Tokyo: Am I the only male tenant?

Having said that, Utsunomiya Maria doesn't care about it.

"Just asking, just to confirm a little bit. If Mai really works at Sousuke's school, will there be sparks flying between you two?"

She asked Ginjō while applying skin care products.

"Isn't it too early to talk about this now? After all, Miss Shimazu and I have only met once."

As if to say "What kind of stupid question are you asking?", Ginjo Sousuke answered quickly.

"Hahaha, I'm just asking casually. Cute types like Mai should be very popular among boys, right? So I want to know if Sousuke would be interested too."

Every woman around her could be a potential rival, Utsunomiya Maria asked tentatively as if jokingly.

"I bought you some juice out of kindness, but I didn't expect you would still interrogate me."

Ginjo Sousuke gave a helpless smile.

"Hey, yeah, I haven't thanked Sousuke yet. How did you know I wanted to drink some juice?"

Maria Utsunomiya had already applied sunscreen and turned around to look at her handsome and thoughtful new neighbor.

"Because we drank up all the drinks in your refrigerator after dinner yesterday. The weather is so hot, everyone needs to prepare a few bottles of ice-cold juice."

Ginjo held the phone high in front of Utsunomiya Maria's nose again. She took it silently, looking at Ginjo with charming eyes and a hearty smile.

After she changed her clothes, the two of them went out immediately.

The train lines were particularly smooth today, and when they arrived near the address sent by Shimazu Mai, there was still plenty of time before the agreed time.

"Will I stand out like this, Sousuke?"

"If you ask me, Maria needs to wear those warning colors all over her body. If you were in the wild, someone as dazzling as you would be very dangerous."

"I hesitated for a moment before going out. I wanted to wear that khaki all in one..."

"What is All in One? Oh, is it the kind of clothes where the upper body and lower body are connected together?"

"Yeah, that's it. Sosuke knows even this? Some girl must have taught you that, right?"

"That's why I thought you shouldn't wear this one. Actually, you should wear that one today."

Wearing a gorgeous lemon yellow dress, Maria Utsunomiya slung a parasol diagonally over her shoulders, trying her best to conceal her extremely gorgeous outfit, and was hiding under the wall of someone else's house.

As for Ginjo Sosuke, he was still wearing a simple solid-color T-shirt, shorts that exposed his calves, and beach sandals with thin soles.

At noon on the street corner, the scorching sun burned the shadows of two people onto the ground.

Even hiding under the parasol, Utsunomiya Maria's face was still flushed with heat. She held a small opera in her hand and peeked through a telescope.

She seemed to be very fond of this telescope she used when watching operas. She always carried it with her and put it in any bag she brought, no matter how small.

As for the reason...because girls always have a logic that is hard to guess when doing things, that's the only explanation I can give.

Maria Utsunomiya and Ginjo came to the neighborhood where Shimazu Mai's house lived, but they couldn't find the specific house for a while.

"By the way, the weather today seems to be much hotter than yesterday?"

Ginjo Sousuke, who was sweating all over due to the scorching sun, quickly raised his objection.

"We seem to have arrived a little early. No one answered Ms. Shimazu's phone call. Do you want to find a place to rest first?"

"I'm craving some shaved ice. Aren't there a lot of shops near the train station? I can go in and enjoy some cool air."

"Shaved ice? Of course not! It would be very troublesome."

Hearing Ginjō's words, Utsunomiya Maria waved her parasol and shouted.

"Why? What's wrong with eating shaved ice? Shaved ice is the best thing in this weather."

"I'll have the Blue Hawaii flavor, or maybe strawberry condensed milk ice."

"As for Maria, it can match with your yellow dress today. Yes! Let's have the curry flavor! Don't you like curry the most?"

Absolutely no curry flavor. Aren't there other flavors like lemon, mango or pineapple to choose from? Why did you choose curry instead? This is shaved ice, not fried noodles. Absolutely not allowed.

"No flavor is good! Eating something cold will make me want to go to the bathroom all the time!"

"Just think about it, if you go to a friend's house and keep going to the bathroom, you might end up with a clogged toilet. That would be really embarrassing..."

It turns out that Utsunomiya Maria was thinking about this matter. It is indeed difficult to understand women's thinking.

In front of the two people was a very ordinary, featureless white-walled building.

Like all common construction projects in Tokyo's 23 wards, this house utilizes the maximum floor area ratio and is transformed into a pencil-shaped three-story building.

There is no yard or low wall. The entrance walkway is paved with cement, which can also be used as a parking space. There are several flattened and bundled thick cardboard boxes standing on it.

There was no car in the parking space, and at a glance you could see the dark blue gate at the back.

The surrounding houses are mostly of this type, and the entire residential area is filled with the heat of a midsummer afternoon.

From time to time, elementary school students, sweating profusely, would pass by on their bicycles, making a lot of noise. This was the unique atmosphere of the summer vacation.

After all, it was too hot.

"Why didn't Mai answer the phone? Did you forget to bring your phone? Waiting here is no use. I'll go check the name tag on the door."

Maria Utsunomiya fanned her face with her hands and walked away alone, the sound of her high heels making their way down her sandals.

Her beautiful golden curls were neatly braided today and tied up high like a goddess in Greek mythology. The rhinestones on the hairpin sparkled in the midsummer sun.

While watching the glittering light go away——

“Huh?!”

A baby voice as sweet as strawberry milk and yet inexplicably childish sounded from behind Ginjo Sousuke.

But what is "eh?" It's a strange greeting.

He turned around and saw that it was Shimazu Mai standing there.

"Mr. Ginjo?! Are you here so early? Have you been waiting for a long time?"

The dark and moist eyes sparkled like two gems, the little face was snow-white, and her hands were holding plastic bags from the convenience store and the bookstore respectively.

As soon as they met, Ginjō was thrown into a whirlpool of cuteness. Shimazu Mai appeared, who was several times cuter than when they met yesterday.

That surprised face is so adorable, and the slender fingers pointing at Ginjō are so adorable too.

The ring with a red stone on her outstretched index finger was also very cute, like a toy.

All in all, she is like the ultimate embodiment of cuteness, absorbing the cute essence of all girls in the world.

Yesterday's twin ponytails were tied into two buns today, and the childlike delicate shoulders were tanned a light pink by the sun.

She wore a multi-layered ethnic beaded vest paired with baggy jeans and Birkenstocks.

The delicate bridge of her nose was also tinged with a layer of red due to the heat. When Ginjo saw her yesterday, he thought of her as a junior high school student, and today she looked even more childish.

That’s right, Shimazu Mai is a young fairy, the little princess of the fairy kingdom.

She tilted her head suspiciously and looked at Ginjo, the beads on her vest rustled and the two loosely tied buns swayed above her ears.

"Because I have never been here before, I misjudged the time it would take to get here. The train was also surprisingly smooth today, so I ended up waiting here early."

Ginjo Sousuke explained the whole story to her.

"Huh? Is that so? Then why didn't you call me earlier?"

An expression of serious thinking instantly appeared on Shimazu Mai's face.

"Yes, Maria called many times, but no one answered."

Ginjo Sosuke expressed this to her helplessly.

"How could that be? Ah! Did I forget to bring my phone with me when I went out?"

Shimazu Mai quickly put down the plastic bag in her hand and searched her trouser pockets, but found nothing.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you guys would come over soon, so I went to the convenience store to prepare some snacks. I said I would pick you up at the station after I dropped off my things, but in the end..."

Shimazu Mai's face, which was as innocent as a cat, showed a very guilty expression.

"That's all right. We've found the place, but we're not sure which house it is."

Ginjo Sousuke hurried to comfort her.

"Yeah, it's too hot outside, let's go inside quickly."

"By the way, why is it that only Mr. Ginjo is here? Where's Maria?"

Shimazu Mai looked up at him, puffed up one pink cheek and muttered.

That delicate face with perfectly balanced features is even more eye-catching under the glaring summer sun.

"Hey, Maria is over there."

Ginjo Sousuke pointed forward.

"Huh? Really? What is she doing outside my house?"

In front of the fingertips, Utsunomiya Maria was walking back and forth stealthily near the entrance of the Shimazu family, hiding herself with an umbrella, holding her mini telescope in her hand.

Two elementary school boys passing by on scooters looked at her suspiciously from a distance.

"That's called breaking into a house."

Ginjo looked at Utsunomiya Maria calmly, pointed at her, and answered Shimazu Mai in the tone of introducing rare birds and animals.

The two men exchanged glances, then walked up together and arrested the "thief with bad intentions."

"What are you doing? I was just checking the name tag on the door!"

"Don't move! If you want to see the name tag, it's on the mailbox! How dare you try to break in through such an open and eye-catching door? You are such an amateur!"

Under Ginjo's command, Shimazu Mai playfully reached out from behind Utsunomiya Maria and suddenly inserted her hand into her armpit inside her sleeveless dress.

"Wow--!"

With his mouth wide open and a long scream drawn out from his philtrum, he stared blankly at the hand he had pulled out from under Utsunomiya Maria's armpit.

"What's wrong, Mai? Is it armpit sweat? Did you touch it just now?"

When Utsunomiya Maria asked this, Shimazu Mai shook her head violently.

"On the contrary, just the opposite! Maria's armpits are so dry and smooth, I'm really shocked... How, how can they be kept so clean and cold?"

"Even if you're a beauty, this isn't very human, is it? It's midsummer now!"