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OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 9

2013-08-14T23:40:17Z

86.218.197.243: Undo revision 278393 by 86.218.197.243 (talk)

==Chapter 9 The Gray World Split Apart is Mayhem==

After a few days, it was Sunday afternoon.

Although it was a rare day off school, we in ｢Jien-Otsu｣ were ordered to the clean the school’s swimming pool, which is otherwise known as punishment by labor. Exposed to the intense sunlight during the height of summer, we brushed the deck and brushed the pool drained of water; this bitterness was enough to make me want to curse all the world’s living things.

"Why does a swimming pool without water exist in this world? We obviously don’t need it."

Chiwa rested her chin against the handle of her brush, muttering nonsense to herself.

"Even swimming pools with water have no reason to exist in this world."

Masuzu indifferently moved her brush.

The two of them wore their gym clothes, and because of their sweat it stuck to their skin… and as a result the outline of their underwear was visible. It made me unsure where to look.

Incidentally, we did not ask Hime to come. If she got heatstroke working this hot weather, that would be bad.

"Ah --- Do you mean, Natsukawa is useless?"

"You’re quite rude. I can swim."

"But before you almost drowned, right? How can you drown at a depth where your feat can touch the bottom of the pool? Why don’t you tell me the details?"

Having identified her enemy’s weakness, Chihuahua-san drew closer to Masuzu, unable to contain her joy, but ---

"I refuse. To compensate, should I describe to you the flavor of Eita-kun’s lips?"

Chiwa was wounded by the response, and the corner of her mouth trembled for a moment.

Thousand and was sharply riposte, mouth shaking a bit.

Then, for reasons I didn’t understand, she stared at me and said:

"Ei-kun, you’re about to drown! I’ll give you artificial respiration to eliminate the memory of this bitch!"

"Wouldn’t it be better of Harusaki drowned? That way, I’ll give you artificial respiration, so that way you can have an indirect kiss with Eita-kun. You’d be happy, right?"

--- They were really at their wits’ end.

I tried to clean far away from the sparks and flames shooting from the two of them. If I were caught in it, it would be unbearable. But even though Masuzu said that she’d ｢forget about the artificial respiration business｣, I didn’t understand why she let herself be provoked by Chiwa.

After we cleared the bottom of the pool of filth, a black limousine pulled into the parking lot as we sprinkled the side of the pool with a hose.

Just as I was thinking that I had seen that somewhere before ---

"Hi --- Nii-san ♪"

Natsukawa Mana.

Masuzu’s little sister shook her blond hair and got off the limousine. Her bodyguard dressed in black also got off from the driver’s seat, and followed from the side.

"......You again?"

I firmly stared at her from the pool deck, very much wanting to spray her with the water hose. Because this girl kissed me and caused so much trouble for me.

Mana condescendingly returned the stare:

"So it looks you made up with Suzu? So boring, especially after all my trouble to start some chaos."

"Mana, what are you doing here?"

Masuzu spoke, with her face stiff and body frozen next to me.

"This is my school, and I don’t want you to take one step in here."

"Such a rude greeting, even though I particularly came here to apologize."

"Apologize?"

As Masuzu and I tilted our heads, puzzled, Chiwa finally returned from putting away the deck brushes.

"That’s weird. Ei-kun, who is that girl?"

At that moment, Mana gave out a ｢Wahh- ♪｣

"Is this girl Harusaki Chihuahua? Huh --- she’s quite cute."

This girl even know about Chiwa?

When she said she even knew ｢the headmaster of Suzu’s school｣, she wasn’t lying? Perhaps she even found out that we would be at the swimming pool today through that means.

"So, Nii-san must be really popular, with this girl in one arm while holding Suzu in the other---"

Chiwa stared at her intently, feeling quite uncomfortable.

Masuzu spoke in an irritable voice:

"Get to the point. What are you apologizing about?"

"Ah, well ......"

Mana deliberately clapped her hands together as if pretending to beg forgiveness from Masuzu:

"You know that time I said I’d take care of things with Dad? It was no good. ♪ Dad got extremely angry, and I couldn’t do anything about it."

Masuzu’s expression visibly froze.

"He wants you to go home right now, and he doesn’t want you to wait until the end of the semester. If you don’t, he said he’d even go directly to your apartment and drag you back."

"No!"

Unexpectedly, Masuzu cried out in an emotional voice.

"My apartment is the only thing I don’t want him to touch! I absolutely don’t want that person to come!"

"If that’s the case, you can only listen obediently, right?"

A triumphant smile emerged on Mana’s face.

"I’ll arrange your luggage and so forth, so Suzu-chan can just go home. If you don’t leave by tomorrow or the day after...... well I can’t say for sure what will happen, hm?"

Masuzu did not respond.

Masuzu was sweating so much it seemed like a lie, and she shivered slightly.

"Nii-san, why don’t you use this to throw a goodbye party for Suzu?"

Mana took a purse from the man dressed in black, and grabbed a ten thousand yuan banknote and stuffed it inside the fence of the swimming pool. Even if she was a stupid middle school student, she was rich.

"I don’t want it, take it back."

"Really? It’s better to turn down gifts of money. Is that how your aunt raised you?"

"......Why do you even know about that?"

"Haven’t I said it already? I have investigated. Everything."

Mana tored apart the ten thousand yuan bill into shreds, and let it be scattered by the wind.

The man wearing black opened the door, and Mana got into the limousine.

"So, to each of you young maidens in the club, farewell---"

Mana waved her hands like a naïve child and left.

......Damn, she really did what she wanted.

Chiwa watched the taillights of the limousine and said:

"What?! That girl is so arrogant! Does Natsukawa know her?"

"That girl is a Masuzu’s little sister."

"S-sister? Really? But their hair color isn’t the same!"

Although I was also curious about this, I didn’t want to ask Masuzu, so I could only ignore it. My best guess is that they didn’t share the same mother or father, and perhaps they had a very complicated family.

Even at this point Masuzu still had her head bent down, wordless.

"What are you going to do, Masuzu?"

"......I can only go back. Go back home."

"Ah, there’s nothing you can do about it, right? Since your father even said it to that extent… at least it’s almost summer vacation."

Chiwa probably still did not understand the situation.

She thought that ｢go home｣ meant ｢visiting relatives｣.

I was afraid that ---

"Where is Natsukawa’s family from? Kanto? Northeast? It can’t be Hokkaido?"

"From Sweden."

"............"

Chiwa was stunned.

"I'm afraid I might never come back tot Japan."

"Really?"

Masuzu did not meet my eyes, as she nodded slightly.

Then, she suddenly spoke out in a refreshed voice:

"Ah --- it looks like my relationship with Eita-kun will end here. I can’t try to maintain a long-distance relationship while separated by an ocean. Although our time together was short, I was very happy to be together with you."

"......"

Only Chiwa was speechless. As for me, this was not so surprising.

Because, after all, I was fake.

If she dropped out of school, the ｢boyfriend contract｣ didn’t make any sense.

For me, it was pretty much my wish fulfilled. Without a ｢girlfriend｣, I would be able to return to my previous life. This excessive mayhem was finally coming to an end.

But......

"Do you think this is okay?"

"After all, I’m not the kind of person to get sentimental about the past, Since I’m going to leave this school, I don’t intend to prolong my relationship with you."

Masuzu’s cold indifference was astonishing.

"Eita-kun, dump me right now."

"......"

"Heh, I knew it would be impossible for Eita-kun."

Masuzu exposed a slightly lonely smile, and said:

"Then let me do it...... I'm tired of you, I hate you, and I don’t even want to see your face. I will return you to your childhood friend, and ask both of you to be happy. When two you have the wedding --- don’t bother looking for me, I don’t care."

"Ei-kun was mine in the first place."

Chiwa, who had been silent the entire time, whispered resolutely.

"I don’t remember when I gave him to you. From the beginning, I didn’t intend to invite you to the wedding."

This was beginning to turn quite extraordinary, but now was not the time to tsukkomi.

Chiwa glared at Masuzu and said:

"Why are you giving up so easily? What did you just tell me? Weren’t you going to tel about about how Ei-kun’s l-l-l-l-lips tasted like? Even if it was just artificial respiration, you had such an arrogant expression. You aren’t attached to the past? Who do you think you are? It’s really pitiful for Ei-kun! More importantly, it’s pitiful to me! Just because you showed up, I..."

I patted the speechless Chiwa on the back.

"Masuzu, I think you misunderstood."

"......Misunderstood what?"

"When I asked, ｢Do you think this is okay?｣ I wasn’t talking about myself. I was talking about the young maiden’s club, and Hime’s business."

Masuzu’s icy expression was obviously shaken.

"The person who proposed to let Hime join the club was you, right? The person who gave her the assignment was also you, and she’s taking it very seriously. Even though she’s surrounded by electric waves, is extremely shy, and lacks a model for communication skills, she’s taking a new step out despite her worries to attempt ｢club activities｣. And you who suggested this is going to run away?"

"I can’t do anything about it."

Masuzu just said that one phrase.

"That man will stop at nothing to achieve what he wants. If I don’t go back, I don’t know what means he’ll use, perhaps even hurt you all. Mana said it already. He already knows about my situation at school here."

When Masuzu said ｢that man｣, she probably meant her father.

"Then what?"

"There is no, ｢then what｣, so ---"

"Then what do you want?"

Masuzu distinctly gasped.

"What do you want? Natsukawa Masuzu, do you want to stay here? Or do you not want to stay?"

"......I don’t have the power to choose."

"You bastard!"

I didn’t ask you this!

I don’t want to hear you say that kind of thing.

Do you want to stay here, or do you not want to stay? That’s all I asked.

If you say, ｢I want to stay here｣, then......

I will… we will---

"Ei-kun, let’s go?"

Chiwa ignored Masuzu with her head down, and pulled on my arm.

"Do not worry about her, okay? Hey! Today I want to eat a hamburger steak. Make it for me, Ei-kun. Let can go shopping at ｢Wonder｣<ref>丸德 in Chinese; kanji-romanji dictionary doesn’t give any hits for me. D:</ref> and then go back?"

I reluctantly nodded.

I grabbed my bag hanging on the wall, and walked out with Chiwa.

While I was leaving the pool, I only looked back once.

As the sunlight began to tinge orange, it illuminated Masuzu’s pale profile.

"Hey, Masuzu!"

I shouted to her.

"E-even if you go back, at least collect Hime’s assignment! Can you do that at the very least? Hey, Masuzu---"

"Hey, Ei-kun, let’s go!"

Chiwa kept pulling my hand away.

Masuzu.

My ｢girlfriend｣ was getting farther and father away from me.

<center>♦</center>

I was eating dinner with Chiwa.

With a huge hamburger steak as the main dish, Chiwa refilled her big bowl of rice three times. Since she normally only eats three small bowls of rice, she was approaching nearly twice her usual. Although she must have been hungry from cleaning the pool, this amount of food was simply too frightening.

"I’m so angry --- angry, angry! Rawr!"

Chiwa whined while she crunched and snapped at a mixed carrot dish. And what was the meaning of that rawr? It wasn’t cute at all.

"Why are you so angry?"

"What? --- Ei-kun isn’t angry? Natsukawa’s attitude is really unbelievable! Even if her parents ordered it, why is she suddenly break up?! Really! Really!"

She turned into a cow again, <ref>Cow is supposed to be a pun for “really?” or something like that… it’s kind of difficult to explain, and who knows what it says in Japanese. ^^”</ref> which definitely was not cute.

"No, for me, it’s not that I’m angry......"

It’s a lonely feeling.

If Masuzu were upset or resisted it all, then I would try to do something.

But since she gave up, it made me feel lonely.

It felt like I was rejected.

Our relationship as ｢Fake Boyfriend｣ only went to that degree.

"I’m more surprised that you’re angry."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because your natural predator Masuzu is going to disappear. I thought you would definitely be happy."

Chiwa drank her barley tea in one gulp, and slammed the drinking glass on the table.

"You, Ei-kun. You know my personality."

"Personality?"

"If I don’t have a rival, I can’t get fired up! That’s because my goal is to become someone more popular than Natsukawa! If she slip away after beating me, that’s what I can’t accept."

"......I see."

Right.

Chiwa was that kind of straightforward person.

"Even though I hate Natsukawa, I still like our ｢Young Maidens Club｣. After all this trouble, she leaves just when we’re about to get more members. She’s really too irresponsible, too headstrong!"

"Aren’t you against Hime joining the club?"

"............I used to be against it."

Chiwa’s momentum suddenly disappeared, and she looked down.

"Because that girl always sticks to Ei-kun’s side, and said stuff like ｢it’s vulgar to be popular｣. If her only goal is Ei-kun, I originally did not want her to join our club, but......"

Chiwa took out her cellphone from her pocket, and placed the screen in front of me.

"Woo, wuahh!"

I couldn’t help but let out a sound.

Displayed on the screen is "guh!" the face of Hime rolling her eyes.

Bloodshot eyes.

Saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

I think this must have been a mental breakdown......

"This one too. Look, and then this."

Every time Chiwa pushed the buttom, the image switched, and each one was of Hime rolling her eyes.

"What is this? You wanted to get pictures of supernatural things?"

"This was practice for looking up with the eyes."

"Eh?"

"Hime-chan used a digital camera to take pictures of the entire drill of looking up with the eyes, one hundred times."

Now that you mention it, Chiwa was the one who previously advocated that Hime should undergo ｢basic training｣.

I didn’t think Hime would actually do it......

"Last night, she sent a lot of texts to my phone. The subject was, ｢Eyes Really Tired｣. Once I saw her perseverance, who could opposite it?"

"I see."

Hime really intended to become more courageous.

Maybe this is what she meant by the first step that could ｢split apart the gray-colored world｣.

"Let’s talk to Masuzu again at the club room."

I mumbled to myself.

If ｢Jien-Otsu｣ ended in this kind of way, it didn’t matter if it was Hime or Ciwa or --- of course, me --- our hearts would not be happy.

Even if Masuzu intended to leave, I had to settle this uncomfortable mood.

"I won’t go."

Chiwa shut up as she chewed the last piece of hamburger steak, and turned away.

"Tomorrow our class is having a party to celebrate the end of exams, and everyone’s going to a barbecue buffet. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time."

"Well, leave it to me then."

Right.

Even if it was for this totally un-cute ｢childhood friend｣, I had to try to get Masuzu to stay.

<center>♦</center>

The next day, Monday.

As expected, Masuzu did not come to school.

The class rep claimed she was cutting classes… so did she intend to drop out of school?

Based on yesterday’s conversation at the pool, Masuzu was going to leave today or tomorrow, but she’d probably return to the clubroom once, since her first edition set of ｢JOJO｣ was still here. Although she had another set at home, she would definitely be back to get grab it. Even if it she was the kind of woman whose actions and thoughts were impossible to guess, I could only have confidence in her love for JOJO.

As soon as the school bell rang, I ran to the club room, but Hime was already waiting inside. Like always, she got there early. Don’t tell me she could actually leap across space?

Hime scurried to my side and said:

"Eita, I finished it. ｢The Ideal Maiden｣"

"Oh! You’re finally done?"

Hime hugged her notebook tightly to her chest and nodded. Even though she still wore a poker face, what was really pitiful was her nose ｢Gururru｣-ing up, exposing how satisfied she was with herself. <ref>I actually have no idea what the nose thing refers to. Some kind of sound effect maybe?</ref>

"Where is it? Let me look."

Seeing my hand extend towards her notebook, Hime quickly retreated backwards with her face flushed.

"N-n-no, let’s wait until the club president is here."

This time she was clearly embarrassed. When we just met, I thought this girl was an alien, but recently she’s be full of rather rich expressions.

Then ---

"Wha---? Don’t say that, let me see~"

Thinking it was Masuzu’s voice, I turned my head back to find --- next to the door that I forgot to close, there was a young maiden of blond hair and blue eyes, and next to her a bald man in a black suit wearing sunglasses.

Natsukawa Mana.

In the end, she even turned up at our club room!

"Hey, let me see that notebook! I’m very interested in Suzu’s club activities, and I want to investigate what kind of things you do to report back to dad.

Mana entered the club room, and snatched the notebook right from the hands of frightened Hime.

"Stop! Give it back to her!"

When I was about to grab Mana, the man in the black suit stepped in, and I was instantly swept and pinned to the ground.

"St-stop ......"

Barely able to breath, I was nearly overwhelmed by the weight the of man in the black suite riding my back, when I shouted:

"Hime spent all of her effort writing that notebook! Give it back to her!"

"Oh wow, really? I want to read it even more now ♪"

Mana sneered while she sat on the table and began to flip through the notebook.

Hime gave a very frightened and pitiful look, and shuddered and sneezed as she clung to the window curtains. Right, she was an extremely shy person. Because she was always in a tangle with Chiwa and Masuzu, I nearly forgot she practically has never spoken to her other classmates---

<pre>
--- ♪ a real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) will never give in.
</pre>

Ah ---

She’s reading it aloud!

Against all expectations, she’s reading it aloud.

Like her older sister, she was such as excessive character!

But when Masuzu did it, it didn’t matter so much.

Because the person she did it to was me, it wasn’t important.

After all, I once had "past • eighth grade syndrome."

When she exposed it all, it was such a big humiliating blow that I wanted to die. But that was the past, and it wasn’t now.

However, HIme was ｢active｣.

Reality was so frightening to her that she made up a fictional world of delusions and hid inside of it.

If this delusion were to be exposed, ridiculed, and destroyed, she would have nowhere to go ---

"Kuwahahahahahahahhahahahahaha!"

Mana’s obnoxious laughter rang across the club room.

"RE, REAL PRINCESS! It’s written like maiden, but you reading it like PRINCESS! Please! Is this a about her royal highness coming? There’s nothing wrong about it? From the beginning it was such a hilarious thing ---?"

Hime’s hands clenched the curtains.

Tears trickled down her face, and the cream-colored curtains became gradually wet as if sprinkled by rain.

"Stop it!"

I tried to use my arm to push myself up, but this bald guy was too heavy! What did he eat to become so muscular he’d never fall!

Then Mana turned to the next page:

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be hurt.

♪ Even during difficult times, she’ll keep smiling forward.

♪ Even if alone, she won’t cry.
</pre>

"So cold ~ ahh."

Mana gave a nasal laugh, and looked back towards Hime.

"Didn’t you write, ｢Even if alone, she won’t cry ♪｣, right? But you’re a total mess right now? That’s not like a REAL PRIN-CESS. This is what you do for club activities? I don’t get it --- are my brains no good? Or is your brain completely broken?"

Hime didn’t say a single word in reply. She just cried, clutching the curtains.

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be afraid.

♪ Even when meeting new people, she’ll smile and say hello.

♪ No matter who it is, she can instantly become friends.
</pre>

"I’m starting to feel...... as opposed to an ideal, this is actually closer to a delusion, right?"

Mana smiled wryly.

"Suzu’s been participating in these kinds of club activities. No wonder Dad is that angry. He hates these kinds of people the most. People who have neither brains nor power. Only delusions. And I have the same opinion. Really, it’s so annoying."

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be discouraged.

♪ She’s always filled with love.

♪ No matter what happens, she’ll never give up.

♪ She’ll be able to walk to his Royal Highness’s carriage, and meet her prince one day.
</pre>

"Wuaahhahahaha! Look at that! There’s even a Prince here!"

There was nothing funny about it, but Mana continued to slap the table in laughter.

"Really, just because there’s a princess, a royal prince will come? Does he ride a white horse? Puhaha, is this really a high school? It’s more like a nursery school."

Maybe because her tears were completely dried up, Hime only stood expressionlessly.

Mana muttered a phrase: "How boring ---"

"It’d be better if your club renamed itself to be ｢Delusional Maidens Club｣. Abbreviated: Delusional-Club. Awesome ♪" <ref>Has the same kanji structure as Jien-Otsu. Maybe it’s a pun?</ref>

Hehehehahahahehaha.

Mana’s laughter echoed against the windows and walls.

Then, Mana had a mocking face as she took ---

What Chiwa suggested…….

What Masuzu gave out…….

What Hime desperately tried to write with all her effort……

The assignment notebook........

And with a sharp sound --- tore it apart.

.....Stop joking.

"Stop..... joking!!! You bastard!!!"

I focused all of my strength to my feet, and strained so much to stand up, I think I nearly broke some blood vessels.

I overcame the body weight of the man in the black suit, and stood up!

Was this a scene of fiery spirit driving one to insane strength?

Or the man in black’s carelessness?

Whichever it was, it didn’t matter.

As long as I can stop this bastard woman’s giggling laugh, I don’t care!!

"Someone else's delusions aren’t things you can laugh at!"

I ferociously cried out, scaring Mana expressionless.

"Every person has some kind of humiliating delusion! I have one! I brain has a pile of delusions that will make people roll around everywhere! Among delusions, mine are incomparable! I am the reincarnation of a dragon, and receive the welcoming favors of Beauty • Dance • Angels. I also fight with invisible enemies, know everything about Western music, play guitar, and can ride a monster motorcycle--- I’m just that kind of humiliating guy! Of course I reality, none of those things will ever come true! I don’t remember a thing about past lives. And angels? Even the girls in my class think I’m ｢disgusting｣! About guitars, I can’t even play a recorder. And when I say motorcycle, I can only ride a bike! Not a single one will turn into reality! I’m already sick of myself! I might as well just die!"

Mana, struck dumb, shrugged and gave a call.

"Yasuoka, shut this guy up."

Bang! There was a loud noise.

Sparks scattered around my eyes, and I found my cheek glued to the ice-cold wall.

--- Ah, I was punched?

By the time my head cleared, my nose was already dripping blood.

"Eehh!"

I heard Hime’s quiet shriek from the side.

I fell to the floor where my dripping blood stained the ground.

......Damn!

How can I lose!?

I clenched my teeth and stood up.

"Even so, I can’t help but to continue with my delusions. Because I am alive, people have hope, and it’s a more positive way of living, isn’t that so? Compared to yesterday, today is better; compared to today, we try to make tomorrow even better, right? That’s why we have delusions. Because of that, I’m cool --- I’m awesome! If I imagine a thousand delusions, maybe one day at least one will come rue. Those hopes are the only thing I absolutely won’t give up! If we stop dreaming delusions, we can only wait to be crushed under reality!"

My ears rang with a cracking sound, and my head spun wildly for spell.

Strange? I’ve been punched again?

To stop myself from collapsing, I tried to grab the steel bookshelf, but I only scattered a JOJO books from the shelf. I tried to twist my body to avoid them, but I still stepped on a few books.

Hirohiko Araki-sensei, I'm sorry! <ref>Mangaka of JOJO series</ref>

This would definitely make Masuzu angry!

Compared to being punched, Masuzu’s angry hits were definitely much scarier.

"Are you an idiot?"

Mana sniggered.

"How can delusions possibly come true? The fact that you’ve been beaten to pulp, is that good enough evidence for you?"

This girl said things that could make the dead angry.

She was really powerful, like a genius evil queen.

But --- thanks to her, I was filled with strength.

"It will come true."

I wiped my nosebleed, and stood up again.

"No, I will make it come true just for you to see."

The man in black punched in the cheek.

My vision wavered.

My body burned hot like I had a fever, and the depths of my brain felt numb.

--- I won’t budge!

If I fall, Hime’s poem will only be treated as a ｢delusion｣, and it’ll all be over.

But no.

Her Prince will come.

He’ll definitely come!

"......W-w-w-wait, what’s going on?"

Mana’s easy-going expression finally turned rigid.

"Why are you pushing yourself to this extent? You’ve been beaten to pulp by Yasuoka. If you heard about his experience, it’d make you want to pee in your pants, so you better lie down. I don’t deliberately mean to---"

"Apologize!"

I growled, as I brought my bloodstained face closer to Mana.

"Apologize to Hime! Apologize for tearing the notebook. Apologize for mocking her poem!"

"What?"

Mana repeated, as she took a step backwards.

I stepped forward.

Mana drew backwards.

"W-w-w-what are you? ......What kind of person are you?"

"I am ---"

I drew in a big breath.

I faced Mana, as well as Hime who hid in the curtains, and said:

"I am Natsukawa Masuzu’s boyfriend, Harusaki Chiwa’s childhood friend, and Akishino Himeka’s ex-boyfriend ---｢Holy Dragon Knight of Dawn｣ Kidou Eita! Remember that, you bastard!"

When I finished, Mana was backed up completely against the wall next to the window ---

"--- That’s enough, Mana."

I looked back, and Masuzu was standing in the doorway.

She looked grieved, as she looked around at the devastation in the club room.

"Eita-kun and Akishino-chan haven’t done anything wrong. As long as I go back, that’s all?"

"Y-you understand, right?"

Mana distinctly gave a sigh of relief.

"Right? If Suzu was this obedient from the very beginning, I wouldn’t do this sort of thing, right? I didn’t mean to do it on purpose. Oh --- silly me, I was careless."

"Hey, Masuzu."

With my nose still bleeding, I approached my ｢Girlfriend｣.

Masuzu had an expression that seemed like she was about to cry, and she took out a handkerchief.

"Eita-kun, your injury looks serious."

I pushed away Masuzu’s hand, which had approached to wipe away the blood on my nose.

"Hey, listen to me."

"Eita-kun, let me deal with this......"

Masuzu’s hand extended once again.

"Listen to me, Masuzu."

I shoved away her hand.

"Please, let me treat your injury......"

Masuzu’s voice was mixed with tears.

"Why did you have to try doing this sort of thing? Am I even worth it, that you’d do this to yourself? I don’t deserve it. I am a fake, so ---"

"Listen to me, Masuzu!"

My shout caused Masuzu’s shoulders to shake.

"Please listen to me! If you still want to leave after hearing me, I won’t say anything more. So please, listen to my last request as your boyfriend."

"......What are you saying?"

I looked back at the curtains, at the silhouette of Hime who was still hiding.

"The person who has something to say isn’t me. It’s Hime."

Hime poked her head out slightly.

With big wide eyes, Hime stared straight at me.

"That was a very cute poem."

"......"

"But, as a poem, it won’t express the meaning you want to convey. A poem by we who have ｢Eighth-Grade Syndrome｣ as always self-centered, and self-minded...... it can’t convey the sincere feelings that you have. So to really express it, it’s probably better to just say it aloud."

Hime stared straight at me.

"Wait a minute, what are you starting to do all of sudden?"

Mana impatiently pecked in.

"This isn’t Onii-san’s stage time, just rewind past it."

"This is our club problem, so you back down, you stupid blonde!"

Mana’s face twisted with humiliation.

"Hey, Yasuoka, get rid of this guy."

The man dressed in black clenched his fist, made a few smacking sounds, and leaned over.

Not good......

The effects from just being hit around the first time, it was inconceivable how I was still standing right now. Compared to the time in front of the train station, my injuries from this time were much worse than the time I fought with four people. This guy was really a worthy bodyguard, and he had really professional skill.

When I thought it was all over for me, a little figure appeared in front of me.

Hime.

She stretched her arms open wide.

"Don’t......"

Hime’s voice was accompanied with tears, as she shook her head left and right.

"Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t hit Hime’s Eita! Stop messing with your club! This is Hime and Eita’s place! It was really, really hard to this place! This was the place

President and Chihuahua were going to have club activities together! S-so go away!!!!!"

Masuzu’s body was clearly shaking.

She’s not afraid.

Rather, Hime’s ｢Club Application｣ was full of inner shaking.

"Well said, Himechi!"

The door opened with a loud noise.

Everyone turned back simultaneously, to see Chiwa with a shinai in the center position.

"What Himechi just said is absolutely right! This is our place. All you non-members get out, otherwise---!"

Whish! The sharp edge sliced through the air.

This look made one remember the time when Chiwa was known as ｢Sword Ace Chihuahua｣. She used her brimming spirit to pierce through Mana with her glaring eyes.

The man in black’s face turned pale. Maybe he sensed Chiwa’s extraordinary ability. He left me, in order to stand in front of Mana to protect her.

Good.

There was one final person.

"Masuzu."

I called out the name of my stupefied ｢Girlfriend｣ who stood there blankly like an idiot.

"I’ll ask you yesterday’s question again --- what are you going to do? Do you want to stay here? Or not?"

Masuzu stared at my face, and then at Chiwa and Hime.

Her expression was gradually restored with vigor.

Gradually filled up with strength.

She came back with a fearless smile!

"Eita-kun."

"Eh."

"Who are you talking to, with that extraordinary look?"

Masuzu casually combed her silver hair upward, and smiled.

She looked back to see Mana stunned.

"I want to stay here."

"Eh? W-what is this?! You just said you were going to go back!"

"Yes, I thought about saying it like that to you once, to feed your insignificant self-ego."

"In-insignificant? Don’t joke, Suzu! You’re going to ignore your family’s orders? You’re not afraid of dad?"

"I do not understand the convict’s statement."

"Who’s the convict?"

"I hope they’re light on the prison sentence. You go make the confession."

"What are you talking about?"

"Then go self-destruct."

"It’s even worse?"

If she could come out with such a malicious tongue, then there was no problem.

Natsukawa Masuzu was completely revived!

"Miss, it’s about time to......"

The man dressed in black whispered in Mana’s ear.

When I noticed, the door had been drawing huge crowds, all people from the cultural clubs. After all the commotion with the door wide open, it was impossible for them not to gather.

"Get out."

Masuzu pointed at the door, and said firmly.

"In this room, only maidens with excellent qualifications are permitted to enter. Of the male sex, only Kidou Eita is allowed --- okay, so those without qualifications, get out now!"

Masuzu’s cold attitude caused everyone in the cultural clubs to go "woaah," and then burst into cheers and applause. Only Yamamoto-kun from the football club, and I don’t know how managed to sneak in, clenched his fists and shook them...... what happened to your practice?

Mana very unwillingly clenched her fists.

"Suzu, you will regret this."

"More importantly, apologize to Akishino-san right now. Say, ｢I’m sorry｣. Come on!"

"N-no!"

"Mana."

Masuzu suddenly narrowed her eyes.

"You’re going to disobey the words of your older sister?"

"......!"

Suddenly shivering, Mana bit her lower lip.

"......Sorry."

"I can’t hear you."

"I'm sorry! It was my fault!"

No matter how you look at it, she forced herself to apologize…. Well, we can’t expect anything more. Hime noddedly slightly. It seems like she didn’t want to drag this issue out any longer.

Then, Masuzu directly glared at Mana and said:

"Tell that person, I will never go back. Tell him I’ll be waiting in that room, waiting for mom whom he threw away."

Mana whimpered like a child, and exposed a few tears:

"Fool! You really, really, really are a fool! At this point, it’s impossible for that person to come back! Just like last time, you’re going to cry from being deeply hurt!"

The man in black pulled strongly on Mana’s resisting arm, and took her away.

The who of them pushed away the crowd and left, and the crowd itself slowly dispersed. The door was shut --- and once again the club was left in peace.

Me, Masuzu, Chiwa, and Hime.

This was the space for the Society of Young Maidens Club.

"It’s finally back to normal ---"

I was about to laugh when I suddenly felt my consciousness slipping away from me.

Ah, no good.

As soon as a relaxed, it seems like the damage from being injured….

"Eita-kun!"

"Ei!"

"Eita!"

I listened to their three voices overlapping ---

I fell to the ground facing the scattered JOJO books on the floor.

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

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| Back to [[Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
| Return to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
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</noinclude>

<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 9

2013-08-14T23:38:11Z

86.218.197.243:

==Chapter 9 The Gray World Split Apart is Mayhem==

After a few days, it was Sunday afternoon.

Although it was a rare day off school, we in ｢Jien-Otsu｣ were ordered to the clean the school’s swimming pool, which is otherwise known as punishment by labor. Exposed to the intense sunlight during the height of summer, we brushed the deck and brushed the pool drained of water; this bitterness was enough to make me want to curse all the world’s living things.

"Why does a swimming pool without water exist in this world? We obviously don’t need it."

Chiwa rested her chin against the handle of her brush, muttering nonsense to herself.

"Even swimming pools with water have no reason to exist in this world."

Masuzu indifferently moved her brush.

The two of them wore their gym clothes, and because of their sweat it stuck to their skin… and as a result the outline of their underwear was visible. It made me unsure where to look.

Incidentally, we did not ask Hime to come. If she got heatstroke working this hot weather, that would be bad.

"Ah --- Do you mean, Natsukawa is useless?"

"You’re quite rude. I can swim."

"But before you almost drowned, right? How can you drown at a depth where your feat can touch the bottom of the pool? Why don’t you tell me the details?"

Having identified her enemy’s weakness, Chihuahua-san drew closer to Masuzu, unable to contain her joy, but ---

"I refuse. To compensate, should I describe to you the flavor of Eita-kun’s lips?"

Chiwa was wounded by the response, and the corner of her mouth trembled for a moment.

Thousand and was sharply riposte, mouth shaking a bit.

Then, for reasons I didn’t understand, she stared at me and said:

"Ei-kun, you’re about to drown! I’ll give you artificial respiration to eliminate the memory of this bitch!"

"Wouldn’t it be better of Harusaki drowned? That way, I’ll give you artificial respiration, so that way you can have an indirect kiss with Eita-kun. You’d be happy, right?"

--- They were really at their wits’ end.

I tried to clean far away from the sparks and flames shooting from the two of them. If I were caught in it, it would be unbearable. But even though Masuzu said that she’d ｢forget about the artificial respiration business｣, I didn’t understand why she let herself be provoked by Chiwa.

After we cleared the bottom of the pool of filth, a black limousine pulled into the parking lot as we sprinkled the side of the pool with a hose.

Just as I was thinking that I had seen that somewhere before ---

"Hi --- Nii-san ♪"

Natsukawa Mana.

Masuzu’s little sister shook her blond hair and got off the limousine. Her bodyguard dressed in black also got off from the driver’s seat, and followed from the side.

"......You again?"

I firmly stared at her from the pool deck, very much wanting to spray her with the water hose. Because this girl kissed me and caused so much trouble for me.

Mana condescendingly returned the stare:

"So it looks you made up with Suzu? So boring, especially after all my trouble to start some chaos."

"Mana, what are you doing here?"

Masuzu spoke, with her face stiff and body frozen next to me.

"This is my school, and I don’t want you to take one step in here."

"Such a rude greeting, even though I particularly came here to apologize."

"Apologize?"

As Masuzu and I tilted our heads, puzzled, Chiwa finally returned from putting away the deck brushes.

"That’s weird. Ei-kun, who is that girl?"

At that moment, Mana gave out a ｢Wahh- ♪｣

"Is this girl Harusaki Chihuahua? Huh --- she’s quite cute."

This girl even know about Chiwa?

When she said she even knew ｢the headmaster of Suzu’s school｣, she wasn’t lying? Perhaps she even found out that we would be at the swimming pool today through that means.

"So, Nii-san must be really popular, with this girl in one arm while holding Suzu in the other---"

Chiwa stared at her intently, feeling quite uncomfortable.

Masuzu spoke in an irritable voice:

"Get to the point. What are you apologizing about?"

"Ah, well ......"

Mana deliberately clapped her hands together as if pretending to beg forgiveness from Masuzu:

"You know that time I said I’d take care of things with Dad? It was no good. ♪ Dad got extremely angry, and I couldn’t do anything about it."

Masuzu’s expression visibly froze.

"He wants you to go home right now, and he doesn’t want you to wait until the end of the semester. If you don’t, he said he’d even go directly to your apartment and drag you back."

"No!"

Unexpectedly, Masuzu cried out in an emotional voice.

"My apartment is the only thing I don’t want him to touch! I absolutely don’t want that person to come!"

"If that’s the case, you can only listen obediently, right?"

A triumphant smile emerged on Mana’s face.

"I’ll arrange your luggage and so forth, so Suzu-chan can just go home. If you don’t leave by tomorrow or the day after...... well I can’t say for sure what will happen, hm?"

Masuzu did not respond.

Masuzu was sweating so much it seemed like a lie, and she shivered slightly.

"Nii-san, why don’t you use this to throw a goodbye party for Suzu?"

Mana took a purse from the man dressed in black, and grabbed a ten thousand yuan banknote and stuffed it inside the fence of the swimming pool. Even if she was a stupid middle school student, she was rich.

"I don’t want it, take it back."

"Really? It’s better to turn down gifts of money. Is that how your aunt raised you?"

"......Why do you even know about that?"

"Haven’t I said it already? I have investigated. Everything."

Mana tored apart the ten thousand yuan bill into shreds, and let it be scattered by the wind.

The man wearing black opened the door, and Mana got into the limousine.

"So, to each of you young maidens in the club, farewell---"

Mana waved her hands like a naïve child and left.

......Damn, she really did what she wanted.

Chiwa watched the taillights of the limousine and said:

"What?! That girl is so arrogant! Does Natsukawa know her?"

"That girl is a Masuzu’s little sister."

"S-sister? Really? But their hair color isn’t the same!"

Although I was also curious about this, I didn’t want to ask Masuzu, so I could only ignore it. My best guess is that they didn’t share the same mother or father, and perhaps they had a very complicated family.

Even at this point Masuzu still had her head bent down, wordless.

"What are you going to do, Masuzu?"

"......I can only go back. Go back home."

"Ah, there’s nothing you can do about it, right? Since your father even said it to that extent… at least it’s almost summer vacation."

Chiwa probably still did not understand the situation.

She thought that ｢go home｣ meant ｢visiting relatives｣.

I was afraid that ---

"Where is Natsukawa’s family from? Kanto? Northeast? It can’t be Hokkaido?"

"From Sweden."

"............"

Chiwa was stunned.

"I'm afraid I might never come back tot Japan."

"Really?"

Masuzu did not meet my eyes, as she nodded slightly.

Then, she suddenly spoke out in a refreshed voice:

"Ah --- it looks like my relationship with Eita-kun will end here. I can’t try to maintain a long-distance relationship while separated by an ocean. Although our time together was short, I was very happy to be together with you."

"......"

Only Chiwa was speechless. As for me, this was not so surprising.

Because, after all, I was fake.

If she dropped out of school, the ｢boyfriend contract｣ didn’t make any sense.

For me, it was pretty much my wish fulfilled. Without a ｢girlfriend｣, I would be able to return to my previous life. This excessive mayhem was finally coming to an end.

But......

"Do you think this is okay?"

"After all, I’m not the kind of person to get sentimental about the past, Since I’m going to leave this school, I don’t intend to prolong my relationship with you."

Masuzu’s cold indifference was astonishing.

"Eita-kun, dump me right now."

"......"

"Heh, I knew it would be impossible for Eita-kun."

Masuzu exposed a slightly lonely smile, and said:

"Then let me do it...... I'm tired of you, I hate you, and I don’t even want to see your face. I will return you to your childhood friend, and ask both of you to be happy. When two you have the wedding --- don’t bother looking for me, I don’t care."

"Ei-kun was mine in the first place."

Chiwa, who had been silent the entire time, whispered resolutely.

"I don’t remember when I gave him to you. From the beginning, I didn’t intend to invite you to the wedding."

This was beginning to turn quite extraordinary, but now was not the time to tsukkomi.

Chiwa glared at Masuzu and said:

"Why are you giving up so easily? What did you just tell me? Weren’t you going to tel about about how Ei-kun’s l-l-l-l-lips tasted like? Even if it was just artificial respiration, you had such an arrogant expression. You aren’t attached to the past? Who do you think you are? It’s really pitiful for Ei-kun! More importantly, it’s pitiful to me! Just because you showed up, I..."

I patted the speechless Chiwa on the back.

"Masuzu, I think you misunderstood."

"......Misunderstood what?"

"When I asked, ｢Do you think this is okay?｣ I wasn’t talking about myself. I was talking about the young maiden’s club, and Hime’s business."

Masuzu’s icy expression was obviously shaken.

"The person who proposed to let Hime join the club was you, right? The person who gave her the assignment was also you, and she’s taking it very seriously. Even though she’s surrounded by electric waves, is extremely shy, and lacks a model for communication skills, she’s taking a new step out despite her worries to attempt ｢club activities｣. And you who suggested this is going to run away?"

"I can’t do anything about it."

Masuzu just said that one phrase.

"That man will stop at nothing to achieve what he wants. If I don’t go back, I don’t know what means he’ll use, perhaps even hurt you all. Mana said it already. He already knows about my situation at school here."

When Masuzu said ｢that man｣, she probably meant her father.

"Then what?"

"There is no, ｢then what｣, so ---"

"Then what do you want?"

Masuzu distinctly gasped.

"What do you want? Natsukawa Masuzu, do you want to stay here? Or do you not want to stay?"

"......I don’t have the power to choose."

"You bastard!"

I didn’t ask you this!

I don’t want to hear you say that kind of thing.

Do you want to stay here, or do you not want to stay? That’s all I asked.

If you say, ｢I want to stay here｣, then......

I will… we will---

"Ei-kun, let’s go?"

Chiwa ignored Masuzu with her head down, and pulled on my arm.

"Do not worry about her, okay? Hey! Today I want to eat a hamburger steak. Make it for me, Ei-kun. Let can go shopping at ｢Wonder｣<ref>丸德 in Chinese; kanji-romanji dictionary doesn’t give any hits for me. D:</ref> and then go back?"

I reluctantly nodded.

I grabbed my bag hanging on the wall, and walked out with Chiwa.

While I was leaving the pool, I only looked back once.

As the sunlight began to tinge orange, it illuminated Masuzu’s pale profile.

"Hey, Masuzu!"

I shouted to her.

"E-even if you go back, at least collect Hime’s assignment! Can you do that at the very least? Hey, Masuzu---"

"Hey, Ei-kun, let’s go!"

Chiwa kept pulling my hand away.

Masuzu.

My ｢girlfriend｣ was getting farther and father away from me.

<center>♦</center>

I was eating dinner with Chiwa.

With a huge hamburger steak as the main dish, Chiwa refilled her big bowl of rice three times. Since she normally only eats three small bowls of rice, she was approaching nearly twice her usual. Although she must have been hungry from cleaning the pool, this amount of food was simply too frightening.

"I’m so angry --- angry, angry! Rawr!"

Chiwa whined while she crunched and snapped at a mixed carrot dish. And what was the meaning of that rawr? It wasn’t cute at all.

"Why are you so angry?"

"What? --- Ei-kun isn’t angry? Natsukawa’s attitude is really unbelievable! Even if her parents ordered it, why is she suddenly break up?! Really! Really!"

She turned into a cow again, <ref>Cow is supposed to be a pun for “really?” or something like that… it’s kind of difficult to explain, and who knows what it says in Japanese. ^^”</ref> which definitely was not cute.

"No, for me, it’s not that I’m angry......"

It’s a lonely feeling.

If Masuzu were upset or resisted it all, then I would try to do something.

But since she gave up, it made me feel lonely.

It felt like I was rejected.

Our relationship as ｢Fake Boyfriend｣ only went to that degree.

"I’m more surprised that you’re angry."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because your natural predator Masuzu is going to disappear. I thought you would definitely be happy."

Chiwa drank her barley tea in one gulp, and slammed the drinking glass on the table.

"You, Ei-kun. You know my personality."

"Personality?"

"If I don’t have a rival, I can’t get fired up! That’s because my goal is to become someone more popular than Natsukawa! If she slip away after beating me, that’s what I can’t accept."

"......I see."

Right.

Chiwa was that kind of straightforward person.

"Even though I hate Natsukawa, I still like our ｢Young Maidens Club｣. After all this trouble, she leaves just when we’re about to get more members. She’s really too irresponsible, too headstrong!"

"Aren’t you against Hime joining the club?"

"............I used to be against it."

Chiwa’s momentum suddenly disappeared, and she looked down.

"Because that girl always sticks to Ei-kun’s side, and said stuff like ｢it’s vulgar to be popular｣. If her only goal is Ei-kun, I originally did not want her to join our club, but......"

Chiwa took out her cellphone from her pocket, and placed the screen in front of me.

"Woo, wuahh!"

I couldn’t help but let out a sound.

Displayed on the screen is "guh!" the face of Hime rolling her eyes.

Bloodshot eyes.

Saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

I think this must have been a mental breakdown......

"This one too. Look, and then this."

Every time Chiwa pushed the buttom, the image switched, and each one was of Hime rolling her eyes.

"What is this? You wanted to get pictures of supernatural things?"

"This was practice for looking up with the eyes."

"Eh?"

"Hime-chan used a digital camera to take pictures of the entire drill of looking up with the eyes, one hundred times."

Now that you mention it, Chiwa was the one who previously advocated that Hime should undergo ｢basic training｣.

I didn’t think Hime would actually do it......

"Last night, she sent a lot of texts to my phone. The subject was, ｢Eyes Really Tired｣. Once I saw her perseverance, who could opposite it?"

"I see."

Hime really intended to become more courageous.

Maybe this is what she meant by the first step that could ｢split apart the gray-colored world｣.

"Let’s talk to Masuzu again at the club room."

I mumbled to myself.

If ｢Jien-Otsu｣ ended in this kind of way, it didn’t matter if it was Hime or Ciwa or --- of course, me --- our hearts would not be happy.

Even if Masuzu intended to leave, I had to settle this uncomfortable mood.

"I won’t go."

Chiwa shut up as she chewed the last piece of hamburger steak, and turned away.

"Tomorrow our class is having a party to celebrate the end of exams, and everyone’s going to a barbecue buffet. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time."

"Well, leave it to me then."

Right.

Even if it was for this totally un-cute ｢childhood friend｣, I had to try to get Masuzu to stay.

<center>♦</center>

The next day, Monday.

As expected, Masuzu did not come to school.

The class rep claimed she was cutting classes… so did she intend to drop out of school?

Based on yesterday’s conversation at the pool, Masuzu was going to leave today or tomorrow, but she’d probably return to the clubroom once, since her first edition set of ｢JOJO｣ was still here. Although she had another set at home, she would definitely be back to get grab it. Even if it she was the kind of woman whose actions and thoughts were impossible to guess, I could only have confidence in her love for JOJO.

As soon as the school bell rang, I ran to the club room, but Hime was already waiting inside. Like always, she got there early. Don’t tell me she could actually leap across space?

Hime scurried to my side and said:

"Eita, I finished it. ｢The Ideal Maiden｣"

"Oh! You’re finally done?"

Hime hugged her notebook tightly to her chest and nodded. Even though she still wore a poker face, what was really pitiful was her nose ｢Gururru｣-ing up, exposing how satisfied she was with herself. <ref>I actually have no idea what the nose thing refers to. Some kind of sound effect maybe?</ref>

"Where is it? Let me look."

Seeing my hand extend towards her notebook, Hime quickly retreated backwards with her face flushed.

"N-n-no, let’s wait until the club president is here."

This time she was clearly embarrassed. When we just met, I thought this girl was an alien, but recently she’s be full of rather rich expressions.

Then ---

"Wha---? Don’t say that, let me see~"

Thinking it was Masuzu’s voice, I turned my head back to find --- next to the door that I forgot to close, there was a young maiden of blond hair and blue eyes, and next to her a bald man in a black suit wearing sunglasses.

Natsukawa Mana.

In the end, she even turned up at our club room!

"Hey, let me see that notebook! I’m very interested in Suzu’s club activities, and I want to investigate what kind of things you do to report back to dad.

Mana entered the club room, and snatched the notebook right from the hands of frightened Hime.

"Stop! Give it back to her!"

When I was about to grab Mana, the man in the black suit stepped in, and I was instantly swept and pinned to the ground.

"St-stop ......"

Barely able to breath, I was nearly overwhelmed by the weight the of man in the black suite riding my back, when I shouted:

"Hime spent all of her effort writing that notebook! Give it back to her!"

"Oh wow, really? I want to read it even more now ♪"

Mana sneered while she sat on the table and began to flip through the notebook.

Hime gave a very frightened and pitiful look, and shuddered and sneezed as she clung to the window curtains. Right, she was an extremely shy person. Because she was always in a tangle with Chiwa and Masuzu, I nearly forgot she practically has never spoken to her other classmates---

<pre>
--- ♪ a real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) will never give in.
</pre>

Ah ---

She’s reading it aloud!

Against all expectations, she’s reading it aloud.

Like her older sister, she was such as excessive character!

But when Masuzu did it, it didn’t matter so much.

Because the person she did it to was me, it wasn’t important.

After all, I once had "past • eighth grade syndrome."

When she exposed it all, it was such a big humiliating blow that I wanted to die. But that was the past, and it wasn’t now.

However, HIme was ｢active｣.

Reality was so frightening to her that she made up a fictional world of delusions and hid inside of it.

If this delusion were to be exposed, ridiculed, and destroyed, she would have nowhere to go ---

"Kuwahahahahahahahhahahahahaha!"

Mana’s obnoxious laughter rang across the club room.

"RE, REAL PRINCESS! It’s written like maiden, but you reading it like PRINCESS! Please! Is this a about her royal highness coming? There’s nothing wrong about it? From the beginning it was such a hilarious thing ---?"

Hime’s hands clenched the curtains.

Tears trickled down her face, and the cream-colored curtains became gradually wet as if sprinkled by rain.

"Stop it!"

I tried to use my arm to push myself up, but this bald guy was too heavy! What did he eat to become so muscular he’d never fall!

Then Mana turned to the next page:

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be hurt.

♪ Even during difficult times, she’ll keep smiling forward.

♪ Even if alone, she won’t cry.
<pre>

"So cold ~ ahh."

Mana gave a nasal laugh, and looked back towards Hime.

"Didn’t you write, ｢Even if alone, she won’t cry ♪｣, right? But you’re a total mess right now? That’s not like a REAL PRIN-CESS.

This is what you do for club activities? I don’t get it --- are my brains no good? Or is your brain completely broken?"

Hime didn’t say a single word in reply. She just cried, clutching the curtains.

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be afraid.

♪ Even when meeting new people, she’ll smile and say hello.

♪ No matter who it is, she can instantly become friends.
</pre>

"I’m starting to feel...... as opposed to an ideal, this is actually closer to a delusion, right?"

Mana smiled wryly.

"Suzu’s been participating in these kinds of club activities. No wonder Dad is that angry. He hates these kinds of people the most. People who have neither brains nor power. Only delusions. And I have the same opinion. Really, it’s so annoying."

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be discouraged.

♪ She’s always filled with love.

♪ No matter what happens, she’ll never give up.

♪ She’ll be able to walk to his Royal Highness’s carriage, and meet her prince one day.
</pre>

"Wuaahhahahaha! Look at that! There’s even a Prince here!"

There was nothing funny about it, but Mana continued to slap the table in laughter.

"Really, just because there’s a princess, a royal prince will come? Does he ride a white horse? Puhaha, is this really a high school? It’s more like a nursery school."

Maybe because her tears were completely dried up, Hime only stood expressionlessly.

Mana muttered a phrase: "How boring ---"

"It’d be better if your club renamed itself to be ｢Delusional Maidens Club｣. Abbreviated: Delusional-Club. Awesome ♪" <ref>Has the same kanji structure as Jien-Otsu. Maybe it’s a pun?</ref>

Hehehehahahahehaha.

Mana’s laughter echoed against the windows and walls.

Then, Mana had a mocking face as she took ---

What Chiwa suggested…….

What Masuzu gave out…….

What Hime desperately tried to write with all her effort……

The assignment notebook........

And with a sharp sound --- tore it apart.

.....Stop joking.

"Stop..... joking!!! You bastard!!!"

I focused all of my strength to my feet, and strained so much to stand up, I think I nearly broke some blood vessels.

I overcame the body weight of the man in the black suit, and stood up!

Was this a scene of fiery spirit driving one to insane strength?

Or the man in black’s carelessness?

Whichever it was, it didn’t matter.

As long as I can stop this bastard woman’s giggling laugh, I don’t care!!

"Someone else's delusions aren’t things you can laugh at!"

I ferociously cried out, scaring Mana expressionless.

"Every person has some kind of humiliating delusion! I have one! I brain has a pile of delusions that will make people roll around everywhere! Among delusions, mine are incomparable! I am the reincarnation of a dragon, and receive the welcoming favors of Beauty • Dance • Angels. I also fight with invisible enemies, know everything about Western music, play guitar, and can ride a monster motorcycle--- I’m just that kind of humiliating guy! Of course I reality, none of those things will ever come true! I don’t remember a thing about past lives. And angels? Even the girls in my class think I’m ｢disgusting｣! About guitars, I can’t even play a recorder. And when I say motorcycle, I can only ride a bike! Not a single one will turn into reality! I’m already sick of myself! I might as well just die!"

Mana, struck dumb, shrugged and gave a call.

"Yasuoka, shut this guy up."

Bang! There was a loud noise.

Sparks scattered around my eyes, and I found my cheek glued to the ice-cold wall.

--- Ah, I was punched?

By the time my head cleared, my nose was already dripping blood.

"Eehh!"

I heard Hime’s quiet shriek from the side.

I fell to the floor where my dripping blood stained the ground.

......Damn!

How can I lose!?

I clenched my teeth and stood up.

"Even so, I can’t help but to continue with my delusions. Because I am alive, people have hope, and it’s a more positive way of living, isn’t that so? Compared to yesterday, today is better; compared to today, we try to make tomorrow even better, right? That’s why we have delusions. Because of that, I’m cool --- I’m awesome! If I imagine a thousand delusions, maybe one day at least one will come rue. Those hopes are the only thing I absolutely won’t give up! If we stop dreaming delusions, we can only wait to be crushed under reality!"

My ears rang with a cracking sound, and my head spun wildly for spell.

Strange? I’ve been punched again?

To stop myself from collapsing, I tried to grab the steel bookshelf, but I only scattered a JOJO books from the shelf. I tried to twist my body to avoid them, but I still stepped on a few books.

Hirohiko Araki-sensei, I'm sorry! <ref>Mangaka of JOJO series</ref>

This would definitely make Masuzu angry!

Compared to being punched, Masuzu’s angry hits were definitely much scarier.

"Are you an idiot?"

Mana sniggered.

"How can delusions possibly come true? The fact that you’ve been beaten to pulp, is that good enough evidence for you?"

This girl said things that could make the dead angry.

She was really powerful, like a genius evil queen.

But --- thanks to her, I was filled with strength.

"It will come true."

I wiped my nosebleed, and stood up again.

"No, I will make it come true just for you to see."

The man in black punched in the cheek.

My vision wavered.

My body burned hot like I had a fever, and the depths of my brain felt numb.

--- I won’t budge!

If I fall, Hime’s poem will only be treated as a ｢delusion｣, and it’ll all be over.

But no.

Her Prince will come.

He’ll definitely come!

"......W-w-w-wait, what’s going on?"

Mana’s easy-going expression finally turned rigid.

"Why are you pushing yourself to this extent? You’ve been beaten to pulp by Yasuoka. If you heard about his experience, it’d make you want to pee in your pants, so you better lie down. I don’t deliberately mean to---"

"Apologize!"

I growled, as I brought my bloodstained face closer to Mana.

"Apologize to Hime! Apologize for tearing the notebook. Apologize for mocking her poem!"

"What?"

Mana repeated, as she took a step backwards.

I stepped forward.

Mana drew backwards.

"W-w-w-what are you? ......What kind of person are you?"

"I am ---"

I drew in a big breath.

I faced Mana, as well as Hime who hid in the curtains, and said:

"I am Natsukawa Masuzu’s boyfriend, Harusaki Chiwa’s childhood friend, and Akishino Himeka’s ex-boyfriend ---｢Holy Dragon Knight of Dawn｣ Kidou Eita! Remember that, you bastard!"

When I finished, Mana was backed up completely against the wall next to the window ---

"--- That’s enough, Mana."

I looked back, and Masuzu was standing in the doorway.

She looked grieved, as she looked around at the devastation in the club room.

"Eita-kun and Akishino-chan haven’t done anything wrong. As long as I go back, that’s all?"

"Y-you understand, right?"

Mana distinctly gave a sigh of relief.

"Right? If Suzu was this obedient from the very beginning, I wouldn’t do this sort of thing, right? I didn’t mean to do it on purpose. Oh --- silly me, I was careless."

"Hey, Masuzu."

With my nose still bleeding, I approached my ｢Girlfriend｣.

Masuzu had an expression that seemed like she was about to cry, and she took out a handkerchief.

"Eita-kun, your injury looks serious."

I pushed away Masuzu’s hand, which had approached to wipe away the blood on my nose.

"Hey, listen to me."

"Eita-kun, let me deal with this......"

Masuzu’s hand extended once again.

"Listen to me, Masuzu."

I shoved away her hand.

"Please, let me treat your injury......"

Masuzu’s voice was mixed with tears.

"Why did you have to try doing this sort of thing? Am I even worth it, that you’d do this to yourself? I don’t deserve it. I am a fake, so ---"

"Listen to me, Masuzu!"

My shout caused Masuzu’s shoulders to shake.

"Please listen to me! If you still want to leave after hearing me, I won’t say anything more. So please, listen to my last request as your boyfriend."

"......What are you saying?"

I looked back at the curtains, at the silhouette of Hime who was still hiding.

"The person who has something to say isn’t me. It’s Hime."

Hime poked her head out slightly.

With big wide eyes, Hime stared straight at me.

"That was a very cute poem."

"......"

"But, as a poem, it won’t express the meaning you want to convey. A poem by we who have ｢Eighth-Grade Syndrome｣ as always self-centered, and self-minded...... it can’t convey the sincere feelings that you have. So to really express it, it’s probably better to just say it aloud."

Hime stared straight at me.

"Wait a minute, what are you starting to do all of sudden?"

Mana impatiently pecked in.

"This isn’t Onii-san’s stage time, just rewind past it."

"This is our club problem, so you back down, you stupid blonde!"

Mana’s face twisted with humiliation.

"Hey, Yasuoka, get rid of this guy."

The man dressed in black clenched his fist, made a few smacking sounds, and leaned over.

Not good......

The effects from just being hit around the first time, it was inconceivable how I was still standing right now. Compared to the time in front of the train station, my injuries from this time were much worse than the time I fought with four people. This guy was really a worthy bodyguard, and he had really professional skill.

When I thought it was all over for me, a little figure appeared in front of me.

Hime.

She stretched her arms open wide.

"Don’t......"

Hime’s voice was accompanied with tears, as she shook her head left and right.

"Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t hit Hime’s Eita! Stop messing with your club! This is Hime and Eita’s place! It was really, really hard to this place! This was the place

President and Chihuahua were going to have club activities together! S-so go away!!!!!"

Masuzu’s body was clearly shaking.

She’s not afraid.

Rather, Hime’s ｢Club Application｣ was full of inner shaking.

"Well said, Himechi!"

The door opened with a loud noise.

Everyone turned back simultaneously, to see Chiwa with a shinai in the center position.

"What Himechi just said is absolutely right! This is our place. All you non-members get out, otherwise---!"

Whish! The sharp edge sliced through the air.

This look made one remember the time when Chiwa was known as ｢Sword Ace Chihuahua｣. She used her brimming spirit to pierce through Mana with her glaring eyes.

The man in black’s face turned pale. Maybe he sensed Chiwa’s extraordinary ability. He left me, in order to stand in front of Mana to protect her.

Good.

There was one final person.

"Masuzu."

I called out the name of my stupefied ｢Girlfriend｣ who stood there blankly like an idiot.

"I’ll ask you yesterday’s question again --- what are you going to do? Do you want to stay here? Or not?"

Masuzu stared at my face, and then at Chiwa and Hime.

Her expression was gradually restored with vigor.

Gradually filled up with strength.

She came back with a fearless smile!

"Eita-kun."

"Eh."

"Who are you talking to, with that extraordinary look?"

Masuzu casually combed her silver hair upward, and smiled.

She looked back to see Mana stunned.

"I want to stay here."

"Eh? W-what is this?! You just said you were going to go back!"

"Yes, I thought about saying it like that to you once, to feed your insignificant self-ego."

"In-insignificant? Don’t joke, Suzu! You’re going to ignore your family’s orders? You’re not afraid of dad?"

"I do not understand the convict’s statement."

"Who’s the convict?"

"I hope they’re light on the prison sentence. You go make the confession."

"What are you talking about?"

"Then go self-destruct."

"It’s even worse?"

If she could come out with such a malicious tongue, then there was no problem.

Natsukawa Masuzu was completely revived!

"Miss, it’s about time to......"

The man dressed in black whispered in Mana’s ear.

When I noticed, the door had been drawing huge crowds, all people from the cultural clubs. After all the commotion with the door wide open, it was impossible for them not to gather.

"Get out."

Masuzu pointed at the door, and said firmly.

"In this room, only maidens with excellent qualifications are permitted to enter. Of the male sex, only Kidou Eita is allowed --- okay, so those without qualifications, get out now!"

Masuzu’s cold attitude caused everyone in the cultural clubs to go "woaah," and then burst into cheers and applause. Only Yamamoto-kun from the football club, and I don’t know how managed to sneak in, clenched his fists and shook them...... what happened to your practice?

Mana very unwillingly clenched her fists.

"Suzu, you will regret this."

"More importantly, apologize to Akishino-san right now. Say, ｢I’m sorry｣. Come on!"

"N-no!"

"Mana."

Masuzu suddenly narrowed her eyes.

"You’re going to disobey the words of your older sister?"

"......!"

Suddenly shivering, Mana bit her lower lip.

"......Sorry."

"I can’t hear you."

"I'm sorry! It was my fault!"

No matter how you look at it, she forced herself to apologize…. Well, we can’t expect anything more. Hime noddedly slightly. It seems like she didn’t want to drag this issue out any longer.

Then, Masuzu directly glared at Mana and said:

"Tell that person, I will never go back. Tell him I’ll be waiting in that room, waiting for mom whom he threw away."

Mana whimpered like a child, and exposed a few tears:

"Fool! You really, really, really are a fool! At this point, it’s impossible for that person to come back! Just like last time, you’re going to cry from being deeply hurt!"

The man in black pulled strongly on Mana’s resisting arm, and took her away.

The who of them pushed away the crowd and left, and the crowd itself slowly dispersed. The door was shut --- and once again the club was left in peace.

Me, Masuzu, Chiwa, and Hime.

This was the space for the Society of Young Maidens Club.

"It’s finally back to normal ---"

I was about to laugh when I suddenly felt my consciousness slipping away from me.

Ah, no good.

As soon as a relaxed, it seems like the damage from being injured….

"Eita-kun!"

"Ei!"

"Eita!"

I listened to their three voices overlapping ---

I fell to the ground facing the scattered JOJO books on the floor.

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

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| Back to [[Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
| Return to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
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</noinclude>

<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 9

2013-08-14T23:32:39Z

86.218.197.243:

==Chapter 9 The Gray World Split Apart is Mayhem==

After a few days, it was Sunday afternoon.

Although it was a rare day off school, we in ｢Jien-Otsu｣ were ordered to the clean the school’s swimming pool, which is otherwise known as punishment by labor. Exposed to the intense sunlight during the height of summer, we brushed the deck and brushed the pool drained of water; this bitterness was enough to make me want to curse all the world’s living things.

"Why does a swimming pool without water exist in this world? We obviously don’t need it."

Chiwa rested her chin against the handle of her brush, muttering nonsense to herself.

"Even swimming pools with water have no reason to exist in this world."

Masuzu indifferently moved her brush.

The two of them wore their gym clothes, and because of their sweat it stuck to their skin… and as a result the outline of their underwear was visible. It made me unsure where to look.

Incidentally, we did not ask Hime to come. If she got heatstroke working this hot weather, that would be bad.

"Ah --- Do you mean, Natsukawa is useless?"

"You’re quite rude. I can swim."

"But before you almost drowned, right? How can you drown at a depth where your feat can touch the bottom of the pool? Why don’t you tell me the details?"

Having identified her enemy’s weakness, Chihuahua-san drew closer to Masuzu, unable to contain her joy, but ---

"I refuse. To compensate, should I describe to you the flavor of Eita-kun’s lips?"

Chiwa was wounded by the response, and the corner of her mouth trembled for a moment.

Thousand and was sharply riposte, mouth shaking a bit.

Then, for reasons I didn’t understand, she stared at me and said:

"Ei-kun, you’re about to drown! I’ll give you artificial respiration to eliminate the memory of this bitch!"

"Wouldn’t it be better of Harusaki drowned? That way, I’ll give you artificial respiration, so that way you can have an indirect kiss with Eita-kun. You’d be happy, right?"

--- They were really at their wits’ end.

I tried to clean far away from the sparks and flames shooting from the two of them. If I were caught in it, it would be unbearable. But even though Masuzu said that she’d ｢forget about the artificial respiration business｣, I didn’t understand why she let herself be provoked by Chiwa.

After we cleared the bottom of the pool of filth, a black limousine pulled into the parking lot as we sprinkled the side of the pool with a hose.

Just as I was thinking that I had seen that somewhere before ---

"Hi --- Nii-san ♪"

Natsukawa Mana.

Masuzu’s little sister shook her blond hair and got off the limousine. Her bodyguard dressed in black also got off from the driver’s seat, and followed from the side.

"......You again?"

I firmly stared at her from the pool deck, very much wanting to spray her with the water hose. Because this girl kissed me and caused so much trouble for me.

Mana condescendingly returned the stare:

"So it looks you made up with Suzu? So boring, especially after all my trouble to start some chaos."

"Mana, what are you doing here?"

Masuzu spoke, with her face stiff and body frozen next to me.

"This is my school, and I don’t want you to take one step in here."

"Such a rude greeting, even though I particularly came here to apologize."

"Apologize?"

As Masuzu and I tilted our heads, puzzled, Chiwa finally returned from putting away the deck brushes.

"That’s weird. Ei-kun, who is that girl?"

At that moment, Mana gave out a ｢Wahh- ♪｣

"Is this girl Harusaki Chihuahua? Huh --- she’s quite cute."

This girl even know about Chiwa?

When she said she even knew ｢the headmaster of Suzu’s school｣, she wasn’t lying? Perhaps she even found out that we would be at the swimming pool today through that means.

"So, Nii-san must be really popular, with this girl in one arm while holding Suzu in the other---"

Chiwa stared at her intently, feeling quite uncomfortable.

Masuzu spoke in an irritable voice:

"Get to the point. What are you apologizing about?"

"Ah, well ......"

Mana deliberately clapped her hands together as if pretending to beg forgiveness from Masuzu:

"You know that time I said I’d take care of things with Dad? It was no good. ♪ Dad got extremely angry, and I couldn’t do anything about it."

Masuzu’s expression visibly froze.

"He wants you to go home right now, and he doesn’t want you to wait until the end of the semester. If you don’t, he said he’d even go directly to your apartment and drag you back."

"No!"

Unexpectedly, Masuzu cried out in an emotional voice.

"My apartment is the only thing I don’t want him to touch! I absolutely don’t want that person to come!"

"If that’s the case, you can only listen obediently, right?"

A triumphant smile emerged on Mana’s face.

"I’ll arrange your luggage and so forth, so Suzu-chan can just go home. If you don’t leave by tomorrow or the day after...... well I can’t say for sure what will happen, hm?"

Masuzu did not respond.

Masuzu was sweating so much it seemed like a lie, and she shivered slightly.

"Nii-san, why don’t you use this to throw a goodbye party for Suzu?"

Mana took a purse from the man dressed in black, and grabbed a ten thousand yuan banknote and stuffed it inside the fence of the swimming pool. Even if she was a stupid middle school student, she was rich.

"I don’t want it, take it back."

"Really? It’s better to turn down gifts of money. Is that how your aunt raised you?"

"......Why do you even know about that?"

"Haven’t I said it already? I have investigated. Everything."

Mana tored apart the ten thousand yuan bill into shreds, and let it be scattered by the wind.

The man wearing black opened the door, and Mana got into the limousine.

"So, to each of you young maidens in the club, farewell---"

Mana waved her hands like a naïve child and left.

......Damn, she really did what she wanted.

Chiwa watched the taillights of the limousine and said:

"What?! That girl is so arrogant! Does Natsukawa know her?"

"That girl is a Masuzu’s little sister."

"S-sister? Really? But their hair color isn’t the same!"

Although I was also curious about this, I didn’t want to ask Masuzu, so I could only ignore it. My best guess is that they didn’t share the same mother or father, and perhaps they had a very complicated family.

Even at this point Masuzu still had her head bent down, wordless.

"What are you going to do, Masuzu?"

"......I can only go back. Go back home."

"Ah, there’s nothing you can do about it, right? Since your father even said it to that extent… at least it’s almost summer vacation."

Chiwa probably still did not understand the situation.

She thought that ｢go home｣ meant ｢visiting relatives｣.

I was afraid that ---

"Where is Natsukawa’s family from? Kanto? Northeast? It can’t be Hokkaido?"

"From Sweden."

"............"

Chiwa was stunned.

"I'm afraid I might never come back tot Japan."

"Really?"

Masuzu did not meet my eyes, as she nodded slightly.

Then, she suddenly spoke out in a refreshed voice:

"Ah --- it looks like my relationship with Eita-kun will end here. I can’t try to maintain a long-distance relationship while separated by an ocean. Although our time together was short, I was very happy to be together with you."

"......"

Only Chiwa was speechless. As for me, this was not so surprising.

Because, after all, I was fake.

If she dropped out of school, the ｢boyfriend contract｣ didn’t make any sense.

For me, it was pretty much my wish fulfilled. Without a ｢girlfriend｣, I would be able to return to my previous life. This excessive mayhem was finally coming to an end.

But......

"Do you think this is okay?"

"After all, I’m not the kind of person to get sentimental about the past, Since I’m going to leave this school, I don’t intend to prolong my relationship with you."

Masuzu’s cold indifference was astonishing.

"Eita-kun, dump me right now."

"......"

"Heh, I knew it would be impossible for Eita-kun."

Masuzu exposed a slightly lonely smile, and said:

"Then let me do it...... I'm tired of you, I hate you, and I don’t even want to see your face. I will return you to your childhood friend, and ask both of you to be happy. When two you have the wedding --- don’t bother looking for me, I don’t care."

"Ei-kun was mine in the first place."

Chiwa, who had been silent the entire time, whispered resolutely.

"I don’t remember when I gave him to you. From the beginning, I didn’t intend to invite you to the wedding."

This was beginning to turn quite extraordinary, but now was not the time to tsukkomi.

Chiwa glared at Masuzu and said:

"Why are you giving up so easily? What did you just tell me? Weren’t you going to tel about about how Ei-kun’s l-l-l-l-lips tasted like? Even if it was just artificial respiration, you had such an arrogant expression. You aren’t attached to the past? Who do you think you are? It’s really pitiful for Ei-kun! More importantly, it’s pitiful to me! Just because you showed up, I..."

I patted the speechless Chiwa on the back.

"Masuzu, I think you misunderstood."

"......Misunderstood what?"

"When I asked, ｢Do you think this is okay?｣ I wasn’t talking about myself. I was talking about the young maiden’s club, and Hime’s business."

Masuzu’s icy expression was obviously shaken.

"The person who proposed to let Hime join the club was you, right? The person who gave her the assignment was also you, and she’s taking it very seriously. Even though she’s surrounded by electric waves, is extremely shy, and lacks a model for communication skills, she’s taking a new step out despite her worries to attempt ｢club activities｣. And you who suggested this is going to run away?"

"I can’t do anything about it."

Masuzu just said that one phrase.

"That man will stop at nothing to achieve what he wants. If I don’t go back, I don’t know what means he’ll use, perhaps even hurt you all. Mana said it already. He already knows about my situation at school here."

When Masuzu said ｢that man｣, she probably meant her father.

"Then what?"

"There is no, ｢then what｣, so ---"

"Then what do you want?"

Masuzu distinctly gasped.

"What do you want? Natsukawa Masuzu, do you want to stay here? Or do you not want to stay?"

"......I don’t have the power to choose."

"You bastard!"

I didn’t ask you this!

I don’t want to hear you say that kind of thing.

Do you want to stay here, or do you not want to stay? That’s all I asked.

If you say, ｢I want to stay here｣, then......

I will… we will---

"Ei-kun, let’s go?"

Chiwa ignored Masuzu with her head down, and pulled on my arm.

"Do not worry about her, okay? Hey! Today I want to eat a hamburger steak. Make it for me, Ei-kun. Let can go shopping at ｢Wonder｣<ref>丸德 in Chinese; kanji-romanji dictionary doesn’t give any hits for me. D:</ref> and then go back?"

I reluctantly nodded.

I grabbed my bag hanging on the wall, and walked out with Chiwa.

While I was leaving the pool, I only looked back once.

As the sunlight began to tinge orange, it illuminated Masuzu’s pale profile.

"Hey, Masuzu!"

I shouted to her.

"E-even if you go back, at least collect Hime’s assignment! Can you do that at the very least? Hey, Masuzu---"

"Hey, Ei-kun, let’s go!"

Chiwa kept pulling my hand away.

Masuzu.

My ｢girlfriend｣ was getting farther and father away from me.

<center>♦</center>

I was eating dinner with Chiwa.

With a huge hamburger steak as the main dish, Chiwa refilled her big bowl of rice three times. Since she normally only eats three small bowls of rice, she was approaching nearly twice her usual. Although she must have been hungry from cleaning the pool, this amount of food was simply too frightening.

"I’m so angry --- angry, angry! Rawr!"

Chiwa whined while she crunched and snapped at a mixed carrot dish. And what was the meaning of that rawr? It wasn’t cute at all.

"Why are you so angry?"

"What? --- Ei-kun isn’t angry? Natsukawa’s attitude is really unbelievable! Even if her parents ordered it, why is she suddenly break up?! Really! Really!"

She turned into a cow again, <ref>Cow is supposed to be a pun for “really?” or something like that… it’s kind of difficult to explain, and who knows what it says in Japanese. ^^”</ref> which definitely was not cute.

"No, for me, it’s not that I’m angry......"

It’s a lonely feeling.

If Masuzu were upset or resisted it all, then I would try to do something.

But since she gave up, it made me feel lonely.

It felt like I was rejected.

Our relationship as ｢Fake Boyfriend｣ only went to that degree.

"I’m more surprised that you’re angry."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because your natural predator Masuzu is going to disappear. I thought you would definitely be happy."

Chiwa drank her barley tea in one gulp, and slammed the drinking glass on the table.

"You, Ei-kun. You know my personality."

"Personality?"

"If I don’t have a rival, I can’t get fired up! That’s because my goal is to become someone more popular than Natsukawa! If she slip away after beating me, that’s what I can’t accept."

"......I see."

Right.

Chiwa was that kind of straightforward person.

"Even though I hate Natsukawa, I still like our ｢Young Maidens Club｣. After all this trouble, she leaves just when we’re about to get more members. She’s really too irresponsible, too headstrong!"

"Aren’t you against Hime joining the club?"

"............I used to be against it."

Chiwa’s momentum suddenly disappeared, and she looked down.

"Because that girl always sticks to Ei-kun’s side, and said stuff like ｢it’s vulgar to be popular｣. If her only goal is Ei-kun, I originally did not want her to join our club, but......"

Chiwa took out her cellphone from her pocket, and placed the screen in front of me.

"Woo, wuahh!"

I couldn’t help but let out a sound.

Displayed on the screen is "guh!" the face of Hime rolling her eyes.

Bloodshot eyes.

Saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

I think this must have been a mental breakdown......

"This one too. Look, and then this."

Every time Chiwa pushed the buttom, the image switched, and each one was of Hime rolling her eyes.

"What is this? You wanted to get pictures of supernatural things?"

"This was practice for looking up with the eyes."

"Eh?"

"Hime-chan used a digital camera to take pictures of the entire drill of looking up with the eyes, one hundred times."

Now that you mention it, Chiwa was the one who previously advocated that Hime should undergo ｢basic training｣.

I didn’t think Hime would actually do it......

"Last night, she sent a lot of texts to my phone. The subject was, ｢Eyes Really Tired｣. Once I saw her perseverance, who could opposite it?"

"I see."

Hime really intended to become more courageous.

Maybe this is what she meant by the first step that could ｢split apart the gray-colored world｣.

"Let’s talk to Masuzu again at the club room."

I mumbled to myself.

If ｢Jien-Otsu｣ ended in this kind of way, it didn’t matter if it was Hime or Ciwa or --- of course, me --- our hearts would not be happy.

Even if Masuzu intended to leave, I had to settle this uncomfortable mood.

"I won’t go."

Chiwa shut up as she chewed the last piece of hamburger steak, and turned away.

"Tomorrow our class is having a party to celebrate the end of exams, and everyone’s going to a barbecue buffet. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time."

"Well, leave it to me then."

Right.

Even if it was for this totally un-cute ｢childhood friend｣, I had to try to get Masuzu to stay.

<center>♦</center>

The next day, Monday.

As expected, Masuzu did not come to school.

The class rep claimed she was cutting classes… so did she intend to drop out of school?

Based on yesterday’s conversation at the pool, Masuzu was going to leave today or tomorrow, but she’d probably return to the clubroom once, since her first edition set of ｢JOJO｣ was still here. Although she had another set at home, she would definitely be back to get grab it. Even if it she was the kind of woman whose actions and thoughts were impossible to guess, I could only have confidence in her love for JOJO.

As soon as the school bell rang, I ran to the club room, but Hime was already waiting inside. Like always, she got there early. Don’t tell me she could actually leap across space?

Hime scurried to my side and said:

"Eita, I finished it. ｢The Ideal Maiden｣"

"Oh! You’re finally done?"

Hime hugged her notebook tightly to her chest and nodded. Even though she still wore a poker face, what was really pitiful was her nose ｢Gururru｣-ing up, exposing how satisfied she was with herself. <ref>I actually have no idea what the nose thing refers to. Some kind of sound effect maybe?</ref>

"Where is it? Let me look."

Seeing my hand extend towards her notebook, Hime quickly retreated backwards with her face flushed.

"N-n-no, let’s wait until the club president is here."

This time she was clearly embarrassed. When we just met, I thought this girl was an alien, but recently she’s be full of rather rich expressions.

Then ---

"Wha---? Don’t say that, let me see~"

Thinking it was Masuzu’s voice, I turned my head back to find --- next to the door that I forgot to close, there was a young maiden of blond hair and blue eyes, and next to her a bald man in a black suit wearing sunglasses.

Natsukawa Mana.

In the end, she even turned up at our club room!

"Hey, let me see that notebook! I’m very interested in Suzu’s club activities, and I want to investigate what kind of things you do to report back to dad.

Mana entered the club room, and snatched the notebook right from the hands of frightened Hime.

"Stop! Give it back to her!"

When I was about to grab Mana, the man in the black suit stepped in, and I was instantly swept and pinned to the ground.

"St-stop ......"

Barely able to breath, I was nearly overwhelmed by the weight the of man in the black suite riding my back, when I shouted:

"Hime spent all of her effort writing that notebook! Give it back to her!"

"Oh wow, really? I want to read it even more now ♪"

Mana sneered while she sat on the table and began to flip through the notebook.

Hime gave a very frightened and pitiful look, and shuddered and sneezed as she clung to the window curtains. Right, she was an extremely shy person. Because she was always in a tangle with Chiwa and Masuzu, I nearly forgot she practically has never spoken to her other classmates---

<pre>
--- ♪ a real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) will never give in.
</pre>

Ah ---

She’s reading it aloud!

Against all expectations, she’s reading it aloud.

Like her older sister, she was such as excessive character!

But when Masuzu did it, it didn’t matter so much.

Because the person she did it to was me, it wasn’t important.

After all, I once had "past • eighth grade syndrome."

When she exposed it all, it was such a big humiliating blow that I wanted to die. But that was the past, and it wasn’t now.

However, HIme was ｢active｣.

Reality was so frightening to her that she made up a fictional world of delusions and hid inside of it.

If this delusion were to be exposed, ridiculed, and destroyed, she would have nowhere to go ---

"Kuwahahahahahahahhahahahahaha!"

Mana’s obnoxious laughter rang across the club room.

"RE, REAL PRINCESS! It’s written like maiden, but you reading it like PRINCESS! Please! Is this a about her royal highness coming? There’s nothing wrong about it? From the beginning it was such a hilarious thing ---?"

Hime’s hands clenched the curtains.

Tears trickled down her face, and the cream-colored curtains became gradually wet as if sprinkled by rain.

"Stop it!"

I tried to use my arm to push myself up, but this bald guy was too heavy! What did he eat to become so muscular he’d never fall!

Then Mana turned to the next page:

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be hurt.

♪ Even during difficult times, she’ll keep smiling forward.

♪ Even if alone, she won’t cry.
<pre>

"So cold ~ ahh."

Mana gave a nasal laugh, and looked back towards Hime.

"Didn’t you write, ｢Even if alone, she won’t cry ♪｣, right? But you’re a total mess right now? That’s not like a REAL PRIN-CESS. This is what you do for club activities? I don’t get it --- are my brains no good? Or is your brain completely broken?"

Hime didn’t say a single word in reply. She just cried, clutching the curtains.

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be afraid.

♪ Even when meeting new people, she’ll smile and say hello.

♪ No matter who it is, she can instantly become friends.
</pre>

"I’m starting to feel...... as opposed to an ideal, this is actually closer to a delusion, right?"

Mana smiled wryly.

"Suzu’s been participating in these kinds of club activities. No wonder Dad is that angry. He hates these kinds of people the most. People who have neither brains nor power. Only delusions. And I have the same opinion. Really, it’s so annoying."

<pre>
♪ A real maiden (REAL PRINCESS) won’t be discouraged.

♪ She’s always filled with love.

♪ No matter what happens, she’ll never give up.

♪ She’ll be able to walk to his Royal Highness’s carriage, and meet her prince one day.
</pre>

"Wuaahhahahaha! Look at that! There’s even a Prince here!"

There was nothing funny about it, but Mana continued to slap the table in laughter.

"Really, just because there’s a princess, a royal prince will come? Does he ride a white horse? Puhaha, is this really a high school? It’s more like a nursery school."

Maybe because her tears were completely dried up, Hime only stood expressionlessly.

Mana muttered a phrase: "How boring ---"

"It’d be better if your club renamed itself to be ｢Delusional Maidens Club｣. Abbreviated: Delusional-Club. Awesome ♪" <ref>Has the same kanji structure as Jien-Otsu. Maybe it’s a pun?</ref>

Hehehehahahahehaha.

Mana’s laughter echoed against the windows and walls.

Then, Mana had a mocking face as she took ---

What Chiwa suggested…….

What Masuzu gave out…….

What Hime desperately tried to write with all her effort……

The assignment notebook........

And with a sharp sound --- tore it apart.

.....Stop joking.

"Stop..... joking!!! You bastard!!!"

I focused all of my strength to my feet, and strained so much to stand up, I think I nearly broke some blood vessels.

I overcame the body weight of the man in the black suit, and stood up!

Was this a scene of fiery spirit driving one to insane strength?

Or the man in black’s carelessness?

Whichever it was, it didn’t matter.

As long as I can stop this bastard woman’s giggling laugh, I don’t care!!

"Someone else's delusions aren’t things you can laugh at!"

I ferociously cried out, scaring Mana expressionless.

"Every person has some kind of humiliating delusion! I have one! I brain has a pile of delusions that will make people roll around everywhere! Among delusions, mine are incomparable! I am the reincarnation of a dragon, and receive the welcoming favors of Beauty • Dance • Angels. I also fight with invisible enemies, know everything about Western music, play guitar, and can ride a monster motorcycle--- I’m just that kind of humiliating guy! Of course I reality, none of those things will ever come true! I don’t remember a thing about past lives. And angels? Even the girls in my class think I’m ｢disgusting｣! About guitars, I can’t even play a recorder. And when I say motorcycle, I can only ride a bike! Not a single one will turn into reality! I’m already sick of myself! I might as well just die!"

Mana, struck dumb, shrugged and gave a call.

"Yasuoka, shut this guy up."

Bang! There was a loud noise.

Sparks scattered around my eyes, and I found my cheek glued to the ice-cold wall.

--- Ah, I was punched?

By the time my head cleared, my nose was already dripping blood.

"Eehh!"

I heard Hime’s quiet shriek from the side.

I fell to the floor where my dripping blood stained the ground.

......Damn!

How can I lose!?

I clenched my teeth and stood up.

"Even so, I can’t help but to continue with my delusions. Because I am alive, people have hope, and it’s a more positive way of living, isn’t that so? Compared to yesterday, today is better; compared to today, we try to make tomorrow even better, right? That’s why we have delusions. Because of that, I’m cool --- I’m awesome! If I imagine a thousand delusions, maybe one day at least one will come rue. Those hopes are the only thing I absolutely won’t give up! If we stop dreaming delusions, we can only wait to be crushed under reality!"

My ears rang with a cracking sound, and my head spun wildly for spell.

Strange? I’ve been punched again?

To stop myself from collapsing, I tried to grab the steel bookshelf, but I only scattered a JOJO books from the shelf. I tried to twist my body to avoid them, but I still stepped on a few books.

Hirohiko Araki-sensei, I'm sorry! <ref>Mangaka of JOJO series</ref>

This would definitely make Masuzu angry!

Compared to being punched, Masuzu’s angry hits were definitely much scarier.

"Are you an idiot?"

Mana sniggered.

"How can delusions possibly come true? The fact that you’ve been beaten to pulp, is that good enough evidence for you?"

This girl said things that could make the dead angry.

She was really powerful, like a genius evil queen.

But --- thanks to her, I was filled with strength.

"It will come true."

I wiped my nosebleed, and stood up again.

"No, I will make it come true just for you to see."

The man in black punched in the cheek.

My vision wavered.

My body burned hot like I had a fever, and the depths of my brain felt numb.

--- I won’t budge!

If I fall, Hime’s poem will only be treated as a ｢delusion｣, and it’ll all be over.

But no.

Her Prince will come.

He’ll definitely come!

"......W-w-w-wait, what’s going on?"

Mana’s easy-going expression finally turned rigid.

"Why are you pushing yourself to this extent? You’ve been beaten to pulp by Yasuoka. If you heard about his experience, it’d make you want to pee in your pants, so you better lie down. I don’t deliberately mean to---"

"Apologize!"

I growled, as I brought my bloodstained face closer to Mana.

"Apologize to Hime! Apologize for tearing the notebook. Apologize for mocking her poem!"

"What?"

Mana repeated, as she took a step backwards.

I stepped forward.

Mana drew backwards.

"W-w-w-what are you? ......What kind of person are you?"

"I am ---"

I drew in a big breath.

I faced Mana, as well as Hime who hid in the curtains, and said:

"I am Natsukawa Masuzu’s boyfriend, Harusaki Chiwa’s childhood friend, and Akishino Himeka’s ex-boyfriend ---｢Holy Dragon Knight of Dawn｣ Kidou Eita! Remember that, you bastard!"

When I finished, Mana was backed up completely against the wall next to the window ---

"--- That’s enough, Mana."

I looked back, and Masuzu was standing in the doorway.

She looked grieved, as she looked around at the devastation in the club room.

"Eita-kun and Akishino-chan haven’t done anything wrong. As long as I go back, that’s all?"

"Y-you understand, right?"

Mana distinctly gave a sigh of relief.

"Right? If Suzu was this obedient from the very beginning, I wouldn’t do this sort of thing, right? I didn’t mean to do it on purpose. Oh --- silly me, I was careless."

"Hey, Masuzu."

With my nose still bleeding, I approached my ｢Girlfriend｣.

Masuzu had an expression that seemed like she was about to cry, and she took out a handkerchief.

"Eita-kun, your injury looks serious."

I pushed away Masuzu’s hand, which had approached to wipe away the blood on my nose.

"Hey, listen to me."

"Eita-kun, let me deal with this......"

Masuzu’s hand extended once again.

"Listen to me, Masuzu."

I shoved away her hand.

"Please, let me treat your injury......"

Masuzu’s voice was mixed with tears.

"Why did you have to try doing this sort of thing? Am I even worth it, that you’d do this to yourself? I don’t deserve it. I am a fake, so ---"

"Listen to me, Masuzu!"

My shout caused Masuzu’s shoulders to shake.

"Please listen to me! If you still want to leave after hearing me, I won’t say anything more. So please, listen to my last request as your boyfriend."

"......What are you saying?"

I looked back at the curtains, at the silhouette of Hime who was still hiding.

"The person who has something to say isn’t me. It’s Hime."

Hime poked her head out slightly.

With big wide eyes, Hime stared straight at me.

"That was a very cute poem."

"......"

"But, as a poem, it won’t express the meaning you want to convey. A poem by we who have ｢Eighth-Grade Syndrome｣ as always self-centered, and self-minded...... it can’t convey the sincere feelings that you have. So to really express it, it’s probably better to just say it aloud."

Hime stared straight at me.

"Wait a minute, what are you starting to do all of sudden?"

Mana impatiently pecked in.

"This isn’t Onii-san’s stage time, just rewind past it."

"This is our club problem, so you back down, you stupid blonde!"

Mana’s face twisted with humiliation.

"Hey, Yasuoka, get rid of this guy."

The man dressed in black clenched his fist, made a few smacking sounds, and leaned over.

Not good......

The effects from just being hit around the first time, it was inconceivable how I was still standing right now. Compared to the time in front of the train station, my injuries from this time were much worse than the time I fought with four people. This guy was really a worthy bodyguard, and he had really professional skill.

When I thought it was all over for me, a little figure appeared in front of me.

Hime.

She stretched her arms open wide.

"Don’t......"

Hime’s voice was accompanied with tears, as she shook her head left and right.

"Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t hit Hime’s Eita! Stop messing with your club! This is Hime and Eita’s place! It was really, really hard to this place! This was the place

President and Chihuahua were going to have club activities together! S-so go away!!!!!"

Masuzu’s body was clearly shaking.

She’s not afraid.

Rather, Hime’s ｢Club Application｣ was full of inner shaking.

"Well said, Himechi!"

The door opened with a loud noise.

Everyone turned back simultaneously, to see Chiwa with a shinai in the center position.

"What Himechi just said is absolutely right! This is our place. All you non-members get out, otherwise---!"

Whish! The sharp edge sliced through the air.

This look made one remember the time when Chiwa was known as ｢Sword Ace Chihuahua｣. She used her brimming spirit to pierce through Mana with her glaring eyes.

The man in black’s face turned pale. Maybe he sensed Chiwa’s extraordinary ability. He left me, in order to stand in front of Mana to protect her.

Good.

There was one final person.

"Masuzu."

I called out the name of my stupefied ｢Girlfriend｣ who stood there blankly like an idiot.

"I’ll ask you yesterday’s question again --- what are you going to do? Do you want to stay here? Or not?"

Masuzu stared at my face, and then at Chiwa and Hime.

Her expression was gradually restored with vigor.

Gradually filled up with strength.

She came back with a fearless smile!

"Eita-kun."

"Eh."

"Who are you talking to, with that extraordinary look?"

Masuzu casually combed her silver hair upward, and smiled.

She looked back to see Mana stunned.

"I want to stay here."

"Eh? W-what is this?! You just said you were going to go back!"

"Yes, I thought about saying it like that to you once, to feed your insignificant self-ego."

"In-insignificant? Don’t joke, Suzu! You’re going to ignore your family’s orders? You’re not afraid of dad?"

"I do not understand the convict’s statement."

"Who’s the convict?"

"I hope they’re light on the prison sentence. You go make the confession."

"What are you talking about?"

"Then go self-destruct."

"It’s even worse?"

If she could come out with such a malicious tongue, then there was no problem.

Natsukawa Masuzu was completely revived!

"Miss, it’s about time to......"

The man dressed in black whispered in Mana’s ear.

When I noticed, the door had been drawing huge crowds, all people from the cultural clubs. After all the commotion with the door wide open, it was impossible for them not to gather.

"Get out."

Masuzu pointed at the door, and said firmly.

"In this room, only maidens with excellent qualifications are permitted to enter. Of the male sex, only Kidou Eita is allowed --- okay, so those without qualifications, get out now!"

Masuzu’s cold attitude caused everyone in the cultural clubs to go "woaah," and then burst into cheers and applause. Only Yamamoto-kun from the football club, and I don’t know how managed to sneak in, clenched his fists and shook them...... what happened to your practice?

Mana very unwillingly clenched her fists.

"Suzu, you will regret this."

"More importantly, apologize to Akishino-san right now. Say, ｢I’m sorry｣. Come on!"

"N-no!"

"Mana."

Masuzu suddenly narrowed her eyes.

"You’re going to disobey the words of your older sister?"

"......!"

Suddenly shivering, Mana bit her lower lip.

"......Sorry."

"I can’t hear you."

"I'm sorry! It was my fault!"

No matter how you look at it, she forced herself to apologize…. Well, we can’t expect anything more. Hime noddedly slightly. It seems like she didn’t want to drag this issue out any longer.

Then, Masuzu directly glared at Mana and said:

"Tell that person, I will never go back. Tell him I’ll be waiting in that room, waiting for mom whom he threw away."

Mana whimpered like a child, and exposed a few tears:

"Fool! You really, really, really are a fool! At this point, it’s impossible for that person to come back! Just like last time, you’re going to cry from being deeply hurt!"

The man in black pulled strongly on Mana’s resisting arm, and took her away.

The who of them pushed away the crowd and left, and the crowd itself slowly dispersed. The door was shut --- and once again the club was left in peace.

Me, Masuzu, Chiwa, and Hime.

This was the space for the Society of Young Maidens Club.

"It’s finally back to normal ---"

I was about to laugh when I suddenly felt my consciousness slipping away from me.

Ah, no good.

As soon as a relaxed, it seems like the damage from being injured….

"Eita-kun!"

"Ei!"

"Eita!"

I listened to their three voices overlapping ---

I fell to the ground facing the scattered JOJO books on the floor.

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

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| Back to [[Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
| Return to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
|-
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</noinclude>

<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 5

2013-08-14T22:51:05Z

86.218.197.243:

==Chapter 5 Childhood Friend's Room is Mayhem==

Apparently, Chiwa had found out about the news from a text message sent by the girls of the class.

<pre>
Subject: 【What Should We Do? 】

Eita forcibly kissed Natsukawa Masuzu! 【Chihuahua!】
</pre>

Really, when it came to the romantic minds of this crowd of love-worshipers, did everything have to become ｢love, love, kiss, kiss｣ before they were satisfied?

But even if I complained it was useless.

After all, whenever some strange prejudiced information reaches Chiwa, she basically considers it fact.

Of course, I immediately turned to her to explain the reason. I originally decided to use tonight’s dinner to discuss the love letter business, but how did my plas get defeated by such a thing?

"It wasn’t a kiss, just artificial respiration! The teacher was taking care of another student, so I was the only one left to do it. The struggle to save human lives is always a race against the clock."

"I know."

Chiwa pouted unhappily, and turned her face to the side.

"So don’t think about it too much. Artificial respiration is just a mouth and mouth touching, that’s all?"

"......Then do it with me, ah."

"Do what?"

"Artificial respiration."

I almost spit out my miso soup. In the end, seaweed and soup mix leaked from my mouth, blocked in the depths of my nose

"W-W-w-w-what are you saying?!"

"But! But!"

Chiwa cowered and timidly played with her fingers near her chest, revealing her childish habit to be troublesome. She had already entered ｢naughty Chihuahua｣ mode.

I think she understood the reason.

Because Chiwa was originally part of the Kendo Club, her awareness of first aid and medical treatment was probably greater than mine. If the other person had not been Masuzu, she certainly wouldn’t be acting as spoiled as she is now.

As a result, the night’s dinner ended with that awkward atmosphere, and Chiwa went home. A third of the fried pork cutlet was left unfinished… That Chiwa actually didn’t finish her meat, and that was a really rare occurrence.

Thus, the love letter confirmation could not be resolved.

......boo hoo.

Nothing seems to go as planned lately.

Why was Chiwa and Masuzu’s relationship so bad?

Was it because of that? Like the reason why a ｢mother-in-law and daughter-in-law｣ have a bad relationship? For example, the childhood friend is the mother-in-law, and the girlfriend is the daughter-in-law?

But, there was no mother-daughter-in-law relationship in the world that was so clearly incompatible.

Don’t tell me there’s no trick to keep a ｢girlfriend｣ and ｢childhood friend｣ on friendly terms with each other?

<center>♦</center>

The next morning:

Since I also wanted to go to school with Chiwa, I was waiting for her in front of her house.

I wanted to make up with her as soon as possible, because we couldn’t keep dragging on the confirmation of the ｢love letter｣ business.

I listened the cicadas in the courtyard and waited for ten minutes --- even though it was much later than usual, Chiwa still did not come out.

Did she leave early because she was angry?

Without any choice, I rang the doorbell on Chiwa’s home. The person who came was actually Chiwa’s mother.

"Oh my, this is Ei-kun, long time no see! How are you?"

"A-ah, long time no see, auntie."

I was embarrassed at a complete loss, because it was very rare for Chiwa’s mother to be home at this time. She was some kind of local newspaper reporter, so she always left for work early and came back late. It was the same with Chiwa’s father, but he was home even less often.

"Have you been going to school together with Chiwa lately?"

"Yes, we just started again not long ago."

"Really? Then Chiwa must be quite happy!"

Auntie’s voice was high-pitched even though she is tall. At first glance, she doesn’t look like Chiwa at all, but her eye-squinting mannerisms were exactly identical, just like a mother and daughter.

"But Chiwa, she ah, started to get a fever last night."

"Huh?"

"I took the morning off work to take her to the hospital, but I still won’t get back home until late tonight. Sorry Ei-kun, but could I trouble you to take care of her?"

"No problem, it’s nothing."

No wonder why Chiwa didn’t eat very much last night. Because she rarely caught colds, I had assumed that she had only been in a bad mood.

......Damn!

How did I not notice? It’s embarrassing, especially since I want to become a doctor.

During the course of the day I was almost completely absent-minded, even though the classes just before final exams were very important. Chiwa lingered in my mind the entire time. I just imagined the look of Chiwa ill in bed --- it reminded me of that incident in the past.

I told Masuzu I was not going to club activities today, and then hastily rushed home.

After changing clothes, I started the washing machine, and then immediately headed for Chiwa’s house. I used the spare key to enter the front entrance, and planned to hurry up to the second floor --- but then I remembered Chiwa might be sleeping, so I carefully tiptoed up the stairs.

"Chiwa, it’s me."

I knocked on the door.

10 seconds later, there was no response.

"I’m coming in, I’m coming in."

After giving my warning twice, I slowly turned the doorknob.

It’s been an extremely long time since I’d last scene Chiwa’s room. It was already very different from what I recalled in my memory… basically, the pinkness increased. Before in the past, her room was plastered with Kendo posters, with sports tape, old shinai’s and the like scattered around. Now it was replaced with drawstring bags, cushions, and small things like that, especially the mirror that was placed on quite a few sides. It was very conspicuous.

However, only the scent of warm milk was exactly the same.

This was the smell of Chiwa.

Chiwa was sleeping in a bed like the one she had in the past. She seemed to have some difficulty breathing while asleep, and her face was flushed.

As I planned to go downstairs to wring a towel, the covers wriggled about.

"Ah...... Ei-kun?"

"Sorry, Chiwa did I wake you up?"

"...That’s weird. Is it really Ei-kun? Ei-kun in my room...?"

After just getting up, Chiwa looked as if she were in a trance, and blinked her eyes.

"Auntie asked me to take care of you. Now don’t get up, you can go back to sleep."

"I'm fine! My mother is really..."

Although she spoke with that tone, Chiwa seemed to beam with joy, squinting her eyes in happiness.

"Your fever doesn’t seem to be gone yet, so is there anything I can do to help you?"

"............Can you help me to clean my body?"

"O-o-okay."

Although I consciously avoided the waver in my heart, my voice became quiet.

I grabbed a wash basin from the first floor, and went back to Chiwa’s room with a towel.

Chiwa knelt all alone in bed, and had taken off the upper top of her pink pajamas --- her back was naked towards me.

"Be gentle, please."

"I-I-I-I-I, I know!"

I held onto the twisted towel and sat down on the bed.

Close to Chiwa’s back, I could see that her skin was delicate and beautiful. I had thought that she simply was not yet developed, but her body had all the round curving characteristics of maturing girl, especially her two soft white arms. It made my mind exceptionally uncomfortable.

"Ahh!"

When I put the towel on Chiwa’s back, she shuddered.

"Really! I told you to be gentle."

"S-sorry..."

I cautiously proceeded to wipe her little back. My heart emitted a loud throbbing sound, and I was worried that Chiwa’s ears would hear it. Every time Chiwa shyly moved her back, or gave an "Aaah......" sounding sigh, my heart nearly flew up into the ceiling.

"Thank you, Ei-kun, I’ll wipe the front myself."

"Oh, oh."

It was finally over......

While Chiwa wiped her body, I kept my back to her and glanced at the inside of her room --- there really was a lot of small trinkets, like cosmetic bags from the appendixes of fashion magazines, shoujo manga, scented candles, and so forth. Her interests really were not the same as they were in the past.

Eh?

The thing that hung on the desk lamp, it seemed very familiar…

"N-no! Ei-kun, that’s not good!"

I stood up, and picked up that thing.

A pair of painted red chopsticks.

A cute pink ribbon tied them together.

Why was there a pair of chopsticks hanging in a place like this?

And --- aren’t these my chopsticks?

"...Sorry, I took those from Ei-kun’s home without permission."

When I heard this, a thought flashed through my mind.

"Are these the chopsticks from that night?"

Chiwa nodded.

She was really worthy of being called a childhood friend. She knew what I was talking about, even though all I said was, “that night.”

Because between the two of us, there is only one ｢that night｣.

That was the night when my parents disappeared, and there was a dead end in my life. Chiwa had slipped out of the hospital even though she was hospitalized, and we had hamburger steak together. It was the first day I had ever cooked in my life.

The chopsticks from then were this pair.

"But why did you want to keep this kind of thing...?"

"...Because this is my most precious memory."

Chiwa’s face flushed.

Her eyes were moist.

Was this the caused by her fever…? No, definitely not.

"Only that memory in my heart is absolutely always the same, even if Ei-kun has a girlfriend, or likes other girls."

"......I see."

I nodded, firmly believing what Chiwa said.

The person who wrote the letter was not Chiwa.

Because we did not need to ｢bind ourselves together again｣.

After all, my bond with Chiwa has always hung there ever since the beginning.

<center>♦</center>

In the end, I stayed overnight to take care of Chiwa.

Chiwa’s parents contacted me, and told me they wouldn’t make it home today, which was very commonplace in Chiwa’s lax household. On these kinds of days, Chiwa used to come over to my house to stay over… but this was in elementary school.

Even though auntie apologized non-stop on the phone, I didn't think it was a big deal. I was already planning on studying for exams late into the night, and as long as I brought my study books, it didn’t matter where I studied.

Chiwa was sleeping the entire time, with no improvement on the fever. Just a moment ago I had wiped water on her forehead, but the towel on her forehead was already warm. I need to change the water in the washbasin.

When I was about to stand up from beside her pillow, Chiwa suddenly gently tugged at my sleeve.

"...Stay with me..."

"Chiwa? Are you awake?"

No, her eyes were still closed, so she was asleep.

Was she having a nightmare because of her fever?

"Is Natsukawa really that great?"

"Huh?"

Chiwa very painfully shook her head and said:

"Do you like Natsukawa? Do you like her more than me?"

Her voice was disturbingly sad.

"Am I no good? Why? We’ve always… always been together..."

Clear tears slid down Chiwa's face.

"Don’t go anywhere. Stay by my side forever, Ei-kun…"

I again sat down by Chiwa’s side.

I firmly grasped Chiwa’s hand outstretched from the quilt.

"Don’t worry, Chiwa."

"......"

"I will stay here, I will take here by your side."

Chiwa’s painful expression gradually eased.

The rate of her breathing also returned to normal, so she probably fell into deep sleep.

I used my empty hand to pull over an English reference book.

I wanted to double and redouble my efforts in studying.

In order to achieve the goal that I promised to Chiwa that night.

<center>♦</center>

I woke up to the shimmer of light that shot through the gap in the curtains.

It seems that I had accidently fallen sleep --- while still in a sitting posture, with my face laid on the bed and my shoulders covered with a pink blanket.

There wasn’t anyone on the bed.

"Chiwa?"

"I’m over here, Ei-kun!"

I looked back, and saw Chiwa’s smiling face, while she sat facing my back on a chair.

"W-What are you doing?"

"H-H-hey, I’m just enjoying the sleeping posture of Ei-kun. ♪"

"I’m not talking about that! Don’t you have a fever?"

"Yes, thank you for taking care of me."

Chiwa seemed to look healthy, and she stood up to spin in a circle to show me.

"Really? Let me take a closer look."

"I said I’m fine! Ei-kun really loves to worry!"

Chiwa snicked and prepared to flee, but I adamantly put my hand on her forehead.

......Well, all right, her body temperature was nearly normal.

She gave a ｢See? Didn’t I say so?｣ expression on her face, stuck out her chest, and said:

"Actually, it looked like Ei-kun might catch a cold, so I covered you with a blanket! When Ei-kun doesn’t have me, you’re really hopeless!"

"Hmph, what you talking about?"

Well, since Chiwa had the energy to bicker, there shouldn't be a problem.

I looked at the alarm clock, and it was already seven ten in the morning.

"Huh? Where does Ei-kun want to go? My mother will be returning soon, so you should eat breakfast and then go---"

"No. I want to go to school early so I can study and prepare for the exam in the quiet classroom."

"What?! Ei-kun would never say something so cold in the past!"

"Yesss."

Chiwa mustered an unhappy face.

"Then I guess I should get sick again......"

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

"No, n-nothing."

Chiwa shook her head.

"Ei-kun, about the artificial respiration."

"What, you still want to talk about that old thing?"

"No, I was thinking you’re really awesome, to formally execute it and succeed! For that kind of technique, even if you know how to do it, in a real accident very few people can do properly. Where did Ei-kun learn how to do it?"

"...You asking me where I learned it from? Just from a book, and didn’t we learn how to in physical education class?"

"And you know how to do it from just that? Really amazing---"

"Hmmmph, fine, praise me more then."

---Though to say the truth, it’s actually not that impressive.

After Chiwa was hospitalized from a traffic accident, I went to a life-rescue workshop run by the fire department, to receive full training from senior firefighters.

This was just in case if Chiwa ever had another accident, I wouldn’t be so helpless again.

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

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| Back to [[Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
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| Forward to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
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</noinclude>

<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 1

2013-08-14T22:25:34Z

86.218.197.243:

==Chapter 1 Childhood Friend's Love Letter? Is Mayhem?==

[[File:Oreshura_v02_033.jpg|thumb]]

Eleven o’clock at night, when I finished today’s studying for final exams --

Once again, I unfolded the letter I received after school.

<pre>
''-- I have always liked you.

-- Let’s bind ourselves together again like we did in the distant past.''
</pre>

"Ah..."

I re-read this many times, regardless I could only sigh.

There was no name of the sender.

And because it was typed on a computer, I could not check the handwriting.

The writer didn’t even specify what she wanted to do.

This was some kind of prank, and I should ignore it – Even though I rationally thought that, I felt "If that were the case, it wouldn’t have been written like this." If they were trying to see my flustered face from receiving a fake love letter, they would have written, "'''I looooveeeee Kido-kun! I have always stared at youuuu!'''" Something along those lines, with that effect.

‘’"Let’s bind ourselves together again like we did in the distant past."’’

The implied overtones of this statement made me very concerned.

It exuded so much "seriousness," it was impossible to take as a joke.

"Anyways, why meee?!"

I actually received a love letter, it’s abnormal! It has to be a mistake.

Speaking of which, this is why I hate "love".

The reason is my parents.

When I was little, they used to say stuff like "Even though our parents strongly opposed it, Dad firmly wanted to marry Mom!" Or "As long as she had Dad and Ei-kun at her side, Mom doesn’t need anything else!" But when started middle school, the common every day occurrence was seeing them fight, fight, and fight, until at last they mutually agreeded that their relationship as lovers evaporated. If my aunt Saeko-san had not taken me in, I do not know what would have become of me by now.

Thus, I became "anti-romance".

Romantic comedy is the best! Love is everything! I firmly sing discordantly against such system of values. In other words I'm just like that Natsukawa Masuzu. By being someone with the same values, I was naturally the choice to be her 'boyfriend'Fake.

But, regarding the fact that I am “anti-romance, only Masuzu who shares similar ideals knows.

It's not like I go around shouting stuff like "I am anti-love! I reject romantic comedy!"

The letter I have just received, it's not like doing that is going to make it disappear.

"Uuuun..."

Just where is the one who actually wrote this?

<center>♦</center>

The next day during lunch break:

"Hey, Kaoru, there’s something I want to ask you."

"What is it? Why are you being so formal?"

My close friend, Asoi Kaoru, tilted his head, puzzled.

As long as there were no Jien-Otsu activities, I would eat lunch with Kaoru in the classroom. Since Masuzu and Chiwa were always playing around with me, I didn’t know how "relaxing" this time could be.

I don't think there is anything that can beat a good friendship between men, and Kaoru is a good guy.

"What do you think, "Let’s bind ourselves together again like we did in the distant past," means?"

"What is that?"

Just after tearing a small piece of butter bread and putting it in his moth, Kaoru wryly smiled. This way of eating made him seem completely like a girl, but it suited him wonderfully. His skin was white, and his appearance was beautiful. If you insisted he was a girl, seven out of ten people would believe it.

"Nothing. When I was practicing the English exam, this was the translated answer to one of the problems. What do you think it means?"

Since I couldn’t say it was a love letter, I used this kind of thing to cover it up.

After taking a sip of milk with his straw, he said:

"Generally speaking, it should refer to a former friend or a ex-girlfriend who want to mend fences."

"Mhm."

I also came to that same conclusion.

But I actually didn’t have any "ex-girlfriends". Give the amount of experience I had as a 15-years-old, how could I have that kind of relationship? What type of riajuu would I be if I did<ref>riajuu is someone who has a successful social life</ref>? I would have replaced 2 kanji's of my name by the word "popular" if I did. <ref>[ 季堂鋭太 ] is the regular way, his example has [ モテ堂モテ太 ]</ref>

"And then there is also Chihuahua-chan."

"Ah? Chiwa?"

"A "childhood friend." From Eita’s perspective, shouldn’t the person who wants to bind themselves together like in the distance past be Chihuahua-chan?"

I was in the middle of picking up grilled salmon from my bento, when I unconsciously stopped moving my chopsticks.

"B-but, Chiwa and I are still getting along well. "Bind ourselves together like in the distant past," would be a weird thing to say, right?

"That way of thinking, could it be only limited to Eita?"

Kaoru’s eyes suddenly became mischievous like a child.

"From Chihuahua-chan's perspective, she might even want to get closer to Eita, at least that the feeling that I get."

"Even if you say that, we are still close enough to dine together!"

"But --"

Kaoru temporarily came to a halt.

"The Eita of "now" has a girlfriend. And that would be Natsukawa-san."

"......"

"From Chihuahua-chan's perspective, there’s no way your relationship is the same as before, right?"

That was a blind spot.

Now that I think of it, Chiwa has been very earnestly reading teenage fashion magazines like "Pachi Lemon", which has pages fulled with frivolous slogans from start to finish like "Summertime ☆ Cute Popular ☆ Using Love Letters to get Boyfriends ♪" .

Since Chiwa an easily influenced girl, it is quite likely that she was affected by the magazines, acting without thinking about her actions.

Yesterday morning, subsequently she came out with that out-of-nowhere line.

‘’"From now on, why don't we go together to the school?"’’

Wrong.

Wrongwrongwrong.

W-w-w-w-wait.

Why would Chiwa want to do something like that?

Chiwa d-d-d-d-d-d-didn’t have any r-r-r-r-reason to do that kind of thing.

"What’s wrong Eita? You are covered in sweat."

I didn’t have time to answer Kaoru’s question, as I just shoved a fried egg in my mouth.

I just don't understand this.

About the egg, I intentionally put a lot of sugar, so it should have been sweet, but it was like chewing sand; without flavor.

-- I had to confirm it!

Using assumptions to make decisions was very dangerous, and I certainly was not the main character of a romantic comedy. It would be a disgrace to take the fish bait. I had to cautiously check on Chiwa before I could decide whether she sent the love letter or not.

Then after the confirmation --

"What shouuld I dooooooooooo?!"

"Wah- Eita, don’t spit your fried egg out!"

In short!

In short, I wanted to confirm it!

<center>♦</center>

"Hey, Chiwa, the weather today is really nice, hahaha?"

"It’s a really cloudy day?"

-- a sudden mistake already!

After school, I went to the Jien-Otsu club room.

Luckily, Chiwa and I were alone. Masuzu seemed to be busy, and she told me that she would be late. So before she gets back, there is no chance but to make the move at that time!

"R-really? My judgment and everyone else’s logic isn’t the same. In my opinion, if the sky is around 80% cloudy, it’s still good weather."

"Mhm--"

Chiwa disinterestedly muttered a little, and took a huge bite of curry bread. She continued to fix her eyes on the other cabbage-and-sauce pork cutlet sandwich. Recently, she’s been snacking a lot after school. I’ve told her, "Don’t eat both sandwiches", but she replied to me, "If I had a fried-pork-cutlet-and-curry sandwich, I would be fine with eating just one." As expected of a woman who thinks entirely with her stomach. If we let her alone, maybe she would cause a bread industry revolution.

"Ei-kun, how did you suddenly become so fidgety?"

"N-no I haven’t? How could I have?…"

I lifted up my reference book, and covered my face from her line of sight.

"And Natsukawa? Why isn’t she here? Is she dead?"

"She said she had something to do, and would be late twenty minutes or so."

"......So, for the time being, I'll be only the two of us."

The dialogue stopped here.

I stole a peek at Chiwa from the shadow of my reference book, and found her with her head lowered bashfully. Half of her curry bread was unfinished; her face seemed very red.

What's going on......?

What was with this posture’s appearance?

Even though I urgently wanted to face Chiwa and confirm it all, I couldn’t think of a subtle way to ask about it.

What would I do if I confirmed everything, anyways?

If Chiwa answered, "Yeah, I wrote it," then what should I do?

Would we “start over” and “bind ourselves together again like we did in the distant past?”

This would mean, Chiwa and I --

While I was still hesitating and pondering in this maze, Chiwa was the first to make an action.

Hustle-Hustle. She dragged her folding chair next to mine.

"Ehehe...... ♪"

Did she have some kind of plan? Chiwa pressed her shoulder against my shoulder.

"W-wh-wh-w-what are you doing?!"

"Ah, Ei-kun, I want to practice a little."

"P-P-practice?"

Chiwa’s hair drifted by, and it had a warm milk-like fragrance, causing my voice to soften.

I always felt this smell was very nostalgic.

"Right, practice. Before I become popular, this is practice for when I get a boyfriend......!"

Chiwa leaned her entire head against my shoulder.

Rubbed it back and forth.

She looked just like a puppy, with her face rubbing my shoulder several times.

"Y-y-you, d-don’t misunderstand! This is just a "club activity!""

"G-g-g-go-got it- It's the club, merely for the club!"

In the beginning Chiwa was a little shy, but gradually she began to rub closer and faster, so much so that her voice comfortably sighed an “Kun” sound. She was really like a puppy.

"Ei-kun, do you remember?"

"W-what?"

"In the past, I used to always fall asleep like this."

"R-really?"

"My mom and dad would always come home late, so Ei-kun would stay with me and play in the park until it got dark. Then we would always sleep on the bench like this, until someone came to pick us up, remember?"

"...I remember."

Chiwa’s smell.

It was impossible for me to forget.

"Really?"

Chiwa put on a small smile.

"So it’s not just me who remembers, that's great."

Chiwa muttered to herself, again began to “rub back and forth” and “Kum".

At each stroke, her fragrant hair brushed by my cheek.

Sigh.

Chihuahua was really comfortable......

--Wait, this isn't it!

This was a good opportunity.

After all of the trouble, we were talking about the past, right? This was the perfect time to ask! "Where-you-the-one-who-wrote-that-letter?" is only eight words. I’ll count to three and firmly say it!

Okay, come on!

3.

2.

1.

"W- Where sou te one who frote that lietter?"

Wuuaaaaahhhhhh! Why did I say it in the Nagoya dialecttttttttttttttttt!!<ref>For the explanation, the original was 15 katakana "A NO TE GA MI WO KA I TA NO HA O MA E KA", but he pronounced it like "a, ano tegamy wo kyata no ha, omya kya". I'm not sure on what makes the Naoya-hen the Nagoya-hen, btw </ref>

"What’s wrong, Ei-kun? What did you just say?"

"N-N-N-n-n-n-nothing! Nothing! Ish Noshing!"

"I thought I heard "lietter", was it letter?"

"N-no! What are you talking about? The lietter play! I as talking about the musical! Musicals made from sign language are rare in the world, so I’m really looking forward to ittttttttttttttttttt!" <ref>In the original, Eita forms "Te ga myushical" from tegamy, the "Te" he used was from hand [ 手 ] , that's why he swifted the topic to that</ref>

Just as I felt like this excuse was about to explode, at that time --

"Knock-knock! Is anyone the~~ ~~re ♪ ?"

Accompanied with this voice, an outstretched hand pressed Chiwa’s face harshly down the table.

"Mukyu!"

This hand specifically and very thoughtfully used the half-eaten curry bread as padding below. Thanks to this action, Chiwa’s face was forced into the predicament of tasting her favorite curry bread.

There was only one person in the world who could defeat Chiwa with such beautiful technique.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Eita-kun! ♪ Your cute girlfriend has returned!?"

Natsukawa Masuzu-san.

She came back earlier than I expected…

"H- Hi! Have you already finished with your business?"

"Yes, I just went to the staff room to get some things."

Then Masuzu looked all around her.

"And Harusaki-san? Why isn’t she here? Is she dead?"

"She's under your hand--!"

Chiwa snapped and stood up, her face thoroughly covered with curry.

"I apologize, I did not noticed it, the only thing that I saw was merely thieving cat, or rather, a "thieving Chihuahua"."

"Who are you calling thieving?!"

"For taking advantage of when the girlfriend isn’t around and snuggling with Eita-kun, you are bringing down the concept of "childhood friend" in a national level, Harusaki-san."

I didn’t know when Chiwa suddenly became the representative of all of Japan’s childhood friends.

"N-n-no, this is a club activity! We’re practicing for when I get a boyfriend!"

"You’re a hundred years too early."

Masuzu hit the mark with her cut to the chase talk.

"I said it before, right? If you want to be popular, you have to finish reading this."

Masuzu put the cardboard boxes by her feet on the table, and happily opened the boxes.

The cardboard boxes had some mail-order company logo printed on it.

What she pulled out from the inside of the box --

"JOJO?" <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoJo's_Bizarre_Adventure</ref>

It was what Masuzu considered the Bible of shonen manga: the first volume edition of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures.” There was already more than 70 volumes already published, however the box only seemed to contain the first 12 volumes. <ref>This novel started in 2011, by the time I'm making this edit Jojo has over 100 volumes)</ref>

"This is reference material for the “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self” that I purchased with my own private expenses. This set of manga is for Harusaki-san to read, so she can carefully study what the truly fascinating person look like."

As Chiwa wiped curry off the side of her face with tissue paper, she said:

"If it’s "JOJO", didn’t I already read it when I played guitar on stage last time?! "

"You only read the fourth part, right? That’s unacceptable. You must start from the first part and read onwards. According to the NASA studies, it was clearly shown that 87% of girls who have a boyfriend have read JoJo starting from the first volume, to the current one."

NASA is really impressive --

I thought they only launched rockets.

Like she was handling a treasure, Masuzu started to line up JoJo on the steel bookshelf.

"You bought this specifically for the club? Couldn’t you just bring a set from home?"

"No! My own JOJO belongs only to me, just like how everyone can have only one STAND, One person can only have one set of JOJO." <ref>Naturally, a JoJo reference. A type of power that lets you "materialize" a spirit who "stands" "behind you", one person can only have one and a Stand can't change owners, thus Masuzu makes a point with that example. (Technically there is a stand that changes people's stands, but there is no point in bringing that up in the novel, and I doubt that Masuzu ignores that anyway)</ref>.

And, As usual she can go on and on with her JOJOJOJO talks.

How much does she really like JOJO? Even though I also like the series, but I definitely lose to her fanaticism.

After lining up all twelve volumes, Masuzu sighed as she stared at the remaining empty space on the bookshelf:

"My allowance has been used up, but if we actually received money from the club, we could buy an entire set."<ref>If you are wondering, Volume 13 is where Jojo part 3 start, which is also the most popular part of the series, so I'm guessing that her grievance comes from missing out the part that she likes the most</ref>

"Well, there is nothing we can do about that."

The “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self” only has three members, thus is only considered an association of people with similar interests, without 5 members we can't be officially recognized as a club, and because we aren’t an official “club,” we can’t receive any support from the school. The fact that we already had a clubroom was a big special exception to the rules.

Strange? But...

"Masuzu, weren’t you supposed to be an ojou-sama from a good standing family?"

"What are you talking about, that's?"

Masuzu bluntly frown.

"Nothing really. In the past, there was a rumor in the class that you were a “she is an ojou-sama,” or “she doesn't live in our world”, so I thought you must have had a lot of pocket money."

"I’ve heard those rumors too --"

Chiwa raised her hand.

Masuzu turned away her line of sight.

"Uun- Where there even those type of rumors about me?"

"Is it inconsistent with the facts?"

"Yes, somehow".

Still avoiding direct eye contact with us, Masuzu coldly spoke.

"Let’s just say my allowance money isn’t actually that much."

"I see."

Though it made sense, since rumors have always been unreliable.

Masuzu always was very classy, and moreover she had returned from going up overseas, so people developed the stereotype that "She has to be the rich daughter of a high class family", that kind of first impression.

"So you’re saying, because the school doesn’t recognize us as an official club, it’s very difficult to purchase an entire set of JoJo?"

When I brought to topic back to JoJo, Masuzu's brightened with joy.

"As long as we collect five members, I’ve heard that the school can recognize us an official club."

"So we need two more people?"

Forget it. That was impossible.

I can’t imagine anyone, asides from Chiwa, who would be interested enough in this kind of club to join.

"Now that you bring it up, I was recently scolded by a disciplinary committee member."

Chiwa ate her flattened curry bread as she spoke:

"The person said that when I brought a guitar to school, it was in violation of school rules! I was harshly taught a lesson in the disciplinary room, even though I obviously didn’t bring a guitar! Only the box!"

"Ah, that's the most unfortunate."

I spoke as I nodded, but I silently praised the disciplinary committee members in my heart. At that time, I had wondered what I should do if Chiwa continued to walk around with an (empty) guitar case.

"I was also scolded before. For example, "Don't do strange activities that disrupt the discipline committee ", or "produce actual results from club activities” Basically, it looks like our club is being watched."

Masuzu shrugged.

Our school’s disciplinary committee is known for it's power and it's strong influence on “student self-government.” They express their opinion that problems should be solved before complaints arise. Against this enthusiasm and activism, even the student council has conceded defeat.

If that group was serious, our club kind of club could be immediately dissolved.

Even the powerful Masuzu would only be able to obediently submit.

"So, today's topic of discussion is --"

Masuzu stood up, and wrote several large characters on the whiteboard:

“'''<big>Erase the disciplinary committee!</big>'''”

I revolted at the preface.

As expected, she certainly wasn't someone who would go out without a fight.

"That’s absolutely impossible!"

I stood up, and rapidly erased the text on the whiteboard.

Masuzu had a very sour expression, and her cheeks inflated.

"Why? How can you possibly know without trying?"

"Impossible is impossible! How can we oppose the disciplinary committee? Can't you tell the result already!?"

"Then what should we do? Don’t tell me you just want to sit and wait for death, as they abolish our club?"

"If that’s the case, try increasing the number of members we have, and see how that goes?"

Chiwa suggested from the sidelines.

"Isn’t an increase in membership the best result? If we get two more members, we can upgrade to an official club, and receive funding for club activities. We’d kill two birds with one stone?"

"That idea is really great, Harusaki-san!"

Masuzu praised Chiwa, which was a very rare occurrence.

"To think that there it was actually something inside that head! I wouldn't have believed it"

And just as I thought it was praise, it immediately turned into derogatory insults. This woman certainly has a knack for raising you to the sky, and then smacking you to the ground.

"Fuu- What did you think was in my head?"

"A pilot"

"He, so I was being conducted the entire time --?"

Blue veins shot out on Chiwa’s temples, as if a pilot driver had pressed down on a button. Chihuahua’s mechanical structure really was amazing.

"Overall, I think this is a good idea, and with it cowardly Eita-kun will have no objections?"

"Sure."

I felt that if they wanted that, they could do whatever they wanted. With the semester about to end, and during the period when life goes up and down, it was impossible to find new members; and as for being called cowardly, I’ll pretend I never heard it.

"So what are our specific plans? Marketing activities?"

"Should I go talk to my classmates in the go-home club?"

"No, that doesn’t work."

Masuzu shook her head.

"This illustrious club has no place for weak willed people like that. If it's like, "It doesn't matter the price, let me enter the club" or "If you do not let me join your club, I will commit seppuku!" <ref>Samurai suicide.</ref> , unless it's circumstances like these we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves remarkable young maidens."

"......"

From a very long time ago, I thought that this girl’s “young maiden's vision" is absolutely deviated from the norm.

"In short, as long as we can demonstrate our special charm to the school to attract people, we will be fine."

"So specifically what will we do?"

"Theme song."

"Ah?" Chiwa and I simultaneously voiced.

"We will create a theme song for the “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self”"

Masuzu faced the dazed two of us and winked:

"The power of songs should not be underestimated. It can end wars, cause the enemy to reform and start afresh, overthrow the last boss – they can transcend the boundaries language and international borders, even beyond the ethnic divide and they propagate strength. This is a song."

"That much, I can understand."

"In addition, the so-called song is also a "symbol." Asides from national anthems, school songs, and club songs, and including the theme songs of anime or TV soap operas, as soon as one hears a particular song, they will think "I can remember hearing this song", furthermore their faces will change as the contents of the song are heard."

As always, it was meaningless but persuasive speech.

If it works, I have no comment.

"Having a theme song is very good, but can you compose it? "

"Me? Like if I could do something like that."

"What is this pig dreaming about", was the message that I could read in Masuzu's eyes as she glanced me. Is this pattern again?

"Harusaki-san, do you have any experience composing?"

"Why would I?"

"Then, Eita-kun."

"Impossible."

Masuzu let out a "Puu" has her shoulders dropped.

"You’re such a group of useless people."

"You don’t have the qualifications to say that about others!"

"But I have first-class qualifications as an architect the "shelf of the mind"" <ref>shelf of the mind 心の棚 is a book, dunno about what</ref>

"Don’t make up strange national qualifications."

"Then we will attract a new member who can compose a theme song, then!"

"But we wanted to write a theme song so we could attract new membersssss!"

The composition of a song was thus delayed, and we first tried to make lyrics.

Because the lyrics were meant to grab a maiden’s heart, I was not responsible for anything. With the final exam as my priority, my goal was to reach the local National University School of Medicine under school recommendation. With that kind of ambition, I couldn’t regularly let my test scores slide.

"Even so, can the two of you really write poetry?"

"Well, I kind of like it?"

"As a maiden, I’ve written a poem or two."

"Eh...?"

Never mind Masuzu, but even Chiwa could write poetry. It was frankly really surprising.

Now that you mention it, I’ve always felt that the love letter had been written with a very poetic flavor.

<center>♦</center>

After the end of club activities --

I left earlier than the two of them, and arrived at the shoe cupboards first. Waiting for me there was another familiar pink envelope.

I checked that there were no shadows of people around me, and my trembling hands opened the envelope.

<pre>
''-- Ah, please notice "my true feelings" soon.

--No matter the era, even as the river slips by, only our bindings together can never be shaken.''
</pre>

I think that this time, there was a little more poetic charm than the last.

But because Chiwa should have still been in the clubroom, did that mean the person who put this letter in was in fact someone else?

No, that was not necessarily so.

Ever since the morning, I hadn’t been near my shoe cupboard, so there were opportunities at many times to slip in the letter.

Even so, this letter was the same as before. There were no specific details.

What was I supposed to expect?

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 0|Chapter 0]]
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| Forward to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
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</noinclude>

<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 0

2013-08-14T22:20:18Z

86.218.197.243:

==Chapter 0 This is Obviously My House... In Mayhem==

[[File:Oreshura_v02_004.jpg|thumb]]

There’s nothing strange about having a childhood friend.

Is that right? The average person in kindergarten, or elementary school, will have at least one or two close friends. “Because they lived very close to each other,” or “their families have a good relationship.” Due to these innocent reasons, it didn’t matter how many childhood friends one had.

But if we talk about “childhood friends at this age,” the situation is very different.

If the other person is a girl, that's even more so.

Because puberty changes the way people interact with each other, there’s no way to keep the same relationship from before. They remember “their past selves” and find it embarrassing, so it becomes a barrier that gradually pushes them apart. By the time they’ve finally forgotten about that person, the sight of her walking down the street hand in hand with another guy—“Ah, she has a boyfriend now”—it’s a really unpleasant feeling.

However, it’s okay.

One must step over the joys and sorrows of life in order to become responsible man.

To become an adult.

Even so.

Yes, even so --

"Unnnyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! PervertEcchi!" <ref>Contrary to what most people might want you to belive, Ecchi / エッチ or in this case pervert is very complex expression, as stated for this case we'll go with "pervert"</ref>

It was almost final exams, an early in July.

I was about to go wash my face when I opened bathroom's door, just to be greeted by a shrieking scream.

The person who screamed was Harusaki Chiwa.

She was a first year in high school, 15 years old.

She is my childhood friend.

Then -- why is she naked right now?.

Her eyes were opened wide, with her soaked hair equally shocked and stiff.

Chiwa’s figure was very delicate, and her hands and feet were especially slender. Her buttocks looked silky and tender, and her skin was of a glossy peach color. Unfortunately, the towel barely covered her important parts… no wait, it was fortunate misfortune.

"W- W-w-w-w-- Why are you here!?"

I also let out an alarming cry no softer than hers.

After all, this happens to be my house.

Without any parents, and I live here my aunt Saeko-san. Today, Saeko-san would not return home due to being busy with work, thus the only one left in the house was me.

Chiwa bent down, her face blushing red.

"I sent you a text message last night, didn't I!? The water heater in my house is broken, so I wanted to come over and take a shower in the morning!"

"...Huh? You did?"

Come to think of it, I didn’t check any of my mails.

I had been immersed studying for the exams the entire time, so I completely forgot.

"Hey, how long are you going to stare?! Ei-kun you stupid idiot! Pervert!"

"S-sorry!"

I turned right and left the bathroom, and shut the door while facing away.

Through the door, I heard Chiwa’s sharp voice.

"Even if we are childhood friends, there are things you can see and things you shouldn’t!"

"That’s why I'm sorry. I didn’t know."

I leaned against the door, and apologized awkwardly.

The sound of clothes rustling came through the door… Chiwa probably started changing clothes, right? I didn’t think I should be listening, so I got away from the door.

"Really? You really feel sorry?"

"Yeah, I forget to check my messages, so it’s completely my fault."

"...Then--"

[[File:Oreshura_v02_009.jpg|thumb]]

I felt Chiwa lean close to the door as she spoke:

"As amends, can you listen to one request?"

Here it is.

A reconciliation request.

Always after a fight, Chiwa will call out this specialty.

"What is the request?"

"Ah, it’s no big deal..."

Chiwa spoke shyly:

"Will you walk with me to school more often?"

“Eh?” I said, with my head tilted, puzzled.

"Just this?"

Cook hamburger for dinner! I thought she would make some kind of meat-related request.

"... It's that Ei-kun always just quickly walks to school by himself."

Chiwa muttered softly, and I didn’t know why she sounded so downcast.

Chiwa’s house was just next door. Back in elementary school, we always went to school together in the morning. But ever since junior high, Chiwa joined the Kendo Club and she left home at a different time than I did. So the habit slowly disappeared.

Since Chiwa stopped practicing Kendo in high school, it was now possible to go to school together…

"But, why bring this up?"

"B-because it natural, right? We live next door, and we go to the same high school!"

"I see."

I did not think that high school boys and girls going to school together was a natural, though.

"WW-ell, then...... Ah, we can also talk about club activities while we are at it!"

"Club activities...... "

Since last month, Chiwa and I started participating in the same club.

It was called: “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self” <ref>[ 自らを演出する乙女の会 ] or Mizukara wo Enshutsu-suru Otome no Kai.</ref>, also known as “Jien-Otsu” <ref>[ 自演乙 ] or Jien otsu, which is a term that originated from 2ch and happens to be the abbreviation of something else, [ 自作自演おつかれさま ] or Jisakujien Otsukaresama, literally meaning 'Good Job - Thank You for Your Charade - Pretense - Play Acting of your self-written, self-directed, self-acted script' ; which will be usually resumed as "Self Performing" in the translations. An example of self performing would be a single user creating several forum accounts on his own, and start with a scripted conversation using them.</ref>.

The club purpose was to improve the quality of one’s inner self, and become the ideal young maiden – it sounds really good, but its true identity was a club that “researched ways to become popular,” that kind of unhealthy group.

I, as the only male member, was forced to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of these girls.

"I understand."

I sighed:

"When leaving the house, I'll give you a call."

"Really?"

"Yeah ♪" I sensed Chiwa make a small jump behind the door. This girl was always like an eternal child.

"Starting today? Then I’ll change clothes immediately. Wait for me, Ei-kun!"

"Okay, okay."

When I was about to leave the scene, I heard a tiny sound from Chiwa.

"I absolutely will not hand you over to Natsukawa."

"Eh? What did you say, Chiwa?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

I thought I heard something about Natsukawa...

Never mind, I was probably imagining things.

Since I wasn’t able to my face, I decided to prepare breakfast and headed towards the living room.

Without any parents and since my aunt Saeko-san was always busy with work, I did all the cooking, laundry, cleaning, and household related chores. Today was a "not burnable trash" day, so I it was about time to take the garbage outside.

While I was thinking about this, I opened the door --

"Kya! PervertEcchi!"

A very unconvincing fake scream greeted me.

The person who screamed was Natsukawa Masuzu.

She was a first year in high school, 15 years old.

Masuzu has silver hair and blue eyes, since she was of Northern European descent.

Her outfit of a white frilly apron on top of her school uniform was a very "maniac" way to dress <ref>Maniac or マニアック is used for enthusiasts of some kind, in this context means that it's for those of certain fetishes</ref>… what was this girl trying to do?

"What are you doing? Masuzu?"

"Just as it seems, Eita-kun has forced me into this vulgar cosplay. Kya - pervertEcchi -"

"Don’t say horrible things about someone!"

When did I ever ask anyone to wear this kind of outfit?!

I didn’t even like apron on uniforms !<ref>Seifuku apron [ 制服エプロン ] seems to actually be a type of fetish. I had to look it up</ref> I am not that much of a pervert!

It didn’t matter that one was used to seeing the uniform, the combination with the neat apron made it burst out with a newfound brilliance! Or something like that! The length of the apron annoyingly and just barely covered her skirt, so it looked like she was in the flesh , giving this "not wearing any" feeling. Or something like that Every time the ruffles of the apron shook, I felt like my heart was jumping out of my chest! Of course I'm absolutely not thinking of anything on those lines--!

"That being said, why are you here?"

"Ara, is it a strange for a girlfriend to be in her boyfriend's house?"

Yes, the school’s number one beauty, The extent the bad character was also the school’s number one for this girl. Natsukawa Masuzu is, unexpectedly, my “girlfriend”… Well, there is a meaningful reason for that.

"Wearing an apron for her boyfriend, and borrowing the kitchen to make breakfast… isn’t this an ideal model for the “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self?””

I sat down on the sofa, and heaved a big sigh.

"In other words, this is a club activity?"

Natsukawa Masuzu was the founder of the “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self”, and served as the club's president.

This girl was the root and queen of all the evil.

"Last night you should have received a mail about it, saying that I would intrude here tomorrow morning. We exchanged mail addresses after all, didn't you happen to see it?"

"Sorry, I was busy studying... And by the way, how did you get in?"

"The front entrance, of course. I thought you even unlocked it for me."

"......Ah."

Right, it was Chiwa.

Because she used to always come back and forth between our houses, she has our backup key.

[[File:Oreshura_v02_015.jpg|thumb]]

I too have a key for her house.

Really, when you open a door you should lock it afterwards!

"I rang the door bell a few times, but it seemed that Eita-kun was in the shower, so you didn’t hear? It doesn't look like your family is around either… Even though I thought it wasn’t very mannerly, I came in by myself."

"I see."

When I was clarifying and going through the facts, I noticed another important thing.

Masuzu said, "You were in the shower, so you didn’t hear?"

But I was actually in bed, and since I was asleep I didn’t notice…

The person showering was Chiwa.

In a few moments, she’ll walk into the living room while wiping her soaking wet her with a towel.

W·i·t·h · h·e·r · c·h·e·e·k·s · f·l·u·s·h·e·d · r·i·g·h·t · a·f·t·e·r · t·h·e · b·a·t·h, C·h·i·w·a · w·i·l·l · m·e·e·t · M·a·s·u·z·u!

"M-m-m-masuzu!"

"Yes?"

"Please leave!"

"Eh?"

Masuzu's eyebrows frowned.

"Because I have things to do before I go to school! If you stay with me, I’ll be late!"

"If that’s the case, at least eat breakfast with me."

"I just ate a few moments ago! In the morning I eat three huge bowls of rice! I’m so full, I can’t take even another grain of rice or a bread crumb in my stomach!"

"......I see."

Masuzu’s shoulder dropped, hanging.

"I was really looking forward to eating breakfast with Eita-kun ever since last night."

Masuzu seemed lonely as she muttered to herself, and the sorrowful look on her face continuously stabbed at me.

"Sorry, Masuzu, for making you come out here to specifically make breakfast."

"I always wanted you to try my extra-hot curry pre-packaged meal filled with love…"

"T-that’s a lot of work, right? You have to boil the water, and cook the rice.

"No, rice is also ready-made <ref>meaning one of those "heat & serve" packages</ref>."

"For my sake, you are going to merely press a button of the microwave?!"

I didn’t even know what I was saying at this point.

Masuzu gave a big sigh.

"If it is like that, there is no other way…"

"I see you are quite understanding, Masuzu"

"As expected, instead of an apron uniform, you seem to prefer me to wear a naked apron."

"I see you don't understand, Masuzu!?"

""Kidou Eita , naked apron , is crazy about" : retrieved aprox. 83,020 results (0.14 sec.)<ref>She is imitating the automated search message of google, which varies according to the language</ref>"

"What's with that Guugle?! Just how much of a pervert you want to make of your boyfriend!?"

"Eeh? Well that's, eerm..."

Masuzu turned her head and became silent:

"No, I would never think like that."

"Then why did you just seem so indecisive?!"

What should I do?

This early in the morning, I have already shoot through a rapid succession of over a 100 tsukkomi.

This seemed to be very bad for one’s health…

"Anyways, I’m leaving."

Masuzu took off her apron, shaking her head gently.

Her silvery hair floated in front of the living room window, right in the light of the morning sun, inadvertently blinding me.

This girl was so alluringly pretty, like a fairy…

Masuzu undid the ribbon of her uniform, and spoke with melancholic eyes:

"Nee Eita-kun, I feel that a naked apron is really overdoing it too much."

"Isn't it? I feel the exactly the same!"

"I'll Take off my skirt, please at least today leave me off with only this much"

"That's no good either!"

"Check this out nii-chan, she'll take it off, take it off!!" <ref>She is imitating the tone of shady dealers, like guys that promote strip shows</ref>

"Already settled on that act, are you!?"

Just as Masuzu placed her fingers on her skirt fastener --

"Hey – Ei-kun, where’s the hairdryer?"

The sound came from the changing room, and it made me jump suddenly. “Waaaaah!”

Masuzu tilted her head and said:

"Eita-kun, just then, whose voice was that?"

"I-i-i-i-it was nothing!"

"Is your family home? But the voice seemed somewhat familiar."

"You’re over thinking it! That’s my aunt Saeko-san! She must have just woken up!"

"Well, it’s a rare opportunity, so I might as well introduce myself."

"No! Don’t do strange things!"

I grabbed the hairdryer on the table, and said:

"Listen, Masuzu, no matter what happens, don’t move! Even if a new Stand user appears <ref>Stand is a type of power in Jojo</ref>, just don’t move!"

"I don’t understand exactly what you’re... "

Before Masuzu could finish speaking, I ran out of the living room.

I knocked on the bathroom door and when it opened, I saw the freshly-changed Chiwa grimacing in the washroom mirror.

"Take the hairdryer, Chiwa... "

"What’s with you? You’re covered in sweat."

Chiwa’s expression seemed surprised as she took the hair dryer.

"Don’t worry, just a new Stand user appeared."

"? Ei-kun is weird."

Chiwa tilted her head and began using the hair dryer.

"Hey, if I occasionally change my hair style, what would you think?"

"Well, what gives?"

"Is a ponytail of your liking? Or would you rather prefer a sauvage style?"

What should I do?

Before Chiwa finds I out, I need to figure out how to make Masuzu leave.

Well, if I did it the other way around, that’d be fine… but I promised to go to school with Chiwa.

I’d like to keep my promises with my childhood friend as much as possible.

"What’s with that "what gives" stuff?" ... Are you not listening?"

Chiwa pouted, and stared at me with piercing eyes.

"O-o-of course! Hairstyle, right? Ah, but I think the way Chiwa looks right now is best. It suits you!"

"...Really?"

"Really, really!"

When I said this, Chiwa’s entire face blushed red.

She secretly patted me on the back several times.

"I hate you! Idiot idiot ♪ Ei-kun you idiot♪ "

"......?"

What was wrong with this girl? Was she confused? My back hurt.

At this time......!

"Eita-kun, which button should I push to warm the rice?"

I reacted to the sound coming from the living room: "AOHHHHHHH!" <ref>this is perhaps, another Jojo reference as in human kiai or battle screams in capital English letters are common there</ref>

"That’s strange? Who is there?"

Chiwa turned off her hair dryer and tilted her head, puzzled.

"Aah, Saeko-san just came back."

"But I felt like the voice wasn’t the same."

"S-she said she caught a little cold! A very terrible summer cold!"

"Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen her in a long time. I’ll go say hello."

"No! Don’t think about such strange things!"

I grabbed the shoulders of Chiwa, who was about to open the door, to stop her.

"S-she seemed to be tired from work! I want to let her rest quietly, so can you wait here for a while? Okay?"

Okay – Chiwa nodded in agreement. She knew Saeko-san was really busy, so she didn’t seem suspicious.

"Then, I should also try to use the hairdryer quietly, right?"

"Please! The future of humanity depends on you!"

I almost tripped three times in the few meters the corridor was, on the way back to the living room.

"What’s wrong, Eita-kun? You’re covered in sweat."

Masuzu wrinkled her brow as she stood in front of the microwave.

"It was just, about the future of the, human race- yeah -- hey --"

"Oh, you really are showing off your talents."

I took the rice from the hands of the dazed Masuzu, and began to work the microwave.

As I started at the turntable spin, I wondered a little.

I absolutely could not let Masuzu and Chiwa meet, so I needed to cleverly lead Masuzu out of the house. But Masuzu had a sharp intuition, so I had to be extremely careful.

"Hey, Masuzu, I'm really sorry, but when you leave, can you exit from the corridor? I’ll bring your shoes over.

From the living room hallway, it was possible to reach the courtyard. As long as one passed the courtyard, one could reach the road on the opposite side of the main entrance.

"Oh, what’s wrong?"

"If Saeko-san knew that I brought a female student home, it would worry her, because she is a very conservative person."

This, of course, was a lie.

Saeko-san works at a gal-game company, and loved talking about romantic topics. If she knew about this, she would say, "Well done, Eita!" Let's eat some sekihan tonight<ref>sekihan or 赤飯 is red rice, used for joyous occasions, in anime is usually parodied by "becoming an adult", in that meaning</ref>.

"I understand. Since that's the case, I'll leave right away."

Masuzu easily accepted it.

I thought she would question me, so I felt quite pathetic.

"Why do you look so startled? I don’t want to cause trouble to your family. If they’re home or not home, I won’t recklessly come anymore."

Masuzu’s expression suddenly looked very serious.

"What about Eita-kun’s father & mother?<ref>if you are interested, as usual she used a respectful "otou-sama" & "oka-sama" there</ref>"

"Haven't I mentioned before? The two of them aren't with me. If we are to speak about family, there is only my aunt Saeko-san who is my guardian –––– and there is also Chiwa."

"......I see."

Ding, the microwave rang.

"What's left of your family, you should really cherish it."

I took Masuzu’s shoes from the entrance hall and brought them to the corridor.

Masuzu retied the ribbon she had previously undone, neatly folded her apron, and put it into her bag.

"Won't you eat the curry?"

"If we took long enough, your aunt might come downstairs, right? I’ll go buy bread or something on the road at the convenience store. Might as well leave it there for your aunt<ref>Oba-sama is used</ref>"

"... Sorry, Masuzu."

I felt quite sorry.

If you really thought about it, this all happened because I never checked my messages.

"I’ll make it up to you another day."

"Don’t."

Masuzu shook her head.

"If you are saying that much, it would be better for something to be done now."

Masuzu came from behind and hugged me, and gently leaned against my body.

She was just like a beautiful French doll as her face drew close to mine, and her sweet breath brushed my nose.

"Kiss me."

"Eh?"

"I kissed you before, right? So now it’s Eita-kun’s turn."

"W-w-w-w-w-w-what are you saying?! I can’t do that such a thing!"

"Even though we are already lovers?"

Masuzu with her blushing face, pressed her body close to mine.

I could clearly tell that under the ribbon of her uniform, there was a soft thing changing shape. Even if I wanted to pull my body away, the thing that stuck out would follow me!

She was absolutely doing it on purpose!

"Stop kidding around! You might speak of lovers, I'm only a 'boyfriend'Fake!"

"Yes, that's exactly right."

Masuzu’s moist eyes looked up at me, and nodded at the same time.

"Our boyfriend / girlfriend relationship is fake after all. As the “anti-romance” I am, our relationship is really a pretense to get rid of the students who kept pursuing me ––– but, Eita-kun."

Masuzu’s lips suddenly drew close to me.

I unconsciously closed my eyes -- but her lips went past my lips, and approached my ear:

"I know that the person in the shower is Harusaki-san."

"What!"

"Because her shoes are at the entrance, so I knew everything from the very beginning ♪"

"............"

I felt all my strength escape from my body.

So the point was, all this hard effort was just in vain?

"N-no, the reason why Chiwa is using this house's shower, it’s not what you think. She came over because the water heater at house is broken, that's how it is"

"Please do not misunderstand."

Masuzu interrupted my explanation:

"Is not like I’m feeling any jealousy at all. However -- if there are rumors that Eita-kun and Harusaki-san are getting too close, our contract would just become scrap paper. That would be very troublesome for me."

"You don’t need to worry about that!"

Cold sweat dripped down my face:

"Didn't I said it just now? Chiwa is like family, because she’s my childhood friend, I would never see her as a member of the opposite sex. And the feeling is mutual."

"Uun?"

Masuzu’s eyes clearly did not believe it.

"If Harusaki-san feels like that, then it would be fine."

"...What do you mean?"

"In short --"

Masuzu suddenly pulled her body away.

"Your ‘Chuuni note’ is in my hands, so please do not forget about it."

"Yes, I know."

The Chuuni note <ref>Chuunibyou is a "disease" of acting like being special, in Eita's case he used to create a setting where he was a legendary warrior with super powers and acted accordingly</ref>.

I wrote it when I was in middle school, and it’s a diary full of delusional disgraces and past events.

Because Masuzu has this in her hands, I was unwillingly forced to play the role of her boyfriend.

"Even though you are “anti-romance”, what's with that casual "kissing." talk?"

"Ara, you’re saying it backwards, right?"

Masuzu sternly spoke while putting on her shoes in the hallway:

"Precisely because I am “anti-romance,” I can talk about “kissing” all the same. Kissing is just touching one's mouth with another, right? Only “love-minded” and “love-worshipping” people would think a kiss is a very precious or embarrassing thing."

"......Really?"

You really can talk. Your face was also red just now.

"Well Eita-kun, see you at school."

Masuzu elegantly and politely bowed to me, exited through the courtyard, and went out onto the road.

"Yare Yare<ref>a type of "sight"</ref>....."

I suddenly felt tired.

I realized that the day had just begun, and I really wanted to go back to sleep.

Forget it. That was impossible. The end of the semester was almost here, and I haven't taken out the "not combustible garbage" yet.

"Unya – Ei-kun – Can I come out now?"

Chiwa must have gotten impatient, and her voice came from the bathroom.

Seriously, enough...

Several reasons have made my daily life such as desperate mayhem.

<center>♦</center>

-- Having said that, nonetheless, some idea in my heart was full of optimism.

The real "Mayhem" had not yet appeared.

Chiwa was just like a little sister.

Masuzu was a fake girlfriend.

Even though the eyes of the people at school might have seen it as a desperate mayhem between my girlfriend and childhood friend – but this wasn’t actually mayhem. These two actually are those of "hates losing" types, so it looks like they are always fighting over me. But they weren’t, it's fighting for the sake of fighting.

However --

That day after school, when I opened my shoe locker as I was about to go home, I saw “that thing” that destroyed my naïve understanding.

It was a pink envelope.

Heat-shaped stickers.

And there was a slight smell of perfume --

"L-l-l-love letter?"

It had to be a lie.

Childhood friend, girlfriend, don’t tell me it’s time for some "third party" challenger debut?

Mayhem – the real mayhem is coming!

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

<noinclude>
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</noinclude>

<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 2 Chapter 0

2013-08-14T22:15:45Z

86.218.197.243:

==Chapter 0 This is Obviously My House... In Mayhem==

[[File:Oreshura_v02_004.jpg|thumb]]

There’s nothing strange about having a childhood friend.

Is that right? The average person in kindergarten, or elementary school, will have at least one or two close friends. “Because they lived very close to each other,” or “their families have a good relationship.” Due to these innocent reasons, it didn’t matter how many childhood friends one had.

But if we talk about “childhood friends at this age,” the situation is very different.

If the other person is a girl, that's even more so.

Because puberty changes the way people interact with each other, there’s no way to keep the same relationship from before. They remember “their past selves” and find it embarrassing, so it becomes a barrier that gradually pushes them apart. By the time they’ve finally forgotten about that person, the sight of her walking down the street hand in hand with another guy—“Ah, she has a boyfriend now”—it’s a really unpleasant feeling.

However, it’s okay.

One must step over the joys and sorrows of life in order to become responsible man.

To become an adult.

Even so.

Yes, even so --

"Unnnyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! PervertEcchi!" <ref>Contrary to what most people might want you to belive, Ecchi / エッチ or in this case pervert is very complex expression, as stated for this case we'll go with "pervert"</ref>

It was almost final exams, an early in July.

I was about to go wash my face when I opened bathroom's door, just to be greeted by a shrieking scream.

The person who screamed was Harusaki Chiwa.

She was a first year in high school, 15 years old.

She is my childhood friend.

Then -- why is she naked right now?.

Her eyes were opened wide, with her soaked hair equally shocked and stiff.

Chiwa’s figure was very delicate, and her hands and feet were especially slender. Her buttocks looked silky and tender, and her skin was of a glossy peach color. Unfortunately, the towel barely covered her important parts… no wait, it was fortunate misfortune.

"W- W-w-w-w-- Why are you here!?"

I also let out an alarming cry no softer than hers.

After all, this happens to be my house.

Without any parents, and I live here my aunt Saeko-san. Today, Saeko-san would not return home due to being busy with work, thus the only one left in the house was me.

Chiwa bent down, her face blushing red.

"I sent you a text message last night, didn't I!? The water heater in my house is broken, so I wanted to come over and take a shower in the morning!"

"...Huh? You did?"

Come to think of it, I didn’t check any of my mails.

I had been immersed studying for the exams the entire time, so I completely forgot.

"Hey, how long are you going to stare?! Ei-kun you stupid idiot! Pervert!"

"S-sorry!"

I turned right and left the bathroom, and shut the door while facing away.

Through the door, I heard Chiwa’s sharp voice.

"Even if we are childhood friends, there are things you can see and things you shouldn’t!"

"That’s why I'm sorry. I didn’t know."

I leaned against the door, and apologized awkwardly.

The sound of clothes rustling came through the door… Chiwa probably started changing clothes, right? I didn’t think I should be listening, so I got away from the door.

"Really? You really feel sorry?"

"Yeah, I forget to check my messages, so it’s completely my fault."

"...Then--"

[[File:Oreshura_v02_009.jpg|thumb]]

I felt Chiwa lean close to the door as she spoke:

"As amends, can you listen to one request?"

Here it is.

A reconciliation request.

Always after a fight, Chiwa will call out this specialty.

"What is the request?"

"Ah, it’s no big deal..."

Chiwa spoke shyly:

"Will you walk with me to school more often?"

“Eh?” I said, with my head tilted, puzzled.

"Just this?"

Cook hamburger for dinner! I thought she would make some kind of meat-related request.

"... It's that Ei-kun always just quickly walks to school by himself."

Chiwa muttered softly, and I didn’t know why she sounded so downcast.

Chiwa’s house was just next door. Back in elementary school, we always went to school together in the morning. But ever since junior high, Chiwa joined the Kendo Club and she left home at a different time than I did. So the habit slowly disappeared.

Since Chiwa stopped practicing Kendo in high school, it was now possible to go to school together…

"But, why bring this up?"

"B-because it natural, right? We live next door, and we go to the same high school!"

"I see."

I did not think that high school boys and girls going to school together was a natural, though.

"WW-ell, then...... Ah, we can also talk about club activities while we are at it!"

"Club activities...... "

Since last month, Chiwa and I started participating in the same club.

It was called: “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self” <ref>[ 自らを演出する乙女の会 ] or Mizukara wo Enshutsu-suru Otome no Kai.</ref>, also known as “Jien-Otsu” <ref>[ 自演乙 ] or Jien otsu, which is a term that originated from 2ch and happens to be the abbreviation of something else, [ 自作自演おつかれさま ] or Jisakujien Otsukaresama, literally meaning 'Good Job - Thank You for Your Charade - Pretense - Play Acting of your self-written, self-directed, self-acted script' ; which will be usually resumed as "Self Performing" in the translations. An example of self performing would be a single user creating several forum accounts on his own, and start with a scripted conversation using them.</ref>.

The club purpose was to improve the quality of one’s inner self, and become the ideal young maiden – it sounds really good, but its true identity was a club that “researched ways to become popular,” that kind of unhealthy group.

I, as the only male member, was forced to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of these girls.

"I understand."

I sighed:

"When leaving the house, I'll give you a call."

"Really?"

"Yeah ♪" I sensed Chiwa make a small jump behind the door. This girl was always like an eternal child.

"Starting today? Then I’ll change clothes immediately. Wait for me, Ei-kun!"

"Okay, okay."

When I was about to leave the scene, I heard a tiny sound from Chiwa.

"I absolutely will not hand you over to Natsukawa."

"Eh? What did you say, Chiwa?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

I thought I heard something about Natsukawa...

Never mind, I was probably imagining things.

Since I wasn’t able to my face, I decided to prepare breakfast and headed towards the living room.

Without any parents and since my aunt Saeko-san was always busy with work, I did all the cooking, laundry, cleaning, and household related chores. Today was a "not burnable trash" day, so I it was about time to take the garbage outside.

While I was thinking about this, I opened the door --

"Kya! PervertEcchi!"

A very unconvincing fake scream greeted me.

The person who screamed was Natsukawa Masuzu.

She was a first year in high school, 15 years old.

Masuzu has silver hair and blue eyes, since she was of Northern European descent.

Her outfit of a white frilly apron on top of her school uniform was a very "maniac" way to dress <ref>Maniac or マニアック is used for enthusiasts of some kind, in this context means that it's for those of certain fetishes</ref>… what was this girl trying to do?

"What are you doing? Masuzu?"

"Just as it seems, Eita-kun has forced me into this vulgar cosplay. Kya - pervertEcchi -"

"Don’t say horrible things about someone!"

When did I ever ask anyone to wear this kind of outfit?!

I didn’t even like apron on uniforms !<ref>Seifuku apron [ 制服エプロン ] seems to actually be a type of fetish. I had to look it up</ref> I am not that much of a pervert!

It didn’t matter that one was used to seeing the uniform, the combination with the neat apron made it burst out with a newfound brilliance! Or something like that! The length of the apron annoyingly and just barely covered her skirt, so it looked like she was in the flesh , giving this "not wearing any" feeling. Or something like that Every time the ruffles of the apron shook, I felt like my heart was jumping out of my chest! Of course I'm absolutely not thinking of anything on those lines--!

"That being said, why are you here?"

"Ara, is it a strange for a girlfriend to be in her boyfriend's house?"

Yes, the school’s number one beauty, The extent the bad character was also the school’s number one for this girl. Natsukawa Masuzu is, unexpectedly, my “girlfriend”… Well, there is a meaningful reason for that.

"Wearing an apron for her boyfriend, and borrowing the kitchen to make breakfast… isn’t this an ideal model for the “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self?””

I sat down on the sofa, and heaved a big sigh.

"In other words, this is a club activity?"

Natsukawa Masuzu was the founder of the “Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self”, and served as the club's president.

This girl was the root and queen of all the evil.

"Last night you should have received a mail about it, saying that I would intrude here tomorrow morning. We exchanged mail addresses after all, didn't you happen to see it?"

"Sorry, I was busy studying... And by the way, how did you get in?"

"The front entrance, of course. I thought you even unlocked it for me."

"......Ah."

Right, it was Chiwa.

Because she used to always come back and forth between our houses, she has our backup key.

[[File:Oreshura_v02_015.jpg|thumb]]

I too have a key for her house.

Really, when you open a door you should lock it afterwards!

"I rang the door bell a few times, but it seemed that Eita-kun was in the shower, so you didn’t hear? It doesn't look like your family is around either… Even though I thought it wasn’t very mannerly, I came in by myself."

"I see."

When I was clarifying and going through the facts, I noticed another important thing.

Masuzu said, "You were in the shower, so you didn’t hear?"

But I was actually in bed, and since I was asleep I didn’t notice…

The person showering was Chiwa.

In a few moments, she’ll walk into the living room while wiping her soaking wet her with a towel.

W·i·t·h · h·e·r · c·h·e·e·k·s · f·l·u·s·h·e·d · r·i·g·h·t · a·f·t·e·r · t·h·e · b·a·t·h, C·h·i·w·a · w·i·l·l · m·e·e·t · M·a·s·u·z·u!

"M-m-m-masuzu!"

"Yes?"

"Please leave!"

"Eh?"

Masuzu's eyebrows frowned.

"Because I have things to do before I go to school! If you stay with me, I’ll be late!"

"If that’s the case, at least eat breakfast with me."

"I just ate a few moments ago! In the morning I eat three huge bowls of rice! I’m so full, I can’t take even another grain of rice or a bread crumb in my stomach!"

"......I see."

Masuzu’s shoulder dropped, hanging.

"I was really looking forward to eating breakfast with Eita-kun ever since last night."

Masuzu seemed lonely as she muttered to herself, and the sorrowful look on her face continuously stabbed at me.

"Sorry, Masuzu, for making you come out here to specifically make breakfast."

"I always wanted you to try my extra-hot curry pre-packaged meal filled with love…"

"T-that’s a lot of work, right? You have to boil the water, and cook the rice.

"No, rice is also ready-made <ref>meaning one of those "heat & serve" packages</ref>."

"For my sake, you are going to merely press a button of the microwave?!"

I didn’t even know what I was saying at this point.

Masuzu gave a big sigh.

"If it is like that, there is no other way…"

"I see you are quite understanding, Masuzu"

"As expected, instead of an apron uniform, you seem to prefer me to wear a naked apron."

"I see you don't understand, Masuzu!?"

""Kidou Eita , naked apron , is crazy about" : retrieved aprox. 83,020 results (0.14 sec.)<ref>She is imitating the automated search message of google, which varies according to the language</ref>"

"What's with that Guugle?! Just how much of a pervert you want to make of your boyfriend!?"

"Eeh? Well that's, eerm..."

Masuzu turned her head and became silent:

"No, I would never think like that."

"Then why did you just seem so indecisive?!"

What should I do?

This early in the morning, I have already shoot through a rapid succession of over a 100 tsukkomi.

This seemed to be very bad for one’s health…

"Anyways, I’m leaving."

Masuzu took off her apron, shaking her head gently.

Her silvery hair floated in front of the living room window, right in the light of the morning sun, inadvertently blinding me.

This girl was so alluringly pretty, like a fairy…

Masuzu undid the ribbon of her uniform, and spoke with melancholic eyes:

"Nee Eita-kun, I feel that a naked apron is really overdoing it too much."

"Isn't it? I feel the exactly the same!"

"I'll Take off my skirt, please at least today leave me off with only this much"

"That's no good either!"

"Check this out nii-chan, she'll take it off, take it off!!" <ref>She is imitating the tone of shady dealers, like guys that promote strip shows</ref>

"Already settled on that act, are you!?"

Just as Masuzu placed her fingers on her skirt fastener --

"Hey – Ei-kun, where’s the hairdryer?"

The sound came from the changing room, and it made me jump suddenly. “Waaaaah!”

Masuzu tilted her head and said:

"Eita-kun, just then, whose voice was that?"

"I-i-i-i-it was nothing!"

"Is your family home? But the voice seemed somewhat familiar."

"You’re over thinking it! That’s my aunt Saeko-san! She must have just woken up!"

"Well, it’s a rare opportunity, so I might as well introduce myself."

"No! Don’t do strange things!"

I grabbed the hairdryer on the table, and said:

"Listen, Masuzu, no matter what happens, don’t move! Even if a new Stand user appears <ref>Stand is a type of power in Jojo</ref>, just don’t move!"

"I don’t understand exactly what you’re... "

Before Masuzu could finish speaking, I ran out of the living room.

I knocked on the bathroom door and when it opened, I saw the freshly-changed Chiwa grimacing in the washroom mirror.

"Take the hairdryer, Chiwa... "

"What’s with you? You’re covered in sweat."

Chiwa’s expression seemed surprised as she took the hair dryer.

"Don’t worry, just a new Stand user appeared."

"? Ei-kun is weird."

Chiwa tilted her head and began using the hair dryer.

"Hey, if I occasionally change my hair style, what would you think?"

"Well, what gives?"

"Is a ponytail of your liking? Or would you rather prefer a sauvage style?"

What should I do?

Before Chiwa finds I out, I need to figure out how to make Masuzu leave.

Well, if I did it the other way around, that’d be fine… but I promised to go to school with Chiwa.

I’d like to keep my promises with my childhood friend as much as possible.

"What’s with that "what gives" stuff?" ... Are you not listening?"

Chiwa pouted, and stared at me with piercing eyes.

"O-o-of course! Hairstyle, right? Ah, but I think the way Chiwa looks right now is best. It suits you!"

"...Really?"

"Really, really!"

When I said this, Chiwa’s entire face blushed red.

She secretly patted me on the back several times.

"I hate you! Idiot idiot ♪ Ei-kun you idiot♪ "

"......?"

What was wrong with this girl? Was she confused? My back hurt.

At this time......!

"Eita-kun, which button should I push to warm the rice?"

I reacted to the sound coming from the living room: "AOHHHHHHH!" <ref>this is perhaps, another Jojo reference as in human kiai or battle screams in capital English letters are common there</ref>

"That’s strange? Who is there?"

Chiwa turned off her hair dryer and tilted her head, puzzled.

"Aah, Saeko-san just came back."

"But I felt like the voice wasn’t the same."

"S-she said she caught a little cold! A very terrible summer cold!"

"Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen her in a long time. I’ll go say hello."

"No! Don’t think about such strange things!"

I grabbed the shoulders of Chiwa, who was about to open the door, to stop her.

"S-she seemed to be tired from work! I want to let her rest quietly, so can you wait here for a while? Okay?"

Okay – Chiwa nodded in agreement. She knew Saeko-san was really busy, so she didn’t seem suspicious.

"Then, I should also try to use the hairdryer quietly, right?"

"Please! The future of humanity depends on you!"

I almost tripped three times in the few meters the corridor was, on the way back to the living room.

"What’s wrong, Eita-kun? You’re covered in sweat."

Masuzu wrinkled her brow as she stood in front of the microwave.

"It was just, about the future of the, human race- yeah -- hey --"

"Oh, you really are showing off your talents."

I took the rice from the hands of the dazed Masuzu, and began to work the microwave.

As I started at the turntable spin, I wondered a little.

I absolutely could not let Masuzu and Chiwa meet, so I needed to cleverly lead Masuzu out of the house. But Masuzu had a sharp intuition, so I had to be extremely careful.

"Hey, Masuzu, I'm really sorry, but when you leave, can you exit from the corridor? I’ll bring your shoes over.

From the living room hallway, it was possible to reach the courtyard. As long as one passed the courtyard, one could reach the road on the opposite side of the main entrance.

"Oh, what’s wrong?"

"If Saeko-san knew that I brought a female student home, it would worry her, because she is a very conservative person."

This, of course, was a lie.

Saeko-san works at a gal-game company, and loved talking about romantic topics. If she knew about this, she would say, "Well done, Eita!" Let's eat some sekihan tonight<ref>sekihan or 赤飯 is red rice, used for joyous occasions, in anime is usually parodied by "becoming an adult", in that meaning</ref>.

"I understand. Since that's the case, I'll leave right away."

Masuzu easily accepted it.

I thought she would question me, so I felt quite pathetic.

"Why do you look so startled? I don’t want to cause trouble to your family. If they’re home or not home, I won’t recklessly come anymore."

Masuzu’s expression suddenly looked very serious.

"What about Eita-kun’s father & mother?<ref>if you are interested, as usual she used a respectful "otou-sama" & "oka-sama" there</ref>"

"Haven't I mentioned before? The two of them aren't with me. If we are to speak about family, there is only my aunt Saeko-san who is my guardian –––– and there is also Chiwa."

"......I see."

Ding, the microwave rang.

"What's left of your family, you should really cherish it."

I took Masuzu’s shoes from the entrance hall and brought them to the corridor.

Masuzu retied the ribbon she had previously undone, neatly folded her apron, and put it into her bag.

"Won't you eat the curry?"

"If we took long enough, your aunt might come downstairs, right? I’ll go buy bread or something on the road at the convenience store. Might as well leave it there for your aunt<ref>Oba-sama is used</ref>"

"... Sorry, Masuzu."

I felt quite sorry.

If you really thought about it, this all happened because I never checked my messages.

"I’ll make it up to you another day."

"Don’t."

Masuzu shook her head.

"If you are saying that much, it would be batter for something to be done now."

Masuzu came from behind and hugged me, and gently leaned against my body.

She was just like a beautiful French doll as her face drew close to mine, and her sweet breath brushed my nose.

"Kiss me."

"Eh?"

"I kissed you before, right? So now it’s Eita-kun’s turn."

"W-w-w-w-w-w-what are you saying?! I can’t do that such a thing!"

"Even though we are already lovers?"

Masuzu with her blushing face, pressed her body close to mine.

I could clearly tell that under the ribbon of her uniform, there was a soft thing changing shape. Even if I wanted to pull my body away, the thing that stuck out would follow me!

She was absolutely doing it on purpose!

"Stop kidding around! You might speak of lovers, I'm only a 'boyfriend'Fake!"

"Yes, that's exactly right."

Masuzu’s moist eyes looked up at me, and nodded at the same time.

"Our boyfriend / girlfriend relationship is fake after all. As the “anti-rommance” I am, our relationship is really a pretense to get rid of the students who kept pursuing me ––– but, Eita-kun."

Masuzu’s lips suddenly drew close to me.

I unconsciously closed my eyes -- but her lips went past my lips, and approached my ear:

"I know that the person in the shower is Harusaki-san."

"What!"

"Because her shoes are at the entrance, so I knew everything from the very beginning ♪"

"............"

I felt all my strength escape from my body.

So the point was, all this hard effort was just in vain?

"N-no, the reason why Chiwa is using this house's shower, it’s not what you think. She came over because the water heater at house is broken, that's how it is"

"Please do not misunderstand."

Masuzu interrupted my explanation:

"Is not like I’m feeling any jealousy at all. However -- if there are rumors that Eita-kun and Harusaki-san are getting too close, our contract would just become scrap paper. That would be very troublesome for me."

"You don’t need to worry about that!"

Cold sweat dripped down my face:

"Didn't I said it just now? Chiwa is like family, because she’s my childhood friend, I would never see her as a member of the opposite sex. And the feeling is mutual."

"Uun?"

Masuzu’s eyes clearly did not believe it.

"If Harusaki-san feels like that, then it would be fine."

"...What do you mean?"

"In short --"

Masuzu suddenly pulled her body away.

"Your ‘Chuuni note’ is in my hands, so please do not forget about it."

"Yes, I know."

The Chuuni note <ref>Chuunibyou is a "disease" of acting like being special, in Eita's case he used to create a setting where he was a legendary warrior with super powers and acted accordingly</ref>.

I wrote it when I was in middle school, and it’s a diary full of delusional disgraces and past events.

Because Masuzu has this in her hands, I was unwillingly forced to play the role of her boyfriend.

"Even though you are “anti-romance”, what's with that casual "kissing." talk?"

"Ara, you’re saying it backwards, right?"

Masuzu sternly spoke while putting on her shoes in the hallway:

"Precisely because I am “anti-romance,” I can talk about “kissing” all the same. Kissing is just touching one's mouth with another, right? Only “love-minded” and “love-worshipping” people would think a kiss is a very precious or embarrassing thing."

"......Really?"

You really can talk. Your face was also red just now.

"Well Eita-kun, see you at school."

Masuzu elegantly and politely bowed to me, exited through the courtyard, and went out onto the road.

"Yare Yare<ref>a type of "sight"</ref>....."

I suddenly felt tired.

I realized that the day had just begun, and I really wanted to go back to sleep.

Forget it. That was impossible. The end of the semester was almost here, and I haven't taken out the "not combustible garbage" yet.

"Unya – Ei-kun – Can I come out now?"

Chiwa must have gotten impatient, and her voice came from the bathroom.

Seriously, enough...

Several reasons have made my daily life such as desperate mayhem.

<center>♦</center>

-- Having said that, nonetheless, some idea in my heart was full of optimism.

The real "Mayhem" had not yet appeared.

Chiwa was just like a little sister.

Masuzu was a fake girlfriend.

Even though the eyes of the people at school might have seen it as a desperate mayhem between my girlfriend and childhood friend – but this wasn’t actually mayhem. These two actually are those of "hates losing" types, so it looks like they are always fighting over me. But they weren’t, it's fighting for the sake of fighting.

However --

That day after school, when I opened my shoe locker as I was about to go home, I saw “that thing” that destroyed my naïve understanding.

It was a pink envelope.

Heat-shaped stickers.

And there was a slight smell of perfume --

"L-l-l-love letter?"

It had to be a lie.

Childhood friend, girlfriend, don’t tell me it’s time for some "third party" challenger debut?

Mayhem – the real mayhem is coming!

<noinclude>
 
----

===Notes===
<references/>

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| Forward to [[Ore_no_Kanojo_to_Osananajimi_ga_Shuraba_Sugiru:Volume 2 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
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<noinclude>

OreShura: Volume 1 Chapter 4

2013-08-14T20:52:30Z

86.218.197.243:

===Chapter 4 - Newly Formed Club is Mayhem===

[[File:Oreshura_v01_103.png|thumb]]

Three days after all the commotion:

Since the first day, Chiwa never came over to my house for dinner. How would she solve her own food problems? Eat bentos from the convenience store? Or cooked food from the supermarket? Chihuahua-chan must be craving her favorite kinds of meat.

I was a little...

Because I was… a little bit worried, I sent dinner to her.

Since I figured she would not accept it if I brought it to her in person, I left the lunch book on the front porch bench of her house.

The next morning:

There was a message returned to me, attached to the empty lunch box.

"Not enough meat."

......Even though she trampled my generous(?) heart…

But it she seemed like she had cooled down.

I had started to think that there weren’t any problems anymore. Yet unexpectedly at lunch break--

"Does Eita know? The new rumors about Chihuahua-chan?"

As I was eating in the classroom, Kaoru began.

"What? Was she called to the staff room again?"

"No... according to the students in class five, they said she was acting very strange."

She was usually kind of weird.

"Specifically, how strange?"

She ran in late for school with a slice of bread in her mouth."

"Ah?"

What's with that?

"Also, when she speaks, she adds "meow"<ref>She uses the japanese equivalent "nya" in the original</ref> to the ends of all her sentences."

"...To high school students, this was too shocking."

No, even to middle school students, it was also shocking behavior.

Even in anime or games, such a character with such a rough personality “does not exist”—Saeko-san, certainly said say that.

"And she also came to school wearing oversized ribbons like something that would use an heroine from a kiddy anime, and ultra-thick makeup like those worn by Kabuki actors. She made the teacher very angry."

Disregarding the ribbon... she put on makeup?

These acts were nothing like the things the old Chiwa would do.

"Does Eita have any idea why she’s acting like this?"

"… I have."

Of course.

She probably wanted to become "popular," so she tried to take the advice gained from her shoujo manga.

Yet regardless of how you thought about it, it must have been a huge fuss.

"You should quickly think of something to do, right?"

"Eh, w-why me?"

"Because Eita was the one who caused it?"

"..... It's not......"

I couldn’t deny it.

Kaoru looked calmly around the classroom, then whispered:

"I never thought Eita and the famed Natsukawa-san would start going. I was also very surprised."

Masuzu was not in the classroom.

Every lunch break, I never knew where she always ran off to.

"In either case, I think it’s even more important that you deal with Chihuahua-chan properly."

"You talk as if there’s something between Chiwa and me."

Even in middle school, there were people who suspected there was some relationship between the two of us.

However, I thought Kaoru always understood.

Chiwa and I were not in that kind of relationship.

"Regardless of whether or not the two of you have a relationship, in short --"

Kaoru had a serious expression and said:

"Chihuahua-chan is, for the current Eita, just like real family, right?"

"......Well, that's true."

Right now my only family was Saeko-san.

But – I guess Chiwa should be considered.

We eat together every day.

If you compared her to Saeko-san who was never at home and always working, perhaps Chiwa was even more like "family."

"If that’s the case, at least you can't say that you are no unrelated to this, right?"

"Ah, uh......"

To be frank, I had wanted to forget about this matter, and wait until the wind blew it my way again.

Because if I cared, wouldn’t that make it as if I was getting popular?

Moreover, this was fundamentally the route to mayhem!

On the surface, everything might indeed look like that...... but that's simply not how it is.

The relationship between Masuzu and me is "fake." As for Chiwa, she was acting rashly about nothing.

"Well, good luck ,"Ei-kun.""

After eating lunch, Kaoru patted me on the shoulder and left. He seemed to be busy with some work as the Student Council secretary.

Three other secretary girls came to the classroom door to greet him, and the boys in the class even whistled to tease them.

Despite this, Kaoru still looked "indifferent," yet the three girls were as red as apples.

I heard that girls like Kaoru.

Although he wasn’t at the level of Masuzu, Kaoru was still very popular.

Ever since middle school, such rumors were unending.

For some reason, no one as ever heard of him going out with anyone…

Does he like anyone?

"......It can’t be Chiwa, right?"

I suddenly blurted out what I was thinking in my heart.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

No-no-no-no.

How could Kaoru possibly like Chiwa?

<center>♦</center>

After that, it soon came to that time of day.

It was that wonderfully happy time of day that Natsukawa Masuzu-san and I happen to spend together.

Wow --

I am, so, overjoyed --

............ Ah.

In short, please take a look at this first.

"Hey, Masuzu --"

"I refuse."

She answered immediately.

I haven’t even said anything yet.

""Hey, Masuzu, can I just at least tell Chiwa that we’re "Fake"?" something in these lines, right? "

"Ah… right."

This person was very frightening.

Could she read my mind?

"Kind-hearted Eita-kun was thinking such things, right? I understand. Because Harusaki-san was acting strangely today, you feel responsible?"

"Sort of."

It seemed that Chiwa’s behavior had even reached the ears of Masuzu.

"What would you do if Harusaki-san revealed it to everyone? If the fake aspect is revealed, the “wall"<ref>She technically uses 防波堤 or breakwater</ref> will be no use."

"I'll tell her she has to keep the secret."

"No. "Listen, this is a secret, but..." or, "While this is a secret, in fact, ah......" Like this one becomes ten, ten becomes one hundred, and the secret is no longer a secret. This is the enemy of all secrets."

"......"

I had nothing to say. She made a sound argument.

"Sorry, I was wrong."

"Such sincere way to apologize, I like that."

"Niko"<ref>Niko or "nico" is a smile "sound effect", nikori means "smile"</ref>, Masuzu's face smiled.

With this illegally wonderful smile, just how many men have been plunged to hell…?

"Then I'll have to think of some other way."<ref>he is speaking of getting Chiwa back to normal</ref>

"Ah, although we’re limited in capacity, I'll gladly help."

Since school ended, many students stared at us from the side of their eyes. Like always, we were very conspicuous.

Although I was inexplicably restless, Masuzu calmly walked plain the sight of many people.

The worlds we lived in were entirely different.

"In any event the main point sees to be that – Harusaki-san is acting like this because she “wants to be popular,” right?"

"Probably."

"Then, does Harusaki-san has someone she likes?"

"No, I do not think so."

I never heard her mention anyone in either her grade, or any senior she thought was handsome.

"Really?"

Masuzu examined my face carefully.

Her eyes were filled with skepticism.

"To lie on that, why would that bring me any type of benefit? Chiwa and I have known each other since we were little, yet I’ve never heard her talk about any boy in that way."

"No, I do not mean it in that way."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Nothing?"

Masuzu shrugged:

"For Eita-kun to be so clueless about it, that's actually pretty fortunate."

"...What, what?"

She was deliberately making it complicated.

"So, "Even though she doesn’t have anyone she likes, yet still wanting to be popular...""

Masuzu nodded and said:

"That is, in other words, to be a bitch." <ref>The Japanese use the term "Bitch" different than Americans. For Bitch they mean girls that have a pretty time getting along with the opposite gender and look pretty fashionable. In other words, is closer to the english term "Slut"</ref>

"Don't say "Bitch"!"

This woman...

How could she such call someone else's childhood friend that!

"Basically, as long as Harusaki-san get a boyfriend, she'll naturally settle down... shouldn't that be a sure thing?"

"It should be."

Let her find a boyfriend...

It was really hard to imagine the scene.

"We‘ll help her find one."

"What, "help her find," do you mean? Ah..."

She didn’t mean “prepare” instant ramen. <ref>Masuzu used 作る, a very wide term, she probably used it as "to prepare one", and Eita played with the meaning of the world</ref>

"I’ll come up with something by tomorrow. Tomorrow, after school, bring Harusaki-san and look for me."

Masuzu looked pretty confident.

"Hey, what are you plotting?"

"I’m thinking about it right now. You’ll just have to wait for tomorrow. Fufufufufu."

Masuzu replied while giggling laughter.

......What are you going to do?

<center>♦</center>

Thus, the next day after school--

Bark bark! Bite! Bite bite! Wooof, wooof!<ref>Chiwa uses "wan" for the bark and "gau" for the bitting sfx, if you are interested</ref>"

"Ouch ouch ouch ouch, that hurts! Don’t bite me! Don’t pinch me! Don’t grab me!"

Chiwa had bitten my sleeve with her large mouth.

She also pinched my cheeks, and grasped my arm.

In short, I brought Chiwa to the room Masuzu specified.

"What do you want, meow! Why did you take me to this place, meow! You always leave me alone. Why don’t the two of you go home, meow!"

Masuzu appeared with fearful smile:

"Fufufu, I don’t know whether you are a dog or a cat anymore."

"No, I’m a human..."

I feel a little uneasy.

Was it really okay to bring Chiwa here?

This was the third floor of the school, the east side, where cultural societies generally met. At the southern end, there was a huge five-meter square empty room.

The inside was completely empty, except for a table and chairs. One corner was covered with four tatami mats, which looked like traditional Japanese-style tatami seats, but really weird.

Masuzu was kneeling upright on a tatami in the corner.

Somehow, in front of her was a set of four calligraphy treaures. <ref>Brush, ink, paper, and inkwell</ref>

"Welcome, Harusaki Chiwa-san."

When and where did she change her clothes? Masuzu was wearing a red kimono which was decorated with bright eye-catching embroidery. Her silvery hair was tied up, exposing her delicate neck. This outfit truly revealed her charm, and the kimono was very well suited. Even I, who was always around Masuzu, wanted to let out a sigh of admiration. If other boys saw her, the number of Masuzu’s fans would surely increase.

[[File:Oreshura_v01_115.png|thumb]]

"What’s going on, meow? I'm busy meow --"

"Today, in order to persuade Harusaki-san join our club", we brought you here."

"Club?"

Chiwa and I asked with one voice.

"Hey, you’ve never told me this! Masuzu, what’s going on?"

"Aren’t you in the go-home club meow? What club are you talking about, meow!"

"I heard Harusaki-san was recently trying hard to become popular with the boys. It is said that you’ve been sounding like a female cat in estrus, because it was part of your strategy to become more popular."

"Who are you calling a female cat, meow!"

"It looks like it didn’t have much of an effect."

"T-the effects will slowly begin to appear, meow!"

In my opinion, even if a thousand years passed, the effects will not appear.

"Harusaki-san."

Masuzu coldly started at Chiwa.

"Please recognize reality."

"W-what.....? meow."

"You’re short, with a baby face, and your upper and lower body is tiny… in short, you have the appearance of a child."

"You’ve said too much. Meow!"

"Your brain has the maturity of a childish adult toy."

"I understand what you mean, meow!"

"In short, regardless of your appearance or behavior, you are simply are too naïve. If you go on like this, even after a million years, you won’t be able find a boyfriend, never mind the dream becoming popular remaining just dream."

"Even then, so what? Weow!"

"Although it makes me feel strange to be the one saying it..."

Coughing, Masuzu cleared her throat.

"I am exceedingly popular."

"......"

"I am popular. The popularity even bears more popularity, and it's so much that it's to the extent I'm fed up with it, but there’s no way for me to stop attracting the gentlemen. "

Chiwa was so surprised that she forgot to be angry. She was just dumbstruck, with her mouth open.

"Nevertheless, I wasn’t always like this."

"Huh...?"

I couldn’t help mumbling.

Masuzu also went through an unpopular phase?

"I also tried and was defeated in various attempts and efforts… Anyways, the most important thing that led to my success was the presence of “this.”"

Masuzu spoke as she pulled from the schoolbag next to her a B5-size notebook.

That was strange?

Why did I feel like the cover looked familiar?

Particularly, that path of stains...... was this déjà vu?

I remembered the time I overturned a cola drink, and caused a stain--

Hahaha.

Ahhahahahaaahhh.

"Hey, you Masuzuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu--------------."

"Thanks to this notebook, I became popular."

"What are you thinking of doing with thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat."

"Ei-kun, you’re noisy! What were you saying? Is it really thanks to that notebook?"

Because she was so excited, Chiwa forgot to add a “meow” at the end of her sentences. She leaned out and stared at the cover the notebook… almost as if she had been completely seduced by an exaggerated advertising campaign that swindled people.

"This notebook was something my “first love” gave me as a memento. How to be an attractive person? How do you attract the opposite sex? He recorded all of these doctrines under the appearance of a diary. Our club will use this notebook as our guidebook, for the research and study of how to become popular."

"W-what happened to your first love?"

"In March of this year, he left a message that said: ‘Our battle is starting!’ he then left to the local convenience store, never returning."

Masuzu covered her face with her kimono sleeves and sniffled as if crying.

Was this person an idiot?

Who would actually believe this obviously vain and rotten story, and then cry--

"Ah, ah, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to ask! I’m really sorry!"

"......"

Yes, there she is, Chihuahua-chan.

Even if you are so thickheaded, I can’t hate you<ref>He is mockingly phrasing this as a pickup line</ref> .

"If there was some unpopular and suffering in front of me – ‘You must to save them’ – He would surely say. Even more so, since you are Eita-kun’s childhood friend. I couldn’t just sit idly by, so I created this club."

"Eeehhhh?"

Chiwa timidly recoiled backwards.

"I’m begging you, Harusaki-san. Please let the lowly me help you become super popular!"

Masuzu’s expression looked very realistic despite the acting, and she stared pleadingly at Chiwa.

Chiwa looked away:

"I understand what you are saying, but in this situation I can't simply say "then, I'll be under your care", you can realize that, right?"

Mhm, that was well spoken.

To a person just listening, they would have found something very fishy. After all, everything developed way too quickly.

As expected, I seems like Chiwa wasn’t as foolish to that extent.

"Then, will you run away?"

The fake crying suddenly stopped.

A provocative smile surfaced on Masuzu’s face.

"I-I wasn’t going to run! This and that are two totally different things --"

"When aiming for victory, one needs to resort every possible means, right?"

"R-right!"

"To cling to some borish pride, then fail, that would be very humiliating, right?"

"......"

Chiwa bit her lip, and lowered her head.

This is bad…

This kinds of questioning that emphasized the spirit, and a persevering way of life… for Chiwa, who was sporty down to every corner of bone marrow and brain tissue, considered the “sporty blood type” …this was an extremely effective tactic.

"Hey, Chiwa don’t think about it so seriously, okay? Just keep working hard like you did in the past…."

"Right--"

Masuzu interrupted me:

"Eita-kun will also join the group as an advisor. If Harusaki-san doesn’t join, it will just be the two of us all alone for the club activities – doesn’t this bother you?"

Chiwa’s eyes immediately fired up, “Boom!”

"I'll do it! And it’s not because your deceiving words!"

"H-hey, Chiwa......"

"What, Ei-kun? Did you really want to be alone with this woman that much?!"

"......"

According to our school rules, new clubs needed to have at least five members.

To keep a club from disbanding, they should also have at least three members.

In others, it was impossible for “Masuzu and I would be alone in club activities.”

But by now, however, I couldn’t open my mouth against Chiwa’s burning and raging eagerness.

...I don’t care, you guys can do whatever you like.

"So it’s decided then, fufu. The club activities seems like they’ll be very interesting."

Clap! Masuzu clapped her hands, while smiling.

"And then what? Can we use this as the clubroom? And what’s the name of the club?"

Masuzu picked up the brush next to her in response to Chiwa.

She smoothly wrote on the white hanging scroll several fluent words.

The text she wrote --

"Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self <ref>as it is japanese calligraphy, it obviously use the kanji characters [ 自らを演出する乙女の会 ] or Mizukara wo Enshutsu-suru Otome no Kai</ref>"

It was really like Masuzu’s style. I thought the name had a particularly ojou-sama style, with a very sociable feeling.

"It’s a really good name!"

Chiwa’s eyes light up when she spoke.

Well, if she likes it, it’s just fine.

-- Just when I was thinking this, Masuzu whispered to me:

"Abbreviated, it becomes “Jien Otsu" . Just kidding♪ <ref>if we take the first kanji characters from the club name, we get [ 自演乙 ] or Jien otsu, which is a term that originated from 2ch and happens to be the abbreviation of something else, [ 自作自演おつかれさま ] or Jisakujien Otsukaresama, literally meaning 'Good Job - Thank You for Your Charade - Pretense - Play Acting of your self-written, self-directed, self-acted script' ; which will be usually resumed as "Self Performing" in the translations. An example of self performing would be a single user creating several forum accounts on his own, and start with a scripted conversation using them </ref>

Without a doubt

Undoubtedly --

This girl, is a Demon.

---------

From the "Society for Bringing Out Your Maiden Self” application form:

Aspirations of each member:

Masuzu: In order to improve myself, and familiarize myself with Hanenoyama High School’s temperament.

Instructor: Good luck at becoming a young maiden.

Chiwa: I absolutely, absolutely have to become more popular than Natsukawa!

Instructor: You should give up on the hatred first.

Eita: Let me say a few things.
Survival is difficult.
I hope to save the lives of others.
I will never give up.
Teya--!

Instructor: I could see the enthusiasm of Kido-kun in that last "Teya--!" Good luck!

===Notes===
<references/>

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