Kenkyo, Kenjitsu o Motto ni Ikite Orimasu - Chapter 216

By the way, did you know that the name of the school that Reika attends is actually read as Zuiran?

Due to historical reasons I ended up imitating this one facet of the first translator’s translation. Originally I was translating a few teasers like 70 chapters down from where he was translating, and for that reason took ‘Suiran’ as the translation.

This was despite ignoring all his other unique takes on translating names, which bothered me a lot more. (Enzo, Kishouin etc.)

When I began re-translating the series as a whole, I stuck to Suiran, figuring that it was already a point of familiarity, and by the time I reconsidered, I was already like 40~50 chapters in.

Recently, however, I went back and made edits to a large amount of Tilea’s Worries chapters, so it’s probably not as big a deal as I’m thinking.

If you’d like me to use the proper translation of the name (and replace it in all previous chapters), say so down in the comments. If you’d prefer Suiran just out of familiarity, please also let me know in the comments below. It doesn’t bother me either way, personally.

The Kaburagi Masaya from ‘You Are My Dolce’ was absolutely not this ridiculous emperor…

Handsome and sharp, they called him the Emperor of Suiran, and despite having a cold and unapproachable exterior, when it came to romance he was pa.s.sionate and overbearing, earnest in the pursuit of the girl that he liked, even if he was a little clumsy at times.

Sometimes he didn’t use enough words to clarify, which turned into misunderstandings, but those few moments of incompetence stirred up the maternal instincts in the readers.

Particularly heart-pounding was that scene by the ocean, alight with sea sparkles, where he held out his hand and said,

“I’m sorry.”

Waah~!

Anyway, he was basically all the attributes that young maidens found charming, rolled up into a single character.

And yet…

The Kaburagi Masaya I knew in reality was, yes, still handsome and sharp, and still called the Emperor of Suiran. And yes, I was not arguing that he had a cold an unapproachable exterior.

But the inside.

His mind was on the level of a primary schooler, unable to read the mood, and with a disposition towards stalking. The type of loser who would hand-make an accessory and then engrave their initials into it despite not even dating the girl or even securing her love.

This was just cruel.

Give me back the excitement from my previous life.

And the nickname ‘Emperor’ was supposed to be because he had the bearing and charisma of a ruler.

It wasn’t supposed to be because he was the Napoleon of children’s cavalry battle!

Unlike this laughingstock, the Emperor from the manga was dignified.

The difference was just too much…

Although I could admit that he did a good job of hiding it.

I had even begun to suspect that most people thought of him as the same sort of person as his manga counterpart.

Even Wakabchan said that he was mature.

Of course, his true self was that, though…

Life sure was convenient for hot guys!

Well, not that I really cared.

He could fail at romance as much as he wanted so long as he did it out of my sight.

The problem was that now that I did know, it was only a matter of time before he made me bawl out of pity.

Why did I have to ask her about that necklace…?

It would have been better not to know.

Anyhow, ignorant of my inner thoughts, Kaburagi continued brainstorming his next plan for a present.

“I don’t know what women want,” he said helpfully. “What do you think they want?”

I was sitting in my usual spot in the salon when he had come over for another consultation.

Since by all appearances he was discussing something serious with me, everyone around us had given us s.p.a.ce out of consideration. As long as there was no shouting, we wouldn’t be overheard.

“Your best bet are consumables or perishables,” I told him without hesitation.

Things like flowers or food were good because the receiving end didn’t have to think too hard about it.

Actually, food was really good.

You just ate it, and it was gone.

“Perishables!? No way. I want to leave behind some proof of my feelings. Something that she can always keep near, so that she can always keep my heart near.”

The man with the heart of a stalker, ladies and gentlemen.

Every one of his ideas gravitated towards heavy c.r.a.p like that.

But I couldn’t just leave him be either.

If I did, I could almost guarantee that he’d come up with another insane present.

I had to course-correct before it was too late.

“I believe it would be best if you refrained from presents that are too expensive,” I said.

“Why,” he demanded.

“Because in consideration of her personality, she is more liable to feel guilt or discomfort from receiving a present bought with a mountain of your parents’ money. Being the case, would she not be much happier to receive a cheaper present bought with money you earned yourself?” I asked.

I was pretty much certain about that.

All I needed to do was think back to how she reacted when I handed over my expensive uniform, paid with my parents’ money, and without an inkling of how much they cost.

Wakabchan loved her parents, and on top of that she already knew how hard it was to make money.

“So you’re telling me to get a job, and buy a present with that?”

“Well, I suppose that is what this comes down to.”

Wasn’t it moving to receive a present that somebody worked hard to get you?

Still a bit heavy though…

Especially considering they weren’t even dating…

“I do have some money that I earnt myself, you know.”

“Eh!? Truly!? How?”

That came as a shock.

Suiran forbade its students from working part-time after all.

“Mostly investing.”

“Investing… Stock trading, in other words. Hmmm~ Making money through stocks…? Would that count as money you earned yourself, then…? Stocks… Wh!? Stocks!?”

I did a double-take.

“Kaburagi-sama! Are you planning on buying all of our company’s stocks and initiating a hostile takeover!? This is not what we agreed on!” I accused.

“Haah!? Why the h.e.l.l would I do that!?” he yelled.

The noise caused everyone to glance our way for a moment but I was in no state to care.

Stocks!

Take-over!

Destruction of my family!

I retrieved the oath from my bag.

“Do you dare claim that you do not remember this!?” I demanded.

“Uwah…! Did you seriously go get that laminated!? You’re really creeping me out here…”

Did he really think that I wouldn’t?

With it laminated I’d never have to worry that Kaburagi’s oath would get dirty.

It would never be damaged by rain nor wear now.

But the oath by itself wasn’t enough to rea.s.sure me anymore.

Not now that Kaburagi was trading stocks.

“Kaburagi-sama. If you desire my help then I will require another written oath from you. With a proper blood seal this time!”

I had been right. A thumb print would never be enough.

I needed to carve the promise into his body.

“Again with the blood seals!? What the f.u.c.k is your family up to!?”

“Keep your voice down. What will you do if somebody hears you?”

“Is it fraud!? Don’t tell me you’re connected to the underworld!? Leave me out of this already…”

What the heck?

The company run by the Kisshouin didn’t have a single tie to anything shady.

We were 100% above the board.

“Look, I’m trading in stocks but I’m not making enough to take over any companies, okay…?”

“Truly?”

“Truly. With how little time I get to spend on it between studying, I barely make anything. Just how much money do you think you’d need to buy up the majority share in your family’s company?”

“So you already know exactly how much money is needed to forcefully take over our company then!” I accused, bearing down on him.

“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t and couldn’t!” he defended as he drew his body back.

He had better not be lying.

Lives were depending on this.

There was no place for lies here.

I stared at him a while before he averted his gaze.

“Just how f.u.c.ked up is this company…?” he muttered.

How rude!

We’re 100% above the board!

But fine.

If he was willing to go that far, then I’d believe him.

For now.

At any rate, I’d be keeping a close eye on him.

It would also be best to confirm with Oniisama that we weren’t in a position to suffer a hostile takeover.

“I understand. I shall believe you. Well then, shall we return to our previous topic?”

“Yeah.”

Kaburagi sighed in relief.

I’m trusting in you, Kaburagi.

“Well then, in regards to the present, you can increase the chances of her accepting your gift by making them easy to accept. Foods, consumables, perishables. Besides, girls love to be given beautiful flowers, or charming little desserts. Leaving that aside, would it not feel like bribing her into dating you if you brought her expensive gifts every time?”

“That is true…” he nodded.

“You should save the expensive gifts for when it counts.”

“Like Christmas. I wonder what happened to the handmade necklace I gave her…”

Wah! Please stop!

Don’t make me remember that!

Your M&W necklace has been given to Wakabchan’s little sister.

“…Well, forget about that for now. Ah, that reminds me. I think that that teddybear was a good idea. And the maple syrup from Canada too!”

Wakabchan had been pretty pleased with that maple syrup.

I thought it was pretty delicious too~

Could we find it in j.a.pan?

“I see. Hm? How come you know that I gave her maple syrup?” he asked.

Eh!?

Had he never told me!?

Oh no!

“Oh? Did I not hear about it from you? Strange, I recall you telling me…”

I couldn’t let him see my eyes.

They were the window to the soul, after all.

Instead, I pretended to examine the contents of my tea cup.

What, didn’t you know? I’m well versed in tea leaf reading.

This kind of behaviour is totally natural for me.

“I really don’t remember though…” he muttered.

His memory seemed to be stupidly good.

Don’t tell me he remembered everything he ever told anyone?

As Kaburagi seemed to be going through our conversations in his head, I hurriedly interrupted him instead.

“That maple syrup was delicious, no? How was it? Her reaction?”

“…Yeah. She told me it was great when she thanked me,” he said a bit happily. Maybe he was recalling the memory.

“See? That was a splendid brand that you chose!” I praised, hopefully b.u.t.tering him up.

“It was pretty good. To be honest I wanted to get her something better than just maple syrup, but Shuusuke stopped me. He said that since I had already given that kind of Christmas present, a small souvenir would be just right.”

“My!”

Nice save, Enjou!

“Enjou-sama has been giving you advice as well, then?”

“Sometimes.”

I see.

“In that case would it not be better to seek advice from him rather than me?”

Come to think of it, wasn’t that guy part of the Fulfilling Romance Village?

Kaburagi, that guy definitely has a lot of real experience, so you should go get your advice from him.

“Shuusuke told me that for romance it was better to get a girl’s perspective.”

“What did you say!?”

Enjoooouuuuu!

So all of my suffering right now was because of you!

That b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

He came up to me commenting about how he’d ‘heard’ that I was Kaburagi’s strategist when he was the mastermind all along!

Baastard schemer!

Where was he right now!?

Don’t tell me he went home!

Kiiih!

“So I was wondering who I could even ask,” continued Kaburagi, “When Iwamuro and Cla.s.s Rep told me to ask you.”

Aah, Iwamuro-kun, Cla.s.s Rep…

No, it wasn’t their fault.

The one at fault was Enjou.

“If you wanted a female perspective, why not simply ask Yurie-sama or Airsama?”

“Those two are busy thinking about what they want to do in life, you know…”

This is my last year in high school too, you know?

Hmm?

He was looking oddly grumpy.

Could it be that he was sulking because Yurie-sama hadn’t paid more attention to him?

Wakabchan, just what part of this guy is ‘normally mature’?

“…Honestly. Those two told me about how your hair was a G.o.d of love, but I haven’t seen a difference at all.”

“That is because you lack faith.”

Pray, ye faithless.

I raised my right hand into the Abhaya Mudra for bestowing courage, while my left pointed downwards to form the Varada Mudra of fortune bestowal.

“Allow me to gift you with some advice from the divines. Push not your own preferences, and match the likes of the girl instead. If you do so, your path will surely become clearer.”

“So dodgy…”

Dodgy!?

If that’s the att.i.tude you’re going to take, then forget about any fortune!

Hmph, Kaburagi wasn’t getting a drop of my romantic luck!

“Then in light of your deficits in both comprehension and imagination, allow me to give you something concrete instead. The thing that would make Takamichi-san the happiest is probably a reference book for her studies.”

“Haah!?”

As if preparing for uni entrance exams wasn’t enough, Wakabchan was also a scholarship student.

Those reference books were indispensable for her.

Plus, reference books and exercise books were both pretty expensive.

“What a cynical and unromantic present… I really did choose the wrong person.”

Shoulders slumped, Kaburagi walked away.

Kaburagi’s only redeeming factor was his obedience in learning though, so despite his parting words he still did as I said.

He came and told me that Wakabchan was overjoyed and thanked him.

And thanks to that, they even ended up agreeing on another visit to the library together.

“You’re pretty good, Kisshouin.”

Apparently I had gained his trust.

I didn’t want it!!!

Sorry for the wait.

Also unrelated, but I really like this chick’s voice!

Also by mecha, do you think she’s saying that she won’t draw robots having s.e.x, or won’t draw robots at all?