Published at 26th of March 2019 2:24 am

Volume 5, Golden Time 5: Chapter 2

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

All things considered, this summer was definitely that.

To himself, he wondered if he hadn't been cursed… it was such an idiotic thing, but he had thought about just a little bit seriously.

Banri was standing by himself, sustaining himself against the dusty, rough handrail of the veranda, absentmindedly watching the road below.

It was getting on to seven in the evening, and though the sun had not yet set, the sky was dark blue with smelly, thick exhaust fumes. Covering the whole town, the sultry hot air spread around him without any wind, carrying to the ground the noise and dampness of a mid-summer's evening in Tokyo.

All of ten minutes ago there came a message from Kouko, "I'm coming up in a bit." Since then Banri had been like this, watching the base of the apartment building while waiting for his girlfriend to arrive.

Saying to himself 'she should be showing up any time now,' he rested his chin in his hand for moment. He realized too late that his skin was soaked with seat. When he tried to touch his nose, he found it greasy. The back of his neck, too, and all his hair was wet. Rats, he thought. If he was going to look like an idiot, then perhaps it would be a good idea if he took a quick shower to refresh himself. No matter what, even if he did nothing else, it was one day to take it easy.

Like this, the whole day long, Banri had had free time.

In truth, he should have met up with Kouko today before noon, and with nowhere else to go, they would probably have taken the train downtown. He wondered if by now they would have gone to eat dinner, tired of walking around.

There was a special summer vacation event with no entrance fee taking place today only at the botanical gardens, and Kouko seemed to want to go there. Banri had been eagerly setting up plans… searching on the internet for the best lunch shops nearby and checking for likely coffee shops to take their breaks in… between this and that, he had been looking forward to the two of them being together. Since all they did normally was lazily kill time in Banri's room or in the area nearby, he had said, "Let's go out on a date once in a while, like a couple."

Even so, since last night Kouko's relatives had suddenly arrived to pay them a visit, and she said the whole family had to give them a warm welcome. Kouko had apologized, saying "Sorry, the night will be okay so let's have dinner together, okay?"

If that's how it was, then it couldn't be helped, and Banri cheerfully adjusted today's schedule.

In the end, with it turning out he had nothing at all on his schedule until Kouko came, nor had he anything else to do, he found himself alone. He passed the whole day uselessly, a complete bum. Surfing the net, sleeping, waking, watching television, munching snacks, eating good-for-nothing leftovers for lunch and going to the convenience store without his wallet to cool off. Well, it might have been better to have done a bit of tidying and taking out the trash. But in the end, he just absentmindedly waited for his girlfriend to arrive.

"…I sure am a guy with time on his hands…"

If he'd thought back on it, what he found to do was a little pitiful: talking to himself. Even if nobody else pointed it out, he saw himself as a guy with time on his hands. He wondered if that was a good thing for a nineteen year old.

And it wasn't confined to just today. Even if the feeling that he was cursed with free time was just an idiotic suspicion, his schedule this summer, to Banri's point of view, had absolutely nothing in it.

Up to the day of the Awa Odori festival, it seemed to him his days had been filled up.

There were club practices, and after practice there were drinking parties. That's right, Hosshii-senpai and the fourth years were invited too, and would show up for us. They were all under so much stress they were losing weight, burnt out from job hunting, looking just like they'd been reduced to starving monks. Each of them was behaving suspiciously, and they made Banri and Kouko feel nervous.

Incidentally, as for the Omaken fourth years, none of them as yet had been extended tentative offers. They knew from the start, of course, that things would be getting difficult, and yet, the reality was nevertheless harsh. "Though I think a festival bum is needed in the Japanese economy, particularly now…" Hosshii-senpai murmured without energy.

At the end of the last period, they'd had a few more reports to do. Unable to avoid the language tests, they had studied unusually diligently. And after the tests were over, they had yet another drinking party they referred to as "The Launch."

Having finished with the above, there was that Awa Odori performance on the scorching street in Saitama. What with Kouko dying, and then the mysterious excitement forcibly bringing her back, one way or the other we finished the festival. Once it was all over, it was one really fun day. As for Banri, there was plenty of food and drink at the after-party, and it felt good, in the end he drank too much, ate too much, got thoroughly drunk, and he returned alone earlier than usual to his room.

It was clearly from around then.

From the very start, his summer schedule was "not much", but from what he could see, it had disappeared entirely.

The big thing should have been a three day, two night Omaken Club training camp, but the college seminar house they'd selected had suddenly closed down from equipment failures or somesuch, so as things were everything was cancelled.

They'd spoken with their seniors about rescheduling for another time, but they'd not heard back. Since there had probably been other clubs trying to use that seminar house and having the same painful experience, it appeared that college facilities would be difficult to obtain from here on out. As it was, it looked like there wouldn't be a training camp this summer.

In the meantime, he'd promised to go with Kouko to a fireworks display, but the pouring rain which had started a few days before put a stop to that. Kouko, having prepared a yukata for that day, and even made an appointment at the beauty parlor, was really disappointed.

There were still other fireworks out there, but Kouko seemed to have her heart set on this particular fireworks display. According to her, back when she was taking her entrance exams the crush on the buses heading towards the fireworks venue was so great you could die getting on the bus. She had sworn that the next year she would absolutely go there with somebody, as she was being jostled so hard her brains were being forced out her nose. When he tried to invite her to see a different fireworks display, Kouko's answer was a sigh. A sigh. Wasn't that such an indifferent answer, even between people who have barely started dating?

There were many little things already. Today's date was like that too. They had promised to go out and have some fun with Handsome and Two Dimensions, but between work problems and this and that, in the end there weren't any more spots available in the calendar. Though they'd signed up for a private movie showing, he'd forgotten to check his mailbox, and by the time he discovered the card notifying him they'd been selected the date had already passed.

Since this summer had truly been nothing but that sort of thing, Banri was just a breathing lump of meat.

With the long awaited summer vacation, he had the time so he could probably even get a part time job, but he didn't really want to return to the fight he'd had with Kouko. He'd gotten e-mails from Mother asking when he would come back home, but he really didn't feel like going home.

In any case he didn't even feel like he wanted to go home. The lump of meat in Tokyo would simply become a lump of meat in Shizuoka. More than anything, while finally setting it quietly at a distance, he was absolutely avoiding any accidental encounter with his past.

To Mother, he fired off an answer of "If I decide to, I'll call you back." If he went back, then Mother said he'd be helping Grandma with the tea crops, like he'd always done "before" every year, without getting paid… but he thought "really?" Without being paid: that part sounded suspicious to him. Even if it was true, the memories of how to help out as a tea farmer were entirely lost to him.

Nonetheless, from the periodic exams he'd had to receive in the hospital, he had had to return home at some times during summer vacation.

Twisting and singing to an appropriate tune "Can't do it now ♪ No free time♪" …in spite of the abundant free time he had living here by himself, at that moment, he saw a single taxi coming towards him down the street.

The taxi stopped right below the veranda where Banri was, in front of the apartment building. When he saw the person who presently got out, Banri cried "Ah!" in a small voice.

That figure, purse in hand, standing there in the road. Long hair curled and wound around, it was without a doubt Kouko. Her long hair reached out so far and fluffy he couldn't see her face yet, but Banri had never seen a girl who cared for herself so well.

Looking up towards him it was Kouko, of course. Even from a distance, however many times he saw her he still couldn't quite get used to it: her skin as if glowing softly white, her lovely carefully arranged, in some ways almost like a doll. She was nearly the very image of perfection. There was no way to describe it in words.

When Kouko noticed Banri on the veranda, her mouth opened in a happy exclamation, and she broke out into a smile. She waved up to him.

Waving back at her, once he was sure Kouko's head had gone inside the entrance, Banri returned into his room kicking off his sandals. Tearing off two Bioré powder sheets and putting them together, he wiped himself down roughly, with all the fury of the gods, from the back of his neck, his armpits, his stomach, his bottom and even between his toes. He puffed 8x4 all over his body like a stormcloud, and as the cloud of dust so thick it was ready to explode settled lightly, he did one last check!

Garbage can set! No bad smells! So many weeks worth of ‘TV Brothers' scattered about, but whatever, set! Toilet set! Bathroom set too! Pants zipped up! The mirror, more or less, check! Eyes! Teeth! Nose! My bangs are a little out of whack, but there isn't much I can do from this point forward!

Ready, set, okay!

Leaping from his doorway as he was, wearing sandals, he parked himself right in front of the elevator. Even as he thought he looked just like a dog, Banri waited excitedly in that spot for the arrival of the elevator bringing up Kouko.

Wondering how many seconds it would be before the door opened, suddenly Banri felt ashamed to look so much like a dog. Indeed, he'd gotten so excited just because Kouko was coming! It wasn't the feeling that nothing else had happened today! He was obviously a man with time on his hands! A boring guy! He hadn't fallen that far, had he?

Thinking that the thick aroma of the Bioré he'd wiped his body down with was giving the lie to his looking like a dog, Banri decided at once to make light of it.

The elevator arriving, then waiting a beat for it to open,

"Guess who!?"

Suddenly bending over like some mischievous fairy,

"It's meee!"

Baah! Making as it were the "Cancer Deathmask" around his face with both hands, or perhaps looking like a shallow imitation of the "Oyama Amusement Park" spokesperson, he tried to step out in front of her with the funniest face he could manage.

Still keeping up his hopes of hearing her sweet, surprised voice crying ‘Kyaa～! No way～! Cut it out, Banri～!', Banri was sent flying, knocked down by a single punch…

Flying for what seemed to be an eternity,

"…!?"

Banri saw the face of the person who came out of the elevator.

"…!!"

"I felt like I had to punch you and send you flying, even if with just one fist," she said.

NANA-sempai, without makeup, her other hand holding tight to a bundle of mail still, stepped right over Banri, who was knocked flat on his unsightly butt, taking no further notice of him. With long heavy strides, she went into her own apartment. She slammed shut her door so hard it looked like she was trying to break the frame. So hard it seemed like a sonic boom. And then with an incredible noise, she set her lock.

Practically in a daze, Banri said "I'm sorry…" It was his fault. He'd tried playing a joke on somebody without even making sure who the other person was, so it was his fault. NANA-senpai, with her low blood pressure… and from lack of food and sleep was always so terribly irritable. To have done "It's me!" to such a person without having prepared them… he was sorry. Holding his cheeks, tears flowing as if he were bleeding, he repeated it over and over again desperately.

But in that case, where in the world did Kouko go…?

"Heey…"

When he turned in surprise, supporting herself with one hand on the wall by the stairwell landing, hair fluffed up full volume, the wildly combed hair of an eccentric, …no, interesting, …no! It was the very lovely, virtually perfect form of his lover there.

"Mon amour…"

She rolled her ‘r's.

Her lips half-open, her eyes half-closed as if under a spell. Already she had one hand wickedly placed on her hip. Her long, slim, proud, beautiful legs were crossed.

She wore an adult black no-sleeve blouse made of sexy see-through chiffon, a black high-waisted miniskirt, and of course shiny black high-heeled sandals. Her wavy hair spilled gorgeously down to around her hips, making her look like a princess. Even her hair-band today was of simple black satin. The dark brown color of her glossy hair shone beautifully.

The latest style of Chanel chain-bag hung diagonally from her posed shoulder, she placed at her feet an eco-bag with a famous store's logo on it. For some reason, Kouko was breathing heavily, her shoulders heaving up and down. But looking strangely happy,

"Were you surprised? You were, weren't you? Yes, I'm a surprising woman!"

Kouko showed him a perfect smile, both ends of her glossy wine-red lips upturned prettily. She proudly kept up her model-like pose before him, as it were beams of blinding light coming from her.

"You, you came up the steps…? In those shoes…?"

"I did? I dashed up!"

"Wh, why…?"

"Because this trick occurred to me! By chance I saw NANA-senpai checking her mailbox, and it came to me! That's right, I said to myself, let's give Banri a surprise! Ufu! You were surprised, weren't you? Weren't you!? That! Is The! Spice of Love!"

She was even saying it to a rhythm.

"Trick or not… surprised or not… because of that I ended up like this…?"

"It's all~ okay!"

Aha! Kouko, showing her white teeth while shrugging her shoulders like a foreigner, clicked her nine centimeter heels as she stepped up to Banri, who was still sitting on the floor.

"You said its okay, like it was the right thing to do…"

"I wasn't saying it was the right thing to do. I have good reasons, because now I'm going to make you some curry yakisoba!"

"Eh!?"

"You must have forgotten it all from the love tap NANA-senpai gave you! Didn't I promise to make it for you?"

Setting aside whether was a ‘love tap' from NANA-senpai or not,

"Are you kidding!? You were serious about that!? Hooray! Let's do this! I'm really glad!"

Banri was back on his feet really quickly. Kouko slung the tightly fastened ecobag from her shoulder and lending a hand to the unsteadily standing Banri,

"I'm so happy you're glad!"

In an excessively good mood, she declaimed loudly, as if she were an evil queen. And then,

"I've bought all the right things, and my preparations are already perfect! You may now anticipate!"

His smile reached all the way to his toes. Today's feeling of it being a slow nothing-to-do day was blown away in a single breath. If Banri were a dog, he thought, he'd be standing up begging and his tail would be wagging so fast it would lift him into the air like a helicopter.

Banri, do you like yakisoba? Me, I can make curry yakisoba! It isn't curry plus yakisoba, but rather curry-flavored yakisoba. It's quite delicious. Shall we make it the next time we eat at your place?

…She was undoubtedly remembering a similar conversation on some prior date. But he wasn't thinking about that today. With the sudden change of schedule, Kouko must have been too busy during the middle day. He thought it was more than anything an ordinary verbal promise. Banri probably forgot, somehow, part of their vast river of conversation.

"I can't believe you forgot."

As for Kouko, her long, wavy hair was gathered and twisted easily into a bun, as if by magic, by a single hair clip,

"I'm making good on my promise!"

She put on the apron she'd brought and looked back at him.

"Whoooaa～…!"

He couldn't help but let loose a roar like a rumble from the ground. He had a date for Kaga Kouko's home cooking.

Her apron, a very simple one tie-died in dark blue and brown, looked good against her skin, snow white though it was summer, and suited her surprisingly well. Today she's removed her watch and rings entirely, and didn't even have nails. Her fingernails were cut plain and short, and yet were still a pretty cherry-blossom pink.

Whether she noticed Banri's fascinated gaze or not, Kouko was smiling, mumbling slightly embarrassed, "apron…", and as if to be seen by Banri spread both her hands wide. Of course, she didn't say anything dumb like "Look, no strings!"

"Great! That's great! Seriously great! It suits you! It suits you to a tee! It looks incredible on you!"

With those thoughts, Banri's excitement skyrocketed. Thinking 'I'm going to appreciate this from every angle,' he began to shift around, keeping a low profile, Spiderman style. Good from the right! Good from the left! Good from the front! And good crosswise too! Good from every direction! That was his conclusion.

Though she was wearing only a smattering of her usual expensive, perfect makeup, she was the best, and wasn't such as that okay now and then? Wasn't she incredible? And when he thought being able to look her over like this was a 'boyfriend's privilege', didn't that make it all the better? The super express train of a man's heart was a non-stop service from the station of 'having that couple feeling' to the exploding dream of marriage.

Banri squirmed around for a while, enjoying himself appreciating her, then knelt down once more on his cushion. And then, not even caring if the cells of his palms died, he applauded her with all his might. Good! The best! Incredibly fine! Doing that over and over, of course, made Kouko bashful.

"Cut it out, you're exaggerating! Are you're teasing me?"

Even seeing her start to blush and squirm in embarrassment, that is once more the best! Move forward, move forward express train, the signal is turning green! Get moving!

"Teasing you? No way! Well, seriously, there's no way I could do that! Being able to see you in an apron, and being able to receive your home cooking, any curse I might have had has already been lifted from me! That really, really, really looks good on you!"

"Eehh… really? Is it really…? This apron is that good?"

"Yep! It's incredibly good! Wow, do you always wear that when you cook at home!?"

"Eh… ye, yes! We, well… yes… yes I do! Seems like… I do."

"Whoa, is that so!? You're even more, incredibly girlish! Wow, you got me really excited before I knew it! As one would expect of you, Kouko, the unpredictable woman! To think that you cooked in your home looking like that, with an apron on! I love it, love it!"

"…Ah, aha… ehe…"

"Well then! What should I do!? I'll help with anything!"

"Hey…"

"'Hey' what? I can't just sit here while you're the only one doing this and that. I mean, let's do this together. For me, making my cooking turn out good is a matter of practicing, now. Feels like, 'Young man, look to your cooking.'"

With an excess of energy, Banri stood. Floating in his excitement, he managed to stick his head inside the refrigerator.

"Oh, that's right, we have a little bit of veggies too. If they're okay to use, I'd like to use them. Onions, bean sprouts, and about a half bunch of carrots. Shall we make something soup-like, like Miso soup or something? How about salad?"

"…"

Kouko, for some reason having gone quiet, was staring at the standing Banri's face with a complicated look on her face. Her mouth was shaped into something like a smile, but in those eyes was a distinct shade of embarrassment and of impatience. Then, seeing something off to her side, his breath caught.

"Wha, what? What'd you do? I mean, what did you go and buy?"

In that moment, Kouko having suddenly frozen in place, he tried to open the ecobag with a supermarket logo that she'd brought with her, so that he might peek inside.

"…Whoooaah!?"

Whump! A dark shadow suddenly ran into him, a torpedo fired at him… no, it was Kouko's head.

Kouko, as voiceless as a bull, had, by the incredible force of her charge, done an excellent head slide into the space between Banri and the bag.

Blown away helplessly by what was left of her momentum, Banri sat there on the floor, shoved away and at a loss for words. Like the mermaid seated in a shell, he half-sat, sustained by one hand, looking around at everything blankly. Dazed, he couldn't help but sit there with his mouth half open. Tossed through the air twice in one day… that was quite enough physical energy inflicted on his body.

Directly in his line of sight, Kouko, as Kouko,

"…You, can't see this…!"

He fell back rolling, of course.

Shielding the eco-bag with her arms as if it were her very own child, she faced downwards, entirely collapsed, desperately shaking her head. Their eyes meeting, what was that nervous laugh? It was rather late to be hiding something with a faked laugh. Or rather, suddenly there was a slow ooze of grease on her face. Something gleamed suspiciously.

"Ho, honestly, what's wrong…!? What have I done!?"

Looking like a player who had slid head-first into home base as hard as he could, and was leaning against the catcher (Banri) while awaiting the umpire's call,

"I don't mind! I mean!"

Kouko's panties flashed brilliantly. Noticing her rear, even Banri couldn't help but look a second time in amazement. At his look, Kouko realized too, and slapped the back hem of her skirt down over her exposed white lace panties, her hand moving as if it were a sword.

"…You can't help me!"

She cried aloud.

While she pulled back the hair which had spilled lightly to her nose, she embraced the bag and arose. Slowly rising, putting some distance between herself and Banri,

"Because I'm the type who wants to concentrate of their cooking! I want to make it for you! I want it to be just me, to the very end! That's just the way a girl feels! So please! Sit down! Where you are! Okay!? Understood!? Understood, right!? Because I'd like you to understand!"

With what had been said up to now by the awful look on her face, gleaming from facial sweat and oils suddenly blown about, he had no choice but to nod. Without the will to issue a reply, and having been told to keep quiet, Banri sat down formally in front of the television, where Kouko had indicated.

"Phew… I'm glad I brought this after all…!"

But when he saw the black thing that Kouko pulled out of her Chanel bag,

"No no no, hey hey hey…!"

As you might expect, seated still, he shrank back. It was an eye-mask with the word "sleep" written on it with metal rhinestones.

"Just do as you're told!"

"No way! Why do you have to go this far!?"

"Listen to what I'm saying! Here, don't take this off until I'm done with what I'm doing, okay!?"

"Well, it is seriously strange!? Why is it like this!? Is it scary!?"

Without saying one thing nor the other, she placed the mask over his eyes and pressed down firmly on his hands before they could move to remove it.

"It's no such thing! Now, your hands in here! If you pull them out, game's over! No matter what!"

And with that, she shoved both his hands snugly into his back pockets. And then suddenly Kouko, in a low voice,

"…Banri, you know about that guy?"

She whispered menacingly.

"Wha, what guy!?"

"In a poor snowbound village two people, a certain middle-aged man and his mother lived in an ecologically sustainable fashion… His name had to be… Yo, Yoha? …Yohya…? Umm, anyway, it was a story about an man like that."

"What man!?"

"He was Japanese. You know, that man, somehow…! He committed sexual relations with a huge bird!"

"Committed… that's…"

"But now, that wasn't what mattered. Such things weren't important, the sad truth is the man was a Peeping Tom."

"…The old man was peeking…!?"

"Yes, he was. He was peeking. The bird was like this, on the other side of the door, chirping and acting strangely. The man could not contain his curiosity, and in the end he committed the crime. Because of that, his strange but happy life together with the bird came to an end."

"…Are you, perhaps, telling me the story of the Crane Wife…? About 'peeking'?"

"…Simply put, yes. Yes I am. It's just like that. In short, umm, in a word,"

"You're telling me to not watch you while you're cooking…?"

"Yes!"

Wow, what an awful storyteller…

From vaguely embraced feeling before, now it stood out clearly with the light lost behind his eyelids. …No wait, that's wrong. That's not it. He had to ask her why she was behaving strangely before she gave that awkward story.

I just want to know the reason why we went from "I'll cook for you!" to taking a direct hit from a torpedo, to this kneeling eyemask play. I mean, honestly, I want to stop playing like this.

"Anyway, being watched really makes me nervous! So please, won't you? Don't take it off until I'm done. Could you sit still there for me? Please, please, pleeease!"

Kouko's pleas were on the edge of desperation. Without being able to see, it was as if the hands together and kneeling Kouko's expression were being projected on his mind. Kouko was saying "please please please please" quickly, like a fast prayer repeated over and over again.

Unable to do anything else, though what had been said up to now was of uncertain meaning,

"…Understood. If you insist…"

"I'm glad you understand me! Absolutely! It's a deal! If you unfasten that and peek, you will be caught red handed! And just as the huge bird remembered the heated days she stubbornly slept with the old man, she spread her wings and to the far away northern lands, s'envoler…"

"You already said that…"

"Yes, now turn away. You're not allowed to move, okay!?"

Made to turn his back to the kitchen, Banri resumed kneeling precisely on the cushion.

There were signs of Kouko softly moving away, and finally, the sound of a heavy thump. He figured it was probably the bag he'd tried to look into and gotten torpedoed for doing so, being set next to the sink.

But, he'd been told to not look, and not move. He'd been told to sit as he was until she'd finished cooking, even.

Banri without a word, his body unmoving, tried as hard as he could to only move his face.

He thought, "I want to watch the television at least." From the position he was in, if he could shift the eye mask just a little, he'd be able to watch the television that had been left on. But if she saw him wrinkling the base of his nose and looking sidelong, "she's gonna get very, very mad!" he thought, and with the look a great demon trembling with fear, Banri tried for some time.

Then the eyemask slid up a little bit, and he could see downwards. All right, he thought. He couldn't see where Kouko was cooking, so if it was only this much he'd probably be forgiven. Opening and closing his mouth several times, he slid the eyemask up more and more, not using his hands, but only his facial muscles. He secured his field of vision.

What happened then was truly unexpected. Banri, who was honestly seated with his back to the kitchen, was placed before a full length mirror, and from the corner of the eyemask, saw Kouko from directly behind as she washed her hands in the sink.

Oh? I've seen her… he thought, but it was by chance, so it can't be helped.

Kouko, completely unaware she was being watched by Banri,

"Yeah, I'll do my best! I'll make some delicious Curry Yakisoba!"

She was in high spirits, the bun her hair was done up in swinging back and forth behind her head. The apron ribbon was tied behind her back in a pretty butterfly style. Banri accepted this chance with gratitude, and entered into a mode of quiet appreciation.

From the very start, it was a fundamentally impossible conversation. Even though his girlfriend was finally cooking food for him, there was no man in the world who could obediently keep his mouth shut and not watch. If there were, that guy would be beyond stoic in steering his ship, and beyond a doubt super abnormal.

"The carving knife, umm… this is it, right. In the collander, on the chopping board…"

Pulling out cookware in the small kitchen space that Banri had worked hard to put in order, Kouko arranged it along the edge of the sink. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar, ultra-narrow kitchen, or perhaps Kouko hands were awkward. But he couldn't tell her to be more careful.

"Umm… be careful so you don't cut your hands…"

He said in such a way as to show that he couldn't see anything.

"It's okay! The way I'm doing things today is be perfect!"

Kouko vigorously filled the sink with tap water.

"Well now, let's wash the vegetables!"

But it didn't look like she was pulling out vegetables. Not from the eco-bag, nor from the refrigerator. The water simply poured idly, wetting the empty collander basket.

"…?"

He wondered what in the world she was doing.

Unable to understand, without thinking about it, Banri moved the eye mask a little with his finger. Even with his field of vision wider, the mystery of Kouko's cryptic motions remained unresolved. Of course, Kouko, unaware that Banri was watching her,

"Well then, let's cut the vegetables and the meat!"

Suddenly, she turned off the water. Drawing the cutting board near to her, she assumed a posture from a textbook. Taking Banri's kitchen knife in her right hand,

"Hmm hmm ♪ Run run ♪ Ho-hoi, hey ♪"

Humming mixed with a tap tap tap tap tap… with a beautiful rhythm she started showing off her skill. But, what was she showing off?

She was just waving it.

Nothing on the cutting board, she was simply taking up a rhythm with the kitchen knife.

Hold on a second.

…Isn't that 'air' cooking!?

"…"

Realizing that, Banri without thinking tried to tear off the eye-mask and stand up. Are you a fool!? If he were to give that carefree back of your head a tsukkomi chop, nobody else here would know. …So he was thinking.

That right hand, however, he was able to stop by force of will. In order that it not be noticed again, he stuffed it into his back pocket.

Having come this far, don't try to look, he told himself. He had a feeling what the result would be, and he was nearly scared of it, but he wanted to see how Kouko's air cooking would turn out.

From the corner of the eye mask, Banri continued watching that sad piece of work without saying anything as she continued her air cooking.

Well, wherever on the horizon you are flapping your wings toward, won't you show me where you are headed, Kaga Kouko…!?

"Okay now, the meat and vegetables are ready to cook now!"

Crash, placing the fry-pan on the burner, splashing in some actual salad oil… ah, so much, so much… she lit the flame. Bending over, she examined the flame's intensity carefully. She twisted the knob a bit to fine tune it. Before long the oil heated up and Kouko reached her hand into the mysterious eco-bag.

Clumsily holding her long cooking chopsticks sideways in her mouth, she carefully pulled out with her hands, so as to make no noise, a rather large tupperware, or something of that sort. Opening the lid with a pop, she tossed the contents into the fry-pan. Just like that.

To Banri's eyes, that, of course, looked like curry yakisoba, already made and chilled. Which is to say, it absolutely was.

"Well now, let's throw in the noodles! I'll season them too, and finish them off quickly like I always do!"

"…"

Already, all was in vain. Kneeling, his hands behind his back, with his half-slipped-off eye mask really looking the pervert, dejected, Banri hung his head. Drifting past his nose, the aroma of indeed delicious smelling curry powder, the smell of the rich sauce, the smell of pork grease, the home-made cooking style of his lovely girlfriend, even the live coverage of the clumsy hoax, just about everything up to now was entirely in vain.

Kouko vigorously stirred the sizzling yakisoba with her long chopsticks. To look at her, she gave off the impression that it was ordinary, about what any girl of these years, raised at home, might do. If he kept quiet, she would probably finish reheating it all just fine, and saying "It's done!" would bring it over and serve it to him on a plate.

After that, he had several options to choose from.

First option. Acting as he'd noticed nothing, saying "Ah, delicious! Thank you for the home cooking!"

Option two. While flashing a slightly meaningful grin, saying "It tastes just like ready made."

Option three. Stand up at once, slap her on the shoulder and say "Hey, Kaga! I saw it all!" …No, that won't do. Just as in 'The Crane Wife,' because he been caught red handed peeking, the great bird would fly away entirely and it would all come to nothing. He shouldn't follow Yohyo's heart any further. Then,

"Here we go, I was able to make it at once! Ufu, I can hardly wait…"

Kouko turned his way with a smile. Through the mirror their gazes suddenly met.

Oh, Banri gasped. Not good. For her part, Kouko, still in the pose of looking back,

"Eep…!"

She gave a shrill cry, and in an instant her eyes were open really wide. She looked like her knees would give way. Dropping her long chopsticks, she grabbed them back from danger. Putting her hands on the stove, steadying herself, Kouko looked back at Banri, her face stiffening.

The slid-down eyemask could not be hidden. Banri couldn't say anything. Kouko, of course, could not either. As it was, the moment was frozen, time having stopped briefly in the Tada residence.

After a little bit,

"Ko…Kouko…!"

Banri finally managed to squeeze out his voice.

"…"

"…It's going to burn…!"

"…"

"…I mean it… the fry-pan! It's burning, burning…!"

Her joints creaking stiffly, Kouko finally turned back towards the fry-pan. She stirred the yakisoba once more with her long chopsticks, then suddenly turned off the flame and turned around again. Her smile looked like she'd copied it from somewhere and pasted it on.

"Were you watching?"

She sidled up to Banri. How about that gleaming, shining face? From that manufactured smile, it looked like any time now parts would be falling away. What in the world could he say? What in the world could he do about the mood here?

"…You've got it wrong. There's a misunderstanding. This isn't what you think."

As she drew closer to him, talking like she was giving him an excuse for sneaking behind his back, shaking her head and shuffling feet, there was already nothing he could say in return, no sort of words at all.

"…It was, my best… gag, that's what it was! Hey, were you surprised…!? You were surprised, weren't you!? Laugh! Laugh Banri! Let's see you laugh! Because, because this, because,"

Chanting "This is! The spice! Of love too!", …her face deathly pale and gleaming, she used that particular rhythm for the second time today.

Aha… ahaha… ahahahaha… like from a broken bag full of laughter, Banri's worries burst out.

* * *

Fortunately, the curry yakisoba wasn't burnt, and was truly delicious. It was a little bit greasy and somewhat strongly flavored, but it was just perfect for Banri's tastes, and there was plenty for the bottomless stomach of the 19-year old young man.

It was too bad that it wasn't made by Kouko, but rather was something made for her by the maid in Kouko's house.

"I'm really sorry about today…"

Too all appearances dejected and hanging her head, Kouko murmured at him between sighs. How many times had she said she was sorry today? With this, today she was nothing but apologies, rubbing the side of her head against the top of Banri's shoulder. That way of acting was adorable, cat-like. Banri pressed his head against that head and inhaled the sweet flowery scent of Kouko's hair to his heart's content. A faint smell of curry yakisoba clung to her.

The two of them were on the way home, a little after nine in the evening.

Banri and Kouko walked slowly, hand in hand, down a quiet residential back street, not another soul in sight.

"It's okay, it's okay. Completely. It was fascinating, so…"

When he moved away from Kouko and examined the expression on her face, Kouko's white cheeks puffed out a little. And doing so, her lips came together and she frowned deeply.

"At first, I really did intend to make it myself. I went out and bought the ingredients as I should, and I meant to cook it properly. …I mean…"

Her voice was that of a spoiled child.

"No way! I never thought you would see through me. I caught you red handed peeking at me! I mean, even though I told you so much. Why would that be?"

The intense look she gave him was absurd to the extreme.

Banri, having laughed without thinking,

"Well, I guess I got caught. As usual. It was just too hard. And with that I wondered just what sort of thing you were up to."

With that, Kouko pouted even more sullenly. Her lips in a frown like that of a child, she suddenly stuck out her nose.

Because Banri behaved treacherously in peeking at her, the air-cooking project had sadly failed, but even so, Kouko had stopped feeling she would 'fly away' from him. The two of them at the little table ate all of what looked like three serving of curry yakisoba while talking about this and that. Drinking tea while chatting about trivial matters, the time passed by bit by bit and they came to now.

Kouko's hand was being tightly held by Banri once more. Her slender fingers squeezed tightly back. Just now, though she should have been pouting, as soon as their eyes met a little, Kouko broke out in a big smile. She seemed even younger than when they first met, her guard down, smiling a plain smile. The outer corners of Kouko's eyes were deeply, softly lowered this time, and Banri understood at once the difference from when she forced a smile.

The half-hearted wind of the summer's evening only seemed to be dispersing the heat a little. Avoiding the shortest route to the station because even at this hour there were a lot of people on it, the two of them always chose this quiet little detour.

"You know, Banri."

At the formal tone of her voice and her pulling his hand towards her, he looked over towards Kouko.

"Hm? What's up?"

"…I told you once, but I really can make it by myself."

"I know."

"Really? That isn't a lie, is it? Really, really, the truth. Just that much."

"Yes, I believe you, I believe you… yeah, seriously! I believe you from the bottom of my heart!"

His hand being pulled on still, his face being drawn close as if to look deep into his eyes, Banri automatically laughed as he escaped by standing straight.

Not long before, according to what he heard from her while they were eating curry yakisoba, Kouko, in contrast to the cursed, time-on-his-hands Banri, had been a very busy person.

By the time she had finished a long meal together with family and kin, had gone shopping for the ingredients for curry yakisoba and got home, it was already past four in the afternoon. From there, once she thought of doing a cooking demonstration before Banri, she got horribly nervous, and Kouko seemed to have tried doing a practice run.

But her hands shook. Her armpits sweated. When their maid saw from the side that Kouko couldn't even hold the kitchen knife straight, she said, "You're such a dunce! What do you want to do!? Give me that for a bit!" and had starting doing it for her.

"At that point, I just thought 'Ah, it's already impossible.' I'm no good at this."

As Kouko walked down the night street, her heels clacking as she went, she toyed a little with Banri's fingers tightly clasped in her hand, and spoke low as if making fun of herself. When she turned, the upturned eyelashes cast a pretty shadow on her profile.

"When I got to thinking about what I should do, I got so nervous, and when I realized it was already close to six o'clock, I hadn't redone my makeup, and I hadn't changed my clothes either. And so, quite unintentionally, I wound up having it made for me. The apron, too, was actually just lent to me at the same time our maid did the work. …Honestly, I should have said something from the start, but somehow I couldn't say it. When you saw the apron you got really excited."

"Yes, I was. Yes, of course I was excited too. It was such a cute apron, I thought I wanted to put it on and smell smell it's fragrance too. Incidentally, that 'maid' of yours…"

"Fifties"

"Fifties…?"

"Second half."

"Oohh…"

Well, not that it made much difference even if it were the first half, but even so this pure young man's heart was a little disappointed.

"She's a person who comes every day to follow up on the household chores. She's somebody my father met long ago, back when he was working overseas."

"…Should I have gotten so excited just because you put on an attractive older lady's apron…? I thought that surely, with something like this, that I was sensing some strangely heavy, rich pheromone. Yeah, that has the aura of a sixty-something lady, doesn't it…?"

Yes, it does, Kouko nodded.

"But boy am I slow. Your 'maid' would have an aura like 'O-jou-sama~, it's time for tea~!', wouldn't she?"

"I mean, she's not Japanese. It's like she never cared to learn to speak politely. Shizuka gets called 'Boy!' And I'm basically 'hey you!'"

"…We, well, the curry yakisoba was delicious, you know. Awesome."

"She's quite skilled, and not a bad person. I mean, to be honest, I notice today's yakisoba was better than what I normally make.

"So it turned out. Another time, if you feel like it by all means. That time, without the air, in reality if you please. I'll be looking forward to it."

"…That level being expected of me is troubling… ah, how about once I've taken a formal class in cooking?"

"You don't have to go that far. Ordinary is good, without the 'air' part."

"It can't just be ordinary! I want you to think of me as 'The one who does it! Her girl-power is really up there!"

Matching Kouko's high heels, Banri walked as slowly as he could. That way was better. If she was going to be slow, then he would be too. Because he wanted to walk together as a couple for a little while longer.

"I mean, I wonder if we really should do that. We'll spend this summer vacation in the cooking tiger's den, deep in hell's special training."

Trying to imagine Kouko undergoing special training, Banri snorted involuntarily. Being hung upside down from a cliff, the salt spray lashing her like a whip while she beat egg whites and prepared a salad? That was quite an image.

"What's that, the cooking tiger's den?"

"…I mean, to do such a thing, I wonder if you'd have to not go on your family's summer trip…"

Kouko glanced at the expression on Banri's face, keeping her gaze at a fixed height. When Banri looked back at her face, Kouko looked away a little bit awkwardly and pretended to look up at the moths around the streetlight.

It seems that every year when summer rolls around, the entire Kaga household goes off on a long, elegant vacation. That was their custom since before Kouko was born, since her father and mother had joined their households. This year it was to Barcelona.

However, since shortly before they had that conversation, every time the topic came up Kouko would say, "But, we might not go" or "I wonder if I might stay here."

"Once again back to that?"

He purposely made his voice sound a little shocked.

"It's the long awaited family vacation. I don't think you can not go. What, is the Kaga family tradition going to be broken because of me? Barcelona is nice. Go ahead!"

"But Banri…"

"If it's just me, I'll be fine."

"But what about me?"

"I said don't worry about me at all."

He wondered how many times they'd had this conversation. So many times he couldn't remember.

According to Kouko, even though she this and that as if she were noisily holding him back, severely restricting what Banri could do and stealing away his freedom, he had enough freedom to do as he pleased, to spend their precious time together, to spend the summer never apart,

"It can't be done after all!"

…That's what it looked like.

"It's not that impossible. Anyhow, it'll just turn into a boring summer if you just hang around with me wasting time. So go ahead and go. Go like a celebrity and have a wonderful vacation."

Once more in the mood to pout, her lower lip sticking out self-centeredly, Kouko murmured softly, "Though I don't want them to make me…" The streetlights cast their shadows on the asphalt, still warm from the heat of the day.

That, if it turned out to be her real reason, then Banri thought he would like to pass the whole summer with Kouko too.

Gloomy as he was, he wanted to stick to her like glue, follow her, see her every day and date her. He wanted to be together with her. Even without money, and under a curse, Banri could be happy so long as he could be with Kouko.

But, even if he was fine with that himself, he thought it too pitiful that that would be all there was to Kouko's summer. He had no confidence at all that keeping Kouko back here, she would have more fun than she would at Barcelona.

Because, of course, the matters of the past few days, to work, or not to work, to take her to the beach, and so on… the one case, the subtly untouchable event awaiting them was to blame for the space still separating them.

Anyhow, since then Kouko seemed to have adopted the idea of not wanting to be a financial burden on Banri as a basic principle of her behavior. And so, without saying where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do, she searched for and invited him on what seemed to be bargain dates. Otherwise, they'd just be hanging around and doing nothing in Banri's room, telling funny stories about air-cooking and such. Though for the one and only such Kouko, who had said "I want to make summer memories no matter what!" the fireworks display had been called off.

Therefore, for these two, you couldn't even say it was summer. There weren't any events for a young couple.

No beach. No pool. No trips. And incidentally, of course, she didn't go to Paris. …Not even a kiss. Getting along like this, from an outsider's perspective, was not at all a lovey-dovey state of affairs.

Or rather, even when the two of them were secluded in the room for the evening, to tell the truth, they didn't even hold hands. Each seated on their own selected and sacred cushions, they sat a certain distance apart. Indeed, they looked more like a couple when they walked like this outside. Because what was permitted in public places was clearly delineated, they could touch without pressure.

So. Pressure.

Banri thought, 'such is the space between us.'

Eh, you want to do like that? Eh, isn't that so? Eh? Eh? Ah, sorry, eh, sorry, that, that… both of them with a strangely nervous air trying to read each other, each of them noticing those expressions, with faces like that, desperately trying to read the atmosphere between them. Doing that over and over again. Anyway, it wasn't natural.

If they touched each other behind closed doors, they were enveloped by an awkward atmosphere. That atmosphere was scary, and perhaps Kouko was the same as he, avoiding deliberate contact where nobody could see them.

That too was due to what happened the other day, of course.

That night, seemingly on the verge of going to Paris, Banri had pulled away from Kouko.

He was convinced that doing so was not a mistake, but he could imagine it might have been more than a little embarrassing to Kouko. Banri thought that Kouko would probably not issue such an assertive invitation to go to Paris again.

And then there was himself… when he got to the point of thinking they might do such things, he remembered the events of the other day related to it. And when he started remembering, then bit by bit, like tugging on a potato vine, he remembered even such things as he shouldn't have.

Little pieces dancing in the wind, the torn up photo.

The smiling person photographed there.

That first time going into town, the riverbank under the blazing sun, everything sparkling, the light forming halos, the reflections… he should have sworn to never remember it again,

"…"

Banri breathed out softly and closed one eye tightly. So that Kouko next to him wouldn't notice, he opened that eye.

So it was. He should have sworn. Don't remember. Don't remember.

Don't remember, he said.

"It's impossible after all. Even if it's dull, I'm fine even if it's boring. I'm fine, even if all we can do is spend time together getting along. …Even if we that's all we have."

Kouko still seemed to be unhappy, her lips set in a tight line.

Gazing at that face, something suddenly rose in Banri's chest, filling his throat. She was saying such things to him on her own.

He couldn't say things like this. Even if it's boring, it's okay for it to be boring. If true, he wanted, with his own hands, to take more care for Kouko, to make her happy, to make it so she could enjoy this summer. If he could not do that, he would understand just what he could not do and he would have to leave that alone. Absolutely.

Anyway, he wanted, some way or another, to make the perfect memories of this summer, the memories of this summer as a college freshman, together with those of that person by his side, Kaga Kouko, to be "here" from now on, and continuing long, long into life. Banri felt so now strongly. So he wanted them to be.

He simply didn't know how to go about it.

Having seen Kouko off at the station's ticket gate and once more alone, Banri returned to his room. Taking off his sandals and turning on the light, he threw his keys and phone on the table.

Inside his room, the air was filled with the intense, rich smell of curry yakisoba. Of course, since the unwashed frying pan and cooking utensils were still in the sink, and in the middle of cooking, Kouko had forgotten to run the ventilation fan. He opened the window all the way, and not caring to defend himself from an invasion of mosquitos, he even took out the window screen. Only a little breeze passed through, but it wasn't even enough to ruffle a thin page. For a while it felt as if he were being soaked in the smell.

He could hear some soft sounds from outside. The sound of the wind, and the sounds of a car passing by below. It would fade away, and then there would be another vehicle.

Because of that, it felt like the room's quietness was emphasized all the more. For some reason, Banri jumped up and turned on the television. He chose the noisiest variety show he could and raised the volume.

Next to the cushion that Banri normally used, over by the corner of the table, was a rose-patterned cushion with deep red ribbons attached to its four corners, sitting as if it were taking Kouko's place. Noticing something fallen next to it, he picked it up. It was the ‘Sleep' eyemask. They'd forgotten it.

For some reason, Banri stood in the middle of the room, frozen there, playing with the eyemask, spinning it around with his fingertips.

Silence… Isolation… in this space. He realized that such sound effects were truly written, boldly, in mid-air… such a manga-head he was.

With the absence of Kouko, the one room had quickly fading traces, the echoes of their fun up to not long ago, so that it felt even lonelier than when there was simply nothing there at all. The times when it was only blank tedium were still okay. Silent and lying there, when he turned into a lump of meat, not feeling anything at all, time passed for him on its own.

And yet this loneliness stimulated Banri's heart, speeding it up. Perhaps things were the same in there, but when he was immersed in it, he was conscious of something having been inserted into his life and quietly flowing through him.

It was clearly the air. It was clearly the wind. A lonesome atmosphere. He'd felt it leaving.

Using the eye-mask as if it were a hair band to lift his bangs, which were getting in the way, Banri turned the television volume yet louder. Rolling up his sleeves and facing the kitchen, he decided to finish up with the cleaning before he gave himself up entirely to laziness.

Two white porcelain plates, a set of two forks. The two glasses they drank uulong tea from. The teapot they'd used to make after-dinner tea, and two mugs. Saucers for what, those red pickled ginger things? And after that the fry-pan and the chopsticks used for cooking.

Adding some detergent to a sponge while saving water in a dishpan placed in the sink, Banri looked own at two people's worth of dishes, and let out a long sigh. Phew… he hung his head.

Kouko would be going to Barcelona next month. Wasn't it two or three weeks she said? …He wondered, do rich people even go on packaged tours? Banri the commoner thought 'There's quite a difference between 14 and 21 days.'

Come to think of it, this was the first time since they'd started going out together that he would spend so much time separated from Kouko, not seeing her. Even including the time before they dated, back when she was stalking Mitsuo.

…He wondered just awfully lonely he would get.

As he started to imagine, his hands, which had started to scrub a plate, automatically stopped. From inside the television, the actors, sounding like they were having fun, broke out laughing like machine guns, their Kansai accents took flight like more and more mosquitos through the window. You've got to be kidding! Are you an idiot!? …Absentmindedly looking back, it seemed like he was about to talk to the television. Really, he wondered why he had to be so lonely. Was he an idiot?

Up to now, he'd always been fine with being alone. Instead, wanting to be alone, wanting to escape from the bonds of human fellowship, he even chose to leave home. Until he knew Kouko, he had never shuddered with loneliness upon finding himself alone. And yet, now he was a mess like this.

Simply imagining her not being there for a few days was enough to make him feel down.

Since they'd started dating, she had clung to him so much that they were labeled as "Abnormal!" to where it was oppressive, but he wondered if he had grown used to be relied upon. He had been drowning in demon e-mail and the appearances of being stalked, but now he'd gotten to where he could hardly live decently without it, himself.

(What do you mean, going off to Barcelona and leaving me alone like this!)

(Will you take responsibility for having left me like this!?)

…To have thought such things even halfway seriously, he wondered if he'd turned into a little boy.

No, not allowed. He couldn't. Wrong, he just couldn't. Even thinking it was sinful. Banri returned once more to washing the dishes, shaking his head like a wet dog. He threw off such thinking entirely.

Don't go off on family trips, be together with me all the time! Why? Because I'm lonely! How can you just go and say it? Without money nor experience in messing around, he had none of the ways of showing a girl a good time, but that was no excuse for saying such things.

So in reality, Banri was thinking he wanted Kouko to go and have fun on a proper trip. He restrained himself, as he did not want to do something like pass a dull summer together.

He hoped she would understand his feelings properly, but in any case, that was for Kouko to do. Strangely awkward, her imagination running wild, she was truly capable of cancelling their trip for Banri's sake.

He had to keep telling her any number of times, clearly, "Go! Have fun!" …Banri thought seriously as he breathed in the smell of dish soap.

As he thought, he came to a realization.

As far as Kouko was concerned, being together with him was "boredom," and the time separated from him was "fun" time. As far as he was concerned, being with Kouko was "fun" time, and the rest "boredom". Everybody wants to have a good time. Ordinarily. On the other hand, it was a miracle that Kouko was there, truly wanting to be with him. Or rather,

(Won't I… before long, be unable to complain even though I will probably be cast aide…?) He dropped a plate, a clatter rising from the dishpan.

On the one hand Kouko's boredom, on the other himself, craving to have fun. If Kouko did not exist, he wouldn't be able to endure being alone like this. Someday, Kouko would realize her boredom, and would choose to separate from Banri.

If that happened, this loneliness, for an eternity…

"Oh, ooohhh, oh…"

A shiver went through him from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. It pierced him through. The wind whispered. Bad. Real bad.

It wasn't really a case where he was saying foolish things like "Leave me alone~" or "This is my problem~". Kouko would be going off to a pleasant vacation in Barcelona and having a fun vacation. On top of which, it wouldn't be a situation where she would have to be resigned to a boring guy like him.

Banri, too, needed to become a guy who could show Kouko a proper good time. If he didn't do so, there was no future for him. When they were together it would be fun, and while they were apart he could still have fun though he would be lonely, and when she returned, of course they would have fun! He ought to become a guy like that. He wanted to be someone who could give everything fun in the world to Kouko.

If he could not do so, he would lose Kouko.

But, how to do it!?

Such as himself, as he was, he wasn't handsome, hadn't any money and couldn't make funny conversation (though when it came to funny, Kouko beat him completely). He came off as an incompetent idiot. Many times he found himself with his zipper completely down. He had no memories. Worse, he made Kouko uneasy and cry… He wondered how it was, really, that Kouko could have chosen such a man as he. Was she deluded? If she was, as if he was making her waste her time to no purpose, perhaps rather I, already… No no no. Wait.

He restrained himself from this mood where he'd rather he'd died, self-denial and self-hatred sinking to the bottom of his heart. When he thought about something, Banri always wound up like this. Hating how he simply hated himself, in the end he would come to no solution.

If it were only about himself, he'd be fine with that. He could end it all with a fall into oblivion. But for Kouko's sake, …he had no choice but to work things out. To put it clearly: he had change some way or another so that Kouko would not be disgusted with him and toss him aside.

Lightly washing the fry-pan, he put it on the stove. He squeezed out the sponge and just as easily dried off his hands. With a towel, he next wiped down the still damp tableware piled up by the side of the sink and put them away. In this kitchen there was no space to dry things on.

(If I had no other contraints, I would do anything for Kouko's sake.)

Glasses squeaking as he wiped them, Banri daydreamed absentmindedly.

Leaving out one such as himself for the time being, he genuinely wondered what could be done to show Kouko a good time.

First of all… shall we pick her up and take her home in a foreign car? No, wait a sec. Didn't Kouko say that her parents liked sports cars, and that they had a number of sports cars alone? He wondered if he wouldn't be able to please Kouko no matter how high class the car. In that case, a motorbike… no, a bicycle… oh yeah, a rickshaw. A rickshaw would work. That would be interesting, fun, and there shouldn't be any other women out there being pulled around by guys.

And then a bouquet of roses for her… no, no. Wait, wait. For a person who had chosen them as her weapon with which to attack Yana-ssan, simply handing such to her with a "Here you go!" would be less than ideal. Something showier, more astonishing… there we go: he would take all the petals from the roses and then scatter them over her head as she went here and there. Wherever Kouko stepped, her toes would always find rose petals. That would be cool, and would surely go down well.

She normally received brand name clothing or accessories as presents. Kouko had all sorts of brand-name stuff. For that reason, if it was Kouko's belongings that set her apart, shouldn't he focus on them? So that her long hair would sway in the prettiest way, he would always send her a wind from the side. So that her diamond earrings would sparkle, he would shine lights on her. So that the lace on her dress's hem, fluttering far behind her, would not get damaged, perhaps he should walk behind her and care for it.

To be able to do that much, he would probably have to disguise himself. With easy of movement being top priority, he would secure his sleeves and cuffs closely, and so he would not mar her beauty, he would become a monochrome, black shadow. And let's hide this stupid face with a black cloth.

When you put it all together, Banri, for Kouko's sake, would dress as a Kuruko.

He would go and pick up Kouko with a rickshaw, and when she descended from it, he would scatter rose petals wherever she went.

So that Kouko would sparkle as she walked, he would send her the wind, shine light on her, and then carefully bear the hem of her dress.

'Thank for everything up to now, Banri! I am the happiest I can be!'

In his imagination, Kouko looked back at him with a smile from her heart. In the downpour of deep, red, velvety rose petals, Kouko, wearing a white dress and diamond earrings,

'Well, let's go!'

At her side, a handsome guy he'd never seen before took her by the arm. Wedding bells ringing out, shouts of joy engulfed the area. To your happiness! Kouko, you're beautiful! Your most perfect ever! You look happy! Excellent! You go so well together!

For Kouko's benefit, Kuruko Banri was forever calling out from the off-stage.

"……ngh!"

Plate and dishcloth still in hand, Banri, without thinking, dropped to one knee on the spot. Such destructive force.

Though it was just his selfish imagination, wasn't the rest Kaga Kouko? Who was that handsome guy? Where did she meet him, in Barcelona? Eh? Was that what it looked like? A guy from Barcelona? Did she go with the guy from Barcelona to Paris to show off the white lace on her panties? For me it was air yakisoba, but for the Barcelona guy real panties and lipstick?

Am I… really insane…?

Unsteadily getting up, finishing up without even drying the silverware, Banri sat down dead tired in front of the television. Planting his elbow on the table, he somehow sustained his chin.

What he understood, anyway… Kouko long ago had it all, but on Banri even now nothing had been bestowed.

There was nothing good enough for Kouko. There was nothing wanted, nothing to be wished for, nor anything held back in reserve. She simply lived in this world, beautifully, healthily.

At the time when they met she wasn't so. Unloved by Yanagisawa Mitsuo, unsatisfied, Kouko did nothing by cry miserably. She had been unable to obtain one guy's heart no matter how she hounded him, and her inability to get things in that way had settled down into her very core as a person, it seemed.

However, she stopped wishing for Yanagisawa Mitsuo and obtaining a relationship of mutual love with Banri, Kouko was perfectly satisfied.

Vacantly, Banri stared at the uproar showing on the face of the television.

Compared with Kouko, he had nothing.

He was in everything insufficient, wanting to be rescued, lonely and unbearable while struggling along in awkward boredom, and even so, he couldn't do more than simply exist. That was himself.

Though he ought to reach out for Kouko's heart, though that certainly was here, rather than being pleased with something, or even having fun, he did nothing but fear when the time would come that he would lose it. Now that he had obtained it, he was lonelier, more unsatisfied than before he had. Making a fuss, wanting more, wanting more, but never quite getting there, perhaps even spending an eternity without any guarantee he would ever gain peace of mind. Even sitting quietly alone was difficult. Wasn't greed one of the Seven Deadly Sins?

…No good. He was getting depressed.

Having seemingly fallen into thinking of things he shouldn't have, Banri forced himself to stand once more. He remembered the package he'd received from home, sitting ignored on top of the stool.

To put an end to thoughts that he could not help but to tumble down into negativity, he would do the things he had to do anyhow.

Getting out a cutter, he cut through the shipping labels and such and opened the cardboard box. Mother had recently stopped including letters. It looked like she'd done a lot of shopping: cereal boxes, boxes of sweets, film canisters filled with home-made tea powder, and a bag full of dried sardines and shrimp, what's this, a huge box of wheat bran… She seems to have been worried about how much he had to economize. After that there were a few packages of the usual instant noodles.

He made up his mind to split it with Yanagisawa, as usual. He took his cell-phone in hand. He opened the screen to try and send a message, but stopped for a second and thought. He decided to try calling him on the phone. Come to think of it, he hadn't heard Yanagisawa's voice even once since summer vacation started. Even though since they'd entered college, they'd hung out together nearly every day.

He figured he would send a text if there was no answer, but Yanagisawa answered on the third ring.

"Ah, hello? Yana-ssan? Sorry it's so sudden…"

'Oohh, what's happened…?'

It was the soft voice of the hunk he had been looking for. If he were to try on a whim to make a high-pitched falsetto voice, calling "It's me! Me, me~", in the precise same tone of voice, with the same stress, he would have answered something like 'what's happened… achoo! Cough!' While choking over the words. A manly guy could not help but be like that. There was no way he could do an impression of the incomprehensible Barcelona man, of course.

"Yana-ssan, you home right now? A bunch of stuff arrived from home again, so I called to ask if you want to share."

'Seriously? Of course, I'll take it, I'll take it! And thank you as always!'

At that voice, friendly as ever, Banri found himself returning entirely to his normal cheerful self. Even his room, which had been immersed in solitude, suddenly a bright cheerfulness returned, and the negative mood he had up to a short time ago seemed to him like a bad joke.

"Oh yeah, in that case, won't you come by now to pick it up? I mean, I'm free, so won't you stay and visit a bit?"

'Sorry, but I can't really right now. I've got things to do. I'll come another time when it's convenient to you. Just text me."

"Ah, that's so? I understand."

Thinking 'No I don't…' and so on wrapping up their chat, feeling a bit disappointed inside, while thinking 'What is this!?', Banri hung up the phone. This feeling of disappointment, what will it do to me?

I mean, what is it… about that Yana-ssan guy?

In only the time they'd known each other, with every little invitation he'd always flown over on bicycle, even if he made a lot of noise saying he wanted this or he wanted that. Even though they'd even been called "Takari and Yanao" (though now, for the first time, only he'd been called that way).

Setting aside his cell-phone, Banri was alone, his shoulders slumping. The echoes of his quickly ended conversation with his friend fading, his loneliness returned again. Once it started to surface, he got to taste this fall again.

Everybody but him was busy. It seemed like.

Having nothing to do with his free time like this, it seemed only he was empty. Throwing himself down on the cushion, Banri pulled the eye-mask down over his eyelids. Completely exhausted, he spread his legs out. He stretched out his body.

He didn't even get an "I made it home" text from Kouko. It drove him insane whenever mail didn't come through. However long you waited, it wouldn't arrive. It was boring. He was a little worried. …It was so lonely.

He thought he would have even preferred something like a phone-call from Mitsuo. Hadn't he been exposed as a lonely guy with time on his hands? He had the feeling he'd lost a lot of face. "Won't you stay and visit a bit?" That… was just soooo pathetic. Having been rejected, feeling dejected like this, he couldn't hide his loneliness. That he was at a good age, yet too weak to live alone, was altogether revealed.

"Haa…"

When he let out that long sigh, he had the feeling that the gloominess inside his body spewed out swirling from his mouth. As if melted and taken away by those eddies coming out from him, the strength flowed rapidly from his limbs. Being that way, he suddenly felt slumber as it were rising up from below, and soon his consciousness flew far away,

All right, all right…

My curse has been rather effective…

Good! The way things are going… this summer would end with him lonely like this, the whole time…

"…ngh!?"

He jumped up.

He tore off the eye mask. He surroundings hadn't changed from before. Banri was alone in his room, the television turned on, the window open, still as it was a short time ago. Nothing had changed, and yet… was it a voice on the television? No, or not.

He wondered if it was a dream.

It was a mere few seconds of light sleep, but the excessively real echoes left behind of a whisper close to ear had Banri looking around at his surroundings restlessly.

Share