Uncle Hikigaya is Forever Young [54]

Logically, as a graduate from a teacher-training university, Kirisu Mafuyu should already have some classroom experience.

But she had switched careers midway; previously, she'd been an athlete.

After transferring into education, just completing the exams and basic courses had been stressful enough—there’d been no time left for proper internships or accumulating teaching experience.

“That’s right. If you can teach comfortably to someone familiar as though they’re many unfamiliar students, standing in front of a real, unfamiliar class won’t be a problem.”

Hikigaya Ryōhei, seated comfortably in his chair, imparted this advice to the twenty-one-year-old girl who stood nervously before him.

He had plenty of experience with this scenario, having mentored many young teachers before.

“I-Is that right? By the way, Hikigaya-senpai, you really haven't taught professionally before?”

Faced with Ryōhei’s approach, Mafuyu’s initial reaction as a rookie was embarrassment… and slight hesitation. She hastily changed the topic.

“Yeah, everything I know I learned in university!” Hikigaya Ryōhei shamelessly lied through his teeth.

“Really?”

“Really.”

At this moment, Mafuyu briefly wondered if she might be better off going back to study again.

Since she was both new and merely an intern (temporary worker), Mafuyu usually only ran errands and did miscellaneous tasks, never receiving an opportunity to teach a real class.

To gain practical teaching experience, she could only rely on the kindness of senior teachers.

But being new to society, with her limited social skills, she felt awkward and unsure about approaching more experienced veteran teachers.

Thus, she'd initially attended several of Hikigaya Ryōhei’s classes as a trial run—and afterward conveniently asked Ryōhei to mentor her.

Uncle Hikigaya was easygoing and approachable. He didn’t boss around his juniors, nor did he expect tea or coffee service.

“Mafuyu, work hours are over. I've still got some errands to run today. We’ll discuss teaching issues next time,” Ryōhei said, glancing at the clock.

“It’s already after hours?! Sorry, sorry! Let me help tidy your desk.” The pink-haired girl quickly bowed, hastily beginning to organize Ryōhei’s workspace.

“All right, see you tomorrow then!”

Ryōhei stood up, tossed two books into his bag, and waved goodbye to the girl.

After Ryōhei had left, Mafuyu, while tidying his desk, accidentally spotted a notebook lying open, densely filled with various numbers.

Curious, she picked it up and saw it was full of rental housing information—minimum lease periods, deposits, monthly rents, and so forth.

“Oh! Hikigaya-sensei is looking for a new place to live? Makes sense. Since he’s got a new job now, his old place must be far away, right?”

Mafuyu wasn’t usually the gossipy type, uncomfortable with invading someone’s privacy. Only now did she realize she didn't even know where Hikigaya-sensei lived.

Besides knowing Uncle Hikigaya had a socially oblivious son, she hardly knew anything else.

As a kouhai relying on his teaching for this long, she’d never formally visited him at home…

Was it inappropriate as a newcomer in the workplace?

Mafuyu felt awkward. Scratching the back of her neck, she resolved to ask her seniors later tonight about proper workplace etiquette.

“Hmm, should I consider changing where I live too?”

Kirisu Mafuyu suddenly felt tempted.

Even as an intern, Sōbu High was still a fairly prestigious public high school. Her current salary was about half of what a full-time teacher earned.

Given today’s economic environment, this was still barely manageable.

Her current residence was rather far, with a daily commute of two hours round trip.

Noticing most of the rental information Hikigaya-sensei had collected was near Sōbu High, the pink-haired girl’s heart stirred. She quickly took out her phone and snapped a photo.

After that, she still needed to inspect the cleanliness of the school grounds…

...

After bidding farewell to the diligent and studious Kirisu Mafuyu, Ryōhei didn’t go straight home to prepare dinner for the kids today.

He’d already contacted a landlord and planned to check out a rental property this afternoon.

Three kids and one adult crammed into that small, single-bedroom apartment was indeed too cramped.

Setting aside how detrimental it was to the children's healthy growth, it was also highly inconvenient for Ryōhei to prepare lessons or study during his free time.

Moreover, back when it had just been Komachi—a little girl—it didn’t matter much. Even if she ran around shirtless, both he and Hachiman turned a blind eye.

But now that Akeno was here, it really wasn’t suitable.

Not to mention, Akeno was an orphan—she might be more sensitive than other children her age.

Ryōhei felt it best to provide these two little girls with as much private space as he could manage within his means.

“Hello, I’m at the street corner now. I should turn left at the telephone pole, third house, right?”

Upon arrival, Hikigaya Ryōhei called the landlord and smoothly found the house he might rent.

He’d found this listing directly through Chiba’s local community services website.

Thanks to the devastating crash in the housing market half a year ago, renting wasn’t difficult at all nowadays. The market overflowed with available houses—from high-end to low-end, large apartments to small units, suburban outskirts to city centers. Countless properties were available for sale or rent.

Of course, the surge in vacancy rates had nothing to do with the increasing number of homeless people around Tokyo.

Because they simply had no money!

And the reason for their lack of money was widespread unemployment.

"The rich man’s fields spread far and wide, the poor have nowhere to place an awl."

From this perspective, Hikigaya Ryōhei was actually quite fortunate.

“You must be Hikigaya-san, right? Please come in!”

“Sorry for intruding.”

A middle-aged man around Ryōhei’s age welcomed him; he was the property’s owner.

Not an agent—Ryōhei specifically avoided using agents.

Because he was still poor!

Recently, he’d diligently researched the complicated state of rental housing in modern Japan.

Renting property in Japan wasn’t easy. With countless fees and hidden charges, even native Japanese tenants were often left bewildered, let alone an “outsider” like himself.

The original “Hikigaya Ryōhei” had been scammed by an agent. The amount he’d paid could have easily afforded a much better apartment than the cramped one-bedroom unit he ended up with.

Saving money meant investing time and effort.

Ryōhei had already looked at two or three places.

Today's property seemed particularly promising. Firstly, it was directly rented by the landlord, eliminating agency fees equivalent to a month's rent.

Additionally, there were no extra fees payable to rental-guarantee insurance companies.

Moreover, when speaking with the landlord yesterday by phone, he’d learned the family was urgently moving out of Chiba and returning to their hometown from the Tokyo metropolitan area for personal reasons.

So the landlord was in a hurry, conditions were flexible, and the price wasn't high either.

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This is a fan translation of 比企谷大叔永远年轻 by Stargazer All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!