After deciding to give up, I became popular

It wouldn't quite fit to say she's a specially hired housekeeper, since Shiina doesn't seek any reward at all. It seems she simply enjoys the feeling of "taking care of a good-for-nothing," which is completely consistent with how she was before, unchanged at all.

But now it seems there are signs of this intensifying? It's already evolved into her coming over early in the morning to make breakfast for him... Could it be that all three meals from now on will be handled by Shiina?

It feels like being taken care of by a beautiful girl...

"Really, Kanade, how can you not pay attention to eating breakfast? Continuing like this will give you a stomachache!" the angel-like girl scolded Natsukawa Kanade while cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

"And the state of cleanliness too, it's only been a few days since I last came over, and it's become like this. I didn't even notice yesterday, the kitchen has become so dirty. And the living room too, don't always throw your clothes on the sofa, okay? Clothes that have been worn should be properly taken to be washed, and also..."

Listening to the angel-like girl's complaints, Natsukawa Kanade didn't dare to utter a word in rebuttal.

Originally, he was capable of maintaining cleanliness, but these past few days he's been distracted by various matters, unable to sleep peacefully, let alone eat properly and tidy up the room.

The only time he got a good night's sleep was last night, and he even had that kind of dream...

"Are you listening? Why do you seem so absent-minded?" the angel-like girl frowned.

"No, no! I'm listening properly!" Natsukawa Kanade quickly shook his head in denial.

"Okay, then you start cleaning now, and I'll go buy some ingredients."

"How can that be, let me go instead." Natsukawa Kanade quickly stopped her.

No way, a guest comes to visit early in the morning, and for her to make breakfast for the host is already outrageous enough, let alone go out to buy ingredients? His conscience simply couldn't handle it!

"Hmm... Then you go, and I'll stay here and clean." The angel-like girl thought for a moment and didn't refuse, then started urging Natsukawa Kanade.

"Don't dawdle anymore, hurry up and go, be careful on the way."

"...Okay."

So many times a day will kill me.jpg

046. O-Onii-chan?!

Compared to the homeland he once lived in, breakfast in Japan can be said to be very monotonous.

For established families, if there is a diligent wife managing the household, there might be a chance to taste hot white rice and miso soup in the morning, accompanied by thick omelets, plums, and various pickled vegetables as side dishes, creating a heartwarming meal.

But in most cases, whether it's office workers or students, the most suitable items are bread and milk.

What's that saying? -- A youthful daily life without running into a girl at the corner while holding bread in your mouth is incomplete.

Although it's an overused famous scene, everyone still seems to enjoy it. Ultimately, it's because Japanese people don't have the habit of eating a proper breakfast, but they fantasize about running into a beautiful girl while holding bread in their mouths as usual.

When Natsukawa Kanade first came to this world, he wasn't used to it either, but he gradually got used to it. However, after getting used to it, he regretted it -- because he found a food store that specializes in breakfast.

To explore its importance, only one sentence is needed to summarize it -- its owner is a genuine Chinese person.

It's not that it's rare to see people from his homeland in Japan. In fact, many Chinese people have immigrated here, but most of them gather in the Chinatown area of Yokohama, rarely living alone outside of it.

But this owner went against the grain and opened a "non-Japanese traditional" breakfast shop in the Minato Ward, which is almost entirely populated by locals. Because of the exquisiteness of his craftsmanship, he formed a dimensional reduction blow to the surrounding food stores that provided breakfast, and took away the local morning market in one fell swoop.

The line in front of the door is almost non-stop, basically lasting until noon. Fortunately, today is the weekend, and there are fewer people in line, so Natsukawa Kanade can finally taste the old delicacies again.

"Boss, 5 meat buns, 5 servings of shumai, 2 servings of soy milk."

The meat buns in this store are actually very big and not expensive. In fact, Natsukawa Kanade himself can only eat 3 at most, but considering that there is also an angel-like girl present, he bought some more.

Even if he can't finish them, he can use them as snacks.

"Oh, it's Little Kanade, welcome, welcome, you haven't been here for a long time."

"Because I've been busy with school lately." Natsukawa Kanade responded with a smile.

Of course, he communicated with the boss in Chinese. It was something engraved in his bones, impossible to forget even if he hadn't used it for a long time, and he would never let go of any opportunity to use it.

"Hey, can being busy with studying prevent you from eating?" The boss waved his hand, obviously not believing it, "You're too honest, kid. You don't want to waste time lining up. If you ask me, just come over every morning, take your breakfast and leave, and you can pay whenever you want."

Meeting a fellow countryman in a foreign land naturally makes the boss feel very kind, but what makes him even happier is to see a high school student who loves Chinese culture so much in a foreign land, especially since the other party also knows Chinese. His Mandarin is better than his, and he quotes classics as soon as he opens his mouth, clearly a pure Chinese culture enthusiast.

He must take great care of this kind of good kid!

"That won't do, you're also doing business, if I do this it will mess up the order and affect your reputation." Natsukawa Kanade shook his head and refused.

He didn't know that the boss had misunderstood him, only thinking that the other party was a forthright person, and became enthusiastic and generous when he met someone who suited his taste, such as him who liked to talk to him in Chinese.

"What are you afraid of, if anyone dares to say anything to you, I won't sell him anything!" The boss's tone was resentful. The so-called exclusive supplier is like this, daring to do whatever they want because they have confidence.

"Haha, thank you Uncle Li, I appreciate your kindness."

After receiving the breakfast and paying the bill, Natsukawa Kanade said goodbye after a brief greeting.

Enthusiasm is enthusiasm, but don't take other people's kindness for granted. Natsukawa Kanade never thinks that he is anything special that needs others to constantly treat him favorably. If he really has such an idea, then he must first treat the other party favorably to seek an equivalent exchange.

Especially in Japan, this idea has almost become his code of conduct.

If he keeps agreeing to other people's requests from the beginning without receiving anything in return, he will only be regarded as an "easy target." At that time, don't even talk about being treated normally, it would be considered good luck if he wasn't collectively bullied at school.

To survive normally in this place, so-called good looks and super strong abilities are not the most important. Only by understanding the "atmosphere" and making appropriate judgments can he go all the way without worry, otherwise, even if he is as noble as the Emperor's daughter, he will still be severely tortured if he deserves to be.

...

After buying breakfast and replenishing some ingredients, Natsukawa Kanade went straight home. However, as he walked, he was suddenly attracted by a golden silhouette.

It's not entirely golden, the other party is actually wearing a thick green coat and dark blue jeans, with a brown baseball cap on their head, looking like a sneaky thief.

The reason for exposing her identity is that iconic little fang and the golden hair fluttering in the wind under the brim of the hat -- Eriri Spencer Sawamura.

Natsukawa Kanade had seen this strange dress before, so he could quickly recognize her.

At this moment, Miss Eriri was looking like "I'm very suspicious," wandering back and forth in front of a bookstore, looking around but never stepping inside.

Natsukawa Kanade paused for a while in place, and finally couldn't help but say hello:

"Eriri, what are you doing here?"

"Eek!!!" As if she had been stepped on her tail, Eriri instantly bristled like a frightened cat, taking several steps back. After seeing that the person who came was Natsukawa Kanade, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"You scared me to death, you idiot Kanade!" Unconsciously, she even used her usual coquettish tone.

Natsukawa Kanade didn't mind and continued, "I was just saying hello normally. It's your sneaky appearance that's too strange, not paying attention to your surroundings."

"What are you doing here? I remember you would never get up at this time normally."

"It's all Mom's fault, she insisted on waking me up and telling me to come buy something." Eriri pouted, her face full of reluctance. If she didn't know that her mom was really busy, she would never have agreed to run errands for her.

"Buy something?" Natsukawa Kanade raised his head, glanced at the bookstore, and looked at the interior decoration, remained silent for a while, and then asked, "Could it be that you're buying doujinshi?"

"Y-yes, that's right, otherwise I wouldn't dare to go in..." Eriri nodded, a little embarrassed.

It's not that she feels shy about admitting that she's going to buy doujinshi in front of a boy. After all, the other party is Kanade, who knows her well. The main reason she feels embarrassed is another reason -- as a minor, it's illegal to buy 18+ doujinshi in Japan.

Even so, it's actually okay to draw it yourself, and Eriri has always thought so.

But as a doujinshi artist, even if her drawing skills are good, she can't imagine any plot or content out of thin air. She can only enrich herself by constantly absorbing other people's doujinshi knowledge. In the past, she asked her mom to buy doujinshi back for her to study, but unexpectedly, today it's the other way around.

Damn it, if she wasn't threatened by her mom, "Then I won't buy doujinshi for you anymore," she wouldn't have given in so easily!

But soon Eriri's eyes lit up, and she found a good way, so she said to Natsukawa Kanade, "That's right, since I can't do it, let Kanade help me! Go in and buy doujinshi for me!"

"..." Natsukawa Kanade was silent for a while, then pointed to his face, "Do you think I look like I'm 18 years old?"

"A-at least more than me, right?" Eriri also felt that her request was a bit excessive, and touched her head embarrassedly.

"Please be considerate of me too, I'll get caught if I'm exposed, right?" Natsukawa Kanade sighed.

Although he himself doesn't know what kind of punishment he would get if he was really caught, at least his reputation would definitely not be good -- "Shocking, the student council president of a well-known high school actually committed such an illegal crime!" If similar remarks were spread...

His life would explode! Just thinking about it makes him feel unacceptable!

"Then what should I do? I can't just gamble on luck, right?" Eriri tugged at Natsukawa Kanade's clothes, asking pitifully, "Or should I just forget it..."

Although she doesn't think that idiot mom will really ignore her in the future, what if? She doesn't want to use "Teacher Kashiwagi Eri's" career prospects as a bet!

"..." Natsukawa Kanade frowned, a little difficult to decide.

Honestly, he should advise her to give up in this situation. It's not like some "I can't live without doujinshi!" male high school student, there's no need to fight at risk, but looking at Eriri's appearance, it seems that there is another hidden reason...

"How about this, I'll dress up as your older brother and accompany you in, you just choose as much as you want, it's best to show a confident look, and finally hand the doujinshi to me in front of the clerk at the counter, and I'll pay."

If he goes in alone, he's also a little scared, but if he accompanies Eriri, it'll be much better.

As long as he performs well, he can create an image for the clerk of "a brother accompanying his sister to buy 18+ doujinshi." Although it sounds very demonic, it can at least fool them.

It's also thanks to the fact that Japan doesn't have things like "ID cards," otherwise he'll be exposed with a simple question.

"B-brother?!" Eriri's eyes widened.

"You don't want to?"

"N-no, it's not... N-no way! Brother, brother it is then! If I can buy doujinshi..." Eriri quickly waved her hand, replying stutteringly.

At this moment, her heart was as if it had been hit hard, and her thoughts had long since drifted away --

Brother! Kanade is my brother! Hehe, rounding it up, that means we're childhood friends who grew up together! I win!

047. Small is cute too, you know!

"Kanade, that clerk, is he peeking at me? Could it be that I've been discovered..." Eriri tugged at Natsukawa Kanade's sleeve, her tone a little nervous.

Her other small hand was clenched into a fist, held in front of her chest, as if this would make her feel more at ease.

"Don't be paranoid, it's just your imagination." Natsukawa Kanade comforted her, then looked back, and happened to meet the eyes of the young clerk, then saw the other party quickly turn his head away, no longer looking in this direction.

"...At most, he just thinks your dress is suspicious, right?" His tone was a little hesitant, the clerk's movements were indeed a little strange, but it didn't feel like he was looking at Eriri, but rather... sizing him up?

Could it be that he looks even younger than Eriri?

"Is my dress weird? I think it's pretty normal." Eriri lowered her head, looked at herself, and felt that there was no problem at all.

"If you often watch romance dramas, you'll find that you're actually dressed like a private detective." Natsukawa Kanade explained in a low voice.

In fact, this kind of dress can only appear in romance dramas, and ordinary professional detectives go out in ordinary clothes, why would they swagger around dressed in a strange way, thinking they're not exposed fast enough?

"Okay, stop wasting time, hurry up and find the doujinshi you want, I feel like everyone is looking over here."

This bookstore seems to be quite famous, early in the morning there are many otaku dressed in ita-clothes coming out, one by one picking out their favorite "spoils of war", but they all come alone, there's no one like Natsukawa Kanade who comes in pairs, let alone one of them is a cute girl.

It can only be said that if looks could kill, he would probably be riddled with holes by now.

"Okay."

Eiri also looked around and noticed that, just as Kanade Natsukawa had said, some passersby were frequently glancing their way.

Did others think she and Kanade looked like a couple? They had good taste, those people!

Her pretty face flushed red, and she hid on Kanade Natsukawa's other side, using his body to slightly block the view.

"Not this one, not this one... Found it!" After browsing for a while, Eiri quickly found her target—the doujinshi her mother wanted.

As a doujinshi artist, Eiri was just an ordinary humiliation genre enthusiast, reading and drawing works about men and women, but her mother was different; she was a complete fujoshi, who loved reading forbidden love series.

"Found it? Let me see..." Kanade Natsukawa subconsciously turned his head to look.

"No way!" Eiri hurriedly hid the doujinshi, refusing to let him see it under any circumstances.

Anything else was fine, but she absolutely couldn't let Kanade see this kind of series! What if he accidentally went astray? Absolutely not!

Kanade Natsukawa didn't mind; if she didn't want him to see it, then he wouldn't. So, he started browsing himself.

Now that I'm here, it wouldn't be too much to pick one, right?

If he were in front of other girls, he would pay attention to his image, but he and Eiri were 'comrades-in-arms,' so it was completely fine to pick doujinshi together. Even reading them together wouldn't be a problem, right?

After browsing for a while, his attention was quickly drawn to a cover—a blonde girl with ample assets was praying with her hands together, and her smooth hair was stained with some crystal liquid...

Kanade Natsukawa immediately reacted.

He remembered the dream he had this morning. The angel-like girl in his dream seemed to have made the same gesture...

Eiri, who was next to him, leaned over and noticed that Kanade Natsukawa was staring intently at the doujinshi in front of him, so she also took a look.

Blonde, slender figure, hair as long as hers... This was basically her!

Eiri's pretty face was flushed. She felt as if she had traveled into the book and become the protagonist on the cover, and standing in front of her was Kanade with a wicked smile, saying to her roughly, "Swallow it..."

Aaaaaah! I'm going to die!