Vol 3 Chapter 2 (1/2)

VOLUME 3

Chapter 2: Winter (Front Half)

I saw a world colored silver.

Spring break happened in March… but even so, it was rare to see such large amounts of snow in this area.

You could almost say it was unnatural.

The Yagami sisters were walking along in that silver world where everything was made hazy by the acc.u.mulating snow.

The youngest Yagami sister, Tama, was twirling around without an umbrella while going, “waaii~~ waaii~~.” But then, she glanced up in my direction.

“……?”

Tama c.o.c.ked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes like some kind of hoodlum, staring up at me.

“Is something wrong, Tama?”

Kagami was only wearing her school uniform despite the fact it was snowing… at any rate, she sent Tama a puzzled look.

“Mmm, might be just Tama’s imagination.” Tama seemed a bit troubled, but then she opened her mouth up wide and stuck out her tongue, starting to catch the falling snow. Not very hygienic, that…

“Stop that. That’s filthy.”

Kagami narrowed her eyes at her little sister’s strange behavior and scolded her, acting quite like an older sister.

“Also, pay attention to where you are walking. I suppose there will not be many cars on the streets with the weather like this… but you’ll become nothing but a huge eyesore if you start wandering into the middle of the road with that huge, obstructive body of yours.”

Kagami poked her head out from her j.a.panese-print umbrella and looked up at the sky, which continued to endlessly send down snow.

“But, this is quite awful weather… why are we getting this kind of weather here and in this season? Something feels quite unnatural about all of this… it’s possible this is the workings of an alteration. Perhaps it’s just a spot of unnatural weather though… but maybe…”

“Funyaa.” Kagami seemed a bit tired after saying that much out loud, and she yawned.

“Sasami-san possesses the power of the Supreme G.o.d, and she is quite depressed right now, so it’s possible her state is having an influence on the world. According to legend, when the Sun G.o.ddess Amaterasu fell into depression, she shut herself in the Ama-no-Iwato, and during that time, the world was plunged into darkness… it became winter. Amaterasu had that kind of disposition, so in other words… gfahh?!”

Tama’s s...o...b..ll hit Kagami smack dab in the middle of the face, breaking her out of her serious thoughts.

“Kyahahaha~~”

Tama let out a triumphant, innocent smile as she began to roll up another s...o...b..ll with her mittened hands.

“Kagami-nee worries way too much~~! It’s snow! Tama has never seen this much snow except on the TV! Let’s have a s...o...b..ll fight! And then, Tama wants to make a snowman!”

Tama held her two hands in front of her looking at the snow gathering and melting in her hands like she had found some treasure.

“Tama loves the snow! It’s cold and makes all the warm things go away, but it’s pretty! Tama doesn’t think it’s good if it snows every day, but it’s nice sometimes! It’s nice when it piles up! Nature is so great… just like when the world turned all into chocolate once, it’s like the entire world is made of shaved ice now!”

Tama continued to spout out nonsensical things, before she suddenly stood stiff as a rod.

“Ah…. fuwaah…”

She suddenly put her hand to her mouth, and her shoulders began to tremble.

“Sneeze!”

“… Eh? What was that just now?”

“Sneeze! Sneeze!”

“T-Tama, your sneezes literally sound like the word ‘sneeze’? Normally sneezes sound like ‘achoo’ or something similar to that, do they not…?”

“Hm? Tama doesn’t say anything like that… hnn… hah… sneeze!”

“Funaa~~…”

Kagami’s frigid expression melted like snow into a gentle smile, and she suddenly seemed enraptured by her little sister as Tama wiped off the snot which now began to dribble from her nose.

“When you sneeze, you sound almost like an animal… it’s quite wonderful… it’s as if I’ve found a strange creature… suddenly Tama seems a lot more cute…”

“? Tama is cute? Ehehe… kyahh?!”

Kagami held a s...o...b..ll with both hands and began to fiercely hurl them at her little sister.

“More! Sneeze more, Tama! Fall prey to all these s...o...b..a.l.l.s, catch a cold, and then cry out in that cute voice again!”

“Ow! Ow owow?! s...o...b..a.l.l.s hurt more than Tama thought! Kagami-nee is really strong so stop throwing those s...o...b..a.l.l.s so hard! Remember Pearl Harbor!”

As the two sisters played, someone crept up behind them…

–

“Ufufu. You two look like you’re having lots of fun together~~.”

–

It was a pretty girl who looked like she came straight out of a kid’s anime. She spoke in a kind, pleasant voice.

She sounded like a princess from a fairy tale.

“……” “……”

Kagami and Tama stopped kyakya-ufufu-ing all over the place and looked at the person standing behind them. Kagami had a deathly unpleasant look on her face whereas Tama seemed a bit at a loss.

It was the eldest Yagami sister, Tsurugi.

But she was acting strange.

This midget teacher’s trademark was acting like a sketchy middle-aged man while looking like a small kid… but right now she was completely acting like a child.

She tottered back and forth while she walked, and the normal hint of deliberate mischievousness was missing from her face. She was bundled up warm and her breath turned white in front of her. She honestly seemed like a puppy you’d just want to protect.

Tsurugi didn’t seem to mind the suspicious looks she was getting from her sisters and instead just looked at the snow with her eyes glittering. “Snow is kind… it sucks in and makes everything go away… like hatred…” she began to mumble.

Tama seemed a bit frightened as she turned towards Kagami with teary eyes.

“U-Umm, Kagami-nee…”

“Don’t mind her, Tama. I would like to believe this is a pa.s.sing illness… so let’s leave her be.”

Kagami looked a bit unsettled as she reached out and pulled on her older sister’s cheeks, almost as if testing whether or not she was real.

“Neesan has been strange ever since she followed the Ame-no-Murak.u.mo back from the Underworld… perhaps something went wrong when she revived in this plane, or maybe something happened while she was trapped in the Underworld…?”

“I-Is Tsurugi-nee broken? Maybe she’ll get fixed if Tama hits her?”

“I’m not quite sure what the cause of this bug in her programming is, so we should refrain from shocking her in any way until we diagnose the problem. It’s not like she’s causing harm to anyone other than being annoying so we should just watch her for the moment.”

Kagami let out a deep sigh and quickly began to walk.

“More importantly… we have to resolve the Sasami-san issue right now. There are still many details I am not aware of… so for now I’ve invited sensei to a family restaurant, and we will talk over it there.”

Kagami pointed to a family restaurant sign which now was visible in front of them. It seemed the restaurant was still open in the middle of all this snow.

Tama and Tsuguri both snuggled up to Kagami.

“Tama is hungry~~. Hey, Kagami-nee, Tama wants to eat a hamburger!”

“Kagami-chan, I want some omelette rice!”

“Shut up…”

Kagami cruelly shook off her two sisters and rapidly walked in a straight line towards the restaurant.

“For now, I would like to find a warm place to rest. If I accidentally fall asleep out here, I will just end up freezing to death, and there’s nothing more troublesome to me than not being able to indulge in my own lethargy.”

There was so much snow falling that it was actually piling up outside, so it was no surprise that there were few customers in the restaurant.

Her cheeks a bit flushed at the artificial warmth coming from the heater, Kagami brushed off the snow from Tama’s hair and clothes while the youngest Yagami sister made a racket all over the place.

“Welcome! Table for three?”

Kagami looked at the waitress who had come to greet them and spoke curtly.

“My name is Yagami, and I am here for a meeting. With sensei… umm, a man named Tsukuyomi, who should have arrived already. He’s a suspicious-looking character who is always covering his face…”

“Over here~~.”

Ah, looks like the waitress understood.

The waitress began leading the sisters through the restaurant with her best waitress smile on her face. Tama smiled widely at all the nice smells floating through the air and began to talk loudly.

“Howawawa… it’s so waaaarm~~. It’s too cold outside, and Tama thought she would catch a cold… snow is pretty scary!”

“You should have just taken an umbrella. I offered you one, but you were set on ‘making friends with the snow’ or some ridiculous thing like that. Also, stop making such a fuss in the middle of the restaurant please.”

“Kagami-nee is always complaining~~. Tama’s ears are about to fall off~~. Ah, there he is! Kagami-nee, over here over here! It’s paparin!!”

Tama seemed to completely ignore Kagami’s instructions to stop raising a fuss and waved both her hands frantically.

She was looking at… a seat in the smoking section, and the same seat that the waitress was now pointing towards.

The seat was shrouded in grey smoke, with my brother in the middle of it all. He was sprawled out over the table as if completely dead.

Kagami walked up to the table. “Uwah, he’s dead,” she spat out with a displeased look on her face.

There was an ashtray next to my brother, and it was filled with a mountain of cigarette b.u.t.ts.

“S-Sensei? Are you okay?”

My brother looked so worn down that even Kagami seemed genuinely worried.

Kagami shook my brother by the shoulder, and he began to groan with his face still flat on the table.

“… It’s been thirty-four hours since I’ve talked with Sasami-san… it’s been seventy-six hours since I’ve touched Sasami-san… it’s been one hundred and twenty-seven hours since I’ve taken a bath with Sasami-san… Sasami-san… Sasami-san…”

It was like watching a drug addict going through withdrawal.

“Uwah…”

Kagami seemed completely repulsed by my brother. At that point, my brother seemed to finally notice that he wasn’t alone, and he slowly raised his head (still managing to hide his face with both his hands) and gazed at Kagami.

“Sasami… san… Sasami-san… Sasami-san…?”

“U-Uhh… unfortunately, I am not Sasami-san.”

Kagami and I had similar physiques, so my brother seemed to be hallucinating that I was there. He suddenly leapt up… and enveloped Kagami with a hug!

“Sasami-san! I wanted to see you so bad!”

“Gyah?!”

“Sasamisansasamisansasamisan! Sasami-san would never throw her poor oniichan away, would she?! A-Aaaa… this is Sasami-san’s smell, Sasami-san’s warmth, the feel of Sasami-san’s skin… Sasami-san I love you! I love you!”

“Gyah!! Gyah!! Gyah!!”

Held in my brother’s death grip, Kagami tried desperately to push him off but to no avail.

Seeing her sister like that, Tama put one hand on her hip and pointed with the other, a smug look on her face.

“See? See~~? Kagami-nee… you shouldn’t make such a fuss in the middle of the restaurant, right? Right~~? And you’re the one who scolded Tama, hmph! Kagami-nee, you’re such a bad girl! Ehehe~~.”

“Stop being an idiot and he-… help me!”

Kagami ruthlessly brought her elbow down on my brother’s head and then backed away, shaking as if she had just met an axe murderer in a dark alleyway.

“S-Sensei… y-you idiot…”

She was even tearing up a bit.

“Tama will sit next to Paparin!”Tama shouted right next to Kagami and then plopped herself down in her seat. Tsurugi had already sat down in the seat opposite my brother and was gazing at a menu.

Everyone was just doing their own thing, weren’t they…?

Kagami drooped her shoulders before going up to Tama and beginning to take off her coat for her.

“You don’t have to wear all this heavy clothing indoors, right? The restaurant is heated too, so you might feel too warm in this. Also, your table manners are still quite awful, so you might get this dirty… neesan, you can handle your clothes by yourself, right?”

“Ufufu, of course!”

Tsurugi began to take her clothes off like it was the most natural thing in the world. And by her clothes, I meant all her clothes.

It wasn’t just her coat… Tsurugi was also casting off all the things that you really should be wearing to be a functional member of polite society.

She was left topless.

“Hey you! Stop that!”

Kagami had been preoccupied with Tama, but now she ran over to Tsurugi and smacked her in the head.

“I tell you so often to stop doing things that will get you arrested! Also, you’re supposed to be bugging out right now, so I let down my guard, but… why is it that your perverted side is still fully intact?!”

“Kagami-chan… I have been thinking about this. I feel that everyone has one important part of themselves that defines their very being. For me, that part is probably the perverted part…”

“Neesan, that goes past the realm of ‘unfortunate’ and into the realm of ‘pitiful’…”

“… Anyways, shall we order something? Kagami-san… please sit down as well…”

All the noise seemed to have brought my brother back to his senses, and he called out weakly to Kagami.

“Yaay~~.”

Tama opened a menu with her usual childlike innocence, and then began tugging on my brother’s clothes.

“Paparin, what’s this word?”