‘Geesh she really cares about the flowers…she treats them like humans…maybe even better than humans!’ He thought to himself with a tired sigh.

After the incident with the Momo cat, Kido wanted to punish Shintaro for making fun of Momo. She ultimately wanted to take away his computer, but Ene warned her that he might actually literally die without it, so she decided on the next best thing: forcing him to volunteer for a non-computer task.

Upon discussion with the Mekakushi Dan, they decided that proper punishment would be to help Marry make her flowers to sell (without him getting pay) and to help her take care of her living flowers.

He thought it’d be easy enough, but he realized that Marry is very fussy when making her flowers, and she is constantly making him do something over again.

As for caring for flowers, he had even less skill in that.

He was in charge of one plant in particular, and Marry made a goal for him: he has to grow the plant from the seed until it grows about “a head tall” (the measurement according to Marry).

A week went by and he honestly didn’t know what he was doing wrong: he was watering it and making sure it was getting enough sunlight, but yet it was hardly peeking out of the soil…Marry’s are already growing out of the soil by a finger’s length.

Marry, getting tired of seeing Shintaro struggle growing the plant, murmured, “I-it’s because you need to give it love…”

“Huh?”

“Love.”

The NEET scoffed and almost laughed. As if talking to a plant can help it grow…

But sure enough, he started talking to it, and it’s growth accelerated. At first it was just silly small talk, but then he found himself growing a bond with the plant. He felt he can emotionally connect with the plant, with it technically being a shut-in as well, and would even have deep conversations with it.

By the time his volunteer work was done, he didn’t want to give the plant back to Marry.

She giggled and grinned, “Of course you can keep him! J-just remember to take good care of him.”

Subomi the bean plant now lives on Shintaro’s desk in a pot that Marry painted and designed for him. He talks to it every once and a while, especially when he needs ideas for his music. The plant’s existence has made Ene jealous, much to Shintaro’s glee.

Shintaro considers himself the proud father of Subomi, the majestic bean plant.