Vol 2 Chapter 1 (2/2)

“…Then, after I wake up…”

“You’ll go back to sleep?”

Touya said that with a laugh, and Homura glared at him resentfully.

The next day.

As cicadas chirped cheerfully right from the start of the morning, Homura and Touya walked through a residential district.

“Today’s hot too.”

“Yeah,” replied Homura curtly. The summer-appropriate sleeved dress she wore was an unexpectedly refres.h.i.+ng look on her. She peeked at the basket Touya was carrying in his hands.

“What’s that? A fruit basket?”

“Ah, well, I brought a greeting gift just in case.”

“Wow, you really are conscientious, Touya-kun. You should call this kind of thing, umm, a “recovery celebration gift”. You intend to win her over with presents?”

“Something like that.”

Touya ascended the hill road with a slack expression.

Walking several steps ahead of him to move beneath the partial shade of the trees along the roadside, Homura swiveled her head to survey their surroundings. The residential district, usually quiet in the morning, was filled with the jovial voices of children enjoying their summer vacation.

“Hey, Hinooka—that’s one of our club’s camera, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s one of the spares. Can’t believe you noticed just by looking at it.”

Homura turned around and held out the heavy pouch she was carrying.

It contained a simple yet reliable a.n.a.log camera.

Leaving the pouch’s shoulder-strap in place, Homura brought it closer so Touya could see the camera’s viewfinder that was poking out of the bag.

“I switched the camera case because the original’s appearance was too unrefined and stood out a lot, though. Mori-chan said to make sure I carry it on me at all times.”

“The pictures you took last time came out quite terribly.”

“Yeah. They were terrible all right.”

“So you’re aware of it. I guess you don’t read travel articles in journals and magazines just for show, huh?”

“I’m an amus.e.m.e.nt park cameraman, after all.”

“—Huh?”

“Like, ‘Through my pictures, you’ll feel like you’ve been brought to an amus.e.m.e.nt park attraction, whether on the battlefield or at a World Heritage Site!’…or something like that. Not being able to take exciting photos makes me feel apologetic towards the people who made this Nutella-use camera…”

“You don’t need to try and show off when you take pictures. It’s just for our club’s data and doc.u.ment materials, after all.”

“But I want to take pictures that I can look back on and smile at since I’m doing it anyway, you know?”

“No, like I said—”

After they scaled the hill and took a turn down a side road, they arrived at their destination.

It was a stylish-house that looked Victorian-style, the kind you’d easily find in an American harbor town. Since it was on top of the hill, the second floor window probably had quite a nice view.

As expected, there was a nameplate that read “Inari” on the front door.

Homura felt tense as she stood in front of the doorbell b.u.t.ton on the entrance intercom, with a camera attached to it.

Touya and Homura exchanged looks, trying to get the other to push the b.u.t.ton through eye contact. Homura swiftly stole the fruit basket, thereby occupying her own hands and forcing the difficult role onto Touya.

“Why do you look like you’re getting ready to dash off?”

“Y-You know…”

“Are you a grade-schooler?”

Touya rang the doorbell.

When Homura peeked to the side of the front door, she caught sight of a large off-road bike.

[—Yes, who is it?]

A low male voice.

Touya quickly straightened his back as he answered back, despite the fact that there was no one actually in front of him.

“Sorry to intrude. I’m Touya, from Seiran High.”

[Ah, a cla.s.smate of Sunao?]

“No, that’s not—”

[Please wait a moment. I’ll go to the front door right away.]

The intercom speaker cut off. It appeared someone was coming out from inside the house.

Tense, Homura glanced at Touya.

“…Was that Inari-senpai’s father?”

“…Probably, I guess?”

“W-What do we do if he gets angry and shouts ‘How dare you hara.s.s my daughter!’ or something?”

“That’s…possible, if you consider what’s happened in the past. Hey, don’t run away!”

Touya grabbed Homura’s collar.

As they quarrelled like this before the front door, it suddenly opened and a somewhat slender man wearing gla.s.ses appeared.

“How nice, to be young and lively. Welcome, I’m the father of Inari Sunao.”

A tanned face and tanned arms. Unkempt, ruffled hair. A chin with conspicuous beard stubbles and band-aids on it.

He was a gentle-looking man, smiling brightly.

He wore a polo s.h.i.+rt with a tie around his neck, a summer vest that was roughly put on and a pair of jeans, all of it together giving off a summer feel with no indication of his occupation.

After Touya and Homura introduced themselves with their name and school year, Inari-senpai’s father expressed his appreciation as he peeked at the proffered fruit basket.

“Thank you. You even courteously brought us something like this.”

“It’s not much, though. Ehehe.”

“I’m the one who brought it, remember?”

“Since you went to the trouble of bringing this here, I should give you both something in return. Yeah, if I remember right, we still have that souvenir from Maldives1…”

“A souvenir from Maldives?”

Homura sharply responded to those words. But Touya stopped the man as he was about to head back inside.

“Ah, that isn’t necessary.”

“Hmm? Is that so?”

Homura turned to face Touya with a serious expression that plainly asked ‘Why?’, but Touya just gave her a light chop to the forehead.

“Argh.”

“Don’t forget our original objective.”

—Right. Unfortunately, Inari-senpai wasn’t at home.

Regrettably, it appeared she wouldn’t be back any time soon either.

“Sunao is in the middle of a rehab session. She’s at a nearby gym right now. You know, a public gym.”

“Yes, I know of it,” said Touya with a nod.

“Rehab, huh… Is Inari-senpai’s physical condition still bad?” asked Homura.

“No, no, there’s no need to worry at all.”

Inari-senpai’s father waved his hands to rea.s.sure her. He was the kind of person who gestured a lot.

“Thank goodness.”

Seeing Homura sigh in relief, the man’s smile clouded over a bit, which startled Homura and Touya.

“…Well, perhaps ‘at all’ isn’t quite right. We did worry about her a lot. But I’m truly relieved now. You see, I’m not going to be in j.a.pan when the next school semester starts, so I went with Sunao to give my greetings to the school yesterday. Of course, Sunao had already resolved herself to go back to school before this, though.”

Touya meekly cut into his explanation.

“Umm, we’re members of the Exploration Club.”

“I know.”

The man nodded.

The ever meticulous Touya showed his Seiran High student ID card and his Exploration Club ID card to him. Homura also hurried to do the same thing.

“It’s strange that a pair of Sunao’s club juniors would be so close to her that they would come visit her when she’s been absent from school for so long.”

“…I-I suppose so,” said Homura with a bitter smile.

Even after hearing the words ‘Exploration Club’, the man maintained his calm att.i.tude.

“The truth is—”

Just when Touya tried to get to the main point of their visit, the man caught sight of Homura’s pouch and spoke up.

“Is that an a.n.a.log camera? Wow, that’s a rare sight these days.”

“Ah.”

Homura pulled in the shoulder strap to bring the pouch in front of her, and then took out the contents to show it to him.

It was a plain and ordinary black camera with no adornments.

“You could tell?”

“It’s heavy, right? People rarely walk around carrying that.”

“Hmm, I tried to make it not obvious, though.”

“Hahaha. Oh, can I?”

Homura held out the camera to him, and the man happily accepted it.

The way he studied and set up the piece of equipment while marveling over it really seemed natural and fitting.

“Despite how I look…actually, what do I look like?”

The man rubbed his chin and asked with a wry smile.

“You’re talking about your job?”

“Right, right.”

Homura and Touya exchanged looks. Finally, Touya spoke up with a troubled expression.

“…A cameraman? That’s the first thing that comes to mind.”

“Thank you. It makes me very happy to hear that. But the truth is a little different.”

“Ah, wait a minute—”

Homura placed a finger to her brow in thought.

“I feel like I remember seeing—no, hearing your voice before?”

“Hmm?”

“Were you a commentator on a satellite broadcast program at the end of last week? But the commentator on that program had very different hair…”

“Then a maybe he’s a performer? What was the program about?”

“Sorry, I forgot. My dad was the one who mainly watched it. I get the feeling…it was something about countermeasures against desertification in Europe?”

“That was a rebroadcasted program. It was edited and compiled last year, I think. This is my occupation.”

The man handed out a business card to the two of them.

The tile read ‘National Geographic, j.a.panese Division, Editor-in-Chief’.

Homura was speechless, while Touya widened his eyes and spoke excitedly.

“National Geographic!? I have a monthly subscription for this magazine!”

“Oh, I’m very glad to hear that. You’re a good guy, Touya-kun.”

“I see…! I’m sorry, I never paid attention to the listing of people related to editing.”

“It’s fine. It’s already more than enough that Exploration Club members like you read it.”

“……”

Having been left to the side by Touya’s excitement, Homura showed little interest as she asked the obvious question.

“What kind of magazine is National Geographic?”

“What kind—It features photos of pristine nature and wild animals, the latest reports by amazing explorers, and even discoveries in s.p.a.ce—”

What? What’s so interesting about that? Are you a nature maniac?

…That was the kind of gouging look of disbelief that Homura gave him.

Touya, having his explanation completely disregarded, furrowed his brows.

“Anyways, it’s a must-read for any member of the Exploration Club, for sure!”

“Another one…? Just how many skills are necessary to be in the Exploration Club?”

The man laughed brightly at the two teenagers’ vastly different degrees of enthusiasm in their respective reactions.

“My, the new club members this year are quite interesting.”

“…Err, so then, you’re a reporter?”

“Yes, if you want to stretch the definition of my job. I originally did various jobs like being a cameraman and doing translation work, but I’m quite busy these days. I don’t get much chance to go on trips to take pictures now.”

“Haah. It sounds rough.”

Homura managed a forced smile, but it still didn’t quite click in her mind.

Why would he go out of his way to take pictures in dangerous places? Well, it wasn’t like she was one to talk, though. After taking back the camera and putting it in the pouch, Homura suddenly thought of something and spoke up.

“Umm~, do you think you could teach me any tricks for taking good photos…?”

“Why does this not surprise me? That’s really not the att.i.tude to use when asking to be taught by a pro, Hinooka.”

“But I could really use the help.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I get asked that a lot, actually.”

After soothing Touya, the man kindly agreed to teach her.

“Let’s see. Would you prefer to learn easy tricks or hard tricks?”

“I-In that case, the easy tricks would be better…”

—The three of them moved over to a wood deck bench.

After discussing camera techniques for a while, Touya’s curiosity was sated, so he once more brought up the original topic.

“I know we don’t have the right to ask this, but—”

“…Hmm?”

“What do you think of Inari-senpai’s…Sunao-san’s activities in the Exploration Club?”

“So it’s about that, huh?”

His only daughter, Inari Sunao, had been stranded on Nutella and nearly lost her life.

But he still hadn’t said a single word of censure about the Exploration Club.

After contemplating it for a short while, he looked at Touya with a serious gaze and spoke.

“I trust Sunao…She’s already an adult who can decide things on her own.”

“…Hmm… And how do you really feel about her being in the Exploration Club?” asked Homura.

“I worry and worry so much my stomach aches! I’ve managed to stay calm in all kinds of hazardous places and situations, but I feel like there’s a hole in my stomach when I think of her going through danger on Nutella.”

“………”

Touya was at a loss for words.

Part of it was because he was honestly impressed by how Homura immediately saw through the man’s official stance, but what bewildered Touya even more was—But the feeling inside him still had yet to take clear form.

The man gave an affable smile and continued speaking.

“But that doesn’t mean that I feel relieved by having her secluded and sheltered at home all the time.”

Exposing his shameful true feelings with a sigh and bitter smile, the man ran a hand through his ruffled hair.

“My wife would definitely hit me if I said this in front of her—but to tell the truth, I’m envious of Sunao and all of you. So much so that I’d like to join the Exploration Club myself if there were a vacancy.”

These words were, in a sense, his true feelings as a person rather than a father or adult. Touya was greatly taken aback.

“Did… Sunao-san say that to you?”

“Conversations like that often come up when we talk, but half as a joke. Of course, I know that it’s impossible for someone my age with how the Transport Rings work. Even so, Sunao said she’d like to go to Nutella with me.”

The man nodded happily.

“…But after she started working in the Exploration Club for half a year, she told me that looking after me on Nutella would be a pain and not to come after all.”

He laughed wryly with a glum and troubled expression.

He was an eccentric and funny father. Homura wanted to talk with him some more, but when she saw Touya’s eye signal, she followed his lead and stood up from the bench to depart.

As they were leaving, Homura asked one more thing.

“Will Sunao-senpai… return to the Exploration Club?”

“You should ask that to Sunao herself. That’s why you came today, right?”

The man called after them as he saw them off.

“Ah, please do come again. And if possible, please tell me more about the Exploration Club. I’m not often in j.a.pan, but I’ll make sure to fly back here when you come over.”

“Yes… Err, if it’s within the range of what I can talk about,” said Touya.

“No, no, what are you saying, Touya-kun? We’re bound by confidentiality, confidentiality!”

“Wha—you!”

Homura leaned forward and cut in in front of Touya.

“If you ever have us over again, how about you do an exclusive news coverage with just me? The truth is, I have a piece of information that would definitely turn into a big scoop—”

“Hey, that isn’t something you can say even as a joke.”

Touya slapped the back of her head.

“Ahaha, sorry, sorry. We’ll definitely come again.”

“*Sigh*… Thank you for your time.”

While agitated by Homura’s loose lips, Touya still expressed his thanks and then began walking the path back home down the hill.

After reluctantly lingering at the front door, Homura hurried off to follow him.

“……”

A slight agitation lurked in Touya’s heart.

What was it that had disconcerted him?

A street with sunlight flickering through the trees above. While pa.s.sively responding to Homura as she chatted as usual, Touya pondered over the emotion that had briefly pa.s.sed through his mind.

It was probably—his childish jealousy towards Inari for having a father who was the exact opposite of his own strict father… or so Touya convinced himself.

Chapter 1 END

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Maldives: a South Asian island country and republic.

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