The next evening, a handsome young man dressed in a simple black shirt and black jeans stood alone at the entrance of the “Rose Kiss” restaurant.
“Hello, sir. Do you have a reservation, or are you here to meet someone?”
The receptionist asked with a polite bow.
“My name is Hoshino Gen, and I am here for an appointment.”
The attendant said in surprise, “Oh, so you are Mr. Hoshino Gen! Miss Kurosawa Shizuka has been waiting for you in the private room for quite some time. Please, follow me.”
After showing Hoshino Gen to the room, the attendant cast several envious glances back toward the door before leaving.
In a restaurant specialized for couples, it was almost always the man who booked the table, while the woman came to meet him.
It was rare to see a man invited out by a woman like this.
Working there, they were used to seeing handsome men and beautiful women every day, yet they still found Mr. Hoshino Gen to be exceptionally easy on the eyes.
He could easily pass for a top-tier host at a club.
‘It really is aggravating how some people are just born naturally handsome,’ they thought.
‘Forget it, don’t think about it anymore. If I keep dwelling on this, I won’t have the energy to even carry my trays…’
*
Hoshino Gen stepped into the private room.
The candlelight flickered, illuminating a long red table covered in an array of exquisite dishes.
A curvaceous beauty was sitting at the far end.
The atmosphere in the room was masterfully crafted, with all the overhead lights turned off.
Through the soft glow of the many candles, the woman’s face was slightly obscured, so Hoshino Gen asked proactively, “Are you Miss Kurosawa Shizuka, the teacher from Senba Middle School?”
“I am.”
Clack, clack, clack.
Her heels tapped crisply against the floor.
Kurosawa Shizuka swayed her hips like a water snake, holding a glass of red wine as she walked over from the other side of the table.
“Come, let’s have a drink to celebrate our first meeting,” Kurosawa Shizuka said, raising her glass and gesturing for Hoshino Gen to pick up the other one on the table to toast with her.
Hoshino Gen firmly refused.
“Thank you for your kind offer, Teacher, but I never drink alcohol. I apologize.”
“Let’s get straight to the point, shall we? What exactly is wrong with my sister?”
Watching Hoshino Gen’s awkward, nervous demeanor—the look of a total virgin completely out of his element—Kurosawa Shizuka couldn’t help but cover her mouth and giggle.
“You don’t have to be so tense. I chose this place because they were having a promotion and I was lucky enough to win a free voucher. But the voucher for a couple’s restaurant requires two people to use it, and I happened to have some matters to discuss with you, so I made the reservation here.”
After she said this, the tension visibly drained from Hoshino Gen’s face.
Kurosawa Shizuka leaned in, her soft red lips brushing against Hoshino Gen’s ear as she whispered, “The food here is quite expensive; one dish costs more than a month of my teacher’s salary. Order anything you like; consider it my treat.”
“No, no, Teacher,” Hoshino Gen said, waving his hands repeatedly and taking a significant step back.
“I would really just like to know what is going on with my sister.”
Kurosawa Shizuka shot him a resentful look and sighed to herself.
From the moment he walked in, all he had talked about was his sister, his sister, his sister.
He really was a sister-complex through and through.
She pulled out a chair and sat down, her leg instinctively moving to rest on the table before she realized it wasn’t very ladylike and quickly pulled it back down.
“Hoshino Hikari’s performance at school recently is far worse than it used to be. She never used to get distracted in class, but now she often drifts off and stares into space. As her teacher, it is very easy to notice—even if she is physically present in the classroom, her heart and mind are long gone.”
“Have her grades dropped?”
Hoshino Gen asked.
“Not yet, but if she continues like this, a decline in her grades is inevitable. As her family, you must take this seriously.”
When discussing business, Kurosawa Shizuka’s expression was quite serious.
“You are her brother. I want to ask, has she been acting abnormally at home? Perhaps we can find the cause through you.”
Hoshino Gen tried hard to recall, but after a long silence, he slowly shook his head.
“No, Hikari’s behavior is exactly the same as always. There hasn’t been any change.”
“My sister and I are very close. Usually, if she has any troubles, she tells me immediately, and I help her solve them right away.”
“That is strange.”
Kurosawa Shizuka also put on a puzzled expression.
After a moment of silence, Kurosawa Shizuka looked up, staring straight into Hoshino Gen’s eyes with her alluring gaze.
“I have a theory. Would you like to hear it?”
Hoshino Gen nodded.
Kurosawa Shizuka said, “I think it is very likely that Hikari is in a relationship.”
“What?!”
Hoshino Gen nearly jumped out of his seat.
“Impossible! That is absolutely impossible! Hikari couldn’t possibly be dating.”
“Don’t get so excited. At her age, it is the perfect time for a girl to experience her first feelings of love. It is completely normal for her to like someone.”
“Think about it carefully. What kind of thing would make a young girl be distracted all day and refuse to communicate with her family? After thinking it over, it can only be this, right?”
“The reason she hasn’t told you, her brother, is simple: she’s shy, and she’s afraid you won’t be able to accept it.”
Kurosawa Shizuka spoke persuasively, and the look on Hoshino Gen’s face became increasingly pained, as if he found the very possibility impossible to swallow.
“If that is truly the case, Hoshino-kun, what are you going to do as her brother?”
“Do you have any dating experience? Do you know how to advise or guide Hikari?”
“Force will certainly not work. Adolescent girls are very stubborn about their love lives, and trying to tear them apart will only have the opposite effect.”
Hoshino Gen thought about it carefully, seeming to find logic in her words, and looked at her for help.
“I truly have no dating experience, and I have no idea what a girl in the midst of a passionate romance thinks. Teacher Kurosawa, please, help me.”
“Oh, really? A handsome boy like you surely has plenty of girls chasing him. How could you have no experience?”
A clear trace of sadness flickered in Hoshino Gen’s eyes.
He replied slowly, “I once had a girl I liked very much; she was my first love. But in the end, she abandoned me for someone else.”
“Ever since then, I have felt that only the bonds between family are truly solid and unbreakable. I haven’t interacted with any other girls since.”
“How pitiful.”
Kurosawa Shizuka used her sympathetic expression to mask the joy in her heart.
She comforted him, “You must try to look at the bright side, Hoshino-kun. You only lost someone who didn’t love you, while she lost someone who loved her. The one who truly suffered, and the one who should be sad, is actually that girl.”
When she said this, the way Hoshino Gen looked at her changed.
It held surprise, curiosity, and gratitude for her comfort and understanding.
“Teacher Kurosawa, as someone with ‘experience,’ what do you think I should do?”
Kurosawa Shizuka blinked and gave a bitter smile.
“Hoshino-kun, I’m not really an experienced person. In fact, I have never dated before—I haven’t even liked anyone.”
“Huh?”
Now it was Hoshino Gen’s turn to be surprised.
“Teacher, you are so beautiful. Isn’t it abnormal for you to have never dated?”
From the moment they met until now, Kurosawa Shizuka had controlled the pace of their interaction.
Every look and movement had been rehearsed to leave the best first impression on Hoshino Gen.
Only now, bringing up this topic, did she finally reveal her true feelings.
“When I was younger, I was always busy doing certain things. I was so dedicated and obsessed with them that I didn’t have time to date. By the time I looked back, I realized that the things I was so passionate about didn’t have much meaning, and I felt even less like dating.”
“So, I’ve just remained single until now. I’m just an old auntie that no one wants.”
“Old auntie” was a form of self-deprecation.
Kurosawa Shizuka was actually only 22 years old.
After retiring, she had attended university in a different region and was now in her first year of teaching after graduation.
But at 22, in a country with marriage laws allowing women to wed at 16, she was indeed considered a “left-over” woman.
Influenced by the author’s worldview, the education system in this world was relaxed during primary education but intensely competitive during higher education.
Most girls chose to get married after graduating from high school—or even before—rather than continuing their studies.
There was a classic question: Why are most Japanese romantic comedies set in middle or high school?
The heart-wrenching answer: Because the main cast is too busy dating to actually get into college.
As an aside, in a sense, Kurosawa Shizuka was the Magical Girl with the highest level of academic achievement that Hoshino Gen had ever met.
“Teacher, I think you are being too pessimistic. You are so beautiful and kind; surely, many people will like you!”
Hoshino Gen tried to encourage her.
In Kurosawa Shizuka’s eyes, Hoshino Gen’s clumsy attempt at comfort was both awkward and just a little bit cute.
“We were supposed to be talking about Hikari, weren’t we? How did we end up talking about me?”
Kurosawa Shizuka composed herself and continued, “Well, now that we’ve established that neither of us has any dating experience, how should we go about guiding and advising Hikari?”
“This…”
Hoshino Gen found himself stumped and started scratching his head.
Suddenly, Kurosawa Shizuka seemed to come up with something, a cunning smile playing on her lips.
“How about this, Hoshino-kun? Why don’t you try having a relationship with me? Then we’ll both have experience. What do you think?”
Hoshino Gen: “Huh?”