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Chapter 4 – Persuading Mother Enami\nVolume 2\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nI’ve never seen Enami-san so defenseless before.\n\n
Showing her weakness is not like Enami-san. However, it is typical of Enami-san to do what she wants without caring about our presence. In any case, I still know too little about her.\n
It’s been less than two months since we started talking. All I know about her is that she is a strong-willed person who doesn’t get along well with others. I wondered if there was actually a completely different side to her. Fujisaki once told me that she saw Enami-san at the shopping mall. She appeared briskly when a little boy was crying and helped him with a gentle smile.\n
I’m beginning to believe that it must not be a misunderstanding or a whim, but a part of Enami-san’s essence.\n\n
“Nishikawa…, what did you mean when you said that?”\n
“Huh?”\n
“That she’s straining herself, and that she’s carrying it all on her own…”\n
“Ah, yeah.”\n\n
She seemed uncomfortable. Maybe she’s not sure if she can talk to me without Enami-san’s permission.\n\n
“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine…”\n
“…You won’t tell anyone?”\n
“Of course not.”\n\n
I’m not so daredevil as to tell anyone about it. If Enami-san finds out about it later, I’m sure she’s going to be very angry.\n
Nishikawa spoke in a quiet voice.\n\n
“Risa-chan has been working a lot on part-time jobs.”\n
“Part-time job? I thought our school didn’t allow part-time jobs.”\n
She nodded. I understood why she didn’t want me to tell anyone. I’m not sure what will happen if the teachers find out that Enami-san is violating the school rules.\n
“I don’t know much about it, but I heard that she works for hours after school and even on her days off. I don’t think she’s getting enough sleep.”\n
“…I didn’t know”\n
“I really don’t know much more than that, though, because she’ s not the type to blabber on about herself. I bet she’s having a hard time.”\n
” I see…”\n\n
I guess Nishikawa told me about this because she trusted me. Or maybe it was because she judged that Enami-san would not be that angry if she found out that she had told me.\n
Maybe, I think.\n
I wonder if money is not the only reason she is working part-time. This bleak room. It’s my own private space, but it doesn’t have any sense of life. I could feel that it was a sign that she didn’t want to stay in this house too much.\n
That’s why she tries to run errands outside the house and not come home. It fits a little better when I think about it that way.\n\n
“What should we do, Naochi?”\n
“Hmm…”\n\n
To put it frankly, our objective has already been fulfilled. We were able to check on Enami-san, but there was nothing more we could do. I felt that it would be a bad idea to proceed with the cleaning without her, and there was nothing we could do but leave.\n\n
“We’ll wait a bit, and if she doesn’t wake up, we’ll go home.”\n
“Yeah, ok.”\n\n
We can’t forcefully wake Enami-san who is not feeling well. We sat down on the floor beside her. It was typical of Enami-san that there were no seats or cushions.\n
We were both silent for a while, but then Nishikawa said,\n\n
“Hey, hey. Naochi, are you acquainted with Ando~u?”\n
” Ando~u? Who’s that?”\n
“It’s Ando. Eh? You don’t know him?”\n\n
Ando, Ando?. I searched my mind and finally remembered. He was the one who harassed Fujisaki when I was a freshman in high school. He hadn’t done anything noteworthy since then, and I had almost forgotten he existed.\n\n
“I’m pretty sure there was a guy like that in the tennis team, or maybe not…”\n
“Yeah, from the tennis team. I saw him the other day. He was talking about Naochi.”\n
“… It’s probably nothing good anyway.”\n
He must have been telling me to die or to just bugger off.\n\n
“… You know, Naochi, there’s a rumor going around that you’re dating Risa-chan, right?”\n
“Unfortunately”\n
“He also saw you with me and Risa-chan recently. He was ragging on Naochi like ‘He’s really a scumbag’, and ‘He’s trying to blackmail Enami into going out with him after he messed around with Fujisaki.’ “\n
“You know what? Don’t bother telling me about that. Just keep it to yourself, okay?”\n
“I don’t know why Naochi has to be put through all that, so I was wondering if something happened between you two.”\n
“What are you talking about? There’s no way right. We’ve never been in a club or class together.”\n
“That’s true.”\n\n
But that guy still hasn’t learned his lesson. I was dumbfounded.\n\n
“But even though he says all that, he still tries to avoid Naochi whenever he sees you. I don’t really understand.”\n
“Isn’t it just your imagination?”\n\n
I haven’t told anyone about what happened that day. If I talk about it, I inevitably have to talk about Fujisaki’s harassment, which would make Fujisaki feel uncomfortable.\n\n
“Well, I’ll be careful in the future. I’ll try not to get involved with him much.”\n\n
After that, I talked with Nishikawa for a while, but there was no sign of Enami-san waking up. In the end, we decided to leave the Enami house.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: Well, there’s a name I didn’t expect to see…\n\n