Reiko’s Manners – She’s Referred To As A Villainess, But Actually She’s Just Penniless

rada Yuria-sama standing in front of me.
Think, think, Reiko!

 

“Do you not recall the failure after aiming for a RH?”

“What’s that?”

“The bad ending that occurs when the heroine fails at a RH and end up having all her limbs cut off, becoming an exhibition overseas.
Huh? Do you not know of it?”

 

I drew inspiration from a well known urban legend[3] I had read about in an old magazine.
I was the one who said it, but even I did not understand what I was saying.
There’s no way that the bad ending of an otome game can be a limbless exhibition course.
I should have come up with something more believable.
I was starting to regret it when Sakurada-sama grew pale.
She couldn’t have believed it, could she?

 

“What? Is that true?”

“… Yes, it is.
If you fail at the RH route, you will be abducted by a man whose wrath you have incurred, smuggled overseas, and have your four limbs cut off and be made into an exhibition there.”

 

I deliberately sighed.

 

“I did not wish to speak of such a terrible fate, but to think that you were aiming for a RH… That’s why, it would be better for you to just get together with Katsuragi-sama as normal instead.
Affairs are off limits!”

“I, I got it.
I’ll make do with just Kaoru-kun.”

 

Alright.
With this, Souju-sama and Madenokouji-sama should be safe for the time being.

As for Katsuragi-sama, I have no sympathy for him.
I am still holding on to that grudge from the sandwich incident.
Besides, he’s childhood friends with her so he should not have any ill feelings towards Sakurada Yuria-sama.

 

“Good luck!”

 

I then asked one thing that had been bothering me.

 

“By the way, that secretary named Hayashida-san, why did you hire him in the first place?”

 

I think it’s odd that they placed such a man in the position of secretary to the president of such a major company like Sakurada Online.
Sakurada-sama answered with a face tainted with unpleasantness.

 

“Hayashida dropped out of a reputable college and resembled Papa, they said.
In that he had both talent and ambition.
And the fact that Papa did not say anything and just watched as Hayashida courted me was because they thought that perhaps Hayashida was doing that to climb to the top.
My papa is not right in the head.
Does he not adore his daughter?”

 

Sakurada Yuria-sama’s father is quite something too.
Still, perhaps it’s already a must for successful founders to be so strange.
Surely a normal person can’t make it.
Probably.

 

“Thank you for telling me that.”

 

I left after saying that.
Today, both Sara-sama and Souju-sama are later than usual.
Did something happen?

They usually would have come much earlier.

Even after the morning homeroom time, and after the first period has started, there were still no signs of them.

 

A message from Souju-sama arrived before the second period started.

 

It seems that while on the way to the academy, they had received news of their father Ushio-sama getting into an accident in New York.
As such, the two of them were now in an airplane about to head to New York.
Fortunately, they had received further news that their father’s life is not in danger and that he can be discharged from the hospital soon.
But for the time being, Sara-sama and Souju-sama will stay in New York with their father.

 

I wonder if Ushio-sama is fine.
Since they said that his life is not threatened and he can be discharged early, there surely must be no need to be concerned.

It must be rare for them to be able to spend time with just their father.
I hope they can relax together while in New York.
Sara-sama is a daddy’s girl.
 She can be spoiled all she wants.
It would be nice if Souju-sama can be more honest too.

 

Today was one of the days where I make lunchboxes for the two of them, so I have their share with me.
Should I try and eat them all myself? I should not have had that second helping during breakfast.

 

Since the twins are not here, from today onwards, I will be eating in the cafeteria.
Which means I can just eat their lunch instead of my own lunchbox.
I have a card after all.

Let’s eat their lunch starting tomorrow!

 

I headed to the cafeteria while thinking so.

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Japan’s academic year starts in April.
Reiko’s first meeting with Sakurada Yuria, her deeming Sakurada Yuria as sick and needing to be sympathised with can all therefore be assumed to have taken place in April.

 

[2] Ero guro nansensu is a specific set of cultural trends that arose during the Shōwa era in Japan.
Ero guro nansensu is a wasei-eigo word derived from the English words erotic, grotesque, and nonsense.
(quoted from wikipedia)

 

[3] There was an urban legend popular in Japan in the 1980s called daruma onna（だるま女）, in which a university student on an overseas trip went missing after going into a changing room.
Several years later, a friend of hers found her in a street corner in a different country, having become an exhibition with all four of her limbs cut off.
Having no limbs made her look like a daruma, hence the name daruma onna (onna being the Japanese word for woman).