Starting a New Life in Tokyo by Inheriting a Shopping Street [56]

The last period on Wednesday morning was Home Basics. Today’s lesson was cooking. After a brief explanation and a few reminders, the teacher let the students form their own groups.

Chiba Shuuichi picked a cooking station tucked in a corner. As usual, Uchida Yae came over on his own. For this sort of group activity, the two of them typically just chatted and muddled through.

But today was different—because… Akiyama An also walked over.

“Look over there—what’s going on? Why’s the class rep going to the otaku group?”

“Is she there to scold them? With the class rep’s serious personality, it makes sense.”

“Class rep’s always been someone who values food. Maybe she couldn’t stand seeing them waste ingredients and went to teach them cooking?”

“Those two guys got lucky today—they’ll get to eat something made by the class rep.”

As the “little sister of the iceberg beauty,” Student Council President Akiyama Tsuki, An was also someone who drew attention in class.

So her suddenly joining up with two otaku was bound to draw eyes.

Still, there were no ridiculous speculations or nasty comments. The class atmosphere was fairly harmonious.

Or maybe you could just say the otaku had zero presence—no one paid attention to them, no one cared. You could even call it a kind of cold-shoulder treatment.

Uchida, normally slouching, straightened up when the class rep came over. Otherwise she was bound to say something like, “Uchida-kun, please take this seriously—food is precious.”

Not exactly a scolding, but being told that in front of everyone was still pretty embarrassing.

Thinking this, Uchida shrank a little farther into the corner. Since they were already at the farthest cooking station, he could just press himself into the wall.

Still, he felt a little guilty and silently apologized to Shuuichi: You take this one.

Shuuichi had no idea about Uchida’s inner drama. He just stood where he was, looking at An in puzzlement. “What are you doing here?”

An tried to hold her face stiff, imitating her sister’s usual expression, speaking as coolly as she could: “Teaming up with you. Is that not allowed?”

“I’ve got no problem with it. But your sister might not be too happy,” Shuuichi said with a small laugh.

“Hmph.” At that, An puffed her cheeks slightly. “Sis… lied to me. Are you two dating?”

“No. She actually didn’t lie to you about that,” Shuuichi answered honestly. After all, what they had couldn’t be called a dating relationship—it was more master–servant, or special-game partners.

Hearing him say so too, An believed it. Ever since her sister had lied about not drinking white peach soda, she’d lost her blind trust in her.

“Then… if you look into a boy’s eyes, talk to him, touch him… will you get tricked into having a baby?” An asked.

“…,” Shuuichi rolled his eyes, but thinking about it, maybe there was some truth there—at least in An’s case. “That’s… not entirely wrong.”

“Oh, right—Sis said that specifically about Chiba-kun,” An suddenly remembered, adding it in.

The corner of Shuuichi’s mouth twitched. “Then that’s definitely fake. Haven’t you already looked at me, talked to me, and even touched me? Did you get tricked into having a baby?”

“Oh, that’s true.” An realized, and indeed, she hadn’t been tricked into doing anything weird.

Having figured that out, she asked curiously, “Is dating… fun?”

For some reason, looking at the cute, clueless, food-loving An, Shuuichi felt a wave of fatherly worry.

A little fool like this—if no one looked out for her, she really would get tricked.

“It’s not fun at all. Definitely not as fun as eating. Listen to your sister—stay away from boys,” Shuuichi said, then added, “Except for me.”

“Oh…” An nodded thoughtfully, and her little head started whirring.

Mom said girls will definitely date boys someday…

I’m a girl…

Sis and Chiba-kun both say I should stay away from boys…

Only Chiba-kun is the exception among boys—the one I can be around…

So… the only person I can date is Chiba-kun?

Using mathematical reasoning, An solved one of life’s great problems. She felt an almost enlightening clarity wash over her.

Seeing her dazedly cute expression, the faint baby fat on her cheeks looking very pinchable, Shuuichi—seeing no one paying attention—quietly reached out to give them a squeeze.

Back in the morning when Tsuki had pinched her sister’s cheeks, Shuuichi had felt the itch to try.

“Mm?” An blinked at him in confusion, not understanding why he was pinching her face.

“I’ll give you some of my octopus sausages at lunch if you let me pinch you twice,” Shuuichi said, giving her another squeeze.

Oh, then it’s fine.

“Mm-mm-mm.” An nodded happily.

In the corner, Uchida was trembling. Shuuichi! What are you doing?! What are you doing to the class rep?! The President’s gonna kill you!

Before, he’d merely admired Shuuichi’s calm in dealing with Nase-sensei. Now he was downright terrified—such was the Student Council President’s fearsome reputation.

“Chiba-kun, do you want to date me?” An asked casually as she skillfully cleaned ingredients. She’d helped plenty in her family’s ramen shop—even a slow learner could outdo her peers at this.

“Mm?” Shuuichi was genuinely surprised. What was this little fool saying all of a sudden?

“Do you want to date me?” An thought he hadn’t heard, so she blinked her clear, stupid eyes and asked again.

“I don’t know why you’re asking that, but my answer is… no.”

Shuuichi didn’t hesitate. The bitter lessons of his previous life had killed off any fantasies about marriage or romance.

Sharing comfort with a married woman who saw reality the same way he did was far easier than playing at some high school romance with a girl.

Well… the pervy Kaichou was an exception—they were special-play partners.

“I see…” An didn’t seem discouraged. She thought about it seriously, then had a flash of inspiration like solving a math problem.

Chiba-kun said before he regretted something—so I should confess first, right?

Confess on the rooftop?

How do I do that?

But maybe she couldn’t ask her sister this time—after all, her sister had lied to her about this sort of thing. Better to ask Mom instead.

Having decided that, An put the matter aside and focused on cooking.

The cooking class was scheduled for the last period of the morning so students could eat what they’d made for lunch.

Normally, An would be happy to eat her own cooking. But today, she didn’t even glance at it—she ran off right after finishing.

After all, what she made couldn’t compare to Mom’s bento.

The other students, seeing this, all assumed they knew the reason. Since she cooked with the otaku, the class rep must be too put off to eat it.

“Uchida, it’s all yours,” Shuuichi said, taking off his apron and pointing at the finished curry rice.

“Eh? How could I eat all this by myself?” Uchida was dumbfounded.

“Then take your time and work at it,” Shuuichi said, patting his shoulder before following An out of the classroom.

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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!