Tokyo Rebirth: Start From Picking Up Sayu

After sending Shiyu home, Kato Yusuke also returned to his apartment.

Lock the mountain bike in the garage, walk up the stairs with slightly rusty handrails to the second floor, and arrive at the first room at the end of the corridor.

Open the door and enter the hallway, take off your shoes and walk into the living room.

Without the interference of the black cat, he placed the sports backpack on the ground beside the bed and began to clean the litter box.

During his absence, the black cat didn't know what he did. There were more pine cat litter scattered around the litter box than usual, as if on purpose.

Because it was already evening, no matter how careful I was, I couldn't cover up the noise of the vacuum cleaner. Considering the situation of disturbing the residents, Kato Yusuke had to squat on the ground and clean up with a small dustpan and broom.

"Xiao Hei, are you rolling around in there?"

"Meow??"

The black cat tilted his head, a question mark appeared on his face, as if to say, "Are you going to scold me again?"

Kato Yusuke gently scooped up its furry head and poured the clean cat litter swept into the dustpan back into the litter box.

Just as he was thinking about the necessity of an automatic cat litter box, his cell phone suddenly rang in his trousers pocket.

「Kosaka Akane」

After pressing the answer button, the lazy and casual Yujie voice came to my ears from the receiver.

"it's me."

"Good evening."

"where are you now?"

"at home."

"Are you free? Let's chat."

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"No, I just thought it was rare for you to speak in such a gentle tone."

"Hmm~?"

Akane Hongsaka's tone was slightly raised, and she paused and said, "Don't be stupid, you have relieved me of so many stresses, so I will still give you this level of sweetness."

"...Am I a Cowherd?"

"Why, isn't it? I was still wondering when you would realize this, and it turned out to be much later than I expected."

The words were filled with teasing smiles.

Kato Yusuke stood up with his knees up and sat down on the swivel chair next to him.

"I don't dislike the contrast in you, but according to what you said, you seem to have forgotten that this episode is not free, Miss Kousaka."

Akane Hongsaka let out a coquettish laugh and continued following the conversation: "What's the rush? I'm going to talk about this next. I'm here to give you money, okay? Boy."

The sudden turn brought the conversation to a pause.

"...You're probably not joking, right?"

"Of course. Having said that, it's still up to us

The meaningful tone made Kato Yusuke finally confirm something, so he asked: "Have you decided to buy the copyright of "Chainsaw Man"?"

"Not bad, so let's talk about the price."

"So the gentleness just now was used here."

"I'm not lying. I'm serious about coming to give you money. Just be grateful~"

"As long as you decide, we can make an appointment to sign the contract."

"Let's not rush this." Akane Kurisaka's voice suddenly became charming, "I have thought about the price. I can add 30 million more than the previous quotation. What do you think? Little brother~"

Add the 30 million to the 50 million last time, and the total will be 80 million.

Kato Yusuke also put on a gentle tone and replied with a smile: "I don't think it's possible, little aunt."

"Let me tell you, do you know what the highest copyright fee in the industry is this year? Don't be so ungrateful. It's time to accept it as soon as it's done."

"I'm sorry, but I still stick to my original idea, and the Immortal River has already agreed to my proposal for a supplement. According to this situation, the release of the single volume will not be too far away."

"...But it will take a long time. At least you won't get much royalties this year, and I can give you cash. Don't you want to restart the studio plan as soon as possible? This is a good deal, right?"

"I'm not that anxious. I said, I just have to wait for another year."

There was a brief silence.

There was a slight cough from the other end of the phone, and a charming and pretentious voice like an ancient courtesan rang out the next second.

"Are you really not going to lower the price no matter what? Master?~"

“You really won’t lower the price no matter what, little girl?~”

"What if I'm willing to wear a vacuum kimono to serve you?"

"I will worry about it for a while before I seriously reject you."

"Although it is impossible for me to do such a thing, I still want to ask, what if it is a JK uniform?"

"You know I'm still at the stage where I can take off the real JK uniform, right?"

"Tsk, you troublesome brat, what else did you say you like?"

"Unfortunately, even if you cosplay the character in "The Cardinal Gotanda", you won't be able to do it."

As if furious.

——Kacha.

Akane Hongsaka hung up the phone without saying a word.

Ding bell~

An email is delivered to the phone.

[Kosaka Akane: Don’t let me see you, or I’ll kill you. 】

Kato Yusuke stared at the content on the phone screen and laughed it off.

"The Cardinal of Gotanda" is the first debut work created by Akane Benisaka after dropping out of college.

As a debut work, his work sold 1 million copies within half a year with only three volumes released, and it was decided to be animated in the blink of an eye. The results are not bad.

It’s just that something unexpected happened later, which caused the work’s reputation to not be very good. The person involved was obviously very concerned about this...

While thinking about this, he opened Le's software interface, turned off Shintōka's "daily class" reminder, and then switched to the chat interface with Shiyu-senpai.

After hesitating for a while, he finally gave up the idea of ​​sending a message to say hello.

--Ding!

A familiar crisp sound came from the window.

Kato Yusuke got up and walked to the kitchen, found a mug in the cabinet, used the coffee machine to manually extract two cups of coffee with milk, and then walked to the balcony with the mug.

A crescent moon hangs in the sky, like a silver hook with pointed ends, shining gently on the city.

On this somewhat chilly night, the figures on the road had already entered a certain house, with bright or dim lights on, faintly emerging in the night.

The smell of smoke wafted from the balcony next door, and a tall figure was supporting his arms on the railing, smoking leisurely.

"Good evening, Mr. Yoshida."

"Oh, oh, good evening, Kato."

Kato Yusuke took the initiative to say hello and handed over a cup of coffee in his hand, "I made an extra cup of coffee. If you don't mind, help me drink it."

"You say that every time, right? But thank you."

Yoshida took the mug and said sheepishly, "I'm sorry, did I just wake you?"

"Won't."

Kato Yusuke shook his head, put his arms on the railing, looked into the distance, and said casually: "Want to come and chat for a while?"

"Ah, just do as you say."

As the relationship between the two became more and more familiar, they would occasionally meet and chat like this on the balcony.

Usually it is based on the sound of a zippo lighter. Yusuke who hears the sound will decide whether to come or not depending on the situation. The same is true today.

The content of the chat is not fixed. Most of the time, they talk about random things in daily life, such as recent changes in the apartment and announcements from the town council.

In addition, the two parties occasionally communicate on specific topics, such as Miss Goto, which has become one of the fixed topics, or office romance.

The two of them just started chatting.

What made Yusuke Kato didn't know how to react.

Even though the two have talked a lot about related issues before, Yoshida has still not been able to muster the courage to invite his favorite boss.

This left him speechless, but also gave him a new understanding of the innocence of his kind neighbor.

After all, by analyzing the conversation between the parties involved, he felt that the boss named Ms. Goto did not seem to have any feelings for Yoshida.

Coupled with the junior who was almost always playing his cards right, he really didn't quite understand how the person involved kept himself single.

Thinking of this, Kato Yusuke couldn't help but sigh, and joked casually: "Mr. Yoshida, you can be considered single by virtue of your strength, how awesome."

"Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?" Yoshida looked confused.

"It's nothing, it's just a compliment."

"Hey - I can still hear compliments and sarcasm. Don't make fun of adults!"

"In that case, why are you so emotionally insensitive?"

"This is called adult prudence. You will understand later."

"I think there is a difference between being cautious and cautious. As a person of the opposite sex, you should prefer men who are more proactive, right? After all, Mr. Yoshida, you can't take the route of a little bitch."

"Huh? What's the little milk dog's route?"

"Although I don't know the details, but if you reverse the male and female roles in the relationship, it should be almost the same."

"Turn around..."

Yoshida muttered unconsciously, as if imagining such a scene, and then frowned hard.

"—That's impossible, right!?"

"Mr. Yoshida, your reaction is really exaggerated. Where did you put it?"

"You were so noisy that you didn't think anything of it."

Yoshida smacked his lips, took a sip of coffee as if to cover it up, and then said: "Besides, you have said so much, do you have relevant experience?"

"Well..."

Kato Yusuke deliberately held his chin as if thinking, "Actually, a rich elder sister just said that she wanted to wear a uniform to show me. Does this count?"

"Are you kidding me!?"

"Have you seen through it?"

"Idiot, I told you not to tease adults easily!"

The two people laughed at the same time as they spoke, and the atmosphere became more relaxed than before.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Yoshida, can I ask you a favor?"

"What's wrong? Is the living expenses not enough? My savings are quite generous, and I can lend it to you at any time." Yoshida said, putting down the cup and preparing to go indoors. It seemed that he was going to get his wallet.

"It's nothing like that."

Kato Yusuke stopped him, feeling a little warm in his heart, and then said: "Actually, our school has three days of off-campus teaching next week. If possible, I would like to ask Mr. Yoshida to help take care of my cat."

"So that's it, it's possible, it's possible... but I only have experience raising goldfish, is that okay?"

"goldfish……?"

"That's right." Yoshida scratched his cheek with some distress and explained: "It was a goldfish that was raised in the school when I was in school. I took care of it at the time."

Kato Yusuke opened and closed his mouth slightly, came back from his trance, and smiled slightly: "So you were once the leader of the biology team? Mr. Yoshida."

"...It's not that, it's just that it happened to be my turn that time."

"What are their names?"

"What?"

"What was the name of the goldfish that Mr. Yoshida raised?"

"Huh? Let me tell you, how can anyone specifically name a goldfish?"

"makes sense."

"That's it, if that's okay with you, I can take care of the cat for you."

"Well, no problem. I'll leave the key to Mr. Yoshida then. My cat only needs to replenish food and water regularly, and change the cat litter."

"Okay, I just have a day off tomorrow, so please demonstrate it to me."

"Thank you. I should have sent it to pet care, but Xiao Hei used to be a stray cat. I'm not sure if it will have a stress reaction. Mr. Yoshida was very helpful."

"Don't worry about this little thing. We live next door anyway. It's just by the way."

Yoshida smiled and waved his hands, with a look of nostalgia on his face, and said, "Teaching outside the school...where are you going?"

"To the mountains."

"Hey, are there any suitable places around Tokyo for off-campus teaching?"

"I'm not sure about this, but the place we are going to is Chiba Prefecture. "

"Chiba, will you go to Tokyo Disney?"

"No, I will never go to a place like that again."

"Well, that's quite a pity."

"maybe."

Kato Yusuke smiled, did not delve into the topic, and turned his face to the balcony where it was dark at night.

Whether we pay special attention to it or not, people, cities and seasons are constantly moving forward.

Therefore, we must move to the next stage. As long as we pause for a moment, the robbers of time will catch up.

Like it or not, some things seem to have to end.

Kato Yusuke casually looked at the moon hanging high in the night sky, his divergent thoughts flowing aimlessly in the night.

The boy flew into the sky, and the girl rode in the carriage.

The chubby tapir grinned, holding a piece of nightmare in his mouth.

I seem to have a good dream today.

As soon as this thought came up, I felt sleepy mentally.

He picked up the mug, drank the cold coffee in one gulp, and then let out a long breath.

"I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. I'll leave the cup with you first, Mr. Yoshida."

"Then I'll give it to you after washing it tomorrow."

"Okay, good night then, Mr. Yoshida."

"OK, good night."

After saying good night to each other, Kato Yusuke returned to the house with his own cup.

The black cat nestled leisurely in the cat litter box. When he came back, he rolled around in the cat litter playfully. His smooth black hair inevitably became stained with sawdust and turned gray.

A lot of cat litter spilled out of the litter box.

Kato Yusuke was stunned for a moment, then immediately frowned, his anger level soaring.

One person and one cat stared at each other with big eyes and small eyes.

…

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