Starting a New Life in Tokyo by Inheriting a Shopping Street [28]

Chiba Shuuichi gave Tsuki’s pert little behind an exasperated pat. “Stop being so dramatic. I told you—I’m not interested in childish girls.”

Tsuki whimpered softly, deciding to believe him for now, and began explaining the previous question.

“Our family doesn’t have a man around. If we don’t seem strong, it’s not surprising that we might get bullied, right?”

Chiba fell quiet. Single-parent households—especially those headed by single mothers in Japan—had it tough.

In Japan, single mothers found it incredibly difficult to get stable jobs because employers assumed they couldn't fully commit to their work while raising children.

When a husband passed away, widows with children often sank to the bottom rung of society. It wasn’t unusual for some to resort to desperate measures just to survive.

On paper, there was welfare, but in practice, Japan’s social safety net was practically nonexistent.

Among developed countries, Japan’s welfare coverage rate was the lowest—around 15.3% to 18%, compared to France’s 91.6%, Britain’s 47% to 90%, or Germany’s 64.4%. Developed countries typically allocated about 3.5% of GDP for welfare, while Japan set aside only about 0.5%.

Things seemed to be improving in recent years, but during Mrs. Akiyama’s toughest times, conditions were undoubtedly harsher.

“In elementary school, An-chan’s classmates found out she didn’t have a dad and constantly bullied her. You’ve seen how innocent she is—so easily tricked. She fell for their tricks again and again,” Tsuki explained, watching her sister ahead with a gentle sigh. “We were always in different classes, and I usually found out about her troubles after the fact. But even if we were together, I couldn’t protect her all the time. She needed to grow up eventually. So I taught her to put on a facade—act cool, distant, and a bit unapproachable, and strive to be excellent. That way, others wouldn't dare bully her.”

Chiba reached over to gently stroke Tsuki’s head, saying softly, “You’ve worked really hard.”

Tsuki shot him an annoyed look, scoffing lightly, “I’m not some weak girl who needs comforting.”

“You’re right—the student council president is impressive,” Chiba smiled lightly. “Still… maybe you deserve a little reward for your hard work.”

Tsuki instantly perked up, a flicker of excitement dancing in her eyes. “A reward on the train? You mean, later on the train…?”

“???” Chiba sucked in a sharp breath. Tsuki’s fantasies were really getting out of hand. Was she seriously this wild?

“The train’s off-limits. I don’t want some helpful bystander reporting me as a pervert. No matter how many mouths I have, I couldn’t explain that away.”

But Tsuki seemed not to hear him. Her eyes glittered with a feverish anticipation, her breath quickening slightly.

Chiba felt a twitch at his temple, sensing he was dangerously close to stepping onto a dark path—a path leading straight to a prison sewing machine.

“Oh—I almost forgot,” he quickly interrupted, pulling out his phone. “Let’s add each other on LINE first. By the way, is there anything else the ramen shop needs help with?”

“Nope, nothing really. So—back to that reward—what exactly will you do later?” Tsuki eagerly accepted the friend request and pressed on enthusiastically.

“Maybe I should just ask Class Rep instead,” Chiba rolled his eyes.

“No! I’ll talk!” Tsuki quickly grabbed his sleeve. “The old ramen shop had regular customers from the neighborhood. But now that we've moved, those regulars won’t come all this way just for ramen. Finding new customers might be tough in the beginning.”

“Got it,” Chiba nodded, opening his system to see how much money it would cost to attract customers to the ramen shop.

Just as he opened the system, a new notification appeared:

[Akiyama Tamako’s Sense of Belonging +10, administrator monthly salary +100,000 yen.]

Chiba felt extremely pleased with his decision to invite Class Rep’s family to the shopping street—their sense of belonging was rising rapidly. But he wondered what exactly had caused this latest increase.

Was it because he’d complimented her cooking and enjoyed it so much at breakfast, making her happy?

Or maybe the pleasant breakfast atmosphere had helped ease her anxiety about moving to a new place?

Perhaps it was how well he was getting along with her daughters?

Chiba wasn’t entirely sure, but one thing was clear: praising her often definitely wouldn’t hurt.

Closing Mrs. Akiyama’s profile, Chiba clicked the [Summon Butler] button, mentally requesting help: he wanted promotion for the ramen shop to attract customers after opening.

[Administrator request for ramen shop promotion will cost 100,000 yen. Confirm?]

Huh? Another 100,000 yen?

Chiba had a sneaking suspicion—did every single butler request cost exactly the same?

If that was the case, he wondered if directly requesting the renovations for the Ogawa sisters' salon would have saved him the remodeling fees.

What if he asked the butler to demolish and rebuild the entire shopping street into a skyscraper—would that also cost only 100,000 yen?

Deciding to test it immediately, Chiba confirmed the ramen shop promotion first, then quickly tried submitting a plan for rebuilding the entire shopping street.

[Invalid request. Please resubmit.]

“…”

Chiba sighed inwardly. As expected, exploiting loopholes wasn’t that easy.

But he still wanted to experiment, so he tried applying for renovation of the whole shopping street. Again, the system rejected his application as invalid.

After several more attempts, Chiba roughly figured out the limits:

First, the system had explicitly stated that he could request help only when facing genuine management difficulties. There needed to be an actual issue to resolve.

Second, the assistance likely had to genuinely benefit the approved shopkeepers—the butler’s main job was supporting them, not catering to his whims.

Simply doing things on a whim probably wouldn’t work. If he wanted to renovate the entire shopping street, he guessed he’d need unanimous support from all the top shopkeepers first.

“Chiba-kun, what are you daydreaming about? It’s time to board,” Tsuki’s voice suddenly rang in his ear.

Snapping back to reality, Chiba realized he’d unconsciously followed Tsuki all the way to the train station.

“Where’s Class Rep?” he asked, noticing someone was missing.

“I told her to wait nearby and get on the next carriage,” Tsuki answered, her eyes blazing impatiently.

“The next carriage…” Chiba’s mouth twitched slightly. This problem girl really had intense needs, desperate enough to send her beloved little sister away.

“Aren’t you worried something might happen if she’s alone?” Chiba couldn’t help but ask.

“An-chan isn’t a child anymore—I can’t protect her forever. Besides, considering society today, girls like An-chan aren’t usually the ones who need to worry on the train,” Tsuki explained calmly.

“That’s true enough…” Chiba sighed deeply, recalling how his predecessor used to cautiously avoid women on the train every day.

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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!