Chapter 63: First Meeting (Part 2)
"It's not that I won't pay this price. First, you have to get rid of all these flowers..."
"No. If they're gone, I have no desire to live anymore," the girl said with a calm but unyielding will the moment Kira spoke. "No matter what, I won't leave these children."
"Alright then. Let me ask you, how much is the annual land use fee you have to pay? Don't tell me the manager lets you use the land in front of the house for free."
Kira had already looked into it. Since land in Japan is privately owned, as long as you have ownership, you can use it indefinitely. And in this area, the land was owned by a large corporation. Everyone who rented here was renting their houses, and the corporation had a manager who came to collect rent on time.
Of course, this was just the situation in this small area. Because this was a permanent residence area for foreigners, the residents here were only casual acquaintances and didn't greet each other, just hurrying about their daily lives.
Therefore, the tenants here wouldn't be surprised to see an unfamiliar face, which was another reason why Kira had chosen this place.
On the other hand, the managers here were very strict, almost to the point of being being petty. In other words, there was no way they would let her use the land in front of her door for free.
"Ha... ha..." A terrifying smile appeared on the girl's face when she heard this. "That guy... I'll kill him sooner or later..."
"What on earth did that manager do to deserve such wrath..."
"That guy threatened to pull out all my flowers if I couldn't pay the land use fee! He said he would bring an excavator and uproot them all...!" the girl said resentfully.
That was a bit much...
A thought suddenly occurred to Kira. "Um, what about your parents? Do they not live with you?"
Seeing her fall silent, Kira thought he might have hit a nerve and quickly said, "Of course, if you have any difficulties, you don't have to say."
"It's nothing. Just know that I live here alone," the girl said nonchalantly. "So, let's continue. What's your great idea?"
"Uh... alright," Kira said, scratching his head. He continued, "Have you ever thought about planting these flowers inside the house? If you plant them inside, you'll only have to pay for the flowerpots. After that, you won't have to pay them any extra money, and you won't have to deal with the manager's attitude."
"...Plant them inside?" A look of surprise appeared on the girl's face, but it quickly vanished. "That is a way. Each of these children doesn't take up much space. They'd fit perfectly in a flowerpot. But there are too many of them. While they could fit in the room, they wouldn't all get even sunlight."
"That's true..." Kira was also getting a headache. He said involuntarily, "But if we don't get rid of the flowers, this place will be too conspicuous. It can't be used as a transfer center..."
For Kira, the first priority in choosing a rental was that it was inconspicuous. This house, which was impossible to find unless someone was specifically looking for it, perfectly met his requirements. But if the outside of the house was full of flowers, people might be drawn to it by the scent.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you," Kira said, standing up. "Just pretend I didn't say anything. I can't give you the deposit either."
Actually, the last place wasn't bad. The landlord's price was just a bit too high, but on second thought, it was still acceptable... Once the best option was eliminated, the problems he had picked out in other places could be tolerated.
"Don't go. I'll agree to it," the girl said, suddenly reaching out and grabbing his hand, her head bowed. "Just give me the money."
As she spoke, her hair buried itself in the ground, then suddenly grew longer, thick vines of hair entwining and shooting straight through the eaves of the house.
Sunlight streamed through the hole, shining on Kira's back. The girl said in a low voice, "Most of the previous tenants left in a hurry when they saw the flowers in front of my house. The ones who stayed left when they saw the rent on the contract. You're the only one left... Please, don't go."
"..." Kira turned his head helplessly. "Do I have a choice? You've already demolished the house."
To solve the problem of insufficient lighting, you just demolish the house? How reckless...
Like an iceberg melting, the girl smiled when she heard this. A strand of hair quietly curled up the contract and a pen from the table and brought them to Kira.
"Can we sign the contract now?"
There was no option for him to regret it now, was there? Kira shrugged, took the pen, and signed his name on the line for the second party.
The girl took the pen and carefully wrote her name—Ibara Shiozaki.
Now that the contract was signed, Kira began to state his own terms. "Miss Ibara Shiozaki, right... You confirm that the contract is valid, don't you?"
After she nodded, Kira pointed to a clause in the contract. "You wrote here that you would meet most of the tenant's requests, right?"
"That's right..."
Although this clause could be used to make many excessive demands, and while this was Tokyo, the weather wasn't very hot, Kira only stated his urgent needs.
"I've said it before, I won't be staying here often. Can you help me send and receive packages? I'll list the address here."
"I see. No problem."
She agreed to this request easily. It was probably within the scope of what she understood a landlord should do.
"There are some things I need to buy using your account. Is that okay?"
"As long as it's not contraband, there's no major problem."
"I have one more request. Don't tell anyone I've rented a room here." The reason Kira had rented a room elsewhere was to completely separate himself from a series of troublesome matters, not to have his information revealed by the landlord with a little investigation.
"I can give you the commission fee that I would have paid to the real estate agent, on the condition that you tell him no one has rented here. Of course, I don't mind if you're willing to let others move in."
"I'll cancel the rental listing with the agent tomorrow," Ibara said seriously. She seemed to have a strong sense of contract. "You are my only tenant."
"I have no more problems," Kira said, very satisfied with her attitude. He took a thick stack of money from his bag and placed it on the table. "This is a two-month deposit, plus the commission I was going to pay to the agent. A total of one hundred and eighty thousand yen."
To be honest, it pained Kira a little. To have to pay so much for a place that was basically just a delivery point. But when he thought of the full-sized silicone toys that each cost over a hundred thousand yen, the pain lessened.
Ibara counted the money several times. After confirming it was correct, she looked up and said with some hesitation, "According to you, I just need to help you store your packages. Anyone can do that... Can I assume that you're... keeping me?"
"I don't mind if you think so," Kira said, counting the flowers outside and thinking about how many flowerpots to buy. He replied, "But we're a little young now. When we're older, I wouldn't mind doing... that kind of thing with you."
"What kind of thing?"
"Don't ask any more. There's a crackdown right now..."