The Salty Princess Told Me That I Was a ‘Convenient Keep’, so I Tested What Would Happen if I Introduced the Most Beautiful Girl at Another School as My Girlfriend
Sakaki Saori and Koga Kotone could not move.
Ochiha’s father, whom they had heard was overseas, had suddenly returned home. Moreover, Ochiha was now sleeping with a cold, and they could not go to wake him up. Facing Ochiha’s father under such circumstances, neither of them know what to say and are at a loss for words.
“……….”
He is tall, probably well over 180 cm. His body is so well-trained that it is hard to believe that it has been more than a decade since he retired from active duty. He has a piercingly cold gaze that bears no resemblance to Ochiha’s.
Ochiha’s father, Sakashima Kouyou, took a quick glance at the two girls who had come into the house, and then said in a cold, emotionless voice
“Are you friends of Ochiha’s?”
Receiving a somewhat reproachful look, Kotone was the first to open her mouth.
“Yes. Umm…… Ochiha-kun seems to have caught a fever from a cold, and we had to come and visit him. I’m …… sorry, I’m late to greet you. I’m…”
“No, I’m not going to get into your friendships, so there’s no need to introduce yourself.”
“………..”
Kotone was left speechless by the blunt denial. …Kotone and him had met several times in the past, but him probably didn’t remember Kotone at all. He didn’t seem to notice.
“But I thought he was a strong guy, I didn’t expect him to catch a cold. I thought I taught him to take care of his diet, sleep, and exercise even after he stopped playing soccer, but it seems he forgot.”
“No, that’s not true. Ochiha is …… doing his best. He said he’s cooking by himself.”
“Is that so? …Well, I have no intention of blaming him, let alone you guys. He is a man who is intelligent enough to think and act. Besides, no matter how careful you are, illness and injury cannot be completely prevented. After all, I myself retired from soccer due to injury.”
He snickered as if he didn’t care, and continued on with his words.
“Anyway, you guys should go home now. I’d feel bad for your parents if you caught a cold.”
“That’s umm…”
Kotone tries to say something, but he doesn’t seem to notice her voice. he turns her back on them and goes into the house. …he has very few belongings, considering he just came back from overseas. he must have just stopped by for some business and will be leaving again soon. That’s what the atmosphere conveys.
“Wait a minute! …..I have something I want to ask you.”
Then Saori, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. With eyes as cold as Kouyou, she stared at his back. Hearing what Saori had said, he stopped in his tracks and turned around.
“I don’t mind talking to you, but I’m a busy man. I’d like to ask you to make it as quick as possible. ……”
“I won’t take up too much of your time. What I want to ask you is very simple. What do you think of …… Sakashima-kun?”
“That’s a very abrupt question. he is my son. nothing more, nothing less.”
“Then, you don’t seem to be worried when you heard that he caught a cold. ……”
“He can handle a cold on his own. That is why I have left him alone in this house. I don’t know what your relationship is with him, but he is not a weak man”
His words could be interpreted as either indifference or trust. His words and attitude were unwavering, and Saori instinctively looked away.
“….But, Sakashima-kun, he seemed to be having a hard time.”
“That’s true. Catching a cold is hard for anyone. But he never said anything like “I need help” or “I’m lonely” or anything like that, did he?”
“That’s ……”
“If you get the necessary nutrition and enough sleep, your cold will go away. If that doesn’t work, then go to the hospital. He’s a man who can see things from a broader perspective without being consumed by his feelings of distress. If anything, worrying about him to that extent is an insult to him. Or do you want me to worry about him? What’s the point of that?”
Saori could not say anything at those words. The father figure she had heard from Ochiha was a little different. I thought he would be more emotional and not at all concerned about other people’s feelings, but Kouyou’s words are cold but intelligent. Did his values change after going abroad, just as Ochiha’s changed over the past year? Or is he always like that?
The two have no idea.
“Well, I’m glad he’s made a friend. …Though, when I think about his future career, I honestly don’t want you to interfere.”
“His future career ……?”
“What? he didn’t tell you? I’m talking to him, you know.
I’m trying to get him to come to Spain with me.”
“────”
Saori and Kotone’s eyes widened at the same time. But he doesn’t care, and continues to speak.
“Well, I came back to this house because I was doing other work. If he’s sick and sleeping, we probably won’t have time to talk. I have to leave for Tokyo soon.”
Kouyou stares upstairs at Ochiha’s room and smiles a small smile. Both Saori and Kotone, however, are too upset to open their mouths. Neither of them remembered hearing anything about Ochiha going to Spain at all. Have Ochiha already decided what he is going to do? Or was it because he hadn’t decided that he couldn’t say anything?
While the two of them were going round and round and racking their brains about the same thing, the sound of an incoming phone call unexpectedly rang out from Kouyou’s pocket.
“…… dang it, it’s that guy again. I’m sorry, but I have to go. If you guys are his friends, could you tell him I’ll be back in a week? so he should think about what he wants to do.”
“Wait, wait! Is it true that Ochiha-kun is going abroad?”
“The decision is his, not mine. If you are concerned about it, ask Ochiha himself, not me.”
With that, Momiji puts his belongings on a nearby table and leaves the house. he must have just come back to see Ochiha’s face. he leaves within 10 minutes.
“………..”
“………..”
And the two who were left stood there for a while. They were both so blank that they couldn’t think of anything. …… but they couldn’t just sit here in a daze forever. They made sure that the current commotion didn’t wake Ochiha up, and then they quietly left the house.
“…. you, did you hear that Sakashima-kun is going abroad?”
After walking in silence for a while, Saori asks Kotone, who is walking next to her.
“No, I …… didn’t hear anything about that.”
Kotone replies in a small voice.
Both Kotone and Saori had a lot of questions they wanted to ask Ochiha. But right now, they cannot ask that. All of this would have to be done after Ochiha got well. Otherwise, they would be putting him through too much again.
The two of them continued to walk quietly and simply with blurred feelings in their hearts.
“I’m going this way.”
Kotone stops as they come to a parting of the ways. Saori also stops and looks at Kotone.
“Whatever decision he make, I intend to respect it…..But I won’t lose.”
“That’s my line, too.”
After saying that, the two of them start walking in different directions. ……In the end, both Saori and Kotone ended up parting without even being able to ask each other’s names. But now, they don’t feel like introducing themselves. So they just keep walking forward, thinking the same thing.
In the end, it was three days later that Ochiha’s fever broke.
Maiban