The Neighborhood High School Girl, Miss Isezaki, Is the Great Saintess Returned from Another World~ And I, Suddenly Awakened as Her Exclusive Mana Supply Uncle, Travel Between Earth and Another World with Time-Space Magic~ - 230. The Price of the Banquet

230. 230. The Price of the Banquet

The day after the secret banquet at the Isezaki residence. 

A message from Aihara arrived on LANE.

“Heeeyyyyy Senpai~~!! Don’t send me pictures like that, seriously! I saw it right after waking up and thought my heart was gonna stop! If you send another one, I’m seriously gonna block you!!”

It came with a stamp of an angry rabbit.

Last night, I had thought she was taking a long time to read the message. But apparently, Aihara had fallen asleep early. 

If she saw *that* right after waking up, then yeah, I guess I do feel a little bad.

“My bad. I wasn’t myself yesterday. Let me make it up to you by treating you to a meal sometime. Please forgive me.”

Right after I sent that message, a reply came back.

“For real!? Then I’ll specially forgive you! Anyway, I’m heading off to work now! Looking forward to dinner~♡”

This time, the stamp showed a rabbit making a heart with its ears. 

Looks like she forgave me.

It’s nice that she’s easygoing. But now the “meal” has been upgraded to “dinner,” and that’s a bit worrying. 

I might need to lay down some boundaries early so she doesn’t drag me to a super fancy place.

“Alright then…”

I put my phone away and headed to the Isezaki residence. 

As usual, I took Colin with me to take care of today’s errands. 

By the way, Isezaki-san had school today and wasn’t home.

First up: deliver the monster meat to Mr. Juuzou—

And so, Colin and I used [Dimensional Teleport] to jump to Mr. Juuzou’s hospital room. 

We handed over the usual monster meat and received the reward: 100,000 yen.

According to Mr. Juuzou, recently, he and Aihara have been enjoying something like “at-home yakiniku”. But instead it’s become “hospital-room yakiniku,” once a week. 

Hospital yakiniku… is that really okay? 

But I guess common sense doesn’t apply to VIPs.

Usually, he would happily take the meat while thinking about grilling it with his granddaughter. But today, Mr. Juuzou seemed oddly off. 

He held the package as far from his body as possible and even avoided looking at it.

“Um… Mr. Juuzou, is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing… N-no, actually, I should double-check. Just to be sure—this is the usual wild boar meat, right?”

“Huh? Of course it is…”

“I-I see. That’s good then. Sorry, Matsunaga-kun. A-ah, also, could you tell my sister-in-law to maybe go easy on the weird stuff…”

Judging by his strained smile, it seems Mr. Juuzou also saw *that* photo via Aihara.

I mean, I’m the one who took the picture. So maybe I shouldn’t say this. But yeah… that image does leave a strong impression. 

Looks like I gave Mr. Juuzou a new trauma he didn’t need.

Feeling super guilty, I left the hospital room and headed to Mr. Shouda’s room next. 

I was hoping we could also talk a bit about potion sales while I was at it.

But on the way there, I heard lively voices coming from the courtyard. 

I looked over and saw Mr. Shouda surrounded by several elderly people.

It seems Mr. Shouda is quite the ladies’ man—he was happily chatting away with a group of VIP-looking older women around his age.

Since he seemed to be in the middle of having fun, I thought about turning back for now— 

But right then, Mr. Shouda met my gaze and waved me over.

No choice, so Colin and I headed into the courtyard.

“Oh my, and who might this young man be?”

The women looked at us with curiosity.

“Yes, this is a friend of mine. And this little one is his niece. Looks like they came to visit today.”

“I’m Koutarou Matsunaga.”

“I’m Colin!”

“Oh my, how wonderful to have such a young friend come visit. I’m jealous. When my kids or grandkids come, it’s always just to talk about money or business.”

“It’s the same for me. They only see me as a wallet.”

“You’re lucky. Lately, all I get are talks about my will. It really brings me down. I’m starting to think I should just talk to my lawyer and donate everything somewhere.”

“If that’s how it is, wouldn’t it be better to find a nice man now and give it all to him?”

“Oh my, you naughty lady!” 

“Oh come on now!” 

“Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!”

Seems that whether they’re VIPs or neighborhood aunties, ladies are the same everywhere. 

Before I knew it, they were deep into gossip and completely forgot about us.

Seeing that, Mr. Shouda gave a wry smile and spoke.

“Well then, everyone, I’ll take my leave around here.”

“Yeees, Mr. Shouda. Let’s chat again sometime!”

And so, we entered Mr. Shouda’s hospital room. As soon as we stepped inside, Mr. Shouda sank into the sofa. He was completely worn out.

“Good grief, I’m really tired.”

“Haha… Mr. Shouda, you’re really popular, huh.”

His eyes are narrow, but his facial features are well-shaped. And he has a sharp look. He must’ve been quite popular in his younger days.

But in response to my words, Mr. Shouda shrugged as he lit a cigarette.

“Good grief, what a cruel irony. I’m doing it for your sake, you know.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“My social circle in this hospital ward isn’t very wide. Embarrassingly enough, my daily routine used to be walking around the courtyard with unsteady steps without talking to anyone, and killing time sitting on a bench. …But for those who remember how I used to be, they must be curious, thinking, ‘That old man’s gotten quite lively,’ right?”

“That’s true.”

The first time I saw Mr. Shouda, he was just sitting on a bench. He was not moving—like you couldn’t tell if he was asleep, awake, or maybe even dead. But now he walks around energetically and even smokes with ease.

“Right now, I’m fishing in those people who speak to me out of curiosity and investigating them bit by bit. Whether they have some bodily issue they’re desperate enough to need a miracle for, whether they can afford the cost for it, whether they can keep a secret—that sort of thing. Maybe I’m being a bit too laid-back? If you really need money right now, we can shorten the process. I could even lend you some if you’d like.”

“Ah, no. I’m satisfied with what I’ve received from you, Mr. Shouda. So please, take your time to search.”

I’ve got enough money. And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t want to borrow any. Owing this person something is kind of scary. Whether he knows that or not, Mr. Shouda nodded with satisfaction.

“Understood. I’ll take my time and find a patient who matches your needs. Look forward to it.”

Looks like he’s actually doing a more thorough search than I expected. Since his first impression was that “birthday surprise”, part of me was trying to test him. But maybe I can trust him after all.

After parting ways with Mr. Shouda, Colin and I next jumped to the other world. Today was the second day of supply transport.

According to Holly’s story from the other day, the supply transport will probably end this time or next. I’d like to finish things off swiftly again today without running into Maristel.

Wishing for that, I used [Dimensional Teleport] together with Colin to move to the other world.