Chapter 10: Shouko's Feelings

After a few days had passed since Shouko's bullying, we had become good friends. We often played together, and I went home with her every day. Our little sisters have become good friends as well. I'm pretty sure Shouko had told her grandmother and mum what happened because every time I dropped her off, they tried to invite me inside their house. I told my mother about the incident as well, and now both our families are good friends.

Shouko's relationship with her mother had improved, not being as indifferent to each other as before. Though there were still moments of awkwardness between them, it was nothing that time couldn't cure.

I went inside their house a few times a week, bringing along Raiha and my mother. I played with the three of them. Sometimes I did my homework while teaching Shouko, watching our little sisters play together as our mothers did mothers' things (gossiping). To repay their kindness, I also volunteered to help them with their chores, but they refused. But I insisted on cooking, so they let me do it with the help of Raiha's 'persuading'. The first time they tasted my cooking, their eyes sparkled, but their pride as adults refused to let me cook all the time, but I still help out once in a while.

Sometimes Kobayashi Haruma also comes to hang out with us. He is one of the few friends that hang out with a lot, and due to his gentle personality with everybody, he was as popular as me in school. Shouko also didn't mind him, but she mostly kept to me due to her shy personality.

-Inside the Nishimiya Household-

Grandma Ito: "He's such a gentle boy, that Uesugi boy. Shouko, you need to grab him before anyone else does. Sigh, he needs and will have a lot of girls in the future. You know what he did for you... who cares if he's poor? He is good-looking, kind and gentle, and good with both sports and academics. He would be very successful in the future. More of a reason to go for it, Shouko."

Shouko - But look at me, Granny... do you think he would like someone like me? He would definitely have more pretty girls around him in the future, and I don't even know how I feel about him...

Grandma Ito: "Sigh, do you think he will do what he did just for everyone? You're cute and will have a sporting figure when you grow older! Don't hold yourself down." She reassured her beloved granddaughter. This left Shouko fidgeting and thinking to herself in silence.

*Am I really worthy of being with him?* Shouko thought to herself. Unknown to her, a seed has already been planted in her heart, waiting for the right time to blossom.

-Back to Fuutarou-

I spent most of the days in Shouko's house. I didn't want to impose on them, but they insisted. Raiha also wanted to spend more time with her friend, so I eventually gave in to her puppy eyes. I also noticed Shouko staring at me absentmindedly, sometimes deep in thought, but I didn't ask.

-One-year time skip-

And so time passed quickly, before we noticed, a year had passed by already. Over the year, Shouko and I became closer, and I often hung out with Shouko in her house. My father also came back a few times during the year. He saw me and Raiha often going to our neighbors' house, and he didn't really care. In fact, he even encouraged me to live there. Of course, as a joke, since my mother was glaring at him.

It was a coincidence that my father had met Yaeko Nishimiya, Shouko's mother, on one of his trips before, so he entrusted Raiha and me to her while leaving on his trips, which were getting longer, spanning from 2 weeks to a month.

He came home at least once a month just to see how we were doing. He didn't really worry much about us. He knew that his children were mature enough not to cause trouble, and even if problems arose, both Shouko and my mothers would be able to solve them for us.

Over the year, Raiha and Shouko also became interested in cooking, so I taught them how to cook simple dishes. Yuzuru took a liking to photography due to the camera that my father once brought her. She looks up to my father as a professional cameraman and wants to be like him.

I had also secretly slipped in a senzu bean in one of her lunches early in the year, and now Shouko was like any other ordinary girl. When she found out she could hear clearly without her hearing aids, she cried so happily and almost choked me while hugging me tightly. She didn't realize that it was me, of course, but she was so happy that she just went around hugging everyone.

I also spun my gacha and got intermediate basketball proficiency, basic waiting proficiency, and a beautiful flower-shaped, auburn-colored hair clip.

Intermediate basketball proficiency: Plays basketball on a middle school level, has good foundation skills and has an above-average game sense.

Basic waiting proficiency: Knows how to serve customers in a restaurant or cafe as a waiter. Good eloquence and has patience when doing a waiter's job which includes but is not limited to taking orders, delivering orders, and receiving and answering questions.

Intermediate basketball proficiency allows me to play to nationals on middle school level with a weak team, and high school standards with a good team. I guess what was limiting was my body as I did not develop it to a very high fitness standard (comparing to an adult as a child).

I had no idea why I would ever need a waiting proficiency in my life, and having a basic proficiency was basically useless to me. However, proficiency was a proficiency, at least in the future, if I ever work in a cafe, I wouldn't need to learn everything from scratch.

I gave the hair clip to Shouko, and she seemed very happy with it, and now she wears it on her head all the time.

Now, this is my status.

------Status------

Name: Fuutarou Uesugi

Age: 11 years old

Sex: Male

Lovers: None

Skills:

-Basic waiting proficiency (0/100)

-Basic law proficiency (90/100)

-Intermediate finance and business proficiency (0/300)

-Intermediate taekwondo proficiency (50/300)

-Intermediate science proficiency (290/300)

-Intermediate social studies proficiency (290/300)

-Intermediate history proficiency (290/300)

-Intermediate geography proficiency (253/300)

-Intermediate basketball proficiency (0/300)

-Advanced mathematics proficiency (200/500)

-Advanced Japanese proficiency (153/500)

-Advanced music proficiency (200/500)

-Advanced sign Language proficiency (200/500)

-Advanced Japanese orientated cuisine proficiency (300/500)

-Grandmaster piano proficiency (0/2,000)

Inventory:

1) A sleek pair of shoes (Makes everyone envy you for having them)

2) 3x weakened senzu beans

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However, good things don't always last that way for very long...