It has been a week since I emerged from the hard two years I experienced inside that room in the base of the people who were thrown away by the outside world and called them ‘Exiles' or ‘rejects of the world' because people think that they don't deserve to live.
But they were proven wrong because of how they treated me. They aren't dead. They are just hiding so the cruelty won't repeat again.
I saw how kind they were and they let me stay for a long time there. I befriended the two of them who are Hiroomi Katsuto and Sean Hickory who were also the owners of my restaurant of recommendation: Giotto's.
Those being set aside, I'm once again living on the surface of the Earth with my family and friends. Well, I once said that I can't avoid the pain and suffering brought by sins. But I still can't avoid having a continuing normal life. I guess it's for the balance.
I said normal…
But I think it will slowly change little by little.
~ ~ ~
The same week when the breakout of misunderstandings happened, after school, the day is Friday.
It has been a few days since I started walking on the same street I walked on whenever I go to school. I'm just pulling my bike with me since I'm walking with Rin right now.
“I really missed walking on this quiet street. It feels like I'm about to cry.”
“Oh, Gin. I haven't actually asked you about that.
How was the Capital?”
“Oh, that…”
Let's go back to the day when I came back to school after my leave of absence.
▪ ▪ ▪
“So Gin, where did you go to that made you to take a leave for a week?”
“Oh, that…
I'm actually just in the Capital.”
“It's obviously a very blatant lie. I was just inside that room for two years.”
“Eh~ That doesn't make sense why you got that tall…
And what the doodad happened to your arm anyways? I noticed it back at the rooftop but can't point out since we're too caught up in the moment.”
“About this… I did some errands for my dad that time. It was supposed to be my older brother that will come, but he's not available since he's busy. So I ended up going instead of my brother.
I was so busy that time that I can't even turn on my phone and check my messages. I wasn't aware that you bombarded me with texts.
And about my right arm…
You know those buildings with a high ceiling so there are only corridors. I was at the first floor and then a worker on the second floor accidentally spilled hot water from a kettle. It ended up pouring onto my shoulder down to my hand, so my whole right arm was burnt. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad but it still hurt a bit.”
“I know I'm constantly lying but it's true that Dad works on a side company outside of his main job.
At least I managed to brush off the topic about my physical changes.”
“I wonder if there is a way so that we can communicate to the author for spoilers.”
“Oi.”
“But seriously, is your right arm really okay?”
“…I wouldn't say it is fine. It still hurts a little.”
“Well, I just hope that your right arm will heal quickly.”
“Thanks…”
▪ ▪ ▪
“Oh, that…
Well, the Capital is really crowded and the traffic is much worse. Wa~y worse than Cotona! There was a time where I was stuck in the traffic for three hours and I can't do anything but sleep. It's quite a pain going there and it was very stressful.
I hope I won't be running an errand anytime soon again. I don't want my left arm be burnt next.”
Someone make me stop, I don't want to be a pathological liar.
“Ahaha… I agree…”
“He's so carefree when he said that…”
“Oh, I'm here…
See you later, Rin.”
“I'll be going home then.”
I opened the door just to see my parents sitting on the couch with very serious faces.
“I'm home.
Wha-?”
Why do I sense an air of extreme seriousness inside the house? It's making me really crept out.
“Oh, Gin… Welcome home.”
“Uhh… Is something the matter…?”
“Change your clothes first. Then come and have a seat with us.”
Dad doesn't look like he's mad. It's just the serious vibe that gave me a chill on my spine.
~ ~ ~
“So, what is it?”
“Your father has something to say to you, Gin.”
What…?
I don't feel good about this. What is it? There are too many possibilities that I can think of. I can barely pick what could be the most likely he would say…
I just noticed that Dad is holding a paper. It looks like some sort of a document.
I really am not feeling good about this. I know I've only heard silence for two years but this is more different. I wonder what he would say.
“Gin…
Have you ever thought of moving out?”
…
Eh? Nandato?
“Uhh… What's… this all about?”
“When Sean came to our house last week, he did say that you were alone in that room for two years. Pretty much you lived there with the support of the people in their base. You didn't see a shadow that time and you only gathered supplies once in a month.
He sent us scanned copies of your journals-“
“About how much did they send?”
“The markings are really vague to us though. I think it says 0827 up to 1226?”
“Four months, huh…”
They haven't gotten up to 0215 yet, but I might as well spill everything.
“So you're already aware about the gravity, I suppose?”
“Sean did tell us the first time he came here.”
“Mom, Dad, hear me out first.”
▪ ▪ ▪
I told my parents the whole story when I was inside the White Room. As expected, they were shocked to hear that I almost committed suicide when I was out of it. I also showed them the scar I had.
After they calmed down we went back to the earlier topic.
“But why ask me about moving out?”
“Well, even though you are still our responsibility, you at least have already experienced independence, and you are now 17. Well, not on paper though.
We made some inquiries way back, we found one, and it felt like it's finally time to get the deal.
I know that this is really abrupt but I think this is the best way we can think of, for you to have a better understanding in life. You have really matured after the years you have spent there.”
I let out a sigh and immediately looked at my father. Even though this is a very serious matter I'm currently at, I can't stop snickering.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Hahh… I knew it would come to this…
Before this conversation gets anticlimactic, where is the location of it?”
“275.”
At first, it doesn't make any sense to me. But seeing how quickly he replied, the first thing that came to my mind was that.
“I knew it. Dad, Mom…”
275 is the number of the place they are talking about. Our house number is 280. Which means it is just four blocks away from here.
Hold on a second…
“So does that mean it's just four blocks from here?”
“I guess you could say that?”
Seriously, what is it… I can't seem to remember…
“Our houses are just three houses apart. How come we didn't see each other when going to school?”
“Apples…”
“Hey… Gin, is something wrong?”
“Literally…”
“Literally?”
“You only asked if I have ever thought of moving out, but you suddenly specify things. Does that mean it's all prepared?”
“Well, it is. But it's up to you if we will get the house…”
“Huh… Wait, get?! You mean afford the house?! I thought it was just renting! And you're putting the decision on me?!”
“I knew you would be surprised. Just have look in here and you'll see why we're going to buy it.”
Dad placed the document he was holding the whole time on the table for me to see its contents. It was a document regarding the house we were talking about. And the price…
“Is it safe to assume that I'm also involved in the payment? How the hell is this dead cheap for a house like that?”
“We won't force you but if you want to… Actually, we plan to. No, not plan to force you. Don’t worry about it for now, though. You just have to focus on your studies for the time being.
But about three quarters of it will be paid on the loan company.”
“I saw that coming.
Hahh…
Alright, I've decided. I'm going to move there. I just realized that it would also free up some space if my belongings aren't here. It's getting more cramped up here anyways, and it's also for our safety considering the condition of our street when it's the rainy season. I'll help in the payment and also on the loans when I become capable to.
What about Kei? Is he also moving out?”
“Well, for the time being, the space is to be of concern later.”
“Kei still has no plans of moving out anytime soon. I guess he'll move if ever he will ask for Shiina's hand.
You do remember that he sometimes does work on the side company right? Their pay is considerably high even if it's for a week. I guess it's just my luck that I got to that company as a secondary workplace.
Well, I'm still deciding if I'll work there full time.”
By the way, the name that Dad mentioned—Shiina, is my brother's girlfriend whom I pointed out in the last chapter.
(!)
“There's a house that has never been bought because of how outdated the technology of it and it's literally next to us. But the house itself has a good engineering. I think someone rich bought the lot and built the house, but they eventually left it for sale.”
Now I remember.
Well, I really wanted to live in a house without modern technology. Our bungalow is decent in size, actually. If I compare this to that house… goodness, that house is probably quite big with its two floors.
But my neighbor… I know our houses are really close but to think that I will be living at the block beside Rin's. That's unexpected.
“With all that, when will we meet the broker for an appointment?”
“Let me call him then.
…
Hello? Yes. We will, we will. It's been decided just now. Really? Is 9am good? Yes. Thank you.”
*beep*
“Was that the broker?”
“Yeah. He said he's up for tomorrow at 9am.”
“Woah, so sudden.”
“Besides, we won't be there at the appointment.”
“Eh?”
“It's okay if it's only you tomorrow. Us three will sign it anyways. You're just going to check the house's interior and exterior. You will just go back here after all of those.”
“Well, I guess it's settled.
…
It's still 4pm so it's still early. Shall I start packing already?”
“Suddenly?”
“Well, I can't pack them all today of course. But I can pack the important things first before dinner.”
“Huh? I doubt you can pack them all in just a short time.”
“It's fine, it's fine. When I was inside, I trained both my mind and body before I left. So I can probably say that my brain processes faster and my body had undergone physical training so I can also move fast because of the gravity.”
“If you say so…”
Dad took a stopwatch and came to the hallway in front of the door of my room.
“Alright, Gin! I'll time how fast you will pack your things. Come quickly, then!”
“Seriously, dear…”
“Off I go!”
▪ ▪ ▪
The next day, in front of the house for sale.
As I was walking from our house, I saw a man standing in front of the house we are about to buy. He is well dressed with a big smile on his face. Actually, corporate attire is the best description to his outfit.
“Mr… Hachido, right?”
“Yep, Mr. Sakato. That's me, alright.”
“He seems cheerful…”
“Let me introduce myself. I am Kanbe Hachido, the salesperson and the representative of the seller of the house.”
“So… Before anything else, can you give a brief history of the residence?”
“Gladly.
The house was built two years ago under the liking of the former owner of the house, which is now the seller. To be completely honest, the house was neglected. The owner was very happy about the process of building this. The engineering is good and it is sturdy especially from earthquakes, though it doesn't really have home technology that fits well to the modern times today, which is a very big flaw.
Two weeks later after it was finished, the owner left the house to be for sale when he was dumped by his partner he was planning to live with here. He's just a complete jerk, actually.”
“Wow, you're brutally blunt to your client.”
“Well, he has nothing to do with this house anyways.”
“I wonder what he meant by that.”
“In that duration, this house drastically depreciated by that much, and reduced to a low-end price mostly due to White Street's situation.
I heard from someone that the seller is rich. Is he really okay about this?”
“I'll repeat two things for clearer understanding. My explanations are pretty vague, aren't they?
As you have said, the former owner is rich. Only rich, and an idiot. He built this house without further thinking. Me being present, he left everything to me whenever the house is going to be sold. So he has nothing to do with this house anymore.”
His smile doesn't waver and it also feels mischievous. Actually, his smile can easily deceive people, but my intuition tells the opposite.
“I'm really afraid to say this smoothly but—I would assume that you'll get a sum landing on you?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“Are you really okay with this? You could have increased the price if you will.”
“No, no, no~pe. I wouldn't do such a thing just to benefit myself. This is the best way for me. Besides, my pay is not bad. I would want to stay low instead of taking advantage of the things like this.”
“Hm… You have a point there. Thanks, you made me understand something. Even though you didn't mean to. Hahaha…
Anyways, can we take a look now?”
“Sure.”
Like mentioned, the house number is 275, which is found just by the three-way intersection in between White and Cerulean Street. For a corner lot house, we really got a good deal. Whilst entering the vicinity of the house, I was handed with documents related to the plans, with the floor plan being the emphasis of it.
“The information I have may be a little outdated as this did not include the subsequent construction that happened in the house, but the land area, meaning the entire lot, is with an estimated area of 199.55 square meters. On the other hand, the floor area of the first floor is measured at 67.7 square meters, while the second floor is at around 67.4 square meters, totaling at 135 square meters of space. This however does not account to space taken by partitions, so the total floor area may be greater.”
It felt like my soul left my body for a moment.
“Excuse me, WHAT? Did you just say 200sqm?! Are you sure our family is not being scammed by the selling price of this house?”
“I can understand your doubts, Mr. Sakato. But over the past few years, the situation of this street has heavily impacted the market value of lands in the vicinity so much that most agencies do not recommend clients to acquire properties here regardless of house elevation as risks arise in the wet seasons.
If I recall correctly, the original value of this house upon completion was 1.6 times its current selling price.”
“Our area really is done for, huh.
That said… I’ll talk to my parents about getting the documents notarized, just to be sure. I’m sorry that I might be wary, Mr. Hachido.”
“No, no. It is fine. Well then, shall we continue?”
Before going inside the house itself, I was toured outside. The lot is walled by seven and a half feet concrete. The outside however has a space as a garage and a lawn bedded with grass. I quickly pointed out the thought of roofing the open space. At the back… is a small setback. What I am concerned is the very tight gap separating this and Rin's house.
For the main event, the inside. Immediately after the doors opened, I noticed the spacious hallway and a… I don't know what it is called so let's just go with a semi-wall as it is just 1.5 meters tall and three meters in length to divide the living room from the hall. It looks a bit dumb but I realized that it is used to where perhaps a television will sit on.
image [https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4gdcxx2bko4.jpg]
The first floor is however just divided to two rooms as the living and dining room, and kitchen are connected as one space. At least, the living room already has a couch and a TV stand, while I we also wouldn’t have to worry about getting a new dining set.
To the right of the kitchen is where an L-shaped staircase is found, and beside that is a guest room. Before I forget to mention, a bathroom is found next to the kitchen in the other direction along with a storage room.
But speaking of a kitchen, I can't believe it's actually something I am going to be interested on. It's quite spacious, but I just wished that it was more rectangular than squared off. It has quite a wide aisle where there is already a built-in stove with a hood, and probably the one of the appliances that is left in here is what looks like a convection oven. I just question why the wall between the stairs and the kitchen has a cutout, which I think is a weird design choice.
What's good about the entirety of this is that I have plenty of storage space, and pretty much a lot of room to move around. Still, the kitchen in our house has its own separate room so it was also quite spacious, but we didn’t need to walk from one side to another to get to either the stove or the sink.
Whatever I do with this kitchen, I feel like I'm going to have a good time, regardless.
Going up to the second floor, there are two more rooms and another bathroom. From the view of the stairs, the door on the left leads to a smaller room that was quite bare, but it can also be a guest room. We then moved on what seems to be the master's bedroom in the right door. A very spacious room where the bed doesn't even cover a fourth of the room. A balcony is found after a sliding door, and the outside is thankfully roofed. But what took my utmost attention is the window which is accurately opposite to a window in Rin's house… with the same dimensions!
image [https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/7lxcpp9mvg7.jpg]
Other than that, the small things I liked about this place is the wooden wall panels on both floors where displays and shelves can probably be put. Who knows, maybe if I am able to take my drawing in the Art Room, I could hang it by the living room.
After roughly half an hour, the tour was finished and the only thing needed is my decision.
“You know, Mr. Hachido, I wouldn't really say that the lack of modern technology in here is a flaw. Actually, I'd rather live in a house like this instead of wasting my money on devices I will hardly use. If it were me, I will just add things that are efficient, relevant and essential to my way of living.”
“Uhm… Mr. Sakato. I have a question out of nowhere…
Can I ask how old are you?”
Even though no one's really close at the vicinity, he still whispered his question to my ears. I also gave an answer with a whisper.
“15.
…
No actually, I'm 17.”
“Huh?”
As expected, he seemed really puzzled because I said those.
“With all that being said…
The house is bought.”
“Congratulations to your new house, Mr. Sakato!”
“Thanks. Let's head to my parents for the signing, then.”
After signing the forms and documents, our family finally owned another house. I removed the sign saying that the house was for sale.
Well, not anymore. Since as of today, I will be living here.
“Gin… We're not being excited or anything. But would you like to move there immediately?”
“Uhh, it feels like you're throwing me away just kidding.”
“Ahaha… Even though you sometimes talk too fast I still understood what you said.”
“It's still early, so I'll probably pack more then I'll start moving after lunch. Ah, actually, I should probably do shopping before that.
And after that, I think I'll be completely broke.”
(!)
“Hey, Dad. What do you think… Can I work in the side company some time? They are accepting sixteen and above right? And besides, I'm eighteen next month.”
“I'm not sure about that… You're aware that you are still 15 on paper, right?”
“Hmm… I think I can ask someone from the base to make some workaround.”
“…?
You mean, Sean?”
“Not him, but I was acquainted by many people from the base that works on the surface now. They might help me.”
“Well, if you do say so. But make sure it is a safe one.”
“I'll ask Hiro first before I go shopping.”