Chapter 108

Woke up early this morning to do this before work.

Read this short story:

Skim these short articles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koban_(coin)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanasaka_Jiisan

“Mmhuhuhuhuhu…!”

I looked at all the zeroes in my bank book. There was now enough to put me through four years of private university. If somehow I failed to make it into a public one, I could still get an education.

Hmmm… But expenses besides the tuition were still a worry. Would I be able to earn enough if I worked a part-time job while attending? If it was just myself it might not be too bad but paying for my family’s food would be tough. That tanuki’s in particular.Maybe I’d really have to study harder to earn a scholarship.

“I wonder if there isn’t some get rich scheme out there somewhere…”

Maybe finding buried treasure or something.I had a look around my house and our villa before but nothing ever came up. I had hoped to find at least one koban.Hahhh… ‘Get rich quick’… ‘Easy money’… What wonderful words. To be honest I was more the type who preferred to wait around for good fortune.Huh. Wasn’t there a story about a dog finding treasure? Maybe I could take Beatrice with me into the mountains to look for some. c.o.c.ker spaniels were originally hunting dogs, weren’t they? Maybe I’d try Mount Akagi first?

“This is just for you, Kisshouin-san.”

Umewaka-kun the dog lover gave me some sweets for White Day along with a self-made postcard of Bea-tan.

‘Thanks for the chocolates. They were really yummy!’ said the message from Bea-tan.

Moriyama-san’s reaction to the words ‘just for you’ was a little scary. You can have it if you want. The postcard.

It seems that Dog Lover-kun was working to support Beatrice. And apparently that was where he had made the money for his White Day presents to Beatrice. Clothing and a hair accessory.To begin with, giving a White Day present meant that he got Valentines chocolate from Bea-tan, right? I joked as much to him, only to be told,

“Of course! Our love is mutual!”

with a smile. …I see~Sorry to Moriyama-san but it might have been better to give up on this guy… Apparently he already had a girlfriend.

I wonder if a dog spoilt so rotten would still have their instincts. Some of the photos I’d seen hav featured Bea-tan frolicking in the waves at the beach but I’d never seen her muddy on a mountain. Maybe my dream of having buried coins dug up left and right would be a bit much for this sheltered girl.Aahh… I suppose if I had time to daydream I might as well spend it thinking about ideas I could actually implement. A life of living on royalties… My life of living on unearned income…I headed to my grab my notepad from my desk. Maybe I’d consider household goods first.

I met up with Sakura-chan during the spring break. It was getting warmer these days. I ordered a hot chocolate, thinking it might be my last for a while. Hot chocolate was delicious.

“My. That’s cute necklace, Reika.”

“Uhuhu, isn’t it? I got this from Tomoe-senpai and Kasumi-sama for White Day.”

I held it up proudly so that she could see it better.

“By Tomoe-senpai, you mean that boy you used to like? Did you still like him?”

“No, no, I just think he’s really cool. Plus, Tomoe-senpai already has Kasumi-sama.”

I told her about what happened at graduation. Sakura-chan seemed to find it really dreamy too.

“I wonder if Tak.u.mi wouldn’t come for my graduation. Maybe he could make a dramatic statement at Yurinomiya.”

“Nah, something like that might be a bit much for him.”

“Hey, are you making fun of Tak.u.mi?”

“That’s not what I meant. Some people are just suited to different things.”

Speaking of which, her unrequited love had actually been going for a long time. It sounded fine put like that, but if you thought about it maybe this kind of stubborn love made her similar to Kaburagi. Since they were the same sort, maybe Kaburagi should have asked Sakura-chan for advice?Oh, I know. Maybe I’d give her that anthology. I didn’t have it with me today so maybe I’d mail it to her house later.

“That’s some expression you’re wearing. What are you scheming, Reika?”

“Eh-, you’re imagining thingsss~”

“…I don’t know what you’re thinking but if you do something stupid I won’t forgive you.”

“Okay…”

Tsk.

“Speaking of which, on White Day Maihama Ema was kicking up a fuss about how she was going to get something from your Emperor.”

“Ehh! Kaburagi…-sama gave her a White Day present? Maihama-san?”

Kaburagi got a mountain of chocolate each year but I’d never heard of him giving anything back. Except to Yurie-sama of course.Was he really treating Maihama-san as special? It was hard to imagine from his behaviour on Valentine’s though.

“Then the next day she started avoiding the topic. She wouldn’t tell us what she received, so it was probably a lie. She probably needed to show off to girls who actually got something from someone. There are actually a lot of girls there who believe that she’s close with the Emperor, but what’s the truth like?”

“Who knows…? I’m not all that close with Kaburagi-sama myself so I couldn’t say. I was surprised that she came all the way to Suiran to give him Valentine’s chocolate though.”

“Ahh, she did say announce something about giving him chocolate and then spending time with him. Tak.u.mi said it almost caused a riot. Maihama Ema has always been acting like Emperor’s girlfriend but it’s gotten even worse this year. As ‘Emperor’s girlfriend’ she’s even been complaining to girls who gossip about how great he is.”

“Uwahh…”

Maihama-san was even more embarra.s.sing than expected. Even Kisshouin Reika in the manga hadn’t spread terrifying lies about being his girlfriend.Oh, I know. What if I gave the anthology to her? She’d treasure it if she knew it was Kaburagi’s beloved book. Since she wasn’t given anything on White Day, it could be a consolation prize from me. Now then, how would I send it over?

Since there was homework for the break I had Marin-sensei help. I had things to learn during the spring break too so it felt like I would be spending the whole time studying. Some of my friends were going out to have fun though… Maybe I’d get in touch with Aoi-chan?While I was in my room, seeing how long I could keep a pencil on my lip for, my mother came smiling with an invitation in hand.

It was an invitation to a sakura-viewing party hosted by the Kaburagi family.Most of the invitees to this party were adults so each year I had gotten out of going with my parents. This time it had specifically mentioned ‘Reika-san’ though, so it would be hard to get out of.Ugehh~ I really didn’t wanna go. Obviously I didn’t want anything to do with them, and I didn’t even like viewing cherry blossoms at night. I mean, sure, sakura were pretty in the daytime, but at night they became a little scary.Didn’t people used to say that there were corpses buried underneath them…?

Okaasama was already talking about picking out a furisode for me. A girl in a furisode, at night, with a cherry blossom tree. It was already starting to sound like some horror story…While I was thinking about how to get out of it, I decided to fall ill.First I tried a cold bath. It was so cold that I couldn’t stay in for more than a minute. I thought my heart was going to stop. My lips were all purple and I couldn’t stop the chattering. Cold! Dying! But maybe I’d catch a cold and get out of it all! I could already see a fever tomorrow.Cold, cold, so d.a.m.ned cold. I got into bed shivering but when I woke up there wasn’t even a sneeze.I checked myself for any signs of illness, but I still had my appet.i.te and health.My body was surprisingly tough. d.a.m.n it…

Okay then. Maybe I’d try eating something rotten next…