!
"Can't you be a little more serious?" Looking at the utterly matter-of-fact guy, Shizuka Hiratsuka only felt exhausted...
"Huh!?" Sogo Doma protested, "I was seriously offering advice to my teacher. Things like the Three Waves Mantra are closely guarded secrets..."
"What kind of serious person talks about something called the Three Waves Mantra, which doesn't even sound decent? Even you said it was a move only scumbags use. Using a scumbag move against your own big brother—are you really being serious as a little brother?"
"What's wrong with the Three Waves Mantra? How doesn't it sound decent? Waste, romance, and then..."
"Just the word 'waste' alone..."
"But waste is the material foundation for creating romance. As they say, the economic base determines the superstructure. If you can't even afford to eat, who'd have the mood to create romance?" Sogo Doma countered.
"Don't think you can fool me just by making it sound grand..."
"Isn't that true? Doesn't creating romance require the right atmosphere? Whether it's a candlelit dinner, dazzling lights and fine wine, or chasing each other around on a carousel—without the conditions for waste..."
"Hold it right there. Dazzling lights and fine wine have nothing to do with romance, do they?"
"Who says? Think about it: beneath ambiguous lighting, accompanied by the final wave of the Three Waves Mantra—singing love songs. Isn't that romantic? Of course, the most important thing is to book the entire place, then tell the other person, 'Sorry, I just didn't want anyone else to hear me sing.' Let the extravagant atmosphere fill with the scent of fresh ink on banknotes, then add wine that costs hundreds of thousands per bottle..."
"Umm..." Before he could finish, Shizuka Hiratsuka covered her face. "Why can you connect everything to money? Doma, money isn't everything..."
"I know,