Even setting aside the expensive tuition, the monthly living expenses alone were a considerable burden.
Hiratsuka Shizuka looked back at Kira Yoshikage:
"What do you think? Will you consider it?"
Kira Yoshikage slowly spoke:
"The terms are tempting..."
"So you're agreeing?"
Hiratsuka Shizuka's brows relaxed, but then she heard Kira Yoshikage's next words:
"But I refuse!"
Smack!
A vein nearly popped out on Hiratsuka Shizuka's forehead. She slammed the table and stood up, raising her voice angrily:
"Don't be so stubborn, brat!"
Facing the furious female teacher, Kira Yoshikage's tone remained calm:
"If you want to use your own money to subsidize my part-time work, DUCK no need. I'll find a job myself."
Tokyo's minimum wage was 907 yen per hour. Twice that was 1,814 yen.
Based on eight hours a day and 21.75 working days a month, that came to 315,636 yen per month.
What did that salary mean?
In Japan, the monthly salary of a newly graduated university student was only 200,000 yen.
Even old employees who had worked for nearly ten years earned an average monthly salary of only around 380,000 yen, or 2,261 yen per hour.
And that was merely the average. Some might not even reach that level!
For an ordinary student to find a job paying twice the minimum wage, there were only two words to describe it—you must be dreaming.
Take Tokyo, for example. Among part-time jobs, the profession with the highest hourly wage was cram-school instructor, but even that only paid 1,361 yen.
Compared with twice the minimum wage, there was still quite a gap.
Hiratsuka Shizuka sat down again, supporting her forehead with one hand. Her tone was somewhat helpless:
"You brat, don't you know what it means to play dumb?"
Though helpless, Hiratsuka Shizuka still took a sheet of paper from the documents on the desk and handed it to Kira Yoshikage. It was the consent form she had written long ago.
Hiratsuka Shizuka sighed silently. What else could she do if she refused? Was she really supposed to watch Kira Yoshikage starve to death?
Kira Yoshikage took the consent form somewhat surprisedly, his gaze utterly sincere:
"Thank you."
Although the only thing that attracted him to this teacher was her hands, her personality truly suited that of a wife.
Chapter 11: Small Is Cute Too
"Don't thank me yet!"
Hiratsuka Shizuka did not immediately release the hand gripping the consent form. "No matter how short of money you are, you can't work more than forty hours a week! In exchange, I'll help you apply for a subsidy."
After a pause, Hiratsuka Shizuka warned him sternly:
"If you don't agree, don't even think about taking this consent form from me!"
"Fine."
Kira Yoshikage weighed it for two seconds before silently nodding:
"I think Teacher Hiratsuka will definitely become an excellent wife in the future."
Hiratsuka Shizuka had still been wearing a stern expression, but upon hearing those words that were "almost" a confession, her pretty face instantly flushed bright red. Pretending to be angry, she said:
"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm your teacher!"
"I'm serious."
Kira Yoshikage wore an earnest expression that did not seem fake.
Kira Yoshikage's gaze drifted toward the female teacher's clenched fist, and a trace of obsession flashed in his eyes.
Just like Shimazaki Yuna, Teacher Hiratsuka had a pair of jade-like hands that resembled works of art. Even rarer was the mature charm those hands possessed, something a young girl could never have.
Although he did not smoke, enjoying the faint smoky scent mixed into the fragrance of her fingertips was not unpleasant.
Seeing the obsession in Kira Yoshikage's eyes, Hiratsuka Shizuka's face flushed even more deeply. Thinking he was merely teasing her as a student, she clenched her fists through gritted teeth:
"Kira Yoshikage, get out!"
"Fine."
Kira Yoshikage calmly nodded and turned to leave the office, as if the situation had nothing to do with him. All that remained was the red-faced female teacher, alternately embarrassed, furious, and worried, with no idea what she was imagining.
"Kira-kun!"
At the school gate, Kira Yoshikage heard a girl's delighted voice from far away.
Following the sound, he saw Glasses Girl standing nearby in a white dress and waving at him.
Kira Yoshikage asked in confusion:
"Have you been waiting here for me?"
"Not for very long."
Shimazaki Yuna replied, but upon seeing Kira Yoshikage's expression, she still asked cautiously:
"Is Kira-kun going to a club activity?"
Kira Yoshikage looked at the girl's timid, cautious manner, then at her carefully tended little hands, and his tone softened slightly:
"I didn't join any clubs. The teacher just called me in for a talk."
"A talk?" Shimazaki Yuna grew nervous, thinking that what happened last night had been discovered.
"It was about my part-time job." To keep Shimazaki Yuna from becoming too nervous, Kira Yoshikage gave her a brief explanation.
Shimazaki Yuna breathed a sigh of relief and took small steps to catch up with Kira Yoshikage:
"Ah, about that, I've read all of Kira-kun's novels. I already have some ideas for the character designs of IS and several of the main heroines..."
The girl's cheeks flushed slightly as she excitedly explained her design ideas to Kira Yoshikage. It had been a long time since she had been able to speak so freely with someone about drawing.
Kira Yoshikage interrupted her:
"About that, I think there's something wrong."
"Huh?"
Shimazaki Yuna immediately became flustered. Her little hands hovered helplessly before her chest as she hurriedly explained:
"Is there something wrong with my ideas? I-I can change them..."
Kira Yoshikage shook his head:
"It's not a problem with you. It's about the awards."
"The awards?"
Shimazaki Yuna was somewhat puzzled.
Kira Yoshikage's tone grew somewhat heavy:
"Although IS is of average quality, we can't rule out the possibility of a blind editor giving it the Gold Prize or even the Grand Prize!"
"Average quality..."
Shimazaki Yuna hesitated, unsure whether she should share her own opinion with Kira Yoshikage. She clearly thought Kira Yoshikage's work was outstanding, and felt that even winning a major prize would be perfectly reasonable. Yet when she heard him call the editor "blind," she swallowed the words she had been about to say.
Shimazaki Yuna kept her thoughts to herself and asked softly:
"What does Kira-kun think?"
"We have to make sure the Grand Prize and Gold Prize slots are taken by other works!"
"But that isn't something Kira-kun can decide, is it? Although there are many light novels submitted, their quality varies greatly. For example, in the Dengeki Novel Award three years ago, the Grand Prize slot was even left vacant that year..."
In the Dengeki Novel Award three years ago, the judges had felt that none of the works qualified for the Grand Prize. As a result, two works tied for the Gold Prize and two tied for the Silver Prize, while the Grand Prize remained vacant.
Kira Yoshikage thought for two seconds before asking:
"In other words, we have to ensure that at least three novels securely win the Grand Prize and Gold Prize, right?"
"That's correct."
Shimazaki Yuna nodded slightly and explained in a gentle voice:
"But that's only in theory. Although I'm not a professional editor, Kira-kun's work is quite outstanding. It probably won't win the Grand Prize at Dengeki Bunko, but that's because of the environment at Dengeki Bunko, not because of any problem with the work itself. So I think IS still has a good chance of winning the Gold Prize."
"It doesn't matter."
"Huh?"
Shimazaki Yuna hesitated before asking uncertainly, "Has Kira-kun thought of a way?"
"It's simple. As long as we ensure that three works are better than IS, IS can win no more than the Silver Prize."
"But how are we supposed to do that?"
Shimazaki Yuna's eyes were filled with confusion. She still did not understand why Kira Yoshikage could be so confident. His confidence was simply directed at a strange thing—not confidence that his own work would win the Grand Prize, but confidence that other works could be better than his.
Hmm, could this kind of confidence also be a form of insecurity?
No, that isn't right.
Stubbornly believing that he can't win an award is, at its core, also a form of insecurity, right?
So is this insecurity actually a form of confidence?
"Shimazaki."
"Ah, I'm here!"
Before she knew it, Shimazaki Yuna had followed Kira Yoshikage into the subway station and boarded the train home. In a daze, the girl heard Kira Yoshikage call out to her and immediately tensed up.
Kira Yoshikage looked at the girl's absent-minded expression and spoke in an even tone:
"You should go home. Otherwise, your family will worry."
Kira Yoshikage himself did not mind Shimazaki Yuna continuing to stay at his house. He even enjoyed those little hands servicing the House of Commons.
But Shimazaki Yuna's family might not see it that way—she was merely on bad terms with her mother, not truly homeless.
If she did not go back soon, her mother would definitely call the police.
By then, the police might follow the clues to his house, followed by a barrage of sensational headlines from the unscrupulous media:
"Shocking! Delinquent Teenager Imprisons Underage Girl!"
"Underage Girl Imprisoned and Assaulted for Months; Relevant Individual Arrested by Police!"
That was not something Kira Yoshikage wanted to see.
Kira Yoshikage shifted his gaze away from the little hand Shimazaki Setsuna had placed on her skirt. A man had to learn restraint.
Shimazaki Yuna lowered her head dejectedly, her tone somewhat dispirited:
"I-I understand."
Kira Yoshikage glanced at the sign indicating that the train was approaching its station and said without turning his head:
"Contact me on LINE if anything comes up."
Although he could not let Shimazaki Yuna stay at his house, he could occasionally let those hands provide their services. That was called mutual benefit.
"Mhm, mhm!"
Light instantly returned to Shimazaki Yuna's eyes. She raised her head and nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick.
Chapter 12: Jo Family: Listen to Me Say Thank You
Ding-dong~!
The carriage doors slowly opened, and Shimazaki Yuna got off as well.
It was partly because she wanted to spend more time with Kira Yoshikage, and partly because her "home" was actually nearby—