My daily life in love is too contrary to my character.

"He can be described as an expert."

When did you learn it?

"To be precise, I learned it while I was still in my mother's womb."

Seeing the puzzled look on Soga Kirei's face, Shiraishi Sawa Hide smiled and shook his head. These days, it's hard to believe the truth.

........

Soon the waiter brought over the ingredients the two had ordered.

"Hello, would you like us to grill something for you?"

Grilling meat is a bit tiring; sitting and grilling it, the arm holding the tongs gets especially sore and tired. But it just doesn't feel right without grilling it yourself, so Shiraishi Sawa replied:

"No need now, I'll call you later when I'm tired of grilling, okay?"

"Okay, sir. Just raise your hand to signal, and any of our servers will be happy to help you grill the meat whenever they're available."

After the waiter left, Shiraishizawa Hide rolled up his sleeves to adjust the position of the exhaust pipe so that his hand wouldn't get stuck, in case he might come into contact with oil or food later.

"President, I'll be in charge of grilling later," Shiraishi Sawa handed the large scissors to Soga Kirei. "You can help me cut them open; they're all thick slices of meat, and it's hard for me to cut them with my left hand."

Suga Wulian picked up the scissors and nodded.

"Yoshi! Great, let's finish this dinner together!" Shiraishi Zexiu nervously clenched his left fist to cheer himself up, but then, realizing the situation, he pulled his hand back and gave an awkward smile.

Soga Kirei tilted her head slightly and even made a cheering gesture.

"Let's cheer each other on?"

Chapter 66 Secretly Buying Myself a Bracelet

Surprisingly, Soga Kirei responded to this, and Shiraishi Sawa nodded with a slight amusement:

"Okay, let's grill the thick-cut Wagyu beef first! Hey, Chairman, don't put it in yet, let me brush some oil on it first, so it doesn't stick to the pan..."

.......

"Are your hands tired, President?"

When they had grilled about two-thirds of the meat, Shiraishizawa Hidemi and Soga Kiriren started resting their hands on the table after each slice of meat, they must have been very tired.

Soga Wulian hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and said:

"It's okay, let's keep grilling."

"No, Mr. President, we're here to enjoy ourselves, not to spend money to suffer. Don't push yourselves. If you're tired, of course you should let them help you grill."

After listening, Soga Kirei nodded and put down the large scissors.

"Hello, could you please grill this for us? Thank you." Shiraishi Zexiu waved to the waiter.

--

"Phew~" Shiraishi Sawah took a swig of plum juice and let out a long sigh, then looked at Soga Kirei: "President, are you full?"

For the past few minutes, Soga Kirei has stopped picking up any more slices of meat from the grill; it's all Shiraishi Sawashu eating by himself.

"I'm full, the rest is up to you, Shiraishi-kun."

"Haha, leave it to me. I should have no problem finishing it all. Waiter, could you please bring me another plate of lettuce? Eating meat on its own is too greasy!"

The remaining portion of the meal was also finished off by Shiraishi Sawa.

After taking one last look out the window at the Kabukicho night view, which grew brighter as night approached, Shiraishi Sawa and Soga Kirei got up and left the 'Tractor' shop.

Because Soga Kirei has a small appetite, Shiraishi Sawa Hide ate quite a full meal. During the elevator's descent, Shiraishi Sawa Hide asked Soga Kirei about her plans for later.

"President, are you going straight back later?"

"Almost. I'll call Aunt Zuo Ye to pick you up now, and I'll take you home like last time."

"Haha, okay, I'm happy to get another free ride and save on transportation costs."

Back on the streets of Kabukicho, Shiraishizawa Hide glanced at his watch; it was almost 8:30. However, the chairman's driver wouldn't be arriving for another ten minutes or so.

"President, are there any other shops you'd like to visit? Let's go shopping in these ten minutes or so?"

Soga Kirei nodded and pointed to a large general store not far ahead.

"That one, I'll go with."

Soga Kirei didn't wander around aimlessly like a headless fly. After entering the general store, she went straight to the jewelry section and picked out bracelets and earrings. Shiraishi Sawa didn't understand these things, but there were many strangely shaped little trinkets here, which were quite interesting to look at.

"This one's for you," Soga Kirei said, handing another bracelet to Shiraishi Sawa after picking out a pearl bracelet for herself. "Do you think it looks good?"

"Huh?" Shiraishi Zexiu took the bracelet. It wasn't the kind that was flashy or colorful; it was a simple, plain silver chain. "No need, Chairman."

Do you think it looks good?

"You really don't need the president..."

Is it pretty?

His refusal had been ignored, so it seemed he had no choice but to give it to her. He glanced at the price—only 600 yen—which was acceptable. Shiraishi Sawah nodded helplessly.

However, this relatively low-key style is indeed one that he prefers.

After paying at the front desk, Soga Kirei walked over to Shiraishi Sawa.

"Aunt Zuo Ye has arrived."

"Shall we go then?"

Suga Wulian took out the bracelet. "Put it on."

"Understood, Chairman."

Shiraishi Sawa started putting on the bracelet himself, but it was a thin chain, making it too difficult to fasten with one hand. He struggled for a long time without success.

"Give me the bracelet, and put your hand out."

Helpless, Shiraishi Sawa could only do as instructed.

Soga Kirei carefully and meticulously placed the bracelet on Shiraishi Sawa's wrist, then nodded in satisfaction.

"Let's go, let's get in the car."

--

"Hello, Aunt Zuo Ye."

Hideaki Shiraishizawa greeted Akiko Saeba.

"Good evening, I still remember you, Shiraishi, right? Hurry up and get in the car, I'll take you home first."

Soga Kirei had already opened the back door and sat inside. It seemed a bit inappropriate for her to sit in the front passenger seat under these circumstances, so Shiraishi Sawa also sat in the back seat.

"Could you please tell me your home address again, Shiraishi? I've forgotten it."

--

On the way, it was mostly Akiko Saba talking to Hide Shiraishizawa, while Kirei Soga maintained a silence that was different from during the day and the same as at school.

He only said "See you next time, Shiraishi-kun" when Shiraishi Sawa got off the bus.

Holding a bag of books, Shiraishi Sawa opened the apartment door.

Yuko Takanashi was lying on the sofa, covered with a blanket, watching a variety show. Hearing the door open, she looked towards Hideaki Shiraishi.

"Welcome back, Shiraishi-kun. It's really late now."

It's almost ten o'clock.

“It’s only ten o’clock. It must still be very bright in Shinjuku at this time,” Shiraishi Sawa walked to the coffee table, took out the books from the bag and placed them on the table. “Here, these are for Takanashi-kun.”

"Are there three books? Let me see." Takanashi Yuko took the three books that Shiraishi Sawa Hide handed her.

"Encyclopedia for Middle School Students," "Daily Life Skills," and, wait, "The Road in the Wind"? Shiraishi, will this book be on the all-around knowledge competition?

Takanashi Yuuko held up "The Road in the Wind" and asked with a hint of doubt.

"No, that book is for you. I saw Kawabata Yasunari's 'Rainbows' and 'Born to Be a Woman' in your luggage. You seem to like him quite a bit. Since you're already at the bookstore, I'll get you another copy."

"Ah, thank you!"

"You've probably already seen it, right? I chose the deluxe edition. You can keep it as a collectible after you've read it, and it looks quite nice on display."

"Thank you, I really love Kawabata-sensei's works. It's okay if I've read it before, I can read this one many more times! Thank you again!"

Shiraishi Zexiu waved his hand, "It's nothing, it's nothing. You brought me things when you went out before, didn't you? It's reciprocity, just going with the flow. I'm going back to my room to practice my boxing now, you can continue watching TV."

"Hi!"

Back in his room, Shiraishi Sawa changed into a tank top and shorts and started punching the punching bag.

"When will I be able to take down Nakano Satake with one punch?"

Although he didn't feel like he was being followed today, Shiraishi Sawa Hide couldn't be sure that once he entered Yumi, she might become curious and send someone to check on him again. Shiraishi Sawa Hide didn't like that feeling.

"If you really push me too far, I'll fly into a rage and then tell Ichiri-san about it, and then Ichiri-san's mother!"

After practicing boxing for half an hour, Shiraishi Sawa was a little tired. He picked up his phone and found that Tokyo was so boring that he hadn't replied to her messages yet. The chat bar was still showing the two messages: the one from that afternoon asking her how to get out of the subway and the one from the night view he took while having dinner that evening.

"Where have you been, Bored Guy?!"

There was still no response.

"Damn it, who knows if Bored Guy went out and fooled around with some scumbag all day, and forgot about his best friend all day because of that woman!"

--

In Azabu-juban, Bored Girl didn't have time to check her phone. Back home, she took a notebook from her desk drawer. It had no cover, but many sections were inside, each preceded by a small box. Soga Kiriren found the one she was looking for:

"Give more gifts (ideally the kind that both of you can keep half of)."

She casually removed the pearl bracelet from her wrist and tossed it aside, then took out a thin silver chain that she had secretly bought extra from her pocket and carefully put it on her wrist.

Then I checked the box in front of this entry.

Author's Note on the Launch of Chapter 67

Today is October 28th, which is set as Shiraishi Sawa's birthday, and also the birthday of the author of the dog story.