Vol 2 Chapter 2 (1/2)

VOLUME 1-1

Chapter 2

After returning home, Homura lay down face-up on her bed.

She raised her palm and partially blotted out the sunlight with her fingers, making shadow images on the wall.

“……”

Now that she thought about it, she had merely been subjected to criticisms over her club entry by the club that had forcibly invited her to join. She hadn’t actually lost anything.

She just felt a little shocked by how she was systemically told the same disparaging words of scorn that her sister always used from someone else.

Once again, her lazy and disinterested personality, making her incapable of continuing anything for long, had been scorned.

“It doesn’t matter…”

Homura mumbled that as she tossed and turned on her bed.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t live without any ambition, and it wasn’t like she would definitely be rewarded if she worked hard either.

She didn’t look down on others.

She had never wanted to win at something or defeat someone.

But, just as she had been about to leave, the Exploration Club advisor had told her one final thing.

“If you want to have your club entry approved, go and win first place in the s.h.i.+nryoku1 Festival here. It can be in any category. Just make sure you get first place. Prove that you won’t lose to anyone of this school in a certain field.”

As a festival lover herself, Homura had been looking forward to the s.h.i.+nryoku Festival at school.

Sponsored by the student council, it was a slightly odd event that was meant to greet the new students, occurring after the completion of the mid-term exams.

If she remembered right, she should have had a print-out containing details on the event.

After thinking of that, Homura reached for her bag from the bed… but her arm couldn’t reach, so she stretched out her toes and picked up her bag with them.

She turned over the bag, and out from it fell the Exploration Club’s advertising pamphlet that she’d left in there since yesterday.

On the pamphlet that was slightly more slender than a textbook, the words “Exploration Club Guide” were written with a background depicting a wild and natural landscape on top of a smooth and sleek cover.

The t.i.tle was inscribed in gold leaf, as if it were surrounded by holographic rings.

When she turned it over, she found various corporate names listed on the backside.

“j.a.panese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications… Ministry of Foreign Affairs… UNPIEP…? What’s that supposed to stand for…? United Nations Pioneering Imaginary Earth Program…? What’s that?”

It was a list of stiff and formal words without a single character of hiragana2. That alone made her tired of reading it.

For Homura, to whom ‘books’ meant fas.h.i.+on magazines, this book was too much for her brain.

Having lost any interest in turning the pages of the pamphlet, Homura idly traced the holographic letters on the cover, and she recalled Touya’s words from earlier.

It was all Touya’s fault that her mood was messed up.

The pattern was always the same with boys who approached her.

They either wanted Homura or held some childish compet.i.tiveness that made them want to prove their superiority over her. She wasn’t used to being easily ignored as she was now at her current school.

In that environment, Touya was, to her, the first Unidentified Boy Object (UBO) for her to have a close encounter with.

Miss Fujimori was also plenty strange herself, but Homura could understand her rude words. When she talked with her more closely outside of the cla.s.sroom, Homura immediately understood that she was plenty feminine. The reason she repressed it was surely out of antagonism towards men.

“Sorry.”

Touya had muttered that while pus.h.i.+ng his bicycle.

‘You’re giving up with just this? You don’t want me?’ Unable to say such misdirected words, Homura had parted with him while the atmosphere remained awkward between them.

Just as the sun was about to set and her room was darkening, a knock came from her door.

A cheeky voice came from the other side of the door.

“Homura? Are you planning to sleep for three years? Dad has come home.”

Homura’s father, Hinooka Masafumi, followed the creed of returning home early and eating together with the entire family at least twice a week. This was just about the only thing that Homura was able to continue doing without giving up after a while. Even when she had a boyfriend, she admirably followed this family tradition without ever skipping. Well, with her younger sister Tsuyu getting busier studying for her entrance exams, that too would only last until next year when Tsuyu would advance to high school.

Without looking through the pamphlet in the end, Homura went downstairs and sat at the dining table.

Tonight’s dinner was cheese fondue. The smell of wine permeated the air.

Her younger sister skillfully cut a baguette into cubes with a long bread-cutting knife.

“Here’s the ladle.”

Tsuyu handed a fondue-use wooden spatula to her mother.

Homura liked how the fondue with its alcohol burner lit on the table had a bit of a camp-like, rustic beauty to it. According to her mother Serina, it was a meal that gave off the atmosphere of sitting together in a happy circle, while requiring overwhelmingly easy preparations to make in comparison.

As such, even outside of the winter season, the Hinooka family would often eat this fondue meal.

“Homura, the pot.”

“Oops.”

Poked by her younger sister, Homura tore her gaze away from absently watching the TV and frantically stirred the pot. If the contents of the pot burned and became sticky, the fondue would become the worst picture of h.e.l.l.

Her younger sister grumbled in her usual tone.

“It would be nice if we could buy a fondue-use electromagnetic cooker or a hotplate…”

“Eh, but that’s a good pot. Isn’t it cute?” Homura protested while arranging the mini-salad bowl.

“I also like it. You don’t see this kind of design anymore. Right?” her mother said, smiling gently at Homura’s words.

Homura’s mother was young and kind.

These days, there were times when she and Homura were mistaken for sisters while they were shopping.

Homura resembled her mother, and her younger sister clearly resembled their father. In particular, her sister and father were both short-sighted.

“Then make sure not to burn it, Homura.” Tsuyu grumbled. “It’s always a trouble to wash it afterwards.”

“I’ll wash it myself.”

“Liar.”

“Tsuyu, you shouldn’t address your sister so impolitely.”

Their father, having just gotten out of the bath, sat down at the table.

Tsuyu glared at her father with a frown.

“…Dad.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“Masafumi-san, please make sure to leave water in the bath for the girls later.”

“Ah. I forgot,” their father said as he gaped.

The way he couldn’t oppose his wife’s words at all was their father’s cute point.

“I don’t mind at all,” Homura said.

“I can’t believe you,” Tsuyu grumbled as she struck her bread-cutting knife against the cutting board with a bang.

“Sorry, Tsuyu. You too, Homura. I’ll pay more attention next time.”

The family had gathered around the table.

They made silly and trifling conversation.

They talked about how the family car was being examined and how they would have to use a loaned car for a while, and Tsuyu complained about how she wanted to go to a different cram school.

Suddenly, during a news flash on the TV, Homura saw familiar letters dance across the screen.

“UNPIEP… is it p.r.o.nounced ‘anpiepu’?” Homura murmured.

“It’s an acronym, so it doesn’t really matter how you p.r.o.nounce it. More importantly, do you even know its official name?”

Homura wanted to smash the piping hot fondue against Tsuyu’s irritating face.

“O-Of course I know it. It’s called the United… League of… Gi… Giant Stuffed Animals… or something.”

“Wrong. Was that on purpose? It’s the United Nations Pioneering Imaginary Earth Program3!”

“Hmm. So, what is it?”

Both her sister and father drooped their shoulders despondently.

“It appears in Social Studies tests these days, you know?”

Tsuyu strongly nodded at her father’s words.

“Sorry. Don’t know it. It’s probably something from Tsuyu’s grade.”

“There’s no way that could be,” Tsuyu retorted. “It’s common knowledge. It’s fundamental knowledge these days.”

“UN… I don’t know anything about that kind of thing either,” their mother admitted.

“Ah, that’s right. They call it by the popular name ‘Imaginary Earth Nutella’ on the news. They might start making insurance related to the Imaginary Earth at my company too.”

“Oh my, is that so? But didn’t they say that they still don’t know much about it?”

“That’s exactly why. In the first place, insurance companies originated from dispatching collateral to aristocrats when trading vessels sunk during the Great Age of Exploration.”

“You mean Lloyd’s insurance market in England, right?”

“Yeah, right. You’re quite knowledgeable, Tsuyu,” their father complimented.

Homura’s chest slightly p.r.i.c.kled.

Imaginary Earth Nutella… Speaking of which, she felt like she’d heard of it before… or not.

“That Imaginary Earth thing, it might be connected to the Exploration Club.”

Her gla.s.ses-wearing father and sister were once again left dumbfounded.

“Geez, could you two stop with that face?” Homura protested as she jabbed her metal chopsticks into a piece of bread.

“You’re interested in the Exploration Club, Homura-chan?” her mother asked.

“Err, rather than interested…”

“Homura—Onee-chan, you aren’t in any clubs, so how about you join the Exploration Club?”

“Muu, then why don’t you try joining it, Tsuyu? If you’re already bored of tossing batons.”

Her younger sister had zealously worked hard practicing in her Cheerleading Club, but recently, there had been no sign of her practicing at all.

“Tsuyu is preparing for her entrance exams. It can’t be helped.”

“That’s right, I’m different from you, Onee-chan.”

“Though Homura-chan is cute,” her mother added disappointingly with a sigh.

“Uu… Anyway, this isn’t a joke! Joining the Exploration Club is like becoming a sacrifice for the country. There are rumors that, even though there are a lot of club members that have actually gone missing, it never appears on the news due to government censuring.”

“…Eh?”

Homura was shocked by her sister’s words.

Her father also silently nodded while stuffing his cheeks with bread.

Only her mother looked puzzled.

“Really? When I was a university student, there were people in the university Exploration Club that crossed the Pacific Ocean on self-made rafts, but they all came back safely.”

“Kuh… Mom, that was a normal Exploration Club, a university group, right? The Imaginary Earth is a really dangerous place where common sense doesn’t apply at all.”

“Hey, are there other… rumors like that…?”

Though she really didn’t want to hear it, Homura hesitantly asked.

“Others? Yeah, there are. Like how members are given a cell phone equipped with a transmitter and put on surveillance 24-7, or how toxins build up in their body just by spending a long time there—”

“……”

They were all dangerous-sounding rumors. They might just be pieces of idle gossip, but Homura couldn’t laugh when she recalled the words ‘state secret’ that Touya and Fujimori had said.

While tracing the round slices of paprika that formed the color scheme of the salad bowl using her chopsticks, Homura confessed what was on her mind.

“The truth is… I’m thinking about joining the Exploration Club…”

She didn’t mention that she had been rejected in the very first interview. There was no point in telling them that part.

“Oh my, isn’t that nice?”

Her mother clapped her hands together happily.

“Do whatever you want.”

Her younger sister spoke while crunching on a cherry tomato stem in her mouth.

And when Homura looked to her father, he was in the midst of returning with some beer from the refrigerator.

“Hey, what do you think about it, Dad?”

The sound of the beer can popping open followed Homura’s question.

“Hmm? A club, huh? Why not? I always approve of you starting something. Of course, your studies take priority, but in your case, Homura, I think it’d be better if you got a bit more exercise.”

“I still don’t know whether I’ll manage to join or not, though.”

Homura smiled self-effacingly.

“You’ll surely be fine if it’s you, Homura-chan.”

“If it’s things like tools that are on your mind, you don’t need to worry. It’s different from clothes or manga, after all.”

“Apparently, the state prepares all that stuff, though…”

That was quite obvious, based on that fortress erected on the school grounds.

“The state?”

Tsuyu’s fingers froze in motion.

After quite vigorously shaking his beer can, her father asked once again.

“So, what club are you joining?”

“The Exploration Club.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” her mother said approvingly.

“By Exploration Club, you mean THAT Exploration Club?”

Wrinkles foretelling a frown quickly spread across her father’s brow.

“It sounds romantic, and working together with your comrades seems fun.”

“The UNPIEP Exploration Club? For Youth Investigators of the Imaginary Earth?”

While trying to suppress his shaking hand, her father accidentally put down his beer can over the edge of the table, but Tsuyu flawlessly caught it.

“No way! I absolutely forbid it!”

This was the second time today that Homura had been subjected to criticism.

The pot shook on its stand. The burner’s fire blinked out for an instant and a peculiar smell wafted over the dining table.

Though the force of her father’s anger was as she expected, she still responded hesitantly.

“I-I still haven’t decided for sure yet, though.”

“Either way, I forbid it! It’s too dangerous. That club’s just a smokescreen by the government to cover up their lack of actual measures and policies on the matter. It’s the same as the moon development plans! It’s all high risk and no return!”

“B-But, didn’t you say it’s reached the point where it will become a commodity for your insurance company, Dad?”

“This and that are two different things!”

Her younger sister also backed up her father’s argument in this case.

“Are you stupid, Homura? You need the right qualifications to join the Exploration Club, you know?”

Indignant, Homura lifted her chin in a p.r.i.c.kly manner and tried to bluff.

“I didn’t mention it before, but I do have the qualifications to join the Exploration Club. I took the apt.i.tude test when I was in middle school, and my results were satisfactory. So…”

“I never heard anything about that. And regardless of whether or not you have the qualifications, young lady—”

“Masafumi-san, yelling too much isn’t good for your body.”

“Yes.”

Rebuked by his wife, Homura’s father sat back in his seat, but his anger was clearly smoldering.

Her mother spoke to him while maintaining her gentle smile.

“Homura-chan declared it herself, so let’s just stand back and watch over her.”

“……”

As Homura was left speechless, her father somehow maintained his calm as he resumed speaking.

“Sorry, Homura. I shouldn’t have yelled. But I really am opposed to it.”

He turned back towards his wife.

“Serina-san, are there any parents who want to send their children to war?”

“War?”

His wife was puzzled.

“Yes. The name ‘Exploration Club’ sounds nice, but it is part of a proxy war with the honor of each country staked on it.”

Homura’s father continued with a serious face.

“In socialist countries, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, many young people were treated as disposable p.a.w.ns with the use of drugs in order to train Olympic gold medalists. Even now, there are former compet.i.tors who suffer impairments from those times and live harsh lives without ever receiving any proper compensation. That compet.i.tion itself was the battleground of the Cold War. The Exploration Club is a den of secretiveness and systemization that allows anything as long as it brings about showy results.”

“Hmm… I do truly feel bad for those compet.i.tors who were sacrificed in the Cold War, but Homura-chan would never get involved in something so terrible.”

“She doesn’t understand anything. They’ll brainwash her in the organization. That’s the most terrifying thing about it.”

“There’s always something like that to a greater or lesser degree, right? First, she has to try it out. Right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Her mother’s soft fingers touched Homura’s fingertips.

Just by bringing up the topic a little to discuss with the rest of the family, Homura had actually ended up creating an atmosphere that stopped her from hastily saying that she had refused to join the club.

“And the things Tsuyu-chan spoke about earlier are still just rumors, right? Homura-chan still hasn’t experienced anything dangerous. Don’t you think that Homura-chan should join and make her own judgment on it after seeing it with her own eyes?”

“I wonder about that,” Tsuyu murmured.

“It will be too late at that point. In the first place, it’s impossible. The employment age limit for the Exploration club is…”

At that point, her father’s shoulders drooped and he heaved a big sigh before saying, “Let’s stop arguing over this.”

“Yeah… let’s continue talking about it another time.”

Her mother still didn’t seem to have accepted her husband’s explanation.

Her father also merely nodded obediently for the time being.

“The fondue is burning.”

With a fed-up expression, Tsuyu poked at the lake of cheese in the pot with her ladle, making a crunchy sound at the depths of the pot as a savory smell wafted out. The crispy cheese was turned inside out and splintered across its surface from the edge inwards.

“Ah, I like that. It’s like a cheese rice cracker,” her mother said happily.

“I’ll also have some,” her father said as well.

“It’s not fondue anymore, you know.”

The next day. Recess between cla.s.ses.

As preparations for the s.h.i.+nryoku Festival advanced within the school, the posters hung on the corridor walls were changed.

Club recruiting posters were switched with all kinds of program sheets for the festival.

Homura absentmindedly gazed at the newly hung posters.

Seiran High’s s.h.i.+nryoku Festival was an event held by gathering various plans and projects from all the sports and culture clubs.

The difference with the Cultural Festival was that the second and third year students planned and executed the event, while the first years served as the festival’s partic.i.p.ants. Also, each club proposed a project and the student council selected ten of them to be implemented in the festival. As such, there were many cases where several clubs submitted a plan together.

In other words, it was a school-wide welcoming party for first year students.

Homura looked over the posters lined up on the wall.

There were things like [Basket-Volleyball-Handball Summit Play-Off], [Kanji Larger Than One Meter! Giant Calligraphy Exhibition], and [Karaoke Tournament Accompanied by a Bra.s.s Band at Full Power!].

There seemed to be a lot of projects for partic.i.p.ants like tournaments or concerts.

As she looked further down the line, Homura saw that the remaining posters were still in the midst of being hung up.

“Doesn’t it still lack some impact like this?”

“Should we decorate with gold lace or something?”

“I think there’s some luminous paint left over.”