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File 11: A Girl Arrived as Collateral on an Unrepaid Loan

A girl with splendid ringlet curls spoke while facing a tea table in my run-down 4.5 tatami mat apartment.

“Awful. This food is just so...so crude!! Ahh! I cannot believe you are forcing me to put this in my mouth! You have a truly horrible soul if you enjoy watching me sully the inside of my body like this!! You pervert!!”

“Why is that the only thing you can say to the person who made you some food!? In fact, there’s something fundamentally wrong at the point that I’m having to pay out of my own pocket to feed the girl who arrived here as collateral on an unrepaid loan!!”

One day, this girl had appeared before my apartment with a notice of a loan in hand.

I had feared it was some kind of false claim, but it turned out the positions of lender and borrower were reversed. In other words, she had come to my apartment as collateral on an unrepaid loan.

“But why did my grandfather lend some stranger money...?”

“We had completely forgotten about it, but it turns out we borrowed around ten million yen 50 years ago. If you adjust for inflation, that comes out to about 10 times as much. Also, that was a time when there were not many laws related to lending money, so the interest was at a ridiculous rate of 10% every 10 days.”

“And that’s why the daughter of a large conglomerate showed up at my student apartment?”

She was clearly wearing a dress.

She was clearly a princess.

She emitted an aura that made it hard to believe she belonged to modern society, and yet she was devouring rice from a 100 yen rice bowl.

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“That was in the days when laws against such things had not been set, but since a contract was made, it cannot be helped.

“(...I’m betting grandpa just got carried away and added those parts at the last second.)”

“Did you say something?”

“No.”

“Anyway, back to this rice! It is impossible to describe how bad this is!! Someone who eats this every day cannot possibly be of a sound mind, but I have no choice, so give me more!!”

“The flow of your sentences is so mixed up it goes beyond tsundere!!”

I refilled the 100 yen rice bowl that also had a chipped edge with white rice and handed it back to the princess. She immediately began complaining again.

“After this torture you call a meal is over, I need you to take me to an imported furniture store. We need to at least have the bare minimum of what is necessary to live as human beings.”

“No!! You’re the one that’s indebted to me, so why should I go bankrupt for you!?”

“What are you talking about? What am I supposed to wear? When are you going to prepare a car with a chauffeur? Oh, and I would like a pet.”

“Have you never heard of the term LOHAS!?”

Girls treated as collateral for loans were often seen in dramas, but did I really gain anything from this?

The thought process of “Heh heh heh. I’ll do this and that to her.” would not occur unless she was incredibly attractive. This princess who was currently stuffing her mouth full of white rice with a sulky expression was certainly beautiful...but...how should I put it? She did not have any coquettishness to her. Just as how no one would get an erection while looking at the Mona Lisa, there was a difference between beautiful and erotic.

So what was there left for me?

From a purely monetary standpoint was there any value to a normal girl beyond what she could make at a part time job?

And this was a princess.

I doubted she could do something as simple as pull up some weeds, much less work a part time job. How was she supposed to be of any use to my life?

“Hey, princess. What are you going to do from now on? Y’know, about things like school.”

“Do you really need to ask that, you fool!? You hold the life of this poor, helpless caged bird in your hands. That means you must take responsibility and send me to a prestigious girls school, open a path for me to get into a prestigious university, and make sure I can enter a prestigious corporation.”

“I have to do all that!? You’re from a huge conglomerate. Can’t you just enter one of your group’s companies!? Hell, you could do that right now!! I’ve heard of even middle schoolers working as the president of a start-up!!”

“As soon as I was taken as collateral for that loan, my ties with the conglomerate were cut. I now belong to you.”

The princess must have missed her old life because she looked a bit despondent.

But was that true?

I was pretty sure I could see something glittering on the rooftop of the building across from the balcony. That wasn’t from binoculars or a sniper rifle’s scope was it!?

That was when the doorbell rang.

Hearing it, the princess said, “Go answer that, servant.”

“You are indebted to me!!”

With that pathetic remark, I headed for the front door. When I opened it, I found yet another strange girl standing there.

She also had ringlet curls, but they were done up in a way that was somehow reminiscent of pigtails.

And she was short.

“Nywah ha ha!! So this is the Sargasso that onee-sama ended up in after her long time adrift!! It is even more chaotic than I had heard!!”

“This is so sudden, I really have no idea what is going on!!”

“...That is my younger sister. What are you doing here?”

“I merely came to tell you how good it feels after so many long years of being distanced from inheriting the family due to being born from a different mother and being the younger sibling!! By the way, poor student.”

The princess (second in line) put her hands on her hips, thrust her chest out in pride so much I thought she was going to go all the way back into a bridge, and smiled.

“What?”

“It seems you will soon fall into debt due to my sister’s manipulation. How about I pay for such things?”

“Mh!? Do not do it, servant!! She is attempting to indirectly gain control of me by binding you financially!! Do not give into temptation!!”

“Nywah ha ha!! It is too late, sister!! Money is justice. I think I will dress you in a maid uniform and have you play with me!!”

Her request showed a surprising hidden cuteness deep down within her, but her older sister paid that no heed. Instead, she shot back with a comment of her own while pouring miso soup onto the white rice in the rice bowl.

“...As another daughter of the conglomerate, do you not count as collateral on the loan as well?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

And so...

“Th-then, I suppose a proper introduction is in order, poor student.”

“Nooooooooooooooooooooo!! I gain nothing from any of this!!”