The Correct Japanese Terms of Homestay Seems to Be Marriage - Chapter 2

Feeling at a Loss

The piercing cold that stabs the skin was beginning to ease, and by late March, you could feel the warm arrival of a cozy spring.

A sixteen-year-old male high school student—Ayasaka Keitaro, was at a loss in the bustling streets of the neighboring town, six stations away.

This Keitaro, who will become a second-year high school student come April, is an inherently inactive person who hardly ever takes initiative.

Of course, he’s part of the go-home club, with sleeping as his hobby. On holidays, he mostly stays cooped up in his room, idly spending the majority of the day in bed. Thanks to that, he’s grown quite tall, now standing at 185 cm.

There’s truth to the saying, “Let sleeping kids grow.”

Incidentally, Keitaro once had a past where he was a very active boy, but time can be cruel. Now, as mentioned earlier, he’s the epitome of a listless individual.

Now, why would such a Keitaro find himself in a bustling downtown area, a place diametrically opposed to his lifestyle? It was because he was coerced by others.

Dropping his gaze from the sky he was escaping to, Keitaro looked towards a back alley off the main street. There, hiding behind an outdoor unit but peeking out their faces, he locked eyes with a pair of individuals.

One had an intelligent look with sharp glasses, and the other was slender, delicate, and petite with squinty eyes.

Unfortunately, these suspicious looking individuals were not strangers but a few of Keitaro’s friends. And they were the masterminds behind this perplexing situation.

The bespectacled one opened his mouth wide, and like a goldfish latching onto food, he dynamically gaped his mouth, seemingly saying something to Keitaro.

“Hu-rry-up-and-speak-to-her.”

Even without any knowledge of lip-reading, it was easy enough for Keitaro to understand what was being said by the movement of the lips.

Behind him, the one with squinty eyes was hurriedly pointing at women passing by Keitaro’s side.

As you can see, Keitaro is currently being forced by his mischievous friends to partake in the dishonorable act known as “picking up girls,” something only the most active individuals dare to attempt.

(There’s no way I can do this…)

For over thirty minutes now, Keitaro has been standing frozen in the middle of the main street.

He doesn’t have the courage to strike up a conversation with strangers passing by, so it was an inevitable outcome.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange for him to stand there for an hour, two hours, or even the entire day.

(I shouldn’t have bragged about it…)

Pressing his temples with his fingers and letting out a big sigh, Keitaro felt truly helpless.

He wasn’t told to keep going until he succeeded, so technically, just attempting to speak and getting promptly rejected would suffice.

However, even the simple greeting “excuse me” couldn’t escape his lips, as if his body was a separate entity from his mind.

Making inaudible noises, somewhere between breathing and speaking, Keitaro’s suspicious behavior of stretching out and retracting his hands in the middle of the road, along with his towering height, made him stand out in a bad way.

He became the topic of hushed conversations among people enjoying their elegant tea time at a nearby café’s terrace. It was certainly not good gossip.

Fortunately, Keitaro was too preoccupied to notice such things, a small blessing amidst his misfortune. Had he realized, he surely wouldn’t have been able to endure it.

(Why am I going through this during my precious spring break…)

It was late March, just before advancing to his second year of high school, marking the start of spring break.

This two-week holiday was supposed to be heaven for the inactive Keitaro, a time to indulge in slothful days of slumber.

Yet, why was he undergoing such a cruel punishment? Keitaro looked up to the sky once more, deciding to revisit how he ended up in this situation.

It was definitely not an attempt to escape reality. Definitely not.