Chapter 6 (1/2)

Day 18: …

”… Well then, let's talk again tomorrow.”

'Yeah, call me anytime. Be careful on the roads at night.'

After leaving those words, the phone line was easily severed.

I let out a light sigh, pus.h.i.+ng the 'End Call' marker on the screen.

… Quite some time has pa.s.sed since I was put in charge of Akira as a Mary-san in training. I don't know my specific time or place, but even so, I can at least tell I've gotten considerably closer to him.

I doubt there's more than two weeks left of the time I can spend talking to him. I mean, after that, I'm going to reach the place that person lives.

Shaking my head, I continue moving the legs that haven't stopped since they departed Nagasaki.

Step by step, step by step. One foot in front of the next, like pa.s.sing a thread through a cloth, each step takes me that much closer. The path I had thought endless at the start, before I noticed it, I had gone down more than half of it.

When I look to the sky, I see the sun sink. That very moment… from here on, the night begins. Only a little to go before the evening lights dissipate from the western sky.

Night… from times of old, it had always been the time for irregularities.

The sun's demise robs away the blessing of light, letting the darkness conceive all manner of spirits and fiends. In the present era, the light of night is barely any different from that of day, but even so, there isn't even any s.p.a.ce to question the fact that it exists for existences such as me.

…But I wonder why it is. To be perfectly honest, the current me doesn't particularly find enjoyment in this time called night.

The sun sleeps, the town sleeps, the people sleep… in that time, all alone, unseen by any, my feet continue on to some point far, far away. I can't see it, but I'm certain something tangible inside me is slowly whittling away.

Is this 'Anxiety'?

… How peculiar. When I was once a being that clad itself in the very notion, come so far, I've finally gotten around to feeling it myself.

”… It's all Akira's fault.”

I quietly mutter what's on my mind.

… That's right, this is surely Akira's fault. It's because the time I spend with that person is too fun that the moon's light, this silent night interrupted only by the bugs' cries and the wild birds' caws got to be so boring to me.

The question hit me.

To me, just what sort of person is he?

”… The target. A big brother who plays with me. A friend.”

And the words that followed on were tucked in my chest. I get the feeling my face heated up just a smidgen.

When I first met him, perhaps some part of me had been too eager. I made my resolution, and I acted solely to make sure that resolution wasn't a lie.

… But the current me has changed just a little since then.

”… He's too loose, that person.”

Right, loose… and kind. If I wanted to express that person in words, those are quite likely the ones that hit the mark.

Still much too green as an urban legend, in these past few weeks- for better or worse- I've received Akira's influence, and changed just a little from it. I'm not really sure if that's what you call growth, though.

Of course, if I think of it as an irregularity, ever since I got around to talking to that person, perhaps I've grown weaker, in a sense.

I mean, when I started off this journey, I never felt the loneliness of the night roads to such an extent. I could say I wanted to become Mary-san, and those feelings were all I needed to press onwards, walk on.

But now, I get the feeling something's different… of course, nothing's changed in my desire to become Mary-san. But more than that, it's like I'm walking in a way that I can stick out my chest and tell Akira, 'I did my best today'. It's like I'm walking for the sake of the happiness I get from the crude words of praise he'd toss me afterward.

… Only two weeks left. Two weeks is barely any time at all. I keep talking and talking with Akira, but even so, the words I want to tell him keep gus.h.i.+ng out like a spring.

It was only after those thoughts that I noticed I was sighing.

I look up as I walk under the sky on the verge of darkness.

Another step forward, another into the distance.

As I go on, the surroundings gradually grow dimmer.

Fewer and fewer people pa.s.s me by. The only sounds I can hear are the birds and bugs sounding their songs through the forest; the rustle carried by the wind; the occasional sound of pa.s.sing cars… that's all it's become.

A lukewarm breeze brings the sort of air to make one sullen, and my face breaks into a slight frown.

Because I'm an irregularity, I won't tire no matter how far I walk, and my body cannot be dirtied. I don't have any need to eat food, and I'm sure wherever I am, I'd be able to continue existing on my own… and yet.

”… I want to hear his voice.”

I wonder why being alone has become so lonely.

Words solemnly spill out of the depths of my heart, causing me to frantically cover my mouth.

”T-that won't do, that won't do! At this rate, he's just going to tease me again.”

It's right time for me to furnish my body with an irregularity's style or dignity, or that sort of thing. The way things are going, Akira's going to end up laughing.

Shaking off a sigh, don't mind it, don't mind it, I cast a spell on myself, walking on and on and on… It was there that I noticed a certain something.

… I'll go and meet that person, but what will I do after that?

I'll become Mary-san. That's something that's already been decided, I have no intent to rethink it… but what else?

To me, this is the most fun I've had in my life, and at this very moment, I'm satisfied.

In that case… when I can no longer speak with that person, what can I do?

”… Thinking over this sort of thing will just be a bother to that guy as well.”

I try saying those painfully obvious words.

I mean, I'm sure that to that person, I'm just a bit of a strange summer memory. Among the hundreds of summers he'll experience in his human life, a mere singularity. The fragment of a memory gone by… this very moment aside, given time, I'm sure that within that person, that's all I'll ever end up.

”… That goes without saying.”

But, the but in my mind won't go away.

I've talked some about it with Akira, but being possessed by an irregularity like me is essentially an abominable occurrence, not a good thing at all. The reason being, as the name implies, irregularities are strange and irregular things.

To humans, there's no doubt our existences are a hundred minuses without a single plus.

For example, as things stand, because Akira a.s.sociates himself with someone like me, he ends up completely wasting his afternoons… no, when I use my clairvoyance to look at him, he's always either sleeping or reading a book, so I'm not really sure about that.

I give just a slight laugh; I know I still have a long way to go.

Step by step, one foot at a time, I continue to walk. The sky has already turned pitch-black.

Terribly hazy and unreliable, the cloud-concealed moon lights up the night path.

I wonder what Akira is doing right now. I firmly endure the urge to peek on his with clairvoyance.

… because it would be terrible if he was in the bath or something. Last time, I ended up catching a peep of precisely that scene. Of course, I cut it at once, but my heart was racing, and the next day, I found myself talking to him awkwardly. I don't want to repeat that mistake again.

… Of course, before that comes into question, peeping is no good. But that part is Mary-san's special privilege.

”… Mn.”

As I thought over such a thing, a strong wind suddenly blew. The wind that sucked up the heat from the asphalt was clad in an oppressive warmth, making me reflexively stop and turn my face.

… The market listing for summer lists it as a hot item, but can't they do something about this? It's impossible for me to come down with heat stroke, and I don't sweat either, but even so, hot things are hot. In regards to that field, as I thought, this must be my immaturity as a half-baked irregularity.

I let out a sigh as I begin walking anew.

At the same time. I thought my heart might stop.

”Eek!?”

… Are those… eyes? Floating in the darkness, two small, green, glowing points of light. Such points were staring straight at me.

”… W-what could it be? Do you need something from me?”

Even if I moved a little to the side, the eyes looked at me.

Even when I tried taking some light jumps up and down, they looked at me.

Even when I tried erasing my shrunken presence, they looked at me.

”W-what do I do… eyes? And eye, irregularity?”

There's no doubt an existence of only eyes would have to be an irregularity. But did such a peculiar irregularity really exist…?

As I thought and observed it, the ent.i.ty showed its true colors.

”It's just a cat…”

I hung my head in disappointment.

… The true form of the eyes was a pitch-black cat. The sort that was so very easy to overlook, whose brilliant black body was right at home in the night.

”I need to get a grip on myself…”

I wanted to hold my head.

No matter how hard I emphasize the trainee part, I'm still an irregularity. For me to take a cat for a kindred spirit, just how immature could I be? I even have clairvoyance, an ability specialized for seeing.

… If you'll take my excuses, when taken by surprise, the reactions of a human, irregularity or animal aren't too different. Yes, let's leave it at that.

”On a night walk? You're pitch-black, so you have to be careful you don't get in the way of cars.”

I crouched down and met its eye level before saying it.

Whether the cat understood my words or not, naa, it cried.

And perhaps it lost interest in me, as it started using its forepaws to clean its face. After that, unaa, it gave a yawn, making a rumbling sound in the back of its throat.

… As I watched over such a phenomenon, a certain question sprouted within me.

Perhaps. Just perhaps.

… Could the cutest lifeform in the world possibly be this lifeform called a cat?

”… Nyaa.”

I tried saying. Unaa? She purred and tilted her head.

I impulsively pluck a weed growing in the area and present it out before Ms. Cat.