Vol 4 Chapter 7 (2/2)

Why don’t you give this back to him when you see him next time?

I rolled the goggles sunglasses onits touch

“…… Did he……”

“…… Did he?”

“Did heto do after this?”

“I’ave him a bowl of speciallyelse?”

I shut lasses

“Too slow! What were you doing at the raht ahen you arrived!”

When I stepped into the detective agency, Alice’s angry roars blew over along with the air conditioning The detective wearing paja

“Sorry…… I was talking with Min-san about so”

“Not much time is left until the train departs What if we are late?”

…… Train departs?

“The shi+nkansen line that Hirasaka Renji is going on Departing fro”

I widened my eyes

“Why…… do you know?”

“He booked the tickets using his phone I grasped it all Fortunately, the object that we asked helped for has arrived, which would be the iteot Why don't you take it over to him?”

As I couldn’t catch the package that Alice threw over, it hit ht in my face

“What is it? You seey burned out after all the effort you put in, perhaps? If you wish to investigate the e homes, I can accept the request with an extremely low price”

“N- Not really, I don’t mean that”

I pressed the package closely to my chest and approached Alice on my knees

“Well…… That time—“

Halfway through my words, the words bent, snapped, was heated up andEven I, myself, didn’t know What did I want to say? What did I want to ask? What did I want? Being stared directly at by Alice’s clear gaze, the troubles and doubts in ether

After all, I only didn’t want the cold, bloind and the splattering rain to snatch the te to stay by her side

I just don't want to see Alice feel sad, seeing her sing her bitter nificant that I can’t even share five percent of her pain

“Itif I say this…… But I will doby Alice’s side So that Alice can feel that I can stay by her side as well”

Alice went into a daze for aaway the hill of stuffed ani to the innermost side of her bed

“W- W- Wh……” Her face slowly reddened “What is wrong with you, suddenly…… What are you talking about!? You are extremely odd recently! Is it because of your inherent NEET traits, your brain broke dohen your workload became too much!?”

“Eh…… Ah, no, sorry…… Well……”

“What aboutme, hat I feel about my assistant detective by norant of this even though you ith , I am seriously speechless! To you, to you! That I am so—“

“…… So…… Erm…… What?”

As I was afraid of being pummeled, I covered my head with h I was scared Alice flushed, and as usual, empty cans of Dr Pepper started to fly over

“In any case, just hurry over!”

With her long hair fluttering, the NEET detective pointed at the entrance

“What if you do not y would have been wasted then?”

I stuffed the goggles sunglasses and the iteether and flew out of the office

I found the hair highlighted blonde at the waiting area of the nuawa station He leaned on the wall behind a shop, forlornly eating his train bento Bells of train reaching the station and the voice of the announcer kept interweaving, while sounds of the trains on the railway rang non-stop

“— Renji-san!”

I ran upwards along the stairs, passed through the gaps between the passengers pulling along luggage, and shouted out loudly After raising his head and glancing at me, Renji-san refocused his attention on his bento His speed of eating seehtly quickened as well

When I ran to his side, adjustingmy hands on my knees, Renji-san snapped his chopsticks and flattened his bento box, walking over after throwing them into the rubbish bin

“I was thinkin’ that Tokyo is really a desert, since nobody came to see me”

The smile on his face was similar to that of the first tireen bruises on the two sides of his face Possibly because I kept staring at hi it

“Ahh, about this? Naruht one huh? It was Sou’s fist The left was giventhatto Tokyo is these makes me want to cry”

It felt like a rough flow of breath was stuck in s

“That guy, even though he was just a beaten up person, in the end, hoere his fists? I underestiot how many wins and losses we had If I lost more than I won, I feel even more like cryin’”

I asked hesitantly:

“What are you going to do after this?”

“I’m thinkin’ of hidin’ near Osaka It feels more comfy”

Renji-san s, and immediately frowned because of the pain on his face

“Didn’cha beat up s half to death at Akasaka? Actually there was a superviser fro them, and I could only run away thanks to ya Seriously,back my debts steadily”

“Won’t…… it be better if you just stay in Tokyo? If all of us help out, your debts will probably be……”

“I must take responsibility”

He showed a gaze as though he was correctingshades to block it, I couldn’t continue to respond

“There’s no difference Didn’t I tell ya before this? It’s enough that I could h the panda ain’t there anyuins and polar bears And also, the band’s songs ain’t bad as well I’ll definitely buy their CDs if they’re out I stayed in Tokyo for two ot a lot Although I colasses and my friends, and the woman that I once loved So when ya think about it……”

I really couldn’t bear to continue listening Because of that, I extended lasses After that, Renji-san’s eyes widened

“…… Ah— Ahhh— So it was at Hanamaru? So I left it over there? Rea—lly, thank ya I’m saved”

Renji-san’s eyes were hidden under the black glasses of the goggles sunglasses yet again

“No”

I shook my head weakly I just think I have more to help out with, but that would probably be just my own delusions Every one of us can only be in pain alone, survive alone, and die alone If we come in contact with each other because of certain occurrences, how can we do anything for the others? Just the useless frame of ourselves was more than we can handle

The last thing that the dumb assistant detective could do, was only to be an errand boy

I took out the paper package and handed it to Renji-san

“A present?”

“No, I heard that you forgot this as well”

Renji-san opened the package The wind that blew on the station platfor open In the nick of tie, and then, pure white clothingthe wind

It was a T-shi+rt With white background, only its collar and cuffs were black There were detailed layers of embroidery on the shoulders and side abdoumi It wasn’t just scattered fireworks any in the skies

I understand now, so it’s such a thing Alice asked Yoshi+ki-san to do this, I suppose?

“I forgot even about this”

Renji-san’s smile was only on his mouth this time

“When we decided on this emblem, Hison said that she wanted to help do embroidery of this It’s just that I was too poor that time, so there’s just this one T-shi+rt”

The ers

“So I just asked her to sew it on bit by bit when I went to hang out at the apartment, but in the end, Hison……”

While speaking hesitantly, Renji-san’s face sank in a shadow I tried to give him a smile and shook my head

“Until its completion, five years had passed”

Renji-san responded with a forced smile as well

“That’s right Maybe she had a crush on me—“

He stopped halfway through his words Renji-san covered his nose with the T-shi+rt

“…… Sheesh So it wasn’t Hison who finished the re part?”

I shook my head in puzzlement

“It’s full of the smell of anesthetics If you see that idiot after this, remember to tell him to be less restless in the ward”

“Ah……”

My throat was burned by tears

I felt that it was quite unfair that only Renji-san earing sunglasses Even though he was in tears, when he had his back on the shi+nkansen that just arrived and was leaving me step by step, it was like— he looked like he was just s

An intrusive wind rerabbed onto the thick railings by the railaiting for ht was reflected fro colorful particles of light on my wet eyelashes The scene that ca to be burnt into the sunny skies, and it was in an afternoon with dazzling sunlight in August