Chapter 3 – Emergency family meeting
TL: Januva
Editor: Puissansa
「….. Speaking of which, why is the number of views so high, and so much advertising revenue is flowing in?」
Miroku was trembling as he finished the report. He had no idea how he ended up in this situation, since he only thought of himself as an unemployed, shut in, ugly, middle-aged virgin man. Incidentally, other than being a hikikomori and being ugly, the other points were still inconvenient truths.
Despite going out everyday, he conducted all his activities indoors, and while the person himself intended to be a hikikomori, he cannot now be considered a hikikomori but is an indoor person instead.
「Fumu. I don"t really understand but isn"t this a good thing?」
His father, Isoya who wasn"t good at understanding situations.
「Ara, doesn"t Miroku look cool in this recording?」
His mother, Iona who contributed to the number of views.
「Un, he"s properly using his abdominal muscles while singing.」
His elder sister, Mihachi who approved of his singing skills.
「Ah, someone commented that his hairstyle was good! Yay!」
His younger sister, Nina who was indirectly praised.
「….eto, that"s not it」
Whether or not that was really a family meeting, only G.o.d knows….no, Miroku noticed something. Nina"s final words.
「Comment?」
「That"s right. Comments like how cool you were, how good your singing was, how good your dancing was, and also some strange comments. The majority were positive comments, though. Isn"t that good, Onii-chan?」
(Is that so… the number of views being high meant that a lot of people watched it.)
Miroku"s heart was filled with joy.
This is the first time he received praise from someone other than his family members. This is a kind of joy that he had never experienced in his life.
「But, this is a little embarra.s.sing.」
Miroku thought of removing the video.
While still feeling surprised at the ever-increasing view count, he decided to look through all the comments. As he scrolled through them, a certain comment made him stop in his tracks.
『That cheered me up. Thanks』
In the end, Miroku left the video as it is.
Miroku who was usually cautious by nature could not bring himself to erase the warm comments along with the video.
「To think that someone like me can cheer up others.」
Miroku was honestly glad, and he decided to leave the video alone for the time being. Getting off the internet, he started on his work.
Work.
Even as it is, he wanted to pay the fees for the sports gym and the Karaoke himself, so he went and discussed it with his father.
He wanted a job that he could do at home.
His father"s workplace record their meetings on a voice recorder. As they would like to have the contents in written form, Miroku took up the task.
It"s a familiar job for Miroku. It was a simple task that is frequently required, so his services were regularly called upon and it ended up being almost like a part-time job.
「Miroku, your father called to inform you that the data you received this morning needs to be submitted by today. Can you bring it there?」
「The city centre huh….ah- there"s that new Karaoke store for people to go alone, maybe I should stop by there.」
「Are you going to broadcast another video? I"m looking forward to it.」
「I"m never going to do that again.」
Miroku smiled bitterly and went to change his outfit. As one would expect, his suit no longer fitted his current, much slimmer figure. The only attire which fitted him were casual wear from Uniqlo.
At the very least, his appearance must not look out of place at his father"s company…. is what Miroku was thinking, but his tall, lean and muscular body made it impossible. Not that he realised it.
His current appearance gave off the impression of a [Fashion Designer]. Light brown pants, a white undershirt and a navy blue jacket. A common set of clothes from Uniqlo, yet when he wore it, it did not seem like it was from Uniqlo. A cheat-like ikemen adjustment had taken place, and it goes without saying that the person himself did not realise this.
「Ittekimasu」
As his father’s company limited external access to computers with special permission, Miroku could not email the data over and had to manually bring the papers down to the office.
After being rocked about in the train for an hour, Miroku finally entered the city centre for the first time in a decade.
(This is inconvenient….)
Miroku had carelessly left his handphone back at home. In order to contact his father, he went to the front desk and was greeted by the sight of an unmoving and blushing female receptionist.
「Ano」
「Hya-hyai!」
「Can you phone my father, Osaki Isoya…」
「Hyai!」
「Like I said…」
As expected, Miroku got a little irritated. He wasn"t a saint after all.
Fortunately, another female receptionist showed up and while Miroku"s appearance made her stop dead in her tracks for a moment, she still managed to phone Miroku"s father.
Miroku breathed a sigh of relief. Since the data was needed before noon, it was better to hand it over as soon as possible.
After he left, quite the commotion began.
「She-shenpai!」
「You…what were you doing. Are you an idiot?」
「But, but…」
「Even though he"s certainly good-looking, I wonder if he"s a college student…」
「That"s not it! Senpai!」
「What"s the matter? You"re being unusually strange.」
「He- He"s someone famous! Probably. The currently trending video…the voice is the same! Probably!」
「Aren"t you a little too uncertain?」
「Let"s check the video during our lunchbreak! Ne! Senpai!」
「Alright alright, focus on your work for now.」
That day, Miroku confirmed that [Hometowns are the best after all] after seeing the charges for Karaoke in the city centre. He also worked up a refreshing sweat at the gym in the evening.