70 66 歯車はただ回る、しかし位置取りを変える時もある (1/2)

Amelia Miyagawa, 16 years old

Occupation High school student

Magical aptitude 8 (general class)

Post Brave Man

When the place is empty, I slowly emerge from the corner where I was hiding.

I look to my right, look to my left, see that no one is there and exhale with relief.

But the fact that my classmates, even if they weren't my friends, were fakes had instilled in me no small amount of shock and skepticism that everything and everyone around me seemed fake.

'What happened?'

It was just a reaffirmation, but the words that came out of my mouth were not in faltering Japanese, but familiar English.

I think that's how upsetting I am.

As if to prove it, I clearly remembered the scene I had just seen, and I had goosebumps.

Thinking that this is the disgust I felt when I was being tricked, I look around anxiously, wondering if there might be someone nearby.

As if my fears were unfounded, I see the same empty place where no one seems to have seen me, and I exhale in relief again.

A few deep breathing-like gestures and a few moments later, my head slowly starts to spin.

In summary, he was definitely a classmate.

I knew his name, and I had at least said hello to him since he came here.

I always thought it was him.

At least I thought so myself.

But the moment of acquaintance was worth denying it.

When did that happen?

From the beginning?

Or from the middle?

”......

I don't know when it changed from a classmate I knew to a classmate I didn't know.

His tone, his mood, his appearance, his behavior, everything about him was the same.

If I had not seen that place, I would not doubt it even now.

I have to believe in that fact, but I can't.

It cluttered my mind and I didn't know what to do.

”What am I going to do?

The words that came out smoothly at first are reaffirmed and upset again.

And then you're at a loss for what to say, because saying it won't solve anything.

You're silent for a few minutes, looking this way and that and worrying about it, but you can't come up with a solution.

So

I'd like to take a deep breath for now and then go to ...... and say no problem, but I'm not.

Let's do some routine work to calm down for now.

In order to do so, we start by changing from English to Japanese.

You can change your negative thinking to positive thinking by doing a casual action.

I am not going to pretend that I did not see this story.

If you pretend that you did not see this story here, it will lead to something irreversible.

So think about what comes next.

My mammy said it too.

You should be able to think and act for yourself before people tell you what to do.

...... ooh, not having friends is inconvenient at times like this.

But the reality is that I was sad.

I tried to ask someone for help because I couldn't think of anything I could do alone, but I couldn't think of any friends I could talk to right away.

Even if I did, it was in a star-spangled country far, far away in another world.

In the United States, there are many of them, but in Japan, there are none, and I cannot hide my shock at the sad reality.

I can't help but fall to my knees in front of you and become depressed.

And then I was hit by

HAHAHAHA!

and the laughter that was loud but reliable when I was with him comes back to me.

But it's an auditory hallucination, there's no friend here who laughed at me.

I miss the friends I used to think of as annoying, and now I miss them so much.

Hmm... I'll leave here for now, Death.

It's not safe to stay here forever, feeling homesick or friendless, so you leave.

You brush the sand off your knees, check once more that no one is around, and start walking back the way you came.

The first thing we have to do is to check if it's real or fake, right?

As I was walking and thinking about what to do, the first thing that came to my mind was to check the authenticity.

At the same time, I remembered Jiro's request to wait and do nothing, but I couldn't follow his words because my surroundings were in danger due to the presence of the fakes.

To be honest, I don't like to break my promise, but I make an excuse that it's an emergency.

You think you'll be safe first, but unfortunately, I don't have a way to do it.

Suzuki's skills might be able to tell the difference between a real one and a fake one, but I honestly don't like his push for justice, and I don't want to get close to him.

You'll be able to find out that it's a fake, and if it's revealed in public, the damage will be irreversible, so I'll consider helping him as a last resort.

I should have learned more about this stuff.

Regret is not the first thing to go, and I bemoan my own lack of education while pondering the alternatives.

However, I was unable to come up with a good idea for the development of Japanese subcultures coupled with my lack of knowledge.

I'm pondering over it and trying to come up with a good idea.

Ah.

”Ah.

There I bumped into a sister with a laundry basket.

You've only seen her recently.

How could I forget?

And then my head hits me with good timing.

”Konichiwa!

”Hello, I have work to do, as you can see, so I'll take my leave.

”Stop!　Isn't that too much?

”What is it?　I can't get an ounce of money out of you. On the contrary, it smells like trouble, so it's a natural reaction.

”What does money smell like?

In my opinion, the greeting was perfectly done, and the response was perfect.

In America, the same cheerful greeting would come back to me and we'd have a conversation right away.

But this is not America.

The sister is too curt in response to such a cheerful greeting.

In addition, she is quick to leave.

It's better than being responded to as ”Who are you?” but this is a tricky one to respond to.

As if reading my mind, it was my instincts that caused me to spin around and grab her clothes to pull her back as she tried to leave.

Don't look at me as if you saw something so disgusting because you thought you couldn't let me go.

Is this really the sister who said something so unchristian?　But now I trust her more with Jiro-san, an outsider, than with my family classmates.

That's what I want to talk to you about!

”I don't have one, but I have a priest in the cathedral, so you can confess to him.

No! I didn't do anything bad!

I thought so, so I asked for help, but there was no way to get around it.

He doesn't even bite my brave soul and makes it clear that he wants to finish the laundry before I do.

I've never seen his type before.

I need your help, Death!

”I don't have money.

NO! It's not like that.

I can't help you if you've broken a pot in the hallway. Don't worry, a brave man can earn ten or twenty gold coins in the blink of an eye.

These physical hands are the only thing holding her as she tries to crawl away.

You forget why you're trying so hard to persuade her, and your mind swaps ends and means to gain her cooperation.

My hands are gradually being removed from my grip and I'm running out of time.

I had to get her attention, so I thought and thought and thought, and as a result, I came up with a formula in my head.

That's why I've been talking like this.

”Money Talks!

Let's listen to the story.

”Wawa!

The sudden change caused me to lose momentum and fall down.

Ouch, that hurts.

It's not about that, it's about the money.

”Ugh, that's terrible!