CH 81

Chapter 81 – Knock Knock, Who’s There?

After we ate the mochi, things had calmed down a little bit and I could finally sneak back to my room safely.

The year just started and there were too many things happening already, I was tired both mentally and physically. I felt like I could turn into Nobita-kun, I could fall asleep in an instant as soon as I closed my eyes. (T/N: Doraemon reference)

I laid down on my bed and gradually, my sense of time started to blur. When I was about to fall asleep, someone knocked on my door.

I quickly sat up and started to think. Who could it be? Among the Sakakis, who exactly would knock on my door.

Sakaki Ugin… Nope, she would never do that. Seriously, even though she would go ham at me if I were to enter her room without knocking, so unfair. I wish I could bring this matter up to the International Court of Justice and erase this injustice once and for all.

Mom… Probably? She was the most sensible of all the Sakakis, she would probably knock before entering my room. No, she definitely would knock.

Dad… Nope, he never even came to my room in the first place.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Arina appeared from behind the door.

“Huh? W-W-Why are you here?! Are you finally going to kill me?!”

“So this is what your room looks like…”

“Oi oi oi, don’t just come in here like that! This room is haunted! A long time ago, seven women were found dead here because of charcoal poisoning!”

“You live in a room like that?”

“I mean, it isn’t all bad. Sometimes the ghosts would strangle me, but not to the point where it would be enough to kill me.”

“Sure sure.”

Slam. Clank.

A very ominous sound echoed through my room. She used the door’s inner lock that I’ve never used. I never expected that someone other than my family would use it. It seemed like she really was out for my blood.

I quickly grabbed my gun– no, my pencil case. I watched enough movies to know where this would go. First she would corner me then, I would try to resist her to no avail. In the end, she would shoot me in cold blood and my chest would be ruptured without much resistance. My blood would eventually fill my lungs as my whole body went cold as time went on. Then, the end roll came and everyone would leave the theater after picking up their garbage.

“Stop, please, I’m not ready to die!”

“I see.”

“D*mn it! Listen to me at least…”

“I see.”

“You cold-blooded devil!”

“I see.”

No good. This is as far as I could get.

I should stop messing around.

She came to my room, probably to satisfy her curiosity, but even I could tell that it wasn’t all. I remembered the expression she made back at the station. She probably planned to elaborate about it now.

I made her sit on a chair and she did. Meanwhile, I sat down on my bed and switched my mind to serious mode.

“The Thirtieth…”

“Huh?”

“My dad visited our house back on December Thirtieth…”

“What? Your dad?…”

“The one that mom divorced…”

The one that her mom divorced.

In other words, he was the one who abused Arina.

I could feel my chest tighten as a silent rage rose up within me.

“…Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but… I was scared… I don’t remember anything that happened back then, but my body does… When I saw him, my body couldn’t stop shaking…”

“Are you really okay? Did he do something to you?”

“I’m okay, you’re overreacting, you know?”

“Anyone who knows what you’ve gone through would act the same as me!”

“I thought you were the kind of person who’d love to watch the world burn but, you’re surprisingly kind, aren’t you?”

“What am I, a chuunibyou?”

She giggled at my response. She raised her face that had been downcast and looked at me. Our eyes met for a moment before I inadvertently turned my gaze away from her. Calm down, my heart!

“He said he wanted to live with me again.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

After all he had done, he wanted to live together with her? Was he insane? How could he be so selfish? Couldn’t he at least consider his ex-wife’s and daughter’s feelings?

Arina stared at me silently. I didn’t know what she wanted to say, but her eyes were urging me to speak up.

“What did your mother say?”

“Of course she rejected him. No matter how long he was stuck in prison, it couldn’t erase his mistakes just like that…”

“He was in prison?”

“Yeah. He said that he’s a changed man now, but who would believe him? He left right before mom could call the police but I think that wouldn’t be the last time we’ll see him.”

“Oi, oi, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Like I said, I am. Don’t worry, if I feel troubled, I’ll ask for your help. You’re the only one I can depend on, after all…”

“Eh, are we entering the romcom route now?”

“I’m going to hang you…”

If she asked me for help, of course I would gladly help her. Even if I had to confront her dad, I swear with all my being that I would protect her… Whoops, I was getting ahead of myself there.

Arina got up from the chair and wandered around my room. She approached the bookshelf and pulled out my middle school album.

“May I take a look?”

“Noo~ It’s embarrassing~”

“You’ve lived a shameful life, I see.”

“Who do you think I am, Dazai Osamu?” (T/N: The author, not the anime character. It’s a reference to his most famous book, No Longer Human. It’s a famous quote from the first chapter of the book, ‘Mine has been a life of much shame’.)

Arina then sat down next to me. Our distance was about three fists away and I could smell her scent very clearly. I involuntarily held my breath. Would it be a crime if I were to take a few sniffs? Ugh, why did she smell so good?

“Why do you look so nervous?”

“I-It’s scary…”

“Huh?”

I felt intimidated by this whole situation. If I were to take deeper breaths, I would inhale more of Arina’s scent.

She flipped through the album pages, it seemed like she wanted to look at it together with me. It was literally the first day of the year and I had to deal with this much stimulation…

“Ah, this is you, right?”

She was pointing to a class group picture. I remembered back when we took that picture. We were instructed to smile but we messed around instead. But, during that time, I was so nervous so I ended up making a strange smile. That awkward expression I had was now preserved in this album. I wanted to go back to the past and hit the past me.

“Even back then, you were ugly, huh?”

“That one actually hurts, you know?”

“Is this Shirona? Even back then she looked cute, don’t you think so?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“I won’t tell Shirona about this.”

“…Yes, she is cute…”

“What a boring response. Why can’t you use better words to describe her?”

“Sorry…”

She silently flipped open pages after pages. Was it really that interesting, looking at someone’s album like this? I tried to imagine Arina’s middle school days, back when the angelic Arina was in charge. Alright, maybe looking at someone’s album was indeed interesting.

After she was finished, she handed the album back to me.

“I envy you.”

“Huh?”

“When I looked at mine, I didn’t even know what I was looking at.”

“Ah… Then, we’ll make sure that you’ll enjoy looking at your next album.”

“Eh?”

“Our high school album.”

“…Ah, right…”

Silence enveloped the room. It was an awkward silence, but the atmosphere wasn’t tense.

She swung her legs and seemed perfectly at ease. I couldn’t help but admire her beautiful profile. The way her long eyelashes slowly brushed in the air looked somehow seductive to me.

Suddenly, the doorknob moved.

Rattle rattle!

“Oh cr*p! It’s Ugin! Why did you lock the door?”

“Because we were having a private conversation.”

“I mean, I get where you’re coming from but think about it! A pair of high school boy and girl in a locked bedroom together, people would be bound to misunderstand things!”

“Is that so?”

“Stop acting like an airhead! It’s too late to pull that card out and besides, you aren’t one!”

Rattle rattle!

“Bro! Brooo, why are you locking the door?”

I could hear the voice of the devil through the door.

My soul shivered.

Hands sweaty.

There was no escape.

The clock was ticking.

The doorknob lightly shook.

My heart pounded.

“Arina, what did you tell them before coming to my room?”

“Uh… ‘I want to go to the toilet’, I think?”

“What the hell?! Who would go to the toilet for this long?!”

“Perverts like you?”

“Whatever!”

This wasn’t working. I should unlock the door and come out obediently. Now, what excuse should I give her?

“I’ll hide inside your closet, so go out. I’ll tell them that I took a long time because I was fixing my dress.”

“Amazing! That could work! As expected of our number one beauty!”

Arina opened the closet and went inside while I shouted at Ugin, ‘I’m going to open the door, so stop that!’. With Arina’s nod as a cue, I unlocked the door while Arina closed the closet.

Ugin, the human with no morality, the symbol of evil, stood there.

“You’re so noisy, why can’t you knock like a normal person?”

“Why did you lock the door? Is Arina-san here?”

“Of course not. I locked the door so you guys can’t pull a prank on me again when I’m sleeping!”

“Ehh… I thought you were together with Arina-san…”

“If you thought so, then knock on the door properly!”

“Eh, whatever. Tsuru-san is about to go home, Arina-san’s still in the toilet it seems…”

“She probably has a big one coming out! HAHAHAHA!”

I could hear a rattle from inside the room.

“You’re the worst! Don’t treat a girl like that! How could someone like you still be alive and kicking?”

“My love for you keeps me going.”

“Your love is too heavy for me.”

Ugin’s opinion of me has lowered but it was worth it, she went down the stairs right after that. I called out to Arina before following Ugin.

At the entrance, Tsuru and mom were chatting. It seemed like they were waiting for Arina.

Not long after, Arina came.

“Sorry, I took a long time because I had to fix my dress…”

“My, is that so? Let me see…”

Mom approached her and began to adjust her dress carefully, starting from her midriff.

“D-Don’t look!”

“Sorry–”

“Don’t look at her!”

The moment Arina said that, Ugin tackled me while shouting like a berserker. My body was blown up and crashed against the wall. I could hear a terrible sound coming from my shoulders. I was lucky that they were still attached properly to my body.

“Thank you…”

“Don’t mind it. Feel free to visit again, you two.”

No, please don’t.

“Yes!~ Thank you for your hospitality!” replied Tsuru cheerfully.

No way. Please, I’ll actually die if you guys come here again.

“Then, happy new year! Sorry for bothering you.”

“Sorry for bothering you.”

“Likewise! C’mon Bro, say something!”

“H-Happy new year…” (T/N: I hate translating those greetings.)

After sending us a bow, the girls left our house. The sound of the door closing broke the lingering silence after they left. At the same time, I let the air out of my lungs along with all my tension.

“Everything’s over, finally…”

“They are so cute! I still can’t believe it!”

“Well, they are popular at school (one of them is a problem child though).”

“So, which one?”

“What?”

“Tsuru-chan or Arina-chan? Which one?”

“Ugin-chan, help me! Your mom is being a busybody!”

“I’m going to bed.”

After that I spent half an hour trying to clear up the misunderstanding that mom had. It was hard to watch my mom, who had entered the later stage of her life, talking about love like a teenage girl, so I did my best to stop her from tarnishing her honor.

When she eventually released me and I got back to my room, I found a certain magazine sitting right in the middle of the room.

It was a p*rn mag. I bought it as a joke back in middle school and I’ve never read it ever since, so I stored it deep inside my closet. So, how the hell did this book get here? Obviously it was because of a certain girl.

She even left a message there.

‘Die.’

It was a word filled with unfathomable strength. I didn’t know if that word was meant for the woman with huge assets inside the magazine or the magazine as a whole, though.

Speaking about Arina, I was really worried about her.

That fragile girl had to go up against an adult man. If that failure of a father of hers were to try and kidnap her, she wouldn’t be able to resist him, would she? Could she protect herself? There were eighty thousand cases of missing people every single year on average and not all of them were found.

I prayed that nothing would happen to her. When I got to meet her again, I should look at her face closely so I could tell if she ever sent a sign of distress.

I hope the winter break ends quickly.