Vol 1 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Adolescent Adam: Chapter 4 - The Trick to the Crane Game is to Pull it in Close

The next day arrived

The utterly normal day was the exact opposite of the day before when Mutsuki had been prepared to die more than once, had nearly cried, had worn out his hips, and had climbed the staircase to adulthood

His classetic as ever and Ibekusa Machina arrived at the last second as always Mutsuki tried to greet her again but once again failed to say anything

There was only one difference

“Jiyuuni Ange Nice to meet you”

A s homeroom

The transfer student had given the ned seat That seat was the rearonally back fro it intentionally, but she was resting her had on her hand and staring disinterestedly out thejust like Machina in front of her

She immediately put on a lopsided frown and showed no hint of sociability Mutsuki orried she would not be able to get along with the others, but Ange simply turned her back on their classmates’ curious looks

She seemed to have a natural preference for purity, so she had a poor opinion of the Serpent’s Eye that could force women into a state of arousal However, her dislike did not see humans may have been true

But…

“Ohhhhhhhh! You’re so cute! I love you! Please marry me!”

“Wa ha! Your red hair is so pretty♡ Is it natural? And your eyes are blue… Are you only half-japanese?”

“We don’t usually get transfer students at this time of year Where was your old school?”

The fact that she was a beautiful young girl proved surprisingly powerful As soon as homeroom ended, a tsunami of classmates rushed toward her

“Hey, make sure you’re ready for first period”

Their hoh the classroo

Ange must not have expected this either

“Well… It’s natural and my eyes are normal My old school was somewhere far away”

Despite her composed answers, she looked shocked

Mutsuki breathed a sigh of relief as he watched on from a step away

They were pretending to be strangers because of the trouble it would cause if their classether, but she had of course transferred to the school to be his bodyguard Since she had co with the others

“Jiyuuni-san… I can call you, Ange-chan, right? I’m Kurikara Kurikara Saya”

The class’s feh the crowd of people

“You can call me Saya Nice to meet-…”

“Outta the way, jelly-face If someone like you shows up in front of the nervous transfer student, she’ll think you’re gonna eat her Leave this to THE To man there is”

“Jelly-face!? How dare you call a girl-… dah ah! Don’t push!+”

The male eternal opti each other out of the way and ale pulled back with a troubled look each tiot closer

The two of theether

“Nice to meet you, Jiyuuni-san I’m the class rep, Tomono Sakae You can remember me as the man ill one day stand at the center of the world”

“Hah The center of the world? The center of this class is the e”

“What’d you say!?”

“You heard ht!?”

They really did start fighting

The classroo at the arrival of this beautiful transfer student, so no one tried to stop the them on

Unable to keep up, Ange gave Mutsuki a look that asked “what’s their deal?”

The boy could only srow accustoy

Their classmates continued to cheer and their questions never seemed to end Even first period was only a brief respite before the next break And the next And the lunch break And afterschool

The sullen angel-winged transfer student had been confused at first, but she seerow accustomed to the noise

By the tih

Based on her attitude at school and what Micha had said, Ange was apparently not very familiar with human society

Or with the human world as a whole

“Wo!”

Mutsuki had no idea how an angel normally lived her life, but…

“This place is so big!”

She had apparently never seen a shopping mall before

“Try to be a little quieter You’re e me”

“Sorry”

“I kno you feel, though, so let’s enjoy ourselves on this shopping trip♪”

Her usual risqué outfit was gathering a fair bit of attention, but Micha started walking without sha at all the stores lining the walls Mutsuki walked along behind the both of them

This was SeeDWalK, the biggest shopping ht want to buy It was sudden, but they were already buying supplies for Mutsuki

“I’ll pay for it all, so choose whatever you want Ange, if you see anything you want, feel free to buy it I’ll write it all off as a business expense”

Micha showed off a black credit card and grinned proudly Mutsuki did not kno business expenses worked for angels, but he had a feeling this wo the system more than anyone else

“Wo! What’s that!? There’s a train running through the building!”

The e was i She was interested in every store, every facility, and even the bathroo worked up over a bus to carry children around the building

He had first met her just about twenty-four hours before, but this was his first tiry or sullen look on her face It was a refreshi+ng experience

They started by buying things they would not have to lug around with them afterwards First, they headed to the furniture store on the first floor of the shopping

“Wo”

The girl voiced her aain when she saw the beds, tables, sofas, etc filling a space the size of a soccer court

“Is there any phrase et a new everything while we’re at it♪”

Micha turned her sparkling eyes toward a fashi+onable white wood dining table with a lace tablecloth, an elegant wooden armchair with no nails or bolts, a tall rack with a , and other fashi+onable pieces of furniture When she spotted a recliner with a built-in cooler for beer, she grabbed the purchase for

And yet their apartht it already had the bare necessities

“ ‘Please try me out’ Hey… Hey, Mutsuki!”

“Yeah?”

Ange gestured him over She seemed interested in the bed section and she pointed at a plate that said “Please try me out”

“It’s saying you can lie on it to see how it feels Keep your shoes on the plastic at the bottoh Also…”

Before he could tell her to do it quietly, the girl dove noisily onto the bed s seemed to fill the entire floor

“Wo! This is a! It’s so bouncy and soft”

The coht was apparently several steps above the cheap bed that had co up and down on it like a trampoline

An e look

(Why alared at?)

The employee seeaze

But…

“~~♡♡♡ That settles it I’ this”

Ange stretched happily

Since she said she was going to buy it, he decided to let her do whatever she wanted

“~~♪”

“…”

She lay on her stomach and kicked her feet

Mutsuki’s expression relaxed when he saw her playing around like a puppy wagging its tail in a nice sunny spot

The two of the, but he could not think of her as a bad person when he saw this innocent side of her

He wanted the

They were roouard, and they were about the sae

He was pretty sure they would be able to get along when the right opportunity ca, but…

“I see, I see”

He felt a soft sensation on the back of his neck Next, a sweet breath tickled his ear

“How about we buy a bigger bed? The ones we have are too sy style One with a waterproof mat would be best”

“H-have you bought a recliner yet?”

He quicklyon his shoulders

Aled

“I did buy one, but I’ve hit a snag I used a trick to get the lease for our apartistered as its residents I need to stop by the governal”

“Oh… I see”

He was bothered by the parts about “using a trick” and “getting things legal”, but she was an angel He decided to turn a blind eye

“Sorry I’ll be gone for a bit, so you kill soe”

“Oh… Wait, what!?”

“If you see anything you want, go ahead and buy it all”

She tossed the black card his way and turned around

The boy naturally panicked when he was handed an object that could produce as much money as he wanted

“W-wait, Micha-san!”

She was already gone

All that remained was the illed boy and the credit card he was afraid to use

“What did Micha want?”

Having seen her guardian walk up and leave, Ange only tilted her head and got down from the bed

They decided to look at the furniture later, so Mutsuki showed Ange around the e stores

“What a strange place It’s like an entire shopping district was put inside a single building”

“That’s what a mall is”

Fortunately, Mutsuki visited the place about once a month with his sisters, so he knew his way around pretty well Showing Ange around was a simple task

“Ha ha♪”

Ange seemed to like the spiral escalator that ht thee s around her

The boy laughed quietly when he saw her unable to maintain her usual air of composure

(She really is a good girl)

Due to soood ier see as she could clai him 24/7

“Hm? What is it?”

She see at her, so she tilted her head while leaning over the railing

He felt like he had been watching her all day and she see on that lopsided frown even when she was not particularly angry That ile of her narrow eyebrows and the sharp look to her eyes

“I’ this,” he said with a sht not be able to enjoy yourself with me”

“Uuh… I-I’htest It’s just, u since it’s so different”

This time, she really did look to the side with a sullen look The probleainst the human world, her short temper, and her refusal to be honest

The escalator reached the second floor, so they continued on up to the third The central space seemed to rotate around them on this half circuit

Mutsuki spoke to the girl who leaned on the railing with her cute lips bent in a lopsided frown

“Hey, Ange Look at that”

“What is it? …Wow”

He pointed doard the central space

When she peered down, her angry expression immediately lit up

On the first floor, the central rest area’s decorative plants had appeared to be arranged in an irregular pattern, but fro, the s painted a beautiful sunflower

“Ah ha ha♪ You hus”

She seeot to frown as the escalator rotated around and changed their angle of view, so the sunflower’s colors and shape

She really was a pure girl Mutsuki stepped up alongside her with a s to complain if that was all he did

Although ht word

“There are sostores, too …Ah! Wait a second, Mutsuki! Why are those people standing around in their underwear!? They’re in public!”

Ignorant may have been the better word choice

“Those are mannequins”

“Manne…what? Oh, they’re dolls …Ah! Wait a second, Mutsuki! They’re selling human bones over there!”

“Those are piggy banks shaped like skulls”

“Oh, so they’re fake …Ah! Wait a second, Mutsuki! That irl’s sailor uniform!”

“That’s…a personal preference…I guess”

By the tihtened up quite a bit

The first floor’s stores were pri items The second floor’s stores were all related to fashi+on They planned to visit those places once Micha got back, so they made their way to the third floor That floor was for entertainment shops

The stores were all entertainment related: books, music, snacks, movies, etc Mutsuki had chosen it because it had plenty of stores that sold things Ange would probably like to see, such as kid’s accessories and amusement products

But as soon as they arrived, Ange’s interest latched onto one spot in particular

“What’s this place? It sure is loud Game Master City?”

“It’s an arcade They have games there”

“The whole place is for games?”

“Yup”

“You’re kidding”

Heropen as she looked around

Her reaction was hardly surprising Game Master City took up a full third of SeeDWalK’s third floor and it was one of the town’s leading a pong, pool tables, a bowling alley, karaoke, and a a café It even had an indoor tennis and futsal court for rent until seven at night

Sakae would often drag Mutsuki to arcades, including this one, so it was actually the perfect spot for hie around He followed her as she rushed inside

“Heniuses when it cos”

Despite the backhanded compliment, she smiled happily and ran around the arcade

“What’s this?”

“The crane garab the prize”

“What’s this?”

“Horse racing You buy a token froames in this area need tokens to-…”

“What’s this?”

“At least hear me out This is a photo booth It takes your picture”

As she dragged him around, Mutsuki checked on the contents of his wallet He was not about to use the card for gaation turned up a total of about 7000 yen That seeh

“I want to try them! Tell me how to do it!”

In an unsurprising turn of events, she called him over as soon as she pulled out a 1000 yen bill He smiled bitterly and broke it down into 100 yen coins

“Which one do you want to try?”

“This one Everyone’s s, so it looks fun”

She pointed at a nearby booth and tugged on his sleeve

“Um, but…”

He was a little troubled, but before he could say anything ed into the booth covered in pictures of “everyone s”

He was unsure what to say since this technically was not a gae when she looked so excited He inserted a coin and decided showing her would be faster than explaining

“Well? Well? What do I do?”

“Um, first, you choose a frame Which size do you want? There are five options”

“Size? I don’t knohat you’re talking about, but the bigger the better”

“Then I’ll go with the biggest one I’ll set the brightness to autooes”

He doubted she kneas going to happen, but she looked charh with the excited sparkle in her eyes

He was e next to her, so he left a space between them and smiled aardly

“C’ame is it?”

She was still grabbing onto the elbow of his sleeve and she pulled him in close

At that exact moment, the booth took the picture

“??”

She turned around in surprise at the sudden light, but her long and skinny eyebroisted when the booth did nothing more

Mutsuki was somewhat troubled as he checked the photo on the screen, but he guessed she would be mad if he retook it He touched the “confirm” button on the panel and it took around a dozen seconds to print the photos

“What is this?”

“Like I was saying, this ame”

Anger visibly grew on Ange’s face when he handed her the printed photos

He began to wonder if he should have retaken it after all Depending on how one looked at it, it alether with their arms linked

“What is this!? So it just takes pictures? That isn’t a game at all!”

“Well, you’re actually supposed to draw on the pictures you take”

“Where’s the fun in that!? How stupid!”

He had started this because he had thought she would find sootten mad instead She seemed to especially dislike how friendly they looked in the photo She blushed and stomped out of the booth

Mutsuki scratched at his head and followed her

But he did secretly pocket his first one-on-one photo with a girl since it had come out so well

Ange seemed more cautious after that first failure, so she avoided any kind ofthat looked fun

Even in such a large place, there was only so much they could do, so they naturally ended up at a certain device

“You called this the crane game?”

“Yes You grab the prizes with that crane”

“Hmm”

Still looking sullen, she stopped in front of the prize area that contained over one hundred machines

The prizes were exposed behind a single layer of glass and one could snag one for as little as one hundred yen The genre had an attraction for people like her who knew little of norames and it drew her attention quite well

“Want to try it? Although it’s not easy, so I doubt you can get anything”

There were plenty of varieties: orthodox cranes, shovels that scooped up treats and glass beads, extending ar the prizes For a beginner like her, he guessed the roulette that relied entirely on luck would give her the best odds of success, but…

“I can teach you the trick to it if you want So which one do you-… Uh, oh”

“…”

When he noticed what her slanted blue eyes were focused on, he grimaced

She apparently wanted a Lazy Bear cushi+on, based on a otten popular recently It was a large prize and there was only one per machine And of course, each play in those machines cost two hundred yen