Published at 18th of December 2021 10:03 am

Volume 6, Chapter 1

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Speaking of August 31st, for children going back and forth from school in Japan, it was the dreadful "Judgement Day."

Take Katsuo, for example.

A young man having the remarkably good looks of his parents, a strange perm parting his hair in three, living with an older yakuza girl and a younger miniskirted girl.

Pretty good at most everything, good at talking himself out of trouble, blessed both in ideas and the ability to accomplish them, you could sometimes say that in his actions he showed cunning. But even when showing outstanding intellect, he could not escape judgement at the end of the day. That time limit looming over him mercilessly, his round face (still showing the innocence of youth) twisted by impatience and fear, he would wind up involving not only his family, but even his brother in law in the madness.

Or perhaps Nobita. He ought to be sleeping and waking under the same roof with a robot which easily sidestepped the limitations of time, distance and so forth through future technology. And then there's Chibi Maruko. Bound by chains of love, her grandfather would do just about anything for his granddaughter. ...And yet, even with such advantageous options they still, just like Katsuo, cannot escape from their Judgement Day.

So. August 31st is the last day of children's summer vacation. Children all throughout Japan tremble in fear, overtaken by drowsiness and fatigue as they were condemned for their laziness, the blood-colored words "PLAN AHEAD" tattooed on their souls as they bawl, "I didn't finish my homework!" It was such an accursed, promised date.

But, when that day passed leisurely by, and the world passes into September, the college student's summer vacation is not yet over.

And college students have no homework.

There are no picture diaries with accumulated writing, and no withered morning glory flowers. Without advancing math or kanji drills, the long summer vacation just keeps wandering along into September.

But it wasn't enough. It was just last week they'd set out in a car for the beach to make some unforgettable summer memories. But they weren't blessed with good weather, and he didn't even get a suntan. Not just Banri. None of his friends did either.

Unforgettable memories... so to speak. To put it more bluntly, "trauma" was what we had all suffered. And it was pretty severe.

Tokyo in September. Summer vacation still going on, just past noon.

Sitting across from Banri, Two Dimensions let out a strange noise, "Eep! Couscous...!"

He wasn't laughing. Couscous. It was a very small, pale-yellow colored, crumbly pasta. In appearance, it's color is close to, but not quite, that of "land caviar." Incidentally, that's "tonburi." It's the very small, greenish-colored miniature fruit of the common kocchia plant.

Two Dimensions was rather frightened of the lunch plate of the day placed on the table special thickly piled with dense lumps of stuff he wasn't used to seeing. Next to him, his face pointlessly well ordered, Mitsuo was taking a selfie with his friend the couscous. This guy had the almost girlish tendency to take pictures the first time he encountered some new, poisonous looking food.

Banri and his two good friends, immersed in the stylish room's stylish space, with it's stylish soups boiled down in stylish pots for stylish appetites. No. Feeling out of place, rather.

Though this was his second time visiting this café, today, like the time before, he did not feel comfortable in this stylish zone. The stylish flooring, the stylish sofa, the stylish music and the stylish lights. The stylish trees. The stylish oxygen. He was uncomfortable with the stylish man in a beard the next seat over, moving his finger stylishly over his notepad. The corner where the three of them were seated stood out from the surroundings in awkward bas-relief. Banri looked vaguely over at the bridge of his couscous-frightened friend's nose and eyelids. The last time he was here, it wasn't Two Dimensions there, but rather Kouko seated across from him. The bridge of her nose was a bit finer. It was sleek, and her eyelids sparkled like pale pearls, with long eyelashes... For no good reason, he curled the sheepskin parchment menu (so stylish!) into a tube and looked at his friends through it. As he moved its muzzle back and forth between the faces of his friends,

"You can start eating now."

Banri raised his voice to the other two, who already had their lunches placed before them. His portion was running a little late and had yet to arrive.

"Come on now, it's embarrassing... it's hard to be watched while eating."

Chided by Mitsuo, who had beef curry set before him, Banri stopped with the telescope. ...Incidentally, even this handsome guy felt out of place in this stylish zone. Being stylish (or not) is not simply a matter of one's looks.

And the cell-phone in his back pocket was as quiet, as usual. Not so much as a twitch. A short time ago he'd sent a text "Everyone's at Oka-chan's café, you're it!" to Kouko, but there had been no answer. Banri was no longer surprised by that.

It had already been a week since he'd last heard from Kouko.

It started on the day they'd all gone to the beach, and on the way back Kouko had fallen asleep at the wheel and got into an accident. Since that day, nobody, not even Banri, had been able to get in touch with Kouko herself.

There was no answers to texts nor phone calls, and in the end we couldn't even connect to her phone, and nobody knew why. They didn't know whether she didn't want to be contacted, or whether she was in a situation where she couldn't have contacted them if she wanted to. Left to his imagination, Banri could do nothing but worry. He thought he might simply leave her alone for a bit after all that had happened, but as you might expect, a week with no word from her was simply too much. He was too worried.

Everyone else seemed to be worried about Kouko too, and so, unable to sit still, at Banri's urging, the friends had tried gathering at this stylish café for now.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting... this is borscht."

Setting Banri's soup plate lunch on the table, Chinami plopped herself down on the sofa next to him.

Having removed the apron she had on until just now, now in jeans and a simple T-shirt, her long black hair neatly done up in three braids, she only had a coffee set before her.

"Good job, Oka-chan. Shouldn't you have some lunch?"

When Two Dimensions called out to her,

"The kitchen looked rather busy, so I'll have lunch later."

Chinami chuckled innocently, her voice and appearance like something out of an anime. As always, her soft, milky white, smiling face would be the envy of a baby. Against her pale complexion, her eyes sparkled the color of outer space. Innocent, flawless, unprecedentedly pretty, with a single "Ehe!" she filled the stylish room in an instant. Chinami was peerlessly pure again today.

We'd all decided to get together anyway, but Chinami's schedule was filled up with her job for a while yet. That being the case, we figured we'd simply drop in at her job, and this is what happened. Her break was an hour long, so for that hour she became a customer of the café.

Banri, finding a spoon buried in the plate of green salad he was served, tried to grab it, but dropped it on the table. His fingers were sticky.

"......Wow. Even the borscht is stylish..."

He looked at his smeared fingers and groaned.

On the borscht's rich, dark brown surface, white cream was splashed about in an avant-garde design. It was splashed with the same energy, leaving no gaps, over the salad, on the handle of the spoon, even over the borders of the plate, saying to the person with spoon in hand, "Shall we eat?" It was a trap designed to get the diner stylishly sticky. Incidentally, for some strange reason, it was garnished with some sort of stylish dried grass. The bread was a stylish green, about the color of vegetable juice. The jomon pottery in which the borscht was served was only about five centimeters across and charming. But at Banri's low groan,

"Banri, aren't you feeling well...?"

Chinami's eyebrows fell to a sad expression. He wasn't feeling well. Of course not. But even if not, he couldn't be to blame for making his female friends show such an expression. Banri deliberately cradled his chin in both hands and once more,

"......Awesome! Even the borscht is fancy here!"

He shook his head while shooting her a dirty look. He raised his voice. He wondered if he always sounded this nervous...

"Isn't it though~!? I mean, I was the one who made that cream~!"

Chinami made just as much noise, in the same pose.

"Figures that was you! You dribbled it all over the plate and the spoon!"

"I thought you could wipe it up with the baguette as you ate~!"

"And then this dried grass! Once more, it makes sense!"

"That is just some strange grass from a parking lot around here, so please don't eat it~!"

"And how about this earthenware!? It's nice too! Good discovery!"

"It was on sale for 27,000 yen!"

"Wow, that's cool too... eh!?"

The unexpectedly high price making him come to his senses, Banri looked down at the earthenware bowl of borscht with an unconcerned look on his face. Mitsuo waved his spoon as if to get his attention. Holding up his spoon like a conductor asking for silence,

"Okay guys, enough of trying to show a brave face. I mean, Chinami, I heard you found a new place?"

At the handsome guy's rebuke,

"Uh, yes, I decided on one..."

Like a balloon deflating, Chinami calmed down. Ah, she decided... Banri calmed down too. Incidentally, Two Dimensions, who was digging into his couscous, was chill the whole time. "This collection of little grains sometimes looks a little gross..." Speaking of lunch, perhaps Mitsuo's choice of beef curry was the right one.

When the three celebrating idiots said "Congrats!" and "Oh yeah!", Chinami lowered her head and raised her mug in one hand. But with an unhappy look on her face,

"It is not at all what I dreamed of. But I had to make a snap decision, and then was forced to make compromise after compromise after compromise. Father and Mother both came here, we finished up the contract right away, and I'll be moving there before the day is over."

She took another mouthful of coffee and sank back into the sofa. Gazing up into the bare plumbing up in the high ceiling, she continued talking as if to herself.

"I mean, I even texted Kaga-san, you know?"

And when Banri asked her if she'd gotten no replies, she nodded in confirmation.

"Nothing at all. And even though I tried to call her many times, it looked like her phone wasn't turned on. ...She promised she would help when I moved. Even though she said 'I am not the least bit interested in where you live! There's no way I'm helping you! But, commoners moving is a little unusual, so can I come and see?'... She said 'I'll bring some soba noodles, at least, so there!'"

As if infected by the small sigh of Chinami, who was sitting next to him, Banri's shoulders sagged involuntarily.

Setting down the spoon he had been using to stir the borscht, he moistened his lips with some of the strangely smoky smelling iced tea. Ever since he lost contact with Kouko, whatever he ate was worrisome, not good and not enjoyable, and he didn't have much appetite to begin with.

He glanced to the side at Chinami's mouth, which had gone silent. If you looked closely at the edge of her shapely upper lip, there was a little scar, hardly noticeable. It was nearly healed, and had turned into a small blackish mark. Noticing Banri's gaze, Chinami tilted her head slightly.

"Were you looking at me?"

"I was. ...Oka-chan, your parents came to sign the contract for moving? Was that, perhaps, all they came for...?"

Understanding Banri's question that far,

"That's right. They came to see this. They took time off work to come all the way from Fukuoka. They even had Grandma stay at a care center."

Chinami used her fingertip to point at the scar on her lip. "It's so huge," she said, shrugging her shoulders to show she was exaggerating, but Banri couldn't quite bring himself to laugh in return. Mitsuo frowned, and Two Dimensions looked down, a hard look on his face that he could not hide.

This past week, instead of getting their news from the vanished Kouko, the four people here and their respective guardians were in contact with the two Kaga parents.

Kouko explained to her parents the mess she caused that night: driving her friend's car as they returned from a short trip to the beach, falling asleep as she drove and causing an accident... she apologized, took the blame for everything, and said that she would do everything she could to make it up.

Judging by the results, it wasn't all that big an accident. The car with five people in it struck the curb and lost control, and Banri slammed the brakes just in time to scrape the guardrail. They could have gone over the cliff, but instead spun around and came to a stop facing the opposite direction. The road was empty with no oncoming traffic, and by good luck the damage to car was limited to the bumper. The car could still be driven, and after the police had completed their on-site inspection, the group was able to return to Tokyo with Two Dimensions at the wheel.

Kouko's parents, each having had to cancel their schedules and arrive in separate cars, were waiting for them at the terminal station.

The four of them could not say anything when they saw Kouko get her face slapped by her father when she got out of Two Dimensions' car.

Not even having let her pick up the sandals that had slipped off when she staggered and fell, Kouko was crying and shaking. Banri could see that her father was shaking too as he bowed his head to the four in the car and said "forgive us." At that, Kouko was stuffed into her father's car as her mother carefully walked Chinami to her car, seated her there, and drove her to a hospital providing all night emergency care. At first, they had tried to take everybody to the hospital, but the three guys, all apparently unharmed and in no pain, had firmly refused. They told them they would definitely go and see the doctor themselves. Chinami refused, but she was ignored.

The next morning, to the Satou family, owners of the car, and then to her former neighbor and childhood friend Yanagisawa's house. They showed up at Banri's apartment, and at Chinami's home, holding boxes of gift cake, bowing deeply and leaving behind their contact information. They called the Tada home in Shizuoka and the Oka home in Fukuoka to ask if it would be a bother if they came to visit and apologize.

Banri's father called at once to check on his situation, and Banri explained that he wasn't hurt, that the damage was only to the bumper and guard rail, and in any case it was nothing, he was okay. So Banri's father told Kouko's father that everything seemed to be fine, and to not worry about it, but a few hours later something happened.

His always cheerful, young looking while also a fifty-something parent, Mieko, someone he thought he could talk with, in a mad rush… that is, almost if she had gone crazy, called him again. She was so scared she peppered him with questions, "What accident? What happened? Is your head okay? Where does it hurt? Did you go to the hospital?" It was hard explaining it all over again.

"Somehow you really do seem okay," she said as if in agreement, but after that she persisted in saying "Come home anyway!" She even told him to come back today or tomorrow, and if he didn't come home, she would come and get him. He understood that he made her worry, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Tokyo while still out of contact with Kouko.

For their part, Chinami's parents hung up the phone and flew to Tokyo with a second thought.

It seems they took her straight from the Kaga house straight to an unaffiliated hospital, had her receive a full body exam, confirmed that her wound was nothing than more than the result of her having bit her lip and then returned for a face-to-face with both Kaga parents. They ended the conversion with, "Since it was between friends, let's not make a big deal out of it."

"Kaga-san's father was apologetic from the very first phone call, and my parents were quite surprised to find out what had happened. In the end, since I wasn't allowed to be at the meeting between the parents, I don't know the details of what they talked about."

At Chinami's words, Two Dimensions, his head hanging down still, nodded deeply.

"I don't know what really happened either. Various things were discussed: insurance, cars repairs, the police report, a loaner car, and what would happen with the guard rail, as it was a little damaged too... and more, but I was just a spectator listening in. Anyway, every time I was made to apologize, I felt so hopeless. As if this was so important."

Making a small pile of couscous with his spoon, then knocking it down,

"...It's something you often hear about in the world. Well, it's like 'I got in an accident the other day~' or 'I got hit~' is light conversation between guys. Why would you ever talk like that about such a serious situation?"

He stared down at the couscous he had scooped up and lowered his voice a bit.

"......Well, we were actually quite freaked out, you know. All of us might have wound up dead. They are almost always awfully scary, though. I mean... we all alive, right? What do we do? What if we are actually dead and simply don't know it? Lord Buddha's four brothers, we aren't, we have no choice but to be five siblings from now on. The real Shackson Five."

Not one of them could even crack a smile. As he said it, Two Dimensions himself wasn't smiling. You couldn't poke fun at the situation nor laugh at all.

A heavy silence fell over the corner of that stylish café. Their show of courage had already fallen flat, and the four of them fell silent. The stylish background music was the only sound there.

A while later, Chinami muttered, "......Kaga-san must have been ticked off. Really bad."

The image of Kouko's crying face suddenly came back to Banri's mind, slapped and fallen to the street in the dead of night. The cork sole of her sandal which slipped off. The dark pink pouch which had tumbled out of her bag. The whiteness of her calves, exposed by the uplifted hem of her one-piece dress. An almost creepy, terrifying feeling came over him, as if his heart were being squeezed.

Even when they had come to pick up Kouko after the police had arrested her for stealing a bicycle, Kouko's parents were terribly angry. Her father had even struck her. But, Kouko had pretty much laughed it off, and under the protection of her parents, she was acquitted and received no punishment from society.

......And now, only a few months later, this accident.

Since then, no contact from her at all, and her phone wasn't working. The look on her father's face. Not knowing what to do, Banri randomly brushed his bangs up over and over again.

Two Dimensions tossed aside his spoon, propped his elbows on his knees, and buried his face in his hands. He moaned, his voice muffled.

"She was probably scolded, and besides, she's got to be worried... I mean, seriously... what should we do now? It was my fault in the first place. It was my fault. It wasn't like she wasn't tired, and she wasn't used to driving. Why didn't I think this through better?"

I'm the bad guy, I'm at fault... immediately following the accident, Two Dimensions repeated like that, over and over again.

That night, when they all got out of the car at once to check out the damages to the car, while each of them was still shaking in a state of crisis, they were trying their best to maintain their composure. Two Dimensions returned to the driver's seat, and while keeping an eye out for following cars, moved the car to the shoulder to avoid a secondary accident. Mitsuo went to check the guardrail. Banri supported Kouko, whose face was ashen pale. He kept talking to her to calm her down, telling her it was all right. Noticing that Chinami had fallen quiet under the lights, Two Dimensions got down out of the car once more. When he asked her what was wrong, she didn't answer, but frowning a little, held one hand over her mouth.

When Mitsuo returned, he noticed Chinami acting strange too, and gently took her hand and made her lower it. All of them, perhaps at the same time, noticed a red spot on her tiny hand. In the whitish illumination, blood could be seen on Chinami's lips, and the crevices between her front teeth were stained by red saliva.

Kouko let out a muffled scream. She collapsed to her feet, clinging to Chinami. It's no big deal, it looks like I bit my lip, repeated Chinami calmly, but Kouko was in a complete panic. Stumbling over and over as she returned to the car, pulled out from her bag a towel and frantically pressed it against Chinami's mouth, tearfully saying "I'm so sorry. What'll we do? Forgive me. What'll we do?" She shouted "Ambulance, ambulance!" as if appealing to the other side of the night sky.

Banri was frozen in place and unable to move. His head went numb, and he stood there dumbfounded. In the end, the sobbing voice of Two Dimensions saying "What will I do? It's all my fault." and Kouko's wails blended together. Her panic was infectious, and Two Dimensions also sank to the ground on the street. The still standing Mitsuo, his expression stiffening, looked back towards Banri. Nobody knew what to do, what they should do. Who could you ask for help in such a situation? God? Buddha? The police? ...That's right. The police. In any case, the accident had to be reported.

Grabbing the cell phone in his trembling hands, Banri dialed 110. He tried to explain the accident and the location, but the policeman replied "we're already on the way." It seemed that a passing driver had happened to see the accident and already called the police.

It was, so to speak, the worst night of his life. Each of them had been dealt a terrifying blow.

Not to be outdone by the depressed Two Dimensions, Chinami hung her head deeply.

......Rather, it was my fault. It was my stupid bleeding that got everybody upset. Even though it's no big deal. ......My seatbelt wasn't fastened. If it had, I probably wouldn't have bit my lip."

"Cut it out, Oka-chan," said Banri, giving her a soft poke on the shoulder.

"It was my fault from the start. The reason that Kouko dozed off was that instead of chatting with her I nodded off without a care in the passenger seat. Even though I told her that time that I'd would be careful to talk with her so she wouldn't fall asleep..."

And yet, he fell asleep so easily.

Banri had regretted that the whole week since. All the responsibility for five lives had rested on the shoulders of his precious girlfriend Kouko by herself, as he had comfortably fallen asleep. As a result, he had no-one to blame no-one but myself for what happened. He could only blame myself.

"I feel responsible too."

At Mitsuo's voice, three people vacantly raised dispirited gazes.

"...I was always preoccupied with other things, and to be honest, even when we were playing together, I wasn't really in the mood. And without a doubt, I acted thoughtlessly, leaving the driving like that to Kouko, who doesn't drive on a regular basis, and then falling asleep. I should have properly realized this and thought of another way to do it. But I didn't realize it at the time. Because I was my thoughts were off in space somewhere..."

Once more the silence dragged on.

Having dozed off while entrusted with the lives of other people, Kouko was certainly to blame, and there was no denying that. But everyone else felt responsible to some extent, and they were not happy with how things turned out. According to Kouko's parents, Kouko was entirely at fault and the rest of us should be playing the victims and bandaging our heads... that sort of thing. Banri couldn't do that, and probably none of the others either. He guessed that was why they were all gathered here. And they wanted to do something about it.

And yet, what was the point of looking back over the past like this and getting mired in gloom?

Banri clenched himself and raised his eyes from staring at the dead grass on the borscht. Straightening his hunched back, he reached out his hands and clapped his silent, gloomy friends softly on the shoulder. Making them raise their heads, he looked them in the eyes one by one. Chinami. Two Dimensions. Mitsuo.

"Jeez, let's stop this already. There's nothing we can do sitting around depressed. If I wanted to be depressed, I could have done it by myself, alone. We didn't all finally gather together just so we could compete about who's to blame."

That's right... as if he were speaking to himself, Banri spoke the words clearly.

"What should we do for the sake of the future? ...What should we do, now that Kouko has disappeared and nobody can contact her? I wanted to think about that, and so invited you all to come."

And he wanted to take responsibility as he should. In his heart, he continued to do so.

If Kouko were forced to deal with the blame by herself, without himself and his friends being made to feel the weight of guilt as well, would have to keep on bearing the weight from then on and forever. Not only the weight of this sin, but also the weight of the crime of not having taken responsibility.

From now on... tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, after that, the future. He wanted to be with Kouko forever more. Because he intended to be with her, Banri didn't seem to be able to endure this heaviness.

Besides, there was no way he could accept Kouko disappearing because she took responsibility or some such other reason.

"...I would hate it if I could never say farewell to Kouko."

"I would hate that! Everyone would!"

As if surprised at Banri's words, Chinami bent forward and spoke intensely.

"For sure. For that reason, in any case, I want to know what's happening to Kouko right now. Why we can't contact her, that's all I want to know."

Nodding to Banri, Two Dimensions said,

"In any case, her e-mail doesn't work, nor does her phone. Since I have Kaga-san's personal computer e-mail address, while we've been stewing here, I sent her a note with automatic confirmation if she opens it."

"How are we 'stewing'!?"

Once more, Chinami.

"No, there are people who just don't like things. But nothing ever came back to me. Meh, I don't even know their e-mail software, so it's a no-go to begin with. Banri, do you know Kaga-san's home phone?"

"I knew it, so I tried calling her."

At Banri's words, Mitsuo interrupted with an "oh!"

"Did you get answered by a maid with a very rough way of speaking? The first thing she would have said was like 'Who're you!?'"

"No, it was an answering machine. Really confused, when I left a along the lines of 'This is Tada, I am still trying to call you,' her father finally came to the phone and like the cracking of a whip I received a rough interrogation: 'Has the hospital looked you over? Eh!? Not yet!? Why!?' and so on."

"Oh..." Disappointed voices rose from the other three.

With this, he thought that they'd run out of modern means of communication. Send a letter in a sealed envelope? How about smoke signals, carrier pigeons, or some sort of telepathy... or perhaps some simpler, more direct means? He couldn't just wrap a letter around a rock, of course not. What about shouting out as loud as he could? Not that, either.

"Jeez, I'd just as soon..."

He looked everyone in the eye. What Banri was thinking had surely run through everyone's mind just now.

...In that case, why not just show up at the Kaga house uninvited, as if it were normal?

"Yana-ssan, you know Kouko's house, don't you?"

"Of course I know. ...Don't I? Shall we do that? Rather than worrying about things like this, shall we try going there as we are?"

"Agreed!" Two Dimensions raised one hand. But Chinami, a little flustered, said, "But I can't skip out on my job!"

"Oh, that's right. Well then, without Chinami. How about you, Banri?"

Banri's feelings were already almost made up to go, but when he thought that Chinami wouldn't be able to come with him, he suddenly hesitated. Can... we... go?

"Hold on a second," he said, and folded his arms to think.

Without Chinami to thin out the gender mix, it would be three people of the opposite sex showing up uninvited at her doorstep... it would probably feel somewhat strange. The situation was more complicated than before. Would it really be okay for this lineup to visit her and invade her private space?

It was true that he was her boyfriend, and Mitsuo her childhood friend, and Two Dimensions now a close friend, but...

"Isn't this all a little... awkward?"

When the three of them were together, rather than each having his own characteristics, it felt more like a "Gang of Three." Was he the only one who felt this way? As if she sensed his struggle to find a way to explain his feelings, Chinami leaned forward and looked into Banri's face.

"This might be a little awkward. I mean, wouldn't it be better for Banri to go alone? If he can see Kaga-san, it might be easier to talk with her alone."

Mitsuo and Two Dimensions looked at each other. "That might be so," said the handsome one. "Eeh?" said Two Dimensions, looking a little dissatisfied.

"I want to go too. I just want to see Kaga-san and tell her that I was responsible for the other day and that I'm sorry."

"Why don't we find out what's going on first? Anyway, we don't know anything about Kouko right now. For now, let's have Banri take a look to see if Kouko's calmed down before we do anything else."

"......I see..."

"How about it, Banri? Will you go by yourself? I'll draw you a map."

Despite what Mitsuo said, Banri nodded.

"Sure, you can count on me. I will go check on Kouko by myself. I will make it clear that everybody is really worried about her."

Then, so they could finish off their lunch for now, Chinami took her coffee, and the three guys grabbed their spoons so they could each attack their meals once more.

But Banri groaned softly and lowered the spoon he had just taken up again. He saw sticky cream stuck to his fingers. Had he not been caught in the same trap once more?

"Then wipe it up with the baguette!" said Chinami without hesitation and gave him the thumbs up.

* * *

Leaving his friends behind at the stylish café, Banri took the train alone to Kouko's house. After leaving the station, following directions that Mitsuo had given him on paper (Unbleached and speckled brown! So stylish!) and with the help of Google Maps, he was able to find his way without getting lost.

He changed trains in Shibuya, which was crowded with noisy young people, and took the subway a few more stops.

Come to think about it, when they dated, Kouko always wanted to go to places near to Banri's apartment. Until now, Banri hadn't ever gotten off at the nearest station to where Kouko lived. Because she wanted to spend every second possible with him, Kouko had insisted they meet up and separate at Banri's apartment. Then you don't need to see me off, you don't have to come out to meet me, "It's because we're Romeo and Juliet" she murmured ecstatically as if entranced by the tragedy of it all.

Uneasy about Kouko's generally annoying character, both of her parents seemed to be against her having a close relationship with Banri... or perhaps with any member of the opposite sex.

In spite of this, because in the end Kouko spent nearly every day, whether it be weekday or holiday, glued to Banri's side, there was no way to hide it. He felt sure both parents knew she continued to see him, but he could not imagine how they would greet him if he suddenly showed up uninvited after what had happened. He didn't even know if they were home. He had heard that her father was a heart surgeon, and that her mother was a neurosurgeon. Just the other day, he'd received a business card from them and told to call is anything happened. Their names both had titles with "chief" attached. Right after the accident, both of them apologized and ran around dealing with the aftermath, but they seemed to be awfully busy by nature.

Lost in thought, he was standing close to the door, not sitting in the seat, when at that moment his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Thinking 'no way', hurriedly grabbing it and pulling it out to check the message,

(Is that her...?)

He was disappointed again, for the second time that day. It wasn't Kouko.

The one who sent the message was Kosshi-senpai, who was always so helpful it would be rude to disappoint him.

The subject: About Tomorrow.

"What are you two first-years going to do tomorrow? I can't get ahold of Robo-girl at all, and we need to know soon if you're coming. The super-cool organizer guy is getting worried! Even if it's only me."

...So that's what it was. While looking at himself reflected dimly in the door glass, he took a small breath. In all the hustle and bustle of events, it is completely slipped his mind.

A few days ago, he had received an invitation to the event from Kosshi-senpai. It seems that they were holding a end-of-summer-vacation review meeting at a bar's private viewing spot (miraculously obtained through connections of the Omaken members) during a metro area fireworks display. This year, for various reasons, the summer camp had been cancelled, and because the fourth year seniors would be coming, he said he wanted as many members as possible to attend.

Though he contacted her about this, Kouko had not yet replied. The next thing he knew, tomorrow was almost upon them.

He wasn't in the mood to watch fireworks, go drinking or make a lot of noise, but where club events were concerned, he couldn't ignore them just because he wasn't in the mood. He was a lowly first-year kid, and the upper-classmen had taken care of him to this point, and above all, the Omaken had already become an important part of Banri's life.

And he believed that it was the same with Kouko. He couldn't just make do with "We couldn't get ahold of you, so we left you behind~"

So he texted back, "I'm sorry for the delay in getting back with you! I will contact you again later today!"

Just as he finished typing and sending his reply, the subway arrived at the station closest to where Kouko lived. As he got off the train, he looked around to see which exits he could use to go up the nearby stairs, and in that short look around he saw an elegant looking young mother and a girl whose face looked like she had foreign blood passed Banri and went up the stairs. The gray-haired old lady who followed her wore a wide-brimmed hat like an actress and a narrow-waisted one-piece dress. A young man who looked to be about the same age as Banri walked slowly down from across the street, wearing a slim, well-tailored jacket and holding a violin case carefully in his hand.

Somehow Banri remembered shortly after he left this morning. When he thought he saw the Grim Reaper approaching from across the street, he realized it was NANA-senpai with her makeup melted off. In a scratchy, deathly voice, "Don't give me that look the first time you see me! I've been up all night!" She hit him over the head with a piece of French bread (her breakfast?). It was a random attack. ...Nothing special about it. Really, it was just a random memory.

* * *

The incredibly quiet residential area was lined by fortress-like mansions and luxuriously tiled low-rise apartments. There were no people passing by, no noisy stores, and not a single piece of trash anywhere to be seen.

Banri walked through the silent neighborhood in the lazy early afternoon, checking the map that Mitsuo had drawn for him and comparing against the map in his cell-phone. With his T-shirt, blue-jeans and flip-flops, he looked perfectly commoner. Looking all around the area, he saw he was the alien here. He did not blend into the surroundings at all.

The sidewalk was lined by beautifully cared for trees, their leaves shielding him from the still fierce rays of the sun. The concrete pavement, the guardrails, even the paint on the crosswalks was of extremely high quality. Everything seemed to be high-class. He wondered if it was his imagination.

Kouko and Mitsuo were born and raised in such a place? As Banri tried to imagine the familiar images of those two over the scenery here, a shiny silver foreign car appeared behind him. It slowly overtook him.

Then, a few meters ahead of him, the car suddenly stopped. With a whine as the window glass lowered,

"......Ah!"

When that face popped out, Banri yelped without thinking. Kouko's father looked back at him in surprise too.

"Tada-kun!? Eh, were you by any chance... to our house!?"

The look of surprise on his face went up a notch, reaching the realm of "astonishment." Squeezing his shoulder out the window, as if trying to hang out,

"By chance has your neck begun to hurt? Oh yeah, have you been to the hospital for a checkup?"

...Humans are incomprehensible, so Banri shook his head frantically, not knowing why he did it.

"I'm okay, I'm okay! I mean, I was only passing through by coincidence! See you later!"

He gave an ambiguous fake smile and bowed. He waved him off as if to say, "Please, be on your way."

(......What the heck... am I......)

His face accepting the coincidence, "Oh, okay," said Kouko's father and withdrew into the car. The car starting moving forward once more. He stared off into the distance for a whole three seconds before coming to his senses. Really, what the heck was he doing? He hurriedly ran after him. After he had run pretty hard, the car stopped, as if he had noticed that his daughter's incomprehensible boyfriend was chasing after him. Out of breath, he peered through the open driver's seat window.

"I, I'm sorry... I lied...! Just now, I was on my way to your house! I have something I want to say to Ko, Kouko..."

"......Is, is that so..."

"I, I was just a bit overwhelmed... sorry. Even if I say so myself, I wound up saying something nonsensical..."

However, even if I've called out and stopped him, what in the world should I do after that? ...Shall I make him give me a ride? Isn't that awfully forward? Send him off saying "Well, I'll see you later~!" ...Wouldn't that be kinda strange...?

Kouko's father looked uneasy as well, seeing Banri there on the street, nervous and trembling to the max. It was awkward, being no less than "the girlfriend's father" and "the daughter's boyfriend." Banri wondered if they'd both completely lost track of where the relationship was going. Last time, when Kouko's father visited Banri's house, the relationship was clearly "apology" and "fear." That time, it was "slapping down the daughter" and "watching it happen." Come to think of it, oddly enough, the previous time it was also "slapping down the daughter" and "watching it happen."

That framework defining their relationship was lost, now. The two lifeforms simply and genuinely didn't know what to do. Their relationship was beyond awkward. It was a lost child. It was, so to speak, "inside the car" and "outside the car." He didn't even know how to use such a relationship.

The two men stared at each blankly for a bit, and fell silent.

"Well then, you coming in? Shall we go in?" said the adult suddenly. Did he mean to get in the car? But, ride shotgun? Or in the back seat? Or rather, what the heck did he mean by "shall we go in?" As if to make fun of him yet again, as if he was starting to lose his mind, just then behind him, the plant-covered wall behind him suddenly started to slowly open, parting to left and right. Kerchunk! Startled by the sound, Banri yelped and jumped like something out of a manga.

Kouko's father, seated in the driver's seat with a remote control in hand, not even blinking at Banri's restlessness, said "Because we're here."

He found that they had already arrived at the Kaga home.

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