Konji, konji~
Watching Iori pile food onto his plate and stuff it nonstop into his mouth, Kamishiro's eyes twitched.
"Are you cosplaying a starving wild boar or something?"
Kamishiro complained, speechless. Even wild boars didn't eat this messily!
"Hmph! I paid a huge price for this meal! Of course I'm eating more—today I'm definitely eating my money's worth!"
With his mouth full, Iori shot Kamishiro a glare and continued his all-out eating campaign.
At this point, the cost of this meal had already exceeded 4,500 yen!
To maintain his dignity as an older brother and fulfill his adorable sister's wish—
A cornered Iori had no choice but to sign another contract with the devil: a 10,000-yen IOU!
He could already imagine it—Kamishiro, that profiteer, would definitely charge an absurd interest rate. Maybe straight up 5,000 yen!
That meant… this meal cost him a total of 9,500 yen!
Unacceptable!
He had to eat like crazy!
Later, he'd rub the baby boar's head like crazy too!
He had to make it worth it!
Hearing this, Kamishiro said nothing, only silently giving him a thumbs-up.
What ambition! Eating a buffet and not just wanting to break even, but to eat far beyond the cost!
Admirable courage—though whether his stomach was equally brave remained to be seen.
Knowing that binge-eating was unhealthy, Kamishiro chose to enjoy his lunch at a leisurely pace.
For the sake of his fans, he had to take good care of his body!
At this moment, Azusa returned after picking her food. As soon as she sat down, she looked around for Shiori.
"Shiori hasn't come back yet?"
Kamishiro shook his head in confusion.
"I didn't see her. Didn't she go with you to pick food?"
"It was pretty crowded over there, and we got separated… I'll go look for her again."
As Azusa stood up, Shiori came running back with her plate.
"I'm back~"
"Oh, welcome back, Shiori~"
Seeing that Shiori was safe, Azusa let out a sigh of relief and quickly had her sit beside her.
Only then did Azusa notice how pitifully little food was on Shiori's plate—just a few slices of meat and some vegetables.
"Hm? Shiori, have you been dieting lately?"
"Ah, well…"
Facing Azusa's question, Shiori said shyly,
"There was a big family over there while I was picking food… it was kind of hard to grab anything."
Hearing that, everyone understood immediately.
Kohei: "You should've told me! I'll grab as much as you want for you."
Kamishiro: "No need to say so much—Shiori, try some of mine… actually, better try this."
Originally, Kamishiro had planned to take some food from Iori's plate—the one with the most food.
But… Kitahara's eating style was way too savage. Kamishiro couldn't even find anything remotely intact to give Shiori without ruining her appetite.
So he decided to share from his own plate first and go get more later.
But someone else moved even faster.
That person was—Yamamoto's mom!
Having just returned with her food, Yamamoto's mom immediately started piling her dishes onto Shiori's plate when she heard her words.
"What's this? Eating so little won't do—you're still young and growing. Here, eat more!"
She kept adding food nonstop.
Yamamoto panicked and tried to stop her.
"Mom, don't do that! She'll feel embarrassed!"
But faced with Yamamoto's mom's enthusiasm, Shiori didn't feel awkward at all. Instead, she felt warmly comforted.
"Not at all—I'm really happy. My parents are always busy with work, so we rarely get to eat together."
Seeing Shiori's slightly lonely smile, Kamishiro and the others felt a pang of sympathy.
Because of preparing lunches for customers, the Kitahara family not only rarely ate together—they often couldn't even eat on time.
Sensing the mood turning a bit heavy, Shiori hurriedly added,
"Um, but I don't hate my parents. Actually… I really like them!"
Hearing this, Yamamoto's mom was completely won over. Holding her cheeks, she began fantasizing:
"What a heartbreaking child… if only I had a daughter like Shiori~"
Pff!!!
Hearing that, everyone who was eating collectively sprayed their food out, then shot murderous looks at Yamamoto.
That remark… was she trying to make little Shiori her own daughter-in-law?!
At the same time, Yamamoto was thinking exactly that. He scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed grin.
"Eh hehehe~ can't be helped, can it~"
But inside, he was already overjoyed, wishing his mom would say even more and then he could just lock Shiori down on the spot!
That was a high school girl, after all!
Unfortunately, Yamamoto's smug moment didn't last long before the very mom who had given him hope personally crushed it.
Yamamoto's mother held Shiori's hand and said earnestly,
"There's one thing I still have to remind you of—whatever you do, don't marry someone like my son."
As a mother, she knew her son better than anyone. Letting her son be with Shiori?
That would be no different from personally pushing Shiori into a pit of fire!
She couldn't bear to let such a cute Shiori end up with her own son.
Among everyone present, only that squinty-eyed boy seemed worthy of Shiori, and the two of them got along quite well. You could tell Shiori didn't dislike him at all—and apparently they were childhood friends.
It was just a pity that that boy seemed to have a pretty good relationship with the purple-haired girl.
So this was the legendary "childhood friend loses to the girl who falls from the sky," huh. Poor Shiori~
Yamamoto's mother shook her head in regret for the childhood friend, but then thought again—Shiori hadn't even started high school yet. She still had a long life ahead of her. No rush.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto had already turned to stone the moment he saw his mom shaking her head. From what she'd just said, he'd thought that gesture was denying him.
Was his image in his mom's heart really that terrible?!
Kamishiro and the rest of his so-called friends poked at Yamamoto's stone statue with mocking looks.
See? People really need to face reality!
Off to the side—
Azusa naturally joined the conversation between Yamamoto's mom and Shiori. How could a scene like this be complete without her, Azusa!
Just as Yamamoto's mom was about to share some life advice with the two girls—
A waiter suddenly approached, wearing an apologetic expression.
"Dear guests, we're terribly sorry…"
"We're very sorry… Due to some issues on the restaurant's side, the activity involving close contact with the wild boar piglets has been canceled. We sincerely apologize. As compensation, this meal will be on us."
The waiter bowed deeply in front of everyone, nearly bending down to his toes. It was clear he truly felt bad.
Hearing this news, everyone froze, then instinctively looked toward Shiori.
Earlier, she'd said how much she was looking forward to this lunch.
Looking forward to… the chance to get up close with the little wild boar piglets…
"Shiori, in that case…"
Iori looked at his sister worriedly, afraid she might not be able to accept it.
But Shiori was stronger than everyone expected. By the time Iori turned to look at her, she had already adjusted her emotions. With a smile and a regretful tone, she said,
"Then… that really is a shame. But it can't be helped."
That only made everyone feel even more sorry for her.
Azusa couldn't stand it anymore and pulled Shiori straight into her soft embrace.
"It's okay~ later let's go look for some nice souvenirs together, okay?"
"Mm!"
This time, Shiori didn't struggle in Azusa's arms. She just nodded hard, then snuggled in a little closer.
It was obvious—no matter how hard she tried to hide it, she was still disappointed.
At that moment—
Kamishiro and the others exchanged looks, seeing the same determination in each other's eyes.
—Help Shiori fulfill her wish!
...
Nojima: "Aren't you going to think of something?"
Yamamoto: "Even I can tell she was really looking forward to it."
Kohei: "If you can't even fulfill your own sister's wish, what kind of brother are you?!"
Iori: "…I won't even argue with you about that this time."
Outside the restaurant, Iori rubbed his temples in frustration. He wanted to help Shiori too, but where were they supposed to find a wild boar now? A boar-looking ape probably wouldn't cut it.
Just as they were feeling irritated, a calm, big-shot-like voice caught their attention.
"Mhm, okay. As fast as possible, please. My little sister really wants to cuddle with the piglets."
They turned to see Kamishiro, looking like a business tycoon, calmly handling matters over the phone.
Everyone blinked, then looked at each other, all equally confused.
Right then, Kamishiro hung up, and they immediately asked him.
"Kamishiro, what's going on?"
"I swear I heard something about wild boars just now."
"Don't tell me you actually bought a wild boar piglet?!"
They all knew Kamishiro's financial power—buying a piglet really might not mean much to him.
But still… it made them seriously jealous!
If only they had that kind of money power!!!
"Huh?" Kamishiro stared at them incredulously. "Buying a wild boar piglet—how did you even come up with that? Where would you keep it after buying it?"
You couldn't just let Shiori play with it once and then roast it —that would be way too cruel!
Even though the thought of roasted pig was tempting, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Mainly because he was afraid of Shiori finding out later…
"Then what was that call about?"
Iori asked, still confused. He was sure he'd heard something about wild boars.
"Oh, I know the owner of this park. I asked him—apparently the piglets were scared by two naked, muscular guys and are being comforted by a vet right now."
When Kamishiro heard that reason, he'd been puzzled too. What kind of naked men could traumatize a piglet—and not just one, but a whole group?
"Two naked men?"
Azusa tapped her chin, recalling something. She remembered that Tokita and Kotobuki had once wanted to visit this place too.
But it couldn't be those two—they were both pretty gentle-looking, not the type to scare anyone.
After a bit of thought, Azusa eliminated them as suspects.
Whoever scared the piglets must've been two extremely vicious perverts—not those two.
Kamishiro, on the other hand, had a different thought. The first people that came to mind were those two senpai. If they really had shown up, with how boldly they ate… the way they looked at the piglets might unconsciously carry a sense of appetite.
Scaring the piglets actually sounded pretty plausible.
The only thing he couldn't quite wrap his head around was—wouldn't Tokita-senpai's girlfriend find that a bit weird?
Kamishiro was very curious about this legendary woman capable of taming wild beasts!
Next time, he absolutely had to ask Azusa nee to introduce her to him!
"That's just awful. So will the piglets be back today?"
Nojima strongly condemned such behavior. People who strip anywhere and everywhere were the worst!
"I'm not sure. I only know they're doing their best to calm them down. They're the park's mascots, after all—they can't be forced to work."
Kamishiro shrugged. Even Doraemon wasn't all-powerful—let alone him.
Hearing that, everyone looked disappointed again. They had thought Kamishiro's money power was omnipotent.
Looks like… it still wasn't enough!
"Tch, then we're back to square one. Kitahara, got any ideas?"
Yamamoto clicked his tongue in annoyance. Now they could only rely on their designated 'dirty tricks' guy.
"Uh… even if you ask me, I can't think of anything…"
Iori twitched at the corner of his mouth. If money couldn't solve it, what could he do?
"Figures. You can only come up with underhanded ideas."
Everyone sighed in disappointment. Serious problems really shouldn't be asked of him.
(▼皿▼＃)
"What do you mean 'only underhanded ideas'?! That's wisdom! Wisdom!"
"Sure, sure—wisdom."
Kamishiro and the others waved it off, not wanting to dwell on it.
The priority now was figuring out how to let Shiori see a piglet.
"Could we find a wild boar mascot costume or something?"
Kamishiro suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Even if there's no real piglet, a consolation prize isn't bad."
"Good idea! Add some props that represent the restaurant!"
With Kamishiro's prompt, Iori caught on and added to it.
"It is a good idea, but…"
"Finding all that on such short notice won't be easy, will it?"
As much as he hated to dampen the mood, those things didn't seem easy to gather quickly.
He'd just checked—there didn't seem to be any boar mascot suits in the restaurant.
Hard to imagine a boar-themed restaurant without a boar mascot.
But then again, considering they had real boar interactions, it made sense—why need a mascot if you had the real thing?
"That's easy to handle!" Kamishiro said, having anticipated this. He pulled out a thick stack of Fukuzawa bills.
"Money power can solve all problems!"
"..."
(???)
Everyone stared at Kamishiro with black lines on their faces. All problems? Then why didn't you use it to solve the piglet issue earlier? Now you're showing off…
Even though Iori found Kamishiro's show-off attitude irritating, since it was for his sister, he unusually didn't retort.
"Alright, problem solved. Later, someone can put on the costume and comfort Shiori."
Iori knew his sister well—just a little coaxing would make her happy for a long time. No need for a real piglet.
Besides, even though those piglets were small, they could be dangerous if they charged. Having someone in a costume was safer.
"No problem. Please sign here."
"Huh?"
Seeing the paper Kamishiro handed him, question marks popped up all over Iori's head.
Sign?
Sign what?
He lowered his head—and a familiar demonic contract caught his eye.
Rip—
After just one second, Iori tore the paper up without hesitation and looked at Kamishiro with a "kind" smile.
"Why is this an IOU?!"
"Huh?" Kamishiro looked at Iori in disbelief. "Of course it's an IOU. Isn't it perfectly normal for an older brother to sell himself just to make his little sister happy?"
"Mm-hm, no problem at all!"
Kohei nodded vigorously at the side in full agreement. If he had a younger sister, he'd definitely offer himself up without hesitation!
"What do you mean 'no problem,' you idiot!, you're also Shiori's brother, aren't you?!"
A next-door big brother is still a brother, okay?!
Kamishiro snorted and turned his head away. "You didn't say that before!"
Spending money on Shiori was no problem at all—he just wanted to annoy this bastard Kitahara a bit.
Always saying Shiori wasn't his sister—absolutely unforgivable! Obviously his bond with Shiori was way deeper than Iori's!
And now you admit it?
Too late!
"You bastard!"
Iori's expression flickered. Seeing the price on that set, he suddenly felt that today's experience for Shiori wasn't that important after all.
Maybe after he got his allowance?
But if Shiori wasn't happy today, would he really be able to get his allowance?
"..."
Iori suddenly realized he'd fallen into a loop.
Forget it—better play it safe!
Just screw Kamishiro over!
Anyway, debts pile up and don't weigh you down!
Seeing Iori's sinister expression, Kamishiro had already guessed what he was thinking.
Unfortunately for him, this time it wasn't an IOU~
Just as Kamishiro expected, that idiot Kitahara hadn't read the contents of the contract at all.
That was just a work agreement~
Once Iori signed it, by this time tomorrow he'd be working for a moving company~
Since it was a day-wage job, the pay was pretty high.
Of course, no matter how high it was, it wouldn't have a single yen to do with that idiot. The boss would pay Kamishiro directly—this was clearly written in the contract~
When the time came… heh heh heh~
Kamishiro pulled out another devil's contract. Watching Iori take out a pen, Kamishiro was practically laughing himself crazy inside, already thinking about how to spend the money tomorrow.
Money, after all, is meant to be spent!
What?
Buying a wild boar costume?
Don't be ridiculous. How could such a big boar-themed park not have a boar mascot costume?
Piglets might be unavailable, but borrowing a boar costume was easy.
However—
As Murphy's Law tells us, the more you look forward to something, the more likely it is to go wrong.
Just as Iori was about to sign his name, the usually silent Yamamoto suddenly remembered something and smacked his forehead.
"Oh right, I almost forgot—this should work too."
As he spoke, Yamamoto pulled a wild boar head out of his bag.
A mascot one!
!!!
The moment they saw the headgear, both Kamishiro and Iori were shocked and reacted instinctively.
Their reactions were exactly the same—
Only their goals were different.
Kamishiro tried to snatch it away to destroy it, while Iori tried to protect it.
Because of the distance, Iori won this time.
Under Yamamoto's puzzled gaze, Iori couldn't help but gloat at Kamishiro.
"Looks like I'm the winner this time~"
Kamishiro ignored him and instead glared ferociously at the culprit, Yamamoto, grinding his teeth.
"Where did this headgear come from?!"
"Oh, this? Just now a mascot staff member had me draw a lottery. I drew a pink ball, and he gave me this headgear.
I thought it was useless, but who knew it'd come in handy here? I'm really lucky!"
Yamamoto scratched his belly with a goofy grin, completely oblivious to the malice in Kamishiro's tone.
(▼皿▼＃)
"You really have some damn dog luck!!!"
Kamishiro complained inwardly. He'd never seen Yamamoto this lucky before. Did this headgear use up twenty years of his luck or something?
It had to be!
Otherwise there was no way he'd coincidentally win a boar head!
Hah… how tragic!!!
(′△｀)?
Yamamoto blinked in confusion, not understanding why Kamishiro was suddenly yelling at him.
He was the MVP for pulling this out, okay?!
Why are you yelling at me?!
Just as he was about to argue with Kamishiro, Nojima grabbed him.
Seeing Yamamoto's confused look, Nojima explained,
"Don't get involved. Those two are probably fighting over the right to play the wild boar."
"The right to play the wild boar?" Yamamoto still didn't get it.
Nojima rolled his eyes helplessly.
"It's about who gets to be the one that makes Shiori happy. Since Kitahara grabbed the boar head, Kamishiro isn't satisfied."
Hearing that, Yamamoto finally understood. No wonder—he hadn't said anything wrong, yet Kamishiro suddenly treated him like an enemy.
So that was the reason.
What a pity. If he'd known, he would've taken it out a bit later—maybe he could've squeezed some benefits out of Kamishiro~
And what Kamishiro said next only made Yamamoto more certain that Nojima was right!
"Hmph, it's just a boar head. It doesn't prove anything!"
"You—!"
Iori wanted to retort, but didn't know how. After all, he really did only have the boar head. That alone might not be enough to make Shiori happy.
At this point, Yamamoto knew—it was his time to shine again!
He stepped between them and pointed at the restaurant's logo.
"I remember that fork and knife can be taken off, right?"
!!!
The instant those words left his mouth, Yamamoto felt blade-like gazes stab into him.
It was Kamishiro!!!
...