My Daughter? As If I Don't Know Her—Different Goals

"Yes! I'm his classmate."

"May I ask if you know where he lives?"

Ichinose Honami had made a remark worthy of a stalker. Her future was worrying.

So there really were such coincidences in this world.

The accessories shop owner stared at her in surprise. He had merely made an offhand sentimental remark, yet he had guessed right. Perhaps he really possessed some unknown special ability.

His gaze lowered slightly as he gathered his thoughts, and his tone became solemn and mature. "I don't know that, but I guess, ahem—"

"I think he'll soon become a student at a prestigious Tokyo high school."

That was the owner's prediction.

As the owner, of course he had never bothered remembering the details of a mere part-time worker, nor had he deliberately tried to chat with them.

The owner merely possessed an adult's composure and confidence, confidence built upon years of being jointly deceived by his employees.

"Boss, you're brilliant!"

At that moment, a highly motivated store clerk tactfully chimed in. The owner beamed and continued displaying his brilliance. "And I think that school is most likely Advanced Nurturing."

"Advanced Nurturing..."

Ichinose Honami murmured skeptically, resting the back of her hand against her chin as she pondered.

A moment later, she looked up at the owner again, pointed at the hairpin from yesterday on the counter, and smiled. "Thank you. I'd like that hairpin. Please wrap it for me."

The owner's smile grew even more satisfied.

"Coming right up!"

Ichinose Honami walked out of the accessories shop holding the hairpin. The owner and the clerk watched their last customer leave, then began closing up before the mall's mandated closing time.

"Huh? Boss, why are we closing so early today?"

"My daughter overestimates herself and wants to apply to Advanced Nurturing High School. I need to go home early and talk her out of it."

The owner spoke with a troubled expression. "She's a middle school student with an average deviation score below fifty. Getting into an ordinary high school would already be difficult for her. Do you think she can get into a key school the nation values so highly?"

"She's nothing like me. She has absolutely no clear understanding of her own abilities!"

"If she blindly applies like this, she'll only waste the time I spent arranging connections and going through the motions at other schools for her."

The clerk fell silent upon hearing this. The owner's casually extravagant words had dealt him a critical blow, but he still tried to find an angle for a promotion and raise. "The young miss just matured later than ordinary people. Her potential is still tremendous. You can tell from how much she usually spends!"

The owner looked surprised. "Oh, really?"

The clerk answered confidently, "Absolutely!"

The owner's expression suddenly darkened, and his voice became incomparably indifferent. "You really know how to flatter people. Tomorrow, go work as a security guard at the entrance."

"Huh—?!"

The clerk instantly froze, then struggled desperately to salvage the situation. "Boss, please give me a reason!"

"A reason?"

The owner gave a self-mocking sneer, looking at the crowds outside as he said deeply, "The reason is that my daughter... is a complete and utter idiot!"

After leaving the accessories shop called Shinohara Boutique, Ichinose Honami lingered by the railing on the mall's second floor for a while.

That owner's words had felt rather unreliable, but she had looked up the high school called Advanced Nurturing before. Its admissions brochure and school information marked it as a top-tier prestigious school, and it even had a tuition waiver policy friendly to poor students...

Looking at the hairpin she had just bought for ten thousand yen, which she was about to give to her younger sister, Ichinose Honami began agonizing over her choice of high school.

Her mother wanted her to complete her education no matter what, and did not even insist that she choose a school with waived tuition. But considering the family's situation...

There were other schools besides Advanced Nurturing that offered full tuition waivers, but Advanced Nurturing was one of the few fully residential schools.

Choosing Advanced Nurturing meant that she might find it difficult to return home for three years. While it would indeed ease the burden of tuition, leaving all the housework and responsibility of caring for her younger sister to her mother alone felt somewhat wrong.

Would that person... that stranger who had pulled her back before she made a terrible mistake... happen to attend that school too?

"Advanced Nurturing..."

"..."

"Huh?"

After standing there blankly for a long time, Ichinose Honami suddenly realized something.

Her body went limp. After frowning and sighing, she leaned directly against the railing, puffing out her cheeks and helplessly pursing her lips upward as she blew a breath at a strand of bangs on her forehead.

"Phew—"

Her bangs rose and fell, brushing past her eyes and catching the mottled sunset outside as the curtain fell quietly on another day.

Ichinose Honami sat at the desk in her room, propping up her chin with one hand and looking at the scattered starlight outside the window...

"So from yesterday until now, I didn't even know his name."

At the side of her desk lay an Advanced Nurturing application form.

"Why did you apply to our school?"

"Because my family is rather poor... and I also want to make this world a better place?"

"..."

The interviewer looked at the pink-haired girl sitting upright and gracefully before him. While appreciating her appropriate and candid answer, he took a moment to glance at the interview summary of a student from yesterday.

The reason for applying had been: ["Because I'm poor, and I also want to make this world more interesting! (Extremely confident expression)"]

"Ahem..." The interviewer coughed, withdrew his gaze from the paper file, and looked at the girl before him again. "Congratulations on successfully passing our second-round interview, Ichinose. You are now a member of the school."

"You have been assigned to Class B of the first year. If you have any questions afterward, you may call the school's consultation hotline listed on the admission notice. A staff member will answer your questions then."

The several men in suits appeared to possess exceptionally fine professional etiquette. After delivering their congratulations, they stood up and, with slight bows, handed the girl a set of school uniforms and a standard backpack.

"Th-Thank you, teachers!" Ichinose Honami was somewhat flattered. She hurriedly stepped forward to accept the two items, then politely bowed as well.

"Then we look forward to your performance at school. If you have no other questions, you may leave now."

"Mhm, okay!"

Holding the brand-new uniform and backpack in both arms, Ichinose Honami smiled and nodded goodbye to the interviewers. After leaving the interview room and closing the door behind her, she finally let out a long breath.

Nervous! She had been especially nervous!

But this was wonderful. From now on, she could help ease some of her mother's burden.

Ichinose Honami shifted the uniform in her arms aside slightly. The wine-red blazer, white shirt, and white skirt were exceptionally bright.

Advanced Nurturing... Hopefully, she would be able to see the person she wanted to meet there. That would be even better.

"Next."

A voice called out from inside the room. Ichinose Honami noticed something from the corner of her eye and shifted slightly to the side, making room in the hallway.

A gyaru-style girl dressed rather provocatively, with light makeup on her face, passed beside her. Their eyes met briefly.

Ichinose Honami nodded openly, wanting to pass along the good luck that had helped her successfully pass the interview to this stranger, just as she herself had once received someone else's help.

Who would have thought that this interviewee not only failed to accept it kindly, but quickly avoided her gaze, stiffly turned her head away, and gave a cold snort in the other direction, as though deliberately displaying her disdain and aloofness.

Ichinose Honami did not take it to heart. She had already received more than enough good fortune today, and her heart was filled only with contentment.

Her smile remained as she packed the uniform into her backpack and put it on. She glanced back at the door that had opened and closed again, then stepped outside.

Behind her, the familiar interview procedures and questions occasionally sounded.

"Kei Karuizawa, why did you apply to our school?"

"I..."

"I want to rebuild my high school life."