Vol 2 Chapter 9 (1/2)

VOLUME 2

Chapter 9: Red Moon (1)

It was after school on the same day.

I was lounging around in the Production Club clubroom, waiting for my brother to get off work.

After I killed some time, my brother came to pick me up and we went home together.

When I didn’t have enough energy to make it back home, my brother let me ride on his bicycle with him.

On those days, we would stop by the shopping district on the way home and eat diner.

Today, we were at a rotary sus.h.i.+ restaurant.

“I see. Friends with Kagami-san…”

I was sitting side-by-side with my brother at the counter and telling him about what had happened today.

Perhaps I just wanted to tell my brother that so he could hear me being happy.

“I might get a little lonely, but I think this is a good thing. Kagami is pretty on top of things, and she can help you study too.”

“Yeah… I mean, looks like some alteration made it so I can at least not get held back next term, but that doesn’t change the fact that none of the knowledge I need is in my head.”

To be honest, I was completely hopeless when it came to studying.

I was always just locked up in my room playing around, after all.

It wasn’t like I was all-knowing and all-powerful.

“Ahh, oniichan, get the king salmon. Also the sea bream and some of the eel there.”

I pointed at the sus.h.i.+ as it lazily rolled past us, while my brother swiftly grabbed everything I pointed to.

“I can’t eat that much, so split it in half. In half, okay?”

“Okaay~~.”

“Only put soy sauce on the fish. If you get it on the rice I’ll kill you.”

“I know, I know.”

“I hate wasabi. Take it off, take it off.” (2)

“Of course… say ‘ahhh’~~.”

“Ahhh…”

Chomp. Chew chew.

Hm. Delicious.

“Kagami’s test scores are really high, but it doesn’t seem like she really takes notes. I always see her sleeping during cla.s.s too, so how are her grades that high?”

“I heard that Kagami-san can memorize entire textbooks by just seeing them once. It’s also more than easy for her to do arithmetic in her head on seven-digit numbers , so her natural mental abilities should be much higher than that of a normal human’s.”

The other people in the restaurant were watching my brother and my perfectly-normal dinner ritual with strange looks on their faces, but I didn’t mind them and just continued to fill my stomach.

“Oniichan, more tea please. Tea.”

“Of course.”

“It’s hot, so blow on it. Blow on it.”

“Be careful to not burn your tongue. Open your mouth.”

“Nnnn…”

Sip sip.

Ahh, you gotta have green tea with sus.h.i.+, after all.

“Well, it’s not like I made friends with her so I could get her to teach me stuff like that though. I’m just happy to be her friend. I’ve met and talked to other people online, but this is my first real-life friend.”

I smiled as my brother wiped my mouth with a paper napkin.

And then, I thought back.

Thought back to my lonely, lonely childhood.

To that time when I tried so hard and struggled through every day.

Everyone had placed all their hopes on me while I was young, and either distanced themselves from me or came at me with scandalous intentions, trying to take advantage of me.

I was surrounded by adults, so it was beyond hope for me to be able to play with someone my own age.

I would train, sometimes collapse exhausted into bed, and repeat.

It was a life devoid of any variety.

But, humans were never meant to live lonely lives.

Children want to play with other children, and there were times when my patience hit its breaking point.

I would escape from my harsh training, from the shrine, and descend upon the town outside.

But my little child’s feet could only carry me so far, and all the neighboring towns were under the patronage of the Tsukuyomi Shrine, so the other children around feared me and treated me like some monster.

Or rather, they feared me like some sort of G.o.d, and didn’t try to approach me.

I would call out to them, but they would ignore me and run away.

Sometimes, they would even throw stones at me.

Knocked down and in tears, I would return crying to the shrine…

And of course, my mother would be there waiting for me.

My mother was a strict person, worthy of fear.

But she was also a proud, beautiful, amazing person worthy of respect.

I loved my mother.

I wanted to become like my mother.

As I came home sobbing, my mother would be there in her usual miko garb, without any hint of a smile on her face.

— Sasami.

She always sounded more sad than angry.

— A Tsukuyomi Miko must not make any friends.

She would stroke my head and give me an awkward hug.

It took us less than an hour to finish eating.

My brother straddled his bicycle which he had parked outside, and I clung to the bike behind him. It was a two-person riding style I had become quite used to.

It was still February, so the world was darkening around us.

The moon lingered overhead, looking like a ma.s.s of entrails in the sky.

“Ahh, I’m so full.”

We had just eaten, so both of us were moving pretty sluggishly.

I sat on the luggage rack on the back of the bike, feeling a light breeze tickle my cheeks.

“But, oniichan… I know I usually don’t eat too much, but you ate pretty little today too.”

“I had a huge eating contest with Tsurugi-sensei and the others at lunch… also, just watching Sasami-san so happy is enough to fill my belly.”