Tokyo: Am I the only male tenant?

Granny Shimizu looked at Lisa Shiraishi carefully from head to toe as if she was judging her...

Then he slammed his hands and yelled, "Ahhh!"

"Are you Lisa?!"

After shouting loudly, Granny Shimizu immediately reached out to Lisa Shiraishi's armpits, demonstrated incredible strength, and picked her up.

Lisa Shiraishi was at the mercy of Grandma Shimizu. When she was held high up by Grandma Shimizu's armpits, she looked like a kitten.

"Yes...that's right...I'm Lisa..."

"Long time no see...Mrs. Qingshui... No... Aunt Qingshui..."

When Lisa Shiraishi answered in a gentle voice, Granny Shimizu's expression instantly brightened.

Her smile was so bright that her previous ferocious and terrifying appearance like a demon seemed to be just an illusion of Ginjo.

"Hey, hey, hey! Did you come all the way from so far away to see me?"

"You've grown into a big girl in the blink of an eye. Look how cute you are, like a baby!"

"Welcome to Shimizu, Lisa!"

Granny Shimizu's enthusiasm for Lisa Shiraishi was in stark contrast to the two people who were still being pinned down and hit on the head.

Even if she is your only relative, there is no need to treat her with such double standards, right?

Although Ginjo wanted to say something to the old man, he held back considering what had just happened.

----

The spiral shells, from which the snail meat had been picked out cleanly, made a crackling sound as they rolled to the bottom of the faded bowl.

When Lisa Shiraishi looked at the holes of the empty shells piled in the big bowl, the thought of "I really want to get in" came to her mind. Her current situation was so embarrassing.

Because the person sitting across the table from her is...

"I'm talking to Lisa."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

When her name was suddenly called, Lisa Shiraishi suddenly raised her drooped neck.

Looking closely, she saw that the man sitting cross-legged was staring at her with a strange expression.

No, that might just be her normal look at him, but her eyes were unusually sharp, so he had that illusion.

——Natsuka Imai.

For some reason, Lisa Shiraishi is now sitting face to face with her in the Japanese-style guest room of the Minshuku "Kiyomizu".

Not only Ginjo Sosuke, but even the B&B owner Granny Shimizu is not here.

Because after the sandwich incident, Granny Shimizu took Ginjō away without thinking, saying, "I have some rough work to do, come and help me."

That's why the two of them are alone together now.

Lisa Shiraishi was not used to interacting with strangers, and she had to share a room with such a scary person...

A few minutes ago, her mind was full of summer and the sea, and she was so excited that it seemed as if she had never existed.

Maybe I shouldn't have chosen to come to this place where I have relatives. I thought this place was remote enough, but...

The sound of wind chimes, the sound of waves outside the window, the cries of seagulls, and the clattering of shells rolling to the bottom of the bowl.

Will this time last forever?

When Lisa Shiraishi had such doubts in her heart, Natsuka Imai said in a low voice that sounded unhappy, holding a toothpick in her mouth.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

She gestured with her eyes to another bowl in the center of the table.

According to Grandma Qingshui, it looked like braised conch.

This big bowl of braised conch was placed on the table as a treat for them by Grandma Qingshui before she left.

“This is really delicious!”

After saying this, Natsuka Imai did not forget to raise her chin, as if she was urging Lisa Shiraishi to eat faster.

"I don't really have much of an appetite... Miss Imai has eaten all of it..."

Lisa Shiraishi replied with a stiff and unnatural polite smile.

"How can one person finish all this?"

It seemed that her politeness failed, and she pursed her lips tightly into a straight line.

"Besides, it's embarrassing for me to eat alone. Let's eat together!"

"Oh well..."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade her, Lisa Shiraishi had to pick up a conch with her fingers.

The conch was probably a little larger than her thumb.

The conch is not a bivalve mollusk. Its shell is spiral-shaped like ice cream and it is a very standard shellfish.

To be honest, for Lisa Shiraishi, who has only eaten cockles and clams in her life, the appearance of the conch is quite difficult to accept.

No matter what, she always thinks of snails first.

By the way, how do you eat this?

The opening of the shell looks like it has a lid...

"Uh-huh?"

Lisa Shiraishi tried to observe the conch in her hand from various angles.

"Eat quickly, Lisa. What are you still looking at?"

Seeing her touching here and there, Imai Natsuka's expression gradually became more and more unhappy.

"To be honest, I've never eaten this before..."

Lisa Shiraishi's parents are very traditional, so they mostly eat Japanese food at home.

"Alas, the girls in big cities are really different."

Natsuka Imai sighed in front of her without any courtesy.

"Look carefully."

After she finished speaking, she picked up a conch from the bowl and held it in her hand.

She skillfully poked a toothpick into the shell through the gap in the lid, then turned her wrist -

slippery.

With great skill, she used only a toothpick to pick out a ball of plump, tender, cream-colored snail meat from the spiral shell.

"Whoa whoa?"

"That's amazing, Ms. Imai."

Lisa Shiraishi was amazed, her eyes widened.

"What is there to admire about this..."

After saying this dumbfoundedly, Imai Natsuka used her fingers to peel off the lid stuck to the snail meat and stuffed the plump and tender snail meat into her mouth.

Another conch shell, whose meat had been cleaned clean, rolled into the big bowl.

"Now you know what to do, come and try it."

"Mmmmm~"

Lisa Shiraishi nodded deeply.

Putting aside the appearance of the conch, it was just so satisfying to see Natsuka Imai pick the conch meat out of the shell so neatly and quickly.

Lisa Shiraishi imitated Imai Natsuka with great enthusiasm, and poked the gap in the lid with a toothpick.

"Oh!"

As a result, the toothpick broke into two pieces with a "snap" sound.

"Strange, how could this happen?"

Did you stab too hard?

Lisa Shiraishi continued to challenge, but...

"Eh?"

Why did it break again?

"What the hell are you doing... Don't try to use brute force to poke the snail meat out. Once the toothpick is inserted into the snail meat, do what I did."

Natsuka Imai turned her wrist inward, making a scooping motion as if she was reaching up.

"so?"

Lisa Shiraishi took out the third toothpick and imitated her.

Just like using the power of your wrist skillfully...ah...

"Pah" With an embarrassing sound, she wasted precious resources again.

My wrist flexibility is obviously quite good. Could it be that I am used to the intensity of water polo sports and am not used to these delicate operations?

Lisa Shiraishi felt very puzzled.

“The technology sucks.”

Natsuka Imai complained to her without showing any mercy.

"There's nothing I can do about you, Lisa."

She sighed and picked up another conch.

Then, as deftly as ever, she used a toothpick to pick out the snail meat, peeled off the lid with her fingers, and suddenly leaned forward onto the table.

"Come."

She stuffed a whole snail into Lisa Shiraishi's mouth.