Chapter 14: Rika’s Palpitation ☆ Love Operation
Tōjō Karen, who suddenly visited us, complained about her situation.
In short, Ryuji Sakamoto, who was her crush, was acting like he couldn’t see her even though she was so close to him.
Then, Kishimoto, who was listening while eating Kitsune udon, threw a heavy line at Tōjō Karen.
“Isn’t it because you don’t look like a girl?”
“What are you talking about? Are you picking a fight?”
“Calm down.”
I held back Tōjō Karen, who was trying to punch her, with one hand.
“Tsk.”
And then she kicked her tongue and sit back down.
Kishimoto, who evacuated one space away with her bowl of udon, pointed out her appearance as if she had to say something.“First of all, you want to look good to the person you like, but you don’t look that way with your clothes. Why don’t you take off those rustic gym clothes first?”
Kishimoto, as a former model, pointed out Tōjō’s fashion with a serious face. With a humiliating look on her lips, she took off her jersey from the gym clothes she was wearing on her sailor uniform.
But the remarks didn’t stop.
“Next is your face.”
“What?”
“What kind of makeup do you use?”
Then Tōjō hesitated and answered Kishimoto’s question.
“After I take a shower, I just put on toner and lotion and put on sunscreen or BB cream…”
Kishimoto asked, narrowing the gap between her brows.
“Are you an old man? No, you must use more cosmetics than that these days. How come an active JK doesn’t care about her appearance so much?
“Ugh.”
Tōjō Karen couldn’t refute a word of the relentless remarks that continued and clutched her heart.
At this point, I felt sorry for her, but Kishimoto’s criticism was not over yet.
“Before you want others to like you, why don’t you look back on yourself? You’re as bad-mouthed as a bully, you’re dressed roughly, and you’re walking around with a face without makeup and trying to win love without that much effort. Isn’t that too unconscionable?”
“Arrrgh!”
Eventually, it was completely sunk with a scream.
On the other hand, Kishimoto, who constantly made remarks, wiped her forehead with a relieved expression.
‘Well, Rika’s better with her words.’
Shortly afterwards, Tōjō Karen, who was completely in tatters, asked with an eager look.
“So, what am I supposed to do now? Should I give up my love for Sakamoto?”
“No, you don’t have to.”
“What?”
When Tōjō asked back with a surprised look, Kishimoto held her hand with a gracious look like a saint.
“If you haven’t taken care of it, you can take care of it now. But the original version isn’t bad, so if you sharpen it a little, you’ll be able to look pretty.”
“…Can I?”
Tōjō Karen was still half-believing, but Kishimoto smiled and nodded as usual.
“Yes, if you have the help of Rika Kishimoto, the love doctor.”
“Love doctor…”
I felt goosebumps all over my body when the unexpected title popped up.
Kishimoto then spread out her two fingers.
“First of all, if I have any advice for Ms. Tōjō, I’d like her to look good, and secondly, to treat her favorite person to a homemade dish.”
“A homemade dish?”
“There’s a saying that if you want to catch a man, grab his stomach first.”
“Ooh…”
Unlike the first time when she was half-convinced, she was completely convinced now.
“But I don’t know how to cook. Should I learn that from now on?”
Then Kishimoto laughed and flicked her index finger.
“Don’t worry about it! Ryu-chan is going to teach you!”
Huh? Me?
I looked at Kishimoto, who was doing things without prior consent, with a surprised look on my face, but she said with a brazen smile.
“Are you not going to meet Papa?”
It determined my fate.
“…of course, I’ll help you.”
Damn it.
***
The following day.
We went to Tōjō Karen’s house after school.
“Wow~ It’s big~”
“Hmph, this is nothing.”
Kishimoto, the daughter of a famous mangaka, was also from a very rich family, but Tōjō Karen’s house was different from that.
Literally, it was a huge samurai house in the middle of the city.
When the black car entered the site of the mansion, which looked sufficiently large for hundreds of pyeong, the Yakuza, who were waiting in advance, bowed down.
“”You’re back home! Miss!””
“Yes.”
When the driver opened the door, Tōjō Karen, who came out waving roughly, walked slowly along the marble road.
Curious eyes pour out on me and Kishimoto, who followed her out of the car.
“Are they your friends?”
“For a moment, I thought he was an assassin from another organization.”
“He has good muscles.”
I followed Tōjō’s little back, pretending not to hear their murmur.
The place where she took us was a spacious room with tatami mats.
Scrolls with orchids, luxurious jars, baseball bats and gloves, and various sports equipment were scattered randomly.
It was a room with an unbalanced feeling.
I asked as I looked around.
“Where are we?”
Then Tōjō Karen put down her backpack and said,
“My room.”
Then Kishimoto was really surprised.
“This is your room?”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The last time I went to Ryu-chan’s house, it wasn’t that different from this room.”
“Ugh.”
Apparently stabbed in the sore spot, Tōjō said with a sulky face.
“Anyway, that’s not the point right now.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Kishimoto clapped her hands as she said so and held out the paper bag she had been carrying since she first came to see Karen Tōjō.
“This is a gift from me.”
“…A gift?”
“I went to a cosmetics store yesterday and bought all the things you might need. I wrote down the basic cosmetics in a note, so if you finish using it, you can buy it again.”
It was a gift that Kishimoto had prepared for her, that she had only met a few days ago.
Tōjō Karen, who checked the stuff in the paper bag, looked at Kishimoto with a slightly surprised look on her face, scratched her cheek and said,
“Thank you;”
“You’re welcome.”
Kishimoto replied, smiling brightly.
***
“Anyway, let’s learn how to use cosmetics first.”
“All right.”
When Tōjō Karen heard Kishimoto’s words, she flipped the paper bag in her arms upside down.
Thud!
Then, a lot of cosmetics and makeup tools poured out.
Kishimoto began to explain it one by one.
“This is toner, lotion, BB cream, foundation, powder, mascara, eyebrow pencil…””
The mere mention of it made me dizzy.
And Tōjō, who usually rarely used cosmetics, had her eyes spinning.
“Well, wait a minute.”
“Huh? Do you have a question?”
“Why don’t you give me a demonstration? I don’t know what it’s all about.”
Then Kishimoto said, “Huh? It’s not difficult,” putting down her cosmetics and makeup tools.
“Do you have a big mirror in your room?” It’s faster to understand when you look at it.”
“…wait a minute. I’ll tell an employee to bring it right away.”
Tōjō Karen shook her head as she said so, opened the paper sliding door and left.
Maybe she was going to use this as an excuse to get some fresh air.
***
It was about 10 minutes later that Tōjō Karen, who went outside, returned to the room with a dressing table with a mirror.
Kishimoto sat in front of it, holding a brush and pencil with a serious look on her face.
It was like the expression of a master making an estimate before she carved the statue.
And time flew by in a flash.
To be honest, I still don’t know the types of cosmetics and tools, but I could see that Kishimoto’s makeup skills were excellent as I saw Tōjō’s face changing in real time.
After about half an hour of full makeup and hair styling, Kishimoto stepped back with a satisfied look.
“It’s a masterpiece made with all my might.”
Surely it wasn’t empty words.
It was almost like another level.
When the permission to look in the mirror was given, Tōjō Karen, who carefully reflected her face on the mirror of the dressing table, murmured in a dazed voice.
“…This is me?”
No, wait! Stop translating it in your head!
It was such a cliché scene that I shuddered without realizing it.
It seemed that my brain was thinking like in a love comedy.
“…This is me?”
Tōjō’s voice sounded normal now.
In the mirror, she was wearing circle lenses that made her brown eyes blinking and look moisturized.
Her face without any makeup was pretty, but when she put on makeup like this, she looked like a fairy.
Kishimoto, who was watching Tōjō touching her face as if she could not believe it, asked.
“How do you feel after putting on makeup for the first time in your life?”
“…I must admit it. I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Now we can fix it one by one. You still have plenty of time!”
By watching from the side, the conversation between the two was like a scene from a youth drama.
As I looked at it with my arms crossed and nodded, the attention returned to me.
“Then! I’ve taught you enough about how-to put-on makeup, so now it’s Ryu-chan’s turn!”
Ah.
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