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On the day of the party I was told to immediately head to the hair salon after school. There, they did my hair and make-up, before leaving with Okaasama straight for the hotel where the party was being held.
Otousama and Oniisama would be headed here after work so until then I decided to just have a sandwich and study in the waiting room or something. I didn’t want to get my dress creased so I’d leave it off until the last minute. Tonight I would be wearing a loose dress.
Hm, this ham sandwich was pretty good.
“Reika-san, you shouldn’t eat too much. You won’t be able to fit in your dress.”
Okaay…
Apparently they hadn’t been lying to me about this being an important party for us. Even Ririna who was just a relative was here. Her exams were coming up too. I could sympathise with her family issues cutting down on her study time. Huh, Ririna had better grades than me, didn’t she. Maybe I could ask for her study methods later.
As for me, although I was the daughter of the chairman, not only was I still a high schooler, but I wasn’t even the heir. Today I was basically just here as an extra. All I had to do was stand with my family and keep smiling.
After a while, Otousama was surrounded by other important men, while Okaasama was surrounded by ladies she was close with, so I decided to leave and wander about to see if there was somewhere with less people.
Oniisama had already been caught by the same girls who were aiming to be his bride. G.o.dspeed, Oniisama.
I greeted people with a smile as I walked about until I came across Narutomi Akimi-san. She was the young woman I met at the fasting course.
“Akimi-san.”
“Ah, Reika-san.”
A little chubby-looking, for some reason I felt really warm and relaxed around her.
“Thank you very much for inviting me tonight.”
“Thank you for attending when you must be so busy.”
She noticed me looking at the food in her hands.
“The food here is really good. I think I might have eaten too much,” she smiled in embarra.s.sment.
“My, I am overjoyed that it is to your taste.”
I constantly told Otousama that the most important thing for these parties was the food. These corporate parties were already boring at best, so if the food wasn’t even yummy what the h.e.l.l was even the point.
And since I was talking about food anyhow, I made sure to tell him to make sure the company cafeteria was good too. If the employees had good food then they’d be more motivated.
That meant one step further away from our downfall! It’s important to start with the small things.
“Will you not be eating, Reika-san?”
“Ehh, perhaps later…”
Yeah. Even if the food was great, it was difficult as an ojousama to eat your fill at these parties. Reapplying the gloss was a pain, and if you ate too much your stomach would bulge too. And for careless people like me it would be a disaster if I accidentally got some sauce on my dress.
Still, we’d be bringing home the food that you could take home, so I could enjoy myself later~
The scallops meunière that she was having looked great.
I think I wanted some too. I wonder if it was on the list of take-home foods.
A few men suddenly pa.s.sed us.
“Of course the fatty is eating,” said one of them, and the others laughed along.
Akimi-san’s expression changed in a heartbeat.
What a.s.sholes!
I had just taken a step in their direction when Akimi-san stopped me.
“Akimi-san?”
“It’s fine, Reika-san.”
“But…”
“I am fat…” she smiled feebly.
What did that have to do with anything. Somebody needed to teach those insensitive a.s.sholes the fear of G.o.d!
She didn’t have to worry so much. It’s wasn’t like I was going to charge up and tell them to apologise.
Any apology I could wring out of idiots like them would just be insincere, and in the process it would turn her into a spectacle.
You had to fight fire with fire.
Instead, I was planning to flick some brown demiglace sauce on the b.u.t.t of their trousers.
Then all I had to do was shame them!
“Goodness. What in heavens is that stench…” or something like that!
You guys should just be forever known as the p.o.o.p boys! Ukekekekekekekekeke!
“Please excuse me. I’m going to touch up my makeup…”
Akimi-san placed her empty dish down and she left the room as I watched her go. Once she was gone, I headed off for my journey of revenge.
When I came back from my journey, I noticed Imari-sama waving at me.
“Imari-sama!”
“Good evening, Reika-chan.”
And goodness, he was just radiating mature charm once again.
“That wine red dress you’re wearing this evening is a bit more mature than usual. I couldn’t help but stare. You were like a rose spirit.”
Hauu! An arrow of bewitchment shot through my heart!
Luckily I had high resistance from knowing him since I was little!
Imari-sama picked out a gla.s.s of non-alcoholic wine for me in the colour of my dress. Popular men were always attentive to these sort of things.
We chatted about Oniisama for a while before touching on the topic I was most interested in.
“By the way, Imari-sama, is the story about you being stabbed by a woman true?”
“Eh!? Reika-chan, how did you know about that!? Did you hear it from Takateru?”
“A little bird told me.”
I couldn’t exactly answer ‘Eavesdropping.’ now could I?
“Ah boy, I never would have thought that you knew, Reika-chan. But calling it stabbing is just exaggerating.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. I just got into a bit of a tiff with a woman who was holding a knife, and it just happened to cut my left palm a bit. Look. See? Thanks to that the fortunes off my palm readings have completely changed.”
When I looked there really was a small white scar.
Still, stabbing or not, blood really had been spilt. What kind of life was Imari-sama even living…
Oh, hang on. Could it be…?
“Come to think of it, when you were a high school student in Suiran you were in the Basketball Club, were you not?”
“Ohh! So you remembered~ That’s right. I was in the Basketball Club. G.o.d, that brings back memories~”
Oh my G.o.d! So being some womaniser was actually characteristic of the Suiran Basketball Club!?
Suiran Academy’s Boy’s Basketball Club.
A.K.A. the Casanova Village, sworn enemies of the Forever Alone Village.
“Reika-san!”
While we continued to chat, Ririna came trotting over.
“Oh, Ririna.”
“It’s been a while, Ririna-chan.”
“Gokigen’yoh, Imari-sama. Geez, it took so long to get away from Okaasama!” she huffed as she took a drink from a server.
After having a gulp, she sighed.
“My condolences,” I offered.
“Ririna-chan, you’re wearing a bit of lily perfume today, aren’t you. It’s a perfect fit for your name, isn’t it, just like your dress tonight is a perfect fit for you.”
Oh my G.o.d! Apparently the Chief of the Casanova Village possessed a skill that allowed him to identify women’s perfumes too. No wonder he was Chief.
“Thank you…” replied Ririna as her mouth threatened to smile happily.
Her mood had taken a 180 with just a few words. One day Imari-sama was going to get stabbed for real.
Since I noticed Akimi-san coming back, I signalled her over. I hoped she was okay now. Maybe it was just an excuse for her to go cry…
She was smiling as she came over, but she was startled when she realised Imari-sama was standing next to me.
“Akimi-san. I think you may already know, but this is Momozono Imari-sama. He and my Oniisama have been friends since they were young. Imari-sama, this is Narutomi Akimi-san, whose care I have enjoyed. As for this girl, her name is Kotou Ririna, my younger cousin.”
“U-Um, please to meet you. My name is Narutomi Akimi…”
“Nice to meet you. Reika-chan never told me she had such a lovely friend. So how do you write ‘Akimi’?”
“U-, Umm, ‘aki’ as in ‘refulgent’, and ‘mi’ as in ‘beautiful’…”
“I see, I see. It suits you perfectly. Perhaps a drink then, for the lovely lady.”
Akimi-san was fl.u.s.tered and bright red. I wasn’t surprised.
Casanova Village Chief, I see what kind of life you live…
Ah well, as long as Akimi-san wasn’t sad anymore.
But Akimi-san looked completely entranced by him. Oh dear. Akimi-san, that’s a bad man, you know~
“Good evening, Kisshouin-san.”
This time it was Kaburagi and Enjou. Ueeehh…
Oh. In front of the three shining young men, Akimi-san had blown a fuse.
Hang in there, Akimi-san!
“Oh my G.o.d! So the Suiran Basketball Club was actually characteristic of being some womaniser’s hang out!?”
Excerpt from Chapter 154:
Last was the Basketball Club.
Oh my, no need to look so scared. I only have one line for you.
“You laid your hands on your senpai’s girlfriend, did you not?”