Chapter 4 (2/2)

“Wow, yours says that you’ll reat”

“If you really think it’s great, don’t say it so contemptuously”

She tilted her se of h I would say she was cute if I had to,” I ended up thinking - reatest blunder yet

I looked the other way, and I heard her cackling Once she had stopped laughing, she didn’t say a single thing

We left the inner shrine and headed back the e cae fro across the treasure house as well as a pool na about on the water, for ent to buy food pellets to scatter into the pool Looking at the laid-back ot a little distracted from the heat I broke out ofwith a little girl I looked at her sht, “As expected of a hu sis, is he your boyfriend?” And she replied, “Nope, we just get along!” Her response confused the young girl

Once ere done feeding the turtles, alked the path along the pool and caestion, we dropped in The store was outfitted with an air-conditioner and we sighed on reflex at the respite it provided The spacious store had three other groups of customers apart froroup of four aunties ere heartily engaged in raucous chatter We sat down at the table by the

Soon, a gentle-looking granny arrived with two cups of water, and took our orders

“Two uet tea Are you fine with tea too?”

I nodded, and the granny smiled as she left for the back of the shop

I drank the cold water, and felt my body temperature steadily decrease It was a relief to feel the chill spread to ertips

“That confection, it’s called uae-mochi huh”

“It’s a specialty It was listed on the azine”

“Sorry for the wait!” And before I could assert that we hadn’t waited at all, two red plates with ureen tea, had been placed on our table Since we had to make payment upfront, the two of us split the bill in half and handed our coins to the store attendant

I picked up the round and white mochi that seemed to be in constant production within the store, and its crispy baked exterior made itself evident And as I bit into it, plenty of sweetness, together with the faintly salty red bean paste, filled reen tea paired rather ith it

“Doesn’t it taste great? Following ht decision after all”

“Just a little”

“You aren’t honest, huh At this rate won’t you just go back to being alone once I’one?”

It wasn’t like that would have bothered ht To me, the situation noas the true anomaly

Once she was gone, I would return to inal lifestyle No matter who it was, I’d shroud my body in the world of novels I’d return to that kind of everyday It wasn’t so that was decidedly bad But, I didn’t think I could make her understand

Once ere done with our azine open on the table

”What are we doing to do next?”

“Oh, you’re really getting into this huh”

“I decided that Ia scarecrow on the shi+nkansen”

“Ah, okay, I don’t understand what you just said But I’ve cos I wanted to do before I die”

That was a good thing She had probably realised how pointless it was to spend time with me

“Like going on a journey with a boy, eating tonkotsu raed into this journey, for now, the last goal for the me of today is to have offal hotpot for dinner If I can fulfill that -kun, do you have anywhere else you want to go?”

“Not really, I’m basically indifferent to tourist attractions, so I don’t really know any places for us to go I’ve already said it in yesterday’s o”

“Hmm, I see, so what shall we do………… Wah!”

She had let out a stupid sound The cause was the sound of so and someone’s crude scream had filled the room I turned towards the direction of the ruckus and I realised that within that ever-noisy group of aunties, one of theranny was bowing her head It seemed that she had somehow stumbled and toppled over a teacup The crash of the cerairl as troubled thinking about our next course of action

I kept a watch on the situation, and observed Even though the granny continued to apologise profusely, the auntie that seely possessed by hysteria, and appeared no different frolance in front ofas she sipped her tea

I had thought that the situation would somehow be resolved peacefully, but my expectations were quickly dashed - the auntie absolutely blew her lid and roughly shoved the granny away Having been pushed over, the granny staggered and collided with a table, causing it to flip and collapse onto the floor The soy sauce dispenser and a bunch of disposable chopsticks were also scattered about

The only one that still re the present state of affairs was me

“Wait a moment!”

Raising her voice to a level that I had not heard until now, the girl that should have been sharing a table with ranny down the aisle

“I knew it,” I thought I, ished to remain a bystander, and she, anted to be involved - it was that kind of thing I confidently thought that if I reversed myself as a person, that if I were her, I would have stood up too

The girl helped the granny up, yelling at the ladies she considered her eneht back, but this was probably her true worth Having seen her in action, the other customers in the shop - the father of the faear, and supported the girl

After receiving criticisroup hastily left the store, one, the girl checked on the granny, and was praised in return I was still drinking my tea

After returning the table to its original position, the girl returned with an “I’ht that she may have been upset with my lack of action, but that wasn’t it

“Even though the granny tripped on the foot that auntie suddenly stretched out, and fell over How utterly horrible!”

“Yeah”

In this world, there was a notion that the sins of perpetrators and bystanders carried the saht In which case, I was no different fro them

While looking at the girl who got angry for the sake of justice, and whose days were nuht that the devil’s children really had the devil’s luck

“There are plenty of humans that should die before you, huh”

“I know, right!”

I sht, I’d probably be alone again once she was gone

When we left the store, she received six uift and souvenir She turned it down at first, but at the granny’s insistence, graciously accepted it I also got to eat soae-mochi that was baked as part of an earlier batch, and I enjoyed the moist and different texture - even this was delicious too

“For now, let’s head towards the city, since we need to look for a Uniqlo too”

“That’s true, I sweated ht I would I’m really sorry but, I’ll definitely repay you before you die, so could you lend me some money?”

“Huh, I don’t want to”

“…………You’re a spawn of the devil, huh Let’s get along in hell”

“Wahaha, it was a lie, I was just joking, just joking It’s fine even if you don’t repay me”

“No way, I’ll repay you everything you’ve paid for up till now too”

“How stubborn”

We took the train, and headed back to the station we came fro off, and the little children were gathered together, holding their war council in whispers Since the girl was reading her azed outside The ti, but the sureat if it just stayed bright forever Having reached thison a whim

“If only I had made that my wish to the God instead,” I azine and closed her eyes She stayed like that, fast asleep until we arrived at our station

The number of people at the station had increased since the afternoon In thetheir daily coht that the residents of this prefecture walked faster than those living elsewhere Maybe it was to avoid trouble in an unsafe prefecture

After consulting with her, we decided to proceed to the single don district within the prefecture We had looked it up on our cell phones, and it seemed that there was also a Uniqlo over there We looked it up soet to the first station within the city from the location of the shrine, we should have continued without exiting the ticket gates But at any rate, having been abducted, it was impossible for me to have done h to care about such things

We got on the subway, and headed don

The night had fallen cootatsu, picking at a stea hotpot The taste of the specialty hotpot with no other ingredients but offal, cabbage, and garlic chives had left me - who had declared irl was as noisy as ever

“It’s great to be alive!”

“No lies in that statement huh”

I drank the soup frohly delicious

After we had arrived at the city, we visited Uniqlo, and follohich, we silasses shop because she wanted to buy sunglasses, and later visited a bookshop I had spotted It was fairly enjoyableat an the townscape of a land I didn’t know Later still, we chased pigeons in a park we chanced across, and sanature confections of the prefecture in a local confectionery Tiht by

As the darkness of the night crept in, the prefecture’s residents began lining up at the unusual food stalls along the street While I was still fixated on the scene beforeour way towards a hotpot establishht her eye Since it was a weekday - or perhaps ere just lucky - ere ushered to a table in the crowded restaurant straight away “It’s all thanks to ed, but she didn’t evenlike that, so it absolutely wasn’t thanks to her

For theour meal She heaped praises onto the hotpot froed to enjoy the hotpot without saying anything pointless When faced with delicious food, it wouldn’t do to act otherwise

The next time she opened that pointless mouth of hers hen the store attendant added chinese noodles to the soup bri with umami

“With this, the two of us are hotpot buddies too”

“Are you trying tounder the sa from the same pot?”

“Even more than that Since I’ve never even eaten hotpot with any of my boyfriends”

She tittered The reason her way of laughing was different from usual was because alcohol had entered her systeh school girl The waiter uesses as to the excessively unabashed order, and proh I would have been happier had he just contacted the police

The girl that was in an even better mood than alanted to talk about herself even more than usual It was convenient for me since I preferred to listen to what other hu myself

As for how our conversation went, she started with her last boyfriend as apparently also my classmate

“He’s a super great guy Yeah, really, I received a confession froood person and a friend, it’d be fine to go out with him, so it was hard to understand that it wasn’t like that I mean, I’ve already said it quite frankly haven’t I? After we started going out, he’d get ry for a super long time It’d have been fine if ere friends, but I didn’t want to be with hier”

She brought the wine to her mouth I kept quiet, unable to empathise, and listened to what she had to say

“Even Kyouko had good things to say aboutboy on the surface”

“Doesn’t see to do with me”

“That’s true, after all, Kyouko does avoid you”

“Didn’t you think you’d hurtlike that?”

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m not hurt I avoid her too, so we’re even”

“Even though I want you to get along with Kyouko after I die huh”

With an appearance different froht in the eye Evidently, it seemed like she was serious about those words With no way out, I answered, “I’ll think about it” “Please do,” came her curt reply Those words were spoken with an earnest conviction My heart that had already decided that eren’t going to get along anyavered, if just a little

We left the restaurant once we had satisfied ourselves with the hotpot, and our faces were caressed by the pleasant night wind Even though there were coolers installed within the restaurant, they wereaway inside She had left afterthe bill Under the condition that I would definitely repay her for everything she spent on reed to leave to the bills to her

“Waaah! Feels great!”

“It’s still cooling at night huh”

“Right? Okay then, guess it’s about tiet to the hotel”

I had heard about our place of residence frorade hotel that was connected to the shi+nkansen station we had arrived at, and it seemed to be well-known even within the prefecture She had actually intended on staying at a simple business hotel, but when she informed her parents about her plans, they proposed that she may as well stay at a better place, and so provided her with a subsidy Since she had already coe of their kindness - it was that kind of thing Of course, half the money her parents forked out were meant for Close-Friend-san, but the responsibility for that lies with her, so I don’t know about anything

Having reached the station, it really wasn’t long till we arrived at the hotel No, it’s not like I was casting doubt on the official information, what I had meant was that the hotel as even closer than I had expected

I had already confir, so I wasn’t overwhelance of the hotel’s interior If I hadn’t prepared round And so, I should have bowed rain of self-respect that wouldn’t allow that, I was really happy with just acting surprised on the surface

Even though I’d avoided getting floored, I was still beco predictably restless in this at I thus let her handle the checking in, while I sat down on the refined lobby’s sofa, and quietly waited for her The coentle

With a look that indicated she was used to this, she boldly headed for the counter, and the hotel staff all bowed their heads as she approached I thought without a doubt that she wouldn’t become a decent adult, but then remembered that she simply wouldn’t become an adult

While drinking tea from a clearly out-of-place PET bottle, I watched from the side as she handled the receptionist

The person handling her check-in was slender, and had his hair coave off the air of a hotel receptionist

Just as I thought about the trouble the receptionist would have to go through, she started to fill in some form she was presented with I didn’t listen to the contents of their conversation from this point onwards, but she returned the piece of paper, and with a refined de in the infor confiran courteously speaking

She made a surprised expression, and shook her head The receptionist’s face stiffened in response, as he began to operate the co to her She shook her head again, took her backpack off her shoulders, and handed over a piece of paper that she retrieved from within

The receptionist compared the piece of paper to the co further behind the counter Just like her, I waited around doing nothing in particular, until he returned with an older man; the two of them bowed their heads to her profusely and countlessly

After which, it wasn’t the younger man, but his senior thatto her She made a troubled smile

I watched the situation unfold fro about it norical to be under the impression that there had been a mistake on the hotel’s side, and the reservation had been recorded erroneously, but I felt that that alone would not have explained her troubled smile Whatever the case, I expected the hotel to properly deal with the situation, and so thought little of it At worst, we could siht at some net cafe

Still slances at me, and so for no particular reason at all, I nodded back at her There wasn’t really anyetic men at the counter

Right away, the faces of the two receptionists brightened up, and though they kept their heads down as always, it seeratitude The ht it was best that their conversation had concluded Just like I’ve said ement skills

After accepting the key and the like, she returned with her head held low once again I looked up at her face, and told her, “Seems like you had some trouble huh” She returned my efforts with her facial expressions First, she pursed her lips, showing her embarrassment and apprehension, then she peeked attherin

“Hey, so it seems like they made a little blunder”

“Yeah”

“They’ve filled up all the rooinally made reservations for”

“I see”

“Yup, so, since it’s their responsibility, it seems like they’ll prepare a much better room for us than the one we had reserved”

“That’s pretty great huh”

“Hey…………”

She dangled the single key she carried in her hand beside her face

“We’ll have to share the rooht?”

“…………Huh?”

There’s wasn’t a single sensible thing I could say in response to her smile

I was getting sick of explaining things like this, and I think if anyone could read the inside of my heart, this situation’s development would be fairly obvious, but I was overpowered by her, and ended up staying over in the same room

I’d like if no one thought that I was a illed flirt that easily agreed to stay in the saender To put it in one way, there so that alone, my insistence that it would be better for me to stay over at a separate location was denied

That said, I wonder who I even wasexcuses for

Yes, excuses Taking on a fir in a separate direction from her - that hat I should have done Even for her, it would probably have been ily didn’t do so The reason? Well, I’m not sure

In any case, I ended up sharing the sa for uarantee that for the rest of my life We were pure

“Isn’t sleeping together in the sa?”

Okay, I was the only one that was pure

“Are you stupid?”

I frowned at the girl who had said soh she were dancing under the chandelier that eht froood sofa within the Western-style space, and told her so of the utmost common sense

“I’ll be over here”

“Coood room, you should at least have a proper taste of the bed!”

“In that case, I’ll lie down on the bed for a little while afterwards”

“Shouldn’t you be happy to sleep with a girl?”

“Stop with those unwarranted atteentles for a boyfriend”

“Since we’re not in a relationshi+p, wouldn’t it be fun to do things we shouldn’t do?”

After saying that, see, she took out the “Disease Coexistence Journal” from her backpack andher

“Wooow! There’s a jacuzzi!”

While listening to her frolicking about in the bathroolass door, and stepped out onto the veranda The room we had been shown to was located on the 15th floor of the high-rise, and even though it wasn’t a suite, it ay too luxurious for high school students The toilet and the bath were even separated, and the night vieas spectacular

“Waaah, it’s wonderful”

Before I knew it, she was out on the veranda, enjoying the night view Her long hair swayed in the whispering wind

“It’s just the two of us gazing into the night, don’t you think it’s romantic?”

I returned into the roo I sat on the sofa, picked up the remote on the round table before, and switched on the television that was as big as the rooh the channels There were et to see, and the entertainers showcasing dialects caught irl’s nonsense

Abandoning the veranda, she closed the glass door and cut in front of ine froy the bed was Alright then, guess it wouldn’t hurt to have just a little taste of its springs

Just like e television

“Dialects are interesting huh Have ye eaten? It sounds just like soe, its dialect sounds old - how strange”

For soful

“Seems like it’d be pretty fun to study dialects as a job”

“Guess we agree once in a while huh Even I’ that it’d be fine if I studied that kind of stuff once I enter university”

“How nice, I wanted to go to university too”

“……What do you want me to say to that?”

I’d like if if she stopped with the non-humorous, sentimentality-cladded stuff I didn’t even knoas supposed to feel

“Don’t you have any trivia about dialects or so?”

“Let’s see, well, e hear them, they all sound like the same Kansai dialect to us, but there are actually quite a number of variants How many variants do you think there are?”

“Ten thousand!”

“……That’s just plain i answers out of thin air, you know? There are various views, but some say the actual number may even be close to thirty”

“Huh, is that so”

“……I wonder just how many people you’ve hurt up till now”

Since she was a girl with a wide network of acquaintances, that number was probably immeasurable Honestly, what a sinful human On that point, I, who didn’t acquaint myself with anybody, would never hurt anyone As for which of us is righteous as a person, I think that judgement will be divided

She silently watched the television for a while, but before long - probably finding it unbearable to re around on the wide bed, and after co a bath!” Follohich, she entered the bathroo the tub with hot water With the sound of gushi+ng water acting as BGM from beyond the bathroom wall, she retrieved various small items from her backpack, and started the water in the washroom that was separate froh it’s not like I was interested

Once the bath was filled with hot water, she disappeared into the bath with delightful glee “Peeping is a no-go alright,” I received a foolish piece of advice, but I didn’t even look at her walking into the bathrooentleman

I could hear her hu I’d heard before fro just how in the world had I arrived at the present situation in which I was sitting so close to a classht back and reflected on , the chandelier flickered from the corner of my eye

When I had reached the part ofassaulted by her on the shi+nkansen, I was called out to

“Get-along-kuuun, could you getcream from my backpack?”

Sub to her voice that echoed frorabbed the sky blue backpack that had been left on the bed and peeked inside

I hadn’t felt anything

Which hy it was as if my heart had been hit with an earthquake from somewhere when I laid my eyes on its contents

Her inside her backpack - coloured just as brightly as her

And though there should have been no need or reason to be shaken up,

Even though I should have known, even though I should have understood Even though I should have already grasped the pre seen that, I choked

Calm down……

I told myself so

Inside her backpack were several syringes, an unprecedented a apparatus that I didn’t kno to operate

I sohts fro away

I had known, that this was reality The truth that she washer existence with the power of medical science When I looked at what lay before ht at that moment, the face of the fear that entrapped me showed itself

“Anything wro~ng?”

I turned towards the bathroo about; she, who lacked even the slightest clue about the state of s that had taken hold withincream and handed it over to her

“Thaaanks! Ah, this is because I’ht now!”

Before I could even ! This is eht man in her own little routine, she closed the bathroom door

I approached the bed she had occupied and threw iness that I had coulf even my consciousness

I was confused

I wonder why

I should have been aware, I should have known, and I should have understood

But even so, I was still averting my eyes

Averting my eyes from her reality

In actuality, just by having seen those iteh aat my heart

Why

My unsettled thoughts went spinning round and round, and I fell asleep on the bed, the spinning probably having reached my eyes

When I had co my shoulder The monster had retreated for now

“So you did want to sleep on the bed”

“……Like I said, I just wanted to have one taste This is plenty”

I stood up and seated myself on the sofa So as to ensure she didn’t notice the wounds the monster left, I stared at the television as expressionlessly as I could I’d regained my composure, and the fact that I could do that

The girl was drying her long hair with the dryer provided

“Get-Along-kun, you should take a bath too, the jacuzzi was great!”

“Guess I should No peeping alright, since I’ to remove my human skin when I enter the bath”

“You got sunburnt?”

“Yeah, guess that works too”

With the Uniqlo carrier containing the clothes I’d bought with money borrowed from her, I headed into the bathroom Where hu better, I siination

Just in case, I properly locked the door before I removed my clothes and soakedmy head and my body, I immersed myself in the bathtub Just like she said, once I activated the jacuzzi function, I was enveloped by a sense of happiness that couldn’t be put into words The tracks left by theover reat I fully enjoyed the bath of a high-class hotel that I supposed I would not get a taste of for at least another ten years

I left the bath and found the chandelier lights switched off, mak