The arrogant young lady in the class works as a maid in my house

"Hin-Hinshigawa, what's wrong? Are you crying?"

"I'm not crying. There's no way I'm crying. I'm not relieved by what you said."

She said this and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. Himeno's thoughts seemed to be in a mess, and her words were incoherent. This made Shinnosuke feel that Himeno was worried that the criticism was sincere.

After a while, she seemed to calm down a little, and then she slowly spoke:

"I'm sorry. That's not what I came here to say. Thank you, Agatsuma-san. That's all I can say."

After Jinai finally expressed her true feelings, she bowed her head deeply and expressed her gratitude.

Shinnosuke breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

"It's okay, don't take it to heart."

"To thank you today, I will make a more elaborate dish."

"I'm glad you're kind...but you really don't have to take it to heart."

"No, I'd feel bad if I did that."

"Okay. But you said you wanted to make something more elaborate, but I don't have any special ingredients at home."

"Is there a supermarket nearby?"

"Yes, I remember there was a small grocery store. You know it very well."

"I checked it online before I came here."

"You're quite well prepared."

"Are there any high school students from our school living around here?"

"Well, no."

"That's no problem. Let's go shopping together."

Since she had already said that, it would be embarrassing to refuse her further. So Shinnosuke said "Okay", and then the two of them went to the supermarket.

I would like to add that Himeno was wearing a coat, not a maid outfit when she went out.

*

"By the way, Nishikawa. Have you expressed your dissatisfaction to Maid Style Company?"

Shinnosuke asked as they walked to the supermarket.

He was referring to the unauthorized publication of Himeno's photo in a magazine advertisement.

"Yeah... I told them over the phone. Actually, there seems to be a clause in the part-time job contract that allows the company to use photos for advertising."

"is that so?"

"Yeah. After they told me that, I realized it was indeed there. I didn't think too much about it and just signed it."

"I see. In that case... I can't blame them."

(Rinji Chuan has excellent grades and is among the top students in her second year of high school, but she is still unsophisticated.)

Shinnosuke's academic performance wasn't great, but his mother died young, and his father had always left some of the household affairs to him. Therefore, he felt that he was superior to Himeno in terms of life wisdom and coping skills.

(I have to help her in every way.)

*

They arrived at the supermarket they had intended to visit. The grocery store was located on the outskirts of the shopping district, seemingly a small shop frequented only by local residents. However, it had a wide selection of items and was a frequent visitor to the area.

Himeno stood at the entrance and pointed towards the store.

"This is it. Okay, time to go to the battlefield."

"You're exaggerating."

"Because this is my first time in a supermarket like this."

"Really? Young lady doesn't buy things?"

As a heavy consumer who goes to the supermarket every week to buy groceries, Shinnosuke felt unbelievable and was devastated.

"How rude of you! I still do buy things. I occasionally go to large shopping malls or department stores with my parents, but I usually buy from the department store's salespeople."

"Foreign salesman? The Minister of Foreign Affairs?"

"It's not that kind of external. Are you an idiot? How can there be a foreign minister in a department store? If that's the case, Japan has about 200 foreign ministers."

There are 200 department stores in Japan. Without this kind of super-enthusiastic knowledge, you wouldn't understand her joke at all.

"What?! Calling someone an idiot is the idiot!"

"puff……"

Hearing Shinnosuke's elementary school-like rebuttal, Himeno couldn't help but laugh. Although she was speaking sarcastically, she seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit.

The same thing happened to Shinnosuke. He felt that what Himeno said was different from what it said literally, and it did not have an offensive meaning, so Shinnosuke knew she was joking and happily refuted her.

"Outbound salespeople are people who visit customers' homes with catalogs or product samples, rather than customers having to visit the store. They place their orders with the employees, who then deliver the products to their door."

“Ehh! So that’s how it is?”

(You can actually ask someone from a department store to sell to you door-to-door instead of going to a department store. Rich people are truly terrifying.)

"Okay, let's go. If you delay any longer, I'll leave you behind."

"Ah, wait a minute."

Jino walked quickly into the store, and she really looked very happy.

"Azuma-san, what would you like to eat?"

Himeno asked in the supermarket. Shinnosuke just said "hmm" and thought for a moment before answering.

"Well, I want to eat meat."

"Well, that's good. Agatsuma-kun is a meat-eating guy."

"Don't use that word. It sounds different."

"Ah, let's buy this steak. It's bound to be delicious."

Himeno went to the meat section and placed a bag of steak in her shopping cart. The label read, "200 grams of Kobe beef, 9,000 yen."

"Listen to me! Wait, wait! Why did you choose this kind of meat?"

"Because it's Kobe beef. Looks delicious, doesn't it?"

"No, of course it's delicious. This meat is definitely delicious, it must be delicious! But this kind of meat is definitely not something that ordinary people can just casually put in their shopping carts!"

"why?"

Himeno was stunned. She really seemed to not understand what Shinnosuke meant.

Shinnosuke took another bag of steak that said "Australian steak 200 grams, 980 yen" and put it into the shopping cart, then put the Kobe beef back in its place.

"Just buy this."

"So why is that? Kobe beef must be tastier."

"The price difference is tenfold. Kobe beef is too expensive. For me, eating Australian steak is a rare luxury."

"Ah, this looks delicious!"

"Just listen to me!"

While Shinnosuke was explaining, Himeno's attention was drawn to the goods in other refrigerators.

She seemed to be extremely happy to come to a supermarket that she had never been to before and pick out products.

"Ahh, what's this? The shelf is full of eggs! How interesting!"

The egg shelves commonly seen in grocery stores also seemed to amuse her.

"Oh right. We're out of eggs at home, so let's buy some."

"Okay. Um, which one should I choose...ah, this one looks good."

Himeno picked up a box of brand-name eggs that cost 500 yen.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute! Just buy this."

Shinnosuke put the regular-priced boxed eggs into the shopping cart.

"This is half price."

"Eh? Agatsuma-san, you've been buying only cheap stuff."

"Of course."

"Why? The more expensive ones taste better, right?"

"That may be true, but we can't live so extravagantly."

"why?"

"Ahh, this is so annoying! You've been asking 'why' ever since a while ago."

Shinnosuke couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by Himeno's constant desire to buy expensive items.

"Because I don't understand. Even though it's expensive, I can eat delicious food. What's wrong with that?"

Jino puffed up her cheeks in anger. Her pure eyes didn't hint at a joke; rather, given her upbringing, she was simply confused.

Looking at Himeno like this, Shinnosuke suddenly thought of──

It's normal to ask questions about things you don't understand.

Differences in values ​​due to different growing environments need to be reconciled through dialogue.

When he thought about it this way, he felt very sorry for feeling irritated just now.

"I'm telling you, Nishikawa. My father gives me food money, so I can afford to eat well. But I want to go to college, so I'm trying to save as much as possible. If you plan to live on your own, it would be best to take this opportunity to practice not living lavishly."

"what……"

Himeno was speechless. It seemed that she finally understood the situation after listening to Shinnosuke's explanation.

"You're right. I understand your explanation. Thank you."

"Alright. Then I'll teach you about commoner shopping."

"What are the civilians shopping for? What is it?"

Jino asked happily, looking full of anticipation.

Shinnosuke taught her various tips on how to save money while buying a variety of ingredients.

*

“Wow, I bought too much…”

I was so self-righteous just now that I was trying to save money, but I ended up buying too much. However, there were a lot of canned goods and other long-lasting items, so it was definitely not a waste of money.

Having said that, buying enough to fill four shopping bags was way too much and they were heavy.

"I'll get it."

"Don't be so stubborn, I'll take it."

"No, shopping is a maid's job. So I can't let the master take it."

Jino said this confidently, then walked out of the supermarket with four bags of goods hanging on her arms. However, her steps were shaky and she was still unsteady.

"Are you really okay?"

“Wuwu──…I, I’m fine…”

The shopping bags hanging from her arms were so heavy that Jino gasped for breath and groaned in pain. It wasn't a problem at all.

A few meters outside the supermarket, there was a taxi waiting to pick up passengers.

When the sharp-eyed Jinai saw this, she knocked on the window next to the driver's seat.

"Hey, Nishikawa, what are you doing?"

"Azuma-san, let's take a taxi back."

"Wait a minute, this place is only a five-minute walk from my house. Taking a taxi would be a waste of money."

"I'll pay for the fare, okay? I have a credit card anyway."