Chapter 137 27: Shirai Kyoko

"I am back."

"Meow~"

"Did you miss me, honey?"

"Meow~"

"So good~"

A small one-person apartment.

As soon as Anko Shirai opened the door, a not-too-fat orange cat came to greet her, tilting its head back and meowing in a strangled voice.

"You must be hungry. I'll cook dinner for you."

After petting the cat a few times, Shirai put his shoes and schoolbag neatly back where they should be.

She took out a pack of instant noodles from the cupboard, a pack of chicken breast and half a remaining carrot from the refrigerator, tied on an apron, and started working in the narrow kitchen.

A few minutes later, the instant noodles were cooked. She took out the last egg and smashed it in.

"Yours is still very hot, wait a little longer."

After playing with the cat, Shirai came to the table with instant noodles and prepared to eat his dinner.

Tuk-tuk-tuk.

There was a rare knock on the door.

Shirai, who was eating instant noodles, was startled, thinking it was the NHK cashier. He stood up, walked to the door, and looked outside through the peephole.

What I saw was a sloppy middle-aged man with a face full of stubble and casual clothes.

After seeing the man's face clearly, her heart seemed to be gripped.

Slowly opening the door, she said, "Dad."

"Xingzi! Huh, long time no see. I'm a little short of money recently, so I came to borrow some money from you." The man said somewhat embarrassedly.

Shirai pursed his lips, took out the wallet from deep inside his schoolbag, and gently handed it to his father: "Yes, it's all here."

The man quickly took it and opened it. There were both small and whole bills inside, about 30,000 yen.

He took out the large bills, but paused, looked at Shirai, licked his lips, and finally put about half of it back.

"Xingzi, if you are short of money, you can ask your mother for it. The man she is with now is rich and doesn't need it."

The man said as he stuffed the money into his pocket, as if to show his pitiful concern.

"Yeah, I know." Shirai Anko was not looking at the money, but at the white strands of her father's hair.

"I'll pay you back when I make money, quickly." The man left this message, handed the wallet back to Shirai, turned around and hurriedly prepared to leave.

"dad."

Shirai called out.

The man stopped and looked back at her hesitantly.

"Will the money be enough? Actually, you can take all of these. I have no problem." Shirai handed him his wallet. "I have a part-time job now, which is paid daily. I can support myself."

"No, no, that's enough, that's enough, thank you Xingzi, thank you." The man's smile was forced, his steps were a little messy, and he left as if he was running away.

Shirai looked at his father's disappearing back with some disappointment, and only returned to the room after he was completely out of sight.

"Meow meow~"

The orange cat sat at the table, seemingly urging Shirai to eat quickly, as the noodles were already cold.

Patting the cat's head, Shirai sat back in his seat and ate the instant noodles that were already a bit lumpy.

After eating his own meal, the cat food was cool and poured into the cat bowl. Little Honey immediately came over and started eating it with a gurgling sound.

Shirai stood beside the cat, holding his chin with his hand and slowly stroking the cat's back.

After resting for a while, she took out her homework and started to do it. After finishing, she read a book. At about ten o'clock, she took a bath and went to bed. Before going to bed, she opened LINE, clicked on the chat box at the top, and typed.

【Good night, Mom.】

After sending it, she looked at the screen nervously.

A few minutes later, a message came from the other side.

【Good night, daughter】

Shirai Anko smiled sweetly, turned off the screen, made sure the alarm was set, then put the phone aside, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Shengying College (purely fictional).

A private college of higher learning.

Most of the students enrolled are children of business people, and the teaching quality and tuition fees are very high, but the school also uses a scholarship system to recruit students from ordinary families with excellent academic performance.

Anko Shirai is one of them.

In the morning, she arrived at school a little later than usual. She glanced nervously at the seat of her classmate Hirosue in her memory. Seeing that he had not arrived yet, she sat down at her seat absentmindedly and put the lunch box into the cabinet.

Yesterday, classmate Guangsue helped her. Although she didn't have anything to give in return, she still got up early and made a box of cookies as a thank you gift.

I read for a while at my seat and then arrived at Hirosueryō Palace.

Because the Hirosue family has teamed up with the Holy Infant Company, its current development momentum is quite good, so these children from the political and business circles have more or less been advised by their families to build good relationships with Hirosue's children, and at the very least, not to offend them.

Although some people were reluctant about this, as high school students without financial independence, they had no choice but to greet him with a smile even if they didn't like Hirosue.

At worst, we can just not communicate and after graduation we can just remain classmates as an explanation to our families.

Those who are good at considering their family deliberately approached and tried to please Hirosue Yoshimiya, which made her, who was already famous in school for her appearance, become a celebrity and attracted many people to discuss secretly.

"Good morning, Hirosue-san."

"Hirosue-san, did you watch "Reige" yesterday?"

"Guosue-san, would you like to try some durian dumplings?"

Hirosue Ryomiya was like a star. He talked to his classmates with a standard smile, declined the food offered to him, and walked to his seat slowly and sat down.

It was only then that Shirai realized that Hirosue was a very popular person, and it seemed that his cookies were not worth showing off.

However, she is not a very introverted person. She is just immersed in studying and working most of the time. Even though she doesn't have many friends to talk to in this school, she doesn't seem to be a loner.

For something as important as thanking someone, you have to do it! Xingzi, you can't back down!
She encouraged herself, took out her lunch box from the drawer, and walked to the side of Hirosue Ryomiya's chair.

"Hirosu-san, thank you for yesterday!" Shirai Anko had never done anything like this before, but she felt that such things should be more solemn, so she bowed and presented it with both hands.

Overall, it looks like a gesture of confessing love or handing over a love letter.

The classroom was quiet.

Some people looked at Shirai Anko strangely, with a hint of sarcasm on the corners of their mouths, not intentionally but unintentionally.

The antelope hung a gift on its horns, ready to give to the cheetah, which is really smile-inducing.

Hirosue Ryomiya seemed to be oblivious to the gazes of others and took the lunch box naturally: "Thank you, Shirai-san, can I open it?"

"Sure." Shirai also noticed that the atmosphere was a bit strange at this time, but she didn't know why and didn't particularly care. Instead, she was happy from the bottom of her heart that Hirosue accepted the gift.

Guangsue opened the box, looked at the cookies that were obviously carefully arranged, took out a piece, took a bite, and nodded: "Well, it's very good, add honey, maybe try adding some cranberries next time."

"Hehe, thank you. I added a little bit of honey. I haven't eaten cranberries before, so I don't know what they taste like." Shirai Anko nodded happily.

"I'll bring it to you when I have time." Guangsue glanced at the lunch box. It had some signs of wear and tear, but it was very clean. "I'll return the box to you after you finish eating?"

"Yeah, thank you again for your help yesterday. I'll go back to my seat first." Shirai looked at the strange looks from the others and couldn't bear it anymore, so he retreated.

One of them had a resentful look on her face. She didn't know why her durian dumplings lost. Obviously, both were delicious foods.

(End of this chapter)