Chapter 165

Unless he could earn at least 600 million yen within two months, it would be absolutely impossible to redeem his former residence.

If he had a year, Natsume Chikage was certain he could earn that amount—in his previous life, the sales of "The Devotion of Suspect X" exceeded 1 billion in just one year.

But now the time limit was only two months, and it was quite difficult to earn 600 million yen with just this one book.

In other words, Natsume Chikage couldn't rely solely on this book; he had to think of other ways.

Speaking of which, he still had one chance to use "The Boy's Painful Diary".

He could copy another novel he had read in his previous life, and work in tandem with "The Devotion of Suspect X" to raise funds in the short term.

Besides that, there was the "New Talent Shogi Tournament"—if he could win all the way to the end, he could earn about 40 million yen.

Currently, these were the two fastest ways for Natsume Chikage to earn big money.

Regarding the shogi tournament, to ensure victory, he sincerely hoped that the relic of Senior Yasui Ryouto was a "special item".

If it was, perhaps it could also improve some of his strength.

But if that were the case… it would also mean that the relic of the Mido family was also likely a special item.

This was a bit awkward.

Natsume Chikage recalled carefully and found that even though he had collected more than three special items, no synthesis prompt had ever appeared.

This showed that all the special items he had obtained were of different types.

Currently, he wasn't very clear about how the "types" of special items were specifically divided.

But what was certain was that shogi-related special items definitely belonged to the same type.

This was beyond doubt.

Therefore, if what Yasui Ryouto had wasn't a special item, he would have to specifically look for whether there were shogi-related special items elsewhere, to see what the effect would be after synthesis.

Just as Natsume Chikage was lost in thought.

Someone behind him gently patted his shoulder, and a playful female voice came:

"Natsume-kun, good morning!"

Natsume Chikage turned around immediately.

He saw Akita Sana, who had twin tails and cute fangs when she smiled, standing behind him.

He had met this girl yesterday and remembered that she seemed to be a good friend of Kondo Miki.

"I remember you are… Akita-san?"

Akita Sana said happily:

"Natsume-kun actually remembers my name, I'm so happy~"

"By the way, are you free after school? Do you want to go out and play with me, Miki, and a few other friends?"

Natsume Chikage shook his head:

"No, I have to go to work in the afternoon."

Akita Sana pouted, really feeling that there was no need to do a job where the daily wage was less than 10,000 yen.

You know, when she went out to play, she would spend 10,000 or 20,000 yen without a second thought.

However, she also knew that Natsume Chikage's family circumstances were poor, and working was indeed a last resort.

Although she couldn't help with his family's debts, she didn't mind helping out with small amounts of money.

Maybe she could even use this to ask him out on a date with her.

Akita Sana's eyes turned, and a little idea suddenly popped up.

"Speaking of which, where do you work part-time, Natsume-kun?"

Natsume Chikage explained:

"A coffee shop."

Akita Sana was a bit surprised:

"A coffee shop… that's a pretty good place to work."

"But with your conditions, Natsume-kun, perhaps there are better choices?"

Natsume Chikage was actually intrigued:

"Better choices? What are they?"

Akita Sana giggled, revealing her cute little fangs, and suggested:

"Isn't there an app called rental boyfriend, rental girlfriend recently?"

"The income from working one day like that might be higher than a month's salary at a coffee shop."

"You're so handsome, Natsume-kun, I think you're especially suitable for this!"

"If you're willing, there will definitely be many girls booking you every day!"

She calculated in her heart that if Natsume Chikage agreed, she would book all his time and make him go on dates with her every day!

Natsume Chikage was silent for a moment, not expecting that this was the kind of work she was suggesting.

The more conspicuous he was, the more trouble he would attract, and sometimes he would even attract particularly crazy girls—he had deeply experienced this since he was a child.

Because of this, Natsume Chikage had disliked being in the spotlight since he was a child.

Not to mention going on dates with girls specifically to make money.

He didn't like to go against his own heart and flatter girls just to make money.

Although this was a matter of mutual consent, he personally didn't like this kind of behavior.

Of course, Natsume Chikage wouldn't blame those who chose to do so.

Other people's choices had nothing to do with him, and he didn't have the mind to preach.

Let those who like it do it; anyway, he wasn't interested.

Natsume Chikage never thought of himself as a saint or a good person.

But he had his own principles.

Within his principles, he would do things that were opportunistic.

Even if he was scolded as a bad person, as long as it didn't violate his principles, he didn't care what others said.

What's more, Natsume Chikage could now earn money by writing novels and participating in shogi tournaments, so why bother earning this kind of petty profit.

Natsume Chikage shook his head:

"Sorry, I'm not interested in this kind of work."

"No matter how much money it is, I won't do it."

Akita Sana was stunned, then hurriedly explained, fearing that he would hate her:

"Ah… I, I just mentioned it casually, don't take it to heart."

"It was just a joke… yes, a joke, haha!"

She hurriedly changed the subject and said sheepishly:

"Ah, by the way… the cream puffs you made last time were delicious, I especially liked them!"

Natsume Chikage remembered that he only gave cream puffs to the Kondo family, and asked suspiciously:

"You ate them too?"

Akita Sana's face stiffened again, and she didn't dare to say that Kondo Miki didn't bring those cream puffs home at all, and she had eaten them all.

If Natsume Chikage knew, he might have some opinions about Kondo Miki and her.

The desserts he worked hard to make were given to others, but were passed on to someone else…

At this moment, she really wanted to slap herself.

She didn't understand why she, who was usually eloquent, would become so clumsy in front of Natsume Chikage, whom she liked, and say the wrong thing repeatedly!