Published at 26th of March 2019 2:24 am

Volume 5, Golden Time 5: Chapter 1

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

When Spring came to Tokyo, it came to Saitama too.

Right now, the ten other members of the youth group "The Law School Japanese Festival Culture Research Society"… alias "Omaken", were on the edge of a shopping district in the Saitama prefecture.

Indeed, they were in a very large parking lot owned by a sponsoring temple. They were gathered under one tent of several set up as if in a row in the corner, lined up with their necks outstretched in front of a single electric fan set standing there. They were hardly talking any more.

Now and then somebody would feebly murmur "the wind is whispering," and somebody else would, equally feebly, answer back as if on cue, "It's hot, too hot…" And when that happened, some people would simply laugh. Not knowing where they got it from and not having the energy to join in the mysterious byplay, Banri,

"Isn't Awa Odori something you do at night…? Why in this kind of heat…?"

Crouched down still, they pressed their cool upper arms against their flushed faces and muttered. When they closed their eyes, even their eyeballs had gone red: the heat had soaked through their eyelids.

Right behind Banri, seated loosely on a pipe chair, Kosshii-senpai,

"Thirty-eight degrees."

Was all he said.

"…Is it Panmunjom?

'The Military Demarcation Line?' thought Banri, shaking his head.

"Right now. It's thirty-eight degrees! The temperature. You aren't thinking."

He showed them the screen of the smart phone he held in his hand. It was showing the current temperature around the area, so it had to be 38 degrees Celsius. Ugh… Even Banri could manage nothing more than a low moan. Indeed, it seemed he would have been a lot better off with no clothes on the open air.

At length, they'd tied back their yukatas from their chests so the drops of sweat would go rolling down and falling off. Even though they hadn't even danced yet, Banri's entire body was quickly sopping wet with sweat. Along with all the rest of the guys, the color of the cloth on his back had changed from being wetted.

Saitama in mid-summer was too hot in general, and there was no real objection to calling it Hell. They were close to hitting record temperatures for all of Japan, and what's more, there was hardly a cloud in the sky. The address in Hell was probably Block #1, Red Hot. Now and then the wind blew, but it was no different from fanning oneself with a blow-dryer. Shining, burning brightly, as the afternoon drew on the sunlight becoming even more energetic, as if it were trying to burn everything living on the surface world to a crisp.

If he went even one step outside the shadow of this tent, he would surely be bathed in rays of strong, direct sunlight. And then his skin would probably be burnt to a crisp as if he'd been thrown on the stove. Before Banri changed his clothes, he'd smeared sunblock that Kouko had brought along all over his face and arms. This was sweat now. He noticed it had practically all dripped off.

Saying 'Let's put on some more,' he pulled out a plastic container from a rucksack set by his feet, and shook it vigorously up and down. Making a sound like a cheerful Mexican shaking maracas,

"What's that?"

Kosshii-senpai peered curiously over at Banri close at hand.

"It's sunblock. Senpai, how about you too?"

"Whaat? Sun block? No way, our freshmen have got that stuff on?"

He said 'You sissy～', while pointing and grinning at him, but Banri paid him no heed at all. Taking the white, fragrant liquid in his hand, he blended it in carefully around his cheekbones using his fingers. The bridge of his nose, his forehead, his chin, the nape of his neck, his upper chest. As Kouko had shown him, little by little, thoroughly rubbing it into his skin.

"I'm smearing it on. UV rays seem to be pretty bad news."

"Hahaa, sounds like something Robo-Girl would say. You've fallen completely under her influence."

"And isn't that all right? Sunlight like today's is rather incredible. It practically seems violent."

"Oh shut up, how's a real man going to notice sunburn?"

"Really, isn't is all right? Your skin cells, aren't they getting massacred? She said, 'Though the world says suntan, suntan so lightly, frankly, it's a burn! It damages your DNA! It's mass murder of your skin!'"

"You idiot, don't exaggerate. Everyone, even little brats, is used to getting sunburnt."

"Kouko's little brother forgot to wear a hat in Hawaii and it looks like honey dripped from the top of his head."

"…Honey…?"

"Yes. It seems to have been syrup that dripped from some useless guy."

"…Then, then just a little…?"

"Here you go, here you go!"

"Ah, really just a little, eh? Because a little's okay…"

"Well, you didn't tell me that! Oops, oops!"

"Ah, so much… it's already over there, and over there…"

"No, no senpai, let's put a little bit more! It looks like you ought to have a little bit on the back of your neck! And if I could, the top of your head too! Here, do like this… with this kind of feeling."

"Eh~, …like this? Not like this? Won't this be enough?"

The two guys spread the milky sunblock lotion all over the centers of their faces with awkward, unfamiliar motions. Though anybody else doing this kind of thing would have acquired a rather feminine atmosphere to it, somehow both Banri and Kosshii-senpai just crossed their arms, chuckled and smiled in their embarrassment.

Incidentally, the Omaken girls were apparently still in their preparations in the temple's hall, as not one of them had appeared outside yet. Having been given only one room (without partitions) as space in which to get themselves ready, the guys had already changed (quickly) and were now wondering just how long the girls would take before giving up the room.

Thanks to that, they had lots of time during which they had to wait under the scorching heat of the blazing sun.

"Eh!? What's this? You guys are putting on makeup!?"

One of the third year seniors had noticed them smiling and smearing on the milky lotion. As he smiled back, Kosshii-senpai cocked his head,

"You got it wrong. I was just putting on some sunblock Tada Banri gave me."

"Oohh. You scared me. I was thinking you'd finally decided to be one of the 'Cats'."

The so-called "Cats" could be seen in another tent a little apart, their group encamped over there, as laid back as they themselves were.

In that group, not just the girls, but all of the guys too were painted all over with white-pink greasepaint like Kabuki actors. Highlights were drawn all along the bridges of their noses and on their eyelids with red and jet black eyeliner. There was even lame sparkling on their chests and the napes of their necks. Gathered here as they were, anybody passing by would say without thinking, "Aren't they cats…?" Even so, whether it was okay, or wandering towards the dark side, those members of Omaken who were participating for the first time weren't going to try and judge.

His cheeks gleaming a little, Kosshii-senpai spoke too.

"Of course, that sort of thing isn't each group's plan. But for now, we guys have gotten mixed up in some sort of makeup game."

Banri belonged to Omaken, but this time a few other local college clubs had asked to join with them to form a dance team, and it had turned out they would all participate in the Awa Odori sponsored by this shopping district.

They were in identical yukatas and brand new snow white rubber-soled tabi socks. On the light green cuffs there was a blue design as of running water. Diagonally across the back "Alliance of Tokyo Region Private University Awa Odori Clubs" was written in large letters. They boldly wore those with the hems tucked up, showing white, even bleached tight pants, and they all had the identical blue fans they'd been given. All that was left was to tie hand-towels around their heads and their preparations would be complete.

Incidentally, alone among the Okamen guys, Kosshii-senpai had a black and silver checked hem on one side, making him stand out even more in the colorful group.

Having a muscular, sportsman's body, the quietly standing form stood out, illuminated by the mid-summer's light. His face was a little ape-like, but between this and that, he was a handsome guy. Banri thought of him as a different genre of he-man compared to Yana-ssan.

He bent down to smear as much sunblock as he could over everything, even his kneecaps, and while he did so he looked down over his own clothes. It was not as neat as that of his seniors, and he had quickly loosened the clothing around his chest. He was having fun in a cosplay sort of way, but if he did much more of this, wouldn't it get a little out of hand…? He tried to fiddle with his belt a bit, but it didn't make much of a change for the better.

At that moment, the sound of drums echoed brightly around the parking lot. Another team's band was starting to warm up.

As if on cue, there was the sound of a hanging chime. On its heels, a shamisen, a flute and a shakuhachi sounding loudly, and then, like thunder to the stomach, a great bass drum. And on each side, skillfully guiding the rhythm, hand drums. The Omaken had only practiced with drums and chimes. They didn't have anybody who could play other instruments.

Somebody murmured, "Incredible…" Another guy responded, "Yes…" The performance's impact, as expected, was markedly greater.

Banri, too, was overwhelmed, paralyzed amongst the voices of the instruments playing their tune at a terrifically fast pace. He was shaken from his neck to his back by the vibrating atmosphere. The festival rhythm cut through the red hot summer haze as it shook it.

A guy peeked into the tent and said "Omaken-saan, please, it's about time you wrap up your preparations, okay?" He was from another college, and would be shouldering the burden of this team's leading role. When Kosshii-senpai answered with "Yes-sir!" and a smile, he withdrew. Kosshii's hand already held a large paper lantern on a pole with the team's name written on it. Hanging jauntily from his hip was an inrou. To Banri it looked cool. It had a long tassle of stylish purple.

"Kosshii-senpai…"

"What is it, Tada Banri? You nervous?"

"A bit, just a little… Are we already starting?"

"In about fifteen minutes."

The order in which the various teams would leave was already decided, and this parking lot had become the place from which all the teams would start.

The individually costumed dancers were making quite a commotion as they gathered under the blazing sun. When a sports-oriented team huddled and raised a shout, there would be another team making one last check their instruments were in tune. Under the tent there were some handsome old guys drinking stuff like crazy to give them stamina. At the least, they were drinking. There were little kids in Happi coats here and there wandering about, and crying voices echoed as if something had happened.

The starting time drew nearer. The dancers everywhere suddenly started getting busy.

Clapping his hands, Kosshii-senpai raised his voice so everyone could hear.

"Any time now! It's hot, so be careful along the way so you don't get cramps in your legs!"

Oh! Answered the groups of Omaken youths from every direction.

"Every one of you, now's the time to take plenty of water, and don't forget to stretch!"

Responding with a hoarse groan in unison, they all stood up and started carefully stretching their Achilles tendons.

"Oh, they're finally here."

While Banri also flexed his knees, he looked over towards the temple building. From the old-fashioned sliding door entrance, the girls, wearing light yellowish green yukatas, conical hats in hand, were walking noisily towards them in wooden geta clogs.

With black satin obi belts secured in the otaiko style, wearing shiny scarlet shirts under their kimonos, covers on their arms, and with heavily done makeup, they were all seductively pretty. It seemed that they had all suddenly leveled up from an ordinary student's casual style, or occasionally their practice jerseys, to being beautiful women. It seemed Banri wasn't the only one to think so: the rest of the group broke out in spontaneous applause.

"Incredible! They look like women!"

"They really are! We've got girls in our club!"

"Whaat!? You, you guys, you really were women!?"

"Why'd you hide it until now!? You think we were all just a bunch of old men!?"

Ignoring the exaggerated fuss the guys were making over them, just telling them to shut up and waving them away lightly with their hats, the Scarlet Shirt Brigade parked themselves in front of the fan, stealing it away from them. All while they complained it was too hot and their makeup was melting.

All the while, Banri tried to spot the form of his beloved. But even when all the other, older girls came under the tent beautifully changed into costume, Kouko's figure was the only one missing. He cocked his head in puzzlement. He looked all around. Then he tried to ask the upperclassmen near him "Umm… what about Kouko?"

The one person not holding a hat,

"Sorry we took so long! I mean, it's so awful hot! We couldn't fit everybody in a place like that, so were you okay? Even though you could hear the A/C in there!"

The person slipping under the tent with a smile was Linda. The way she looked.

"No, we were not okay! Though didn't we give it up to you so you could get changed!?"

At the laughing woman's protestations, Kosshii-senpai jokingly tapped her forehead. Without thinking, Banri pointed at the figures of the two apparently close upperclassmen.

"Don't you two look the pair!?"

"Huh? Yes, indeed!"

Turning around in response, Linda gave both thumbs up.

Her female figure was wearing the silver-gray checkered costume of the male dancers, just like Kosshii-senpai.

Her snow white chest and bare feet were exposed under the merciless sun, her narrow, feminine waist was snugged tightly with a belt, and her toes were tightly wrapped in dancing socks. Her appearance was extraordinarily chic, gaudy and sexy, and even though it was a guy's outfit, to Banri's eyes she seemed to sparkle more gorgeously than anybody else there.

"Today I'm a beautiful woman dressed as a man!"

The bright, funny, dependable and beautiful person with the scarlet painted lips drawn wide grinning at him was Linda-senpai.

"Whoa, that's great! Yo! You're handsome!"

"Thank you! Alrighty, right now I, am handsome!"

The senior in the club and her junior! Banri thought that now, perhaps, he was becoming accustomed to that simple feeling of distance in their relationship. There was nothing artificial about it: the smile he returned to Linda was the real thing.

In previous practice sessions, when their eyes met, it was still somewhat awkward. It was as if Linda were trying to make normal contact, and yet Banri could not make proper eye contact with Linda.

But today, it seemed to be okay already. He felt he'd exchanged smiles with Linda.

The heat yanked out his ability to think by its roots, and the festival music echoing in the already noisy area took his breath away. The costume he wore. Makeup different from usual. The approaching start time.

That those things were mixed together into a summer festival was unusual, but it may have been that the awkwardness that hung in the air between them had come to strike him with a strange kind of brute force. The vagueness was sort of like being dealt a blow with an all-conquering Harisen Chop.

"Really, Linda-senpai, you look better than I do. For some reason, perhaps due to my slumping shoulders, I am strangely worn out."

The physical distance between the two, about two meters. If they were club senior and junior, then Kosshii-senpai… was at the natural distance, perhaps even too far away.

But maybe, the appropriate distance.

"You're okay, you're okay, don't worry about it. It's all about having fun. Or rather, Tada Banri, your girlfriend, actually, she's having a bit of a problem…"

"A problem? With Kouko?"

Linda, her smile fading a bit, frowning as if worried, turned her gaze away from Banri. Turning where that gaze was going, Banri looked too, and there was the shape of a sad piece of junk.

"Ko, Kouko…!"

She could no longer walk on her own.

Dressed pretty much in costume, but propped up on both sides by two senior girls, the two of them held the golden Robo-Girl, Banri's lovely girlfriend… Kaga Kouko, her strength entirely gone, the geta on both her feet dragging on the ground as they carried her.

Her turned up face was ashen. Her hair hung over her cheeks, disheveled as if she'd been struck. Rather than her resembling C-3PO as per usual, she was a butterfly resembling Yaoya Oshichi, the girl who was arrested for frantically ringing the fire alarm bell.

Banri, completely confused, flew out from under the tent in a hurry, rushed over to the pitiful piece of junk and peered up into her face,

"What is it!? Hey, what's happened!?"

"Ba, Banri…"

"You went off and committed arson! Isn't that a capital offense!? Didn't you know that!?"

Obviously, she was confused.

"…Of course, you have no idea what that means…?"

Her colorless lips trembling, Kouko looked back at Banri's face with teary eyes.

"N, no, because! Because the situation is just too strange! It feels like I'm thrown back into the Edo times, and the fire, they say…"

"Don't leave… I am… still… a little… nervous…"

Kouko's too-white cheeks twitched dangerously as she shook briefly,

"Aaaahh!"

She uttered a single, high pitched shriek. As one, Banri and the seniors reared back without thinking. As for Kouko, she twisted her body and shaking off the hands of the girls that were holding her up,

"It's no use, of course! Back to the bathroom again!"

She turned back down the way she had just come. She walked by her own power after a fashion, but shuffled rather strangely… her body shook as if it were being twisted awkwardly by walking with her left hand and foot moving out together, then her right hand and foot.

"She's… Nanba-walking…!"

Banri gasped also, she indeed had that ancient style of walking.

"Kouko, Kouko! It's all right, Kouko-chan! Haven't you been to the bathroom three times since we got here!?"

"Li, Linda-senpaii…"

Chasing after her right away, Linda wrapped a gentle arm behind Kouko and caught her. While so doing, she drew her mouth close to Kouko's ear and,

"Your bladder is empty! It's vacant! Okay? Calm down and think it through! That need to go…"

"This need to go…"

"Is a phantom urge!"

"A phantom urge…! Aahh…!"

It seemed her persuasion was successful.

At length pulling Kouko under the tent, Linda looked over at Banri's face, saying "here you go now."

"The worst of the tension is over now. We had a hard time getting changed."

"Oh my…"

Made to sit in a pipe-chair, Kouko behaved like a machine, looking around in the area in a daze. The way her neck moved, creak, creak… it was messed up; she'd run out of oil… "I wonder if we brought any WD40?" Kosshii-senpai mumbled, as if it worried him.

Once they had started, or rather, once she'd put on her hat, Kouko would probably be okay. That, from experience, not just Banri but all the Omaken surely knew.

In their practice sessions, Kouko was able to dance normally if she put on her hat so she wouldn't notice people watching her. But, for her to get this upset over what she'd seen and understood before she put on her hat… as you might expect, Banri was getting worried for her too.

Just then right next to the tent with a boom, a strong barrage of Taiko drums started up. Shouts of challenge rose from here and there. The festival was starting. The excitement around the place was rising steadily to its peak. With a matching groan, Kouko's body went stiff too.

"…Well, for now. Shall we put it on you? Looks like you forgot your lipstick."

"…"

Sitting down next to her and kindly pulling some lipstick from her own bag, Linda handed it over to Kouko. Another of the seniors opened up a mirror and held it in both her hands so that Kouko could see her own face easily.

Kouko was a mere shadow of her usual perfect beauty, her face stiff as if cramped, but nonetheless she somehow removed the cap from the lipstick that Linda had lent her. Sheepishly, she mumbled things like 'Thank you very much', 'I'm so sorry' and 'I'm being such a problem for you.' Probably nobody caught what she said, though.

So doing, getting closer to the mirror held by her senpais, stiffly moving the deep red lipstick to her lips,

"…ngh…, ngh…, ngh…"

It stopped moving for a bit. It stayed there, stretched out before her delicate face, beneath her nose.

"What's wrong, Kouko!? Try harder!"

While peering into the mirror from right behind and next to Kouko, Banri was cheering her on, giving her even his own strength. You can do it somehow! Try harder! Draw the red! Fight!

But Kouko's hand still raising the lipstick, it wouldn't go any further. Not only wouldn't it move, but at length beginning to quiver violently as if she'd heard a joke,

"Alcoholism…?"

Whoever muttered it, it was precisely what things looked like.

Still, in this moment, Kouko's spirit was not yet broken. Taking advantage of the trembling in her hands, somehow moving it up and down on her lips, without pulling it to either side, she went applying the vivid color as if she were pounding it into place. Saying 'Good, good, like that,' everybody clenched their fists and then, it was over and done.

"…Nnu!"

The strangest thing had happened: the lipstick had inserted itself deeply into Kaga Kouko's nostril, wreaking havoc on the lovely rose queen's fame.

Ooh… Banri shook. The rest of the gang too. Nobody could say anything more, the time for laughing already lost, the atmosphere under the tent stilled.

The groove between her nose and upper lip sharply highlighted by splendid red lines, like a nosebleed dripping right down the middle, Kouko closed her eyes. Leaning into the back of her chair, the queen fell into an eternal sleep just like that. Farewell Kaga Kouko, we will never forget how funny you were… All of the Omaken saw her gallant figure off with a tearful bow.

The one person left, Banri, clinging to Kouko's lap,

"No no no! Wait, Senpais! Please don't give up hope! Are you planning on leaving one of ours behind here!? Kouko! Get up, get up I say! The festival is starting!"

Completely alone in her "end" state, she swayed heavily from side to side. Kouko was dying.

Each of the senpais had started with the best of intentions towards Kouko, but,

"…There's nothing can be done already."

Taking a breath and stopping for her was Linda.

"Hey, Kosshii-senpai. Has the time finally come that we ought to instruct these freshmen about 'that'?"

"Ah, 'that' eh? Yes, I guess you're right. It may be so, it's come to this… do we have any other choice?"

"Though even for me, 'that' is a little embarrassing. I'd rather not do it…"

We're going to do 'that'? Are we really going to do that? We have no choice. It might be all we can do. That's right. Already, unless we do it…

Suddenly whispering amongst themselves, the seniors began to exchange meaningful glances.

"Eh? Wha, what's going on…?"

Even Banri noticed that strange sign, and making as if to embrace the dead Kouko's shoulder, looked up at the upperclassmen's faces. Even Kouko, who should have been dead, suspected a change in the situation, and, opening her watery eyes met Banri's gaze uneasily.

Just what in the world were the seniors about to try to do? Without saying another word, the seniors suddenly forming a circle close around the cringing Banri and Kouko,

"Hmm～♪"

It was Kosshii-senpai who in a low voice started off.

As he hummed, extending his right hand as if pointing between the two of them, he snapped his fingers. Over and over, the humming ran through the musical scale, "Hmm～♪" "Hmm～♪" "Hmm～♪" …snap, snap, snap…

As they hummed and snapped their fingers at the two of them over and over again, gradually the circular formation started moving like a loose whirlpool around them. Was this the introduction of an adult version of Shounentai's "Only For You?"

What is this, what's going on? Banri and Kouko felt nothing but fear now. In a row face, face, face… slowly rotating, humming faces. Their frowning lips lightly closed, their gazes precisely on Banri and Kouko.

While the seniors surrounded the two of them, crowding around them, their humming like the moaning of a black magic ritual continued to pick up in rhythm. Before long the rhythm rose, and to the humming began to be mixed a groaning "Hoi." Hmm～, Hoi, Hmm～, Hoi, Hmm～, Hoihoi… Hmm～ hoihoi.

Hmm～hoihoi, hmm～hoihoi, hmm～hoihoi, hmm～hoihoi! And now, all together, as if you were casting a net with your whole bodies! Stretch out your arms! Hmm～hoihoi! With all your might! All together now! Hmm～hoihoi!

Scary.

Frozen in the middle and unable to escape, Banri and Kouko could do nothing but moan and squeal. In a state of frozen withdrawal, there was being acted upon.

What's more, from their faces, from their heads, in case from their whole bodies, dozens of hands were separately striking out at them with a motion like that of casting a net. Clapping like crazy in time with the rhythm. And every now and then, somebody would get out of rhythm and be rapping out a back-beat.

"Nhhoihoi, hei! Nhho…hei! He, he, he～i!" "Hmm～hoihoi, hey! Hmm～hey! He, he, he～y!"

Moving together, they started to make strange faces. Each of them, not just the guys but the girls too, shouted excitedly "Hmm～hey!" "Hehey!" "Hmm～Hehhe～y!" Even Linda. Linda's movements were especially wild. As she shook her hips back and forth, she looked up to the sky and shouted "Hehehehehe-y!" Instead of trying to hide her swelling shape, she threw back her chin freely.

"Together now! Hey! Come on! Hey! Tada! Hey! Banri! Hey!"

She was inviting Banri. No! I can't! I can't do something like that! Compelling Banri with her hand on his chin as he childishly twisted his body trying to escape, she enticed him with a strange expression on her face.

"Hey! Hey!"

"Ow! No!"

"Hey! Hey!"

"Stop! Aah! …Hey!"

Mass psychology is a scary thing.

Had he noticed, Banri was swallowed up in the whirlpool of older club members, as they shook back forth, Hey! With all you have, Hey! Cold eyes, Hey! Chin out, Hey!

Being left behind by the world of sanity,

"Eeek! No way! Somebody help me!"

It was Kouko, twisting around, practically crying and shaking in fear. Sitting on the chair, lipstick drawn beneath her nose still, it was as if she were carrying the burden of the Omaken's behavior on her lap. By those chins, Banri's, Linda's, Kosshii-senpai's and all the other seniors too, "Hey!" "Come on!" "Kouko!" "Robo-Girl!" over and over again, inviting her with love.

"Kyaaa! Stop it! I can't do such things! Never! I can't! I can… he! I can… Hey! Hey! Hey! He～y!"

She'd fallen…

When Banri invited her with all he had, the queen finally surrendered. Standing up, swaying to the same rhythm as everybody else, she'd entered into a state of "Hey Hey" trace. Facing Banri, "With you, Hey!" "With me, Hey!" "Together, Hey!" "Couple, Hey!" Once she got like that, she was no more scared nor anything else. Leaving it to the festival rhythm, her whole body sprang up, becoming one living form, simply making a lot of noise.

"Omaken-saan, we're leaving! Ah, are we not all ready to go now!?"

The team's core people shouted back, answering all together as loud as they could, "He～y!"

The guys in their headbands, the women in their straw hats, each of them finished up perfectly,

"Whoa-shaa! Let's go, Omaken's first festival…!

At Kosshii-senpai's call, their reply was a roar like a wild beast's.

"That" was the traditional "Hmm…Hoi Hoi Heey Tension" passed along from generation to generation of the Omaken. At last, the musical groups making the summer sky echo, they quickly slipped away to the rhythm.

* * *

Tada Banri was dancing.

On the asphalt, where the red hot air shimmered as if rising up eagerly, he crouched down, twisted his head-banded face into a funny expression, flexed his knees as he had been taught, and surrendered himself to the quick rhythm.

Kaga Kouko was dancing too. The line of deep red lipstick drawn from her lips to her nose peeking from under her hat, forgotten and not wiped off yet, she alternately stepped tiptoed in her clogs and swung both hands in the air as if she were trying to touch the very melody of the shamisen's playing.

As for Linda, rather than being in the line of dancers like Banri and Kaga Kouko, she was always out front, right behind the paper lantern that marked the start of their team. Right in the middle of all the noise and clamor, she was especially dazzling.

I wonder, where the heck did Linda learn how to dance? Though she certainly has had amazingly developed reflexes from the start, as far as I know, she probably hasn't received any special training in dance.

But even so, Linda's dancing was really terrific.

Dressed the same as many guys, stretching her arms widely as if to spread her wide sleeves, she twirled around as if she were a top. She jumped up all at once, dancing as lightly as a butterfly. Her fingers flew through the air. And every time, her golden costume glittered in the bright sun. Flying with a splendor and speed even the men could not beat, she spun about as if she were using her entire body as a spring. Even so, it was the beauty of her supple, outstretched limbs that caught everyone's eyes.

Linda's dancing wasn't carried away by the music, so to speak, but rather it was as if Linda's body were the instrument playing the music. Linda's dancing was caught up in giving birth to this melody.

Seeing Linda's magnificent jumps before them, the customers watching from the sides of the road cheered her loudly. While we made an uproar as well, our faces red from the heat, we encouraged the girl dancers on as hard as we could with our fans.

Banri, Kaga Kouko, Linda, all the gang, everybody was smiling. Under the blue and cloudless mid-summer sky, bathed in a sunlight akin to violence while surrendering themselves to the excitement of the festival, the cares of the present world entirely forgotten from their expressions, the dance group continued along, making their steady, noisy progress.

And then, not having a body to dance myself, in the end, I had no choice but to be left behind again today, biting my tongue.

Nobody can see me, nobody can touch me. Not even the burning summer sun can show even a faint silhouette of my paralyzed body.

This me is that… the past which had spilled out from the Tada Banri that lives on in reality.

Cut loose from my own body at the time of the accident, I became a wandering spirit, unable to be noticed by anybody, drifting around this world to no purpose.

My secondary problem: "How does a ghost level up to being a vengeful spirit?"

…I want to pronounce a curse.

On the one living and using the flesh that was mine, the one dancing, that, the clown-faced Tada Banri.

I don't think that as a ghost I would be able to do that much. Besides that, it wasn't very crowded there in that photo. If I were a little more real, could I not affect things physically? Back when I lived a normal life, hearing "It's the curse of a departed soul!", "It's a psychic phenomenon!" and so on, I accepted quite a few of such things as normal happenings. I even thought I wouldn't be able to forget the "Purple Mirror" quickly enough. In the end, I'd reached my twentieth birthday without a girlfriend, but, well, anyhow.

After all, since this is my first time as a spirit, I don't know how to become a proper avenging ghost. And not knowing, time marches on. In this corner of the spirit world, the blockhead ghost is falling down, unexpectedly defeated in the early rounds. This year's summer sparkled yet more and more.

Come to think of it, it's my second summer. …Since I have come to be like this, it was now halfway through the season for the second time.

Last summer in Shizuoka, the days were spent at home recovering, going to the doctors and studying for exams. Those days, I had not felt I wanted to become an avenging spirit and curse the new Tada Banri. I could do no more than watch over him while waiting to see what would become of me.

So, up to now, I'd thought of the new and living Tada Banri, somewhere in my heart, as if he were a younger twin brother or something. As if I were a family member, terribly concerned and unable to take my eyes off the poor workmanship.

However, the events of the other day had been a turning point, and living with such half-hearted feelings had become impossible. My time as a free guardian spirit was over. And it was all Banri's fault it had gotten like this.

Banri had cast Linda… one whom held only great regrets for the me that had to be placed into this world, away entirely. She had superficial human contact with him, but she was shut out from the depths of his heart. Even though I had always been at her side, seeing her there, making sure she was happy, and if something happened, I would come running at once. …No matter what, Linda cannot see me, neither can she hear me, even though I want her to.

I used to think that we shared the human "existence" called Tada Banri. Even unseen by eyes, and my voice not getting through, I had felt that Banri more or less respected the lives that went before.

But in the end, that guy, obviously from his own ego, without thinking even for a moment about my feelings, without so much as looking back, broke something that was important to me from the very bottom of my heart. And then he threw me away. He denied my existence. He rejected me, not accepting me.

The matter in question, me, this me who is no longer a person but just a spirit, was truly hurt. Even though there was nothing left of my "body" to be injured.

I only lived for eighteen years. That was all the time I had.

I was willing to devote all the time I had to Linda. Though short, the days I lived I had so that I could love Linda and be with her. Those days really sparkled, so when they came to nothing without reason, I was able to convince myself that the feelings, even if they hadn't borne fruit, had plenty of meaning still…

Linda would continue a long, long, long time after this, with a wonderful life, so it was okay that my existence was only faint, so long as I exist. If that be the case, that is my life, I said to myself.

And yet in spite of all that, Banri made it come to nothing.

Banri murdered me.

Even if inside of Linda only existed fragments of me, I was denied being, cast out and trampled underfoot. To where I was scattered and blown away to the edge of the world, as if worth nothing.

Isn't natural for me to bitter over such as this?

However, this body has no physical powers, like to knock down people from behind, to summon poltergeists, to sob or to scream. Both hands waving emptily through the air, the carefree Banri eats just yakisoba every single day. Boom! There goes the one o'clock boiled egg, and now for this guy over here, boom! a record breaking yakisoba coming up. Sauce, salty, pork, seafood… day after day with a clever rotation so he doesn't get bored… Be ye fat!

Once you get chunky fat like the pork you eat, Kaga Kouko will dump you no matter what!

Even trying to curse him with wounds, fatigue and desperation, his nineteen year old body was burning calories just fine. Was that it, was it my "gluttony" curse that made it a little spicier, so he exclaimed, "Eh!? Today's yakisoba turned out really good! How!? Yum!" Was it? It was just the other day…

Looking at the face of Banri in this way, now, under the sun, flushed by the excitement and the heat, I, by myself, feel anew the urge to curse him.

I'm going to become an avenging ghost for sure.

Directing all of what little remains of this spirit at it, I will curse Banri's summer. I will absolutely curse it. I will see it cursed.

Because I will cling to you like a shadow, harrassing you in many ways. Will I allow you to enjoy your fun summer any more? Sticking to you like a sweat soaked yukata, I will whisper my curses hotly in those ears of yours.

'This is the highest point… this is the peak: your summer is over now. It will be downhill from here, just meaningless things… boredom, nothing to do, idle days. Unable to do anything well, only troubles, bits and pieces of bad luck, one after another. Lonely, sad, unable to do anything about it, overwhelmingly empty, absolutely alone… that is the kind of summer you shall live. See ya, Tada Banri…'

At any rate, so begged your spirit. The body, well, it was dragged along.

In order to make the curse sink into him, I synchronized my movements with Banri's. Raising my hands as if they were his, stepping out together, even if I can't quite get in the mood… Hmm hoihoi! He～y! Even for spirits, in time of dancing you dance. Then imagining letting out a scream so loud it would give me a stroke, I pray! Make me an avenging spirit! Curse him! Tada Banri! Be over with, this summer! Let it end, still boring! Be submerged, soaked entirely in lonely isolation! Summer is THE BOSS! I am an Avenging Spirit! Here are SCREAMS! And after that EVEN MORE!

And, the visitors by the road, while watching my face shouting "Go for it!" urged me on with their fans. What the? …What, what the?

A strange thought passed through my mind. Of the people dancing here now, of the people watching the dancers, I wondered, how many of them are "real, living humans"?

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