RMSGE ` 11

Chapter – 11

Hiroshi Kirara’s Struggles

★Side: Hiroshi Kirara

“Grandpa, Grandma! I’m home—”

After saying goodbye to Kaoru-chan and Kaito-kun, I finished my part-time job and came home.

“Welcome back, Kirara. We’re sorry as always…”

“Welcome home. We’re truly sorry…”

When I got home and greeted Grandma and Grandpa, they said that to me.

“No, it’s fine! I actually enjoy my part-time job!”

“If only we had more money…”

“Yeah…”

They both looked downcast.
But from my perspective, they really work so hard for me, and I’m always worried they might overwork themselves and get sick.
I lost my parents when I was little, so aside from them, I don’t have any other family.
They’ve always adored me ever since I was little, and they’ve always supported me after I lost my parents.
I probably wouldn’t have survived without Grandma and Grandpa.

That’s why I love Grandma and Grandpa more than anyone in the world.
I can say with certainty that this will never change, not now or ever.
I want them to live long, and I want to stay with them forever.

“It’s okay, Grandma, Grandpa! I’m full of energy! More importantly, let’s eat dinner quickly!”

“Alright.”

“Sure thing.”

So I had a nice meal with Grandma and Grandpa, took a bath, and then went back to my room.

“Ahh, I’m so tired today too—”

I have shifts almost every day, and on weekends, it’s not uncommon for me to work both morning and afternoon shifts.
Tomorrow I have two shifts as well, morning and afternoon, so it’s pretty tough, to say the least.

But when I think about Grandma and Grandpa, I somehow get motivated.

“Well, still, fatigue does build up…”

As soon as I get home, I get sleepy, and sometimes I even nod off at school.
I want to study hard to get permission for my job, but I don’t have the time, so I can’t.
Besides, I’m not that smart to begin with…

That’s why I make absolutely sure that no one finds out I’m working.
Since I don’t have the school’s permission, it would be a big problem if it got out.

“Speaking of school…”

A classmate friend of mine had asked if they could come over to my house.
At the time, I laughed it off and deflected by suggesting karaoke instead, which worked for now, but I’m still uneasy… I’m worried it’ll come out eventually.

I never showed my house to any friends back in middle school either… because I didn’t want them to know my family was poor.
Being poor is embarrassing… I don’t actually think that at all, but I feel like other people’s eyes are different.
Because for some reason, ever since I was little, people have always told me I look like I live a good life, or that they’re envious of me.

At some point, more and more people started saying they admired me.
When people said things like that, there was no way I could admit I was poor… I was afraid they’d be disillusioned with me if I told them.
I was scared that even my current friends would distance themselves from me… I don’t want to think that would happen, but I can’t help being afraid.

Of course, since I’m a girl too, I’ve often envied my classmates who can freely hang out and buy all sorts of things.
Hanging out with friends, dressing up, shopping together… I’ve dreamed of that kind of relationship so many times.

“Well, it doesn’t help to complain about it… Besides, I have work again tomorrow, so I should get to bed early.”

Come to think of it, I do have something to look forward to at school lately.
Of course, hanging out with my usual friends is fun too, but I actually really enjoy talking with Makoto and Kaoru-chan, who I’ve gotten close to recently.

Kaoru-chan is just so cute.
Even as a girl, I just want to dote on her.
And she’s incredibly kind and a good person.
We haven’t known each other long, but I enjoy being with Kaoru-chan and I think I like her… The reason we got involved was because of Makoto, but actually, even from the entrance ceremony, I thought she was cute and had my eye on her… I hoped we could become friends.

As for Makoto, honestly, at first I only talked to him because he sat next to me, but once I did, he turned out to be kind of interesting.
Even though he has such a cute childhood friend like Kaoru-chan, he gets flustered when I talk to him, and his reactions are so funny that I sometimes end up teasing him.
Of course, as a friend, I actually like Makoto quite a bit too.

I’m not thinking about romantic feelings or anything right now.
I don’t really have the leeway for love anyway, so I haven’t even had my first love yet.
I’ve been confessed to more times than I can count.
Even though it’s only been a short while since I started high school, I’ve already had a few people confess to me… I turned them all down, of course.
I’m too busy with work to have a boyfriend, and I’m scared of what would happen if they found out I’m poor… Besides, even if I did have a boyfriend, I probably wouldn’t have much time to spend with him, so I’d feel bad.

Actually, I was really surprised that Makoto doesn’t like Kaoru-chan.
I mean, she’s that cute and such a good person, and they’ve been childhood friends and together since forever—I just thought, “How could he not fall for her?”
If I were in Makoto’s shoes, I’m sure I’d fall for her.
Though, I don’t really know what a childhood friend relationship is like, so I can’t say for sure.

Well, I don’t really understand love all that well anyway.

“Actually, speaking of surprises, Kaito-kun is one too.”

He went to a different middle school, but even at my school, there were some rumors about him.
Honestly, when I ended up in the same class as Kaito-kun in high school, I was pretty scared.
I think all my classmates probably felt the same way.

Some of the girls even said things like, “If you get involved with him, your life is over.”
And they also said, “No matter how good he looks, his insides are a mess.”
Well, I did think that was a bit of an exaggeration, though.

“Still, Kaoru-chan had such an amazing smile.”

When I spotted the two of them, Kaoru-chan was talking happily with Kaito-kun with such a wonderful smile.
If Kaoru-chan can smile like that, then Kaito-kun can’t really be a bad person.

“Besides, she’s even asking him to pick her up from cram school, so I guess it’s only natural.”

Come to think of it, Kaito-kun himself said that some of the rumors were true… I wonder what happened in his past?
I don’t really know, but it must have been tough in various ways.

“Wait, I’m the same…”

I don’t have the leeway to worry about other people right now either.

“Okay! I have work tomorrow too, so I’ll go to sleep now.”

Thinking that, I lay down in bed and quickly fell asleep.