"The address is in Ota Ward."
Kitagawa Marin sent a location pin along with the message, followed by a video. The students of Class C had gathered in a private room at a KTV. Amid the noisy background came a girl's somewhat unpolished yet beautiful singing. A girl with slightly wavy golden hair held a microphone and sang softly.
Before Kira Yoshikage could reply, Kitagawa Marin sent another message:
"Kira-kun, is it good?"
"It is. I am not going."
Kira Yoshikage was a man of few words.
"As long as it sounds good."
The corners of the girl's lips curled up slightly inside the KTV as her fingers rapidly tapped the screen:
"Then, is Kira-kun free tomorrow?"
"No."
Kira Yoshikage had barely replied when Kitagawa Marin responded almost instantly, as if she had been waiting for him:
"Eh? Is it because the store manager fired you and you are busy looking for work?"
"Yes."
Kira Yoshikage was not surprised that Kitagawa Marin knew he had been working part-time. After all, she had added Aoyama Nanami as a friend. And with Aoyama Nanami's personality, it would be difficult for her to withstand Kitagawa Marin's persistent coaxing.
"Part-time jobs are not easy to find these days~"
"Good night. I am going to sl—"
Before Kira Yoshikage could tap send, another message from Kitagawa Marin arrived:
"I have a temporary job with generous pay. Do you want to come, Kira-kun?"
Kira Yoshikage immediately deleted what he had typed and replied at once:
"What kind of part-time job? How much is the hourly wage?"
Kitagawa Marin glanced at Miura Yumiko, who was still singing, and continued typing:
"It is a personal commission, so there is no fixed hourly wage."
"Hmm~ How about ten thousand yen a day?"
Upon seeing the first sentence, Kira Yoshikage had immediately wanted to refuse. No fixed hourly wage—was she trying to get his labor for free?
But after seeing the next sentence, he deleted his refusal:
"Time and place."
"The time is seven tomorrow morning. Hmm, can we meet at Kira-kun's apartment? Oh, right, what is Kira-kun's address?"
"117 Morioh Street, Ota Ward, Room 502."
"So, what exactly is the work?"
Kira Yoshikage did not hide it. On one hand, he needed the money. On the other, hiding it would not have been realistic anyway.
The reason was that he lived in a student apartment, and student apartments were always clustered together.
In other words, students from Shuchiin Academy all lived nearby. Some of his classmates even lived in the same apartment building.
Even if he did not tell her, Kitagawa Marin had ways of finding out.
"Got it!"
Kitagawa Marin cheered inwardly, secretly clenched her fist, and continued typing:
"As for the work, Kira-kun, do you know about anime conventions?"
"The Tokyo anime convention in Japan?"
"Eh~ Kira-kun knows about it? But that is right. Kira-kun's job is to accompany me to an anime convention. How about it? Pretty easy, right?"
Kira Yoshikage came to an understanding. Japan's otaku culture was highly developed, and three major anime conventions were held in Tokyo every year.
There was Comic Market, held twice a year and abbreviated as CM, as well as the annual anime convention AnimeJapan, abbreviated as AJ.
The former had a history of more than forty years. It was usually held once in summer and once in winter, with each event lasting three days. By now, a total of ninety-three CMs had been held. Thus, to distinguish them, they were usually called C plus their number.
For example, last year's events were C92 and C93. This year's event in August would be C94, while the one in December would be C95.
The latter, the Tokyo anime convention, was officially called the Tokyo International Anime Fair.
It was a professional anime exhibition jointly hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japan Animation Association, and the Tokyo International Anime Fair Executive Committee. Its purpose was to promote and facilitate exchange within Japan's advanced anime industry.
In theory, the exhibition was held specifically for industry professionals.
And in fact, that was exactly how it was.
The Tokyo anime convention lasted four days in total. The first two days were corporate exhibition days, open only to professional visitors.
The latter two days were for ordinary visitors, and were open to all enthusiasts.
The Tokyo anime convention had originally been scheduled for the end of March. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, this year's event was postponed by two weeks and would be held from April 6 to 9.
Although the anime convention lasted four days, Kitagawa Marin was a student, so she could only choose to go on the weekend. Tomorrow, April 8, was both a Sunday and one of the days of the Tokyo anime convention. The event would be open to all enthusiasts then.
Kitagawa Marin emphasized:
"The time is seven in the morning, Kira-kun. You have to get up on time!"
"No problem."
Kira Yoshikage replied just as quickly.
He went to bed punctually before eleven every night and got up at seven every morning, ensuring eight hours of sleep. Unless he had some other way to relieve his stress, nothing could change that routine.
In any case, he had recently become unemployed, and his schedule for tomorrow was to look for a job.
But since he had a temporary job now, there was no reason not to take it.
Besides, how tiring could attending an anime convention be? There was no reason to turn down ten thousand yen.
After finishing a song, Miura Yumiko picked up a slice of apple from the fruit platter and took a bite. Then she sat down beside her friend and leaned over curiously:
"Marin, who are you messaging?"
A mischievous glint flashed through Kitagawa Marin's eyes as she said with a smile:
"It is Kira-kun. I sent him a video of you singing."
"Eh, eh?"
Miura Yumiko suddenly grew nervous, and the apple in her hand fell onto her skirt.
"W-what did he say?"
"Yumiko."
Kitagawa Marin put on an aggrieved expression. "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"
"Hmm~"
Miura Yumiko grew increasingly flustered. "The truth..."
Kitagawa Marin smiled slyly:
"The truth is that he said it sounded good."
"Eh? Eh?"
Miura Yumiko, whose heart had been trembling as if she were awaiting judgment, blinked.
"It is true!"
Kitagawa Marin giggled and scrolled to the top of their chat history, showing it to Miura Yumiko:
"Kira-kun, is it good?"
"It is. I am not going."
Miura Yumiko felt a little secretly delighted, but forcibly kept it from showing on her face. Pretending not to care, she asked:
"What else did you talk about?"
Kitagawa Marin looked away and said nonchalantly:
"Nothing much. I just invited him to the gathering. You saw that, did you not?"
Miura Yumiko's expression grew complicated as she said softly:
"He is not coming."
"Hmm?"
Kitagawa Marin keenly sensed that there was a story behind it.
Miura Yumiko's tone was complicated:
"When we were in middle school, he never attended any of the gatherings organized by our class. He did not even go on the graduation trip..."
Only One Illness
Early morning.
Kira Yoshikage got up at exactly 7:30.
Eight hours of ample sleep allowed him to welcome the next morning like a baby, without leaving behind any fatigue or stress.
After a simple wash, he patiently waited for Kitagawa Marin to arrive.
Kira Yoshikage took employers who were willing to pay him ten thousand yen for work quite seriously.
There was only one reason.
He was poor.
Although Kira Yoshikage was still a student, the pressure of studying in Tokyo was genuinely considerable.
For example, the student apartment where he currently lived cost sixty thousand yen in rent each month, and that was with a subsidy. Without it, renting such an apartment in Ota Ward would cost at least seventy thousand yen a month.
And in Tokyo, Ota Ward's rent was considered relatively low. In prosperous areas such as Minato Ward or Chiyoda Ward, even a tiny one-room apartment like this would cost at least 120,000 yen a month.
That was only the rent. Utilities had to be paid separately.
He even had to pay a security deposit and key money, so nearly half a year's rent would be spent in the first month alone.
And having a place to live only solved the "housing" part of food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
Clothing was easy enough. He could simply wear the school uniform issued by the school.
As for transportation, he could buy a subway commuter pass, but it could hardly be called cheap.
The money saved on rent would ultimately be spent on the subway instead.
The remaining "food" was even more significant.
If all he needed was something to eat at every meal, a cheap grilled meat set cost only four hundred yen. Unfortunately, it was not filling.
The cheap boxed meals sold in Japanese supermarkets usually came in extremely small portions. Even ordinary girls might not be full after eating one, let alone adults. An average adult generally had to eat three or four boxes just to be half full.
A proper bowl of ramen cost eight hundred yen.
It cost the same in the school cafeteria, with no special discount.
The basic monthly expenses for food, clothing, housing, and transportation totaled more than 200,000 yen.
Even though Kira Yoshikage worked hard at his part-time jobs, working more than fifty-four hours a week—an intensity surpassing that of over half of all office workers—he could only earn the minimum wage. As a result, his monthly salary was just 209,000 yen.
In theory, Kira Yoshikage could barely scrape by with enough to eat and stay warm, but he still had to pay tuition.
As a prestigious school, Shuchiin Academy was renowned for the quality of its education, but its tuition was equally notorious for being high.
Including tuition, facility maintenance fees, enrollment fees, and other expenses, the first year's tuition exceeded 1.5 million yen. Although the enrollment fee was waived from the second year onward and tuition dropped to 1.2 million yen, it was still an astronomical sum.
Originally, Kira Yoshikage could have chosen a public school or a somewhat cheaper private school. However, the school he had originally been supposed to attend was destroyed by the Anti-Intellectual Cult, causing his student registration to be transferred to Tokyo. As a result, he had been forced to attend Shuchiin Academy.
Although the Japanese government also offered a special "high school enrollment assistance grant" to subsidize impoverished students—Kira Yoshikage, for example, could receive about 400,000 yen a year—even so, Kira Yoshikage still had to pay as much as 800,000 yen in tuition.
For ordinary students, entering Shuchiin Academy would certainly make them and their parents ecstatic, because it meant they had a chance to cross social classes—even if they became dogs for the upper class, they would still be the upper class's dogs, naturally superior to others.
Thus, no matter how much money it cost, their parents would do whatever it took to ensure that their children could study without worry.
Before you continue