After rebirth, I became Tokyo Sentimental

Chapter 178 177. Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I just did a manicure
As dusk approaches, countless long rows of taillights appear regularly on Tokyo's expressways. High-rise buildings of various shapes reflect the afterglow of the setting sun with their light blue glass and turn on their daytime lights early, unaware that night is approaching.

Japanese university students usually graduate between March and September, depending on when the school starts.

This arrangement of two time periods is related to Japan's financial system, because Japan starts calculating the new year's finances on April 1st and settles taxes in March.

Another graduation season.

Many people spend the last youth stage of their lives carefree in the ivory tower, and still don’t know what they are facing. But even the clearest drop of water will become polluted when it flows into a dirty river.

But now, they have either not found a suitable job yet, or have just started working and have not passed the newcomer protection period in the workplace, so most of them have expectations for the future on their faces. Some of them will start working in the second half of the semester, but now they are just the embryonic form of corporate animals.

Izakayas are places that sell good quality food at low prices. Shigeeda Xi looked up at the sign with a blue and white banner in front of her, and after comparing it with the store name on her phone, she walked in after a slight hesitation. She asked the waiter according to the room number she remembered, then walked over and pushed open the door of the long private room.

In fact, she doesn't like this kind of occasion very much.

Mainly because I don’t have many friends around.

Because of her father's illness and the fact that she had been working several jobs, Shigeshige rarely participated in class social activities. Even the clubs she joined were the kind that had no sense of existence and were mandatory just to get a name on the list and fulfill the school's requirements.

If her only friend in the class, Mitsuko Minami, hadn't come today, Shigeeda Shio might not have broken out of the class group chat where she had been silently lurking for four years.

There were quite a few people sitting in the long house. The boys basically sat together and boasted to each other, using their few experiences as topics of conversation. For example, they boasted about the big shots they met when they were playing the role of serving tea and water, and they looked like they were giving orders as if the big shot was their little brother.

The girls gathered in groups of three or four to discuss various topics. Only Chong Zhixi knelt in the corner, silently staring at the tea leaves in the teacup in front of her, which changed from a curled up position to a slowly expanding position. During this time, some classmates who were not too close to her greeted her, and Chong Zhixi was flattered and responded quickly, but after a few words, there was basically nothing else to talk about.

Until a familiar figure came in dusty and opened the sliding door, glanced around and locked onto her position and walked towards her. After seeing her, Chong Zhixi felt less uneasy and poured herself a glass of water.

Mitsuko Nanbu, who had some freckles on her face, did not hesitate to sit down. She sat down cross-legged, picked up the teacup and drank it all up in gulps. She also made a sweet sound without caring about her image at all. She let out a long breath before putting down her bag. She smiled and asked Shigeeda to pour her another cup, not caring about other people's eyes.

"How are you doing lately? Is your master still making things difficult for you?" Mitsuko Nanbu didn't look like she was in financial difficulty at all. She sat down and started grabbing the desserts on the long table and stuffing them into her mouth, while she puffed out her cheeks and asked.

"No, now he thinks highly of me."

Shigeshige knelt down obediently and answered.

"What do you mean by valuing you? It's all thanks to senior Yuanye. If he didn't know your relationship, he would have continued to deal with you. You are rude at first but respectful later. It's really laughable to think about it." Mitsuko Nanbu has met many people since she started working, and she pointed out the reason in one sentence.

"probably…"

"Definitely is."

"Ok."

"Xiao Xi, I'm really envious of you for being able to be signed before you even graduate, and your salary is the highest in our class."

"I was just lucky."

Shigeshige knew her own worth, so she was terrified about the huge salary she was getting, even though Yuanye Si had already helped her relieve the psychological pressure. After all, she had always been gaining without giving anything in terms of her father's medical treatment and work.

She was actually under a lot of pressure.

Mitsuko Nanbu scratched her head and knew her good friend's character, so she couldn't say that it would be a bastard not to take advantage of the opportunity. She just wanted to persuade her to calm down, work hard and not think too much.

Before she could finish her words, a discordant voice interrupted them from the right.

"Luck? Maybe it's her ability. Keiko saw her getting out of a Porsche in front of the school gate two months ago. How enviable."

Shigeeda Shio and Nanbu Mitsuko were stunned for a moment, then looked in the direction of the voice and saw three girls sitting on their right and talking. The one who spoke was the long-haired girl sitting in the middle. She didn't even look at them at this moment. She lowered her head and fiddled with her light pink nail polish while they were having a meal, and her expression was very disdainful.

As for the other two girls, one was using an air cushion to touch up her makeup, while the other was squinting her eyes and drinking tea from a cup.

When Mitsuko Nanbu saw that it was the three of them, her freckled little face suddenly darkened. She stood up and was about to argue with them, but was quickly pulled back by Shigeeda Shio. She bit her lip and shook her head.

Mitsuko Nanbu hesitated for a moment, but finally sat down again and decided not to argue with them.

However, her intention to stand up was like a lit fuse. The three girls sitting on the right became more excited after seeing it. They looked at each other and quickly communicated their thoughts.

The girl on the far right with chestnut-colored hair and black-framed glasses put down the cushion in her hand, turned her face towards them deliberately, and raised her voice:
"Yes, ordinary people like us can only get a very ordinary job through our own efforts. After all, we are all people with personality and dignity, so I am afraid we will not be able to enjoy it in this life."

"You deserve it if you can't enjoy it. Who told you not to act? How can you attract people if you can't perform now?"

As soon as the chestnut-haired girl finished speaking, the girl holding the teacup immediately followed with a smile. Their coordination was seamless. It seemed that they had cooperated many times and often bullied others.

The girl fiddling with her nails saw her teammates following her lead, so she fired back, not wanting to be outdone. She sneered, "But pretending is too tiring, it's like wearing a mask, and you may not be able to take it off after wearing it for too long, and in the end you can't even recognize who you are. It's so pathetic, and there's a price to pay. Just thinking about it makes me sick all over."

This time, the hot-tempered Nanbu Mitsuko finally couldn't bear it anymore. Even if Shigeeda Shio pulled her, she couldn't move at all. She slammed the table and glared at the three of them, "Hey! What are you guys talking about?"

"What did we say? Did we say you? How dare you blame us?"

The girl fiddling with her nails immediately retorted.

The girl holding the teacup no longer had the smiling expression she had just now: "Nanbu, don't worry about other people's business."

"That's right. I haven't found a job yet. You can't expect your best friend to share her way to wealth with you, right? But I think rich people are not stupid. With your looks, I'm sure they would vomit if they pressed you down, right?"

The girl with long chestnut hair was more combative. She didn't even bother to save her face. She stretched her face and glared at Mitsuko Nambu, unwilling to be outdone.

Mitsuko Nanbu raised her hand and pushed Shigeeda Shio aside, not caring at all about the looks cast at her by the dozen or so other students in the long house, and scolded, "Miyazaki, Morita, and Ueno, did the three of you agree to brush your teeth with the toilet brush before leaving the house this morning? Otherwise, why would your mouths stink so bad!"

"What did you say!?"

"asshole!"

"You want to get yourself into trouble, don't you!?"

It has always been one of the principles of the Miyazaki trio that they can scold others but others cannot scold them. Now that they were being scolded directly on the nose, they became angry immediately despite their large numbers, and their eyes were wide open.

"Mitsuko, stop arguing with them..." Shigeeda Shio tugged at Mitsuko Nanbu's sleeve, signaling her not to get excited, and sighed, not knowing what to do.

In fact, she didn't want to be bullied.

But Miyazaki and the other three girls usually had a bad reputation. It was said that they had beaten someone before. She knew that two fists could not defeat four hands, so she didn't want Nanbu Mitsuko to be bullied by them for standing up for him. However, she also knew Nanbu Mitsuko's usual temper, so she could only lower her head and whisper:

"At worst we'll leave later."

Mitsuko Nanbu remained unmoved by the words.

But she said nothing for a while.

After being scolded, Miyazaki and the other two certainly didn't feel relieved after just a few words back. Now when they saw people around them looking at them, their eyes rolled around and they started to cooperate with each other again.

"That's right. There's no point in arguing with us. Why don't you argue with your best friend and ask her why she doesn't take you with her to get rich!"

Nako Morita raised her chin and sneered.

Ueno Hanao put down her teacup, took out her cell phone, and said calmly as if to change the subject: "It's really boring. Some people are just too embarrassed to admit it. Morita, I just met a handsome guy recently. He's from Keio. Take a look at what he looks like. I heard that all the guys in his dormitory are very handsome."

"Oh? Let me see, can't you post it two days later? I just got my manicure done today."

"Does looking at handsome guys have anything to do with getting a manicure?"

"Wow! Is Miyazaki so naive? Of course it's inconvenient for Morita to look at these photos and do some hard work alone in the middle of the night after getting a manicure!"

"Wouldn't it be more exciting to get a manicure?"

"Idiot! It's easy to have internal bleeding!"

"I'm just kidding. I just feel bad for someone as pretty as Morita having to use her hands to do it."

"What's so sad about that? Even though I use my hands, I always wash them thoroughly. Unlike some people, who knows what kind of men she has contact with, how old they are, and whether they have any diseases. I heard that those middle-aged men are very dirty. It's very common for them to have a few big blisters on their hands."

"Is this true? Isn't this too scary?"

"It's not only scary, it's disgusting. I just can't accept it, no matter how much money you give me."

"You're really talking nonsense, as if I can accept it. But just thinking about being stuck here with that guy is so scary. Maybe there will be age spots on his body. Ugh, I'm really going to vomit."

"It seems that you still don't love money enough and don't want to ride in a Porsche. Otherwise, you can live even if you are 80 years old, right?"

"Eighty years old? Even my grandfather isn't that old!"

"Alright, alright, just keep quiet. It would be bad if other people heard it and misunderstood it. After all, maybe they are pursuing their own dreams as well."

The three girls sitting nearby did not choose to start a fight with Nanbu Mitsuko directly, but instead made sarcastic remarks left and right. Combined with the rumors they had spread before, the other students in the long house could not help but talk about it, and the way they looked at Zhi Xi also changed greatly. Some of them whispered a few words in their good friend's ear, and there were various doubts and exclamations from time to time.

Mitsuko Nambu's face turned pale.

But he couldn't speak.

After all, she should be the first person to know that Chongzhi Xi was kept, so what she said was actually not wrong.

But she was the only one who knew the reason why she was kept. It was not for any comfortable life or competitive mentality, but purely to save her father.

After a moment of silence, Nanbu Mitsuko, who was still furious, calmed down. She glanced at Shigeeda Xi who was hanging her head, pursed her lips and consoled her: "Xi, don't take it personally. They are just such stinky bitches. And don't listen to their noble words. If they could drive a Porsche and spend a lot of money, they would definitely rush for it even if they were 80 years old!"

"..." Chongzhi Xi looked up at her, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, but in the end she just sighed.

Mitsuko Nanbu was stunned, and immediately realized that she seemed to have said something wrong. She opened her mouth and hurriedly explained: "Ah? I...I didn't mean that..."

"It's okay." Chongzhixi shook her head.

She did seem to be a little hesitant about what to say just now.

She was not trying to explain or cover up the fact that she had been kept, but she wanted to say that things were not as she thought, and that Mr. Harano had never touched her at all. But after thinking about it, she felt that even if she said it, Mitsuko Minami would not believe it, so she remained silent.

"Then may I ask..."

Nanbu Mitsuko suddenly said cautiously.

"Senior Yuanye is indeed rich, but he is not that kind of person." Shigee Shige replied after his thoughts were interrupted.

“Oh…Oh…”

Mitsuko Nanbu didn't say anything else, and felt that if she asked further, she would obviously be suspected of exposing someone's scars. She could only sigh in her heart. Although she really wanted to help Shigeshige, her family background was actually very ordinary, otherwise she would not have been in college and working part-time. Even so, she had forced all the money she could to the right person, but it was really a drop in the bucket for the sky-high medical expenses of Shigeshige's father, so she was really powerless and could only watch her fall into the devil's den.

But things seem to be better than expected.

Even though her reputation was bad, Shigeeda Shio's life was much better than before, and her father's illness was cured, so Minami Mitsuko was relieved.

Everyone has their own story.

This was just a small episode and did not affect the progress of the class reunion. It was just that Chong Zhixi felt a little uneasy. However, this feeling of being on pins and needles was shorter than she had imagined, because soon an unexpected person suddenly wanted to see her.

After leaving the izakaya, Shigeeda stood on the street and waited for a while. Soon a silver-white Lexus stopped steadily in front of her. After the car door opened, a graceful figure in a black long skirt walked forward.

"Ms. Kurosaki...?"

"Shigeeda-san, right?"

"Yes, may I ask who you are looking for..."

"Do you want to get pregnant?"

"what?"

"Being pregnant with Harano Tsukasa's child."

"..."

(End of this chapter)