"You can just call me Ryo too. I grant you that privilege," Yamada Ryo chimed in, sprawled across the table.
"Understood, Miss Nijika, Miss Ryo."
Ichiji Hoshika slapped the table, but immediately realized that with how noisy it was, no one could hear her at all. She instead coughed twice to make some noise and draw the attention of the person in front of her.
"Anyway, you're a Starry employee from now on. Make a note of your working hours."
"Starry opens for ticket sales at five in the afternoon. You can come whenever you like before then. Usually, work wraps up before the trains stop running. The workflow is simple—you'll understand after watching it once."
"If you normally have classes, it won't affect your school hours either. Any questions?"
"None. I think those hours are great." Sakurakoji Talent shook his head.
"Mm, that's good." Ichiji Hoshika nodded, then suddenly looked at him with some confusion. After hesitating, she asked, "By the way, how old are you? Are you a high school student?"
Ichiji Nijika and Yamada Ryo looked over curiously as well. They wanted to know the answer too, since it was genuinely impossible to tell his age from his appearance.
"Mm... more or less. It's just that I'm not attending school right now."
"Huh?! Why?!"
"Ah, you did say you'd just returned from overseas."
"No classes or exams. Bliss."
The three of them gave three different reactions.
"Yeah, that was more or less it."
Ichiji Hoshika indicated that she understood and did not dig deeper. Everyone had their own circumstances, and prying into them was not something an adult should do.
"Then that's settled. You can start work tomorrow. No problem with that?"
"Mm, there shouldn't be."
"..."
Talent stayed at Starry until ten. Once the performance was over, he helped everyone put away the instruments and equipment, did a quick cleanup, and only then left.
Though work officially started tomorrow, he had not come for that little bit of pay. His main goal was to leave a good impression on them and create more opportunities to interact.
After walking up the narrow stairs and stepping out of Starry, Sakurakoji Talent smiled.
He could feel that the pain caused by his Strange Illness had lessened by another few ten-thousandths. It was still very little, but the change was undeniable. It confirmed that his body truly had a chance of being cured.
At this rate, one day, he would be able to become a normal person!
After walking down one street, he could no longer hold it in.
"Haha, hahahaha..."
"Hahahaha! Stephen Chow laugh"
"Woohoo!"
"Oh yeah!"
"Ababa!"
"..."
At the same time, unsurprisingly—
"Are you crazy?! What the fuck are you yelling about in the middle of the night?!"
"Take your freakout somewhere else! Keep making noise and I'll fucking kill you!"
Some residents on both sides could no longer stand it. They ran out onto their balconies and cursed at him loudly.
Despite the insults, Sakurakoji Talent, who was hopping around in high spirits, did not get angry.
He merely smiled and raised both middle fingers at them. Then, amid the sounds of them cursing as they came downstairs, he turned around and left with flair.
Image: "Bocchi with Social Anxiety Disorder who still refuses to come onstage," location: "Images/1753692339-100446961-113650639.jpg"
The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies: A Warm Family Relationship
The next day,
Perhaps because he had returned late last night, or perhaps because his body was unusually more comfortable, Sakurakoji Talent slept in until very late.
After washing up, he called Ichiyo over and asked her to investigate the names of every high school in Tokyo.
"Young Master, do you want to go to school?"
Yashiro Ichiyo's voice carried some astonishment. Due to his health issues, Sakurakoji Talent had never attended school since birth. He had always been taught by private tutors, or personally by his exceptionally capable parents.
"Mm, I'm considering it." He did not hide it and nodded in admission.
If events in the Omni-Anime world tended to happen anywhere, aside from mostly taking place in Tokyo Metropolis, they also generally centered around high schools.
Don't ask why. Japanese high school students were simply invincible.
Academic prodigies, musical geniuses, writers, cooks, detectives, idols... if you didn't have some skill under your belt, you'd be embarrassed to call yourself a Japanese high school student.
After interacting with the Starry group last night, he had already formed a basic guess. The solution to his problem was likely to interact with Omni-Anime characters. The more people he knew, the more effective it would be at relieving his symptoms.
He just did not know whether that effect would increase in tandem with deepening relationships—or rather, bonds. That still required further research.
He hoped it would. Otherwise, at yesterday's pace, he feared he would need to meet several thousand people before he could completely rid himself of this parasite clinging to his bones.
"That's wonderful! If the master and madam find out, they'll definitely be very happy!"
"But is your health really all right?"
Even as she rejoiced, Ichiyo was worried about him. If he fainted halfway through class on the spot, that would be absurd.
After hesitating for a while, Sakurakoji Talent decided to tell the truth. There was no need to hide anything from the elderly staff of the mansion, who were like family to him.
"I think I've found a way to solve my health problem."
"Really?!" Yashiro Ichiyo was utterly stunned. She could not even control her volume as she shouted it aloud.
"Mm, but it still needs further verification." Sakurakoji Talent nodded. "Still, it probably won't be a problem."
"A celebration! We have to celebrate! Sakura Mansion is throwing a party today!"
Yashiro Ichiyo's eyes practically blazed, her joy overflowing from her expression. She was sincerely happy for Sakurakoji Talent.
To her, he and Ashiri were both children she had watched grow up from birth, no different from her own. More than anyone, she knew how much worry and suffering the kind-hearted family had endured because of the Young Master's Strange Illness. She had seen it all and worried alongside them.
Yet even his resourceful masters had failed to find a solution, let alone a mere maid like her.
Now that she knew Talent had found a clue, of course she was happy for him.
He pressed his lips together, then smiled and shook his head. Letting her summon all the maids in the mansion into action with great fanfare, Sakurakoji Talent returned to his bedroom.
Not long afterward, he was bombarded with calls and inquiries, mostly from members of the Sakurakoji and Okura Families.
There was no need to say it—Ichiyo must have told them.
It took more than two full hours before he finally put down the phone and collapsed exhaustedly onto his soft bed.
"Phew... I'm exhausted."
Having overly concerned parents and family was a kind of trouble too.
His parents went without saying. They fussed over him, asking for details, worried about him as though he were a wanderer who had been away for years, despite him having only left for a few days.
After Okura Iyo heard the news, he asked about the specifics too. But Talent merely brushed him off, saying only that he had found an initial clue and still needed to observe things further.
The other man said he should ask for anything he needed. After hearing that Talent had asked Yashiro Ichiyo to investigate schools, he even suggested giving him a residence in every district of Tokyo Metropolis so he could conveniently travel to and from school later. Talent hurriedly refused. What would he need that many homes for?
There was also a certain tsundere Great Aunt who had always been slightly displeased with him. In an unprecedented move, she called to check on him too, which genuinely surprised him.
Then there were others, such as his Great Aunt, who was three generations senior to him yet a few months younger; his second uncle far away in Europe; his aunt, an active world-class designer; and his great-grandfather, who was over a hundred years old... all of them busy leaders in their respective fields, yet every one of them expressed their delight.
After several uninterrupted hours of calls and constantly dealing with everyone, he felt dizzy and parched.
But... it did not feel bad.
Sakurakoji Talent revealed a gentle smile, without the slightest trace of calculation. When he truly recovered one day, he would probably be able to fully enjoy all of this, right? Wrapped in luxurious velvet, he gradually drifted back to sleep.
It was not until three in the afternoon that he woke again. After tidying himself up, he prepared to head out once more.
Today was his first day at work. He could not be late—he had to leave a good impression on his boss and coworkers.
"Young Master, are you heading out again?" a maid cleaning the courtyard asked.
"Mm, I'll be back around the same time as last night, so don't worry."
"That's fine, but what exactly are you going out to do?"
Faced with the maids' gazes, Sakurakoji Talent put on an inexplicably proud expression.
"Going to work!"
"Huh?" × N
At four-thirty in the afternoon, Sakurakoji Talent stood before Starry's entrance once again.
Unlike a certain socially anxious person who did not dare go inside, he decisively pushed open the door and strode in.
On the way there, he had chosen to take the train instead of having his driver take him.
First, it would prevent acquaintances from seeing him and ruining his image. Second, he wanted to recreate the lucky coincidence of meeting Yamada Ryo yesterday and see whether he might run into another lone Little Red Riding Hood.
But reality was indeed not as convenient as television. Tokyo was so large that trying to chance upon his target among tens of millions of people felt like searching for a needle in the ocean.
"Tch, that's not how it happens in anime. Aren't Japan and Korea supposed to be just one village?"
"With luck this bad, am I really the protagonist?"
"Then again, if I had good luck, I wouldn't have suffered like this from the moment I was born."
If anyone said they were willing to trade his circumstances for a wealthy start in life, he could only laugh. Only people who had never experienced pain could have such naive thoughts. He could only say that after getting a toothache once, they would learn their lesson.
"Good morning." As he walked down the second set of stairs inside, Sakurakoji Talent greeted everyone.
Image: "If you don't bookmark this, Ryo will snipe you," location: "Images/1755650883-100446961-113651474.jpg"
The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies: The Girl at the Convenience Store
"Oh, good morning. You're pretty early." Ichiji Hoshika, who was playing on her phone, responded blandly.
"Good morning~" PA, who was adjusting the sound for the songs of a band that had signed up, turned back and greeted him with a smile.
She had already learned yesterday that Sakurakoji Talent would be working here from now on, which made her extremely excited. Had this dark, sunless underground venue finally gained a human being she could get along with?
"Good morning, Miss PA."
As the last employee to arrive, Sakurakoji Talent conscientiously headed behind the bar into the kitchen and began the day's preparations.
Though there was not really anything to prepare. Aside from a few simple drinks and cocktails, Starry provided almost no other food. The only machine behind the bar was a beverage dispenser.
Sakurakoji Talent was full of question marks. With just this, you had the nerve to call yourself a food and beverage establishment? Apologize to every food and beverage establishment in the world!
He knew such a simple job could not be too complicated, but he had not expected it to be this simple. All he had to do was add drinks and ice behind the counter. Anyone with hands could do it.
Giving his all in everything he did was his philosophy of life, because his time could not afford even a moment of waste. Since he had taken this job, he could not allow himself to handle it carelessly.
It was too late to do anything today. He could only make some preparations later. With that thought, he turned to Hoshika.
"Boss, can we add a few things to the menu? Having only drinks isn't very good, is it?"
"Hm?" Ichiji Hoshika looked at him in confusion. In this day and age, was there really a chosen worker asking to be given more tasks?
"It can be done, but let me make this clear first: I can't cook."
"And if we're adding things, what exactly do you want to add?"
He had nearly forgotten that Ichiji Hoshika seemed to be hopeless at cooking.
"For example, desserts, ice cream, matcha parfaits, coffee, milk tea, things like that?"
"That would be fine, but are you sure you can do it?"
Before you continue