Kenkyo Kenjitsu

Reika-sama – 092

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…I didn’t wanna go.
To begin with I didn’t want anything to do with that family. Going now would be even worse because that fasting course would definitely come up. It would be as good as announcing,
‘Hello everybody! I was fat enough to warrant fasting!’
…Yeah, no wayyy.

But thinking about it, a tea party probably meant that she wanted to get to know the kids in her son’s school year. With a lot of other people there it wouldn’t have been too bad. If it wasn’t for the fasting issue, that is.
Actually, I had been invited to something like this a few times before, but I got out of it by pretending to be shy. It’s a shame that something like that wasn’t possible at my age. How depressing…

*

The days continued to pass by. Dog Lover-kun continued to force his 『I ♡ Beatrice!』 photo collection on me. Okaasama got excited about the tea party and began dragging me to beauty salons and clothes shopping. Before long, the day of the tea party had arrived.
It was a casual thing so I just brought some flowers and chocolates with me. Well, I say ‘just’ but this chocolate was actually bought from the newly opened Japanese branch of a French chocolatier. A rising star of the chocolate world, they call him. I decided on this since I figured the sweet-toothed Kaburagi might appreciate it.
Anyhow, I arrived there for the first time feeling nervous. It didn’t take long for Madam Kaburagi to show me in, and I was brought to a large room overseeing the garden. Actually there were already a number of people there. Pretty much everybody was somebody from the Pivoine, so I let out a sigh of relief. Although naturally Kaburagi and Enjou were there too.

“Reika-san, might there be some people you haven’t met before? Allow me to introduce you,” said Mrs. Kaburagi before doing exactly that. Once she was done, she left to greet new guests.

I decided to just approach someone I knew. Nouzen Sarara-sama was here.
She was a Pivoine member, but spent most of her time reading quietly by herself. Sarara-sama had this tranquil and dignified air to her, and it felt like she lived in her own world, never taking part in the pointless conversations that the rest of us had. Any conversation I made might have seemed inane to her, so I’d always shied from talking to her. Thanks to that we weren’t really close.
I had to say though, I admired her constant composure. That was something I knew I had trouble with.
At any rate, it was surprising that somebody like Sarara-sama would even come to an event like this. I’d never seen her really talk to Kaburagi in the Pivoine salon, and neither he nor Enjou seemed to pay much attention to her.
Could it be that she was forced here by her parents like I was?

“Gokigen’yoh, Sarara-sama. I must admit I was not expecting you here.”

“Gokigen’yoh. Of all places, I wouldn’t have expected you here either, Reika-sama.”

“I must admit that this is my first time as a guest here. And you, Sarara-sama?”

“I do in fact visit here on occasion. The Kaburagi family are kind enough to allow me to peruse their book collection. Chairman Kaburagi is in fact a rare book collector.”

“Goodness, truly!?”

That dreamy Kaburagi-Papa’s hobby was books!? Gosh, why haven’t I been reading more books! I don’t know a thing about rare books! And what a refined hobby too!

In my mind, I pictured Kaburagi-Papa sitting in his study, dignified, reading from an old, leather-bound book…

It fits him so well! And what does my family’s Tanuki do for fun!? Collecting reading glasses for his eyesight!?

“Truly. In his spare time he tours Europe looking for rare books on his own, you know. This wondrous collection is the direct result of all that effort!”

“Is that so?”

“It is! Think about it! Early copies of Huysmans’ works! When I found out about it I couldn’t stop the trembling!”

“…My.”

It was the first time I’d ever seen the collected Sarara-sama talking so excitedly. I mean, I knew that she really liked her books, but I never thought she took them this seriously. I guess she had that same something that led people to getting dog paw earrings…
We chatted some more. Apparently she was particularly fond of French literature. Scouring my brains for my meagre knowledge on that field, I managed to squeeze out the names Cocteau and Wilde. Her eyes lit up, and she began to, even more excitedly, list title after title, and passionately discussed(?) their contents.

Um, that’s nice and all, Sarara-sama, but could you stop closing in on me like that?

At that moment, Mrs. Kaburagi came back with another girl. The girl had hair up to her shoulders, and the tips were lightly curled. Wow, what a casual.

“This is Maihama Ema-san from Yurinomiya. Everyone get along with her. Now that everybody is here, shall we begin the tea party!”

And that’s how it began. Maybe because his mother was right here, Kaburagi was even more silent than usual. He was literally giving only the bare minimum replies to Maihama-san who was desperately trying to start a conversation. Not that I couldn’t sympathise. A high-school boy being forced to attend a tea party with his mother? It was like some sort of strange punishment game, if you thought about it. Worse yet, there was no Yurie-sama here.
Apparently Yurie-sama and Aira-sama were in the UK right now, spending their break living with some host family.
I’ll bet anything that Kaburagi had wanted to go with.
Anyhow, Kaburagi, still morose, picked up a chocolate and put it into his mouth. His face betrayed faint surprise. Gotcha!
The chocolate that he ate just now was none other than the one I brought with me as a gift. How’s that, Kaburagi! It’s good, right!
Madam Kaburagi, sharp-eyed as usual, was quick to point out that it had been brought here by me.

“Hmm… Where’d you get this?”

I replied.

“So they opened a store in Japan…” he muttered.

He really knew his stuff.

“You like chocolates, Kaburagi-sama?”

“Chocolat isn’t bad.”

Ooh, “shoh-koh-lah“. Sorry, for being a commoner, Mr. Frenchman.

“Reika-san, the other day you stayed at one of our hotels with your Okaasama, didn’t you? How was it?”

“Yes. Your exclusive amenities were excellent. It was almost a shame to use them. I also enjoyed your garden. The way it lit up at night was simply magical.”

“My! Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoyed it.”

“Kisshouin-san, you stayed at one of the Kaburagi Group’s hotels?” Enjou suddenly asked.

“Well, yes…”

“Our hotel had some fasting course. To lose weight.”

KABURAGIIIIIIIII!
I knew you knew! And you’ve revealed me here!?
What is wrong with you!? Haven’t you heard of tact!?
You don’t understand a girl’s heart at all!

“Fasting?”

“It’s one of the courses our hotel offers.”

“Wow. So Kisshouin-san was fasting…”

Enjou looked like he was struggling not to smile. Everyone else started talking about it as well. Wasn’t this like publicly acknowledging that I was a fatty!

“My, it might have been a fasting course but it wasn’t just for dieting,” began Madam Kaburagi. “It was a detox course. Reika-san is skinny, so she wouldn’t have needed to diet.”

Unfortunately I doubt anybody believed her.

“Reika-san came to accompany her mother. She’s very close with her parents. Chairman Kisshouin told me all about how she makes handmade chocolates for him every Valentine’s.”

Tanuki! You’ve been spreading trouble again!

“Gosh, I wish I had a daughter… Sons really aren’t cute at all.”

Kaburagi looked put out by his mother’s words.

Then Maihama-san cut in.

“I know that you have a rule against home-made chocolates, but I’m attending desert school so please try one of mine!”

Also she was looking at me like I was some kind of rival.

“Don’t want. If I’m going to be eating some rank amateur’s mistakes, why shouldn’t I eat a professional’s successes instead.”

Maihama-san, shot down.

Kaburagi, one of these days you should really learn the art of subtlety.
After that, people kept coming over and asking about my fasting, so I got offended and blurted out,

“Recently I went with a friend to clear my spirit with zazen meditation as well,”

when a senpai from the Pivoine replied with a shocked,

“Eh-, Reika-san, you’re one of them?”

Enjou was facing away from me, breathless with laughter. I wished I had a zen stick with me to teach him some manners.

Anyhow, as a result of me regaling my experiences, a number of people said that they were interested in trying the fasting course as well.

When it was time to leave, Madam Kaburagi commented,

“Today was really lively thanks to you. Come again, okay!”

It wasn’t fun for me at all though…

Also Maihama-san huffed, and turned away from me. What a funny person.

*

Returning home exhausted, I was ambushed by Okaasama who asked me all about the tea party, but when I mentioned that they found out we were fasting participants, she was crestfallen.
Half of that was her fault though.

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85 thoughts on “Reika-sama – 092”

    1. Sorry ORZ
      I could not help it. I’ve been refreshing it for so long. Kuuuh. (I’m feeling so giddy😆) THANK YOU SO MUCH for the update. Now I’m off to reread the whole chapter.😋

      Liked by 5 people

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  5. Kaburagi and Enjou not only the fasting but Reika-sama’s zen meditation is also known. Srsly. I wonder how much fun would it have been to read this in Kaburagi or enjou’s pov. and Beatrice the dog though fufufu~ Dog Lover’s friend (the girl who seems to see Reika-sama as a love rival) then there’s that new girl maihama. It’s srsly funny how she finds herself stuck in this sort of thing😂

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  6. Thanks 4 the chapter!

    As much as I love my dogs I don’t show their photos to people. Er… well, except in my Facebook page.

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    1. She is known as the Empress at school so its to be expected (also one of the few girls whom the girls at school would approve to be the “Emperor’s” partner)

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  9. [It was a casual thing so I just brought some flowers and chocolates with me. Well, I say ‘just’ but this chocolate was actually from bought the newly opened Japanese branch]
    -> bought from?

    [“This is Maihama Ema-san from Yurinomiya. Everyone get along with her. Now that everybody is here, shall we begin the tea party!”]
    -> we shall?

    —
    Thank you for the chapter~ Cheers!

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    1. “For some reason that one Kisshouin whats-her-name girl had a stupid look on her face when she started talking with that book girl about books. Are books really that interesting? They both got excited. How stupid.”

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  14. Thanks for the chapter!
    Ohohoho~~ do I smell curiosity there, Enjou-sama? Baby steps for my OTP.

    And poor Reika, why she’s always in the ‘rival girl’ situation? Is that because it’s her true nature? Can’t she escape from her destiny as rival girl? Do Reika have a chance to change her hairstyle? *cough*

    Can’t wait for Kaburagi or Enjou (please Enjou) for know about Reika crush on Kaburagi’s papa. I am sure it will be a cutely hilarious scene.

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  16. Thank you for the new chapter!
    I’ve missed Reika for so long, haha~
    I hope she won’t get fat but can eat a lot of delicious pastries and food in the next chapters :D

    Liked by 3 people

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  20. Hahaha damm. I love the interaction with reika, enjou and kaburagi. Yes pls, hit enjou with a zen stick. Lol. I ship enjou and reika!!! Yeah!!!

    Liked by 7 people

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    1. Lucky for you, it seems like that’s the cannon ship.
      No shut up, I meant cannon.
      It’s a ship with cannons on it. It is unsinkable by virtue of having holed all the other ships first.

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  21. Thanks for the chapter!

    Pffff, poor Reika. Her and her mom were found out as fasting participants. Hahahaha!

    Kaburagi is tactless as usual! Enjou is laughing himself to death!

    Reika-chaaaan, the zazen meditation thing, why do I feel it’s a mistake?

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  22. “the tips were lightly curled. Wow, what a casual.”
    Shot down by Kaburagi for the handmade chocolate, shot down by Reika for the amateur curling :p

    Liked by 6 people

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  23. Thanks for the Rei-chan, Sheep-chan. Pfft. Maihama doesn’t even realize that Rei-chan avoids Kaburagi. It’s probably not a secret in the Pivione though. And I sent Sarara is a woman of culture as well (I’d always wanted to say that!).

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    1. Actually, most of the school seems to consider her and Kaburagi to be practically an item. Whenever Enjou gets involved with her they always scream “love triangle”.

      Reika doesn’t really run away in terror from Kaburagi like in her primary school days. She just tries to avoid getting involved with him, which is normally very easy since he mostly hangs out with other boys.

      Plus, she is probably one of the few girls that Kaburagi actually knows the name of and interacts to any real degree. So she’s actually miles ahead (not that she wants to me) over everyone else.

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      1. In shoujo, all girls ever seem to think about is love.
        This novel only just passes the Bechdel test because of Reika’s existence.

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      2. Plus with Reika’s current personality, the girls at their school didn’t really mind about ‘love triangle’ thing since according to them ‘Reika is perfect for them’ and ‘it’s so romantic’.

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  24. “Reika-san, the other day you stayed at one of our hotels with your Okaasama, didn’t you? How was it?”

    KABURAGIIIIII
    Poor Ema was not able to even get good replies yet Reika managed to get Masaya and Shuusuke to start a conversation with her. And even become the audden star of the party! No wonder she is a rival girl ha ha

    Also, I saw that alert in your question, Enjou Shuusuke! But do not worry, for I ship you with Reika as long as you protect her adorable self~♡

    Reika-samaaaaa~ I shall miss you dearlyyy if it would take another long moment before our next meetingggg.

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      1. Waiittt I forgot the actual thing I want to point out!!!

        “REIKA-SAN” by Masaya but “KISSHOUN-SAN” by Shuusuke.
        Hmmmmm…Masaya totally take her as a friend didn’t he? Pffft. Or did I mistook this? Do they call her Reika-san since earlier chapters?

        You need to up your game, Shuusuke.

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          1. …OH!

            Crap. There goes my delusional ball, rolling off the stairs and crash.

            SHEEPSAAANNNNNN IGNORANCE IS BLISSSS!!! WHYYY hahahaha

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  29. Ayy Kaburagi is completely insensitive. Enjou should’ve covered his mouth before letting Kaburagi publicly humiliate someone like that especially now that they’re high school students. Tsk tsk absolutely horrible.

    At least none of the girls were the Ouja-sama type. No one openly made fun of her.

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    1. I think this is a case of things playing out worse in Reika’s mind than it actually is. The other girls are interested in the dieting course because they’re girls. It’s not like the women at the hotel really cared that much about it and most didn’t seem to care how it looked to onlookers.

      Sarara looks unapproachable, but then again, so does Reika. It just turns out she’s just a serious book otaku deep down. Reika sees Sarara and thinks “Waaa, how elegant and tranquil.” Sarara looks at Reika and just sees an “Waa . . . as expected, she’s a model ojousama.” Talking about literature probably just reinforces this impression.

      Maihama just sees another rival to Kaburagi, not some silly goof who really does stress about her belly. It’s not: “Haha, look at this disgraceful fat girl.”
      It’s: “Oh shit, she makes handmade chocolates too. She’s a formidable rival. Better head that off.”

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      3. Things ALWAYS play out worse in her head than in reality. That’s why we love her.

        Though generally, when an unpopular person does something weird it’s “gross” but when a popular person does it then it’s “quirky” or “cool”. In fact, a popular person doing something weird can make it actually-not-weird.

        Reika didn’t make handmade chocolate, she brought them. But yeah, from an outsider perspective she looks like she was trying to impress him, and it seems to have worked too.

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  30. Thank you very much for bringing those two wonderful chapters. *claps* claps* claps* Big big loves to Reika, to the author and off course to you Estelion-san for your effort in translating them for us😍😍😍 it’s so funny. I don’t even feel sleepy again.. hahaha😄😆
    also reading the comments in the chapter before this.. waaa.. so, we’re born in the same year! and yet I still cannot even understand any other language other than english and even it’s still only the basics. so applause again for you and for other people who can understand japanese so well that the translation is so smooth and easy, very enjoyable to read👏👏👏

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  32. “spare him” -> “spare time”

    Thank you for the back to back chapters. I really ought to read ahead in this series lol, it’s too good.

    Liked by 1 person

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      1. Also just to clarify, what did the Pivone senpai mean by “you’re one of *them*”? Did she mean she didn’t expect Reika to be that sort of person? I haven’t checked out the Japanese yet.

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  37. “were the UK” –> “were in the UK”
    Tyvm for the chapters :) The quality can’t compare to any other translator out there… Amazing job as always

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  39. *opens NU Reading List*
    *sees update for Reika*
    *refreshes page multiple time to see if I’m dreaming*
    *sees it’s real*
    *opens the new chapter link*
    *refreshes oniichanyamete multiple times to see if it’s real*
    *tentatively see if the content is similar*
    *realises that it’s different from yesterday’s chapter*
    *scrolls down to see if it’s a joke by Este*
    *realises it’s not*
    IT’S AN UPDATE!
    *dies*

    Thanks Este >o<

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  41. Pingback: Reika-sama – 093 | お兄ちゃん、やめてぇ！

  43. When I first read this chapter, the way I read the “chocolat” scene was that Kaburagi was talking about the brand that Reika purchased for him, and Reika just wasn’t paying attention and thought he pronounced chocolate in french all the time. So I thought when later she corrects people on how Kaburagi pronounces chocolate, I thought it was a really cute misunderstanding.

    Now that I reread this… I realize that the chocolatier must have actually had a name that wasn’t “chocolat” since Reika told him their name… and %$^ing Kaburagi ACTUALLY says chocolate in French every time… ….. I’m done……

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