Starting Tokyo Life From Inheriting A Shopping Street

Sumire recalled the situation just now and also felt it was unlikely the other person could move so quickly, read everything, and return to their seat without even the chair moving much.

"Yeah," Shuichi nodded slightly. "I just made a random guess, but I didn't expect to guess it right. It seems like I have some rapport with you, Nagase-sensei."

"…"

Sumire's face instantly darkened. This was worse than being caught peeking! Was her inner thought process really so easy to figure out?

Naomi watched coldly from the sidelines, increasingly convinced that her friend had already fallen deep and couldn't extricate herself.

This was clearly flirting!

Sumire, how did you suddenly turn into this? What happened to your lofty aspiration of becoming an excellent teacher?

You've already gone too far down the road of incompetence to turn back!

With a disgruntled look, Sumire tossed the phone back to Shuichi. "If there's nothing else, go back to class and stop causing trouble here!"

"I do have something to talk about. I already mentioned it to you earlier," Shuichi replied casually, catching the phone with ease. He smiled and glanced at Naomi before bringing up the topic of opening a shop.

As Sumire had expected, Naomi turned him down after hearing him out.

"I don't have any plans to quit my job at the moment, but I can help keep an eye out to see if any friends or acquaintances are interested in running a shop."

"That would be a huge help, Hajime-sensei. If the people you recommend are as outstanding as you in both appearance and ability, the shopping district can offer quite a hefty discount." Shuichi said with a grin, expressing his gratitude.

Naomi laughed knowingly. "Aren't you afraid of making Nagase-sensei angry, saying things like that in front of her?"

Shuichi turned to look at Sumire. "I invited Nagase-sensei too, but unfortunately, she wouldn't come herself. Though she did introduce a friend."

Hearing this, Sumire's temper momentarily cooled, though she still sounded a bit displeased.

"Kitagawa agreed, but now I'm starting to regret it. I feel like it might've been a terrible decision. Some people are just completely unreliable!"

"That's blatant prejudice. Teachers shouldn't let their emotions control them so much. When judging a person, don't focus on what they say, but on what they do," Shuichi retorted calmly. "Think carefully, sensei—have I ever done anything truly awful?"

Sumire's expression softened slightly upon hearing this. Though this guy's words were infuriating, and he often teased her, if she had to say what he had actually done, it was mostly just using "coercion" as an excuse to make her take care of her health properly.

But then…

Huh?

Huh?!

Sumire's eyes widened suddenly. Wait a minute—this guy played that kind of game with a female student in the infirmary! Clearly, he's not a good person!

Uh…

But maybe that's not entirely fair either. That kind of private fun between couples wasn't that bad. At most, it was just inappropriate for the setting and violated some school rules.

Come to think of it, wasn't she herself in the infirmary overhearing the students…

Hiss…

No! She couldn't think about it anymore. It was too awful. That memory needed to be erased. Erased immediately!

"Hajime-sensei, do you know what's wrong with her? She looks like she's showing symptoms of some kind of brain disease." Shuichi quipped, watching Sumire tap her own forehead as if trying to fix something.

Naomi couldn't help but laugh. "No need to worry. She's like this in private sometimes. I'd guess her brain just dug up some embarrassing memory on its own and replayed it for her."

Hearing this, Sumire stopped awkwardly mid-action. "Is it that obvious?"

"Amazing diagnosis, Hajime-sensei!" Shuichi clapped his hands in mock admiration, his tone exaggerated.

"Stay humble, stay humble, just routine work." Naomi played along with the banter.

"You two, that's enough already!" Sumire was on the verge of tears from frustration.

Seeing her reaction, Shuichi quickly shifted gears. "Ahem, let's get back on topic. When is your friend planning to visit?"

"This weekend. I'll accompany her myself. I know the location of the shopping district, so you don't need to explain anything else. Just hurry up and get back to class." Sumire replied, clearly exhausted as she tried to shoo him away.

"Alright, then I'll wait for your update." Shuichi said, now looking satisfied and a little eager to meet the promising new shop owner.

With this successful deal, if everything went smoothly, his monthly salary would see another rapid increase. By early next month, his wallet would finally feel substantial again!

But before he could get up, Naomi's phone suddenly vibrated. She glanced at the screen, and her expression changed instantly. Without saying a word to either of them, she hurriedly left the infirmary.

Shuichi and Sumire exchanged bewildered looks. "Do you know what's going on, sensei?"

"How would I know?" Sumire rolled her eyes.

"Alright then, I'll head back to class. Since you're in good health, I suppose I can expect you to take on more tasks starting next week?" Shuichi remarked with a meaningful smile.

After his repeated antics, Sumire had stopped taking him seriously. She merely shot him an annoyed glare, unaware that this time, he meant every word.

After school, the clouds in the sky hung low, signaling imminent rain.

When the classroom had emptied out a bit, Shuichi walked over to An's desk and knocked on it. "Neither you nor your sister brought an umbrella, did you?"

"Ah, that's right!" An exclaimed belatedly, realization dawning on her. "I was too caught up listening to you all chatting this morning and forgot about it."

"Don't make excuses. Even if that hadn't happened, you and Mrs. Akiyama probably wouldn't have remembered anyway. Only the president would genuinely forget because of chatting." Shuichi teased, lightly pinching her petite nose.

"Here, you and your sister can use this umbrella. I'm heading back now and will get home much earlier than you two, so it should be fine," He said, handing her his black umbrella.

An wrinkled her nose slightly and accepted the umbrella with a bright smile. "Chiba-kun, you're so kind!"

"Save the 'nice guy' card for someone else. I'm off." Shuichi said, waving casually as he walked away.

A few steps later, he caught up with Uchida, who had just left the building.

"Uchida, you brought an umbrella, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Uchida stopped, looking puzzled.

"No reason. Just borrowing it," Shuichi said nonchalantly, taking the umbrella right out of Uchida's hand.

"..." Uchida stared in silence for a moment before saying, "Chiba, you..."

"I got you a prime spot for the sports festival. Lending me your umbrella as thanks isn't a big deal, is it?" Shuichi interrupted, cutting him off smoothly.

"What kind of spot?" Uchida asked hesitantly.

"Managing the sports equipment storage."

Uchida's eyes lit up immediately. He grasped Shuichi's hand in excitement. "Good brother, take the umbrella! Return it whenever you feel like it."

Shuichi, pleased that his plan had worked perfectly, headed back to the shopping district with his "brother's" umbrella in hand.

Though his maneuvering was flawless, the umbrella turned out to be of little use. The clouds above loomed so low they seemed ready to burst, yet not a drop of rain fell.

Stubborn clouds.

Just as Shuichi was silently grumbling about them, as if the heavens had heard his thoughts, the rain began to fall.

Standing under the cross-street rain canopy of the shopping district, Shuichi turned around to look. In almost an instant, the drizzle turned into a torrential downpour.

Autumn rain—chill and biting.

It was just the kind of weather that called for a warm presence... someone like Fumika to ease the cold.

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