Tokyo: Who would still fall in love after being spoiled?

Chapter 35 "The perfume I'm wearing is actually the pepper spray that Amano took by mistake."

On the return tram, he put one hand in his pocket and scratched the gold medal with his fingers, which was only coated with a thin layer of real gold. With the other hand, he held his mobile phone and searched for relevant performance videos of the "Fourth Movement of the Sonata in A-flat Major" on YouTube.

A long-established pianist, a high school student competing in the junior group, a young person performing on the international stage...piano performances of different levels were transmitted to his ears through a pair of wired headphones that cost the same as a loaf of butter bread.

He underestimated the performance level represented by Lv.3 to Lv.5.

Even among those famous pianists, some are unable to play the music that the system claims to have "fully mastered".

But he truly felt from Amano's piano playing things that he could never possess.

That must be something far more important than the performance level, at least something that makes him unique among the more than 40 contestants.

He had never had that kind of thing for a single moment in his two lives, which spanned nearly a hundred years.

In the end, because of the judging criteria based on performance level, he won first place...

He looked out the window, clearing his mind.

From Amano's performance to the system's announcement, I began to think about the meaning of life, the nature of the world - and what kind of dipping sauce to go with the barbecue tomorrow.

If only he were an adult now, enjoying a couple of sips of cold beer while eating barbecue...

Ding--

The classical music that was automatically playing in the headphones was interrupted for a moment, and a Line message sounded.

[Takeda: Inoue! Congratulations!]
"..."

[Inoue: BBQ is on the rise.]
he demanded.

[Takeda: Just tell me what you want. I'll even accompany you all day tomorrow. As long as it doesn't cost any money, I'll do anything!]
[Inoue: Would you mind swimming two rounds in the river with me?]
[Takeda: What?! I told you to say that.]
He breathed a sigh of relief.

This person's way of begging others to do something is probably unique.

If he continued chatting like that, he would not only suspect that Takeda knew that he had won first place in the competition, but also that he knew that the first place prize was 20,000 yen.

[Inoue: Congratulations.]
[Takeda: What about the latter part?]
[Inoue: That’s a separate price.]
[Takeda: Isn’t it enough to upgrade the BBQ?]
[Inoue: How is that possible?]
[Takeda: I buy you bread every day! The flavor is different every day.]
[Inoue: Sell me two cans of beer.]
He just said it casually, without any expectations.

[Takeda: Coming home late again?]
[Inoue: Let's drink it while we eat barbecue tomorrow.]
[Takeda: Ah... Could it be that you drank all that by yourself before?!]
[Inoue: Why don't you just ask that guy with the mustache and find out?]
[Takeda: I won’t ask.]
When the tram arrived at the station, he put away his phone and squeezed out of the crowd. The Line message sound in his headphones kept ringing.

[Takeda: Come get it in the evening.]
[Takeda: If you get caught, don’t say I sold it.]
[Takeda: (Just say it was given by Moustache! We're moving out anyway.)]
I actually agreed...

[Inoue: Just tell me what you want! I'll even spend the whole day with you tomorrow. As long as it doesn't cost any money, I'll do anything!]
[Takeda: You said it! Keep your word!]
[Inoue: I always keep my promises.]
[Takeda: How can two cans of beer be worth a fortune?]
Dede...

He stepped out of the window and looked to the other side.

[Sakurai: Inoue-san is first! Congratulations!]
[Sakurai: But showing off in front of Sou-chan isn’t necessarily a good thing…]
[Sakurai: I'll think about how to remedy this later~~]
[Sakurai: If you want to know what Sou-chan likes, feel free to ask me!]
Well, no need to reply here.

He unplugged his earphones, put his phone in his pocket, and decided not to even glance at the messages on Line before heading to Takeda Grocery Store.

He was a man of high moral standards, free from vulgar tastes. Chatting with an adolescent girl who wondered if two cans of beer would make her rich and who spent her days trying to get boys to pursue her childhood friend was a waste of time.

I returned the formal leather shoes I had rented, changed back into my sweatshirt, cropped pants, and sneakers, and washed off my makeup in the sink in the bathroom near the tram station.

It was said to be light makeup, and you couldn't tell how thick it was in the mirror after applying it. It actually took a long time to wash it off, like a layer of liquid mask was peeling off.

After returning to the boarding house, I had dinner at a small restaurant I often visited, and then turned into the commercial street where Zhutian's part-time grocery store was located as if he was familiar with the place.

"Something's wrong..." Takeda was still wearing his employee hat and mask, and he was wearing the plaid shirt underneath the fleece jacket he had painted, and a dark gray pleated skirt.

She saw Inoue walk into the store, stand up from his chair, and look him up and down as if he had discovered something.

"Something's wrong."

"It smells like perfume..." Takeda frowned and fell into deep thought, "Could it be that Saotome-senpai is really right?"

"I happened to see Amano-san's perfume and he sprayed it on me a few times. I guess he mistook it for pepper spray." Inoue half-seriously explained that he couldn't smell it anymore. Even after changing clothes, he still had it?

"The positioning is quite clear... the scumbag Inoue." Takeda couldn't help but smile, then said in disbelief, "... is it really Amano-san's?"

"I swear by the Mississippi River." He raised his hand in a mock gesture.

"Who cares about that..." Takeda complained.

She walked out from the front desk and went to the refrigerator, looking at the wide variety of fermented drinks in the cabinet.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Bai Sandeli." He responded casually.

"So clear... do you drink it often?" Takeda took out two cans of Suntory, returned to the front desk, and picked up the scanner.

"My father always lets me drink." At home, whenever his father got drunk, he would pour him some wine and then treat him like a sworn brother. He would only behave himself after being scolded by his mother.

But in reality, I never drank it because my mother snatched it away from me.

"What a good father!" Takeda said sarcastically, "He's just like my own father."

"Did your father also teach you to drink?"

"That's right!" She took out a plastic bag and put two cans of beer into it. "One day in junior high, he was late because he got drunk the night before. He said girls need to practice their drinking skills early on so they won't be deceived by scumbags."

He paid for two cans of White Suntory.

"He even said that's how he tricked my mother into giving him the money!" Takeda took the money and complained bitterly, "But from my mother's point of view, he's really that easy to trick. She didn't say anything when my father forced me to drink, and just taught him how to do it. He wasn't afraid that I'd become stupid if I drank too much!"

"Really..." He reached out to take the handbag containing White Suntory.

When he was about to hand it to him, Takeda suddenly snatched the bag away.

"I'm still worried!" she said.

"What are you worried about?"

"What if you change your mind? When I wake up tomorrow, I'll find you've disappeared somewhere. Wouldn't that be a waste of time? Are you really going to spend the whole day with me tomorrow?"

"I'll really accompany you." With the system task, he would even be happy to do it.

"Then swear! Stay with me all day tomorrow and don't complain about anything."

"I swear to the Sumida River that if I complain even once tomorrow, I will be drowned in the deepest riverbed of the Sumida River." He raised his hands high.

“Why not the Mississippi River?”

"You don't even know where the Mississippi River is."

He walked to the refrigerator, took out two more cans of soda, came back to pay, and put them in the same plastic bag with the Suntory.

When I left the grocery store and returned to the boarding house, it was not yet nine o'clock in the evening.

He walked into the boarding house and knocked on the door of Moustache's room.

"It's you, kid... Didn't you say that you can only be overdue by half an hour at most? Why, are you going to stay out all night again?" The man with a moustache opened the door and looked at him first, then at the plastic bag in his hand.

"Let's chat for a while." He held up the plastic bag and said with a smile, "You drink beer, and I'll drink soda."

　Thanks to 100% Pickled Fish, Ward Tianwowei and Ramoshuai for their monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)