Vol 2 Chapter 3.1 (1/2)

Mission 3

“What is the meaning of this, Saruhiko.”

In December at the time the results of the mock exam had been sent out to each of them, Oogai Aya once again stopped him in the corridor. Because the mock exam had not been part of the entrance exam this time, they had not known the results would come today. Of course the names of the people in the first 150 places hadn’t been publicized either.

“Are you, like, an idiot? If you don’t go to a high school these days you’re from society’s viewpoint trash. You should go to one. Because you can go into any school even without trying hard and you’ll be successful in society even without much effort.”

“Well, then I can’t be an idiot, can I?”

“You are an idiot. Aya, like, didn’t think you’d be that big of an idiot. Aya will most certainly not become trash like you.”

Aya spoke with anger while she pushed up her gla.s.ses which she was wearing today too, with force. She hasn’t even surpa.s.sed herself in anything yet in the first place so why does she want to compete with me on equal terms so badly? I don’t get it. Is she an idiot? Even though she isn’t supposed to be that stupid.

It was the corridor in front of the boys’ toilet again. Do you wait here for me to come or what… The male students going in and out the toilet glanced at them, but Aya glared at them as if there were worms, chasing them away.

“…seriously, what’s up with you.”

Fus.h.i.+mi leaned against the frame of the window in the corridor.

“I feel good today so I’ll listen to you for only one minute. If there’s something you want to tell me after all, then do it now. Cause I won’t listen to you again.”

“Misaki-kun is good, alright. Even though no matter how hard he’ll work from now on he won’t suddenly get any smarter and he won’t be able to get very far anyway. And if he drops out now he won’t have any effect on society, will he? He doesn’t have to make any more useless effort than this.”

“You sure changed your opinion quickly, huh… Weren’t you drooling over Yata?”

“When you’re dragged along by an idiot like Misaki-kun, your own merit drops. That’s the warning Aya, like, gives you. Aya can talk with you on a high level and on equal terms.”

“Why do I have to talk to you? Have you ever listened to me with your eyes sparkling and saying ‘amazing’?”

Aya who had been talking on and on haughtily shut her mouth as if he had caught her by surprise.

Fus.h.i.+mi frowned and after he heaved a heavy sigh, he changed the topic a bit.

“You know, I pop them. Bubble wrap, the plastic kind.”

“…huh? What? Pop?”

Without minding Aya’s dubious expression he continued.

“Popping that feels as if you’re crus.h.i.+ng… because there’s nothing else to do I have my hands occupied like that and before I notice all of it is already crushed and that in itself is a result… something like a result. Learning too, keeping a high ranking in jcube too, they’re like popping bubble wrap for me. No matter what, I can do them without much effort, just like you said. You seem to think that there is merit for me in it, but in my opinion all of that is merely trash.”

Because Fus.h.i.+mi hadn’t kept his voice down the students pa.s.sing through the corridor were also able to hear him, and surprised but also nasty gazes were turned towards him. But Fus.h.i.+mi didn’t care what thebackground was thinking. Aya was also background. He wouldn’t feel better by winning an argument against background. One minute had pa.s.sed already. He turned back and started walking to the cla.s.sroom.

“…Sa- Saruhiko!”

After some distance had been created between them Aya’s yell came crus.h.i.+ng against his back.

“You’re really the worst! Aya hates you from the bottom of her heart!”

With that an actual physical impact crushed against him and Fus.h.i.+mi stumbled forward. Aya’s backpack fell to his feet with a thud. With a hand on his back he glowered over his shoulder at Aya who disheartened, braced herself in front of the boys’ toilet.

“By now I know that even without you telling me. Though I don’t particularly hate you as an individual―”

He scooped up the backpack with the tip of his foot and juggled it on the instep a few times.

“Because I hate the society you’re part of as a whole.”

In those few seconds he saw Aya’s expression become jumbled. Maybe it was bewilderment, maybe it was hope, maybe it was despair.

Fus.h.i.+mi swung his foot back and with the intention to sink the shot with all his might he aimed at Aya’s face and kicked the backpack. Fus.h.i.+mi turned around and started to walk away and the last he saw was Aya’s wide-eyed expression as she wasn’t even able to cover her face. From behind him he heard Aya’s scream and the surrounding people being astir.

Even though his grades were good he had never thought of being proud of it the way Aya was. He had also done jcube simply out of habit. Because he wasn’t bad at studying or playing games Fus.h.i.+mi was immersed in them while he did those, but when he was done nothing like pride or contentment stayed behind. For Fus.h.i.+mi most things in the world pa.s.sed by the way he crushed bubble wrap out of habit. Even when he was filled with negative feelings, positive ones were hollow.

“You’re amazing!”

“That idea’s super interesting!”

“Let’s do it together, Saruhiko!”

This was the first time that somebody who reacts in an exaggerated way every time without fail and says so straight-forwardly was always by his side. Compared to other people Fus.h.i.+mi might have various talents, but this was what felt like a real merit he had achieved.

†

“Amazing!”

With sparkling eyes Yata pushed the switch of the wrist watch on his left wrist over and over. With every push an about four inch large holographic screen appeared and disappeared in the empty air above the watch’s gla.s.s.

“Wow! Amazing! Saruhiko, this is amazing, so cool! It looks like something a Sentai member would wear!”

“'A Sentai member’ are you seven or what?”

“Se- Sentai members are adults so it’s okay, right?”

Embarra.s.sed, Yata made a comeback with little strength behind it and raised his voice again in a cheer as he twiddled with the watch.

“Right now it’s not like the watch has turned into a PDA so there’s no point in not carrying a PDA with you. When I apply the one I use…”

Fus.h.i.+mi flicked the screen of his own PDA with a special gesture. A holography a bit bigger than Yata’s appeared in midair.

“I want to revamp it sometime but for now it’s like this. Misaki moves around outside, so a maneuverer would be good, right? So that’s why I have this.”

With that he pulled out and showed Yata a headset with an earphone speaker for only one ear and a mic attached to it.

“Ohhh….”

Saruhiko glanced at Misaki who was fascinated by it and had gotten teary-eyed.

“You just thought it looks like a Sentai operator, right?”

“Ugh, I- I didn’t?”

“I did. Cool, right?”

He said nonchalantly and put the headset on. After Yata had stared at him blankly he broke into a broad smile.

“What’s up with that, you were thinking the same as me after all.”

Saruhiko grinned back at him, too.

“I also a.s.sembled the computers I need to run the hacking tool. With only a PDA it’d be impossible, as you can guess.”

“Feels like a control room, doesn’t it?” Yata looked around the room in triumph. “At this point I feel like we’re gonna win!”

“Stupid. I hasn’t even started yet.”

“Then, did you consider the possibility we’d lose, Saruhiko?”

“No way.”

When Fus.h.i.+mi gave a prompt answer, Yata nodded enthusiastically.

“Right. When you and I are teamed up, it feels like we’d never lose.”

Speaking of control rooms of Sentai heroes one would think of s.h.i.+ning monitors lined up in a futuristic room but this place felt like a radio station at best. The only thing s.h.i.+ning on the loft which is so low you have to squat to not rub your head on the ceiling, was the light of a desk lamp. Going down the loft there was a living s.p.a.ce where you could stand and walk normally without worrying about the low ceiling, but there was barely any furniture. They had started first and proceeded with the preparation of their base.

It had been a month since they had talked about seriously looking for a headquarters. Middle school students weren’t guarantors and normally you’d think it wouldn’t be possible for them to rent a room but just as Yata had said the realtors of s.h.i.+zume City’s underground didn’t care about that too much.

A heliport on the roof to organize sorties with fighter jets, and a secret subterranean tunnel from the sewer that connects with the cellar, unfortunately they had neither. Instead they had a three tatami mats large loft that could be reached with a ladder. It was in the first floor of a multi-tenant building with some kind of shop in the front, the walls and floor consisted of undressed concrete and duct tape was peeling of the ceiling. It was an empty square room, but a kitchen, bathroom and toilet were properly included.

Because of these features and because it was cheap, Yata had immediately decided to take it. Fus.h.i.+mi had thought the qualifications seemed too good so he had investigated a bit and found out that a homicide had happened there, but… he secretly stuck out his tongue and decided to not tell Yata.

“How’re your preparations going, Misaki?”

“Leave it to me. I told you, I procured a new vehicle!”

Yata jumped down the loft without using the ladder, crawled under the loft and was gone from Fus.h.i.+mi’s sight for the moment (By the way, they had decided that the loft belonged to Fus.h.i.+mi, the s.p.a.ce under the loft belonged to Yata, and the rest they shared).

Just as Fus.h.i.+mi was wondering what Yata was doing,

Thud!

slipped Yata energetically out from under the loft together with the sound of something hitting the floor harshly.

On the loft Fus.h.i.+mi’s eyes got wide. Yata charged at the opposite wall, made a half turn right in front of it and stopped, looking at Fus.h.i.+mi.

“Hehen,”

The thing Yata stepped on with his feet with a triumphant look and his chest puffed out was-

“Heh… a skateboard?”

“In the park was a group of college students practicing with this and then it came to me. With this I can maneuver easily and it’s perfect for moving in the city. So I asked them if they don’t have one they don’t use and if they couldn’t give it to me. They asked if I’m from middle school and if I can at least do a kick flip and when I asked them what a kick flip is, they laughed and said if I can do it within one hour they’ll give me the best skateboard they have. I guaranteed that I could do it if they show me once how it’s done.  And then, no where close to an hour I succeeded right at the first time and left those guys dumbfounded. Well, with my reflexes it was an easy thing.”

Yata who held his nose high and told a story of his strength and valor had both his hands on his hips, and those were covered in scratches. His whole body had to be covered in bruises, although he hid it under long sleeves and long pants.

“Succeeded at the first time, huh.”

“Wh- what, are you doubting me?”

When Yata noticed Fus.h.i.+mi glancing at him he became embarra.s.sed and pulled back his hands behind his b.u.t.t.

“W- well, I just started, so it’s like this, but we have one week until the plan, right? In one week I’ll ride this skateboard flawlessly.”

One week later―― they’ll try to hack into «jungle»’s server.

There were a few parts that had been prepared hastily, but the things they wanted were generally ready. If they’d be too careful and wait who knows how many months until the right time then their interest would dwindle, and because they had obtained certain information at just the right time they had decided to set up everything for that day.

[Extra applications for the surprise party]

He had found this among the missions for December posted on «jungle». It was about partic.i.p.ating in a surprise party that will happen on the night of the 26th December in s.h.i.+zume City.

A surprise party? It felt kind of sudden so Fus.h.i.+mi dug through the information floating on the internet and there was a story attached to that mission. “There is a partic.i.p.ation limit for the mission and it looks like they’ll give you information that’ll become handy for entrance exams.” ――it wasn’t clear if this rumor had spread naturally or if «jungle» had intentionally spread it. This story was widespread among the ones it was aimed for, the many middle school seniors living in the city (high school seniors might also be included in that but there was no need to divide them).

It wasn’t clear what kind of information could “become handy”. Help to cheat or manipulating one’s grade――the details were all vague but that was why it was so antic.i.p.ated for and talked about so much among the students. And at the same time impatience and suspicions developed. You’d think that if they have so much valuable time to waste to partic.i.p.ate in this then they’d use that time to learn like a proper student at home. But what if everybody else partic.i.p.ates? They probably think in that case they’d be at a disadvantage and that would be unbearable.

Using the internet to mess with people’s emotions and manipulate their conduct――Fus.h.i.+mi felt like that was one side of «jungle».

While Fus.h.i.+mi explained their plan once again, Yata put his feet in the middle of the ladder and sat at the edge of the loft with his chin in his hands.

“Come to think of it, is Oogai also going there? Saruhiko, did you hear anything?”

“I haven’t. Why are you asking?”

“Because Oogai is also into «jungle» so the chances that she’ll go are pretty high, right? Aren’t you worried?”

“Y'know… I’ll tell you now but, that girl doesn’t think of you the way you do, worrying about her. I’ll tell you what she said today. Even if you work hard from now on you can’t become a winner so if you’d drop out now that wouldn’t change anything.”

It was no secret so Fus.h.i.+mi told him the whole conversation he had had with Oogai that day. Even if it came from Aya, what Fus.h.i.+mi pa.s.sed on to Misaki was deliberately insulting.

“Seems like some awful thing were said about me, huh…”

It seemed like that was nothing that cut too deeply for Yata to feel daunted, so he looked as if it was nothing.

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped that she feels bitter towards me. Oogai wanted to go to the same high school with you, right? And yet you suggested to not go to high school together with me.”

“Yeah, I was the one who suggested it. So why is she resenting you?”

“Anyway, when you meet Oogai again apologize, okay? No matter what happened you can’t just kick a bag into a girl’s face.”

“Why. I don’t wanna. She was the one who threw it at me.”

“Saruhiko.”

In Yata’s voice was suddenly severity mixed in.

“You’re not in elementary school anymore. You can’t hurt a girl. You’ll apologize, got it?”

“…”

Despite getting excited like a seven year old about Sentai members and stuff you’re scolding me?

“…if I meet her, after this plan is carried out.”

When Fus.h.i.+mi said that reluctantly and with a pout, Yata, who had had a serious expression broke in a smile.