CH 72

Chapter 9 – Change (4)

Translator – Vodka

With all due respect to the author, lemme just say this……this chapter was a shit show. It was so incongruent that I was on the verge of committing suicide while translating.

“What? Are you going to give me that look too?”

That look.

She seemed to have been asking if I too, would be giving her a different look, because she was the young princess of a conglomerate, and not look at her as any other ordinary student.

Indeed, it was tough to think of her as an ordinary student.

There were several elements in play that made it impossible for me to think of her as one. She was a young lady from a distinguished background, a prodigy, and had a beautiful appearance. Unconsciously, I was looking at her through a filter, and she was already no more, someone ordinary.

No matter who it was, if they were to try to relate themselves to her, they would find that she had certain elements that they didn’t. They would realize that they from two different worlds.

In most cases, they would be reeling under an overwhelming inferiority complex.

No matter what they did, they couldn’t defeat her in studies, athletics, figure or appearance.

That was why people gave her special treatment.

Succeeding the family business was normal, but it wasn’t set in stone or anything.

However, it could even be the absolute choice for the student known as Kirasaka Ren. Her powerful existence and the impression that she gave off, could very well, only be said to fit the role of the company president.

Furthermore, I couldn’t even imagine her doing some ordinary job.

Kirasaka was looking at me, awaiting my answer.

Were you having such thoughts too?

With a sharp look in her eyes, she was asking me this question.

I too was an ordinary student.

I have seen how amazing she was up-close. That was why it wouldn’t be a lie to say that I had an uncomfortable feeling when I heard her say that she wanted to find employment the usual way.

It doesn’t suit her.

……was my honest thought.

However, if we were going to talk about someone who had, at least, one thing that others didn’t, then, I knew a woman who fit the bill. I had known her for years, and she was somewhat similar to Kirasaka.

She too excelled at everything. So, she too was subjected to people’ prejudices about her.

“……Human beings are inherently free, and that should be the same for their jobs as well. Inheriting the company because it is the family business, or because their parents told them to, isn’t equivalent to inheriting it because they want to”

“……”

That was right. By no means was it set in stone.

It would be better if she chose for herself. No, it won’t do if she didn’t choose for herself.

Saying that you had to do the job to cater to your surroundings, would be nothing more than an excuse.

Students like us were in the wrong. We had a bigoted outlook, assumed things at our convenience, and proceeded to speculate the futures of others without paying heed to their feelings.

Just that, I had a little doubt. Was she able to go to job interviews like everybody else, and adapt to the environment inside the organization?

I guess that is up to her.

“When someone has an ability that you don’t, you think that it’s only natural that, that person would do something that will put that ability to use……and that includes me. We end up speculating like that”

“I guess that’s true……”

Kirasaka gave a little nod. Her nod seemed to contain a consensus regarding what I said.

“My parent’s company……certainly, that’s also an option. However, it’s entirely possible that there are others who have more options than me”

In other words, it wasn’t that much different for the others.

She only had one extra option.

It was just that the people around her presented it exaggeratedly.

It was because it wasn’t an option that was available to them.

As expected of the princess of a conglomerate. She doesn’t have to worry about her future……Ren-chan is different from us……We are supposed to be the same age, but she is on a different level.

Since she didn’t try to talk to the people around her, they would say these kinds of things about her and treat her like someone who didn’t want to associate with them.

However, they had just arbitrarily assumed that she was like that. In reality, wasn’t she a very ordinary female student?

Like any other person, she would want to talk with her friends, have lunch together, and go out shopping on holidays.

However, the people around her gave her the “special” treatment, and nobody stood by her side.

I was the same.

I was the one who associated the most with her since she was a classmate who sat right next to me. However, by no means, was I standing next to her.

However, our relationship didn’t have any hierarchy. We were able to face each other properly. You might even say that we were close.

Neither were we enemies nor were we comrades or friends. It was purely, a relationship based on equality.

You didn’t need to have a more amicable relationship than this with the other party if you wanted to engage in a conversation with them. You could even say the things you wanted to say.

So, who would it be that stands next to her?

That list was surely going to be a limited one.

There was someone with that kind of qualification. She couldn’t be considered a friend yet. More like, they were on bad terms. However, she did have the qualifications to stand next to her, and that too, without breaking a sweat.

Kanzaki Shizuku.

They didn’t seem similar, yet they were.

Their personalities were in stark contrast. However, the essence of their very existences was similar.

Because of their exceedingly excellent faculties, they always stood out from the crowd.

Shizuku could go with the flow, do things in a manner that matched peoples’ expectations of her. However, Kirasaka couldn’t pull that off.

That was the difference they had.

That was why, Shizuku was popular even in the class, whereas Kirasaka stayed by herself.

Even though she was just as beautiful……

“So, to conclude, supporting a person or two is a simple feat”

[TN – I toiled hard for an hour, but I can’t make any sense with this jump in the conversation, and the serious lack of congruity of whatever it is that is being said hereinafter. I am trying to make as much sense as possible. Otherwise, I am just doing word-to-word translation]

This session sounded like a serious career consultation, but the contents of our conversation weren’t about humanity.

I was only engaging in small talks with my classmate who was sitting next to me, while class was still in session.

So, in the end, she brought forth, her favourite teasing.

That way, the mood that had started to grow dismal, somewhat relaxed, and Kirasaka had once again, returned to her usual self.

“In other words, Shinra-kun, you want me to provide for you? Is it okay to understand it like that?”

Her lips warped to form a grin.

Yes. This was exactly why she was Kirasaka Ren.

Maybe her true self was this side of hers, that enjoyed teasing people.

“That’s right. They say that you lose if you work, right? I want to become the embodiment of that principle”

“Maybe you wanted to sound cool while saying that, but the contents are pretty scummy”

She let out a chuckle.

The heavy atmosphere dispersed in an instant. Time had started to move again, enveloped in the gentle rays of the sun that devoured the darkness within.

Let’s start thinking up excuses.

The transcendent beauty Shizuku-chan had been glaring at our direction for quite some time now. It was as if she was staring fixedly at her prey……

……She was going to attack me fiercely with a barrage of questions. It was the birth of the king of beasts, Lion Shizuku.