After that.
Once Kondo Masayuki confirmed that Natsume Chikei hadn’t been taken in by any wealthy relatives, that his grades were still poor, and that he had no real talents, he decided this person basically had no hope of turning things around.
He put on a cold face and stopped making conversation.
In his eyes, this Natsume Chikei was indeed quite good-looking, but that was all.
He was a practical man.
He had no interest in a Natsume Chikei who had no real ability yet still liked to brag.
He simply felt that later he would have to have a talk with his wife and tell her to stop trying to push her daughter together with this Chikei.
They were clearly not a good match!
His daughter was well-educated, well-mannered, and beautiful.
There was already a whole crowd of people pursuing her at school.
Without comparison, there would be no hurt.
Now, in his eyes, Yamaguchi Hirota, whom he had met before, seemed much better.
His family background was also quite good.
Although the Natsume family used to be very wealthy, that was in the past!
After going bankrupt, they were ultimately just ordinary people.
“Dinner’s ready.
Stop chatting and come eat first,” Kondo Miyuki called out from beside the dining table.
Chikei and the others went over to eat.
At the table.
Kondo Masayuki was too lazy to speak much.
He simply ate while watching TV.
Kondo Miki would occasionally glance at Natsume Chikei, but every time she looked, she would let out a small sigh in her heart, feeling sorry that this person only had a good appearance.
Among everyone present, the elegant woman Kondo Miyuki was actually the most interested in Natsume Chikei.
She had met the Yamaguchi Hirota her daughter often mentioned, but she didn’t really like that boy’s personality.
She always felt he was quite fake.
In contrast, she quite liked the current Natsume Chikei’s mature, steady, neither humble nor arrogant demeanor, along with how diligent and serious he was at work.
She felt that someone like him definitely wouldn’t end up doing too badly in the future.
So even after learning that Chikei’s family had gone bankrupt, she still hoped her daughter and Chikei could interact more and perhaps develop some feelings.
Kondo Miyuki covered her full, red lips and smiled.
“Speaking of which, Starlight Coffee is still quite popular in Japan.
They’ve opened many chain stores and even went public.”
“I actually quite like their coffee.
I didn’t expect there to be a new branch that opened near our house recently, so I thought I’d go buy a cup or something.”
“Who would’ve thought I’d run into you there, Chikei-kun.
What a coincidence.”
Kondo Miki looked a little surprised.
“Eh?
Chikei-kun, you… work at the coffee shop near our house?”
Chikei nodded.
“That’s right.”
Kondo Masayuki shook his head without changing his expression.
He thought to himself that this boy really was destined to be a bottom-tier worker.
The boys his daughter knew all came from families with money.
He had never heard of any of them working part-time at this age.
“If I have the chance…” Chikei replied casually.
To be honest, if it weren’t for Ruri wanting their father’s old belongings, he actually hadn’t wanted to come at all.
Besides, he could also tell that Kondo Masayuki’s attitude toward him was lukewarm at best.
It was obvious he wasn’t welcome here.
So in this kind of situation, he was basically just going through the motions with polite small talk the entire time.
As for coming again next time… he’d rather not.
He didn’t feel like making himself uncomfortable.
Before long.
After dinner was finished.
Chikei went straight to the point.
He planned to grab the belongings and leave immediately.
“Aunt Kondo, about what you mentioned earlier…”
Kondo Miyuki suddenly realized.
“Oh, look at my memory.
I almost forgot.”
“Come with me.”
Hearing that, Chikei followed Kondo Miyuki into the storage room of their house.
As soon as Kondo Miyuki entered, she started moving things around on the shelves, trying to find something.
However, after searching for a while, she still couldn’t find it.
“Where did I put it…”
Soon.
She finally spotted the corner of a shogi board and a thick shogi record book on the upper shelf.
She stood on her tiptoes and reached out to pull it down.
Kondo Miyuki held the heavy shogi record book and smiled.
“It’s this one.”
But at that exact moment.
Because of her movement, the balance on the high shelf was disturbed.
A large number of items suddenly came crashing down.
When Kondo Miyuki noticed what was happening, she froze in place and could only watch helplessly as the miscellaneous items fell toward her.
“Watch out!”
In that split second.
Kondo Miyuki saw a large hand block above her head, shielding her from the falling objects.
Clatter, clatter—
A pile of things fell to the ground.
Fortunately, with Chikei’s help, Kondo Miyuki wasn’t hit by anything.
However, their current position was rather awkward.
Chikei was pressed right up against her.
Her ample chest was slightly deformed from the contact.
When she felt Chikei’s tall body and his scent, her fair face visibly flushed red.
A long-dormant fluttering sensation in her heart seemed to reignite like dying embers and began beating rapidly.
Chikei slowly and carefully moved the fallen items aside.
Only after he finished did he step away from Kondo Miyuki.
“Aunt Kondo, are you alright?” Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
Kondo Miyuki’s gaze flickered.
She shyly tucked her hair behind her ear, her voice filled with concern.
“I’m fine.
What about you… You didn’t get hit, did you?”
Chikei patted the dust off his clothes and shook his head.
“I’m fine.”
Kondo Miyuki let out a breath of relief.
Her full red lips moved slightly as she said gratefully, “Thank you.
If it weren’t for you just now, I would’ve been hit.”
Chikei shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
Rather than that, his gaze was fixed straight on the front of Kondo Miyuki’s chest, staring without restraint.
The thick shogi record book she was holding was emitting a strange glow.
[Dusty Old Shogi Record]
[Quality: Blue]
[Effect: After equipping, you can instantly master all the shogi records in this book.
In shogi, your comprehension becomes extremely high — you can understand ten things from one, with insight beyond what ordinary people can imagine!]
[Description: If you don’t play shogi, seeing me is like a frog in a well gazing at the moon in the sky; if you do play shogi, seeing me is like an ant trying to shake the heavens!]
[Synthesis Condition: Requires at least three pieces of equipment of the same type!]
The moment he saw this equipment, Natsume Chikei was secretly overjoyed!
All the equipment he had encountered so far had been ordinary white-quality pieces at best.
But now he had actually come across a blue-quality piece of equipment?
And the effect of this equipment was ridiculously strong!
As long as he equipped it, he could instantly master all the records in this book, and on top of that, his comprehension in shogi would become godlike — he could understand ten things from hearing one!
Chikei instantly recalled the shogi tournament Ruri had mentioned while watching TV earlier.
Even amateur players could participate, and as long as you kept winning consecutively, you could earn increasing cash prizes.
Although he didn’t know yet how much the final prize would be if you won all the way.
But he knew that in this tournament, every win doubled the prize money.
First win: 10,000 yen.
Second win: 20,000 yen.
Third win: 40,000 yen, and so on.
In other words, the more consecutive wins he got, the more money he would earn!
If he managed ten consecutive wins, that would be 5.12 million yen!
Chikei only earned around 50,000 to 80,000 yen a month working at the coffee shop.
Yet with this shogi record book equipped, even if he didn’t win all the way to the end, as long as he won five or six matches, he would probably earn as much as two or three months of his salary.
Thinking about this, Chikei felt that coming here today had been completely worth it.
Meanwhile, after noticing Chikei’s burning gaze fixed directly on her chest, Kondo Miyuki grew even more flustered and embarrassed.
Her eyes kept flickering, and she felt her body growing slightly warm.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but inwardly chide him.
I’m your father’s classmate.
How can you look at me like that?
At least pretend to hide it a little…