12. Dating an ajumma like this is a bit...
12. Dating an ajumma like this is a bit...
"So, Vivian, what is it really? You didn't just come over to waste time."
Since it was vacation and there weren't really any students around, I closed the store about an hour earlier than usual.
Of course, there were times during vacation when I'd close an hour or two early, but today was even earlier than that.
Well, since I'm self-employed, it's only my loss, so who cares?
"Umm......."
"What is it?"
"Skadi, do you still keep in touch with any classmates these days?"
"......What?"
"No, I went on a blind date recently. It failed again."
"......."
"I was wondering if you knew any male acquaintances you could introduce me to......?"
I was dumbfounded by what she said while sitting in the quiet cafe.
A friend I hadn't seen in a long time was saying something like this.
After telling me she came to hang out, she says this.
I just had no words.
And she's someone who knows me pretty well, too.
We've known each other since our academy days, so what the hell is she talking about?
"Like I would have any?"
"Right, thought so."
"Sigh."
Vivian Evermore, who lives as the president of a fairly expensive business, but the true identity of this woman is... just a lifelong virgin who's never had a proper relationship before turning 30, blah blah blah.
Unlike me, she's desperate to date, but she's the kind of woman who can't have a proper relationship at all.
I actually know the reason, but since she still hasn't realized it herself, she just keeps repeating the same situation... one of the people who is even dumber than me.
"Haa... I really thought it would work out this time......."
"Oh, really?"
"I really had a good feeling! He was decent-looking, and he liked to drink too......? We would have matched hobbies."
Dealing with a woman like this was much more annoying than I thought.
No, it was just fucking annoying.
I'm 27, an age where I should be turning into a somewhat mature person, but it was truly annoying to the point where that was impossible when dealing with Vivian.
"But are you still living alone these days?"
"Who else would I live with?"
"No, you're 27. You're not going to date and just live alone? Shouldn't you start meeting someone now?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Don't meet some random person later, just start meeting people now, okay?"
"Who gives a shit."
"Are you really going to stay single until you die?"
"What's wrong with that?"
I've lived just fine until now, haven't I?
This woman has been like this for a long time.
The type who believes you must date, and you must find a partner in life.
Of course, if you think about your old age, it would be good to date, get married, have kids, and live like that.
But I don't really think about things like that.
It's not like the Snow Woman race is the same as regular humans, and since I was a man in my past life, I didn't really like the idea of dating men.
Physiological revulsion.
That was something that inevitably remained.
Even after living as a woman for 27 years, the fact that I lived as a man for about 20 years didn't just disappear, did it?
"You'll regret it later, you know?"
"I'm pretty, so I won't regret it even later, right?"
"...You damn bitch."
Even if I understand the desire to date, I have absolutely no intention of doing so.
I just reacted normally to the words of a friend who had visited after a long time.
Instead, it was Vivian's words that filled the quiet cafe.
"I really hope you regret it a lot......."
"You're regretting it right now."
"...Damn it."
"So, did you just come to vent? Is there no other reason at all?"
"Well, if you knew any men...... I was going to talk more about that, but since you don't, I thought we could talk business. How about the new product?"
"I'm down."
She's a woman who says useless things, but.
I couldn't deny that she was a capable person, and that's why she was also a business partner with whom I run the convenience store business.
Of course, I handle parts like rent and maintenance costs, and she distributes goods developed and produced in her other businesses to me, something like that.
It was roughly academic talk.
Boring stories rather than fun ones.
Things about the process of me ordering goods for the convenience store and waiting for them to arrive.
Even though there are times when she suddenly visits like today to vent on her own, she was a woman whose skill and ability were hard to deny.
"The cup noodles you mentioned...... sales are way better than expected, right? So I prepared a new flavor this time, and I analyzed sales during the [Exam Period]. Caffeinated drinks sold like crazy, so I thought I should develop those too this time."
"Hmm......."
"Besides that, I'm analyzing the reasons for low-sales products. I thought it would be better to look into this a bit more, and then prepare the goods."
Unlike me, who just sells goods as they are, she was a woman with strengths in slightly more boring and academic areas.
On the other hand, she has ability, money, and even her face is, well, above average—why can't she date? It was dumbfounding.
To say her taste is weird would be a stretch, as she seemed perfectly fine by the standards of a friend.
Why does she screw it up every time?
"Making cosmetics at a price point that would be okay to sell at a convenience store might be difficult. I'm thinking of making the quality good while cutting costs, but...... the price is bound to be different from existing products."
"That can't be helped. If a product line like cosmetics were similar to simple drinks or noodles, that would be weird in its own right."
"Of course, I succeeded in making it a bit cheaper than the cosmetics nobles usually use. I'm going to try mass production now...... if I feel the quality is consistent, then it would be fine to launch it once."
"Nice."
Even just talking like this, I feel like men wouldn't normally dislike her.
Right away, men just normally feel attraction if the face is pretty, the body is good, the personality is normal, and she listens well to what they say......
Actually, even if she only met about half of the four things mentioned earlier.
Even if she had just one of those, they would feel attraction.
Just look at Noah; he's been following me around for months because of my face, right?
It's like that.
In that sense, Vivian doesn't seem to be lacking much.
Her black hair and red eyes might look a bit intense, and she tends to wear her lipstick a bit dark and red, but...... well, she wasn't at an ugly level.
"......Hmm."
"What?"
"No, just. Looking at you...... I also thought, isn't it because you only meet men of your own age?"
"Huh?"
Of course, the reason isn't just the age gap.
Couldn't it be that you don't match because you're the same age?
As a result of hearing her stories from before, I remember her always meeting guys of the same age, starting from the academy days.
Wouldn't it be a little different if you tried meeting a younger guy?
I can't say it's entirely unrelated to the fact that I've been thinking that because a 17-year-old kid has been hitting on me for months......
Honestly, I thought it was a story with enough possibility.
There are normal men who like older women.
After all, they wouldn't be able to hate a rich older sister who buys them delicious food, buys them clothes, and pays first when dating.
Actually, money is a bit of a cheat code, though.
Vivian, this woman, wasn't the type to be led, though.
I reached the thought that it would be better to try meeting a younger guy.
"How about trying to meet a younger guy for once?"
"...I never imagined you'd say something like that right now."
"...Is that so?"
"Usually, whenever I bring it up, you just react as if you're annoyed and tell me to shut up. This is the first time you've recommended a method like this? Since I started attending the academy until now?"
"...It wasn't that bad, was it? Sometimes I gave advice that the guy you were seeing was trash."
"...That was just slander and criticism."
"Was it?"
I didn't know because I never paid much attention.
I wasn't interested in dating anyway, and I was even less interested in other people's dating lives.
That's how I've lived until now, and recently I've been more interested in the relationship between Noah and his childhood friend, Iris......?
That black-haired beautiful girl.
"Is something wrong? Like you have a terminal illness, or you're a Snow Woman so your body is melting away, something like that...... right?"
"......Are you crazy?"
"The Skadi I know isn't the type of character to give dating advice like this......."
"Stupid of me to think."
It was a series of words that made me sigh without realizing it.
Really.
I said it after thinking about it in my own way, to think I'd hear this kind of crap.
This is why a woman who has never dated is the problem.
Of course, I'm the same.
But for me, it was closer to not doing it rather than not being able to, and in reality, I didn't really have any intention of doing it.
It didn't matter much.
It really didn't matter.
"A younger guy......."
"Yeah, what do you think?"
"He would be cute, I guess."
"Is that so."
He was too big to be cute.
Even to me, at 174 centimeters, he was uncomfortably big.
"......."
"Why did you stop talking? What are you thinking about?"
"...Ah, it's nothing."
...Suddenly, while talking about younger guys, I couldn't help but think of that kid who went back home because of vacation.
He's the guy who has been chasing me around for months.
He was a bit annoying, though.
Still, well, he's decent-looking.
He has good height, good shoulders...... a normally decent guy.......
"Tsk."
It's not right for a kid like that to date an ajumma like this.
Yeah, that was really not right.
It would be better for him to date his childhood friend or some other kid his age.