Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 2 Chapter 1

One day in the spring holidays, a client suddenly appeared at the NEET Detective Agency, an odd Thai girl as always unusually excited

The bag that her father left behind after disappearing was filled with a hefty sum of money— two hundred million yen

The girl’s request was— “Please save my dad”

The young NEET detective, Alice, ore pajamas and wouldn’t take a step out of her room and I, as her assistant, borrowed the power of Tetsu-senpai, Major and Hiro of the NEET Detective Squad to start our investigation Even the leader of the juvenile delinquents, Yondaied into it, the matter developed into an unexpected direction—

This is the second episode youthful NEET- Teen Story that was somewhat unbearable, soe

Narumi Fujishi+ma

Until last year, I was still an ordinary high school student

Due to the incidents that occurred during last winter, my whole third semester was ruined

Even so, I still ed to advance to second year, just like a ht, and failed in almost all of ic life was already at the edge of a cliff

I knew that I couldn’t just become a useless bum, so I put in more effort and accepted two part time jobs

One of them is a worker at a ramen shop, while the other is…… a detective’s assistant

…… It see place to have a part time job, and one of my employers is a NEET too

Furthermore, NEETs walk all around at the place where I work, everyone trying to bullya NEET

As for who they are—

Alice

This girl is a NEET detective, and is one of my employers

She’s a hikiko people around is quite impolite

She thinks that a detective’s assistant (me) is just a useful vacuum machine that can talk

Being physically weak, she can’t live by herself but she is good at arguing; whenever I coives

Really, why s for this fellow?

Actually, I’m not really sure myself, but if I’m not at her side, she probably won’t even eat her meals properly……

NEET Detective Squad

Surrounding Alice’s side, the group of people at the boundary of society ould not lose to Alice

No matter what difficulties they encountered, they still wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t turn back and wouldn’t work; those are their principles Sigh~ I really can’t stand this

Tetsu-senpai

He studied at o and dropped out, and is now an unbeatable pachinko master

He learned boxing before and has acute vision like a superman but it is only used to bet on slot machines

Although he’s quite reliable sometimes, his view of money is absolutely terrible

Major

Although he looked like that, he is definitely a university student, and an unbelievable military otaku

Has progra skills that even university professors ad photos secretly

Hiro

Though he is often olo who stays at women’s houses

Has an appearance thatskills that are like irls

He ht be stabbed somewhere some day

Min-san

The boss that opened a raency, my second employer

She’s one of the rare nor care of me, so I really couldn’t raise my head in front of her

Her temper is quite terrible, so I’m somewhat afraid of her, and that’s why I can’t say that her raood

Yondaime

The leader of juvenile delinquents in the town, and has a deep connection with the people in the detective squad

He’s very foul-ood at taking care of people, even better than the guys in the detective squad

His hobby is sewing, and he has professional-level skill I ht be killed by him if I accidentally said that out, so I dare not mention it to anyone

Meo

On the first day that I started to work at the ramen shop, I was ordered around by Alice as usual, and was having doubts aboutSaturday afternoon, she appeared before me

She’s a girl who gets excited abnormally easily, and had lived in Thailand Also, she even asked the detective agency for help

Although I’m a detective’s assistant, I was still taken aback…… I really didn’t think that someone would actually have a request for us

I originally thought that it wouldn’t be anything big since she looked for the NEET detective

In the end—

She brought a Boston bag that was stuffed full of reality—

Two hundred million yen

That amount of money could just mess up anyone’s life

Meo said: “Please save my dad”

And so— the matter started to develop

Developing towards an unexpected, heartbreaking darkness

Miracles can happen once to anyone, but when it happens, they never notice

froo” by Kazuo Umezo

Chapter 1

A small portion of people misunderstood that the twenty third district of Tokyo is just a city full of buildings from north to south, and I was one of them before I moved here In reality, the only place where there are skyscrapers piercing the skies is the area near to the station, while flat, short houses surround the place The asphalt road that was uneven because of the subsidence of the land, the sent, sour odor, and the cultivated fields that I’h school that I’ to, all of these are in a two kilometers radius of that area; but it was just separated by a street, the radiance of the neon lights couldn’t be seen anymore

Though Hanamaru Ramen Shop is also at a place five minutes fros, one of the shops that is shrouded in darkness It is just a small shop that has only five tables in it, aside froht, I al into the shop in the daytime

So my employ holidays, at about one thirty in the afternoon when there was nobody in the shop

“Listen, if even a little thing spills out, don’t you even think that I’ll pass you”

Min-san said while piling trays ontoout white s owner of the Hana hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a T-back vest and showing her fit shoulders White sarashi+ is used to bind her breasts It really isn’t hard to see that she went for body building classes, and is really not a person that a physically weak high school person can go against But I still couldn’t help but retort:

“Er like this for my employment test?”

“Don’t you kno many bowls you’ve broken before!? You’re just not concentrating enough! So if you can get all of these to Alice safely, I’ll hire you”

I once helped the shop to do things like washi+ng the dishes and serving thereat losses at the same tiivingme

“Ready, start The time limit is five minutes”

“There’s even a time limit!?”

Being glared at by Min-san, I could only carefully walk out from the kitchen backdoor

Alice lives in the eighth roo in Hana up the stairs and then going about fivenot even onethere from the shop on the first floor

But at this moment, I used two seconds just to walk up a step, so nboard with ‘NEET Detective Agency’ on it

As both oftrays, I could only press the doorbell with ht flashed

“Alice, please, open the door for ed

‘…… Just enter yourself The door isn’t locked’

The iirl came from the other side of the intercom

“I can’t usetwo trays”

‘You could just place them on the floor!’

“No, it would definitely fall down”

‘What are you talking about? It’s just placing the tray on the floor, don’t you even kno to do such a si?’

“There’s a tray on my head too!”

Hearing irl stuck her head out of the door She had long, black hair that flowed to the ground, large eyes that could sparkle, and wore pajamas with cute pictures of bears on it that showed her pale, sickly skin

“…… Are you perfor an acrobatic stunt?”

My hands were holding a tray each, and there was another on top ofwhile tre, Alice said in an annoyed voice:

“This scene is actually quite interesting I feel like taking a co it to Tetsu, Major and the others They would be delighted I’ll get ital camera, and you just maintain your current posture”

“No, that’s not important!” I frantically called Alice as about to walk into the room: “Anyways…… Erm…… Can you please help me take it?”

I used aze to point at the shaky tray on top of ed

“Please think of the difference in height between you and I, and of my arms Isn’t that just impossible? Just walk into the room and find somewhere to place it! Remember to take off your shoes first If you dare to spill anything, I’ll have you in charge of cleaning the place until you wax the floor”

As usual, Alice was still being merciless

I could only htly take off my shoes, walk to the table in the shtly take down the tray on h thatup on the chilly floor in this air-conditioned room

“…… Ah, Master? Mnn, Naru on the phone ca You’re so kind, Master If it were me, I would just tell him to take buckets and not bowls”

This girl really does like to joke around While co in my heart, I placed the three bowls on the same tray and served it to the bedroom

Three walls in the roo, and soled together around thee bed is placed in the middle of the room, while teddy bears of various sizes and types are littered on the carpet; Alice sat in the middle of it, like she was surrounded by a sea of bears

“You’re not asking me to eat all three, are you?”

Alice glared at the bowls that I served her Not only is this pajairl picky and have a tiny appetite, every time I have to put in a lot of effort so that she finishes all the food A small amount of different-flavored ramen were placed in the three bowls

“Perhaps Min-san thought that I would spill one or two”

“Why didn’t you spill the mantis stops on your nose too!”

Why am I scolded even for this…?

I pulled out the moveable table that was like the ones in a hospital ward, placed the tray onto it and pushed it in front of Alice:

“Just choose a bowl that you like, I’ll eat the other two”

The pajairl looked so closely at the bowls that her face al each bowl in detail

“I would like the rahter”

She looked atexpression

“I heard that all of them are new creations, so I don’t kno’s the taste”

“Ngh—”

After wavering for a long time, she finally chose the boith a clearer soup But after she took a sip, she couldn’t say anything

“What is it?”

“…… so sour”

Sour? The ramen is sour?

Ah! When I think about it, Min-san is indeedodd ramen these days

“Uuu…… I’ve been tricked by the color of the soup I’m too careless, there’s actually such a trap in it”

Alice’s eyes were full of tears, but she still placed one noodle after another into her mouth

“These two seee?”

I heldin front of the bed But Alice glared fiercely at me with her tearful eyes:

“How could I trust a person who can eat the bowl of noodles as if nothing had happened!? I chose this bowl ed it, but still don’t like it, wouldn’t I be in a bigger predicament? Hoould you compensate for my reservations then?”

I originally wanted to rebuke her: It’s just a bowl of ra in the noodles while going ‘Uuu— Uuu—‘, I really felt that she’s quite pitiful, so I shut my mouth I speedily finished the tls of ramen and walked to the small kitchen

Opening the door of the fridge, I saw that the fridge was full of 350ml red cans of Dr Pepper I took out one of them and handed it to Alice Recently, I’ve learnt the subtleties of opening the can first before handing it to her Alice snatched the can fro hands and drank it to the finish

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”

Alice breathed out deeply, beco relieved as if her brain had ether eirl are terrible, and she al said that my sense of taste shouldn’t be tasted by a person who drank unhealthy drinks while eating ramen really is unpleasant

“Huly feel I agree with this state you’re at my side”

Alice said after finishi+ng her ra into theat me For such a sudden movement to happen, I was shocked and almost spilled the boith my elbow Cals once in a while, and besides I haven’t even been supported by Alice before No…… Well, I can’t really say that, but how should I say it?

“That’s right, you said that you want to work at Hanaht you here today?”

Alice said, with her head sticking out of the mat

“I can assure you that you’re a person that lacks any wish to work from the day you were born, so you don’t need to trouble Master just to prove this”

“I don’t need these assurances” It’son my life randomly “I really think that Min-san has too much work, and it’s more convenient for me to work here”

“Convenient?”

“Then I could come here almost every day”

Because of the case that Alice solved this winter, I’h Alice is a detective, she’s still a hikikoo out orany requests for her So the job of an assistant is usually to help to carry food and Dr Pepper, and also to be bullied by Alice Coht be better if I find some other place to work at, and wouldn’t waste time so much

“Hmph! I didn’t even know that you were that passionate about your work as an assistant”

You’re the one who told me to come everyday!

“Anyhow, notto work at the raes at this time, so it’s a help to Master, at least But as soon as Ayaka’s out of the hospital, you’ll get fired at once”

My hands that were collecting the bowls stopped

As I was unable to immediately respond to the naazed at the soup in the bowl and turned my head away to look at the bed

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you just planning to work there until Ayaka returns?”

“No…… Mnn, erht about that before Because……”

Ayaka

She ju at the start of this year, and is still lying on a bed in the hospital, in a coma She’s my classmate, and also ht now, and couldn’t walk around

Ayaka who’s like that…… would she still come back?

“The doctors said too that there’s still a chance, didn’t they? And weren’t you the first person to hear that?”

“It’s not wrong, but……”

I did some research myself too If Ayaka’s current condition continued for three months and above, it would be called a continuous block of consciousness— people in a vegetative state If the doctors deemed that there’s no chance of recovery, most hospitals would force their fa the hospital Although there were cases of recovery, most of them just recovered to the extent that they could use their facial expressions to convey their emotions, or use their mouth to eat food, that’s it

If she could return to her normal life, THAT would be a miracle

“You don’t believe that miracles can happen?”

“Alice, so you believe in them?”

“Of course Miracles can happen once to anyone, it’s just that most people don’t notice it when it happens”

I’m not sure who said that, but it’s a really stupid way of thinking Telling ht o that way, doesn’t it mean that thethe tis couldn’t be turned back anymore?

“It doesn’t matter Since it happened the first time, it would happen a second time Believe it!” A woolenher knees “ Rainfall in the Sahara Desert, the Golden Gate in the United States and the Taj Mahal in India, test tube babies that are given birth after their parents pass away, Jimmy Hendrix and the Tower of Babel, all of them are miracles, miracles and miracles! So there would be one day when all of mankind would become friends with each other”

I still can’t understand what’s with Alice’s habit of using allusions, but I still forced out a smile to answer her

“Ourto come here is another, and even the fact that you didn’t spill any of the bowls and safely brought the bowls up here is one— all of them are miracles”

“…… Well, wasn’t that smooth”

I stood up That’s right, since I’ve passed the eet to where Min-san is! I can start work from today

As I was about to walk out of the room with the three bowls and trays, Alice halted me:

“Master said in the phone just now……”

“What did she say?”

“She said, youback too”

“I’ve never heard about that!”

Even so, saying that encountering other people is ait Especially to Alice, a hikikomori, while I’m about the saer for over twenty seconds

The people who I've met in the past had some influence on me, more or less, and it’s because of this that I’ve not fallen to even lower depths right now Though I didn’t becoily until my sixteenth year In the wilderness that is filled with limitless possibilities, if I really lived up till now because of s in h I don’t really think that those are anything to be thankful for

So the girl that IHanamaru’s employment test, would probably be a miracle too?

The girl appeared at about three in the afternoon, when I wasmethod in the kitchen Min-san stood further inside, and was using an electric blender to blend egg white andpoint of Hanamaru is actually the ice cream that is even tastier than the one made by a professional dessert chef The sweet smell that fills the whole shop caused the whole shop to become unlike a ramen shop, and there was nobody on the seats anyway

And it irl that kicked open the door while saying “Sorry for bothering you!” stared for awhile after seeing the scene in the shop She seriously stared at the steel pan that was filled with chocolate for two seconds, and then took two steps back to reconfirm the portiere in front of the shop

She was a striking girl who had coffee-colored skin She looked about one or two years younger than me, and her hair that reached her chest was casually tied into two braids White words were printed on the blue shi+rt that she wore, it seemed like words used by a minority race; while very, very short Denis were long and slim, if she said that she just swaht have really believed her A coffee colored Boston bag was slung on her shoulder, and it felt somewhat uncoordinated on her

When our gazes ether , said ‘Sawasdee’ and nodded her head slightly

When our gazes ether , said ‘Sawasdee’ and nodded her head slightly I subconsciously answered her with the same sentence Eh…… Where is she from?

The girl reconfir on the door and asked:

“Erm, are these words supposed to be read as ‘Hanamaru’?”

Her pronunciation of japanese was quite accurate But the question suddenly uilty, and I could only hide the steel pan filled with chocolate beside the sink and answer:

“Well…… Probably?”

“Probably!?” the Boston bag on her shoulder al kanji”

Huh? Is there even a kanji on there?”

“Oh? Then how should you read this?”

The girl pointed at a corner of the portiere and asked

“…… That’s a drawing of Naruto”

“So you read this as ‘Naruto’ huh? japanese is really deep……”

“Not really……”

“That’s odd, or did I just mistake the place? I’ve heard that it’s a shop owned by an understanding, beautiful big sister” The expression on the girl’s face seemed troubled, and she looked around repeatedly

“Mnn, then it’s probably not this shop Min-san is not understanding at a— OUCH! That hurts!”

Min-san alked out of the kitchen vigorously knocked on the back of my head

“What are you doing, why did you lie to her?”

Min-san pushedthe bump on my head, away and put on her apron:

“Welcoht now, so please have a seat!”

“Ah, sorry, I’m not here for ramen”

And then the unbelievable words came out from her mouth

“I’ve heard that there’s a detective agency above the ramen shop”

Min-san and I looked at each other

That was the first client of the NEET Detective Agency that I came into contact with

“It’s rare that we have a visitor Naruive her a can of Dr Pepper too”

Although she never did offer me cans of Dr Peppers (I don’t really want theirl a can She kneeled on the ht that it was courteous when dealing with visitors?

As she was about to step into the air conditioned office, the girl hesitated in front of the door because of the coldness of the room; while after she walked into the room and saw Alice’s appearance, she was so surprised that her jaw fell open, the Boston bag on her shoulder dropping onto the floor What an easily read girl

“…… You’re the detective?”

“I’ there is Naru…… Uwaaa!”

The girl supported both of her hands on the bedside and stuck her face close to Alice She observed Alice in detail in an extre the smell of Alice’s pajamas

“Wh- What are you doing?”

“Can I hug you?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!?” Alice pushed the girl aith her whole face red and stepped back a few steps

“Sorry, because I’ve never seen a detective like this, so……”

“So what? A client should behave like a client!”

“Can’t I? What about just a hug?”

“I’m not a doll!” Alice used the dolls nearby to build a wall and went back further to the direction of the bed

“Really, Ayaka and Master are also like that, why do girls like to hug me so much? It’s so incomprehensible”

No, I can understand why it’s like that But I didn’t want to change the topic, so I didn’t speak

“Hurry up and reveal your identity and the contents of your request You aren’t here to play, are you?”

Alice said at the other side of the dolls while pouting

“Ah, that’s right!” the girl shi+fted her elboay from the side of the bed and said: “I’m Meo”

When she was pronouncing her naed, while the end of the ‘o’ was closer to the tone of ‘u’, a pronunciation that isn’t present in japanese Next, she placed her hands on the two sides of her head and waved, just like the ears of an animal

“Meo? Is that your name?” I couldn’t help but chip in

“Yes, it means cat”

“You’re fro that, Meo’s eyes immediately widened:

“You know it? As expected from a detective”

“It’s just Thai What does that have to do with being a detective?”

“The way that Thai people gave nae”

Her na in Thailand?

“Narumi, it’s called cheuulehn in Thai, and it means nickname Most people in Thailand call people by their nickna Their culture doesn’t really care about na one’s true naer As they didn’t want to be caught by the devil, they would intentionally give naless tones for a name”

“So it can protect us froer?” Meo said in surprise: “I didn’t even know that”

…… Are you really a Thai?

“I came to japan when I was about five, so I’s in Thailand”

“Ah, so that’s why your japanese is that good”

“I learnt japanese fro brothers who live in the same block as us There arebrothers there are mostly japanese”

“Mnn? You aren’t staying at the ‘hello Palace’, are you?”

“Whoaaa, Miss Detective knows everything!”

Meo supported herself on the bedstead, her legs fidgeting non-stop

“No, Hiro told me once before, he said that there’s a unique worker’s hostel there What a small world this is”

“Ah, I’ve heard of this detective agency from Hiro-san”

Hearing Meo’s words, Alice and I looked at each other So that’s how it is Noe have so

“A big sister from China live next to me, and Hiro lived there for a ht me a lot of japanese, and said that his job was difficult, and is called being a gigolo”

“A gigolo is not an occupation!”

I unintentionally shouted out loud Hiro is one of the NEETs who always hang out behind Hanaolo who always stays at woe japanese did he teach Meo?

“After that, Hiro was found by the security and was chased out He told me when he left: If I have any problems, I could just ask for help at Hanamaru Ramen Shop”

“So that’s how it is” Alice sighed and shook her head: “Well, just ask Hiro to co to ask him Anyhow, tellfor ht?”

After Alice finished speaking, Meo’s cheery expression suddenly clouded over

“About noon, I received a phone call from dad”

Meo sat in front of the bed and started to explain:

“He suddenly toldin the safe and look for a safe place to hide’ I was really confused about the situation, but dad’s voice sounded really fierce, so I could only obediently listen to him……”

“This is the bag in the safe” Meo pointed at the Boston bag at my foot and said

“Mnn, it’s so heavy that it made me exhausted”

“Did you try to contact your father?”

Meo’s expression clouded up even more:

“He told o home temporarily, and then I couldn’t reach his phone anyh he told o to, so I reo to”

“What is your father’s name? What is his job?”

“His na at a company called hello Corporation”

Alice knotted her brows

“I think Hiro mentioned this nahter lived next to hiuys”

“He’s not a yakuza anymore”