Chapter 68 The Loss of "Reality"

The Loss of “Reality”

“You’re right to stay away. Stop getting involved with that girl.”

I told Hana-san what had happened.

Ichika cried all the way home, so I had to explain it to her.

I didn’t actually see the scene, so I don’t know what really happened.

But Kaori was about to enter a love hotel with a middle-aged man…She is very close to black.

“You should listen too, Ichika. Compensated dating…I wonder if they call it ‘papa-katsu’ nowadays. Why shouldn’t you be involved in such activities——I’ll explain it to both of you.”

When Hana-san heard what had happened, she told us various things with a serious look on her face.

“Just having dinner together, just a little flirting…and you get paid. Yes, it is indeed a very sweet temptation. Just for that, you can get many times more money than you would normally work for…It could be a good part-time job if you don’t do anything sexual——that’s a mistake to think so.”

Hana-san said.

There is a bigger issue than whether or not there is sexual activity.

“When you do that kind of thing…your sense of value is distorted. Because they get an easy amount of money that they wouldn’t get if they worked a decent job, it makes working a normal job seem ridiculous to them.”

Hana-san looked a bit sad.

It was like she was remembering someone else.

“Besides, people who work as compensated daters are often rich, right? They see such luxurious things that ordinary families can’t afford, such as housing, food, clothing, and entertainment, as normal to them…and gradually they’re not satisfied with that ‘normal’ anymore.”

…Today, Kaori’s partner seems normal.

But as Hana-san said, there is also a strong image that people who get into this kind of thing have a lot of money.

“‘Reality’ becomes distorted.”

And that, as Hana-san said, is the biggest problem.

“It’s like drugs, once you taste the sweet pleasure, you can’t forget it…you start living a life that doesn’t fit your needs. To make money for it, you get into the ‘watery’ business…Before you know it, you can’t go back.”

No matter how tempting, there are some paths you should never take.

Like the one Kaori is taking now.

“It’s okay when you’re young. But when you get older, you can no longer earn money…and you become dependent on such escapades as debt, gambling, drinking, and so on——and you are ruined.”

That’s why Hana-san told me to stay away from Kaori.

I guess she meant that you should defend yourself before you get involved.

“Unless that girl has a strong will. For example…she wanted to earn money for school fees…or save for the future. I don’t think it’s a choice for such a strong person, but there are a few who do, and I don’t completely deny it. But it’s a big risk.”

Hana-san says that with a lot of real feelings.

How can she say that in such detail…

“Because a friend of mine did the same thing.”

Well, I guess so.

Because she saw what happened to that friend of hers, Hana-san can talk about it like that.

“Look, you see the clothes I wore today, right? That fancy outfit was given to me by her when I was in college. I didn’t know anything back then and she gave me a lot of hand-me-downs…but she suddenly dropped out and I lost contact with her. Then, a few years ago, she suddenly contacted me. I was happy to see her after a long time, so we went out for dinner…but I was shocked to see how much she had changed. I asked another friend and she said she was in a terrible situation…”

So it seems that Hana-san is wary of anything that sounds like compensated dating.

“I was actually offered that when I was in college. But I turned them all down…No matter how hard you are with money, if you work hard, you can do something.”

Hana-san never ran away.

She faced reality without taking it lightly as Kaori did.

“Selling your body is selling your heart. If you’re willing to do that, I won’t deny it. But remember, it’s not something you can just touch half-heartedly…Especially for Ichika, maybe there will be some sweet temptations in the future.”

That’s why she had suffered a lot.

But Hana-san lives her life with pride.

As an adult, she leads us children.

I really wanted to grow up to be such a prideful adult like her——