Volume 2 Chapter 18 (1/2)

It was after 7:00 p.m. Her brothers had already had their bath and Mizuki was drying their hair.

“Wait, it’s still not dry yet, hora hora”

With loud cheers, her brothers were scuffling. They appeared to be having fun. With a wry smile, Mizuki wipes away the moisture.  They put on their pajamas and she takes them to the living room.

She gets milk from the kitchen and fills three gla.s.ses. At that time, her father’s voice could be heard from the living room.

“Riot….?”

“Eh?”

“No, on the news….”

Her father said with a dubious voice as he watched the news. She peeked at the T.V. from the back, and a banner was flowing across the screen reading “Urgent News”. A news caster read the report in a monotone voice. At a station near the Tokyo metropolitan area, there was a large scale riot taking place. There were even reports of a few casualties.

“Mom, come here. Looks like there’s a riot. It’s urgent news.”

“…..ara? Really?”

Her mother poked her head out of the kitchen. As the three of them were watching, reports came one after another. It wasn’t just limited to the Tokyo metropolitan area, riots were happening all over the city. The cause was unknown. The number of casualties was also unknown.

“For there to be riots in j.a.pan….”

Her mother muttered in a worried voice. As the news continued, the name of a familiar place came up. That place was just five stations from their neighborhood. Her father spoke with a dumbfounded expression,

“Isn’t it getting close……”

At that time, discomforting sirens could be heard outside their house. It was from the speakers which came on every night at 5 o’clock to play children’s songs. As the city speakers normally only came on to play these m.u.f.fled and difficult to hear songs, they were something you tuned out; but now, the three of them listened intently. They turned off the T.V., stood still, and kept quiet. A broadcast started, and with intermittent speech, it told them to evacuate to a certain area immediately.

(TL: The way the author wrote this paragraph was confusing, redundant, and unorganized. I took the liberty of reconstructing it so that it makes more sense.)

“…………..”

The living room was wrapped in silence.

Mizuki’s father stood up,

“Kaa-san, prepare rucksacks for everyone. Mizuki, take care of your brothers.”

(TL: The father refers to the mother as mother. IDK if I should write wife, honey, mother, or what… so I just left it as kaa-san.)

“Y, yes.”

In a hurry, her mother stood and left the room. Mizuki, with an anxious feeling thought,

‘Isn’t evacuation a bit over-kill?’

It wasn’t disaster-level news, and even if there were riots, they were still far away. She didn’t think they would come out this far. Mizuki took her brothers to their room and they changed from pajamas to outdoor clothes. The brothers looked up at Mizuki and spoke.

“What is ‘Riot’?”

“Eh? U—um….. when a bunch of people go on a rampage. It’s a big fight, I guess?”

“They’re fighting?”

“That’s right. And fighting is bad, okay? Now then, you two get your bags ready, we are leaving now.”

“Okay.”

They packed a change of clothes and a towel in their backpacks, Mizuki also packed her own things. With their bags over their shoulders, they went downstairs. There, their father was preparing the car in the garage. Plugging in the car engine, the headlights lit up the dark driveway.

(TL: I think it is an electric car. I have no idea how they work, so I did my best.)

Seeing that, Mizuki was surprised. The shelter was nearby the elementary school, it wasn’t so far away that you would need a car. Even if you walked, it would only take about 10 minutes.

“We’re taking the car? I think walking would be…..”

“I have a bad feeling. It is better to get there quickly.”

Suddenly, down the driveway in the light, a man with an anxious look on his face could be seen. It was Takasaki-san, the husband of the house next door. Mizuki’s father stepped away from the car and talked about something with Takasaki-san.

“Mizuki!”

Turning towards the voice, a tall boy with black hair could be seen standing there. He was the only son of the Takasaki house and Mizuki’s childhood friend.

“A-kun…..”

“You’re evacuating too? I wonder what’s going on, with the riots.”

“Yeah…. I’m not sure but, my dad says we should evacuate just in case.”