Something’s Different

“Huh? Ah… Hmm…”

That was my instinctive, half-hearted response to Mari’s words.

My head took some time to process her words, and Mari’s demeanor seemed a little different from usual.

In any case, I couldn’t give her an immediate answer at that moment.

“Eh? Uhm… You’re talking about after graduation, right? “

In the end, those were the words that came out of my mouth.

In response to my reply, Mari smiled and said,

“Yeah, we can also do it as early as tomorrow!”

“Eh…”

“If it’s about the possible properties we could live on, I’ve already started checking out some options… Wait a second, let’s look at them together!”

Saying this, Mari picked up her smartphone, which was on the bed board, and displayed a bookmarked page on the screen.

She showed me various property information with strings of characters like “3LDK” and “3DK.”

“It’s not like I want to live a luxurious life, so I think a price range around here would be reasonable for rent. Considering the layout, if we get married and have kids in the future, I think at least a 3DK would be necessary. In this area, this property seems pretty good, don’t you think? There’s a supermarket and a pharmacy within walking distance. Oh, but if we want to save more money, we could look further out in the suburbs, where you can find 3LDK properties for as low as 50,000 yen! They’re older buildings, though… but nowadays, even older properties are getting renovated—”

“Wait, wait, wait! Stop, stop!”

Mari, who had started rambling on, was promptly stopped by me.

While looking at me, Mari tilted her head.

“Hmm? Do you not like this area? Sorry, I might have rushed ahead. It would be more efficient to consult with you about what you prioritize in a room before looking for a property.”

“No, that’s not it.”

I couldn’t help but give her a serious look and retort at her words.

“I mean… we’re still students, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Living together as students… I think that’s going to be difficult, right?”

“Hmm… I don’t think so?”

“But still, renting a room as teens…”

“We can do it.”

Mari answered my question immediately.

“I can rent a place. If I tell my parents that I’m setting up a workspace outside, they’ll at least agree to act as guarantors.”

“T-That’s…”

Mari has already succeeded as a creator.

She would probably be able to convince her parents to be guarantors if she insisted it was for work.

“But, what would we do about the rent for the room? What about food expenses? What about utilities?… I don’t know much about this, but aren’t there going to be a lot of other expenses?”

“Hmm, well then. Why don’t we estimate the possible cost of living for this apartment?”

Mari displayed a property on the screen.

“For example, with this option, the rent is 58,000 yen including the management fee. Utilities—electricity, gas, and water—come to about 15,000 yen. Combined, our smartphone bills would be around 10,000 yen, and internet fees would roughly be 5,000 yen per month. Food expenses can be estimated at about 30,000 yen, and miscellaneous expenses at around 20,000 yen. Adding a reserve fund of about 10,000 yen each month, the total monthly cost comes to roughly 150,000 yen. That means approximately 1.8 million yen a year… and even accounting for unexpected large expenses, the estimate would come to about 2 million yen.”

“…”

Hearing those exact numbers and how she calculated it, I was simply speechless.

2,000,000 yen—an enormous amount for a student like me.

“Based on that, if we think about living together for the next 70 years with 20 million yen… the total amount of money needed over a lifetime would be roughly 150 million yen. Considering children would require an entirely different calculation, but for just the two of us, I think that should be enough.”

“That amount of money… We don’t have it, and have no way of getting it.”

“I have it though?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve sold about 5,000,000 copies of my manga, so I have it. I have about 200,000,000 yen in total, no problem.”

And also, Mari Continued,

“The official announcement hasn’t been made yet, but the manga is actually set to be adapted into an anime. Considering the promotional effect of that… I think it’ll sell at least another two to three million copies! So, I already have enough money to support you for a lifetime, Sei-kun!”

Mari smiled brightly.

“Also, there’s a senior writer I know who’s really knowledgeable about investments… Once I turn of age, I’m thinking of trying to manage part of my assets. I can’t say anything definite until I see exactly how the money moves then, but even just with my savings, there’s already enough that I’d never have to work again. So, we can spend our whole lives being lovey-dovey together!”

While Mari spoke happily, my heart gradually cooled down.

Mari wasn’t saying anything unreasonable. She was just comparing the actual money she had with the possible expenses and saying, “And so, we can spend our whole lives being lovey-dovey together!”

There was no sign of lies or any unnaturalness in her as if she’s trying to cover something up.

She speaks of those things as if it were the most obvious thing in the world—this was all that she had.

So why? For me, there was something, something I just couldn’t accept but can’t explain.

“That’s why it’s okay Sei-kun! There’s no need to worry about money! I earn lots of money! So let’s live together, Sei-kun!”

“Mari…”

“What is it?”

“That’s… impossible.”

Mari probably didn’t understand my words at first.

So she looked at me with a blank expression… and gradually, her expression changed to one of sadness and loneliness.

After a silence of about ten seconds, she uttered the following words,

“Why?”

“I’m sorry… I don’t really understand the reason either…”

“Is that so… I see…”

With a weak smile, Mari lightly bumped her forehead against my chest.

“It’s not good, is it? Forcing you is… not good, is it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay… Let me know when you feel better, okay?”

As I hugged her shoulder, my mind was filled with the following words.

Something’s different.

It’s different, something’s different.

[TL: should’ve just went along with her yk, later on, you could’ve gotten a job to help out and stuff, or get good cooking and become a househusband. isn’t that nice?]

What’s Wrong? Let’s Talk.

After returning home, I searched for Mari on the web with my smartphone.

Mari Muratsuki—her pen name as a writer is Riko Oshimaku.

Her debut one-shot manga, “Always With You, 24 Hours,” sold over 500,000 copies in just one volume and was serialized. Currently, five volumes have been published, and the total sales have exceeded 5 million copies.

She has also released three volumes of a spin-off novel focusing on the sub-characters of the manga, which has become a smash hit with 300,000 copies sold in this era of publishing recession. Even though she’s riding on the coattails of the original manga, she has already sold a total of nearly 7 million copies on her own.

In addition to these works, she also does illustration work in parallel.

I felt like I had reconfirmed how much higher she was than me.

“This… is tough…”

I confessed to her because I liked her.

If we could get together, I thought I’d decide what to do next once it actually happens.

When I confessed to her, I had such a naive thought, but now that I recognize the reality, I feel quite burdened.

But that doesn’t mean my love for Mari has faded or diminished.

But I couldn’t help but be aware of the feeling that crept into the corner of my heart: “If Mari were a more ordinary girl…”

“Ugh, I’m so pathetic…”

I hugged my knees, wedged between the bed and the wall.

If Mari were an ordinary girl? Of course, I would like her and confess to her too.

Then, we would have a normal high school relationship that suited us, and sometimes we would enjoy a little luxury by spending our part-time job money on dates.

We wouldn’t have to register as VIP members at the gym like the other day. There’s no need to make her pack expensive ingredients like oysters and shrimp in her bento.

We would just buy some chicken from the convenience store, go for a walk in the park, and sometimes splurge on movies or shopping… That’s probably how we would spend our time together.

I did not really date her for the prospect of money. I’m not seeking that.

I can assert that. I can, but…

“I’m making excuses even as I think about this… I’m creepy for thinking that way, huh?”

At that point, I gave up thinking.

I was getting confused about what was bothering me and making me think this way.

—And then.

“Hey, you dumb brother! Mom told you to put away the laundry already—”

Reika entered the room, saying that.

And she saw me sitting in seiza between the bed and the wall, alone and depressed, and her face twitched.

She whispered.

“Ugh, gross…”

“Heehee, you probably mean’t me huh?”