Chapter 2 (1/2)

The un Chikuwa lay there

Maybe it's a robot that ran out of power and (Skip) Sigh, despite s still aren't less complicated It’s not like I could deny it, but this is probably the limit of my japanese skill I am, after all, a successful student who su behavior” and still ed to score a barely solid check mark on the exam

“Okey-Dokey~ The house isn’t too messy, please come in I even cleaned up yesterday, but the house is still small, so I hope you don’t mind~”

Mes, however, see by its master’s feet The bu felt as if it would explode any second

The torso of that object – the arms and the head – was rolled up into the futon as it lay on the ground capriciously Rope for drying laundry co process, and the rest of its body was exposed like a piece of Burdock in Chikuwa No, this is without a doubt abnormal By the way, Calamus-pattern covered the entire roll – obviously it knew about its own calamity

The person buried in this futon should be completely blind, for the sheet was its world Of course, I couldn't see its face It remained motionless, almost at the level of furniture

But looking closely, the toes on those slender legs irl…? I spotted the corners of a shi+rt and a skirt – it’d appear to be a living organism

The delicacy her figure e an assault “Hue countenance, a twitching smiled cracked from my face

“My, still being so polite? It’s not good to be a stranger~!”

She suddenly flung another line at aze 'Dry-eye beam, fire!' The words appear with the devilish act

“……Waah?”

“Oh? Was that out of character?” My aunt, who played dumb shamelessly, inquired

“No… Uh…” If it were fifteen years ago, I probably would have fallen for it!

“That’s good; ap-moe’ character – do you knohat ‘moe’ is? [1]

“For the sake of my future development, I refuse to know”

“For exah she’s my aunt!” kind of character”

“No!” I shouldn't have played along: “Who cares about that kind of niche? Does a pitcher who only throws sliders sound interesting??”

Basically soo due to a terrible pitching stat

At this point, I decided to pretend to have never seen that 'thing' “Whoa~ What a beautiful house” I triedthe wooden hallway “It feels very exotic~” My fingers felt everything I saw

The light glass reflected my face – my eyelids looked very heavy

“Your room is upstairs, second floor The closer of the two is yours”

“Got it” I turned toward the entrance as I listened; mysterious object X remained motionless If she’s the type of relative who dresses up for practices jokes, she should be chasingof the sort happened Mom and Dad told me my aunt lives alone – what happened to that??

Judging from current situation, I think the seeds of Youth-Point will remain fallowed in this house

“If there is anything, you're welcome to tell me~”

Really? Then I will skip the honorifics, and begin the un talk!

“No I am more than happy to have a place to live”

With a strea heart

In the end, I tenuously cli back

The shady omen crawled from the entrance hall and entwined me

And so, I slept in a room full of unopened boxes for about two hours

I’d be lying if I say I didn’t mind the bamboo-shoot bacon roll downstairs, but once decided that I shouldn't care, a burning, defiant sense of “I want to be in a futon too!” drove me into slumber

Somehow, the raw honesty of the above statement and conclusion depresses me

Just like my perturbed mind, the bed (currently e 1 Sleep’s even gaveaway the cold sweat from my forehead, dinner was served

… But so prepared

“I gave it etically in front the myriad of dishes

“…Oh” I stole a glance to ht

“Starting toether! Makoto, can you cook?

“Uh, dishes without using the knife, maybe…” Cold sweats dripped

“Ahaha! As expected of a boy~”

She clapped twice – my answered satisfied her, for some obscure reason,

“How co is wrong? Are you Buddha hi does it take to be so nonchalant? We aren't in reality anymore!

The futon-roll sat upright next to the table, its exposed protein in the fors pointed outward

“Should I not see this? Shouldn't I? So me”

“The so-called spirits apparently will appear only from the left side”

“I don’t want to discuss the investigation between science and the super natural over dinner… Fine, I get it I a circuitous, so I’ll just say it”

“My, are you proposing?”

“I' about the bulb of a hyacinth[3]!”

I blew up, intentionally et adopted here as a son-in-law, right? I releasedthese trivial doubts out

“Meme-san, you lied”

I pointed e in e student introduced to a two-roomed apartment for only 37,000 yen a month, only to be disappointed by a run-down, crappy roohts to resort to such audacity

Me her facial muscles and smiled:

“Lie? “Makoto Exposes a Lie!” looks pretty cool on paper!” [4]

“Oh yeah, you are right” The tension almost tuned out Detective does sound pretty cool… Hold on!

“You don’t live alone”

“N-no way~” She couldn't be any less convincing

“How is this possible? Can a hungry person really be this angry?”

“Oh dear, I heard sto too hard~”

Just like that, Meme-san struck down my complaints

Well, no; I just didn't sound serious enough

“Can you prove it?”

“Proof…?” I smacked the futon-roll with the back of my hand: “This is proof”

Wha and immediately balanced itself with its toes She appears to be unrelated to turtles

“Arara~” Meme-san looked at the evidence’s movement and spat out a banal reflection

“I' circuitous, so what is this?”

“To explain, I'd have to be quite euphemistic”

I feel provoked by her continuous joke even after my accusation It's quite petty, but I feel that I should probably be able to intimidate a woman

If my opponent was someone na his naive a courtesy laugh while avoiding eye contacts,“Sorry, I' of cowards

“Then, please tell enlighten me”

I sain The roll didn’t tumble this time, but its innards remained motionless—whoever is inside could be a mannequin

If that’s the case, I doubt my aunt’s sense of decoration

Hence my 'independent life' became 'dark days after a nuclear ith an outlandish fauaranteed to double

“In the early 1900’s, a dark shadow covered a small country town in rural America” Meme-san cleared her throat

“How about without the preface?” I immediately requested an omission

“It’s great to be young~” But Meme-san did not waver:

“Even the word 'iht for a tiive me the eyes”

“I think the proble away, it suddenly became my job to corroborate with her Wait, the conversation is straying again What kind of crappy, easily derailed structure is this conversation made of?!

“Hold up, it doesn’t plants is only 150 yen or ifon a toilet stall, I slapped the futon-roll

“Oh, the dishes will get cold! Herry erp end ert, Merkerto (Hurry up and eat, Makoto)~”

“What language was that last part spoken in?!”

I slapped the roll instead of the table

It became a cathartic motion, and I even tried to add rhythm to it

And thus, the blanket roll retaliated

“O!” So me swiftly in the shi+n My knee jerked upward and slaht into the table; I moved backward,bent down, and saw the 'face' of my perpetrator

“Whoa!” I pulled back A leg flew over in aim of my forehead It was from the futon, and it was a willful attack

“You've got to be kidding…” Not a anic

“EEEitsalevelfourcontactttselfdefenseinitiated!”

“Hah?” A grumble came from within the roll Frankly, the japanese in those lines was abbreviated to mere bones

“Pardon?[5]” I stuckfor a repeat

“EEeyaa…”

“Agh, neverave up Words spat out with a kick don’t h is the realization that 'this things speaks'

A pair of angry legs swung like a certain pirate shi+p ride soht, she could only lock-on to a general direction She's s Like life

“MissingEEEsentientttobeservationeasilydisallowedtoUUUme”

I couldn’t coh it is anybody’s freedoh sheets of blanket, I still wish she could at least use a translator Just eat a Translate Jelly![6]

“Irresponsiblecarbonbasedorganisminotherwordsyou”

“……”

I stared at the futon; the ive up If I try thinking about this,(yes, it is) frontal lobe[7] htered by aliens

“Please translate”

I sought help from my reliable and beautiful aunt (a combination of three propitious words)

“She said ‘nice to hter: Touwa Erio”

Your translating prowess le word!

“…Daughter?” Relative; fale

My htered like blue sky painted ater-color scribbled by a permanent marker My fist trembled as I spoke:

“What the hell is a daughter??”

“My Daughter”

“It’s hard to complain like this: could you elaborate?” No, that’s not the point!

“And You are a virgin”

“Shuddup!” There’s not many opportunity in the country; it’s not my fault!

Even though that was kinda just an excuse!

“What happened to you living alone??” Like a torrent, I demanded an explanation for the crucial part of my dream

“Didn’t I act like I lived alone ever sinceyou?”

With neither guilt nor a joking suely

“Ah, uh…” I was speechless Lightly and effortlessly, Meme-san turned the tide of the atmosphere and further pursued:

“Is there a problem?”

“No, like… For exa the—That's it, now you've done it!”

The automated defense system far more unreliable than plastic-bottle-cat-repellants kept attacking s down; it crashed backward, exposing its panties

I, however, felt no teh schooler, I can’t even stay cal at the pink underwear on the displayed model in stores Yet the panties of the futon roll merely looked like an extra piece of cloth The color was solar yellow, by the way

But all I saas a field of copper (it sounds like a secret move, so I remembered)

“Uwah…Uun!” The roll that tipped over, aka Touwa ErioI couldn’t understand a word; it sounded the sa cry of a child asn’t allowed to buy a toy

“Da on??” Dreams are only beautiful when peered fro the air of despair into ative two

My cru torso could collapse on the table at any time My solitary life shouldn’t be this rowdy No, I' a song with si, I'll just hum it

“Hey~ Makotocchi” “’Chi…’” You should give up on the whole gap-et a cramp!

“Can I keep explaining?” “Explain what?”

I’m not some famous person printed on the old bills: there is no way I’d re a discussion, Me conversation

“The e, the woman’s name was Maria” [9]

“Please don’t casually tell stories like Junichi Yaoi would” [10]

“Eh? Makoto’s generation doesn’t know this game anymore?”

‘Don’t assuer!’ <- what=”” i=””>

“Yeah!” <- what=”” i=”” actually=””>

A little lie can’t be helped, especially when living in japan

Frohter – her teeth looked at least three tihter

Those enaht This is still irrelevant

“Aha~ Makoto and I are already besties!”

“For realzies!” With just the bare-bone of speech, my desire to speak politely has completely diminished

“U (since she’s etting the world’s backstroke cha the new resident an over-the-top panties service

But she is just a roll No one’s getting excited, and her speech is just alared to squeeze out consists of atoms or essence – some seriously chaotic content indecipherable from the words themselves

“Froether as a family of two!” Meme-san’s brain remains fried

“Please do a recount”

I can’t deal with the infinitely growing nu to the latest one like a frog an insect flying about its front Even though my headache inconceivably disappeared, my tired throat burned as if hot sand were poured in

“Basically, that croissant-like thing is… your daughter Right?”

“H smile overruled any objection

What sort of hter relation is this?! Even if I asked, she’d probably brush hter whose existence is unknown to her relatives: isn’t this situation a bit delicate? Why hide this from my parents? Questions like these proliferated

“Ah, is my uncle also here?” I scanned around

“Ara~ My husband’s nae” Since when is your name Maria?

“ConscienceanddesireinflatedDDDprograminjected!”

Like a worled her entire body, waving her two legs around Meme-san and I stared piteously at the blanket co to step on so of a pilot overlooking at villagers atteuns

“Hiya-!!” However, when her toes caught onto the side of the table and lifted upith all her ed

The figure of a lonesome fisher – I could almost see the splashes

Sigh, it’s time to cut the losses

Organisravity

Meme-san’s dishes, likewise, attes

And so, they welcomed the destined fall

Food splashed about; the cacophony surpassed even the pointless chi summer time

“EEEEYAAAAAAAH!!” My aunt screeched an unknown noise as she witnessed the crash

The roll’s self-defense mechanism shriveled from her pained toes, completely unaware of her own folly

“Waaaoooo!” She cried in pain and struggled dramatically

I earnestly hoped that someone would pull the curtain and dim the entire world

As for later that day, I have no recollection

Perhaps an excellent scientist erased some of ination to explain reality My Youth-points inexplicably dropped by three more points; I felt sorrowful for some reason

Even though there re a transfer student starting to

I don’t need fire, neither auess I will just be a carefree person![11]

All I have left after giving up living alone is a healthy high school life

At least compared to this house, the school offers more chance for points

I put on a shi+rt, and then wore the new uniforer – could it be her anticipation for rowth?

I tugged lightly at the collar, grabbed htly, but today is only the opening ceremony, so it was rather flat As for textbooks, I’d have to ask the home-room teacher

Pinching the pack under e which I planned to sort out last night was untouched, even anized

“…Lets just forget about yesterday” At the saain sealed away any aspiration for a solitary life

With anticipation for the future, I arrived at the faucet to take care ofdownstairs, I glanced into the open door to the room on the left

“……Whoa“

A hand-ant telescope on the corner of the roo – a ball chair! This is the first time I’ve seen such a treasure, but isn’t that chair worth at least a couple hundred-thousand yen?

Initially I pictured the roo femininity while permeated with the smell of incense” or some such smoke-filled room, but now I am quite surprised

Yet the books lined up on the shelf, EG “Laws of Motion,” “Subconscious and Nature,” are items indefinitely disparate from the everyday life and disturbedon the wall in the back – at least there wasn’t anything pointing to the revival of some cult

Naturally, the blanket-entwined person lied on the floor

Like a deep-sea eel lurking in corpses, the creature with its torso stuck within the futon boldly displayed its feet without

Her clothes were, however, changed: purple polka dot pajas Personally, I wanted to tie a rope onto her exposed feet and drag her around the street while roup, however, I have to unfortunately give up on that notion Speaking of which, ender from afar

Even the pattern of the blanket was hued from Calamus to Plum Blossom and Oriole

How old is she? Does she go to school? There’s an ironed uniform on the wall Well, that’s not important

“H under the sairl

From some perspective, this is the final stop of all pubescent boys’ delusion Cohtly o of this idea, and it won’t go away from my brain

“But…” Getting more points is still rather difficult in this situation – Chikuwa doesn’t have gender! Even though I don’t knohat they are ht wake up if I mess with her

After all, she was giant swung by an insane hbor and forced to practice the art of su back Must eliminate those other-dimensional delusion

In layman’s term, the distinction between fiction and nonfiction is that of the three-diht (raucous refers to the sound effectthe certain corade coinative me create a brilliant and delusionalcut short

Quickly escaping to futon-roll and the room, I jumped down the last two steps of the stairs and landed with a solid thud The house surrounded by silence digested the refreshi+ng ently

If Me to the faucet So I began searching First stop is the kitchen – to be honest, I was just grasping at the vague hope of breakfast being there

Yet the kitchen reed by the Red Tornado It was amay even demand an entrance pero?

In the center of the dining table, where the wreckage of food and plates were forcefully pushed away, two pieces of notes and a paperweight frolicked I feel sorry for bothering the, but I pulled the paper out frolanced at the note

One of the notes was a , and instead all the directions ritten – quite original, actually 'Veeeery long~' she wrote, visually trying the best to de road near the residents The level of her navigational skill is slightly more useful than the unfriendly hints in RPG’s

In addition, the other note written in scarily rigid fonts (with at least two parts of the finishi+ng and the outlines being coe left for me

‘Take care of your own needs The peace of tomorrow rests on the efforts of today~★’

I cru so logically – as expected of my aunt!

“She never waste a single moment in life!”

Since I do not intend to plant the flag for her, my aunt probably won’t show up too many times from now on

Alright, for the sake of a good first io tidy up at the mirror!

“M in front of the mirror, I rated my appearance

Not too shabby froment was likely mixed with my own subjectivity

For the next seven s, and desperately tried to cover the reddened pi a high school freshman

Following the direction Meed out an unlocked bike stuffed in the outdoor storage room and pat the dust off it Every part of the bicycle was rusted, as if soaked in water; swar in capes poured out when I rung the bell Ugh, I averted my eyes

This bike irl’s

“…Mm?” I think I’ve this bike so the back of the rustdeal

I tried sitting on it, and after checking that the theels could barely turn, I pedaled hard without o that, basically, the degree of disappointments from reality scales positively with the level of expectation Let's be wise We'll be loomy, musty life That's it

Every now and then, I glanced at the diagra~’ road all while e that screech noise This atory Cheat Route” and “Portal to World 4-1” doesn’t really have much credibility – but I’ve already decided to not hold any expectation: as long as I get there, all is well

I passed through an alley narrow enough to almost pinch the sides of my bike and traversed the trees near the residential, and finally to the big road The amount of bicycles and pedestrians increased exponentially, and I even had the illusion of a ger

Buildings h stood naturally on both sides; though the road is h, the wave of people still cramped the entire ay Also within the croere students in the sairls in different attires (of course)

There were even so with their friends at the sushi+ stores and Mister Donut midway – completely different than in the country where everyone finishes the breakfast prepared by his mom Rest assured: this is the city~ I immersed myself in my rustic ways

Besides, other students flung looks of bewilderment as they easily bypass ear shi+ft or any superior function Due to the direction of the sun, their expressions were unclear to me

I felt paraded Thus, I lowered my head and pedaled my hardest

About half way, I irls with the sairl It see to

In about fifteen minutes later, I successfully reached the destination so lost See, this is what Iexpectation:

Being able to enjoy indubitable facts – to an extent

A tiny, opened school gate, with the pathway leading inside glamorously carpeted by the fallen pedals frorew on the sides When the trees bud in May, caterpillars will probably dohway And so I poured a bucket of cold water at the scenery To the left was a rather open field, with so in the : their contribution to raise the youthfulness of the setting

I stood by the fences for a bit, squinting in envy at the sports club member who frolicked as they sprinted

Obtained one Youth point – after all, the scoring guide is rather loose on the first day

I shookthe drowsiness away, and headed toward a man who appears to be the security

“Excuselot for bicycles?”

“New student?” He sounded surprise, probably because I alking with my bike

Should I start walking to school tomorrow? I proposed a debatable topic to my brain

“Yes, I’m a transfer student!”

“Oh, I see Then head back to outside first, circle around the school and you’ll see another gate A lot of bikes are parked to the left of it”

“Thank you!” Security of the city was very kind Starting today, you are ‘Mister Security’ in my heart!

“Beep – Beep – backing up” I murmured to myself as I pulled the bike back to the road in front of the entrance I begin stepping on the weighty pedal to follow the lazily- bikes ahead of me

A out class distribution sheets like newspaper, I traversed the flocking students and successfully reachedto the staff’s faculty has to be the first step!

“……” Speaking of which, where is the ad up, I hoped to see ot was a pair of exhausted eyes blinded by the florescent light

I’ out sheets with professional precision Without an alternative, I decided to findaround I’m not without some sense of direction; I’ll find it eventually Brand new indoor slippers squeaked on the floor I proceeded down the hallway, away from the raucity

Perhaps due to the ca ventilated by the smell of people, the hallway corner exuded a s a clean and fresh scent Paired with thein fro