An Introvert's Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! - Vol. 3 Ch. 14

[BKNY_STEVE]

The mom basically called her a prostitute to her face… what the actual fuck!?!

Rental girlfriends in Japan aren't like that at all. Yes, they get paid to spend time with the guy, but it's to give the guy a girlfriend experience, NOT sex.

 

[phorx]

Rental girlfriends in Japan aren't like that at all. Yes, they get paid to spend time with the guy, but it's to give the guy a girlfriend experience, NOT sex.

While I understand the difference, I don’t think either of those jobs are looked at favourably at all in Japan.

 

[BKNY_STEVE]

Everybody, chill over mom's reaction. Look, put yourself in her place: your son is an absolute loner. Never brings friends home, let alone girls. Spends his time at home on the computer for hours. His grades are middling, so he's not an academic superstar. You know from the guidance counselor and his homeroom teacher that he's an introverted loner (remember when the teacher was inquiring if Nanami was bullying him?). Other than being on the computer, he works out (either at home or in the gym), but he doesn't have even gym rat friends.

Then you see him in the mall planting a kiss on an absolute smokeshow. One he's never mentioned. OK, if it was an average-looking girl, that would be enough of a surprise, but he's kissing a girl you'd never picture him with. (Neither could her friends, remember?) Nanami is one of the most attractive girls in their high school, after all.

Add in the whole strict Asian Tiger Mom and Japan's culture, and it makes sense. After all, if our moms saw us kissing an Emily Ratajkowski lookalike in the mall, they'd be in disbelief. There is the whole rental girlfriend thing that's a real phenomenon there. It makes sense that mom was really thrown by seeing her nice quiet son being physically affectionate in public with an absolute beauty.

 

[himi-cat]

Do his parents live with him? idk why but I always assumed it was the classic trope of parents away while kid is in school. Now we find out they just work a lot and love each other but are strict to him so probably not communicating much about anything.

I get the impression that it's not that uncommon for Japanese families with working parents to be fairly absent due to really long work hours, though I don't know how much of that is trope rather than reality. Note, that this is the first time they've both gotten off work on time for a while, which would support that interpretation.

 

[himi-cat]

Everybody, chill over mom's reaction. Look, put yourself in her place: your son is an absolute loner. Never brings friends home, let alone girls. Spends his time at home on the computer for hours. His grades are middling. You know from the guidance counselor and his homeroom teacher that he's an introverted loner (remember when the teacher was inquiring if Nanami was bullying him?). Other than being on the computer, he works out (either at home or in the gym), but he doesn't have even gym rat friends.

Then you see him in the mall planting a kiss on an absolute smokeshow. One he's never mentioned. OK, if it was an average-looking girl, that would be enough of a surprise, but he's kissing a girl you'd never picture him with. (Neither could her friends, remember?) Nanami is one of the most attractive girls in their high school, after all.

Add in the whole strict Asian Tiger Mom and Japan's culture, and it makes sense. After all, if our moms saw us kissing an Emily Ratajkowski lookalike in the mall, they'd be in disbelief.

Yeah, I agree - it did come off as mean, but it wasn't a ridiculous first reaction . . . Particularly if his mother had been worried about his introversion and social difficulties, and had absolutely no indication that anything had changed recently.

And it's worth remembering that in Japan "rental girlfriends" (both as a euphemism for prostitutes or escorts, and in the sense of an actual "rental friend-of-opposite-sex") are a thing. MC clearly gets enough pocket money to be able to afford plenty of games and gym stuff and so on, putting some of that into renting himself a pretty girlfriend isn't particularly far-fetched (though also clearly out of character for this guy - parents not necessarily understanding their kids enough to be able to pick up on that kind of thing also isn't far fetched at all).

So yeah, mean, but not ridiculous or totally unreasonable, and probably as much a reaction to anxiety about her son as any kind of judgement about his character.

 

[BKNY_STEVE]

Yeah, I agree - it did come off as mean, but it wasn't a ridiculous first reaction . . . Particularly if his mother had been worried about his introversion and social difficulties, and had absolutely no indication that anything had changed recently.

And it's worth remembering that in Japan "rental girlfriends" (both as a euphemism for prostitutes or escorts, and in the sense of an actual "rental friend-of-opposite-sex") are a thing. MC clearly gets enough pocket money to be able to afford plenty of games and gym stuff and so on, putting some of that into renting himself a pretty girlfriend isn't particularly far-fetched (though also clearly out of character for this guy - parents not necessarily understanding their kids enough to be able to pick up on that kind of thing also isn't far fetched at all).

So yeah, mean, but not ridiculous or totally unreasonable, and probably as much a reaction to anxiety about her son as any kind of judgement about his character.

I think it's a reaction to Nanami being so attractive. To go from "I worry about my loner son" to "my son just kissed a girl that's frankly out of his league" (not to be harsh, but realistic). That's got to be shocking.

 

[Kaduufrrj]

True. What you said is completely true.

However, I meant that the Japanese "tapi", or タピ, comes from English usage of tapioca.

It's the same as how English words have immediate origins in one language and then older origins in other languages. For example, if I said "flan" in English comes from Spanish "flan", then it's possibly true (sources). But it also comes from the older French "flan", which ultimately goes back to proto-indo-european.

Here, I only meant that the Japanese タピ, tapi, immediately comes from English.

Edit: And just to be clear, I actually have had true sago pearls. I actually find them more enjoyable and slightly different than tapioca pearls, but that's just my own preference.

I've never tried the real sago, but in Brazil the palm is commonly used in landscaping. You can't find sago pearl in the markets, only the adaptation made from cassava. About Brazilian adaptations, do the markets sell a sweet called marron glacé, the sophisticated sweet made with chestnuts? No, the cheap imitation made with sweet potato lol.

 

[ia_zero]

The mom is a cutie.

 

[Exile]

Rental girlfriends in Japan aren't like that at all. Yes, they get paid to spend time with the guy, but it's to give the guy a girlfriend experience, NOT sex.

The real girlfriend experience.

 

[Eastos]

The first 12 pages or so make me cringe so hard
Like, i know that they're still teenager and new to this dating thing and all that, but man... Is this what they called a second-hand embarassment? Where i felt embarassed watching these couple doing embarassing things in public?

 

[Figu]

Thanks for the translation!

Dang though, she was about to deck him on the lips, with her own lips!

Ideally, since she really wasn't feeling it, he could have suggested she come over for dinner later that week…

 

[hawkflights]

could she be a a rental girlfriend?

that's strike two, Mom...

 

[zerio]

What does Nanami meant on pg 20? Because of what?

 

[biologist]

What does Nanami meant on pg 20? Because of what?

We are dating because punishment game and shit. Maybe. She is being guilt-ridden again.

 

[Ash6702]

Author probably meant the mom calling her son a rapist to be a “joke” but it really missed the mark. She just sounds like a bitch.

 

[DHMaster]

What does Nanami meant on pg 20? Because of what?

Her false confession.

 

[zazakmazak]

Mom be like:

"My son, could you be on them, ... one of them Ka-zuya guys???"​

 

[Selfisch]

It's good to see that most people here agree that the moms reactions where horrid, because Jesus no wonder he has no confidence if your mom thinks those are things she should say to her sons face

 

[Coldlight]

Boy, you're not the only one dirty-minded in that queue. Everybody else blushing in that line including the cashier is guilty.

"I just really wanted to take a picture of you."
How can a guy this honest and smooth be so worried over an indirect kiss last chapter?

Nice little kiss. Even if it was just a peck on the cheek it was a kiss in public, in broad daylight, in Japan. Pretty damn bold move. But the best part about it is that his parents saw it. I did not even expect to see his parents this soon, but this turn of events just made this enjoyable chapter even more entertaining for me.

Youshin's dad looks like a lucky former romcom protagonist who won his battle and got married. His mom looks like a former kuudere ice queen female lead with a sharp tongue who's won hers. Those types almost always keep their hair long and black.

Maybe I'll just headcanon that her harsh words on him was because that sharp-tongued attribute from her ice queen days is still there causing her to diss her own son that hard. More importantly, it's very funny to me how she's the one who's not ready for the idea her son finally got himself a girlfriend and said girl is a flashy and cute gyaru at that.

That page 22 is just

 

[CT-9904]

Cuckzuya would never