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Vol. 3 Chapter 1.4




Translated by SoundDestiny Edited by SoundDestiny
“Hey, Nee-chan. You called me and now you told me to go home? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“That’s not what I’m after anymore. Didn’t you see the news during the day?”
“Aa, the one about all the girls going missing?”
“Yeah, that one. Thanks to that, I have to go back to the scene now.”
“Even if you say that, I can’t go back to the dormitory now. I’ll leave on my own tomorrow and let me stay here, it’s auto-locked, right? Here.”
“W-wait a minute! Kyoko-chan!”
Slamming, noisy footsteps could be heard coming from the front door.
With a ban , she opened the door and a rather flamboyant woman entered the living room. Her red-dyed hair was bouncing carelessly, as if it had not been groomed very well, and on her ears was a string of ring earrings and ear cuffs. She has a well-defined face but no make-up, giving the impression that she is a little younger than Terashima-san.
She wears a sleeveless black T-shirt and black skinny jeans. She wears a checked flannel shirt around her waist and carries a soft case on her shoulder that looks like an electric guitar.
At a quick glance, she gives the impression of a punk rocker from a decade ago.
As soon as she saw me, she rolled her eyes and screamed out in a crazy voice.
“Uoo, a beautiful girl. My sister’s bringing in a beautiful girl in uniform!”
“Don’t talk like that! I’m sorry, Kurosawa-san.”
“Y,yeah…”
“So, Nee-chan, who is this girl?”
“Hah……I give up, This is Misuzu Kurosawa. I’m taking her into temporary custody because of the flood of press at her home.”
“Kurosawa……Kurosawa…….Ah! I saw that on the daytime news!　It’s the model girl who came back alone!”
‘The model child who returned alone…..’
When I was surprised that such a thing was even on the news, a red-haired woman thrust her face in my face unkindly and I turned away with a tajitaji movement.
[TL: タジタジ tajitaji: A word that expresses the state of retreating, being discouraged and flinching in the face of difficulties or being intimidated by the other party ]
“Ooooh, so cute! Her face is so small! Her style is amazing! Models are awesomeー!”
“Oi! Kyoko, you’re scaring Kurosawa-san 　Sorry. This is…..my sister.”
“I’m Kyoko Terashima!　Please feel free to call me Kyoko.”
“O,Ore? Yeah, pleased to meet you…..”
[TL: same note provided by TinyTL. Me -> Ore -> It was usually used by “men” with people they are close with -> Kyoko using that word instead of Watashi) ]
My face twitches at the sheer force of Kyoko’s pressure.
I knew she must be her sister from her face and the conversation between them but she is so different from Terashima-san’s type that I am no longer confused.
“Haa…. sorry. Can my sister stay here too?”
“It’s fine…good or not, I’m also on the side of being taken care of.”
I can’t help but smile at the sight of Terashima-san. Only Kyoko-san is smiling in a good mood.
From the content of their conversation, it seems that Terashima-san called Kyoko-san for some kind of business but was unable to do so because of the disappearance of the girls’ track team members.
“Well, Kyoko-chan. Onee-chan have to go now! You can use my bedroom but don’t bother Kurosawa-san!”
“HeeiheiーIii”
When Kyoko-san fluttered and waved her hand in a troublesome manner, Terashima-san sighed heavily again and turned her head towards me.
“Well then, Kurosawa-san, please take your time and rest.”
Without saying so, she left in a hurry.
I haven’t known Terashima-san for a long time, but I feel like I’ve never seen her speak so emotionally. It’s like the words are full of blood….. something like that.
“I haven’t seen you for a long time, but you’re still as formal as ever, Nee-chan.”
Kyoko-san propped the guitar case against the wall, then went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and without any pretence of discretion, took out a beer.
“Do you want something to drink too, Kurosawa-chan?”
“Uh, yes. Water or tea if you have any…….”
“Haaーii.”
I sit down on the sofa bed that Terashima-san has arranged for me to sleep on and receive a plastic bottle of mineral water from Kyoko-san.
“Kyoko-san, that……news or something, has it been reported that much?”
“Hmm? Oh, you mean the case. Well, it’s a media treat when young girls are involved, so why don’t you have a look?”
Kyoko-san picked up the remote control from the table and switched on the television. As she flicked through the channels, she found that it was probably because it was right around the time of the evening news. All the stations seemed to be talking about the disappearance of the female track and field team member.
Kyoko-san stops at the appropriate channel and we watchit  for a while, and when my and Masaki’s names come up in the explanation of how the incident happened, I involuntarily stiffen. At least, while I was watching, my portrait did not appear but I still felt depressed.
“So, Kurosa-chan, really, where were you while you were missing?”
“Just like they said on the news just now. I don’t remember it at all, and then I realised the date had passed, like….”
“Hehー!　Maybe you’ve been abducted by aliens!　Do you have a chip or something implanted somewhere in your body?”
“Haha…..that’s not a bad idea but the hospital did a full examination and everything was fine…..”
When talking to Kyoko-san, she was more personable and easier to talk to than Terashima-san.
She spreads out crisps she has found in the kitchen and then we engage in chit-chat.
She is in charge of the guitar in a reasonably popular amateur girls’ band and had practised at the studio today before coming here.
“Do you see your Onee-chan often?”
“Mmーno, it’s probably been about two years. It’s the first time I’ve been here. I’ve been looking at a map on my phone while searching this place. When we move away from our home, you don’t get a chance to see each other at all. Currently, I’m staying in a university dormitory.”
“Heh……I see. I also wanted an older sister like Terashima-san. She’s kind and cool like a smart woman……”
“Haha, it’s not that good. When your Nee-chan is too good, you know. It’s hard for me as  the younger sister. No matter what you do, you’re always compared.”
“Is that how it is?”
“That’s the way it is. So, in order not to be compared to Nee-chan, I tried to go in a different direction as much as possible, and I think that’s what I’m doing now.”
Kyoko-san chuckles with her third beer in her hand. She is not at all pale, perhaps because she is a strong drinker.
“But you know, I was surprised. I haven’t seen my sister for two years, and she suddenly called me. She said she’s going to introduce me to the best guy, so come to my place……”
“hmm?”
You don’t get it, right? What does she mean? What kind of best man would be introduced to me by that stiff? Well, I’m…… curious
“You don’t know what that means, do you? What does she mean? What kind of a man is the best man that a tough woman like her could introduce me to? Well….that’s why I was interested.”
“……I can’t imagine it but maybe he wears silver-rimmed glasses or something?”
“Ahaha, maybe so. Well, I just broke up with a guy and I thought it would be fun to come here and see what it was all about”
“Um…..why did you and your boyfriend break up?”
“Oh, you’re interested?”
“I-I’m sorry”
“Ahaha! It’s okay. Well, there are many reasons, but I think the main one is sex”
“………..What?”
The answer was so unexpected that my brain refused to comprehend it.
“Because, you know, we’re human beings and when we are together, there will always be things that piss us off or that we don’t like. It’s only in the first three months of a relationship that you can blindly say 『he’s so cool』 or 『I love him』.”
“Haa…… is that right?”
“Yes, I do. But if the sex is good, the expiry date of 『I like you』 is renewed every time we have sex. Women are selfish creatures, so in the end they like a man who satisfies them.”
“He…Heee……”
Lately, I feel like I’ve been letting out these superficial [heh] more often than not.
“So, Kurosa-chan, do you have a boyfriend?”
“Ha, yes. We only started going out at the end of last year.”
“So, how is it? How’s the chemistry?”
“I,I don’t know.”
“I see, you’re new at this. Then, next time you have sex with your boyfriend, you should try it while paying attention to the chemistry. A man with whom you have good sex seems to be the one you were meant to be with. It’s like God created them that way.”
“I guess so……”
“Yes, it is. Well, I haven’t met a guy like that yet.”
×××
“Hey, Fumio!　I saw the news. Your school is in trouble!”
As soon as I arrived home, my mother scurried out of the kitchen and into the foyer.
“Yeah, that’s why they said the school will be temporarily closed tomorrow. I don’t know any of the missing students, so it’s a bit of a strange thing for me. I just feel lucky to have more holidays.”
‘I’m actually right in the middle of all the commotion.’
“Is Mai-san okay?”
“The ones who went missing were girls from the girls’ track and field team. Fujiwara-san had nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t care about that…..but you made sure you took Mai home, didn’t you? I’m not worried about you, but I’m worried about Mai-san……”
“Yes but let’s worry about your own children, MaiMazaー. I just happened to drop her off at Fujiwara-san’s house today.”
[TL: It’s [My mother] why I wrote like that is that Fumio called his mother in english, meaning in katakana: マイマザ ]
“That’s fine then……but don’t go out there and say you’re lucky. There are kids in the neighbourhood who got caught up in it.”
“Seriously?”
I roll my eyes involuntarily. I didn’t think that there were students from the same school so close by, let alone when I was in primary school or junior high school. Nor did I think that they would be among the students I had locked up.
“You know, Saori-chan from Moribe-san’s family, you used to go to school with her in elementary school. Don’t you remember her?”
“Not at all, I don’t remember.”
“Moー, she used to call you Onii-chan, Onii-chan but you’re such a heartless boy.”
Primary school students in this school district are supposed to go to school in groups in the morning with other children from the neighbourhood. However, just because they go to school together doesn’t mean they are friends, and they naturally drift apart once they reach junior high school. I have a vague recollection of walking to school with a girl’s hand in my hand, but I no longer remember her face or name.
“But still, it was tough with the……press blocking the main gate. It would be unbearable if it was still like this at the beginning of the week.”
The chaos at the end of the school day was quite severe.
I didn’t want to get caught up in the commotion and even though homeroom had long since finished, I was still gazing blankly out of the classroom window towards the chaos at the main gate.
“Haha, what a commotion. But from my point of view, I guess I’m lucky. I get to spend more time with Fumin than usual.”
Fujiwara-san leans on my shoulder as if to pamper me. However, as usual, I could hardly feel her breasts against my chest, so I didn’t have to pay any attention to her. It really is a safe washboard.
There were a few other students left in the classroom who seemed to be planning to leave after the chaos had settled down, but the teachers must have been told to send the students home as soon as possible. [Kuuoraa! Get out of school quickly!] Gorioka, the homeroom teacher, shouted at us, and we all left the classroom in a hurry.
But we still couldn’t bring ourselves to leave in the midst of all that press. Fujiwara-san and I had no choice but to head towards the back gate. The back gate is always closed, but the wall is not so high that we can just climb over it.
“Fu–min! Catch me.”
“I can’t. Get down yourself.”
“Ehhh, no way!”
I climbed over the fence and looked up at Fujiwara-san, who was standing on top of the fence, and I saw her really nasty leopard-print shorts.
The back gate faces a forest road and there were no press present, probably because it is a place where no cars can enter. Some of the others had gone home through here and there were many footprints of athletic shoes on the damp soil outside the gate.
‘It’s a long way but it’s a lot better than being squeezed in by those people……’
With schools temporarily closed tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will all this fuss be over by Monday?
I don’t expect the news media to stick around for that long unless there are new developments, but if I have to take the long way home from the back gate every day, that’s quite a hassle.
Who’s to blame, well……it’s my fault.
×××
After dinner, I lay in bed in my room.
I wasn’t going to visit the 『Bedroom』  today. Because today would be a day to embrace Ryoko, but she is investigating the abduction of the girls’ track and field team.
Ryoko had messaged me to apologise for not being able to spend the evening with me, but of course it was nothing to apologise for. It was me who created this situation.
‘It’s not a bad idea to take a break once in a while…..’
While I was thinking about this, Lili suddenly appeared, spinning round and round right above me. Then, with an unusually serious look on her face, she asks me.
“FumiFumi, there is one thing I want to confirm with you, Devi.”
“What?”
“This time, FumiFumi did something reckless because of that black gal, right Devi?”
“Well. At least half of them do. Four people took images of Fujiwara-san. It’s not enough to identify her as a short-cut athlete and it’s also possible that stories about Fujiwara-san’s past may have been leaked to other girls. I really should have dealt with it when she was filmed but at that point I didn’t think anything of her.”
“Sympathy Devi?”
“I don’t know how to say it…….I just dislike it. I feel agitated with people messing with my stuff.”
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Devi. I’m just wondering why, for someone who says……she’s yours, but only her, the black gal doesn’t get locked up by you. Devi”
“Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, it does seem a bit weird, doesn’t it?”
“It doesn’t make sense, Devi.”
“I don’t know if I can explain it well, but Masaki-chan, Kurosawa-san and Fujiwara-san are special in my heart. It’s difficult to ask what’s special about them, but I’m attracted to them to the point where I can’t rank them higher or lower…..”
“It’s no mystery, Devi. It’s just hatred turned upside down, Devi. If you are unable to choose between them, it is unreasonable for you to avoid touching the black gal, Devi”
“That’s the thing, but the difference between her and Kurosawa-san and Masaki-chan is that she’s been exposed to men’s desires all her life. It’s on a hypothetical level but I think I’m special to her because I can hold her at any time but I don’t…….I feel like if I make a bad move, my value to her is going to plummet.”
When I said this and turned my attention towards Lili, she had a look of great surprise on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“FumiFumi has grown up, Devi. You’re so cheeky!”
Read only at Travis Translations