NABC Chapter 34 I can go on a date with you.
Chapter 34 I can go on a date with you.
She glanced at Kiryu Yaya, but didn't stand up. Instead, she moved aside to make way for him.
Kiryu Yaya recognized her.
Yuki Matsushita.
The landlady, Mrs. Matsushita's, granddaughter.
To be precise, it's the landlord's daughter's child.
I heard that she was originally studying in Tokyo, but because she got into some trouble at school, her mother sent her to Osaka last year. She temporarily stayed at her grandmother's house and transferred to a high school here to finish her senior year.
However, she failed to get into her ideal university in the college entrance exam this spring.
We are currently in the review and preparation stage.
In Japan, students at this stage are called "ronin".
The so-called "ronin period" refers to the blank year after graduating from high school without passing the college entrance examination and while preparing for the next round of entrance examinations.
Those young people who fail the exam are like ronin in ancient times who have lost their masters. They have no home and can only drift between cram schools and exam papers, waiting for the next opportunity.
Kiryu Yaya only met Matsushita Yuki once, on the day he moved in.
At that time, she was carrying a bag that looked expensive. She came out of the apartment building without even glancing at him and walked straight away.
After that, whenever we occasionally bumped into each other in the hallway or stairwell, she always seemed indifferent.
Kiryu Yaya was originally planning to walk straight over.
But in that instant as he passed in front of her, he suddenly remembered—
The "banker's eye" is not yet in use today.
Out of professional habit, he looked at Yuki Matsushita and brought up the system interface.
A semi-transparent panel unfolded before my eyes, and lines of text appeared.
Yuki Matsushita
Age: 18
Education: Graduated from Osaka Prefectural Kitano High School
[Work: None (Vagabond period)]
【debt:】
"1. Takefuji: 1,200,000 yen"
「2.アコム：980,000 yen」
「3.プロミス：550,000 yen」
"4.Aya Furu: 270,000 yen"
Total debt: 3,000,000 yen
Kiryu Yaya paused for a moment.
Three million yen.
Eighteen years old.
High school graduate.
Three million yen in debt.
His gaze shifted from the system panel back to Yuki Matsushita.
She sat on the steps in her school uniform, a cram school textbook spread out on her lap with the word "代ゼミ" printed on the cover.
There was a bag at my feet.
Louis Vuitton's Monogram canvas bag.
It's a classic style, and it looks like it's from a couple of years ago.
In Japan in 1991, this bag cost around 70,000 to 80,000 yen, which was equivalent to about a quarter of the monthly salary of an average office worker.
Kiryu Yaya glanced at the watch on her wrist again.
The pink Swatch plastic watch isn't particularly expensive, but it's not something a casual person working at a convenience store should buy on a whim.
In addition, there were small pearl earrings on her ears and white sneakers that were clearly well-maintained.
At first glance, it easily brings four words to mind—
Overspending.
In 1991, Japan's bubble economy had just burst, but the lingering effects of consumerism had not yet dissipated.
In the past few years, the slogan "Consumption is a virtue" has resounded throughout the streets and alleys, credit card companies have been issuing cards everywhere, and consumer finance has appeared on every TV channel.
It has become perfectly normal for young people to borrow money to spend.
Consumer finance, also known as "salad money," has shockingly high interest rates.
The statutory upper limit is close to an annual interest rate of 29.2%.
Many companies even use various pretexts to push the actual burden upwards.
Borrow 100,000, repay 150,000.
Borrow one million, and it balloons to two million.
This kind of thing happens all the time.
If a debt of three million yen were to roll over at the highest interest rate, the annual interest alone would amount to nearly nine hundred thousand yen.
An 18-year-old prodigal son, with no stable income and no ability to repay his debts, how will he pay them back?
She probably never seriously considered this question.
Kiryu Yaya stood in the alley, looking at Matsushita Yuki, without rushing to leave.
Yuki Matsushita noticed his gaze, looked up, and frowned slightly.
That kind of impatience unique to high school girls spread from the corners of their eyebrows to the corners of their mouths.
"What are you looking at?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but her tone was sharp.
Kiryu Yaya wasn't angry; in fact, his lips twitched slightly.
"It's so late, aren't you going home yet?"
"What's it to you?"
Yuki Matsushita turned her gaze back to the textbook on her lap and casually flipped to a page.
But she clearly didn't absorb a single word.
Kiryu Yaya shook his head and was about to go upstairs.
Her voice suddenly came from behind me.
"Feed".
He stopped and turned to the side.
Yuki Matsushita had already closed the textbook.
She rested her hands on her knees and looked up at him.
"You work in lending at the bank, right?"
"right."
"That……"
Her lips moved slightly.
"Could you help me get a loan?"
Kiryu Yaya looked at her for two seconds.
"How old are you?"
"eighteen."
"What kind of work do you do?"
Yuki Matsushita's expression froze for a moment.
"...I don't have a job."
Her voice lowered, but quickly rose again.
"But it's not that I won't pay it back. I can pay it back slowly, every month—"
"Without income, there is no ability to repay loans."
Kiryu Yaya interrupted her directly.
"If you don't have the ability to repay, a legitimate bank won't approve a loan for you. This isn't targeting you specifically; it's just the bank's policy."
"But……"
"And aren't you in your ronin phase right now?"
Yuki Matsushita shut her mouth.
Kiryu Yaya glanced at the tutoring materials on her lap.
"You've graduated high school and you're still attending cram schools to prepare for exams?"
Yuki Matsushita bit her lip, but did not deny it.
"Didn't you pass the exam last year?"
"...I didn't get accepted by the school I applied to."
Which one?
"...Kwansei Gakuin University."
Kiryu Yaya nodded and did not ask any further questions.
Kwansei Gakuin University.
A famous private university in Western Japan.
The deviation value is not low.
It's not surprising that a wanderer "exiled" from Tokyo to Osaka would want to get into that school.
What's really strange is—
An eighteen-year-old drifter, with no income, 3 million yen in debt, and still struggling in Yoyogi.
The tuition at Yoyogi cram school is not cheap.
A full year of courses would cost at least 500,000 to 600,000 yen.
This money probably also came partly from consumer finance and credit cards.
Kiryu Yaya went through all of this in his mind, but didn't say it aloud.
Yuki Matsushita was silent for a few seconds, as if she was reorganizing her thoughts.
Then, she suddenly changed her tone.
It was no longer the kind of probing as before.
Instead, it's more direct and straightforward, as if it's about something very ordinary.
"Then lend me 100,000?"
Kiryu Yaya looked at her.
"One hundred thousand yen."
Yuki Matsushita repeated it.
"Not much, is it? For you."
"What will it be used for?"
"Pay off this month's installments."
She spoke frankly and without any pretense.
"It's from the consumer finance department. If we don't pay it back soon, they're going to call our home. What if Grandma finds out…"
She didn't continue.
But the meaning is already quite clear.
Kiryu Yaya did not answer immediately.
He put his hands in his pockets, leaned against the cement wall of the alley, and looked at her.
Why should I lend it to you?
Yuki Matsushita had clearly thought this through long ago.
She tilted her head slightly, tucking the stray hairs that fell across her cheek behind her ear, revealing her small pearl earrings.
"I can go on a date with you."
she says.
"Am I pretty?"