Vol. 2 Chapter 5.1

Translated by SoundDestiny Edited by SoundDestiny

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“I’ll pick you up at four o’clock.”

“…. thank you.”

I peered forward from the back seat and my gaze collided with cool eyes in the rear-view mirror.

Driving the car was detective Terashima-san.

She was one of the detectives who protected me when I was released from that room, and he’s been very good to me, but he’s kind of …… a bit unfriendly.

He is not very emotional, or he doesn’t seem to be interested in all kinds of things.

Today is Tuesday.

A real return to normality. It’s the first time I’ve been back to school in 20 days, including the period of my confinement.

A week has passed since I’ve been a patient that was undergoing a full examination at the hospital and interviewed by the police.

The results of the full examination showed no problems.

The only problem was that I had gained some weight. This was a mild shock. The cause is known, if I’m hungry and eat a lot of food, that’s what happens.

On the other hand, the police interview was not so easy.

In the end, 『I don’t remember anything. I realised it had been 13 days』. No, it would be more appropriate to say that I had to let it pass.

When I try to speak what I remember, I lose my voice. The same happens when I try to write. Now my hands stop moving. In fact, I remember quite a lot of things, but it was frustrating that I had no way of communicating them.

I was locked up in that room and someone held me a lot.

I was starved, intimidated and along the way, I volunteered. I remember wearing some disgusting underwear to try to please them. Just before I was released, I feel like they did something terrible to me.

But I can’t remember anything about the other person, which is the most important thing. Even though I can remember what the room looks like.

To the male detective who tries to get me to talk somehow,Terashima-san interjects, 『She must be in shock. It’s not a good idea to force her to talk now』 and  defended me.

She was also the one who reassured my worried parents when I resumed going to school.

For the time being, she will also take him to and from school. I didn’t expect the police to be so generous in their care for the victim.

So, for the time being, I won’t be able to take a side trip or go out with Jun-kun, but that can’t be helped. I’ll just have to put up with it for a while.

What relieved me more than anything was that I would be able to continue my activities as a reader model.

When I contacted the editorial department, Kinuta-san, who was in charge of all of my project, only vaguely knew that I had gone missing and the next shooting date was easily set.

I am very happy that I did not lose my foothold in my dream of becoming an actress.

But what were those thirteen days all about?

Who was the man who locked me up?

I kept getting bothered by the fact that I couldn’t remember.

“Misuzu-sama, we have arrived.”

I looked up to see that the car had already arrived at the school’s teacher’s parking lot.

For some reason, Terashima-san calls me 『Misuzu-sama』 when it is just the two of us.

“Um, …… Terashima-san, will you stop calling me 『Misuzu-sama』?　It makes me feel kind of mushy…….”

“Don’t mind it. It’s simply that I’m more comfortable calling you that.”

“Haa…….”

Come to think of it, I think I said something similar to someone somewhere. That, too, I couldn’t seem to recall.

×××

My pre-start break is invaded by Fujiwara-san.

Even now, as soon as she puts her bag, decorated with badges, on the desk, she pulls up a chair and clings to my arm.

‘What’s this?　Is she a new kind of ape or something with a new kind of ecology, like if she doesn’t hold on to something she’ll die? This child.’

However, it happens every day, so I just give up and look at her with a faraway look.

She didn’t even notice my 『bothersome appeal』, and she started to talk in my ear.

“Fuーmin!　Did you hear that?　Did you hear?　Misuzu is coming to school today!”

“……Kurosawa-san?”

“Yes, I heard Kitoran and Gori talking about it!”

By Kitoran I assume she means Kitora-sensei, the unmotivated aunt in the infirmary. Gori means Gorioka, the homeroom teacher……I mean, seriously, what is Gorioka’s real name?

My impression about Kurosawa-san coming to school was that it took longer than I thought. It has been a whole week since she was released.

I’ve been getting reports from Ryoko about her condition, and even if I don’t do anything, Fujiwara-san tells me about her interactions on social media, so I know her well.

“….hmmm.”

“Oh, you don’t look interested……”

“Actually, I’m not interested…..in the first place, the only contact I’ve had with Kurosawa-san is when she stepped on me.”

There is no objection there. She was so protective of her friend that he was willing to sacrifice himself for Masaki’s sake.

“Ahaha…Masaki-chi’s thing is a bit of a misunderstanding, but Misuzu is really a very nice girl. Also, Fuーmin. I’m sorry, but can I ask you to eat lunch by yourself today? It’s been a while since I’ve had lunch with Misuzu”

“Sure”

There’s nothing not to be saddened by. Rather, it is a reward. It was a welcome miscalculation that the return of Kurosawa-san would free me from Fujiwara-san.

But at the same time, there is one thing that bothers me a little.

Although Fujiwara-san didn’t seem to hear it, as soon as we started talking about 『Kurosawa-san coming to school』, Teruya-san, sitting diagonally in front of me, definitely clicked her tongue.

I honestly think I need to be careful about Teruya-san.

It was probably her who made Tachioka-kun threaten Fujiwara-san, and she also seems to be quite hostile towards Kurosawa-san.

I don’t care if it was just a few years ago, but now both Fujiwara-san and Kurosawa-san are important girls to me. If Teruya-san ever makes a move on them, I intend to crush them mercilessly at that time.

While I was thinking about this, suddenly the surroundings became noisy. When I turned my eyes towards the entrance of the classroom, I saw Kurosawa-san there.

She has long glossy black hair and her eyes are slightly pinched. The bridge of her nose has a beautiful line as if drawn with a brush. When I look at her again, she’s still quite a beauty.

“Misuzu!”

“Uwaa, it’s Misuzu! It’s been a long time!”

Starting with Kasuya-kun, all the cheerful people rushed towards her at once.

It seems that she has been communicating with Fujiwara-san and Kasuya-kun on social media, so everyone knows the general situation.

But she herself doesn’t remember anything and claims that it’s been 13 days since she has been found out.

“Shouldn’t Fujiwara-san go too?”

“Nn……I should rather refrain from going, except for Kasuya-kun.”

Clinging to my arm, Fujiwara-san replies.

This girl can’t be underestimated because she has a habit of being an idiot and sometimes makes good arguments.

After finishing her greetings, Kurosawa-san moves towards her seat. On the way there, she glanced at us.

“Yaho–Misuzu!”

“Mai…… you wrote in a message that you had a boyfriend, but I never thought it was……”

“Yes, yes, my boyfriend is Fuーmin!”

“Ehh…..”

The word [Ehh] was overly exaggerated.

As it would be. The fact that I was the one she spent time with in the 『Room』 has disappeared from her memory. In other words, her impression of me is from that point in time when she trampled me.

The look in her eyes when she looked at me clearly showed a hint of contempt.

“Hey, Mai. He must know about your weakness or something, right?”

“Eh?”

“You’re being threatened, aren’t you?　Otherwise, you wouldn’t be dating this guy. He’s gross, he stinks, and he has a distorted personality…..”

‘You really like to say rude things…oi.’

Despite my unintentional miffed reaction, Fujiwara-san laughed happily and said, [Ehehe].

“I’m glad. I’m glad that Misuzu thinks so. If Misuzu fell in love with Fuーmin, I wouldn’t be able to compete with her.”

“What!?”

“No, no, that’s a strange idea.”

I was the one who made the comment instead of Kurosawa-san, who was at a loss for words. But for some reason, Kurosawa-san snapped at me.

“You don’t say that! I mean, you!　What did you do to Mai? You’re not trying to do something nasty, are you!”

“Well, I think it’s more like the opposite…..”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying to get him to go to my house or to a hotel every day, but he’s so hard to get, Ahaha”

“E-ehh……”

Kurosawa-san let out an even more abrasive [heh] than before.

This is what it means to be unable to say a second word. In the indescribable atmosphere, as if out of concern, the opening chime rings and the homeroom teacher, Gorioka, enters the classroom.

Kurosawa-san walked hurriedly to her seat with her cheeks twitching.

×××

As announced, Fujiwara-san had lunch with Kurosawa-san and the others. Thanks to this, I enjoyed my lunch alone on the rooftop for the first time in a while.

However, the bento is still Fujiwara-san’s home-made lunch, and today, too, the heart mark drawn with sakura-denbu on top of the rice is painful.

“Time to be alone is necessary, isn’t it …..”

I mutter to myself. Sometimes it’s good to spend some alone time.

Rooftops are just right for relaxing at this time of year. Blue sky with hardly any clouds. The early summer sun is soft and warm. After finishing my lunch, I decided to lie down on the ground instead of a bench and enjoy the sun. But…

“Umm…… Kijima-senpai.”

As I was crumbling the heart mark on my sakura-denbu with my chopsticks as if I were avenging my parents, suddenly a shadow of a person falls over me. When I looked up, there was the figure of a girl I didn’t recognise.

From the colour of the ribbon on her chest, she seems to be a first-year student, but she is quite a pretty girl.

Her mischievous smile gives the impression of a cat.

Her long, back-length hair was a light chestnut colour and was carefully braided on either side of her head.

To sum up my first impression of her, she is the kind of girl who seems to turn men on.

When I tilted my head, she took one deep breath and opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.

“Um……my name is Rin Fukuda.”

“Haa……”

“Kijima-senpai! Please go out with me!”

“I’m sorry.”

Perhaps I answered too quickly, but she gave me a puzzled look, as if she didn’t understand what I was talking about.

“Ah…… ah, I feel like I’m going deaf.”

“Is that so?”

“Senpai, One More”

“Oh, okay…… But I have a girlfriend, so I’m sorry”

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

I don’t know why, but she was really surprised.

“W-wait, don’t you at least consider it? Don’t you think I’m cute? S-senpai’s girlfriend is Fujiwara-senpai, right? Do you prefer gals like her?”

If she asks me if she’s cute, yes, she’s cute. Her breasts are big enough to be seen on her clothes.

But when it comes to cuteness, Masaki and Fujiwara-san with no make-up are cuter, and when it comes to beauty, Kurosawa-san and Ryoko are more beautiful.

When it comes to breasts, Masaki is the champion with big breasts, Fujiwara is the champion with small breasts, and Kurosawa is the champion with beautiful breasts.

“I guess it’s like the belt is too short and the rope is too long.”

“What kind of evaluation is that!?”

No, even I know that. If it were normal, this girl would be at a level where I would say that she is disproportionate to me and that she is a prize. If a girl of this level confessed to me, the sensible reaction would be to say yes without a second thought.

But now that I have Fujiwara-san at school and Masaki-chan at home, I have no reason to go out with this girl, and my biggest concern at the moment is how to get Kurosawa-san back to me again and bring her into enslaved.

No matter how I think about it, I can’t afford to devote myself to this girl.

‘And…if I really wanted to make her mine, I could just lock her up.’

Nowadays, playing the love game of going out or not going out is too frustrating for me.

If I want this girl, I will lock her up. That’s how much devilish thinking is taking root in me.

I’m aware that I’ve fallen for Lili’s schemes, but once I’ve reached this point, there’s no escaping it.

“That’s why I’m sorry”

As I bowed my head, she bit down on her teeth, glared at me, and spoke.

“You! You’d better remember about today!”

She looked like a bandit who had been repulsed.

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