Chapter 2: 2
People living in the apartment opposite can have a clear view of the entire apartment.
For Kento who has become accustomed to dim environments, it is a little difficult for him to get used to such a clean, tidy and bright space all of a sudden.
"I have to buy some curtains later, as well as towels and cleaning tools. I also bought some furniture when I went out this morning. I still have to go to a specialized furniture store for the rest..."
Because he had no experience of living alone or renting a house, when Kento came to Tokyo from Itomori, all he had in his suitcase were his clothes and some daily necessities. He ignored the details his father had told him before he came to Tokyo, as he thought it was too much trouble.
There was nothing in the brand new apartment, so it took a long time for Kento to adapt when he came to Tokyo. During this period, he relied on convenience stores and laundries to take care of his daily meals and clothes.
"Rice cookers, electric kettles, refrigerators, hair dryers, and washing machines are the necessary appliances. I'll be living in this apartment for at least three years. If I don't buy these, the expenses will be very high."
Although the prices of these home appliances are not cheap, it is much cheaper to go to specialized convenience stores and shops to buy them compared to spending money on everything.
"It will probably cost around 100,000 yen. The other prices are not that bad, they only cost around 10,000 yen, but refrigerators and washing machines are large appliances, and if they are in an apartment..."
He glanced at his apartment and towards the door.
There is a small space at the entrance, which is specially used to place a washing machine. There is no need to worry about not having enough space to place the washing machine, but as for a refrigerator, it obviously cannot accommodate a large one.
"I'll think about it carefully when I get to the home appliance supermarket. The more important thing now is to consider whether I have enough money."
He walked to his desk, casually opened the drawer, and took out a black wallet. Inside were some personal documents such as identity cards and bank cards, as well as some small change in cash.
Before leaving, he gave 200,000 yen in cash. In addition, there was about 350,000 yen of living expenses in the bank card, which was all his living expenses before summer vacation. As for the admission fee and class fees required for school, they had already been paid in advance when he passed the entrance examination, so he didn't need to worry about it.
As for the monthly rent of 120,000 yen for the apartment, it has been paid for half a year. For the remaining three years in Tokyo, if there are no major problems, he will continue to rent here. However, Kento will have to find a way to deal with the rent after half a year.
In the words of his father, the mayor, Miyamizu Toshiki, 'I can provide some initial help during the period when you are not familiar with Tokyo, and I can help you with the expenses for the first half of the year, but I am not here for you to enjoy Tokyo. If you can't even afford your living expenses after half a year, then you'd better go back to Itomori. Tokyo is not for you.'
So, how did he solve the problem of living expenses and rent after arriving here for half a year?
Answer: The Sawamura family is also a well-known wealthy family in Tokyo. After becoming a widow, Sayuri Sawamura is in charge of all the affairs of the Sawamura family. She is an absolute rich woman.
That's right, he was kept by Sayuri.
But it can't be considered as a sponsorship. At the beginning, he still looked for a part-time job to earn his living expenses. It was a bit hard, but it was okay. However, after his relationship with Sayuri became increasingly deep, in order to let him spend more time with her, she bought the apartment where Kento lived...
So in my second year in Tokyo, I didn't have to worry about rent, and I just maintained two relatively easy part-time jobs to support my living expenses.
But now I have decided not to have any deeper entanglement with Sayuri, so as not to hurt her if something like that happens again.
Naturally, he could no longer expect anyone to reduce his rent burden.
"Relying on my previous experience of submitting articles to magazines, I was able to resubmit the articles that I had already published. Although I don't remember the details clearly, they are my own works after all, so rewriting them is not a big problem."
Kento has already prepared to "copy myself". He will take out the short stories that he was supposed to submit to magazines in the future and resubmit them to earn some living expenses for himself.
As for the protagonists in those rebirth novels, it would be really difficult for them to rewrite the famous works of this world.
After such a long time, nearly thirty years, just the names of those works have become blurred in his memory, let alone the content of those works. Even if he wrote them down in general, they would probably be completely different from the original works.
But even if he couldn't remember those masterpieces, based on his own level, writing some decent works would be enough to make a living.
I originally wrote a book titled "Literary Girl, Deprived of Reason", which received quite a lot of praise on a website called DNN. At its best, it even ranked third in the sales rankings.
At that time, when he saw that he was ranked in the top three on the famous website DNN, he couldn't help but sigh.
"The Internet is really amazing."
On weekdays, the income from each 1,600-word article published in a magazine ranges from 10,000 yen to 20,000 yen. More famous writers can make a stable 20,000 yen, while people like him who have no award-winning experience can only make around 10,000 yen, and occasionally they can get a 20,000 yen royalty.
However, this erotic work of nearly 100,000 words, after being listed on DNN's sales ranking, earned him hundreds of times the income from the magazine.
This freed up about a month of time and he didn't have to work, which was really nice.
However, the key point is that he was already an adult at that time, so he did not need to worry about age issues when writing these restricted works.
But now he is just a 16-year-old boy. Even if he wants to write some adult content and sell it as a physical book or e-book, there may be no publishing house that dares to take the risk and choose to agree to the sale.
"I can only write some serious content..."
I subconsciously reached out to touch my pocket to pick up my cigarette and lighter, but then I vaguely remembered that I was no longer the familiar self.
The habits of the past are engraved in my heart, and even if I become a teenager again, I will never forget them.
The uncomfortable feeling of emptiness made Kento take a deep breath and adjust his state. After he adapted, a helpless expression appeared on his face.
"Hehe, this can be considered as successfully helping Sanye quit smoking, although she has never seen me smoking yet."
Muttering quietly, Kento couldn't help but chuckle.
"Now..."
After putting part of the money left in his wallet, which had about 170,000 yen left, into his pocket, Kento walked towards the door, ready to purchase the home appliances he had in mind as soon as possible, and also to buy some manuscript paper for his submissions.
"Urban: I bought manuscript paper at the beginning, and I didn't expect that I would become a great writer. No, this taste is not strong enough…"
He walked leisurely to the door, put on his shoes, pushed it open, and headed for the nearest commercial district, trying to get home before dark.
"My deskmate is actually a beautiful young writer? This is okay, but my deskmate in my freshman year of high school, I remember it was..."
— — — —
I spent a whole morning revising (rewriting) Chapter 0.
Thanks to Linglong Dice An Hongdou for the monthly ticket! Thanks to everyone for the recommendation votes!
Cherry Blossom Season: 3. Are you here to thank me or to find fault?
Kento's apartment is located near Horizaka in Koishikawa. A little further south is the Koishikawa Daijingu Shrine, and a little further east is the commercial district of Koishikawa. Most of the home appliances he needs to purchase can be bought in this commercial district.
After paying for the home appliances he needed to purchase and informing him of the location of his apartment, Kento's wallet shrank.
I walked a long way back to my apartment carrying shopping bags of all sizes. I put the things in the room and felt relieved. I sat on the floor with a blank mind.
"I'm so tired. Carrying so many things at once is still a bit of a stretch, even if I were to go back to my youth."
Gauze curtains for blocking sunlight and protecting privacy, small and convenient brooms that do not take up much space, and mops for the bathroom, towels and rags for drying the body and cleaning pots and kitchen utensils, etc., all kinds of daily necessities were placed in their proper places after the sage rested for a while.
Because there was already a straight track above the window, he did not need to expend any extra energy. He could simply hang the purchased gauze curtain on the pulley, and then insert them into the straight track one by one in order through the side of the straight track. He fixed the side with plastic to prevent the pulley from rolling down, and the gauze curtain was installed.
Even though he was only 16 years old, Kento height had reached 175 cm. He could complete the installation by just standing on tiptoe and raising his arms. He didn't need any extra stools or ladders.
However, what Kento did not notice was that when he was installing the curtains, he was seen by Qingura Mai who was about to go out to buy groceries in the apartment opposite.
As it was getting closer to four o'clock and it was almost time to prepare dinner, Qingura Mai found that there were not many ingredients left in her home, so she went out to buy some ingredients and stored them at home before her daughter came home.
But the moment she walked out the door, Qingura Mai noticed out of the corner of her eye that there seemed to be someone moving in the originally vacant apartment opposite?
Having lived here for a long time, Qingpu Mai still has a vague impression of the previous residents opposite. She remembers that they were a pair of sisters who lived together, but they moved out a year ago. No new residents have moved in for a year. Now someone has moved in and become her new neighbor, which makes Qingpu Mai curious about what kind of person the new neighbor is.
When she looked carefully at the opposite side, she saw a slender but handsome man leaning against the window, decorating the curtains. Because the gauze curtain blocked her view, she could only vaguely see his profile, which was delicate and handsome, just like the first lover in the girl's heart.
Her heartbeat quickened slightly, and Qingpu Wu stared blankly at the other person as he put up the curtains, turned around and disappeared in front of the window. Only then did she come to her senses in a trance, and gently pressed her right hand on her chest, feeling her own heartbeat, a faint blush appearing on her face.
"I didn't expect that after being single for such a long time, I would actually be interested in a strange boy... But... He is really a handsome boy. I wonder if Setsuna likes this type."
After all, she was an adult. After a moment of loss of composure, she quickly adjusted her mindset. She looked back at the apartment across the street and had already made up her mind to visit this new neighbor. Qingpu Mai disappeared in the corridor...
After arranging all the furniture, Kento looked at his tidy apartment. For a moment he didn't know what to do. He was silent for a moment and looked at the manuscript paper and pen on his table.
"Let's write. Not having a computer is a problem, but a decent computer costs more than 100,000 yen. I have to work hard."
Patting his cheeks with both hands, Kento began to work hard, recalling the serious articles he had written bit by bit, and then selected some appropriate content and began to write...
As the sun set and the room became dim, the sage felt a little sore in his eyes. He stared at the manuscript paper with thousands of words he had written, took a long breath, closed his eyes, and relieved the fatigue in his eyes.
"I'm not used to it without myopia. I always feel like something is missing from my face."
He opened his eyes and looked into the dim room, as if he had returned to the past, back to the days of his decadence and depravity. The manuscript paper on the table and the dim room were all he had for a long time.
He stood up and prepared to turn on the light.
Ding Dong——
He moved the chair behind him, stood up and was about to turn on the light when the bell at the door suddenly rang, surprising Kento.
"guest?"
As far as he can remember, he was alone for a long time after arriving in Tokyo, and the relationships with his neighbors were quite ordinary. There were no visits or outings to each other, and at most they would just meet on the street and say hello to each other.
With deep confusion, Kento came to the door and opened his door a little.
"Hello, I am..."
Bang——
The door closed, and before the person at the door could finish his words, Kento subconsciously closed the door.
When he came to his senses, he stood in front of the door in a daze, thinking about the young man with fierce eyes he had just seen. After a moment of silence, he opened the door a little bit again.
"that...."
The young man with slanted eyes stood quietly at the door, and his voice sounded a little troubled, but that 'troubled' expression, coupled with the particularly ferocious eyes under the shadow of his bangs, made even Kento with rich life experience subconsciously close the door just now.
That's not fear, it's just an instinctive defensive reaction when humans see creatures that may threaten them.
After opening the door again, Kento controlled his slightly trembling hands and looked hesitantly at the strange boy standing at the door.
"Young man, what's the matter?"
"..."
Seeing someone of similar age calling him a 'boy' made Takasu Ryuji want to complain for a moment, but when he thought of the other party's action of closing the door just now, he held back, fearing that his unnecessary action would be misunderstood by the other party.
So he introduced himself first.
"Hello, please allow me to introduce myself first."
Standard written language. Although he didn't know whether this 'ferocious' boy could speak it so fluently and without embarrassment, Kento already felt embarrassed in his heart.
"I am Takasu Ryuji, the son of Takasu Yasuko, whom you helped this morning. I came here to express my gratitude for your help to my mother."
"...."
If it weren't for the fact that he still had some vague impression of the young man in front of him and knew that he was not a villain, perhaps Kento would have suspected that the other party was here to cause trouble.
After listening to the other party's self-introduction and the reason for his visit, he opened his door.
"It's Ms. Takasu's... Please come in."
Image: "Qingpu Dance", Location: "Images/1634884472-100277911-107861353.jpg"
— — — —
Thanks to Xingguang Xingkong for the monthly ticket! Thanks to everyone for the recommendation votes!
Cherry Blossom Season: 4. Go and say hello on behalf of your mother~
In the early morning, Takasu Ryuji discovered that his mother had not returned home.
His mother, who should have been home and fast asleep, was nowhere to be seen. He walked around the house and checked at the door. It seemed that she did not come home last night. This surprised Takasu Ryuji, but he was not overly shocked or uneasy.
It was not uncommon for customers to spend the night in the store just to take care of them, and it was not something he was surprised about.
As an adult, her mother, Takasu Yasuko, might appear a little unreliable on weekdays, but apart from the three meals a day, she never made him worry about her. As a son, he believed in his mother.
This was indeed the case. Near noon, Takasu Yasuko returned home.
But unlike the usual situation where Taizi would come home drunk and shouting and making a fuss late at night, after returning home, he sat quietly at the low table in the living room. This extraordinary silence made Long'er feel worried and he wondered if something special had happened.
I casually asked why Taizi came back so late.
"Why do you have to wait until noon to come back? Did something happen in the store?"
Takasu Yasuko, who was sitting in the living room, slowly raised her head when she heard her son's concern, and her eyes, which were painted with thick eyeshadow, blinked.
"Long Er, Tae Tae I seem to be in love."
"What kind of person?"
Feeling a little surprised in his heart, his eyes fell on Yasuko. Seeing his mother, whose face was slightly red and who was usually carefree but was shy at this moment, Takasu Ryuji did not have any particular negative feelings. During the process of growing up, Takasu Ryuji had already thought about this issue countless times. He just calmly asked questions about the other party.
She has been dependent on her mother since she was a child. Because of him, Takasu Yasuko even broke up with her parents, and they have not reconciled for more than ten years. She was raised by one person alone. He has always seen the hardships and pressures that Takasu Yasuko has to bear.
When he was a child, he might have worried about this, afraid that his mother would abandon him and leave him alone, but now he has grown up and entered high school. He is capable of living on his own. If his mother really meets someone she likes, someone she truly loves, then he definitely doesn't mind moving out of this home and letting his mother pursue her own happiness.
"What kind of person is he... Tae Tae doesn't know because I only met him once~"
Takasu Ryuji, who was originally still expecting his mother to meet her home, felt like a roller coaster, and quickly calmed down from the emotion of wishing his mother to enter the wedding hall.
Looking at Taizi, who was sitting at the table, holding her cheeks with her hands, twisting her body slightly with a shy expression, she fell into silence.
Did you fall in love just by meeting each other once?