3 Chapter 3: "Sakurasou"
"Mashiro Shiina..." I muttered unconsciously, looking at Shiina's picture on my phone.
'She looks somewhat different from the girl in the picture.'
-Ding!-
====
[You've met one of the heroines!]
[You received various rewards for meeting "Mashiro Shiina"!]
[+6,000 SP]
[x1 Rank Up Ticket]
[x1 Random Skill Ticket (Advanced)]
====
...
'Just juicy!' I thought, completely ignoring Shiina's presence until she spoke;
'Hey, what color do you want to be?' Shiina asked.
'Hey?' I thought, directing my gaze towards Shiina.
"Listen." She said, leaving a short silence between her words. "What color do you want to be?" She asked again.
'What color do I want to be? Never ask me that.' I thought.
"I don't know." I replied.
"Well, think about it." She insisted.
Giving her a dismayed look, I replied, "I don't know, it's a little confusing for you to ask those kinds of questions when we don't even know each other."
"Please answer." She insisted again.
"Okay." Sigh, "I guess I'm black, maybe a little gray, what color do you want to be?" I asked.
"I never thought about it." She said.
'I want to go...' I thought wearily.
"But right now maybe... White." She replied.
...
"White, like a canvas, I guess, you know, that will fill with color depending on the choices you make." I said.
"Depending on my own choices?" She asked.
"Sure, but don't take it too literally, it's just a metaphor." I said, and she just said in a soft voice;
"I see."
"I'm Ichijo Funamoto, nice to meet you, Shiina Mashiro. Chihiro-senpai told me to come pick you up from the station." I said, then handed her the balloon and flowers. "It's just a formality, you are related to one of my friends, so I would feel bad if I didn't bring anything."
... Shiina is, to say the least, a bit of a peculiar girl. There was no real topic of conversation between her and me.
Before going to Sakurasou, I decided to take Shiina towards my apartment, to pick up some things... obviously I didn't make her walk towards my apartment, I had to pay for a cab to take her and me towards my apartment.
After picking up some things, I went with Shiina to Sakurasou.
...
How could I describe Sakurasou? When I was young, Chihiro mentioned those dormitories a few times, I even heard from other students that Sakurasou had a bad reputation.
Looking at the whole building, it looks kind of old... taking my things and Shiina's things from the cab, we went inside.
"Welcome to Sakurasou!" A female voice exclaimed.
-Ding!-
Completely ignoring the system notification, I simply walked inside...
"Thanks for the food!" they all shouted at once, grabbing some food with their chopsticks.
Chihiro spared me all the introductions, as she told the residents of Sakurasou a bit about me, but it's not the same for Shiina.
At this point, we were all eating, and since I'm a bit of an outsider to all the residents, I just thanked them for the food in a low voice.
"Eat, Mashiron!" Exclaimed a female voice, Kamiisuga Misaki. "Eating a hot pot as a celebratory feast is a tradition in Sakurasou!". She exclaimed again, in an energetic tone of voice.
"Please set aside a plate for Ryuunosuke, it's spring onions, please. Sincerely, Maid." She read aloud, Sorata Kanda.
Ignoring all the voices around me, I focused my gaze on Sorata, the protagonist of this story, or so I think.
This was something I kept asking myself when I first met Aoyama; how many other romantic comedy protagonists are there in this world?
I have nothing against Sorata, in fact, I have nothing against anyone here on Sakurasou, I am simply taking advantage of his good faith and help.
Looking at Sorata I can only wonder one thing, is this the protagonist of this story? Don't take me wrong, but my younger brother has better features than this guy.
'Although from what little I remember, this guy has way too low self-esteem.'
Snapping me out of my thoughts, Kamiisuga spoke again;
"Here you go, Mashiron." She said, bringing... I honestly don't know what she has on her chopsticks. "It's thick and practically dripping. But don't bite too fast, or it's going to drip! Drip, Drip, Drip!"
Contrary to what happened in the anime, Sorata didn't stop Kamiisuga.
'Interesting.' I thought.
I really don't mind changing the story or plot of this world too much, if they don't affect me too much then I doubt it will be relevant.
Seeing Sorata's reaction, he only had his head down a little, looking down at the ground and blushing a little.
"So you just came from England, Mashiro-chan. You're going to Sui High School, right?". Asked, Jin Mitaka.
Another person I have a brief opinion of, this guy can only be described with one word; Womanizer. As I said before, I really have nothing against these people.
Although I am somewhat envious to see Mitaka, he's a womanizer, he's had more "Romantic" experiences than I've had in two lifetimes...
"She'll be a sophomore, in Art Division." I said Chihiro.
After Chihiro said that, Mitaka approached Sorata, whispering something in her ear.
-Meooow-
The meow of a cat caught my attention, a white cat on Sorata's chair.
'I think I already remember a bit of the plot of this anime.' I thought curiously.
Do you know what it feels like to repeat the chapter of an anime just because you can't move on from it? That happened to me with this one, it didn't catch my attention too much, but my friends kept recommending it to me.
"Very good!" Kamiisuga exclaimed, "It's time to show the anime I made as a welcome for Mahiron!". She exclaimed, then rushed off towards the TV.
-Bzzz-
"Mashiron-on-on!" And so began the animation that Kamiisuga made.
Making a criticism of the animation, it's nothing to write home about.
'Despite not having been an otaku, I've seen better quality independent animation... but it's just a student, I guess I can't say much.' I thought.
'You can see the effort behind the animation... I guess, in my other life I tried to go into animation too, but it was too complicated.
'Chrak-crack-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-boom-boom!' Kasiisuga shouted excitedly. "Nice to meet you!"
"The lines didn't go with the animation at all." Chihiro said.
"How is that a welcome for Mashiro? You just wanted to do a test run of your newest animation." Mitaka said.
"You might as well say that too!". Kamiisuga said, then pointed at me. "So, what do you think I should change?"
"You're a mangaka, right? What do you think?" asked Kamiisuga again.
"Well, I don't know, sorry." I replied.
'What can I say, I don't know much about animation.
"What, just that?" Kamiisuga questioned.
'Don't you think you could have delayed the last explosion by like four margins?" spoke Mitaka.
'I feel like I'm taking the position Sorata had in the anime... I don't like that.'
I prefer not to get too close to the people living in Sakurasou, after all, they're younger than me, though I never get close to anyone my age now that I think about it.
While I was immersed in my thoughts, Mitaka and Kamiisuga were discussing some things, completely ignoring their surroundings.
"They're always playing around, but when it comes to sitting down and doing something, they just ignore everything around them..." Chihiro mentioned while staring at me. "It would be best to talk privately about your stay at Sakurasou." She said, getting up from the table.
"Follow me." She said, then leaving the dining room.
...
"I've known you for a while now, and I can only say that you're not someone bad, that's why I entrusted you with my cousin to take care of her during her stay in Japan." She said, staring at me.
At that moment we were in her office, room... I don't know.
"I understand that you trust me, but I'm maybe 3 or 2 years older than her, are you sure it's best for me to take care of her? She's supposed to be your cousin." I replied.
This is no better than in the original story, in the original story Chihiro lets her cousin stay together with a totally unknown guy, at least Sorata is a student, I'm practically a stranger to anyone.
"If you didn't do anything wrong when you were 15, I doubt you will now." Chihiro said lightly.
'Is it normal for me to want to hit her?'
'She's just a carefree woman, I don't understand why she takes care of teenagers.
"It's been more than two years since we met, maybe she can be a different person." I said, trying to convince her.
I don't care much about taking care of Shiina, at the end of the day I'm earning SP for practically doing nothing.
"I understand your position, but you're the person I trust the most, I personally can't take care of Shiina, that's why it's better to leave her in your care." Chihiro said, with a serious look.
Yes, the person you trust the most... if I hadn't called her I would have left the responsibility to someone else.
The main reason why I don't want to take care of Shiina is because I don't want to go to jail.
-Sigh-
"I understand, then I'll take care of her." I said, with some weariness in the tone of my voice.
"That's good, now, let's move on to the most important part. The rules you must follow in order to stay in these dorms.
First, you can't be too noisy, there are students living in these dorms, so I can't allow anything that will affect their development and studies to stay in the dorms.
At the entrance there is a shoe rack, you can choose whichever one is empty, plus there are umbrellas at the entrance, whenever you take any of them remember to return them, if you don't you will have to buy another one."
"I understand, don't worry." I replied.
"I know you are a responsible adult, but I better remind you. You can't cross the line at the entrance to the female rooms, if you do I can only visit you in jail, you are no longer a student." She warned, with a serious look.
"Don't worry, I understand." I replied.
"I know you know a little about the activity areas at Sakurasou, it's not your first time inside the dorms, that's why I won't give you a formal tour of the dorms.
In the refrigerator there is a compartment inside, yours is number 6, if you are planning to buy a personal refrigerator then let me know before you do so." She said.
'As if I could afford to have a personal refrigerator...' I thought.
"We cook our own food here, if you can't cook then you can go to the convenience store to buy fast food. If you buy a bento or choose to cook on your own, you must eat it inside the dining hall, you are not allowed to bring food into your dorm.
I can make an exception for you though." She said with a smile on her face.
I will most likely buy fast food or instant food, in fact, the convenience store Chihiro is talking about, is the one I work at.
Pulling a key out of her desk drawer, she spoke again;
"Here, this is the key to your room." She said, handing me the key. "Your room is located in the third bedroom on the second floor."
"I understand, Thank you for everything." I said, bowing my head a little.
"You don't have to thank me, after all, you still have to pay in order to stay as a tenant, but I can forgive you the first and second payment." She said.
"I see, so what about regarding Shiina then? I'm supposed to take care of her now, what do I really have to do?"
"Well, mainly it's teaching her how to live in Japan, and taking her to school." She said.
"... Nothing else? I guess that's okay, although you have to know that I have to work at 6:00 am, but I can ask to take a shift in the evening." I mentioned.
"I understand... You'll figure it out!"
...
The meeting with Chihiro was over, and now I was in my room, of course, not without first gathering all my belongings from the dining room.
Most likely everyone was asleep at this point.
'It's time to see my juicy rewards!' I thought, opening all the notifications in the system.
Starting with the most important reward:
====
[You've met one of the heroines!]
[You received several rewards for meeting "Mashiro Shiina!"]
[+6,000 SP]
[x1 Rank Up Ticket]
[x1 Random Skill Ticket (Advanced)]
====
