’m not at our room, so it’s fine.」
「No, that’s not fine. What if he comes marching in here because of that?」
If an unknown man comes to my room, how should I even react? A man visiting a girl living by herself is, as expected, problematic. And if he comes when my mom is also visiting, there’s no telling what sort of ideas that’ll give her.
「He doesn’t have a key, so it’s fine. And I’ve already told him about you, you see.」
「I’m really worried about how you explained me to your husband though…」
You even publicly call me your wife, after all. I have no idea how you’d introduce me to your husband. What are you going to do if he gets jealous? Why do I, a woman, have to be worried about jealousy?2
「It’s fine, don’t worry. My husband is an understanding person, you see?」
「Can I really trust you on that?」
I’m conflicted. Besides, no one knows anything about Akane’s husband, so I have no idea what sort of person he is. All I know is that he has a job. That’s too little info to pass judgment.
「Now then, I need to be off to my part-time job soon. Akane, please return to your room.」
「Roger roger. Let’s discuss about the Korean Barbeque later then~.」
Seeing Akane totter out of the room, I guess she’s really tired. And maybe she’s feeling lonely too. Even though she’s married, it doesn’t seem like she sees her husband that much. I guess I should put away the dishes now.
As I was working, I suddenly realized that if their band is popular, then Kaori probably knows them, right? I’m sure that she watches TV more than I do. I’ll try asking her after work.
「And so, do you know about them?」
「I don’t know what you mean by the first part, but yeah, I know. I’m a fan. Rather, you should be able to recognise them from the music segments on TV.」
「I don’t watch TV, you see.」
Not to brag, but my TV has never been plugged in. It’s because I’m only either reading books in my room or cooking food. I do use the internet sometimes, but I don’t search about celebrity info at all.
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「And you call yourself a highschool girl? You won’t be able to connect with your friends that way, you know?」
「It’s exactly as you say.」
「Geez. Anyway, about EXIST. They formed two years ago. There was a rumor that they had a fifth member too.」
That was probably me. We formed the band as a hobby and I joined as a bassist. In that case, I guess it’s just the four of them playing. Then is she doing both the bass and vocals? Why is she pushing herself that much? I really can’t think of any reason.
「They have a live concert this July, but I don’t have tickets for you.」
「I didn’t want to go anyways. Tell me about the experience afterwards.」
If she had gotten a ticket for me, I’m sure that she’ll be taking me along, no questions asked. Still, to think that they’d get famous enough to hold live concerts like this. We just uploaded a video as a joke back then, and now they’re celebrities. Though that video is, for us, a part of our dark history.3
「That aside, which ball games are you going to play?」
「I’m a member of the Student Council, so I’ll only join as a helper.」
「That’s right, now that you mention it. Sounds relaxing.」
I’ll need to help with the executive committee, so I can’t be a fixed player for any event. Though I will be helping, it’s mostly going to be the tallying of scores, so it’s not like I’d be too busy. Still, it does sound relaxing since I’m not going to be moving much.
「Kotone. More importantly, what are you going to do about that in the coming season?」
「By that, you mean?」
I automatically replied, but I seriously don’t have any idea what the owner is talking about. What is that?
「I’m talking about your wrist. Since you’re going to change to summer uniforms soon, you can’t hide it during PE, right?」
「That’s true.」
I’ve completely forgotten about it, but the scar on my wrist hasn’t disappeared at all. It’s only been 3 months since it happened, so that’s just normal. Wearing the academy uniform, I can hide it with the wristwatch as I’ve done up until now, but that’s not applicable during PE. It’ll be visible when we change to short sleeves, huh.
「Is there something with Kotone’s wrist?」
「This.」
I haven’t shown it to Kaori, haven’t I? And so, I removed the wristwatch and showed her the wound. Her face immediately scrunched up. Still, her reaction doesn’t bother me much. This is limited to people I opened my heart to, however.
「What were you thinking!?」
「It happened before I met you. Well, just think of it as the reason why I changed.」
「Never do it again.」
「I won’t. I don’t have any reason to.」
「Don’t do it even if you do. If there’s something troubling you, then talk to me or other people about it. Alright?!」
「Alright. I’ll rely on you when that happens.」
「Then good. Still, thinking about it, wouldn’t it be in plain sight during swimming class?」
「I’ll put a bandaid over it or something.」
That’s probably the only option. With the PE uniform, wearing a wristband fits but in the case of swim class, I can’t use that. And if I cover it with bandages, I likely wouldn’t even be let in the pool.
「People will probably find it suspicious though.」
「New material for rumors, huh.」
Moreover if that happens, the rumors will have a tinge of truth this time. After all, it’s true that Kotone committed suicide and the proof is practically on me 24/7. Perfectly concealing it is difficult.
「Still, maybe it’s just me but I don’t think your classmates would care about it much.」
「That class is abnormally accepting, I know.」
References
Lyly: Yakiniku
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakiniku
Formerly referred to barbeque and grilled meat dishes in general, in recent times it’s generally the Japanese-style Korean barbeque, which is understandable since Korean barbeque really exploded. Even in my locale at least, there’s Korean Barbeque everywhere now.Lyly: No one expects yuri NTR as a possible outcomeLyly: Ah yes, cringey things you do in the past