Important Notice for MOL Burger Customers
We sincerely thank you for your regular patronage.
Due to the blockade in the Strait of Malacca, the transportation of our products will be in disarray for one hour.
The production numbers will be adjusted and provisioned accordingly.
We apologise for the inconvenience and hope for your understanding.
Management
What makes society tick?
When the question is posed that way, the answer is rather obvious.
Human society is otherwise known as the spirit of mutual cooperation.
Everything in the world, be it the insurance system, infrastructure or even perhaps disaster relief, is built upon a system of mutual aid. If humans only ever grabbed or stole what they wanted, their development as a species would not have been feasible. People have built society by leaning on each other’s shoulders.
So what were Kusaoka-san and I, then? As we waited for the pedestrian lights to change, I cocked my head in vague confusion.
The sunset-stained rotary was teeming with commuters. In the heart of our city, there was a giant station terminal, which ran all eight railways, including the private lines, the subways and the JR. Flanked by a flagship department store on one side and the head office of a home electronics emporium on the other, our bustling business district was renowned throughout the country for being built upon the foundations of both the East and West. It was a hive of activity at any given time of the day, from the crack of dawn to the dead of the night.
It was a world run by greedy capitalist logic, totally divorced from the concept of mutual aid.
In the midst of all this, I glanced up at the person beside me. The boy who had followed me, wordlessly responding to my cry for help.
“Kusaoka-san, could you say that we have a cooperative relationship?”
“I’d say that, given the circumstances, the only thing we have between us is an evil plot…”
“Hm?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“…I see. I am a little worried. I don’t suppose it’s a good feeling to keep on giving to others without expecting anything in return.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s possible to feel any worse than this.”
“…So you are a little bothered, aren’t you?”
To that, there was no response. With a peculiarly thin smile on his face, Kusaoka-san walked on silently. Had my voice been swallowed by the crowd? No, that couldn’t be it. We were close enough for him to hear me clearly.
I wondered if he disliked me. If I was not the object of consideration, I might have seriously considered that possibility. Nevertheless, in a conversation pertaining to the subtleties of the heart, he had pretended to ignore my voice. That could only mean one thing.
He was no doubt enraptured by my beauty. In all likelihood, he had no wish to suffer the pain of rejection. Oh, men. They come in all shapes and sizes, but every one of them is stubborn as can be.
From the very moment he first called out to me, I somehow knew. Kusaoka-san’s face was that of a young man head over heels in love at first sight. There’s no other way a horrid face like that could belong to a human being.
As a woman blessed with rare intellect and beauty, I have more experience in these matters than most. The number of times someone has asked me out exceeds the number of stars in the sky. Unfortunately, however, I have yet to give my okay to anyone.
Being a beautiful girl has its occasional downsides.
If I sell my face to the opposite sex, I purchase an equal amount of displeasure from my own sex. Given that the market is inherently just, that particular transaction is a matter of fairness in a closed school society. Among the things I know little of, the capitalist world of love certainly ranks among them.
I merely wish to go out with someone who is my equal, for I am a timid and weak person at heart. Simply the thought of performing an equal transaction with someone far less intelligent and refined than myself fills me with unstoppable shivers. Instead of thoughtlessly and unfairly aiming for someone beyond their reach, I would much prefer it if they raised themselves to my level.
However.
“I have no idea what you think of me, Kusaoka-san, but I am a human being. If I make someone feel bad, I feel bad as well,” I insisted slowly.
Kusaoka-san cast a glance at me, his mouth still closed.
Indeed. At first glance, Chigusa Yuu might seem a tad—well, extremely adorable, but her heart was that of a normal girl’s. Even if his feelings themselves were impossible for me to respond to, I was compelled to ask what the matter was. I am deeply concerned with those human feelings.
One good turn deserves another—that is an inviolable rule.
According to my younger sister, boys are extremely fond of cute girls who ask them for favours. That being the case, Kusaoka-san must have experienced a great thrill from my request. I might have entered these investigations to fulfil my own objective, but he was a total outsider. He was engaged in the pursuit of happiness—a downright hedonist, so to speak.
“Kusaoka-san, wouldn’t you say that I gave more to you, strictly speaking?”
“Huh?” Kusaoka-san blurted out as if he had been caught off-guard.
“However, you needn’t worry yourself over it. I am not the type of person to be concerned about transactions that do not involve cash.”
“…Impressive. I have transactions on my mind all the time, so we have zilch in common.” Apparently deeply moved, Kusaoka-san let out a deep sigh in the very middle of the pedestrian crossing, where the surging crowd of people had started to move. “So what do I have to do to go home?”
“When our intel-gathering investigation is at an end. We were supposed to meet up at the MOL Burger at the end of the—oof!”
One of the people crossing the road must have hit me with their bag. Bam. I felt pressure against my back, causing my knees to buckle involuntarily.
Slowly, gradually, the pain spread throughout my entire body.
“Ouch…”
Everything turned blurry. Tears began to spring unbidden from my eyes. I really am such a crybaby. At times like these, I was keenly aware of my own powerlessness.
There was nothing I could really do, but if I could just see for myself who had hit me—
It happened the moment I attempted to turn around meekly.
“—It’s all right, so just stand up already.”
“Huh?”
“Hurry up and finish so we can go home.”
Wow!
Someone was pulling on my arm and helping me to my feet. A shiver rolled down my spine—he was even stronger than whoever had knocked me over.
The boy who had pulled me so forcibly was the universal female fantasy. Of course, I, being the pinnacle of womanhood, was no exception when it came to such fantasies.
Frantically, I wiped the corners of my eyes with my palms. I ducked my head.
“…Er, um… Thank you very much.”
“You don’t have to bow. I just wanna go home already.”
When I looked up, Kusaoka-san was looking away as if nothing had happened. Peculiarly enough, his curt profile appeared like sparkling neon to me.
“Your points just went up, Haruma-san.”
“What points…?”
“Oh dear, don’t make a girl say it.” I raised a finger.
For all his strength, he was such a shy boy. He merely shrugged in embarrassment. The sheer gap between his appearance and actions was making his points climb even higher!
When my Johannes points are full, I give the other person a fighting chance to have dinner with me. Kusaoka-san really was lucky that I was lengthening his date with such a wonderful girl. I get a free meal out of it too, so I was very happy myself. The point system kills two birds with one stone!
I conceived all these policies in order to make everyone happy, so perhaps I am well suited towards the politician’s trade. If my objective was to save money, then plunging into the world of politics was certainly one option. I would do anything to change Japan, my beloved mother country, into a better place.
Haruma-1
I’m not a gentleman or a feminist.
It’s just that, when Chigusa fell over, she promptly tried use the cell phone in her hand to snap a photo of the person who had bumped into her, so I figured I should intervene. She didn’t even bother to sniffle or wipe any tears; she just went straight to work. Was she a lawyer on the inside or what?
Since the passersby were buzzing with interest, I promptly grabbed Chigusa’s arm and left the place pronto.
…Chigusa’s arm was thin as a rake.
Still, it wasn’t particularly bony, and I could feel its softness through her clothing. If I kept holding onto Chigusa, my sweaty hand would draw a map of Japan on her uniform, so I hastily let go after a few steps. Now that I had put some distance between us, I was at a loss about what to do, so I opened my mouth.
“Anyway, where are we headed?”
“We’re going to MOL Burger, Haruma-san.”
Why was this chick calling me by my first name? Because my points had gone up? In that case, I wondered if I should call her by the nickname I came up with: Johannes. However, there was not a single atom of desire in me to raise her Johannes points… In that case, calling her Chigusa was probably the best option, although ‘Chibusa’ kinda fit her, embarrassing though it may be (1)! I’m your typical shy adolescent boy.
So, yeah. That was why I kept on talking without calling Chigusa by her name.
“If you’re talking about food, then I’ve already eaten.”
“I’m not. I’m going to listen to Anna-san’s story,” Chigusa said as if nothing was more obvious, despite the fact that I had no idea who the hell Anna-san was. A hit song from Kai Band?
Anyway, it was kind of a bad call to make an appointment with this Anna-san before checking with my schedule. Not to mention Chigusa was acting under the assumption that I would follow her…
Was there a girl who could put up with a good-looking and self-centered female like Chigusa? A chick like Chigusa would promptly get shunned and ignored in female society, and if she turned up to school her desk would be full of graffiti. Well, some of them had to find utility value in a pretty face alone. I wondered if this Anna-chan we were about to meet would fit that mold.
Lagging a few steps behind Chigusa, I walked through a town weighed down by the darkness of the night. Maybe it was because we were strung along by the rush hour crowd on their way home, but despite our physical proximity there was no conversation to be had between us, and a sort of restless feeling came over me.
Out of lack of anything better to do, I pulled out my smartphone. After I touched the screen a few times, my eyes fell upon Chigusa’s message for a second time.
However… the more I looked at it, the creepier it seemed. Wow. Just from reading the text casually, I could tell it was terrifying, awful and downright spine-chilling, like something straight from the horror genre. Thrill, shock, suspense. Every time I read it, a few more months were shaved off my lifespan.
From that horrifying message, one phrase in particular caught my eye: “Random Crossroad.” It was like something from The Twilight Zone.
“She got wrapped up in the Random Crossroad and disappeared, huh…” I muttered to myself, unable to restrain a snort at this completely implausible story.
I wasn’t too familiar with this Random Crossroad thing. It had something to do with an urban legend, but not only was no one around me spouting rumours, there was no one around me full stop. I must have a natural genius for Nen or something. How else could I have learned Zetsu out of the blue…? In fact, even the author of that manga is using Zetsu. He’s been nullifying his presence too much!
Well, anyway, if I didn’t sort out the problem at hand, I wouldn’t be able to go home. I would solve Chigusa’s dilemma if possible, and if that proved to be difficult, I would have to come up with a due response that she would be able to accept.
I coughed a few times. “Hey, Chigusa,” I called out to her. “Can I ask about the specifics of your problem?”
In response, Chigusa folded her arms behind her back and turned around. The hem of her skirt fluttered lightly, allowing me to catch a glimpse of her creamy white thighs.
“The specifics, you ask?” Chigusa tilted her head and hummed in thought. “Hmm… Shia-san was someone I got along really well with. She has a miniature Schnauzer and lives with her older brother and parents in an apartment building two stations away from school, and at school she was learning rhythmic gymnastics because of her mother’s influence, but she can’t handle chopsticks or rods, let alone a baton, and she couldn’t even catch the baton her mother gave her, and not to mention her grades are not exactly the best—she’s only slightly above average—and in the midst of all those problems, she started hanging out with bad classmates, so her grades have been falling even more, and recently she’s been gallivanting about as much as she can, so her parents and even her brother these days are worrying about whether she really has her heart set on her entrance exams, it seems.”
“O-Okay…”
As extremely delighted as I was with the long-winded explanation, who the hell was Shia-chan? Some kind of butter? What? (Hey, if she was made of butter, her skin would be moist.)
Anyway, I didn’t want to know the specifics about this Shia-chan—I wanted to ask about the Random Crossroad… And seriously, that was too much information.
I gave Chigusa a nonplussed look, but she only sighed and went on talking, her voice faint yet fervent.
“…Shia-san is a trusted friend who shares something very important with me. That is why I absolutely must bring her back,” Chigusa said with a straight face. Her feverish eyes were filled with undeniable sorrow.
“Well, yeah, it’d be kinda worrying if she never came back…”
“Indeed. The thought of it left me worried sick… She wasn’t there when I rang her doorbell, and she never answered my calls at all yesterday even though I phoned her all night…”
Chigusa sniffed and dabbed the corner of her eyes. When viewed in a vacuum, that gesture of hers was adorable as hell and stirred up protective feelings in me, but the stuff in her message from before combined with what she was actually saying now sounded far more harrowing…
Even Chigusa, however, had it in her to show concern. “If it comes to pass that she never returns, it will be a crushing loss for me,” she said with even more vehemence. “Just imagining that she was wrapped up in an incident caused by some organisation behind the scenes fills my heart with agony.”
As I watched Chigusa clench the ribbon on her chest, looking as if the end of the world was coming, I couldn’t help but think that, her bizarre actions aside, I wouldn’t mind helping her with this particular problem.
“Well, you know…” I struggled to find what to say. “Anyway, I just wanted to know about the Random Crossroad.”
Chigusa tilted her head in confusion and pulled a face as if she was having a date with an armadillo.
“…Random Crossroad?”
“Um, from your message, you know.”
Huh? It wasn’t the Random Crossroad? Maybe it was the Gundam X-road? Name-wise, it was pretty SD Gundam-ish.
“Ah, that?” Chigusa said with a strange giggle, at which point she launched into a tentative-sounding explanation filled with “ums” and “uhs”. Er, wasn’t she the one who approached me about it in the first place…?
The Random Crossroad.
It is said that if you walk down the residential area at midnight holding hands with your lover, four roads appear at the end of the crossroad. There is no way of knowing which path is the right way. If you choose the wrong path at that point, you may never return—or something like that.
…Was she an idiot? It sounded like something a brain-dead middle schooler would come up with. If you choose the wrong path, you may never return… what the hell, man?
What was that—a metaphor for life? Did it represent the adolescent maiden heart, torn between choices and agonising over where to go?
There must be countless people who have picked the wrong path and found themselves unable to turn back no matter how much they regretted it.
That was me in a nutshell. Right now, I was itching to turn back and head home.
In my opinion, people who are good at socialising have never found the right occasion to go home. The ability to impose on others is probably an essential feature of communication, the heart of human relations.
Alternatively, you could say that the dark side of human relations, sociability, communication, etc. involves removing the very existence of other people.
Just like what Chigusa Yuu did.
“Haruma-san, come this way.”
Even now, Chigusa was power-walking ahead of me, completely oblivious to my thoughts. Passersby looked over their shoulders at her from time to time, but it seemed that even the city bustle failed to reach her ears. She ploughed through the stream of people pouring out of the station and eventually reached a building at the front. As she got on the elevator there, Chigusa heaved a sigh. After pressing the button to go to the second floor, Chigusa took a step back and stood with her legs pressed together like a proper lady, glaring at the door as if expecting it to open any second.
Only Chigusa and I were inside that tiny box. Naturally, the two of us were physically closer than we had ever been.
…It was somehow nerve-wracking.
Now that I thought about it, it had been an awfully long time since I had last spoken to a girl from my school. Also, if we were meeting up outside of school hours, did that mean this was a date? If I inhabited the same space as a girl, then it was no exaggeration to say that, in a broad sense, we were cohabitating…
Yuu-2
On the second floor of MOL Burger, at a seat in a dimly lit corner.
In that inconspicuous little spot, a petite girl sat with her shoulders hunched.
“Excuse me, have I kept you waiting?” I walked over, waving brightly.
In response, she shook her head sharply twice or thrice. She was peering at us with wide eyes.
“Um, this is Haruma-san, who agreed to lend his assistance with my investigation. And this is my friend Anna-san.”
“…Mhmm.” With a withdrawn response that would put a tortoise to shame, Kusaoka-san took a seat as politely as he possibly could.
Then there was Anna-san.
A fellow first year student, she was the youngest of three sisters. She was a Gemini and her blood type was B, not the sort of combination one would imagine befits someone engaged in handicrafts, but there you have it. She lived with her parents, who used a loaned car. She never fell behind with her tax repayments. Her receipts and bonds were minor. However, her parents had strict control over her. She owed thirty-six thousand four hundred yen to my finances. Her dimples were her most charming feature.
Today, however, her dimples had vanished into thin air, replaced by a cold sweat. “Er, um, Yuu-chan… I’m just wondering why you called me here…”
“There is something I want to ask you, if you may.”
Anna-san had readily responded to my summons, even during a busy time slot in the evening. It was no exaggeration to call her my soul sister.
“You are aware that plenty of my friends have gone missing lately, aren’t you? Anna-san, I was wondering if you got along well with Shia-san. Is there nothing you can tell me? Anything you know will do.”
“…Um, you know, the three of us—Shia, Maria and I—we usually, well, last Sunday we were hanging out…” After taking a seat next to me, Anna-san merely stared intently at her shaking fingertips. It was almost as if her shaking could generate electricity. Such a convenient body would sell for quite a lot of money. “That’s why I tried asking Maria about Shia on the phone.”
“Go on.”
“But something terrible must have happened to Maria, because she sounded so shaken earlier…”
“Ah, poor thing. By the way, why do you bring that up now?”
“Oh, no reason!” She shook her head frantically. How adorable she was, just like a small rabbit.
When it comes to human relationships, the three F’s are a necessity: Flatter, frighten and follow. Only then can communication be sustained. An extremely weak-willed and timid person like me has only ever resorted to flattery, however.
“Anna-san, you’re so cute. You can do it!”
As I cheered her on smilingly, Anna-san’s lips trembled to such an extent that her chin threatened to unhinge.
One of the reasons I had asked Kusaoka-san to lend me his assistance was so that he could pressure the person I was questioning if she happened to resist, but it seemed that she was willing to tell all without him having to do anything. Oh my, did that mean I had no need of him? In a sense, sharing space with a worthless male is already something of a nominal fee or charge, is it not?
“…It’s not a big deal, so tell us everything you’ve realised, okay?” Kusaoka-san said curtly across the table, not wasting a moment.
The ideal girl, both beautiful and kind. He must be inspired to show off his best side to such a wonderful girl. Somehow, I cannot look down on someone who takes actions with savings and stockpiling in mind.
“I-I wasn’t really planning this or anything, but I heard something once from Shia,” Anna-san spoke up, her face still taut. “She said she was suffering because she was paying back Yuu-chan’s intere-”
“Oh, dear me.”
In my carelessness, I spilt my cup on the table.
The coffee, a searing hot, blackish brew that resembled despair, flew out of the cup and spread across the floor.
“I’m terribly sorry! I’m so glad you didn’t make fun of me, Anna-san. That could have caused a large burn.”
“R-Right…”
“Now then, what just happened? I’m a rather jumpy person, so when I hear my name spoken out of turn, my hand might shake from surprise.” I cast a sideway glance at Kusaoka-san.
“Th-The tiles sure are dirty…”
There was an air of “Oh, dearie me!” about him as he diligently set about wiping the floor. It seemed he wasn’t listening to the conversation. That was a relief. I only disclose my finance information to a limited number of people. That I am able to control my clients’ information so thoroughly is proof of my excellent business practices.
“…I-I’m so sorry! I’m really sorry!” Anna-san’s head flopped up and down in a surprisingly doll-like motion. It was the kind of action that made me think she had a long life ahead of her. “Er, um… Shia was worried about someone! Someone somewhere! She owed that person money and was in trouble over it!”
“That’s quite a dilemma.” I smiled gently. I do hope that people in need can swiftly turn a new leaf after they fail to observe the golden rule of humanity—that of returning borrowed money.
“So then I wondered if Shia had reached out to another loan shark.”
“—Another loan shark, you say?”
I shot up to my feet in an instant, and then, being the calm and collected person that I am, I immediately cooled down. Instead, I clenched my hands into steely fists under the table.
I had predicted they would surface one day. By they, I mean a rival company.
Go-getters reap ample profit, but it is a fact of life that they will be overtaken as soon as they let their guard slip. There was a significant possibility that my missing clients had been taken in and persuaded of the inevitable by their finance business.
I had to thoroughly nip the problem in the bud and establish military rule.
“Anna-san! Do tell me more!” I leaned forward, unable to restrain myself.
“R-Really! I have no idea! Stop, really…!”
“It’s okay. There are no scary people here.”
“Oooooh…”
Much as I attempted to soothe her, Anna-san still seemed as if she was about to cry. She was like a girl on the receiving end of violent extortions from a demon from hell.
At times like these, there are people who can so easily say things like, “Talk to your parents,” or “Call the police,” as if they knew all about it. On the other hand, they could laugh and say, “These things happen. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
That is a truly horrible thing to say, in my opinion.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Are people aware of just how many victims have been hurt by those knowing words?
They are gripped with weakness and cultivated by fear; their very will is under someone else’s control. Their hearts are tainted with despair. Who can make a proper assessment of the situation under those circumstances? As far as those base individuals are concerned, individual strength alone is insufficient to contend with the situation. That is why they are driven to seek outside assistance.
As I mulled on those thoughts, I realised: Anna-san really could stand to be a little stronger.
Because she is a valued friend of mine, the words fear and control do not exist between us. This kind of dynamic is rather common among friendships.
Haruma-2
Whoa, how dark, I thought as I scrubbed the tiles.
Of course, I wasn’t talking about the coffee.
Johannes scared the shit out of me. She knocked over her cup without a single ounce of hesitation, only letting out the tiniest of peeps.
The paper napkin I had been wiping the floor with was soiled brown, and I could definitely feel its heat. I would probably get a slight burn if I touched the liquid directly. Not only that, it had made a permanent stain on Anna-chan’s pure white blouse.
You’d think it would be normal to get angry when something like that happens to you, but Anna-chan was wobbling like jelly and kept apologising over and over. By the time I looked up, having finished tidying up the floor, Anna-chan was still hunched over in shame.
“So then I wondered if Shia had reached out to another loan shark.”
“—Another loan shark, you say?”
There was not a flicker of surprise on Chigusa’s face as she repeated those words. Her manner was exceedingly calm, but underneath the table, her hands were clenched tightly into fists. Maybe it was because she didn’t really have much muscle, but I could see her arms were trembling slightly as she channelled her strength into her fists.
As far as I was concerned, it was my first time hearing that a fellow student had a loan shark, but judging from the way the two of them were talking, there was probably more than one of them. That much was easy to guess.
Given how rarely I spoke with people face-to-face, I’ve gotten good at inferring things from conversations between strangers. If you want to know how good I am, I’m so good that I could tell that one of the loan sharks in question was none other than Chigusa Yuu.
…I mean, at the moment, Yuu-chan’s keen interest in the subject was saying it all!
That said, Chigusa herself did not seem to be aware of it, so I figured I should pretend I hadn’t heard a thing… If I didn’t, I might end up with coffee on me!
One should not ask questions the other party does not wish to answer.
There are two important aspects of a smooth conversation. Don’t talk about things you’re not asked about, and don’t ask about things the other person didn’t say. If you follow these two rules, arguments and conflicts are inevitably avoided. Why, there is even a possibility that conversations will never happen at all.
Feelings, perspectives and imaginary boundaries all belong to the domain of the individual. Treading upon them is nothing but infringing upon another person’s territory. It’s an act of war, I tell you!
This is an era in which individuals should strive for an isolationist policy for the sake of domestic expansion within their minds, I think. Yep. The principle of peace at any cost? Non non, this is plain old concern.
However, the girl named Chigusa Yuu did not seem to have that kind of concern on her mind. She was currently leaning forward, hounding Anna-chan for an answer. Her hand was reaching out towards her smart phone, which she had placed on the table. “Anna-san! Do tell me more!”
“R-Really! I have no idea! Stop, really…!”
Anna-chan stiffened, but Chigusa’s fingertip would not leave her smart phone. Her body language was pretty much screaming: you know what’ll happen to you if you don’t fess up.
“It’s okay. There are no scary people here.” Chigusa beamed, causing Anna-chan’s shoulders to jolt in alarm. Yep, that Johannes Smile just now was scary as hell…
More than anything, it was scary how there was someone out there who could intimidate others with a cute smile and warm words. I’d seen the art of smiling to conceal anger on TV, but smiling to threaten others had to be a new art form…
Unfortunately, Chigusa’s art had left Anna-chan so frightened out of her wits that the conversation went nowhere fast.
“Who does that other loan shark happen to be? An acquaintance of yours?” I spoke up.
Anna-chan looked at me, relieved. This had to be that so-called Suspension Bridge Effect. Doesn’t this mean she’ll end up falling in love with me? Uh oh, spaghetti-o!
“Please tell us all the details.” In a flash, Chigusa motioned to lean forward, only for Anna-chan to stiffen once again.
If this was the tone of the discussion, then it was bound to go nowhere… I wanted to hurry up and go home already…
“You don’t have to tell us all the details,” I said, butting my way between Chigusa and Anna-chan. “Was there anything that particularly stuck out to you?”
Scrunching up her thoughts in recollection, Anna-chan began to speak slowly and falteringly. “About two weeks ago, you see, Shia and I were talking about what we’d do about summer swimsuits. Even though she said she was broke so there was no way she could buy any, she changed her mind altogether after school. That day, she was awfully generous with her money, and when I asked her about it, she said she got some special income…”
Oh man, I see how it is. Common sense declared that was when she got the money. The question was how she had managed to do it. That part of her story was impossible to overlook.
“How peculiar…” Chigusa spoke up suddenly, having been listening in silence. Or maybe she had been harbouring the same misgivings as I did. She was the same smiling girl as ever, but at that moment, there was a strange twinkle in her eyes. I could even see that she was angry, judging by the prickly atmosphere that had suddenly come over the table.
Guessing that she must have hit a sore spot, Anna-chan hastily chimed in agreement. “Y-Yeah… There’s no one else who could have lent money to Shia, but—”
Chigusa interrupted her. “I think that, before treating someone else, she ought to return what she borrowed. There are other things that ought to take precedence in the mind of any good citizen. However, Shia-san is peculiar in the he—I mean, she might have the wrong idea about things. As a friend, I may need to have a long and thorough talk with her about this.”
Oh, so that’s what she meant…
But you know, Johannes. I think you’re really not one to talk, given how peculiar you are! Didn’t Chigusa spin the story just like one of those yazuka or shady businessmen?
“If this happened after school, then she must have gotten the money from inside the school,” I said. “That’s the weird part.”
“…Is that really so peculiar?”
“Sure it is… Don’t you know what a school is for?”
“It is a place that forces you to come into contact with people whom one would certainly never be involved with by one’s own volition. It is a regressive cancer against the proper order. However, when it comes to the exchange of money, the financial system still functions better than the shambles of hierarchy,” Chigusa said matter-of-factly, her face completely straight.
“Um, okay. Right… moving on.”
This should go without saying, but schools aren’t supposed to function like banks. It was perfectly respectable to wonder how someone could perform money dealings in spite of that. Plus, you don’t casually stumble across people who think screwing high school kids out of their money is a great thing to do. But the thing was that Chigusa wasn’t the only one… Seriously, I’m wondering what goes on in the heads of those wannabe loan sharks.
Well, it takes one to know one. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s. Let’s look at it from the gospel according to the loan shark Johannes-kun.
I mean, there’s no use harping on about this chick’s sense of morals. I can’t even understand a normal person’s point of view. That applies even more to people who lack common sense.
So I may as well enjoy talking to Anna-chan, who supposedly had some!
“So, do you know where this Shia-chan person came from?”
“Indeed, it is as Haruma-san said. Do you happen to know where Shia-san went that day? If you know that as well as the amount she received and the interest, I would like to know in detail.” Chigusa had only meant to speak to Anna-chan like a normal person, but once again she barged her way forward.
Anna-chan flinched, as if taken aback by Chigusa’s intensity. “I don’t know the amount or interest, but I think she was in the student counselling room, maybe… When we were meeting up just before we went shopping, that’s the direction she was walking from…”
The student counselling room was in the first floor of the school building. It was a small room situated not far from the center entrance. Supposedly, it was used for providing guidance to students as the name suggested, but since many students at our school had impeccable grades, I didn’t usually see people coming in and out of that place.
Next to the student counselling room was the staffroom. The two rooms were connected in the middle, so I suppose it was the kind of arrangement where you could easily move from one room to the other.
When I was in my first year, a busybody teacher called me to the student counselling room and said, “Is anything weighing you down? You’re not getting bullied or anything?” The passionate, heartwarming counselling I received from him left me with a very strong impression. Wait, wasn’t the teacher acting solely to cover his own ass? Bad memories…
“The door over there wasn’t locked, though, was it?” Come to think of it, the teacher took his sweet time coming over that time when I was called over, so I remember having to wait around in the hallway for twenty minutes or so.
“I don’t think so… but I suppose maybe it kind of looked like she was coming from that direction or something…” replied Anna-chan in a less than confident tone. As she hummed in thought, her words progressively made less and less sense. Well, I did hear that eyewitness accounts of accidents are fairly unreliable…
“Most students can’t go in there. There’s a chance she came from some other place,” I said to Anna-chan, intended to nudge her thinking towards another approach.
At that moment, a voice came flying out of left field.
“No. If she had a key, that would invalidate the conditions of the closed room.”
“Huh?”
When I swung around at the sudden interjection, Chigusa had placed a finger to her lips, waggling it the way people did when unravelling a logic puzzle.
“Think about it. As long as you have a key, anyone can enter. If there is a door, then I don’t think you can call it a closed room at that point in time.”
I sighed. “You’re right.”
I found myself agreeing with that incredibly simple yet lucid response. It made sense. A real closed room was a box without any connecting points. If those conditions weren’t satisfied, then a way to enter the room had to exist.
The way Chigusa saw things made me wonder if she was from a different species. Just what you’d expect from someone lacking common sense… How did good ol’ Johannes manage to end up on the rooftop when it was off-limits anyway? That just proves my point.
Still, I was gripped by what Chigusa said: as long as you have a key.
The teachers were in charge of keys to the student counselling room, along with the year-level coordinators and the vice-principal. It was normal to see them going inside. Well, it wasn’t like someone couldn’t use a fake key, skeleton key or picklock, but that was a whole new can of worms. The first order of business was to lock onto a possibility and think about it. At this point in time, that was enough.
I’d asked what I wanted to ask, so I looked in Chigusa’s direction, channeling my desire to head home (“I wonder if I can go home now” “Wish I can go home” “I’m tired. Gonna yawn”) into my eyes. Chigusa was smiling brilliantly.
“Anna-san, thank you ever so much for telling us your story.”
All of a sudden, Chigusa bowed politely, leaving Anna-chan bewildered. “Er, um, uh, sure…”
From the way Chigusa was talking, she was totally wrapping things up. Awwright! I can go home! I thought, half-rising to my feet, only for Chigusa to yank my blazer sleeve.
“We’re only just getting started. I wonder how far the rumours about a black market in the student counselling room have spread. Given that it was not in my information network, it must not have been advertised through word of mouth, but in that case I wonder how the business could grow. Are they charging more per customer or relying on repeat clients? Just what kind of business model are they using?”
“I-I have no idea…”
“I cannot permit a lack of ideas! Anna-san, what do you think about offering to be a customer? This is a matter of responsibility!” Chigusa pressed Anna-chan, prompting the girl to start shaking all over again.
Her frenzied babbling was confusing, incoherent and served no use whatsoever. Not this shit again… Even reading the notices on the tray’s sheet seemed like less of a waste of time.
“…I’m gonna get some coffee,” I announced, before crawling my way to the counter, dragging my feet every step of the way.
Yuu-3
I spent an hour coaxing her after that, but in the end, Anna-san hardly said anything at all. For now, I decided to cut her debt balance to a mere 36,000 yen. Anna-san was crying with joy.
Kusaoka-san and I left MOL Burger behind us. When I looked up at the sky, there were neon lights: varied and squalid, the emblem of man-made greed.
In the city we live in, there is no such thing as darkness. Today, the city was sparkling so brilliantly it made my heart ache.
“That was an outrageous story, wasn’t it?” As I walked along the white section of the pedestrian crossing, I turned my gaze to Kusaoka-kun, who was walking on the black section. It was as if the two of us symbolised an angel and devil.
We had learned only one thing from the meek Anna-san.
“So money exchanged hands in the student counselling room next to the staffroom…”
“…I can’t imagine using a place like that, though.”
“Indeed.” I had never realised that a safe zone like that existed. It was nothing less than an outrage.
Then again, only the teachers could use it freely. The idea of the clergy making a meal out of students on the black market signifies the end of the world. They warranted a firm denouncement. If she made a mistake, Anna-san deserved a denouncement too.
The scene at MOL Burger had taken up quite a lot of time. As if competing with the night sky pressing down from above, the neon lights shone with gaudy bluster.
Prosperity usually has a shadowy side.
The giant department store, a relic of a bygone era, brings to mind the objet d’art known as the oversized shell. When it fell, the crowds became sacrifices. There is no end to the repair work being done on the highway, which stretches out across the city like a blanket. The Olympics are only just around the corner, but there are rumours that the operations have been stopped because of a peculiar political judgement.
If you venture into the back alley, there is a smorgasbord of oddballs and eccentrics: vagrants who sit and slobber while drinking some kind of medicine, religious folk who chant things like “Repent” and “The world is ending” under their breath, elderly women hugging soft toys as they scan the skies for their infant children. Their life-changing burdens constantly come to a head, and not a day goes past when I don’t hear the ambulance siren blaring.
However.
I bear no ill feeling towards this town full of open seams. I wonder if this would be considered the kind of love people reserve for their hometown. The more one lays eyes upon defects, the more one’s love is inflamed.
Before I knew it, I was humming.
“You seem to be in a good mood,” Kusaoka-san teased me politely. Somehow, it seemed as if he was in a good mood too.
“Now then, when we consider Shia-san’s whereabouts and the true nature of the other loan shark, there are many, many more things to investigate. We can also spend more time together, Haruma-san!”
“Um, but I want to go home?”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
I was astonished at his unexpected response.
Take a deep, deep breath. In and out. That way, I could calm my heartbeat.
As I fought to keep my breathing under control, I looked up at Kusaoka-san, trembling like a leaf. “What a thing to say out of the blue… The two of us are still high school students, you know.”
“Huh?”
“When you invite someone of the opposite sex to a private place, I would like you to know that person well enough first.”
“Huh? Why would you want to come to my house?”
“Huh? Don’t tell me you wanted to leave me and go home by yourself?”
“Well, yeah…”
“H-Huuuuh?”
I was no longer aware how many times my questions had been answered with questions. By the end, my stunned face met his, and that left me even more perplexed.
I can only say that our communication was dead. I wondered what on earth this person was thinking.
By your side is the perfect girl whom you fell in love with at first sight, with unrivalled good looks and a wonderful personality. Above anything else, you are being told that she has a lot of time to spare right now.
Why must you take actions that foil your chances right before your eyes? I am at a loss for words right now!
“…Okay! I’ve decided!”
“Er, um, what. Shit, I’m scared.”
“Our business is finished for today!”
“Huh, seriously? Now I’m scared for the opposite reasons.”
“And tomorrow we shall meet again! Haruma-san, you have no right to refuse!”
“Huh? Now I’m really scared.”
I have a favourite motto: Volunteer for unpopular service.
Kusaoka-san somehow seemed like the type of person who had few friends. Much as I find it hard to believe, he did have those moments of awkward communication. Even the caveman with his straw skirt and stone hammer learned to cooperate with others in order to hunt.
In today’s concrete jungle, I wonder if a child sent from heaven intended to live all alone. They would be considered a grotesque anomaly, even an enemy of society itself. For that very reason, only I was capable of taking action with him. I would make him into an enemy of society. That is the duty of a person on the receiving end of love at first sight. I would do it even if every person in the world were to reject him.
“Please leave everything to me! I will make you into a new man, Haruma-san! Being forced to do something you hate doing is what your mother taught you.”
“Uh, about that…”
Kusaoka-san nodded almost indiscernibly.
I wondered if my sincere, passionate feelings had gotten through to him. Beyond what he had already said, he did not display any reasons for rejecting me.
Haruma-3
En route to the station, Chigusa strode briskly through the night.
She brought me out, parted ways with me and made plans to meet up tomorrow without as much as a by your leave. That free spirit of hers was evident through her long, luscious black hair, which bobbed up and down like a hopping rabbit.
As I gazed at her back through the corner of my eyes, I muttered under my breath. Volunteer for unpopular service, huh? Japanese sure is a difficult language to get one’s head around.
It was something I sensed vaguely, but a seed of conflict lay between Chigusa and I. We were worlds apart, as different as night and day.
“Hey, Chigusa,” I called out to her.
“Yes?” Chigusa swung around on the spot, causing the edge of her skirt to flutter.
“I think there’s a fatal discrepancy in what we’ve been saying to each other.”
“I agree. Since we don’t know each other well yet, I suppose that kind of thing is inevitable. However, even if mutual concessions are difficult, I believe there will be no problems if I come to understand you completely, Haruma-san!”
Chigusa spoke with sparkling eyes and a rather solemn air, but what she was saying was even more psycho. She had the eyes of a kid who had been sucked into some new-fangled religion.
Oh, and let’s not forget what she actually said. I gave up trying to understand Chigusa a long time ago. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, there is not one atom of her I want to understand…
Well, putting aside the fact that I wasn’t about to understand Chigusa anytime soon, I did grasp that there was mutual awareness of that between us… For once, I agreed with her about something! Not that it fixed any of our problems!
Chigusa skipped along like a baby deer, humming all the while. When she kept her mouth shut, she really did look like a model on the front cover of a magazine. There was no way I would ever understand what went on in Chigusa’s head or heart, but no matter how deceptive outward appearances may be, there are some things that can’t be mistaken.
As I trudged behind her, scores of squalid buildings blinded me with fake lights, and mobs of people spoke around us with strange, coquettish voices. The town’s sights were so familiar that they seemed nothing but bland, not that it bothered me in the least.
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