Chapter 122: The Worries of Mature Adults All players have to do is touch porcelain,...
Although Jinpei Matsuda's Chinese language skills have never been top-notch, this is the first time he has doubted his comprehension ability...or perhaps his listening ability.
What does "I came to deliver food because I wanted Hagiwara-kun to take me home" mean? Is this a problem with his understanding? Is this kid speaking Chinese? How do these two sentences connect?
The curly-haired young man and the young girl opposite him stared at each other. The latter's face was full of self-righteousness, as if he was the only one who thought too much and doubted his life.
"...When did your relationship progress to this point?" He hesitated for two seconds, then asked tentatively, "From dating to living together... so quickly? When did you confirm your relationship?"
After all, in his opinion, this kind of dialogue should happen before marriage. The fiancée shyly expressed her virtue to her future husband and said she wanted to marry into his family... But applying this scene to Chao Mu was extremely inappropriate no matter how you thought about it.
Before Chaomu could answer, Hagiwara Kenji could no longer sit still.
The young man with half-long hair almost jumped up and waved his hands frantically: "No, Xiao Zhenping, you misunderstood... We are not...!"
"We just decided to live together this morning," Chaomu added while biting his straw.
Hagihara Kenji: "…………"
Matsuda Jinpei: “…………?”
He looked at Chaomu, then at his own little friend, his face full of the expression "What else do you have to argue about now?"
Hagiwara Kenji covered his face in despair, feeling as if it was so hot he could fry an egg on it. "Don't use such a misleading term, Asamu-chan! You're staying temporarily, borrowing my guest room for now... And don't look at me like that, Jinpei-chan. I really didn't do anything strange...!"
Matsuda stared at him expressionlessly: "...Guest room?"
"Of course it's the guest room!" The half-long-haired young man raised his finger. "I swear on my badge, it's definitely the guest room."
Unlike Matsuda who used the small room as a storage room, Hagiwara Kenji, whose sister occasionally stayed with him, did reserve a guest room and cleaned it regularly, which Matsuda knew.
If there were guest rooms, this would sound reasonable at first glance... After all, Matsuda wasn't some old-fashioned youth, and although he was rather traditional in character, it was hard to say anything.
The corners of his lips twitched twice, and he was about to say something when he saw Chaomu across from him, holding his chin and saying, "It doesn't matter if there's no guest room. Just take me back, Hagiwara-kun. I can sleep on the sofa or even on the floor..."
"Absolutely not!" / "That won't work!"
Before she finished speaking, the two police officers spoke up almost simultaneously and firmly objected.
Although he still felt that something was amiss, Matsuda had a feeling that if Chaomu continued talking, he would probably say something like, "If that doesn't work, I can find someone else," which would make his blood pressure soar. In the end, he just pressed his forehead and said, "...Anyway, let's eat first..."
"Right, right, let's eat first." Hagiwara Kenji finally breathed a sigh of relief. "I need to go to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities after dinner... Anyway, let's talk about it after dinner."
It happened that the waiter came and served the dishes at this moment. Chao Mu decisively lowered his head and started eating, and the topic was finally temporarily brought to the forefront.
But Jinpei Matsuda still felt that something was wrong with this matter.
He couldn't ask in front of Chaomu, so he held it in until after dinner, when he went for a walk to the supermarket. Seeing the short-haired girl wander off to some random place, he finally found an opportunity, pulled You Xunran aside, and asked in shock, "Are you crazy, Hagi? You really want to live with her...even if it's just temporarily, it's weird, right?"
How long has that brat been an adult... It's okay that she lacks the awareness of gender, but Kenji Hagiwara is already an adult, does he lack it too?
As an older and more mature adult, Hagiwara had no way of expressing his pain.
"Little Chaomu didn't directly say what she encountered... It's not a good idea to ask in detail, right?" He sighed, "Doesn't she usually ask for help from us? To actually make such a request, she must have encountered some difficult problems..."
Being evicted for not being able to pay the rent would definitely be tough for a child with such strong self-esteem. Besides, she'd actually been working very hard—young people who'd just started working didn't have enough money to spend, but many people who ran out of money had their parents and relatives as a temporary fallback, allowing them to get through this transition relatively smoothly...
But Chaomu didn't have any parents or relatives. She was an orphan and had no friends in middle school and high school. After growing up and starting work, the only people she would be close to were probably those few... If Hagiwara Kenji still refused to do anything, how sad would she be?
Jinpei Matsuda fell silent.
They are all young people who have experienced this stage, and they also know that the current economy is in recession... Considering that Chaomu really has no one else to rely on, if you put it this way, he can indeed understand Hagiwara Kenji's choice.
Even if Asamure Makoto and Hagiwara Kenji were dating, he couldn't really say anything - in a relationship, it's not a big deal in Japan if the man is a few years older than the woman. Inspector Megure of the First Investigation Division is older than his young wife.
However, both he and Hagiwara obviously have the same concerns as Inspector Megure... The latter is an experienced person and naturally knows that a young girl may develop some fantasies and ignorant feelings when cared for by a mature man, but such feelings may not necessarily be love and are most likely not equal.
In this situation, older men should take on the responsibility of guidance and avoiding suspicion, which is why Matsuda reacted so strongly when he heard that they were living together.
Although Matsuda didn't think Hagiwara would make an irrational decision, he was still a little worried... But Asami was an adult after all, and didn't seem like the kind of girl who would be blinded by affection, so something like that shouldn't happen... right?
He was silent for a moment and asked, "So what exactly do you think?"
"My idea is to at least solve her accommodation problem for the time being, and then consider other things." The half-long-haired young man had clearly been thinking it over carefully, his expression quite serious. "Xiao Chaomu is still young, so we can slowly teach her about spending habits. Didn't she always say she'd treat us to a meal as soon as she made some money? Let's start by changing that habit and slowly teach her to save money..."
"If there are any other problems, just stay here and get through this period first. Living with us is safer too. I'm always a little worried that she'll find someone else who's unreliable..."
Thinking of a neighbor of Asami whom he had met before, Hagiwara Kenji pressed his forehead: What if that neighbor invites her to live at her house... little Asami won't really agree, right?
If Chaomu heard his concerns, she would definitely comfort him that such a thing could not happen - if she was broke and had nowhere to go, how could she ask Shen Er to take her in without charging her for accommodation or other expenses? That guy was very stingy and would never do such a good thing.
But Kenji Hagiwara didn't know about this after all, so he couldn't help but worry.
He told Matsuda about his concerns, and Matsuda thought he made sense.
"That's it for now." The curly-haired young man scratched his cheek irritably, looked up and looked around, "But where did that brat go again..."
Chaomu had just sneaked back from the fruit section and stopped at the children's toy section.
She had been to this supermarket before with her adoptive father, no, and Midorikawa Kei, and she remembered the strawberries being incredibly delicious. It was a shame there weren't any fresh ones this season. There were greenhouse-grown ones, but they didn't look as good and were expensive.
She had never found strawberry seeds from the trash can before, so she tentatively felt around and found some ordinary onions, leeks, and the only rare thing she found was a daffodil bulb.
There were jars of fun crops for sale in the children's section, with strawberry seeds inside, but based on her many experiences of being cheated as a child, there was no way anything would grow from those things - it was hard to say whether they would even sprout, let alone bear fruit.
But then again… this was in a game, so maybe this would work? She only needed Raccoon Coins, and she had plenty of Japanese Yen saved up, so getting scammed once wouldn't be a big deal.
The short-haired girl bent solemnly, her eyes scanning the rows of beautifully packaged vertical cans. It seemed that no matter how old she was, she would be unable to take her eyes off these fraudulent products, wanting to buy them all: sunflowers, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, cherry radishes... the more she looked, the more tempted she became.
"...Are you still an elementary school student?"
After finally finding her location, he saw this scene. Matsuda's eyebrows twitched slightly as he stood behind her. He couldn't help but complain to her: "How can you grow something like this... How old are you to fall for such a trick?"
"But this canned food is just right for my age," Chaomu said confidently. "Children don't pay enough attention to flower care. Now I'm older and more mature, with plenty of planting experience - maybe I can do it? I definitely can."
Hagiwara Kenji was walking behind, pushing a shopping cart. Seeing these small potted plants, he was also filled with emotion. "These can-shaped potted plants... I think we bought them when we were kids, right? Little Zhenping? But we never managed to grow any. The most successful one was the radish seedlings that Chisoo raised. They managed to sprout and grow."
Matsuda shrugged. "But it didn't work at all. These boxes aren't designed for planting, and we had no idea what thinning was."
The radish seedlings that were close to each other had no space to grow, their roots could not continue to grow, and naturally they could not expand into radishes.
When it comes to this topic, Chaomu is also quite experienced: "The seeds themselves should be fine, but they should be much better if they are transplanted into pots. However, other than cat grass, onions, garlic and the like, it is not so easy to keep other seeds alive."
Three adults who had all fallen on this kind of potted plants were lost in thought as they looked at this row of children's potted plants. The children next to them had all been replaced with new ones.
"So, Xiao Chaomu, do you want to buy it? There's still space on my balcony." Hagiwara touched his chin, "I think adding some green plants would be nice..."
Planting crops together is really nostalgic... He and Matsuda once planted cherry tomatoes together. One night, it suddenly rained heavily, and they held an umbrella together to protect the seeds in the flowerbed that had not yet sprouted.
But that day, not only did it rain, but a typhoon also blew up, and the two children, who were completely soaked, were eventually dragged home by their respective families. At that time, Hagiwara's favorite little yellow duck umbrella was even blown away by the wind, and he was heartbroken for a long time afterwards.
Matsuda remained silent, his eyes flickering to the picture above, seemingly ready to make a move, yet maintaining his composure out of adult dignity. The children nearby were startled by his serious expression, clinging tightly to their mothers' hands, not daring to take the potted plant and run away.
"Well... you can plant it at Hagiwara-kun's house."
Chaomu was just recalling whether there was any space for planting in her home - her balcony was already full, and the space indoors was almost full. Planting more inside would ruin the furnishings... She was still a little insistent on the aesthetics of the decoration.
Although players who are not so persistent can cover the floor of the NPC's house with potted plants, that's Hagiwara, and she doesn't really want to do that... It would also be inconvenient to go to other people's houses to water them every day in the future.
This kind of thing will have to be done to neighbors in the future, like Kurosawa Jin and Amuro Toru, aren't their houses quite big?
After thinking about it, Chaomu decided to just buy one or two and try them out.
She looked left and right, and finally her eyes stopped on the hyacinth.
It may be because of the color difference in printing. It clearly says blue hyacinth, but the color on the can is more purple.
The color of the flowers reminded Asami of Hagiwara Kenji's eyes.
She passed by the other jars and picked up the one with the hyacinth print. "I think I should buy a jar of this... I think growing bulbs like this is more reliable than growing seeds."
"It seems like planting hyacinths this season is about right," Hagiwara Kenji checked on his phone and thought it was feasible. "Maybe they'll bloom in spring... and hyacinths are beautiful, too."
"Then I'll buy a bigger flower pot later..."
They quickly finalized the details. Matsuda hesitated for two seconds before saying, "Then I want one too."
Just think of it as challenging a difficult problem that you haven’t completed in the past… just give it a try.
Hagiwara Kenji made an OK gesture.
Two tins of hyacinth bulbs were placed in a trolley, and one rolled into the corner.
Matsuda noticed that Asamure only bought one, apparently intending to keep it at Hagiwara's house.
For some reason, he always felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, so he just reached out and stacked the cans together to save space and satisfy his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
...If you don't like it, it's probably just because of your obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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The author has something to say: The second update is completed, and today is the sixth day, I am really (?)
PS: Some friends may think that it is normal for a man and a woman with a big age gap to fall in love in Japan, and that Matsuda’s reaction is a bit too much from a realistic perspective, but there is no need to correct me on this point. What I write is an ideal male character, so I will definitely pay more attention to this aspect.
(Although I feel that when 73 wrote about the love affair between Inspector Megure and the young girl who was still a high school student and was saved by him, he definitely didn't think too much about it...but I still have to think about it when I write it myself.)
However, this story about Hagi and Muzi is definitely not based on this pattern.
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