Tokyo Chapter 80

Upon hearing this, Shuichi Chiba suddenly thought of something. Did she not wanting to be a teacher at the private school mean she had an aversion to teaching? Sumire Nagase was so careless, perhaps she didn’t even realize it?

He looked at Ichika Kitagawa. "Kitagawa-san, there's no need to worry too much about tutoring. Nagase-sensei must have spoken badly of me to you. My life goal is to lie flat, I don’t have much ambition."

The words were somewhat indirect, but Ichika Kitagawa immediately understood. "It's okay, thank you for your concern, Chiba-kun."

Shuichi Chiba smiled gently. "It's nothing. We can change the conditions, like if you send me some flowers for free every month or something like that. There's no need to trouble yourself, Kitagawa-san."

At this point, Sumire Nagase also caught on and rolled her eyes. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course, we've already discussed this with Kitagawa. Alright, let's go take a look at the shop situation first."

Shuichi Chiba had no objections and led the two of them to the site next door to check it out.

"If you want to open a flower shop, the first floor will need some renovation. As for the second floor, if you plan to use it as a residence, it’s basically ready for move-in. It comes with air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, everything..."

Shuichi Chiba was introducing the place very professionally.

Sumire Nagase looked at him with some surprise. "I didn’t expect you to be so competent when you get serious."

"Teacher, you learned this too late." Shuichi Chiba smiled.

"Then why don’t you put some of that effort into your schoolwork?" Sumire Nagase said with resentment.

"Mm-hmm, no problem. With Kitagawa-san helping with the tutoring, I’ll definitely take it seriously." Shuichi Chiba responded, looking very agreeable.

However, Sumire Nagase was even more annoyed after hearing this. So, the problem is all with me as the teacher, huh?

But if I lose to Kitagawa... Well, that’s fine then.

…..

After taking a look around, Shuichi Chiba wisely returned to the management office next door, leaving the two of them to discuss.

Sumire Nagase looked at Ichika Kitagawa with some concern. The latter’s face, as usual, bore a soft, shallow smile, like a flower that never wilts.

Sumire Nagase was afraid that her decision might be wrong, and she didn’t want to see such a beautiful person get hurt again.

"What do you think? Is there any problem? To be honest, even though Chiba is my student, I really can't tell if he's reliable or not."

Shuichi Chiba’s ever-changing behavior made Sumire Nagase hard to read.

"Mm, thanks to you, this place is much better than my original plan." Ichika Kitagawa said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and giving a slight nod.

"As for Chiba-kun... I don’t feel any strong possessiveness from him, nor anything excessive... it’s just simple admiration."

It was clear that Sumire Nagase had heard this kind of evaluation before, but she was still surprised by the assessment. "Eh? That high of a rating? Chiba of all people...?"

She felt strangely uneasy in her heart. The guy who played those kinds of games with girls in the infirmary room could remain so indifferent in front of Kitagawa’s unmatched beauty?

Something just didn’t seem right…

"My feelings may not be entirely right, so just trust your own judgment." Ichika Kitagawa said gently, noticing Sumire Nagase’s self-doubt.

"No, no, no, your judgment is always spot-on. I’m the one who's off." Sumire Nagase shook her head repeatedly.

Seeing this, Ichika Kitagawa didn’t say anything more but walked over to the balcony, staring absentmindedly at the small park not far from the backstreet.

Sumire Nagase stood beside her, turning to look at her profile, not for the first time marveling at how truly beautiful Kitagawa was…

How could there be such a perfect person in the world?

And not only that, but she was also her friend. Sumire Nagase felt incredibly fortunate.

The only problem was…

…

"She still won’t call me by my name," Sumire Nagase mumbled quietly, watching Ichika Kitagawa signing documents not far away.

Shuichi Chiba, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Teacher, do you want to get closer to Kitagawa-san?"

Sumire Nagase didn’t expect her quiet remark to be overheard. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly pulled him outside to the street.

She glanced back at the room where Ichika Kitagawa was still completely unaware, dealing with the paperwork with the elderly butler. Only then did she relax.

After a moment of hesitation, Sumire Nagase turned to Shuichi Chiba and asked, “You seem pretty good at this kind of... getting closer to people thing?”

Shuichi Chiba immediately understood what she meant and smiled. “First, teacher, you have to understand one thing: when it comes to romance, if a man treats a woman as a goddess, he will never win her heart. Only when you treat her as a regular person, as an equal, can things move forward.”

Sumire Nagase shot him a look. “Kitagawa is not an ordinary person, and are you misunderstanding what being close friends means?”

Shuichi Chiba shrugged. “Friends are the same. When you start to look up to someone, there will always be an insurmountable gap between you.”

Although they had just met, he continued, “But personally, I feel that for Kitagawa-san…”

“What?” Sumire Nagase’s tone became more serious as she leaned in, listening intently.

The role reversal in this teacher-student interaction made Shuichi Chiba chuckle, and his laugh only served to embarrass Sumire Nagase even more.

Quickly sensing her growing irritation, Shuichi Chiba hastily interrupted, "Teacher, whenever you talk about Kitagawa-san, you always have that look of admiration and worship on your face, saying she’s perfect. But I think that’s the root of the distance between you two. Kitagawa-san might be afraid that if she gets too close to you, you’ll see her flaws and be disappointed. It might be better for her to maintain some distance, so the friendship can continue."

Sumire Nagase immediately frowned, unconvinced. "How could that be? I’ve known Kitagawa for many years. If she had flaws, I would have noticed them long ago. She’s just that perfect. Your guess is completely off."

Is there really such a thing as a perfect person?

Shuichi Chiba didn’t believe in such perfection, but he didn’t argue. "Ah, right, right. You and Kitagawa-san have known each other for years, to the point where you can even call each other by your last names. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters."

Sumire Nagase, frustrated, puffed out her chest in anger. "You just can't speak properly, can you? Always so sarcastic!"

"I can’t help it; you can’t wake someone who’s pretending to be asleep." Shuichi Chiba shrugged nonchalantly.

"Do you enjoy making me angry?" Sumire Nagase gritted her teeth, her patience wearing thin.

"Mm, it’s pretty cute." Shuichi Chiba nodded, clearly amused.

"Don’t use such words to describe your teacher! How disrespectful!" Sumire Nagase said..

"Though you say that..." Shuichi Chiba's gaze became somewhat bold, "...it does seem to be the most fitting description."

"You...!" Sumire Nagase was so angry she could feel her chest tighten.

"The paperwork with Kitagawa-san is almost done. You wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself in front of her, right? Looking all huffy like this, it doesn’t exactly make a good impression." Shuichi Chiba casually pointed toward the room.

Sumire Nagase froze for a moment, then quickly took a deep breath to calm herself, trying to act more composed.

Seeing her struggle to regain her composure, Shuichi Chiba couldn’t help but feel a sense of mischief.

"Teacher, let me tell you a secret. The penalty clause in that contract is a bit high. Kitagawa-san is now in my hands. You’ll listen to me from now on, won’t you?"

"What?!!" Sumire Nagase's eyes widened in shock.