Starting a New Life in Tokyo by Inheriting a Shopping Street [15]

The elderly assistant with graying hair—Chiba Shuuichi’s go-to errand man—had come by once again, helped finalize the lease contract, and left immediately afterward.

Watching the mother and daughter bubble with excitement over their new place, Chiba Shuuichi felt… a little guilty.

“Now that the contract’s signed, shall we go take a look at the property itself?”

“Oh, right!” The two replied in perfect unison.

Oh, come on.

Who even signs a lease before checking out the place?!

Honestly, not scamming them felt like a disservice to their level of blind trust.

Chiba stood up and led them next door to the shop, unable to resist muttering, “You know, you two really shouldn’t trust people so easily. What if I’d been a scammer?”

“Eh?!” Akiyama An gasped and stared at him wide-eyed. “Chiba-kun, are you saying… you tricked us? Was there something wrong with the contract?!”

Chiba pressed a hand to his forehead, sighing. “No. There isn’t.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.” An smiled brightly, immediately reassured.

Mrs. Akiyama even tapped her daughter on the forehead, half-chiding. “How could you say that? Chiba-kun’s such a well-mannered young man. Of course he wouldn’t lie.”

“But you always say Onee-san is well-mannered too, and she lies to me all the time,” An puffed her cheeks in protest.

Chiba’s scalp began to itch. Their conversations are a danger to my IQ. If I listen seriously, I might actually get dumber.

“Waaah, this place is huge! Finally, we won’t have to cram everything in!” An ran happily around the space like a sparrow hopping through tree branches.

The property was sixty square meters in total, split between two floors. That left about thirty upstairs for the three of them to live in.

Even accounting for Japan’s typical efficiency in residential design—no shared hallway spaces—that was still tiny. Gave Chiba a pretty good idea of how cramped their old place must have been.

Still, he didn’t feel any particular sympathy. When he first started working in his past life, his place had been just as small.

This was Tokyo. Space was a luxury.

“Once we move everything in, it won’t look quite this spacious,” Mrs. Akiyama said, surveying the shop with a big, satisfied grin. “This place used to be a restaurant, right? We won’t even need to renovate. Just swap out the signboard and we’re good to go!”

“That’s right. It was an izakaya before,” Chiba confirmed. That was one of the main reasons he’d recommended this space in the first place.

“That saves us even more money. Wonderful~” Mrs. Akiyama clapped her hands, brimming with satisfaction. “We really owe you one, Chiba-kun. Without your help, we never would’ve found such a perfect place.”

Seeing her so pleased, Chiba suddenly remembered to check the system.

As expected, several new notifications popped up.

[Akiyama-san’s sense of belonging for the Shopping Street +30]

She shot up that fast?! Faster than Ogawa Fumika, even…

“…Monthly salary’s up to 800,000 now,” Chiba muttered, eyes gleaming.

If he had a few more easily satisfied, loyalty-prone “excellent proprietors” like her, life would be perfect.

I wonder if any of my classmates have family members like this… Maybe I should ask Uchida Yae? He’s the only one the previous ‘me’ was close to.

Chiba spent a while more walking the mother and daughter around, but the easy progress finally hit a snag—

Akiyama Tsuki, the older sister, was on her way.

She hadn’t come with them initially because she was attending cram school for English. But upon hearing the news around noon, she hurried over.

By the time Tsuki arrived, Chiba had already gone to Yoshinoya for lunch. She stormed into the shop and immediately grabbed her mother’s shoulders.

“What’s going on here?! Why didn’t either of you say anything before signing a lease?!”

“Now, now, Tsuki-chan, don’t panic. This property was such a great deal—we had to grab it before someone else did!” her mom replied serenely.

“How cheap is ‘cheap’?” Tsuki frowned, glancing around the shop and quickly doing a mental estimate based on the location.

For a 30-square-meter storefront in this area, rent should’ve been around 120,000 yen per month.

“Just 60,000 yen~” her mother said proudly, clearly fishing for praise.

“What? That cheap?! That’s almost half the going rate around here!” Tsuki’s tone sharpened. Her mind worked fast, and so did her speech. “There must be something wrong. Look—there are still a bunch of empty shops next door.”

“That’s not it,” Mrs. Akiyama said, missing the point. “It’s not just thirty square meters—the second floor is included, and we can live there! Very convenient. You won’t have to keep commuting so far either, Tsuki-chan.”

“What? You mean it includes the second floor too?!” Tsuki’s eyes widened. That made the price even more absurd. There’s definitely a catch.

“And there’s no key money or deposit required. Even the management fees are included!” her mother added with a proud grin. “Aren’t I amazing for finding this place?”

“It was me who found it! You’re just taking the credit!” An pouted, cheeks puffed.

“You two really think I’m about to praise you?” Tsuki’s face darkened as she grabbed both of them by the cheeks and tugged hard. “How do you not see this price is insane? We’ve definitely been conned!”

Mrs. Akiyama and An both mumbled protests through pinched cheeks.

“No way. Chiba-kun said it was fine. He told me it wasn’t a scam—he even said this whole shopping street belongs to him.”

“Exactly! Chiba-kun’s such a good kid—he’d never lie,” her mother added cheerfully.

“…Chiba?” Tsuki’s expression froze. She turned toward her sister. “Wait a second. That name sounds familiar… Is he the one you mentioned a few days ago? The guy you thought was going to confess to you on the rooftop, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding, and then he said he was disappointed?”

“Mm-hmm! That’s him.” An nodded enthusiastically.

Tsuki slowly released both of them and closed her eyes, trying to suppress the fury brewing inside.

This idiotic mother… She’s basically sold off my idiotic little sister without even realizing it.

All it took was one moment of carelessness… and here we are.

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T/N: LMAOOOOOOOOOOO i guess one of the family members needs to be extra vigilant

This is a fan translation of 从继承商店街开始东京生活 by 净消尘土 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!