Starting a New Life in Tokyo by Inheriting a Shopping Street [62]

“So… she flew into a rage out of humiliation?” Chiba Shuuichi could guess the development easily—he’d seen it too many times.

“More or less.” Nase Sumire nodded.
“At first it was just some of the people she’d rejected saying sour things behind her back—claiming she looked down on others, was arrogant, that sort of thing.

“But later, when a female teacher got involved, things went downhill fast.”

“Hold on—” Shuuichi cut in quickly. “Am I imagining the wrong thing here? She rejected female teachers too?”

Sumire shot him a sharp look.

“What are you thinking? It was a jealous female teacher who joined in the backbiting.”

“Fair enough.” Shuuichi clicked his tongue. Looked like he really had been corrupted by that perverted Kaichou—his mind went to weird places more and more lately.

“If it had just been that, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. After all, in the workplace, stuff like this is common. Even if it’s not about looks, people with outstanding ability face the same kind of thing.”

Sumire sighed, a little regretful.

“But she just happened to be outstanding in both looks and ability—and even in personality."

“In the face of all that slander, she still smiled the same as before, kept working and living according to her own pace, still treating others kindly.”

“Generally speaking,” Shuuichi mused, rubbing his chin, “being a little outstanding gets you jealousy, but being too outstanding should make people admire you, right?”

“Maybe that’s true. But her mistake… was in being too perfect. A perfect person only makes ordinary people feel ashamed, makes them see their own ugliness more clearly. That just makes the urge to shatter that perfection even stronger.

“They’ll do anything to drag her down to the dust, make her as filthy as they are—then they don’t have to feel shame anymore. I suppose that’s just human instinct…”

Nase-sensei, the language arts teacher, was sounding distinctly like a literary youth now.

A perfect person, huh?

Shuuichi thought for a moment. He didn’t believe such a thing really existed.

Beauty came from distance—most likely no one had ever been truly close to this Amamiya Momoka, so all they saw was the surface, and from there, imagined perfection.

“Then one day, out of nowhere, a rumor spread. That she was indecent. That she liked to walk around with no clothes on. That she was a shameless woman.”

“Hm?” Shuuichi lifted his head to look at Sumire.

Sumire’s face was full of indignation.

“At first, no one knew who started it. Later we found out—Amamiya had kindly let a female colleague she got along with stay over. After that, the rumor began."

“So this ‘walking around naked’ thing… it was in her own home. Most likely she’d just finished bathing, or was changing in her bedroom, and the colleague walked in."

“And because of jealousy, she twisted the truth, spread it around… and in the end, it caused Amamiya’s social death. She couldn’t keep working at all—had no choice but to resign and leave.”

“That really is over the line.” Shuuichi thought back to the public baths in his past life’s university—everyone saw each other naked, and it was no big deal.

He’d never imagined something like this could destroy a person.

“No wonder Nase-sensei said before that being popular isn’t necessarily a good thing. Turns out there was a precedent.” Shuuichi let out a sigh.

“With Sensei’s looks, if you really dressed up, you’d definitely be the target of jealousy too, wouldn’t you?”

Sumire gave him a side-eye. “I feel like you’re mocking me.”

“Now that’s unfair. I’m seriously worrying about Sensei here. Sounds more like you’re the one lacking confidence.” Shuuichi spread his hands with a helpless smile.

The atmosphere instantly felt less heavy.

Sumire no longer looked quite so indignant, only waved a hand dismissively.

“Don’t even compare—any woman in front of Amamiya would lose confidence.”

“I noticed something—Sensei calls her a friend, but you always use her family name. Tsk.” Shuuichi clicked his tongue, as if savoring the detail.

A faint flush rose to Sumire’s cheeks.

“We are friends. It’s just… I’ve always used her surname, and I got used to it, so I never changed."

“And she’s not the joking, laughing type. Switching to a familiar nickname would just feel… strange.”

“Ohhh, so in private, Sensei is the joking, laughing type.” Shuuichi had a knack for grabbing the one point she didn’t want highlighted.

“…” Sumire felt like this boy was going to be the death of her. “It’s about time—get back to class.”

Shuuichi watched her leave, then started heading back to his own classroom, mulling over what she’d said.

Amamiya Momoka, huh?

Nase-sensei clearly didn’t know her “friend” as well as she thought. Who knew how much of what she’d said was even accurate?

Shuuichi shook his head. Thinking too much about it was useless—he’d just have to meet her in person. For now, the only thing he could be sure of was that Amamiya Momoka’s looks were definitely not in question.

Still, if she really was that aloof, “perfect existence” type, it would probably be tough to make her feel any belonging to the shopping street.

One step at a time. She might not even come.

...

The first class after lunch was math. Bored, Shuuichi pulled out his phone, deciding to find someone to tease.

And… he chose Ogawa Sayuki.

Just yesterday they’d reached the milestone of a kiss—it was the perfect time to strike while the iron was hot.

[Let me see your legs?]

[Let me see your legs?] Sayuki replied instantly.

[…] Shuuichi’s eyelid twitched.

[Chiba-kun’s legs have a nice feel to them. Send me a picture.]

Sayuki was deliberately using his own teasing tactics against him.

[Sayuki-neesan can use them for spellcasting anytime.] Shuuichi rolled up his pant leg without hesitation, snapped a shot, and sent it.

[I don’t have that kind of kink. But remember to take off any extra clothes when you have time, and send me more body shots.]

[Tss… Sayuki-neesan’s appetite is something else. Can we make this an exchange? I want to see those kinds of pictures of Sayuki-neesan too.]

[In your dreams. I meant physique shots—muscle progress photos. That way, once you’ve made some gains, you can compare. Visible improvement helps with motivation and confidence in training.]

[Alright. But even Sayuki-neesan being all serious like this has its own charm. Makes me even more impatient to start training with you.]

It wasn’t that Shuuichi had some special fetish—he really had been looking forward to proper training for a while.

And with Sayuki’s belonging score already at 40, the gym administrator’s training boost was sitting at 400%.

One day of training equaled five days of progress. A good body was practically within reach.

Who could resist?

[Heh. Just don’t regret it later.]

[Will I be finished off by Sayuki-neesan’s thigh choke?]

[If you’re really that eager, I’m not opposed.]

[Then I’ll reserve a spot… fifty years from now.]

Sayuki rolled her eyes. By then she’d be an old lady.
[Do you actually have business, or can I get back to work? I don’t have time to play with little boys.]

[The business is—I miss Sayuki-neesan.]

[Fake sweet talk. I don’t buy it, so don’t waste your effort.]

[Sayuki-neesan, you’re being too hasty. It’s absolutely not fake sweet talk. My lips have been aching all day—how could I not think of you?]

[…] Sayuki was left without a comeback. That was, admittedly, hard to refute.
[So?]

[I’ve got to bite back. Otherwise, the more I think about it, the more cheated I’ll feel—and the more annoyed I’ll get.]

---

This is a fan translation of 从继承商店街开始东京生活 by 净消尘土 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!