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Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume1 The Sixth Question

2012-10-17T18:19:53Z

MiY4Gi:

==The Sixth Question==

'''Please answer the following question:'''

Write down the molecular formula for Benzene.

'''Himeji Mizuki's Answer:'''

"C6H6"

'''Teacher's Comment:'''

It's very easy, isn't it?

[[image:BTS vol 01 151.jpg|thumb]]
'''Tsuchiya Kouta's Answer:'''

"Ben + zene = Benzene"

'''Teacher's Comment:'''

Do you despise Chemistry?

'''Yoshii Akihisa's Answer:'''

"B-E-N-Z-E-N"

'''Teacher's Comment:'''

Come to my office later, together with Tsuchiya.

"Good job, everyone. Thanks for all your efforts in taking those tests."

Yuuji said that as he stood behind the lectern and put his hand on the table.

We had tests the entire morning. The tests finished not too long ago. Now we were getting ready for lunch. To replenish the scores we lost in all our subjects, the amount of tests we took were scary.

"We will begin the Summoner Test War with Class B this afternoon. Are you ready to kill?"

"Oooo...!"

Morale was still high, and it was our class's only weapon.

"The goal of this War is to hold the enemy in their classroom; therefore, we can't afford to lose the battle at this corridor."

"Oooo...!"

"Himeji Mizuki will be the commander there. Guys, be prepared and ready to die."

"I... I will try my best."

Himeji shyly walked out of the crowd; maybe she didn't want to shout like the boys did.

"OOOO...!"

The morale of the front line troops went over the limit since they were able to fight alongside a beautiful girl.

In conclusion, the key to this War was the battle at the corridor; if we lose there, we're finished. Therefore, from the fifty students in Class F, we sent out forty into that battle. This troop will be led by Himeji, who's the strongest student in our class and the second strongest in the whole school, so we should be able to win that battle without any hassles.

'''(?)'''

When the bell that announced the end of lunch break rang, the War with Class B finally began.

"OK, everyone, let's go! The target is the systematic tables!"

"Yes, sir!"

To successfully hold the enemy in their classroom, we must take control of the momentum.

We rushed to the corridor outside Class B at full speed.

Since a lot of the students in Class B were good in non-science-related subjects and since the Mathematics teacher Mr. Hasegawa has a larger summoning field, we picked Mathematics as our main subject for battle; in other words, if we wanted to finish the battle fast, Mr. Hasegawa would be very useful.

There was English Composition teacher Yamada-sensei and Physics teacher Kimura-sensei there on our side as well. This time, we need to increase the number of supervising teachers and finish the enemies off as fast as possible!

"I can see the Class B students!"

"They brought Ms. Takahashi!"

The Class B students walked slowly toward us, but there were only ten of them. They should be the vanguard, and they just wanted to test our ability.

"Don't let them escape alive!"

Along with this threatening shout, the War against Class B had officially started.

<center>Class B Nonaka Chounan VS Class F Kondou Yoshimune

Cumulative

1943 VS 764</center>

What!? He's too strong! It's like they're on a totally different level!

<center>Class B Kaneda Ichiyuuko VS Class F Mutou Keita

Mathematics

159 VS 69</center>

<center>Class B Satoi Mayuko VS Class F Kimishima Hiroshi

Physics

152 VS 77</center>

The difference between fighting abilities was overwhelming; our frontline troops kept on losing. If we don't send in reinforcements before their scores are reduced to zero, our numbers would greatly decrease.

Just as I was trying to see whether we had any reinforcements or whether the route was being cut off by our enemies...

"I-I'm late... S-Sorry..."

Himeji hardly caught her breath and arrived at the scene; I thought she should be running all the way to the front line.

"Himeji Mizuki is here!"

One of the students in Class B shouted. It seems that Class B already knew about Himeji not being in Class A and made appropriate investigation, I guess?

All the students in Class B were shocked when they heard that. It was very easy to see that they were scared of Himeji.

"Himeji, although you just arrived, can you please...?"

"Y-Yes. I'll go now."

Himeji immediately dashed into the middle of the battlefield. Looking at her gave you the feeling of calmness. I really feel like taking a photo right now and keeping it as a souvenir.

"Mr. Hasegawa, I am Iwashita Ritsuko from Class B, and I would like to challenge to Mathematics Himeji Mizuki from Class F!"

"Ah, Mr. Hasegawa, I am Himeji Mizuki; nice to meet you."

Himeji was immediately targeted by the enemy; maybe the enemies wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible?

"Ritsuko, I'll help as well!"

Another girl from Class B stepped forward and summoned at the same time. Two of the ten students from Class B were present here; it seems that they were really scared of Himeji.

"Summon!"

The magic circle appeared after the summoning, and the Being that we were all familiar with stood in front of us.

The enemies' Beings pointed their sword and spear at Himeji's Being, but it seemed to be very calm and just held the greatsword that we've seen before.

It was now a face-off between the three Beings with the faces of their respective owners, but...

"Eh? Himeji's Being has an accessory."

"Ah, yes. Because I'm pretty good in Mathematics..."

"You can wear an accessory in the subject you're good at?"

Himeji's two-head-tall Being had a beautiful-looking bracelet on its left wrist beside the greatsword on its hand.

"T-That's...!?"

"She's not an enemy we can handle!"

The enemies started panicking when they saw the bracelet.

Ah, this reminds me: wearing the bracelet means...

"Erm, I'm going to attack."

Himeji tightly held her hand; following her action, her Being dashed towards the enemy from its left-hand side.

"Wait a minute!"

"Ritsuko! Dodge the attack first!"

Both of their Beings jumped to the side with dramatic actions. Suddenly, the bracelet on the wrist of Himeji's Being emitted a bright light.

<nowiki>*Beep!*</nowiki>

"Ahhh!"

"Ri... Ritsuko!"

The instant the left arm emitted the light, one of the enemies' Beings that couldn't escape in time was covered in flames.

<center>Class F Himeji Mizuki VS Class B Iwashita Ritsuko & Kikuiri Mayumi

Mathematics

412 VS 189 & 151</center>

So, wearing the bracelet means that the Being is capable of using a special ability? Although I have forgotten what the requirement score for that is, I did remember somewhere in the rules stating that students who score above a certain amount are able to equip on their Beings a bracelet that allows them to use a special ability. This rule has nothing to do with me, so I totally forgot about it.

"S-Sorry. I can't be gentle on the battlefield!"

Himeji's Being stuck to the enemy that had lost control due to dodging the previous attack, and cut both it and its weapon in half, killing it instantly and winning the fight.

"Iwashita and Kikuiri have died in battle!"

"What!? How's that possible!?"

"Himeji Mizuki's scarier than the rumors say!"

The remaining eight students from Class B looked extremely shocked; it was not surprising for them to look like that.

By the way, Himeji, you're too strong.

"E-Everyone, please do your best...!"

Himeji said something that didn't sound like a command from a commander, but it was extremely effective.

"I'm going to unleash my power!"

"Himeji's the best!"

The number of Himeji believers had dramatically increased.

"Himeji, you can have a rest now!"

"Ah, yes."

The enemies' morale had significantly dropped, so it was better to let Himeji rest now. A special ability could deal a huge amount of damage, but it would cost a lot of points. Even if there was no Himeji in the fight, defeating the enemy vanguard was just a matter of time now.

"Switch with the main troop and retreat at the same time. Don't die in battle!"

And that was the enemy's command. Anyway, we've achieved our target successfully. Let the enemy step back slowly, restrict their actions in the Class B classroom, and then the battle for today should be close to the end. It was thanks to Himeji's extraordinary fighting ability that the plan's going so smoothly, thank you very much!

"Akihisa, I'm heading back to the classroom now."

"Huh? Why?"

Hideyoshi had walked towards me while I was looking over the overall situation of the battle.

"Heading back"? Did something happen to the main troop?

"The Class Representative for Class B is..."

"The guy named Nemoto."

"You said 'Nemoto'; could it be Nemoto Kyouji?"

"That's right."

The guy called Nemoto Kyouji had a very bad reputation. According to the rumors, he was a pro at pulling dirty tricks and would take whatever actions needed to achieve his goal. There were rumors about "poisoning the opposing team in a ball game", "bringing weapons when fighting others", and so on. I didn't really believe that he could be that bad, but being careful wouldn't harm us at all.

"I see, then we should head back as soon as possible!"

"Although I don't think that Yuuji will fall for his trap, we better head back just to make sure everything is okay."

After we informed Himeji about this, Hideyoshi and I brought a few men back to the classroom.

<center>☆</center>

"Wha, this is terrible!"

"I never would have imagined that they would actually do all this."

"This is so mean."

When we got back to the classroom, we saw not only holes all over the chabudai but also pencils and erasers all broken or split into two.

"This is bad; now we can't replenish our scores smoothly."

"Yeah, this might be a minor problem, but it will certainly affect our score replenishment."

By the way, I think that Nemoto is a petty coward.

"Don't worry about it too much. Although it'll take some time to repair, it won't affect our plan too much."

"Well, Yuuji, we'll follow what you say."

Something didn't seem right.

"How did the classroom get this bad, and Yuuji, how did you not know anything about it?"

There were no problems in the classroom before lunch break, so it must have happened sometime between the start of the battle and now. However, Yuuji should have been in the classroom at that time and been able to stop them, right?

"They wanted to sign a treaty with me and I went to negotiate with them, so the classroom was empty during that time."

"What treaty?"

"Well, if neither of us can win the War before 4 PM, then we will maintain the situation of the War as is and continue it from there at 9 AM tomorrow morning, and until that time, both sides cannot do anything related to the Summoner Test War."

"I see. And you agreed?"

"That's right."

"But if it comes to the point where stamina determines the result, we should have the advantage, right?"

"That's true for all of us except Himeji."

Ah, I see.

"After forcing them to stay in the classroom, the War will end for today; the true battle will start tomorrow."

"That's right. It seems that we can't take them down today."

"At that time, Himeji's fighting ability will be more important than that of the whole class."

That meant the battle would be focused on certain areas? Then it should be the same as the battle against Class D and let Himeji finish off the Class Rep, I guess?

"That's why you accepted their suggestion: to let Himeji fight in perfect condition?"

"Yes. This pact is good for me."

Is it? Good, then, if you say so.

However, I keep feeling a little bit strange about this. They destroyed our tables, and then signed a treaty that was good for us at the same time. I don't think Nemoto Kyouji is such a naive person.

"Akihisa, we should head to the front line now; they may have used some dirty tricks again."

Hideyoshi ran out of the classroom after he said that.

"Yeah. Yuuji, we'll leave this to you."

"Oh, I will go prepare new pencils and erasers."

Yuuji raised his hand and said goodbye. I turned away from him and chased after Hideyoshi.

I managed to catch up with Hideyoshi quickly without running at my full speed.

"I keep thinking that we haven't seen the last of them!"

"Yeah. I don't think they'll stop here; we better be careful."

What would be the next dirty trick they'll use? Damn, they have stronger fighting ability than us, so why aren't they fighting us face to face?

We were about to reach the battlefield.

"Remember to be careful!"

"You, too, Hideyoshi!"

After reminding each other, we went back to our troops.

"Yoshii! You're finally back!"

The person who welcomed me back was Sugawa. Huh? Wasn't Shimada supposed to be controlling the troop?

"Sorry to keep you waiting! What's the situation now?"

"Very bad for us."

"Huh!? Why!?"

The enemy's main troop never appeared, and our fighting ability is better than theirs; why are we in a bad situation now?

"Shimada was captured and is being held hostage."

"What!?"

Now they're using a hostage!? Do they really believe that they can win through dirty tricks!?

"Therefore, the enemy has only two people left, but we can't attack them at all. What should we do?"

Now my troop is confronted with the enemy because of this incident.

"Hmmm... let me see the situation before I make the decision."

"Then we should head there now. The enemy is blocking us in the corridor there."

Sugawa led the way, and I followed behind him.

After walking through the human wall formed by my troop, it was clear that the situation in front of me was exactly as Sugawa said: Shimada and her Being were being held hostage by two Class B students.

And they had the Remedial Teacher beside them as well.

"Shimada!"

"Y-Yoshii!"

Why does this sound like a soap drama?

"Stop right there! If you come any closer, I'll deliver the final blow to her Shokanju and send her to the Remedial Room!"

One of the enemies that captured Shimada stood out and restricted my actions.

Not only would they let our precious female classmate die, but they deliberately held her hostage to threaten us and lower our morale. It was a really smart strategy.

If we blindly dashed forward before we managed to defeat them, they would defeat Shimada and use the fact that she was sent to the Remedial Room to make us feel guilty.

...This is nothing at all.

"Everyone, prepare to attack!"

"Leader, are you sure about this!?"

There's no other way! There are always sacrifices in War! This is not revenge for being tortured every day; it's just one of those decisions that a leader must make!

"W-wait, Yoshii!"'''(?)'''

Even the enemy was telling me to stop; so uncool.

"Don't you want to know how we caught her?"

"It's because she's an idiot."

"I'm going to KILL you!"

Huh? What? Why does Shimada sound stronger than me even though she's being held hostage?

"This girl believed the false information about you being injured and left the troop to look for you in the infirmary alone."

What did he say!?

"Shimada..."

"W-What?"

Am I thinking too much? It seems like Shimada's face was pretty red.

"Trying to assassinating me while I was injured, are you a demon!?"

"That's not why I went!"

This is so scary. Now I can't have a nap in the infirmary in peace.

"Was there anything wrong with visiting you to see how bad your injuries were!? I was worried about you!"

Huh...?

"Shimada, is that true?"

"Y-Yes. Can't I do that?"

Shimada looked a little bit angry and turned her head to the side.

Really. Her, worrying about me. That Shimada...

"Haha, now you understand. So, listen to me and don't try anything."

"Everyone, attack!"

"Why!?"

Why? Do you really need to ask that?

"She is not the real Shimada! She must be an enemy in disguise!"

You guys picked the wrong person to fake! That Shimada would never be so gentle! If she were the real Shimada, she would definitely be very happy to send me to hell!

"Oi, wait a minute! This person is the real Shimada!"

Class B students, look how uncool you are.

"Shut up! You still want to keep using that dirty strategy after we've seen through it? How ugly!"

"I'm telling you that she's the real one...!"

<center>Class B Suzuki Jirou VS Class F Tanaka Akira

English Writing

33 VS 65</center>

<center>Class B Yoshida Takuo VS Class F Sugawa Ryou

English Writing

18 VS 59</center>

Defeat those two first! Deal fatal blows to their Shokanjus!

"Aaah...!"

"Help me...!"

Both of them were immediately taken away by the Remedial Teacher. This felt really good.

Then, all that's left is...

"Everyone, be careful! The enemy might drop the disguise at any time and attack us!"

This was the impostor who was trying to imitate Shimada!

"Y-Yoshii, you're so mean... I really was worried about you..."

"Stop your silly act, you second-rate actor!"

The real Shimada would never say something like that!

"It's true! I really was worried about you!"

"Surround her. Even if she is from Class B, she can't fight this many of us at the same time."

"It is true! They told me 'Yoshii saw Mizuki's panties and can't stop his nosebleed', so I got really worried!"

"Cease attack! She is the real Shimada!"

She's the only person who would fall for such an stupid lie.

"Shimada, are you alright?"

I lent my hand to Shimada who was sitting on the ground. Damn you, Class B; how dare you use such a dirty trick!

"..."

'''(?)'''

"It's good that you're okay. I was worried about you!"

"..."

"Go have a rest in the classroom. You must be very tired, right?"

"..."

"By the way, these guys really are cowards. Do they have no pride as human beings?"

"..."

There was no reaction from Shimada.

'''(?)'''

"Ah... Shimada. Actually..."

"...What?"

She finally turned her head and looked at me.

I put on an apologetic face and flashed my best smile at Shimada, who was now staring directly at me.

"I knew that it was you all along!

She went berserk.

<center>☆</center>

"...Where am I?"

When I regained consciousness, I saw a ceiling covered in dirt. This is... ah, our classroom.

"Ah, you finally woke up?"

The cute voice came from my side. Could it be the healing voice of Himeji?

"I was worried about you. Yoshii, you looked like you were beaten up by someone and then pushed down some stairs."

Correct answer.

"Even if it is a Summoner Test 'War', there's no need to injure someone like this, right?"

No, instead of calling it a war, you should call it a one-sided slaughter...

"It's nothing important. How's the Summoner Test War going?"

I tried to sit up on the tatami, and felt pain all over my body.

"According to the treaty, we're now in a ceasefire. The War will continue tomorrow."

"And the situation?"

"We sort of attacked the front of their classroom as planned. However, our losses were greater than we imagined."

Yuuji read the damage report on the paper one by one. Although it was sort of within our expectations, this was still a huge loss. It seems that we didn't have a total win in the battle at the corridor, and since we put most of our men in there, the result was not good for our overall strategy.

"Although some accidents occurred, it seems that things went smoothly for now?"

"You could say that."

However, the opponent was that coward Nemoto Kyouji; he must have some hidden plan.

*knocking on the door*

"Oh, Muttsurini. Is there anything to report?"

Before I realized it, Muttsurini was beside me.

Muttsurini was a member of the intelligence team today, so he didn't take part in the battle. His job was to stay alert and record what was going on in the enemy troops.

"Huh? Something strange is going on in Class C?"

*nod*

According to Muttsurini's information, Class C was preparing for a Summoner Test War. If they aren't planning to challenge Class A, then there's only one other reason...

"They want to take on the easy target. They're such cowardly bastards."

As Yuuji just said, they were planning to attack the winner of this War. It is easier to take on opponents who are tired and exhausted.

"Yuuji, what do you plan to do?"

"Hm, what should I do...?"

Yuuji raised his head and looked at the clock. It was 4:30 now- not too late.

"We better sign a treaty with Class C as well. If we threaten them with using Class D to attack them, I believe that they'll give up the idea of attacking us."

"Also, they don't believe that we'll win, right?"

It shouldn't be too hard to sign a treaty with Class C.

"Okay. Let's go now."

"Yeah."

I injected power into my aching body and stood up. My body seemed to be fine.

"As a backup plan, Hideyoshi, you stay in the classroom."

"Huh? Why? Is it not okay for me to go with you guys?"

"If your face is seen, my hidden strategy that I'm saving for emergency situations won't work."

"I don't quite understand what you're talking about, but if you say so, I'll just do as you say!"

Hideyoshi stepped down obediently. But what is this emergency situation Yuuji was talking about?

"Then, let's go. It will be a little dangerous since we're short on numbers."

Without Hideyoshi, Yuuji, Himeji, Muttsurini, and I headed towards Class C.

"Yoshii, it took me a long time to wash your blood off my fingers; I'm going to make you pay for that later."

"Was it Yoshii's fault?"

While we were in the corridor, we saw Shimada, who was using her handkerchief to wipe her hand, and Sugawa, who had his bag on his back.

"Ah, Shimada, Sugawa. Nice timing. Let's go to Class C together."

Although I don't think it will happen, the Class C students might attack us, and it'd be dangerous to be going there with only a few of us. Also, we need extra people to guard Himeji. I kept on thinking and called on my two best friends in front of me at the same time.

Of course, as my best friends, they won't reject my invitation.

"Hmmm, okay?"

"Ah, no problem for me."

Now I have backup I can trust.

"Hurry up, or Class C's Rep will head home."

"Yeah, let's go!"

After Shimada and Sugawa joined the team, the six of us continued to head towards Class C.

"I am Class F's Representative, Sakamoto Yuuji. Who's the Class Representative here?"

There were still a lot of students remaining in Class C. It was just as Muttsurini reported: they were preparing for a Summoner Test War and waiting to pick off the easier target.

"I am. What do you want?"

The girl who appeared in front of us had very short hair. Wasn't Koyama the star of the volleyball club?'''(?)'''

"I am here to negotiate with you as Class F's Representative. Are you free now?"

"'Negotiate'? Huh..."

Although I don't like to badmouth girls, Koyama was so far away from being gentle and steady. After she heard what Yuuji said, she showed an evil smile on her face for some reason.

"Yeah, I'm here to propose a treaty of mutual non-aggression."

"A treaty of mutual non-aggression... What do you think, Nemoto?"

Koyama turned her head and spoke to the group of students in the corner.

Huh? "Nemoto"?

"Of course not. There's no need for that, right?"

"What!? Nemoto!? Why is Class B here!?"

The person who brought a group of people and walked towards us was our current enemy: Class B's Representative, Nemoto Kyouji. He had short hair, an unshaven beard around his mouth, and evil-looking eyes. He looked totally different from Yuuji who had a pair of sharp eyes.

"How terrible, Class F. You broke the pact. I thought we agreed that we wouldn't do anything related to the Summoner Test War?"

"What did you say...?"

"Weren't you the ones who broke the pact first? I'm just doing what you were going to do!"

After he said that, the group of people at his back started moving. The person who was hiding behind him was Mr. Hasegawa, who was short and was staying on the battlefield for now.

"Mr. Hasegawa! Yoshino from Class B wants to challenge-"

"Not so fast! Sugawa from Class F will accept that challenge! Summon!"

Just when Yoshino from Class B planned to attack Yuuji by surprise, Sugawa jumped out and accepted the challenge for Yuuji. Good job, Sugawa!

"We didn't violate the pact! This is just between Class C and Class F-"

"It's no use, Akihisa! Nemoto will definitely use the words 'anything related to the Summoner Test War' as an excuse!"

"Yes, that IS what I'll do.♪"

"Nonsense!"

"'Nonsense' is a very useful theory!"

"Akihisa, run!"

"Damn!"

Leaving Sugawa who was fighting at the back, the rest of us left Class C as fast as we could.

<center>Class B Yoshino Takayuki VS Class F Sugawa Ryou

Mathematics

161 VS 41</center>

"Don't let them get away! Defeat Sakamoto!"

Nemoto's voice and the sounds of footsteps came from behind.

Honestly, the current situation was very dangerous. Not only could we not fight Class B students face to face, but our only hope, Himeji already used up too much of her Mathematics score. Nemoto must have known that, so he called Mr. Hasegawa here. It was a dirty trick, but it was an effective one.

"Hah, hoo..."

"Himeji, are you alright?"

We were running down the corridor at full speed, but Himeji's steps were slowing down. She was not good at sports, and for a physically weak student like her, it must be very hard to run like this.

"Y-you guys... please go on ahead..."

Himeji said that while trying to catch her breath. We wouldn't be able to escape the enemy's attack with her like this, but we couldn't lose her here as well. If we lose Himeji's fighting ability, who knows what would happen in the War tomorrow. Also, I can't just leave a girl here and run for my life!

Is there nothing we can do now...?

"Yuuji!"

"What, Akihisa!?"

"Leave this to me! Yuuji, retreat with Himeji!"

I stood and looked back, and Himeji and Yuuji ran past me.

I never imagined that I'd have a chance to say some cool stuff like this. Do I look cool or what?

"Y-Yoshii, d-don't worry about me-"

"Got it. I'll leave it to you."

Yuuji stopped Himeji's words, and agreed with my suggestion. This was the Yuuji I knew, never letting his feelings affect his judgement and calmly making decisions according to the situation.

*stops running*

"Wait, Muttsurini, you need to escape as well. I think the key to tomorrow's battle is you."

Muttsurini stopped with me at the same time. I feel grateful for that, but I think he has a more important mission to accomplish; we can't lose him in a situation like this!

"Then it should be okay for me to stay. Right, Leader?"

Shimada stopped running, and stood beside me.

"...Can I rely on you?"

"Of course you can. Leave everything to me!"

'''(?)'''

"... (Good luck)"

Muttsurini gave us a big thumbs up, and then ran away from the scene immediately.

"...What should we do now? Leader?"

"Ah, I have an idea."

"Huh? Really?"

Shimada looked at me with disbelief.

Wha--- It seems like she doesn't trust me. What an impolite vice leader.

"I don't want to end up in the Remedial Room either, leave this to me!"

"Found them! Yoshii and Shimada from Class F!"

"Kill them!"

The enemies approached us quickly. Hasegawa-sensei was there as well.

"Class B students! Stop there!"

To decrease their morale, I purposely used strong language to stop them.

"You are pretty brave. Do you think you can stop us with only two of you?"

"No, before we fight I have something to say to Hasegawa-sensei."

If we showed our enemies any weakness, we would lose control of the situation, so I continued speaking strongly.

(Yoshii, what are you thinking? Are you going to complain to Hasegawa-sensei and say that they disobeyed the pact?)

(Well leave it to me, I have an idea.)

I whispered softly to Shimada who was starting to worry. Ah, she worries too much.

"What is it, Yoshii?"

Hasegawa-sensei walked to the front. She was still trying to catch her breath, maybe she needed more exercise?

"Do you know that Class B disobeyed the pact?"

If she was a teacher, she wouldn't stand beside students who were disobeying the rules. That's definitely true for someone who was responsible for being a judge.

(That cunning Nemoto must have thought of a good excuse.)

"From what I have heard, the one who broke the pact was Class F, wasn't it? If you are complaining that you got attacked because of this, before saying anything about the pact, you should check your personality first shouldn't you?"

The teacher's comment was a little rude. Nemoto must have twisted the facts when he was explaining the situation to Hasegawa-sensei, just as Shimada said.

(It is just as I imagined, so what are you planning to do?)

"..."

(I am looking forward to your strategy.)

Shimada winked.

Confronted by her expectation, I made the following reply.

"We are dead..."

"This guy's an idiot!"

How rude!

<center>☆</center>

"Sakamoto! Yoshii... Is... Is he going to be all right?"

"Of course! I can't make any guarantees about the others, but he will definitely have no problem."

"But..."

"He is not really good at studying. However, even if you get a bad result, it is not everything right?"

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"That idiot... He is not a normal Punishment Bearer."

<center>☆</center>

"Shokanju Summon!"

Four enemies summoned their Shokanjus at the same time.

We kept on running, but the corridor was full of dead ends. It was just a matter of time before we arrived in the battle area.

"Yoshii, what should we do?"

"You're asking me?"

"Then who should I ask?! Anything is fine, just think of something!"

Shimada and I were running side by side and shouting to each other at the same time.

"Okay, I got it! Shimada, you try to take them on!"

"Okay okay, and then?"

"My chances of escaping will be higher."

"I will definitely finish you off one day!"

Now we were at the end of the corridor. There was only a wall with a window in front of us.

"Shimada, summon your Shokanju now."

"Summon it?"

"Then use it to receive damage instead of me."

"Go die!"

"Wa! Why did you suddenly go berserk? Are you a berserker?"

I kept running, while dodging the punches that Shimada threw at me.

Damn. Now we were at a dead end.

I rested my back on the wall and looked forward, and saw the enemies getting closer and closer.

"You guys must be very tired of running around!"

"By the way, do we really have to chase them?"

"There is nothing else we can do. While we were foolishly playing with them, Sakamoto's group escaped."

"Then let's finish them and go back!"

When they realized we had nowhere to run, the four of them looked like they had used up all their energy and started chatting in front of us.

Since there is no reason to chase us, why not just let us go!?

"Oi, are you done chatting?!"

Shimada was angry and scolded them when she saw that they were being so impolite. Oh, in a situation like this, she was still very aggressive.

"... Ah!"

"What?"

"You really are the lousiest class."

How dare he say something like that! I must say something back!

"We are not the lousiest class! It's just the students that are lousy!"

"Yoshii, shut up!"

Huh? I was trying to fight back, why is she so angry?

"Don't look down on us just because we are Class F!"

"Oh really? What can those from the lowly Class F do?"

"See for yourself! Shokanju Summon!"

Shimada shouted out and the Chibi Shimada that I had seen many times before appeared.

"This is what I will do! I'll make you taste the difference in our ability!"

The guy from Class B who was quarreling with Shimada also summoned his Shokanju. It held its knife and dashed towards us. Although the enemy couldn't do any complicated moves, it had enough power.

"You!"

Shimada let her Shokanju rush forward.

The enemy's strong attack hit Shimada's Shokanju and---

<center>Class B Kudou Shinji VS Class F Shimada Minami

Mathematics

159 VS 171</center>

"You, are you really from Class F?"

No, they had the same ability! What's going on?

"He he, it is your fault for choosing mathematics. For this subject, it doesn't matter if I don't understand kanji<ref>The Chinese characters used in Japanese writing.</ref>!"

Oh, Shimada is so cool!

"By the way, Shimada, what's your score for Ancient Literature?"

"Just a single digit!"

She is so certain! That's also cool!

"Kudo, do you need help? You don't want to be sent to the Remedial Room, do you?"

"Damn, please help me!"

Kudo regretted it and bit his lips. It was really a shame to ask for help when fighting Class F.

The situation was looking bad for Shimada. Both Shokanjus were using their weapons and fighting with all their strength. Neither of them could leave now. If the number of enemies increased, she would definitely lose.

"Shimada, do you need help? You don't want to be sent to the Remedial Room like this right?"

"You'll just get in my way!"

"How mean!"

I regretted it and bit my lips. She's so mean!

However, this was no time for jokes. No matter how tired I was, I shouldn't just run away in a situation like this. It was time for me to join the battle.

"Shokanju Summon!"

A familiar magical circle appeared beside me. The Shokanju that had the same amount of fighting ability as my mathematics score, slowly revealed itself.

Its strong-looking face!

Its sturdy body!

Its fast and swift moves!

Its absolute strength.

"Don't worry about Yoshii! You can see he's just a weakling!"

"Pay me back! Pay me back my handsome descriptions!"

"Go away, you weakling!"

"Shimada, are you really my partner? Why are you insulting me?"

It was true that my Shokanju only had a bokutou<ref>Also known as a bokken, it is a Japanese wooden sword used for training.</ref> on its hand and looked very weak.

Now I was surrounded by enemies (one of them being my classmate)!

"Now we're in trouble."

Shimada's face was slightly twisted.

Although she could win against the enemies, the difference between the scores was small. It was obvious that Shimada had consumed a huge amount of marks.

"Farewell!"

The Class B student controlled her Shokanju and attacked; Shimada's Shokanju couldn't dodge it. Now is the time for me to show up!

"Taste my kick!"

I made my Shokanju dash forward and trip my enemy from the side.

"Ah!"

Underestimating my ability and being unfamiliar with controlling a Shokanju, the enemy tripped over easily.

"This is not the end of it!"

I used my bokuto and swung towards the enemy, hit it into the ground. Now is the time!

"Ah----"

My Shokanju quickly grabbed the back of the head of the enemy Shokanju, and thrust its head towards the ground.

Boom! It made a loud noise that could be heard anywhere along the corridor.

"Huh?"

Everyone said that at the same time.

The result of the battle was decided instantly.

<center>☆</center>

<center>Class B Sanada Yuka VS Class F Yoshii Akihisa

Mathematics

166 VS 51</center>

The score of the battle just now appeared in the air.

This is so embarrassing! Her score is three times more than mine!

"What! Sanada's score is higher right? Why was she defeated by such a weak Shokanju?"

Kudo from Class B complained to the teacher. This had nothing to do with the teacher, what can you get from her?

"Huh? My Shokanju is still alive?"

The Shokanju that was beaten into the ground stood up, the power was really not enough...

"Yoshii, what happened?"

"Ah... I guess these are maybe the few advantages of being a Punishment Bearer?"

From everyone's performance in the war against Class D, I realized that controlling Shokanju was not an easy task.

The extraordinary power and the difference in size, all made controlling Shokanju more difficult. Therefore everyone only used dash attacks or simple attack methods, and let the scores determine the result.

"What do you mean by advantages?"

"In other words, I am accustomed to controlling my Shokanju!"

As a Punishment Bearer I had summoned my Shokanju countless times, and the pain and fatigue that were reflected back at me gave me a few advantages---- it forced me to make my Shokanju perform more complicated actions. If I only knew how to perform simple actions such as "run" or "swing the knife," I could never do those extra jobs given to me.

"It must have been a fluke!"

The enemy raised its knife again and attacked me. However her terrified expression made me a little bit happy.

"Ha!"

Facing the enemy's knife, I made my Shokanju block its attack. As the score showed, our power difference was threefold. If I took the damage directly, the bokuto would definitely break into two, so I must defend the attack by diverting the enemy's attacking force.

"Ah!"

The enemy's knife was thrown sideways, and its body was open for attack.

"Haaa!"

I made my Shokanju dash forward to hit it on its waist, then gave it another hit on its head.

<center>Class B Sanada Yuka VS Class F Yoshii Akihisa

Mathematics

126 VS 51</center>

The value shown had made a few changes. Even though I bullied the enemy like this, we still had a huge gap in our power. My Syokanju is really weak!

"We better take them seriously!"

"Although I don't want to bully Class F like this, we can't just stand here and watch this mess."

The other two people at the back walked out. No matter what, this situation was just too bad right?

"Ah, wait a minute. At least make it fair, two versus two!"

"Yoshii, you are mistaken, it's not four against two anymore."

"Huh? Has backup arrived?"

"It is five versus one now!"

"Shimada, do you intend to betray me?"

Just how much does she dislike me?

"I'm coming, take this!"

Along with some useless shout, the enemies' Shokanju attacks came. I let my Shokanju duck to dodge the attacks.

"This guy!"

"The undead guy!"

Wa! The number of enemy Shokanjus had just increased by two! Was this the so called "death by dismemberment" punishment?

The enemy Shokanjus stood side by side and rushed towards me. I should avoid being surrounded before trying to defeat them.

"We should be able to kill him in one hit..."

"But none of our attacks land on him..."

"This guy is just like Metal Slime."

I am not that weak!

"Hey!"

I angrily dashed into one of the enemy and gave him a punch to the stomach, right on target!

And I hurt my hand. That was the result of the reacting force.

"Should we start now?"

"Damn! I'm retreating for now!"

Kudo realized that he couldn't win in a one on one fight so he decided to retreat. He wasted a lot of marks in the fight just now, so it was a good idea to run away. Now it became three versus two--- No, Shimada had also spent a lot of marks too, so it is now three versus one.

"Shimada, now!"

I gave an instruction to Shimada who was not being attacked by the enemies at the moment, and who was looking towards the fire extinguisher I used before.

"Roger!"

Shimada picked up the fire extinguisher and pulled out the safety switch. Now we should be able to run away-----

"..."

--but she was not moving. What's going on?

"Quickly, use it!"

"Ah, I wonder what should I do?"

She had an extremely smug look on her face.

"Sh-Shimada! What do you want?"

Shimada decided to reveal her true colors in such a dire situation! It was very hard to fight against three opponents at the same time!

"What do I want? Ah, right----"

"I will do anything you want!"

"Then, firstly, let's change how we call each other!"

"I will do it! Please!"

"Then, I will call you Aki, and you will call me Minami-sama."

"Mi-Minami-sama! Is that fine?"

"This holiday, I feel like going to 'La Pedice' in front of the station, and eating some crêpes there."

"Damn! I only live on salt water! How can you even consider such an expensive idea--- Ah! Okay okay, I will treat you, Minami-sama! Please, I will treat you, just don't leave me alone!"

"Good, and one last thing."

"More? Give me a break!"

Shimada looked really happy.

"Say you will love me forever."

What! This is like looting a burning house! I will remember this!

"You will love me forever."

I repeated exactly what she told me. Now she shouldn't have any complaints right?

"Idiot!"

(Blowing sound)

The fire went out.

We had white powder all over our bodies and barely escaped with our lives.

But why did Shimada look like she was in a bad mood?

<center>☆</center>

"Ah----I'm exhausted!"

"Y-Yoshii! Are you alright?"

Himeji opened the door and dashed out. Her bouncing breasts were really dazzling.

"Yeah. This is nothing---- Ah, it hurts!"

Shimada fiercely stepped on my foot. For some reason Shimada was really angry with me today.

"Humph!"

"S-Shimada, what did I do wrong?"

(Scary stare!)

"Ah, n, no, Minami..."

That murderous gaze was focused on me now.

Although she specially gave me permission to drop the "sama" honorific, the name I used for her couldn't be reverted.

I really couldn't get used to calling her Minami in such a short amount of time.

"Why did the relationship between you two become so good?"

"Huh? You mean us?"

If our relationship was good, she wouldn't be stepping on my feet and threatening me at the same time, would she?

"Ah, you're back? Thanks for all your hard work."

"You look fine."

"Yeah, I'm back."

Yuuji and Hideyoshi walked out as well. Muttsurini didn't seem to worry about us so much, but he also slightly nodded towards me.

"Then everyone."

"Huh?"

Yuuji looked at everyone and said,

"Here's the current situation. It looks like Class C is our enemy. Since they haven't attacked us yet, they will be declaring war on us immediately after this war ends. To be honest, we don't really stand a chance if we fight Class C immediately after Class B."

They are probably thinking the same thing. Even if we win this war, they won't give us any time to rest, and will attack us immediately.

"Then what should we do? Even if we win this war, we will only be an easy target for Class C right?"

"That's true..."

"Don't worry."

Confronted by a troubled group, Yuuji stared with his energetic wild look and said,

"Since they are going to attack like this, I will counter their attack in my way."

"Your way?"

"Yeah, I will return them a big favour tomorrow morning."

We were dismissed after that and continued the War tomorrow.

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>

{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Shokanju:Volume1 The Fifth Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Shokanju:Volume1 The Seventh Question}}
</noinclude>

Gekkou:Volume 1 Moonlight

2012-09-25T16:25:29Z

MiY4Gi: /* [Moonlight] */

==[Moonlight]==

It was night. I called her.

— I want to speak to you.

I made an appointment to meet her alone.

Since it was going to take some time, the meeting was set to Saturday after work. She suggested we meet at her home, but I rejected. I had no good memories there.

Hence, she suggested a park on a hill. It was the park where her mother had fallen. I responded right away.

— Got it.

Of course I was wary because she chose that park of all places, but my interest in the view from there won.

Come to think of it, she was not in the least surprised by my sudden request. She even accepted it readily.

I guess she had expected that day to come.

No, that wasn't quite right.

She had been waiting for it with anticipation.

That's what her cheerful voice sounded like—as if talking about a date.

It was a moonlit night.

A golden moon hung in the sky, reigning over the stars like their king, and lit the earth with light so strong one almost forgot what time it was.

The park was situated a few minutes' walk past Tsukimori's home.

By the time the viridian green fence of the park came into view, my breath was so wild and faint that I expected to really faint any moment.

I checked the time on my watch. It was just past eleven, which was reasonable because I had returned home once, taken a shower and put on a change of clothes.

Well, I had wanted to go to the park right after finishing work, but Tsukimori had stopped me.

She insisted on a neat appearance for our first date.

Leaving aside the essential fact that this wasn't a date, I had accepted her suggestion. And it had been the right thing to do.

I had needed some time to draw a line between me and my everyday life.

I reached the entrance of the park. It was nothing special; just a small space with some trees and playground equipment sparsely scattered about. The only object that stood out was a white wooden clock tower near the cliff.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Fresh air filled my lungs. I slowly exhaled, checked my left breast pocket for the last time, and entered the park.

"—I was about to get tired of waiting."

I squinted my eyes in the direction of the voice.

"But I ought to be thankful that you came properly, right?"

When I grasped her figure with my eyes, I couldn't help but hold my breath. A snow white Tsukimori was sitting on the top of the red jungle-gym.

"Wearing all black truly suits you, Nonomiya-kun."

Except for the white shirt I wore under my jacket, I was indeed clad all in black.

Tsukimori giggled, "But that is exactly what I expected, so I matched my clothes to yours and dressed myself all in white."

She wore a white dress and white pumps. She had also draped a semi-transparent white shawl around her shoulders and adorned her hair with a white ornament.

From my perspective, snow white Tsukimori was holding the moon on her shoulders.

"Shall we start our date, then?"

Youko Tsukimori crossed her legs and leaned on her elbow, her head slightly tilted. A lock of her beautiful black hair curled down to her mouth.

It was a dreamlike scene. I quickly shook my head to rid it of the impression.

"...the day after you asked me to go out with you, you said that it was necessary for both of us to deepen our mutual understanding, right?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"You also said that it was fine for me to make a decision after we had to know each other better, right?"

"Yes," she squinted an eye.

"Unfortunately, I still don't understand you very well. We're still quite far from a date."

"What exactly do you want to know from me then?"

—"Everything," I almost answered. But judging by her confident smile, there was only one thing to say.

"You killed her, didn't you?"

The next moment, she leaped from the top of the jungle-gym into the dark blue sky.

Her shawl spread out to both her sides like the wings of a swan, then she landed softly like a feather that fell from those wings.

"What am I going to hear from you now?"

"Well, you could call it," I pretended to ponder and continued with my usual poker face, "the solution of the riddle called Youko Tsukimori."

Unperturbed, Tsukimori kept smiling like always.

"I see, that seems much more interesting than a date."

But that's how I wanted her to be; my worthy adversary.

At one time I had come to the conclusion that Tsukimori had not killed anyone because I was sure that she wouldn't do something that foolish.

However, the situation had made a sudden turn with the appearance of a man of outstanding perspicacity. It didn't take long until my theory was negated due to several doubtful aspects and contradictions brought to light by Konan one after another.

In a sense, it had been inevitable for my doubts to be revived, considering how well I knew her and that the murder recipe was in my hands.

One might ask why I had concluded that she was absolutely innocent in the first place.

It is true that I had had several clues that suggested that her mother was guilty, like the fact that the murder recipe had been written by her. However, at the same time I had also been aware that those clues did not necessarily prove Tsukimori's innocence.

I myself had been the decisive factor in my belief of her innocence.

Only now I realized that I had probably strongly wished that she wasn't a murderer back then. One could say that my imagination was steered that way because I didn't want to lose the person I was so interested in.

In other words, what made her innocent had been my own desire.

I sat down on a railing, while she got on a blue swing.

I started explaining to her one reason after another why I doubted her.

The suspiciously well-timed call from the cooking school, the fact that her mobile phone had been set to silent mode, her unnatural behavior when getting me a towel instead of starting the search for her mother, and the fact that the suicide note was written not by hand but on the computer. Furthermore, I told her about my hypothesis that she had wanted to make me the finder of that suicide note.

Tsukimori quietly listened to my explanation and nodded once in a while without denying or acknowledging anything.

When at last she had heard me out, she let her gaze wander in the night sky, seeming deep in thought, before she asked with certainty, "Did you borrow those theories from Konan-san?"

I nodded. As she had guessed, most of my arguments had appeared in the conversations with Konan.

"But I agree with them, so you can think of them as my own opinion."

Tsukimori put on a surprised expression.

"That's the sort of thing you spoke about in my absence?" she scowled at me and pursed her lips slightly. "How mean! Do both of you doubt me?"

"No," I shook my head. "Konan-san has nothing to do with it anymore. I'm the only one doubting you."

She gasped in admiration, "It is really surprising that Konan-san stopped doubting me despite seeming so tenacious. What magic did you use, Nonomiya-kun?"

"It's all thanks to the hint you gave me," I beat around the bush and saved myself from mentioning the "Love Recipe".

'If you want to know what he thinks, just think about what you would do in his case!'

As a matter of fact, if not for those words, I probably would have still been at a loss for what to do about Konan.

"Oh, did I happen to be a help?" smiled Tsukimori. Her soft glance resembled a gentle sister's who rejoiced over one of her little brother's accomplishments.

Which caused me to let out a deep, heavy sigh.

"...I see... so she ''did'' give me a hint," I thought to myself.

Considering how she had immediately realized that I was borrowing Konan's words, she had probably been perfectly aware of Konan and me doubting her all along.

With that in mind, she seemed like a truly cunning actress, reconsidering the evening when we were thrown out by Mirai-san; her blatantly offensive attitude towards me hadn't been normal at all, and the way she had brought up Konan had been rather unnatural as well.

I stopped counting, but as it seemed, she had been playing with me again. I had to admit it: she was a much better actor than I.

Because I was keeping quiet, she tilted her head slightly, "Mh?"

There had been no creaks in her smile from beginning to end. Despite me having labeled her a "murderer".

Her smile was something like a trademark. In the mind of everyone else, Youko Tsukimori was probably depicted as an ever-smiling holy woman.

That was, however, not the Youko Tsukimori I wanted to see. Right now I was brooding over how I might freeze that smile of hers.

My fingers automatically groped for my left breast pocket.

"...right, there's something I want to give you."

There was no way around using 'it' after all. I slid my hand into my jacket.

What I produced was a four times folded scrap of paper. "What's this?" Tsukimori asked while snatching it away from me.

I watched Tsukimori look down at the unfolded sheet.

With her gaze still cast down, she whispered, "...I am happy about anything you give me, but this is not exactly a thoughtful present."

"I can't help it: it's not a present, after all. I'm merely returning something to its owner," I didn't avert my gaze from her, "It's yours, isn't it?"

I stared her in the eyes, not daring to breath or even blink. It's fair to say that I had protected ''this'' solely for this very moment. By no means I wanted to miss her reaction to it.

She raised her head with a smile shaped like a crescent moon.

"Yes, it is!" she admitted surprisingly readily.

"Then let's now talk about this—'murder recipe'."

This was the trump card I had successfully protected from Konan.

She laughed dryly, "So there is no way around it after all, is there? Well, of course you would never miss out on such an 'intriguing subject', right?"

At first glance, Tsukimori was the same as always.

"Truth to be told, I would rather not, but I might be able to answer your expectations if that is your wish. But in return, promise me—"

But I asked myself: did she realize the slight change that had come over her?

"—that you won't hate me. Okay?"

She was smiling as usual, but her eyes were serious.

I was observing a side of Youko Tsukimori that nobody knew. It felt as though I had come a step closer to her. Of course, though, I was not at all satisfied with just that.

I wanted to see more of her unknown side.

But no need to rush things; there was more than enough time until sunrise.

"...You knew it all along, right?"

"What?"

"That the murder recipe had come into my hands."

I had always had a hunch. After all, she had suddenly asked me to go out with her even though we had not spoken to each other much, save for greetings. She had approached me shortly after I had obtained the murder recipe.

But it was only now that I was convinced. Her poor reaction proved that she was not surprised at all.

Tsukimori raised and lowered her brow multiple times in hesitation.

"I had noticed, yes," she nodded calmly at last. "Do you remember what happened in the classroom the morning after I lost the recipe?"

I recalled the morning in question to mind as she told me.

"That morning you addressed me, Nonomiya-kun. Much to my surprise. Therefore, I thought about the reason for that. It didn't take long until I found the answer."

"...So I dug my own grave, huh," I facepalmed automatically.

What a fool I had been for revealing myself! I had been unable to suppress my curiosity and addressed her that morning, but indeed, it was not normal for me to do so with our relationship at the time.

I shook my head fiercely to get rid of stray thoughts, took a deep breath and continued as composedly as I could manage.

"...When I first obtained the murder recipe," I proceeded with the subject as if to bury the mistake I had committed, "I thought that you had written it. I didn't even doubt that the owner was equivalent to the author. The word 'recipe', however, has been bothering me since then. Wouldn't it normally be a 'murder plan'?"

Only my voice resounded throughout the moonlit park.

"But when I learned that your mother was a teacher at a cooking school, I realized that the word 'recipe' was probably very common to her—and sure enough, your mother has written it. A handwritten note of hers, which I presumed to borrow from your home, matched the handwriting of the recipe."

"You never fail to live up to my expectations, Nonomiya-kun," she interjected and closed her mouth again.

A meaningful statement, to be sure, but no denial of what I had said.

"Anyway, for that matter I want to ask why your mother's recipe was in your possession?"

I leaned a little forward to sneak a peek at her expression.

"It was shortly after I started high school when I found her recipe purely by chance—"

It was calm and musing.

"—I realized right away who my mother was meaning to kill."

"Your father."

"Yes. By the way, this is not the only murder recipe; there are more of them. Perhaps, there are even some I haven't found yet."

"...I didn't expect that."

I was intrigued to read those as well.

"I think my mother didn't realize that I knew about those recipes until the very end. I kept it a secret from her."

"What were your thoughts about it? What did you intend to do after you had obtained the recipes?"

"Well..."

While gazing vacantly in the air, she brushed away her hair beside the ear with her finger. Probably, she was searching for the right words.

"...when I first read the recipe, I was surprised that she also had such an 'ugly' face."

I found myself staring at her.

"I knew her as a typical housewife. A woman who would always pay attention to her appearance and her behavior."

"...that's quite hard to imagine from the impression I got from her during the funeral ceremony."

The howling image of her broken mother soothed by a black-dressed Tsukimori flashed up in my mind. I was disturbed by how my fragile image of her crumbled to dust.

"I do not know what you imagined her to have been like, but you should not forget whose mother she was," Tsukimori put on a smile appropriate to adorn the cover of a fashion magazine, "She was ''my'' mother."

Like daughter, like mother? No, the proper order would be "Like mother, like daughter"? Either way, the moment I thought about it in that way, it was surprisingly easy to have a new image of her. By analogy, the same must have applied to her father as well.

"My mother worked as a teacher in a cooking school, the largest one in the area. She held classes for countless students everyday. Apparently, she even made appearances on a cooking show on local television from time to time, and she had published a few cookbooks. I heard she was quite famous in the cooking scene, as 'the beautiful culinary scientist'."

My image of her mother was being remodeled.

"Now imagine such a woman writing such a cheap thing. I was completely stunned," she shrugged slightly, expressing her amazement.

"''Cheap'', huh?" I repeated a certain meaningful word she had uttered.

"But you thought the same, didn't you? After reading it, I seriously wondered if she really intended to kill someone with it. It's not even close to a plan. Now, I think that she might have chosen the word 'recipe' because she was aware that it was too crude to be called a plan."

"Aah, I see."

I was entirely of the same mind.

"Indeed, for a murder plan, it's extremely unpolished and seems incomplete. You could consider yourself lucky if it succeeded once in a hundred times."

"Mm," she agreed at first, but my continuation made her raise her brow.

"But I think that this lack of polish is exactly what makes the recipe useful."

"What do you mean?"

I was seeing the amateurish content in a different light than Tsukimori. I had thought about it like that since the very beginning.

"Who would imagine such a luck-based murder plan could exist?"

Tsukimori was at a loss for words. Of course she was. A few moments before, she had stated that she could have never imagined her mother to write something like that.

"If hypothetically that plan worked out favorably, wouldn't it indeed look like a 'mishap'?"

"That is an amusing alternative way of thinking about it," she nodded in a impressed tone.

I continued, "I know of one incident that virtually proves my hypothesis—"

"—the accident of my father, right?" she answered before I could finish.

"...you admit it?"

I was a little startled at her unexpected reaction.

"What is there to deny? It only natural that one would harbor doubts about that accident even having read the recipe only once."

She shook the sheet beside her head, holding it with her fingertips.

I finally noticed what it was that might have been bothering me about her.

"Until I found the recipes, I had no idea that my mother had a such an impetuous side. I suppose that her motive was jealousy — even though my parents didn't care about each other — because my father apparently had a mistress. Maybe she just couldn't accept it that he had a woman other than her. In that sense, women might generally be more jealous than men. You should be careful too, Nonomiya-kun."

Even though it was about her mother, about her family, I sensed a kind of distance in her indifferent tone. As if she wasn't concerned. As if she was talking about some rumors from the neighborhood.

My conviction deepened.

"I can't help but see you as the murderer of your parents," I said frankly, whereupon Tsukimori sneered at me.

"Even though I have no reason?"

She cocked her head while maintaining her smile.

"It's not like I'm paying no heed to your motive. I'm very interested actually. But if I look at it from a perspective that solely deals with whether it's possible or not — I have long since come to the conclusion that you ''could'' do it."

Tsukimori narrowed her eyes to a crescent moon-like form for a second.

"You have already admitted that what's written in the murder recipe rather closely resembles the traffic accident of your father. Now, if it was not an unlucky accident but a willfully committed incident, it couldn't possibly be carried out by someone who hadn't read the recipe, right?"

Tsukimori put her chin on her hand and probed me with her gaze.

"Or, put the other way round, it could only be carried out by someone who ''has'' read the recipe, right?"

I closed my eyes and took a breath.

"I know of exactly three persons who read the recipe before the accident of your father occurred. Firstly, the author of the recipe, your mother. Secondly, I, of course, because I obtained it by chance, and finally—"

I pointed at the report sheet she held in her hand.

"—the person who lost the recipe—Youko Tsukimori. You."

Tsukimori remained wordless.

"I am convinced that you, Youko Tsukimori, could have carried out such a plan, no matter how cheap and unrefined it was."

She broke her silence and motionlessness with a whisper.

"...do you know how I am feeling?"

"If I were able to understand your feelings so easily, I wouldn't be dancing to your tune all the time."

"I am really moved right now. I feel so much love from you because you understand me so much, though you are probably going to say I am wrong, with your usual cold tone."

"You're wrong."

I fulfilled her request with an extra large topping of coldness.

She really made no sense to me. Even though I had accused her of murder, she smiled without change, neither provoked nor alarmed. Her unaffected behavior almost made me think that she might not be hiding anything after all.

Was it absolute self-confidence that loomed behind that composure of hers? Was she confident to ward off any accusations I could throw at her?

''This isn't enough. Unless I delve deeper and break her shell from the inside, I will never see what I seek.''

"...something has been bothering me almost from the beginning," I began, "Aren't you entirely too objective toward your own parents? You're as calm as if you were talking about complete strangers."

Tsukimori put on a slightly doubtful expression.

"Do you think so? I'm seventeen and not of the age to be dependent on my parents anymore, am I not? Isn't the distance between parents and teenager quite similar in other households?"

I immediately objected strongly, "No, it isn't."

Tsukimori sealed her mouth and scowled at me.

"Oh come on, there's clearly something strange. I mean, your mother was drawing up a plan to kill your father! If you're a family, you'd normally try to stop her, wouldn't you?"

Tsukimori widened her eyes for an instant.

"Do you know why my first question was about your actions after finding the recipes? It's because I hoped you would say that you wanted to discourage her. But you only voiced your thoughts on the contents of the recipes—"

She opened her mouth slightly, wanting to say something.

"—did you even once think about stopping her?"

The helpless expression Tsukimori showed that moment was a clearer answer than any words could have been.

She huddled up, embracing her slender legs.

"While you had a rather blank relationship with your parents without doubt, strangely enough there are no indications that you were on bad terms with them either."

Reconsidering the many reactions I had gotten from Tsukimori in the past, I found that she was ''not'' unconcerned about the loss of her "community", known as family. After losing her parents, she had seemed very fragile from time to time. I was convinced that she had by no means wished to lose her family.

"You found them uninteresting, didn't you?"

That's what I thus concluded.

If ''I'' was forced to talk about something that didn't interest me, I assume that I would speak with a certain distance as well.

"...rather than saying that I had no interest, it would be appropriate to say that there was no need for us to be interested in each other," she muttered. "I didn't hate my parents, you know? Honestly. It is just that the Tsukimori family was built around the idea of individualism. It was an unwritten rule that we stayed out of each others' business. In fact, it was only because of that rule that we were able to remain a harmonious family."

As if reminiscing, Tsukimori narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I was already able to do anything on my own when I was still young. My mother, too, would have had no problems living without my father. As for him, he merely sustained the budget to fulfill his role as the man of the house, but he didn't interfere in the household itself. Whether you believe it or not, when I was young I thought of him only as a kindhearted uncle who gave us money."

Her smile bent in self-deprecation.

"Just as you noted, I did not think about stopping my mother."

With a powerless smile, she cast her eyes down.

"I was able to accept the murder recipe without problems because I assumed that my mother had her own thoughts and her own life. But I suppose that I should have stopped her, just like you said."

She clenched her fist, her white fingers digging into her palm.

"If I had been raised in a different kind of family, I might have acted differently."

Tsukimori raised her face.

"But you know," she said with a vacant voice, "That's the way I have been brought up since the moment I was born."

Her eyes were breathtakingly clear. There was not a particle of regret in her honest and majestic appearance. In my opinion, Youko Tsukimori was strong.

But at the same time she was just as lonely.

During that moment of sublimity, she was beautiful and ephemeral like a mirage, setting butterflies in my stomach aflutter.

"Weren't you lonely?"

She promptly answered my question with a shake of her head. "Not at all," she smiled.

Relying on no one seemed like a lonely life to me. She herself, however, claimed she had not been.

"Even now?" I posed my denied question once more. "Are you still not lonely even now that your parents have passed away?"

I found that to be an awfully desolate way of life. Maybe I was just seeing things, but Tsukimori seemed lonely to me as she sat there wordlessly.

The next moment she put on a slightly awkward smile and looked up at the night sky. The moon reflected in her eyes gave them a golden shine.

When she returned her gaze to me, she declared, "I am not lonely—"

The teasing attitude she usually had toward me was absent.

"—because you are here for me now, Nonomiya-kun."

I saw that neither in her eyes nor on her lips was a smile. She was entirely serious.

This was the memorable moment in which he finally succeeded in freezing her smile.

The clock tower was about to strike twelve.

She had no strong motive to kill her parents. At least, I could find none.

Furthermore, my view that Youko Tsukimori was not a girl that would do something as foolish as murder had already become an unshakable fact for me.

And yet her parents were no more.

I whispered, "...I don't know how to describe this feeling."

Which words would be appropriate?

I stood up from the railing because I couldn't sit still anymore and strolled into the park on my own, leaving her behind.

While ordering my thoughts, I walked slowly and deliberately felt the earth under my feet with each step. My legs led me unconsciously towards the cliff with a good view over the town.

At last I reached the boundary between park and cliff.

The boundary was marked by a rusty, viridian green fence a little higher than my waist. I bent over it and looked down. I figured that it wouldn't take much to fall over it and down the steep slope.

I rested my crossed arms and my chin on the fence, which caused the entire fence bordering the park to bend towards one side a little. I looked down at the town.

The town filled my field of vision with all its shining lights. It was far from the stunning skyline of a metropolis at night, but I was still deeply moved when considering my hometown.

Despite its small size, there was always something going on. That night, too, there must have been a red sports-car driven by that man somewhere down there. Was the chocolate-addict still up? That little girl who resembled a pygmy marmoset was definitely already a resident of dreamland.

The faces of various people I knew crossed my mind like a slideshow.

"Isn't it captivating? This is what I meant to show you, Nonomiya-kun."

The person who flashed up last and by far most vividly was in sync with the person who was beholding the town right by my side.

A chilly gust ruffled her hair. She hugged herself because of the coldness.

That scene reminded me of that rainy day when she had been in her cold, wet uniform.

There was no way I could forget how in that night I had asked her why people killed others. Of course, I hadn't forgotten her answer, either.

The instant I recalled that answer, my body spontaneously started to tremble, followed by a chuckle of mine.

"...I found the answer at last. I finally realized what made you kill your parents!" I whispered.

She only commented calmly, "I see."

She was at the edge of my vision, and I was at the corner of hers, as I noticed then.

"Because you felt like it."

As I laughingly said it, she answered with the smile of a girl that had just received some candy, "You're great."

As she had told me that night, 'feeling like it' was the only way to explain an action devoid of reason.

I had laughed because it was such a silly answer. Who would believe such a thing?

The only ones able to comprehend it were me and — Youko Tsukimori.

Suddenly, she drew closer.

"...if all you say is true, then I am a horrible woman," she whispered softly into my ear, "Killed my parents, deceived everyone, tricked you and still living on without any worries."

Then—the semi-transparent shawl she had worn floated to the ground.

"But it cannot be denied: there are some rare cases of people that are not bound to the rules. People who are not restricted by anything, who are ridiculously free—"

I was taken aback. She had hopped on the fence without a moment's hesitation-causing it to slowly bend towards the abyss along with her.

"—Nonomiya-kun. You decide! If you don't punish me, the horrible woman Youko Tsukimori will remain at large."

Sitting on the fence, she did the unbelievable: she leaned backwards over the abyss. Her hair reached out toward the bottomless darkness. Only her white slender arms were sustaining her equally slender body now. The smooth curve of her snow white neck was exposed right in front of my eyes.

"Should you judge that I am not worthy to live... you understand, right?"

A slight push against her chest would be enough to send her down the cliff.

"...Are you out of your mind? Do you understand what you are saying?"

I doubted her sanity.

"Who knows? I consider myself to be in my right mind. Well, it is true though that I might be a little off in the head for liking an oddball like you."

As if enjoying the bath in the moonlight, she shut her eyes with a tranquil expression.

"I decided long ago to devote my all to my 'destined one'. You can believe me on that."

It appeared that "everything" included her life as well.

"...I absolutely fail to understand your current state of mind. What on earth is a destined person to you?"

Her reply was short and clear.

"My prince."

Her words were accompanied by a transcendentally blissful smile. Considering the utter absence of fear in her face, she was serious.

Suddenly, the final appearance of her mother, which Konan had described to me, flashed through my mind. A shiver ran down my spine. I had accidentally imagined a very special scene.

The stunningly beautiful scene of Youko Tsukimori's dead body surrounded by countless purple blooming azaleas — had been painted by my imagination.

I gulped. I flushed from the core. Before I knew it, my fingers had reached out to her chest.

My fingertips touched the bulge of her breasts. A short sigh escaped her and she stretched the toes of her white pumps.

My blood began to boil from the excitement that gripped me. Oh, what a sweet temptation it was! One mere finger of mine had the right to pass sentence on ''Youko Tsukimori's'' life.

Her neat snow-white dress looked like a burial shroud in my eyes at that moment.

She had no doubt made all necessary preparations. I suspected her intended scenario was along the lines of "heartbroken girl follows her parents into death".

In other words, nobody would punish me if I pushed her down.

She had called me her prince. If I really was a prince, my designated role would probably be freeing the princess who was being held captive in the castle.

''...Tsukimori. I am sorry for belying your expectations, but I'm afraid I'm not a prince. I am and will only ever be Villager A. That's the role that suits me best.''

My heart pounded against my chest. My wild breath urged me to run free. After taking a deep breath and firmly clenching my teeth, I slowly reached out for the girl in burial cloth — slid my arm around her delicate back and pulled her towards me with all my might.

The excessive momentum caused me to fall backward with her in my arms. While I was still struggling with the pain in my back, she sat up astride me.

"...please don't forget," she began as she laid one hand on her chest, "that this is the life you have saved."

You have picked up that puppy, so bear responsibility and look after it yourself—remembering words my mother had said ages ago, my spirits hit rock bottom. Since when had I become such a nice guy?

"...did you test me?"

"Don't worry, I am confident in myself. You will definitely not regret that you have saved me."

She optimistically clenched her fist in front of her. That almost provokingly lovely smile she showed me gave me the conviction that she had foreseen this turn of events from the very beginning.

I sneered.

"I've long regretted —"

—that I met you.

"Sorry, but could you get off me?"

She was boldly sitting on my pelvis For now, I just wanted to do something about her lack of manners.

Unfortunately though, she apparently didn't intend to get off. She went on her knees, bent over me while putting her hands left and right of my head and started talking from right above me, with her eyed staring in mine. "What are you going to do? What do you want to do? Do you want to tell the police about the recipe and the things I have told you just now?"

As her charming lips formed words, my hair was softly stroked by her ticklish breath.

"I won't stop you if that is what you want to do!"

Apparently, she was not specifically provoking me; while her expression ''was'' mild as always, her voice had taken on an earnest tone.

"You're quite daring, aren't you?"

I scowled at her from below.

"Is it because you are confident that you can trick the police? Or is it because you are belittling me?"

"Wrong on both counts!" she shook her hair smoothly. "I just know more than anyone else that I am innocent."

She was composed.

"Let us do a little test... if there was an incident that most clearly implied murder and I told you it was just an accident that happened because of a chain of unfortunate coincidences, would you believe me?"

The hair that fell down from right above swayed in a nightly breeze and tickled the tip of my nose.

"...of course not!"

Because Tsukimori maintained perfect composure, I hesitated for a moment.

"Right? You don't believe me anyway, so I just let you do whatever you want."

The next moment, she formed a soft smile, accompanied by dancing feathers in my imagination.

"But please remember that there is only one truth for me."

Can someone who laughs so purely be a liar?

I honestly did not know.

"Besides, you are the one I chose. So there should be nothing strange about respecting your decision, even if it differs from the answer I would wish for."

"Chose?" I repeated suspiciously.

The sound was different from the "destined one" sort of "chose" that she had used before. I estimated the nuance to be something along the lines of "entrusted".

"There is one thing you have gotten wrong, Nonomiya-kun."

"What do you mean?"

"It is not at all a coincidence that you have the murder recipe."

".........eh?"

I raised a voice of surprise.

"Please recall the day when you found the murder recipe."

It was still vividly in my mind. It had happened after school. I had found the murder recipe in her notebook, which she had dropped on the ground.

She suddenly giggled.

"I am a very capable person, if I say so myself, am I not? Do you think that someone like me—"

The face she showed me then was going to remain clear in my memory for a long time. Her face looked staggeringly cruel and yet so beautiful.

"—would lose something as important as the murder recipe?"

No way. Such a mistake was unthinkable if it was for her, for she was the only absolutely perfect human in the world I knew of.

On that day back then I had participated in a meeting — the regular meeting of the class officers. The male class officer of our class was me. So, who was the female one?

It was the person before my very eyes.

''Now that I think about it, she hurried back to the classroom right after the meeting had finished. I figure that she did that in order to buy time, so she could make sure the murder recipe would fall into my hands "by chance".''

How could I overlook such a basic thing? That she had been searching for the recipe the following morning was most likely just an act to make me believe she had lost it "by chance", too.

It looked like I had been dancing to her tune since the very beginning. That humiliating fact numbed my limbs and even brought terror upon me. Not a groan could be heard from me in this shocked state.

Tsukimori got off me while giggling.

"There is not one thing that didn't work out the way I wanted. There is not one thing that I couldn't have obtained if I wanted. My wishes define how matters settle."

Normally, those statements would have been extremely haughty, but they sounded like logical facts when it was Youko Tsukimori speaking.

"But don't you think that such a life is incredibly boring and listless? Is there a point in leading such a life?"

She walked towards her shawl on the ground.

"You cannot be excited about a present when you already know what is inside," she slouched her shoulders slightly. "Nevertheless, I did not decide against being the Youko Tsukimori everyone desired, because it is simple to play the model student and it did not feel bad to live up to their expectations."

After picking it up, she draped the shawl around her shoulders again, skipped towards me with light steps reminiscent of a ballerina and landed right beside my head. Then a thick shadow covered my field of vision entirely, so that I was almost left in the belief that the moon had been covered by dark clouds. In fact, she had bent right over me with her hands at her hips.

"Do you want to know why I entrusted you with the recipe, Nonomiya-kun?"

It was already an almost annoyingly definite fact to me that when she put on such a scheming expression, the answer could not be any good.

"It is because you looked more bored with your life than anyone else I have ever met!" she said as if she had found something dear.

I averted my gaze.

Bullseye.

As she had guessed, I had always lamented over how boring the world seemed to me. My imagination used to be my haven to heal me from the boredom of my daily life.

I picked up the murder recipe and stood up.

"You exceeded all my expectations. Talking with you turned out to be exciting, Nonomiya-kun. Every day became thrilling as soon as you entered my life. My heart throbbed more than in anyone else's company. I realized right away that you were my 'destined one'. Thus, it was easy to become crazy about you."

Then everything had gone according to her plan and I, as foolish as I had been, readily took the compelling bait, the murder recipe.

With heavy steps I walked back to the fence as if drawn to it. By the sound of her steps I noticed that she hurried after me.

"...Ah!"

The fence creaked. She had strongly gripped it and was looking down the black clear space right at my side, leaning over. She quickly realized that there was nothing she could do about it anymore, straightened up again and turned to me.

"...won't you regret that?"

My right arm was fully stretched out over the fence.

A white paper plane was drawing circles in the air as it slowly descended into the bottomless darkness. The plane was probably going to get caught somewhere on the cliff, be exposed to weather for months and finally return to dust.

"It's okay. There's no need for it anymore."

I was the same. I, too, hadn't searched for the truth behind the murder recipe because of a sense of justice.

"Ah, will you at last believe me that I am innocent?"

I turned towards her smiling face and declared coldly, "Do you have sawdust between your ears? Of course I'm still doubting you!"

She narrowed her eyes in doubt.

"You don't make sense. Why did you throw away the murder recipe then?"

"Who would buy such am absurd story? I mean, how should I answer the police if they asked me for the reason why you killed your parents? Do you think I would get through with 'Oh, it looks like she felt like it'?"

Without knowing her well, understanding her motive would be very difficult. Having seen Youko Tsukimori's true face, I was the only who could ever nod, facing such a claim.

"But do you have another choice? It is the answer you have worked out after all. Leaving aside whether they believe you or not," she said in a playful tone.

"That's stupid. I would only embarrass myself," answered as I shook my head.

The magic had been lost since the second I had thrust the murder recipe, my trump card, before her and revealed its contents.

I had realized that, in the end, the murder recipe was nothing more than "just a scrap of paper".

She had taught me that it was not the recipe itself that was of value, though I had cherished it like life itself, but the fact that it was "Youko Tsukimori's" murder recipe.

At that moment, after recovering from the shock of having been led by the nose by her all the time, a different emotion overcame me.

As much as it didn't match my character, that emotion could be described as the protective instinct.

By her own admission, she had entrusted the recipe to me because I had looked more bored with my life than anyone else. Because she had concluded that I would no doubt show interest in the thrill the murder recipe offered.

Definitely unintended, but I had undeniably provided considerable entertainment.

In short, she had been seeking for some kind of thrill for her boring daily life as well. In this sense, our interests had complemented each other without my knowledge.

However, the thing is that I unfortunately came up with another interpretation.

—It happened to me that she may have been overwhelmed by the murder recipe.

She was shaken. The discovery of the murder recipe, and a completely unexpected side of her mother along with it, disturbed her more than she could have imagined. Subconsciously she kept looking for a way to do something about that state of things and in the end entrusted me, whom she had found after long searching, with the murder recipe.

That signal was not strong enough to be called an SOS. Probably, she merely wanted to share the information. Maybe she just wanted someone to know.

The burden was indeed a bit too heavy to carry alone.

Maybe I was simply reading too much into it, but I couldn't do anything about it, since that was the impression I got. My vexation was cleared away in a split second.

The thought that ''Youko Tsukimori'', the only person that could pride herself on being perfect, was shaken like a helpless girl and relied on me caused my heart to beat faster than ever.

''Now aren't we lovely'', it throbbed.

My gaze fell on the number that was indicated on the clock tower behind her.

"Already past midnight?"

When I whispered so, she turned around with vim and vigor, spinning the skirt-part of her dress like a parasol. The clock hand had long since passed midnight.

"I'm shocked. How could I have miss-timed such an important event?"

Something rare happened: she was discouraged.

"Actually, today is my birthday! Oh what happened to my plan of pleading for all kinds of things as soon as the hour would strike twelve..."

"Congratulations," I wished her before she could blurt out any bothersome things.

After she had polished her look, arranging her hair and adjusting her dress, she turned around to me with a smile all over her face. "Nonomiya-kun, you know, the date has changed, so it's my birthday..."

"I just offered you my congratulations. Didn't you listen?"

"I did listen, so I'll give you some belated thanks. But you see, personally I would prefer it if it was not just words, but—"

"No."

"I'm not done yet, Nonomiya-kun. You should hear out what others have to say."

"Remember one thing, Tsukimori. I'm not as good-natured as to hear out something that I know won't be any good."

"Don't worry! I am not going to plead for any expensive present. Well, it is a present, but it's more like a memory or a memento," she said and while doing so, she took out a mobile phone from her dress and thrust it before my nose. "I want a photograph of us."

"...you ask for that while knowing that I don't like photos?"

"You don't?"

She heedlessly feigned ignorance. In the café Usami had once asked for a photograph of me. There was no way Tsukimori didn't know that.

"Please. I won't ask for anything else if you grant me just that one wish. This day is only once in a year, so please!"

In contrast to the begging tone in her voice, she constrained me by grabbing my wrist with both her hands. She was going to have it her way.

"...Okay! But only one, hear me?"

I gave in quickly because I had already learned that the labor required to break through her obstinacy wasn't worth it.

"Thank you so much!" she rejoiced while clapping her hands. "Let's take it in front of the clock tower!" she said and walked off right away, pulling my arm along.

Said tower was three times our size and thickly coated in white paint.

"Mh, which place works best...?" she couldn't decide where she should take the photograph. When I said that it didn't matter, she rebuked me, saying she had only one chance.

As she then asked whether I would let her take several photographs in that case, I had to seal my mouth, leaned against the wall and had no choice but to wait until she decided on a spot.

I had not the slightest idea how that place was different from any other, but she claimed contentedly, "Yes, here it is. It looks like this is the best place for it after all."

"Come here," she waved me over. I positioned myself next to her.

Then she drew close to me like never before. Along with the material of her thin dress, I also felt other, different things that had nothing to do with her clothes.

"If I don't do this, we won't fit in the frame," she claimed with the arm in which she held her mobile phone fully stretched out, before I could object. Thinking that I was supposed to take the photograph because my arm was longer than hers, I snatched her phone. When I confirmed which button I had to press, she told me to wait for a second and took her shawl from her shoulders.

I gazed at her with my arm stretched out, asking myself what she was doing, while she was pulling it over her head and pinning it with a white flower that she had been using as a hair ornament.

"Alright," she said and, probably because I was looking suspiciously at her, added, "Isn't it cute and kind of princess-like?"

Indeed, it suited her so well I forgot to deny it.

I pushed the button on her signal, whereupon a mechanical shutter sound resounded from the phone. Unable to wait, she snatched the mobile phone away from me to take a look at the photo.

While viewing the picture with a satisfied expression, she nodded slightly, "Yes, exactly as I have pictured it."

From time to time she even giggled out. Good for her that the present was to her liking.

"Thank you for letting me take this photograph. I'll treasure it."

"Yeah, treasure it so much that nobody will ever see it and I'll keep my peace of mind."

I didn't even want to imagine what would happen on the day the guys at school found out about this photograph, and I was really fed up with the fact that Kamogawa's visage was the first thing that came to mind.

"What a pity. I already planned on using this valuable picture of you to brag in front of Mirai-san and Chizuru..."

Thank god I forbade her to do so.

"...oh well, I'll enjoy it all alone then. Viewing it as the wallpaper of my mobile phone during classes with a broad smile on my face. Giving it a good-night kiss before going to sleep."

"Should I delete that picture right now?"

"I'm joking, really," she laughed mischievously.

That's how it feels when someone has the better of you.

"Do you want to take a look, too?"

"With pleasure."

As it was the photo of me she was going to hold on to from now on, I felt obliged to check how I looked on it.

I approached my face to the screen of her phone, which she held before her chest, while bending my knees a little. Her next words reached me just when my ear was somewhere near her lips.

[[Image:Gekkou-319.jpg|thumb]]

After waiting that I had seen the picture, she whispered,

"Did you see? We look like bride and bridegroom at a private wedding à deux in front of a church, don't we?"

I stared at the screen. Depicted was a black-dressed man and a white-dressed woman who happily clung to each other.

With only a little imagination, the shawl on the head of the woman looked like a bride's wedding veil. And mysteriously, as soon as I viewed the woman like that, the man, too, looked as though he wore a dress suit.

Imprinting is a really dreadful phenomenon: I noticed that the clock tower looked like part of a church. If the bride had held a bouquet, it would have been a wedding ceremony no matter the way you looked at it.

I reflexively reached out to steal it out of her hands, but she evaded me, turning around like a dancing petal.

"Give me that phone."

"No! I am sure you would delete the picture if I gave it to you."

"Of course I would!"

I reached out to her again. However, she sped away like a tiny, winged fairy dancing with her toes over a water surface, so that the distance between us grew and grew. She then climbed on a slide.

"Nonomiya-kun, I am here!" she waved innocently from above, almost like a child.

Youko Tsukimori was wild and free when she revealed her true colors. Way too much to handle for a spiritless person like me.

"I'm leaving."

This night had tired me.

"Wait!" she shouted from above when I went past the slide to leave the park. I only turned my head and looked up at her.

"Why did you come alone tonight?"

Lit by the moonlight and shrouded in a veil, snow-white Tsukimori looked majestic as Jeanne D'Arc must have been.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about the murder recipe? There were more than enough opportunities, right? Just take Konan for an example... don't you think he would have been able to make people lend an ear even to your absurd story?" she asked in a slightly gloomy voice.

The only thing that was in her eyes as she looked down at me in the pointed silence without moving a muscle was I.

I accidentally bent over laughing.

Why? Because I immediately realized how easily I could answer her question. To think that I hadn't even known myself properly until recently despite being so cautious about anyone else, I really was a fool.

Now my answer was clear.

Whether she had killed her parents or someone else, whether she was guilty or innocent, even if there was to be an incident that most clearly implied murder in spite of being just an accident that happened because of a chain of unfortunate coincidences—those questions didn't matter.

She raised her brow at the edge of my field of vision.

"That's a simple question—" I spoke towards the night sky.

"—I am the only one in the world who has the right to doubt you."

We didn't need any others. It was more than enough if only I knew the real Youko Tsukimori.

At last, the cold night wind carried a heated whisper to me.

"...Mm, I'm not lonely after all."

My eyes must have been wide open when I turned them to the slide that was lit by the silver spotlight.

She was smiling with tears in her eyes, almost weeping with joy.

As I didn't know what I should reply, I closed my mouth and burned the appearance of an unknown Youko Tsukimori into my memory.

Suddenly, she cowered down. Then she slid down without even caring about her clothes or exposition of her skirt, started to run and jumped straight onto my back, upon which she wrapped her arms tightly around me.

While burying her face in my back, she said with a somewhat muffled voice,

"—You are the only one in the world to whom I grant the right to doubt me."

She sounded joyous.

I am not so tolerant as to let someone cling to me without permission, but her arms were so tight around me that I couldn't shake her off. She was like a shackle chaining me, which represented our current relationship ridiculously well.

I gave up resisting and looked up at the night sky along with a sigh.

The fine silver light from the moon shone down on the earth like silk threads, which were absorbed by the earth. Without a break, as if the moon was trying to dye all creatures on earth in its white light.

Compared to the moonlight, any other type of light seemed ever so weak. No matter how bright the stars twinkled, no matter how much light the streets of the town emitted, nothing could match the all-enveloping moonlight.

Without noticing, I reached out for the moon—while knowing that I would definitely not reach it.

The decision I made that night might have been wrong. Perhaps I was going to regret it for a long time.

No, perhaps I would not even have the opportunity to regret.

Because I had come to know Youko Tsukimori.

I closed my eyes without moving my head away.

The moon that night was very soft and warm.

<noinclude>
{{GekkouNavbar
| [[Gekkou:Volume 1 Bye-Bye|Bye-Bye]]
| [[Gekkou:Volume 1 Afterword|Afterword]]
}}
</noinclude>

[[Category:Gekkou]]

Gekkou:Volume 1 Bye-Bye

2012-09-25T15:09:15Z

MiY4Gi: /* [Bye-Bye] */

==[Bye-Bye]==

Every now and then a train crossed the railway bridge. Each time that happened, the white railing I was sitting on started vibrating and an ear-shattering noise filled the tunnel.

I was under a railway overpass at the edge of a residential area close to my school, which I had chosen because there would be no passers-by even during the day, and was waiting for the time.

I didn't want to be interrupted by anyone.

Under the railway, where no sun reached, even the concrete's gray looked darker and more inorganic than usual. I shuddered even though it was still afternoon.

Probably due to the sound insulation of the concrete, the sounds of the vicinity seemed extremely far. When I silently held my breath, I was under the impression that I was in an isolated institution far away in no-man's-land.

That might be the reason why I didn't notice him until he was nearby.

On the boundary separating light and darkness, a tall man with the appearance of a gigolo grinned daringly, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"Ya! Quite unexpected to have you call me out. What happened?"

His voice resounded from the concrete all around us.

"Oh, have you by any chance ''recalled'' some good piece of information concerning Youko-chan?"

He flicked the cigarette away, which then traversed a parabola before hitting the asphalt.

"But whew," he began while cracking his neck, "you sure have chosen quite a desolate place. Are you out for a duel with me today or what?" He crushed the cigarette with his caramel-brown shoes.

"Weak as I am, I would never feel inclined to a duel," I shook my head, "But I ''do'' want to settle things with you."

I restfully stood up and fixedly stared at the man a few meters from me.

"Let's put an end to it," I smiled.

"That's my line!" He closed one eye and grinned broadly, "Since you are the host, I'll let you have your say first."

Konan leaned on the wall and crossed his arms.

"I would like to start not with a statement but with a question."

"Oh, sure, sure. As many as you want, no need to be shy with me," he nodded easygoingly.

"Why did you become a detective?"

The next moment, he narrowed his eyes full of interest while stroking his chin.

"I don't want to be rude, but you aren't the type that acts out of a sense of justice."

"That sure ''is'' rude, whoa. Actually, I've taken to answering such questions with 'It's to save the day!' while flashing a cool smile."

Upon seeing my dumbfounded face, he laughed dryly.

"Being a detective is what I live for!" he suddenly made a serious face, "I chose a job where it's work and work throughout the year, all day long, and where I may lose my life due to a slight mistake. Because I'm still a civil servant, people insult me, calling me a tax parasite despite my poor salary. So why did I sign up for such a thankless job? You know, it's to see all kinds of people and their relationships in all kinds of situations, whether they're joyous or grieving!"

Konan stared into the air with an odd light in his eyes, originating from ecstasy.

"It's such a tremulous excitement when their masks crumble! It feels as if I were able to sneak a peek at the true nature of us humans. Bare emotions tell the truth much more eloquently than any justification."

When he finished, I couldn't suppress a sneer anymore.

"Oh that's cruel, Nonomiya-kun. Now that I've answered seriously for once because you looked so stern! I bet you're thinking of me as some psycho now, aren't you?"

I immediately answered his scowl by shaking my head.

"By no means. Rather I was relieved to hear so much nonsense. It suits you, you know?"

"Oho, now that's an unconventional evaluation."

"I guess. After all, I am, too, a good-for-nothing like you."

"I know," this time he sneered, "Since the moment I've first seen you."

The second I saw his grin, I was convinced: as Tsukimori had assessed, we really were similar.

"So, anything else you want to tell me?" he crossed his arms.

"There's nothing I would need to tell you!"

"Oh? You acknowledge it just like that? What I've said until now about Youko-chan, I mean?"

Konan doubtfully raised an eyebrow.

"You're getting me wrong. I'm saying that my opinion hasn't changed in the first place."

"Despite all I told you?"

"Yes, despite all that."

"Oh you're a trip! You're joking, right? Didn't you agree quite a lot to my doubts?"

"Indeed, I did agree. Insofar that the case could also be viewed in such an interesting light. Thanks to you I could catch a glimpse of how professional detectives deduce things by drawing one logical conclusion upon another. But that's all. My confidence in Tsukimori doesn't get swayed just by your assumptions."

When I smiled, he glared at me for just a split-second.

"Those are all just your assumptions. Frankly speaking, they're just baseless products of your over-creative fantasy."

Konan stared at me expressionlessly.

"Didn't you say yourself that the rest of the police are treating this case as an accident? In other words, you are suspecting her on a personal basis, right? I don't know how excellent a detective you are or how high-ranked you are within the police, but that's what we call a 'grandstand play', you know?"

Since he did not react, I proceeded even further.

"As you have told me earlier, too, even in a small town like ours there are incidents every day, so is it not rather suboptimal for an 'official' to bother with Tsukimori and me? If you still insist on associating with us, you'll deserve the labeling as a tax parasite."

Of course I had a reason for getting that offensive.

"It's not in the interest of either of us to waste any more time on this. If you recalled what your original job is, I could carefreely return to my peaceful student life as well."

I was confident that he had no irrefutable proof. In other words, he had still not arrived at the "murder recipe". And without it, it was not possible to reasonably entertain suspicions concerning Tsukimori.

"You've done your best. But there are other things you ought to do. So, let's put an end to this already."

There was one more thing that backed me up.

No one would blame him for backing out of that case. The police was considering it as an accident; nothing hindered Konan from letting go. Konan had been free to proceed or withdraw from the very beginning. That's what I figured out.

"...you've got me there. You're completely right. Can't counter that," he pulled a new cigarette from the pocket of his jacket while smiling lopsidedly and put it into his mouth, "To tell the truth, the department chief and the station chief, well, let's just say the bigwigs, are bugging me all the time because they want me to do my work properly. My colleagues have already given up though, since it's nothing new for them, heh!"

A small light flared up in the darkness. Konan had lit the cigarette with a lighter advertising some sleazy product.

"...Can you figure why they still let me grandstand?"

He blew out a puff of smoke.

"It's because I'm capable!" he claimed confidently, "And do you know what makes me capable?"

He tapped on his forehead.

"My sharp intuition."

The next moment, his loud voice resounded through the entire tunnel.

"To get to the point! This ''excellent'' and sharp master detective ''Konan'' says this is fishy! You have to realize that a high school brat like you has no say in that whatsoever!"

His voice was reflected by the walls, by the ceiling, and rained down heavily on me. I felt as if I had been thrown into a bustling crowd.

"The point is! No matter what everyone else says, no matter if she herself denies it, ''I'' say she committed murder! So, Youko Tsukimori ''has'' killed her mother!" he finished, sucked in some smoke and blew it out contentedly.

"That's so unreasonable..." I managed to say, overwhelmed by his attitude.

"Unreasonable, indeed. But tell me, does the world work a different way? It doesn't matter what's right and what's not; the stronger one gets his way, right?" A puff of smoke was blown out of his bent mouth. "''Because'' I believed in myself and my intuition, and ''because'' I stayed true to myself, I was able to get remarkable results, you know. And ''because'' of those results, nobody can object to what I'm doing."

He showed a "grin".

"So, I'm sorry Nonomiya-kun, but I'm gonna do it the way I want—"

But it was his peculiar kind of grin that looked dead serious.

"—Because that's how I've chosen to live my life."

When I took another glance at his "grin", I came to think that that way of smiling must be the embodiment of his nature.

Put crudely, Konan was a lunatic in a clown's disguise.

It's not easy to get by with an uncommon sense put to show. Therefore, he probably adapted to our society by acting frivolous most of the time.

That "grin" must have been a remnant of that madness which he could not conceal.

"Okay, it's my turn now," Konan crushed his cigarette with his heel.

He thrust his hands into the pockets of his tight slacks.

"Why are you so eager to defend Youko-chan?"

With a slow and firm pace, he drew closer on his long legs. Step by step, his leather shoes produced a reverberating creak that filled the passage.

"Don't you agree that it must be quite hard to believe so firmly in her without ''a lot'' of personal sympathy?"

I felt my stomach knot tighter and tighter at the sound of his steadily approaching footsteps. 

"I'm not deliberately defending her, really! But it's simply absurd to expect me to believe that a classmate of mine is a killer. Isn't it normal that I can't, and don't want to, believe your doubts?"

"Yeah, completely normal," he admitted casually. That was, however, only a preface to what was to come. "But come on, in spite of everything I'm still a detective, if I may say so myself. It's not absurd in any way if you were a little more doubtful about her, right? I mean, hey, ''the police'' are suspecting her, so there might be something to it! I think it wouldn't do you any harm if you agreed a little more with me, you know, admitting that I have some points that make her suspicious. There's no need be so dismissive about it, is there? Well, that's the opinion of an experienced detective who has witnessed all kinds of incidents, anyway. Now, what do you say?" said the experienced speaker Konan in a torrent of words with a peculiar intonation, giving the atmosphere around us his own touch.

"...I'm a cross-grained person, you know. I'm also a little contrary on top of that. Therefore, I don't want to simply nod to something that doesn't make perfect sense to me!"

As a natural consequence, my hands became sweaty and my voice got tenser.

"I guess so. It's already an established fact within me that you're that type of person."

I registered that his smile seemed very content.

"But while you sure are a cross-grained lad, Nonomiya-kun, you are ''not'' an idiot, and you don't lack common sense either. So I can't understand why you are so understanding to her. With that personality of yours, shouldn't you rather search for Youko-chan's flaws the more perfect she is? At least the Nonomiya I know is someone who doesn't believe anything he hasn't seen with his own eyes."

It's agreeable if you are understood because the other party shows interest in yourself by doing so. If it's interest from a capable person like Konan on top of that, it can't be a bad feeling.

However, I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable, for his assessment was just too spot-on. That nasty feeling of having my whole body closely scrutinized, from tip to toe, gave me a chill.

Before I knew it, Konan was standing right before me.

"In short, you know, I've already concluded that your unconditional support of Youko-chan is due to special feelings towards her. And well, because you love her so much whether she's guilty or not, you just don't care. You're like, 'I shall believe in her even when the rest of the world turns against us!', you see. Oh how great is the power of love. Whoa there, don't look at me like that! I'm not messing with you here. Actually, I quite like that way of thinking. No, make that 'I love it'!"

What a talkative man. It's not like I was dumbfounded; I was taking my hat off to him. I wondered if there was even a single person who didn't talk after being targeted by Konan.

"You are gifted with a superb imagination indeed."

"Well, it's a job that requires a good imagination."

A smile was on his mouth, a truly amused one.

"But there's one more. One more possibility why you could be protecting Youko-chan," his smile disappeared. "Namely, if you have certain proof that Youko Tsukimori has not killed anyone."

My consciousness was immediately drawn to the murder recipe.

"So... do you?"

"By no means."

"Too bad," he replied not regretfully in the least.

While my whole body was becoming stiff, he continued. In a most casual tone.

"By the way, I've been wondering—what's in that left breast pocket?"

My right hand reflexively grabbed at my left breast pocket.

Konan reacted on the spot.

He quickly pulled his hands out of his pockets as if drawing a sword and grabbed my chest the very next moment. After he had taken a large step towards me, my field of vision made a sudden turn.

I felt a blow on my back the next instant which then turned into pain that flashed through my entire body. The fierce pain caused me to heave one deep groan. My head started spinning and I became unable to move. However, despite the dull pain, I could hardly breath and couldn't even groan anymore.

It all happened so fast I had no clue what had just occurred to me.

By now I assume that he threw me down on the hard asphalt by using some technique similar to Haraigoshi, as it's called in Judo.

"I'm quite the feminist, you know, I don't want to be rough to the ladies. But on the other hand, I'm pretty much merciless towards guys!" he said casually as he sat astride me.

"...Ugh...you will get into trouble for this," I managed to squeeze out and scowled at Konan.

"No worries, no worries! As long as no one gets wind of it I'm safe!"

He didn't care in the least.

"Well, shall we take a look at what you're hiding there in that inside pocket?"

I firmly grabbed my jacket with both my hands.

"Oh? From your stubborn resistance I gather that there's really something in there that is related to Youko-chan?"

I shouldn't have averted my eyes when he came peeking deep into them.

"Ha! Bull's eye? My intuition sure is something! It's getting fun!" he laughed with an odd light in his eyes.

Konan tried to break my grip, which I, still stuck below him, frantically warded off with all my might.

"Whoa, whoa. You don't know when to give up!"

Konan scratched his head in a baffled way.

"Hah, there's no way around," he then muttered. "Believe it or not, but I was in high school once, too. Back then I was actually quite the naughty boy, you know?"

He suddenly started talking of his past for some reason.

"And well, the place naughty boys like us used to select for deepening our friendship with our fists was, oh surprise, desolate passages below railways like this one! Maybe you get now why I asked you right in the beginning if you wanted to have a duel with me."

I failed to see what he was getting at, which was exactly what unsettled me.

"Can you guess why we usually selected somewhere under a railway?"

That moment, the ground started shaking slightly. I felt with my back that apparently a train was coming our way.

"The reason is—screams get drowned in the noise of passing trains."

As he revealed that fact, a thunderous sound burst through the air, killing all other sounds.

"...you're joking... right?"

My words of shock were naturally drowned out as well.

The rattling of the train passing by above us shook my body. No, perhaps I was just trembling myself.

I felt the cold sensation of metal on my forehead.

Still utterly confused, I looked at what was in front of my eyes with a fixed gaze.

In his stretched out arm Konan was holding a black object. The cylindrical tip of that hard, black object was put on my forehead.

As soon as the thundering noise receded, giving way to the normal sounds, the man expressionlessly said, "If timed properly, that noise can even drown a gunshot."

I gulped down without knowing.

[[Image:Gekkou-261.jpg|thumb]]

''...no way. He may have a tendency to lunacy, but he won't possibly pull that trigger. This is bound to be a foolish performance to threaten me.''

That's what my mind told me anyway.

My hair, however, stuck to my forehead. My heart was pounding and my breath was running wild. In contrast to my logical thinking, my body was so tense that I couldn't even blink.

"Now let go."

I put all power I still had into my fingers.

"That's the spirit. Good boy."

My arms, however, were shaken off easily. Unfortunately, there had not enough power been left in me to resist him.

Konan skillfully undid the first two buttons with one hand and slid the hand into my inside pocket.

When he pulled it out again, he was holding a small folded scrap of paper between his fingers.

"...a scrap of paper, huh. What will I find on there, I wonder?"

He concluded that I had entirely lost the will to resist and removed the handgun from my forehead, and unfolded the sheet with both his hands.

Konan skimmed through it with a serious mien.

As he was still sitting on me, I couldn't move while he was reading the letter, thus I was forced to keep on looking at the concrete ceiling, which was not exactly interesting.

"Oh time! Go by!" I wished silently.

"Let me confirm one thing... who has written this 'recipe'?"

He thrust out the sheet before my eyes.

"I don't know," I hissed and looked away.

"...So my hunch didn't fail me," he said with a convinced tone. "Judging by your reaction, '''you''' have written this, huh."

I kept silent.

"At the very first glance I thought that the letters looked very, you know, 'boyish', so I did consider the possibility! But I mean, what's written there just doesn't match the image I have of you, you know? ''You'' and this, huh... What did your face look like when you wrote it? Oh, please don't tell me you wrote it with that poker face of yours!"

It was probably the poker face I had maintained that caused him to suddenly embrace his stomach and start trembling with tears in his eyes. He chuckled as the intensity of his tremble increased like the speed of plane that was rolling on a runway. And then,

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He burst into a grand laughter. The plane had just soared into the sky.

His guffawing resounded through the tunnel. Laughter rained down on me from all sides with no mercy. I experienced the humiliation of being made a fool by a great mass.

"...aah, stop it, aah, I'm dying! I'm dying laughing! Aah, I haven't laughed like this in ages... I think for a while I'm gonna break out into a laughter just by recalling this," he said while still laughing with groans mixed in. "Aaa... I have to admit that that contrast got even me by surprise. Now that was something new. Never thought that you, our grouchy Nonomiya-kun, would write such an oh-so-sweet letter that would startle even the purest girl in love..."

Again, he was unable to suppress it and laughed out loud.

The title on the sheet he had thrust in front of me was—

—"Love Recipe"

The "Love Recipe" contained all kinds of flirt phrases and methods to win over a girl's heart. Words so sickeningly sweet that they didn't even lose to the taste of pancakes accidentally covered with a bottle of maple syrup, filled the whole page without leaving any gaps.

It was a sinister item indeed, of which a single bite would certainly cause nausea to any man like me without physical defense against sweet words.

If you write such a dangerous thing with your very own hands, with all your wit can offer, during an entire long night, then your life cannot be assured anymore. Even if you survived it, you would be scarred for life with a horrendous trauma.

An actual survivor states that living became hard just a few minutes after starting to write.

At last, satisfied with laughing, Konan asked me with a meek expression, "So? Do you want me to retire from the case now because of this?"

"It would be very much appreciated."

He grabbed my head with his hands and leaned over me. My dark field of vision became even darker.

"There's no way I could retire at such a half-baked state!" he declared from straight above with forceful eyes.

"But that's," I began and put on a confident smile. "That's only your view as a detective, right?"

"...What do you mean?"

A question mark appeared above him. Therefore, I grinned while answering his question.

"Right now you look extremely fulfilled!"

He could say what he wanted, but his eyes were sparkling like the eyes of a kid that had just arrived at an amusement park. To me Konan looked as though he was bursting with amusement.

"Haven't you had enough fun by now?"

Konan pondered over my words while stroking his chin.

He hadn't denied it when I said that it was not a sense of justice that made him choose the job as a detective.

What he had asserted, however, was that he wanted to enjoy humans and their relationships.

In short, Konan himself didn't care much if Tsukimori had killed her mother or not. Though finding out the truth was surely part of that hobby of his, it was by no means his personal goal.

So I thought about what his goal ''really'' was. The conclusion I came to was this:

From the moment I had realized that we resembled each other, I had felt that such an end was inevitable.

"...oh well, you got me!"

Konan spun his gun around his finger and stowed it away in the holster that was hidden under his jacket.

"My loss was decided the instant I laughed. After laughing badly like that I can't claim that I wasn't amused anymore."

When he stood up, he reached out his hand to me. I took it.

"Okay! I'll drop the case."

He then pulled me up onto my feet.

"...Thank you."

Words of appreciation automatically slipped out of my mouth. Apparently, I happened to be relieved.

Considering that we were similar, it wasn't hard to comprehend the principle of his actions, but I had no prospects of victory in terms of persuading him, an experienced speaker, into dropping the case. As a matter of fact, my first attempt had been beaten down by his overwhelming pressure.

Since the odds had been against me, I had prepared the "Love Recipe" as a trump card.

The main reason I had written it was to create unforeseeability. To surprise Konan with something that he would definitely not expect me to ever write. And finally, to take the wind out of his sails with that unforeseeability.

My vigorous resistance had not been played at all; I had wanted to keep my trump card for last, yes, I had even wanted to take it to the grave.

What I can say now is that I probably would have failed if I hadn't taken the bullet.

"Oh well, it was about time anyway, " Konan said while wiping off the dust on his suit with one hand. "Keep in mind that to the bigwigs this case is only a trifling incident that wouldn't even get into the news. Organizations, not only the police, have a tendency to avoid using time, money and workforce for trivial things, you know. After all, they wouldn't gain much for solving an incident no one cares about."

"Quite business-like, isn't it?" I followed his example and dusted off my uniform with both my hands.

"Indeed. If you think of it like that, maybe I'm actually something like an office worker," he nodded full of agreement. "Well, the point is that even I can't always keep running after every small incident, no matter how much everyone accepts it implicitly! I mean, come on, I'm capable, right? They want me on the big cases!"

He then folded the recipe and unaffectedly put it into the pocket of his suit.

"Hey, don't just stow that away in your pocket!" I hurriedly stopped him.

"Mh? What do you mean? That's ''mine'', isn't it?"

"No, it's ''mine''. Please return it to me."

"No chance."

"But there's no point if you have it, is there?"

"It's the treasure I dug up this time. It's an irreplaceable memento of you. I'm going to reread this recipe from time to time and remember you and the happy days we spent together."

"That's a lie. You're definitely going to make a fool of me!"

"Oh? I'm busted."

I could not help sighing, seeing he was as undaunted as always.

"Come on, isn't that quite a good deal? For just a mere scrap of paper I'll withdraw from this case! Now if that's not some outstanding treatment!"

"It's not a physical problem, but a very psychological one."

"Well, you should be able to take some scars as a boy."

Konan put on a wry smile as he lit on a cigarette.

"...even I think once in a while, you know, that I've got a bothersome personality. But we can't just change our hobbies or our values, right?"

I found myself agreeing with the musing Konan before me.

"They say it's possible to select one's way of life, but I think that's just a flowery lie. At least I could ''not'' choose another one. Choosing another way of life means throwing away all you've done so far and becoming a new self, don't you agree? I like myself the way I am now. So I have no choice but to stick to my current principles!"

Then he showed the grin that truly suited him.

"An acquaintance of mine said something similar. Something along the lines of the world's very setup being 'shit', so one should live by one's own rules."

"Oho. We would surely get on well."

"Yes, indeed. I don't know about her, but you would surely like her."

"So it's a woman?"

"Yes."

"Woho, definitely introduce me to her one of these days."

"If I find some time."

"By the way..."

"Yes?"

"—What was it really? What have you been hiding?"

I was unable to answer him right away.

Konan had assured me to drop this case. And he was surely not someone who broke promises.

But still I just couldn't bring myself to let anyone else know about the murder recipe.

However, Konan suddenly tousled my hair with his sinewy hand.

"Sorry. Forget that. That question was 'thoughtless' as you would call it, right?"

He blew some smoke toward the asphalt.

The railway started to creak, causing the entire tunnel to vibrate, and erased all other sounds around us.

During the time that allowed no other sounds, Konan made himself at home and enjoyed his cigarette, whereas I had my gaze fixed on the far away blue sky as if enjoying a nightly read.

At last, the train passed by and took its thunderous sound with it.

"Good luck, Nonomiya-kun. It was a short time with you, but I really enjoyed it!"

That was the first thing I heard again.

"I too... relatively enjoyed those days."

"Relatively?! Oh boy...," he said and leisurely walked towards the exit, his shoes squeaking. I silently gazed at his back as he waved his hand extravagantly.

"...Ah, let me correct one thing at the end." The footsteps stopped near the entrance of the passage. "Satisfied, my ass! Just so you know! I am not at all satisfied! I wanted to play much more with you and Youko-chan!"

He resembled so much a brat that didn't want his summer holidays to end that I had to laugh, "Oh boy...!"

"Goodbye."

"Yes!"

It was not farewell forever, but we weren't going to see each other for quite a while. We may live in the same town, but there wouldn't be many occasions to meet each other. Our separate ways had merely happened to cross by chance this time. That was the relationship between us, between Konan and me, two persons at different ages and positions.

"Right! I almost forgot—"

He quickly turned around and skillfully squinted one eye.

"Actually, I fancy women and men all the same!"

"......eh?"

He gave me a wave with his flat hand, "''Byeee!''" and disappeared into the light, leaving me behind dumbfounded.

"...'Bi'? Don't mess with me!"

I was sure it had to be another special bad joke of his and he was having his fun with me.

"How stupid," I shook my head.

I frantically tried to make myself believe that it ''was'' a joke, but I just couldn't do anything about the goosebumps I had gotten all over.

Geez, Konan remained a good-for-nothing to the bitter end. I had never met such a good-for-nothing in my entire life. There can't be many absurd people like him in the world. I figured that I may not meet someone like him again.

Therefore, it was a relatively regrettable farewell to me.

After raising my hand once, I turned around and walked towards the exit on the opposite side.

The time I left the tunnel, my mind was occupied with only her and no one else.

<noinclude>
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| [[Gekkou:Volume 1 Hesitation|Hesitation]]
| [[Gekkou:Volume 1 Moonlight|Moonlight]]
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[[Category:Gekkou]]

Boku wa tomodachi ga sukunai:Volume5 Amusement Park ~ Vomit Chapter ~

2012-09-16T01:25:04Z

MiY4Gi: /* The Amusement Park ~Vomit Chapter~ */

==The Amusement Park ~Vomit Chapter~==

It was 11:30 a.m. when we'd all gathered up again and decided to go get some food at one of the restaurants in the park.

Every single place to eat in here was pretty expensive, and I would've rather just made my own lunch, but it would've been a waste of time, since you aren't allowed to bring any food or drinks in with you.

Anyway, Yozora, Maria, and I decided to get curry, Sena wanted yakisoba, Kobato wanted a hamburger patty set, Yukimura picked plain udon, and Rika ordered mabodofu.

"Hey, what'd you guys all ride while we were gone?"

I asked, to which Yozora replied, "...Nothing," with an unhappy look on her face.

"Nothing?"

"I was reading a book on the bench the whole time."

"Again!?"

"...Shut up. I like reading alone."

Yozora said, as though she were pouting a little bit.

If this is how she was gonna end up, I should've done something with her instead...

"Rika rode the merry-go-round about ten times."

I was surprised as to why Rika would do that.

"T-ten times...? Did you like the merry-go-round that much?"

"No. Honestly, it's a little weird. The feeling you get when you ride it isn't anything special, but it slowly builds up, and right as you think to yourself 'Ah, I can cum like this! Here it comes―― I'm about to cum!' the ride ends. Just three more minutes is all I needed..."

"Just what the hell were you trying to accomplish!?"

"Rika was testing to see whether or not she could use it the same way she uses her adult merry-go-round."

T-this girl is so...

"I managed to get pretty close on my last ride... but in the end, I couldn't do it. As a result, Rika is currently quite sexually frustrated. That is to say, I'm incredibly horny."

All I could do was get creeped out by this gigantic pervert.

"Umm, so Maria, what'd you and Yukimura do?"

"I ate hot dogs!"

Maria answered, full of energy.

"Oh? Did Yukimura buy them for you?"

"Yeah!"

Maria nodded, and then added,

"Also, also~ I had popcorn~, and a crepe~, and a hamburger~, and shaved ice~, and takoyaki~, and ice cream too!"

Just how much did she eat, for God's sake?

"...Was it good?"

"Yeah!!"

I couldn't say anything to that big smile on her face.

"I see... Sorry Yukimura, for making you pay for all that..."

"Do not be absurd. It is an honor to be given the task of accompanying your little sister."

Yukimura said, in his normal tone of voice.

A silver haired little girl eating food from all over the park accompanied by a maid―― I wonder if people who saw them thought Maria was a princess or something.

"Little girls and hot dogs certainly make for a sexy combination, don't they?"

"You can be quiet now."

I quickly retorted to Rika without a moment's delay.

We spent the next few moments talking like that, and before long our food was brought to us.

We all ordered a bunch of different stuff, but I'm glad they brought it all out at once.

"Yay~ curry~! Ahaha, the curry looks just like a pile of po――"

"I may have to kill you depending on how you finish that sentence."

"Po... Poerfectly cooked meat and vegetables!"

"...Good."

After that little exchange, Maria and Yozora began eating their curry.

"Ahaha, this curry is so good! It's so weird how good it tastes when it looks like a pile of poop~!"

"...Maria, I'm going to kill you later."

I followed their lead, and scooped some curry into my mouth.

...It didn't taste good or bad; it was just your typical pork curry. I can't believe this cost me 1,000 yen.

"Kodaka-senpai, you're making a scary face."

Said Rika, dumping tabasco sauce onto her mabodofu.

"Ah, sorry, it's nothing... Wait, isn't that a little too much sauce!?"

The mabodofu Rika had ordered already looked like it was on fire the way it came.

Putting tabasco sauce on top of that gives me the chills.

I looked at her, dumbfounded, and before long Rika's forehead broke out into a sweat.

"Hafuuuu~~ Rika loves a good hot and spicy lunch. Did you know, Senpai? Spiciness isn't a taste, it's actually a form of pain. Ah, the double pain of heat and spiciness! Hawah, it's so hot, it hurts, please give me more pain! Gahh Gahh Haa Haa..."

Rika ate her ridiculously spicy mabodofu with a look of ecstasy on her face.

Sena and Kobato, on the other hand, were fully devoted to devouring their yakisoba and hamburger patty respectively.

Yukimura was expressionless even when eating, slurping each noodle one by one.

...Now that I think about it, this is actually the first time all seven of us have gotten together and eaten out at a restaurant like this.

Although we did eat together over summer break at the training camp.

It kinda feels like we're a group of friends who stopped by a fast food joint or something on the way home from school.

"What is it, Kodaka? That grin of yours is disgusting."

Yozora said, looking at me with one eye half-open.

"I-it's nothing. Anyway, what do you wanna do after we eat?"

"I know!"

Maria threw her hand up energetically.

"Go for it."

"Everything!"

"That's impossible. Let's start with what you want to do the most."

"Ehhh? Ok, let's go to the crepe stand then!"

"That's what you want to do most!? Wait, how much have you eaten today anyway!?"

I was seriously taken aback by her gluttonous appetite.

"? But crepes are really good. Don't you think so too?"

Maria tilted her head in confusion.

"...You can have another snack after three. We've got these free passes, so let's use 'em."

"Hmmm... Ok, then I wanna ride The Black Dragon!"

"Uu..."

I'm guessing everyone remembered the fear from earlier, because they all cringed.

"Let's give The Black Dragon a rest for today... It's too scary. Ok?"

I was looking for some support from the rest of the club members, when all of a sudden,

"W-well, you might've been scared, but I was totally fine! I could ride it one more time no problem! Rather, I want to go ride it again! But I guess I'll skip it if you're all too scared~!"

Sena said, trying to act tough.

...Why can't you ever just be honest about this stuff...

"Hmph... Quit bluffing, Meat. You looked like you were about to die earlier."

A bitter smile rose to Yozora's face, and Sena's stiffened in return.

"Haa? You're the one who was so scared you were shaking like a leaf."

"Wha...!? I-I did no such thing! I was completely fine!"

Now even Yozora's trying to act tough.

"Hmph, I wonder about that. I know you were crying like a little girl when we rode it before!"

"What nonsense... You're the one who was crying, fish meat."

"'Kyaaa.'"

Sena imitated Yozora screaming in a monotone voice, causing Yozora's face to go bright red.

I certainly do think I heard Yozora go "Kyaaa" when we rode The Black Dragon in a normal, girly high pitched voice you'd never have thought would come from her, considering how deep her voice usually is. 

It was so normal for a girl her age, I would've thought it was just one of the other female passengers if it weren't for her and Sena sitting up in front.

"I can still hear your scream perfectly in my head. Your crying voice as you went 'Kyaaa' - 'Kyaaa' - 'Kyaaa!’ - 'Kyaaa, Mommy~' Ahaha, Yozora-chan, you're so c~u~t~e~ when you cry for mommy like a widdle baby! Gyahahaha!"

Sena tried to rile Yozora up with a strangely provocative expression and tone of voice.

"Gh... A-are you sure your memory isn't mistaken? Hmph, I guess that's what you get when you're dealing with a zombie meat woman who's got crap for brains..."

Yozora launched a counterattack, but it's a bona fide fact that she was screaming and crying before, so it didn't have much force behind it.

"Pfffft! Look evwybody, widdle crybaby Yozora-tan is trying to say something! Bhyahya!"

"Kgghh...! Y-you cried too, you stupid Meat!"

"I-I-I-I-I-I didn't cry. What are you talking about!?"

"Hmph, don't lie. Your eyes were red after crying so much when we fell. And besides, I know that you didn't just cry... you also wet your pants a little!"

"W-w-w-w-why do you kno-... A-a-a-as if I did that! Are you retarded!?"

Sena denied it with a beet red face.

Why did she stutter there...?

"Eh... Meat, did you really...?"

Yozora made a seriously creeped out face.

"O-o-o-o-o-of course not! That stupid little roller coaster wasn't scary at all! In fact, it was so boring I wanted to fall asleep! Actually, how do we know that you didn't wet your pants!?"

"Hmph, it hurts watching you make all these excuses, you rotten piece of ammonia-smelling Meat!"

"'Kyaaa.'"

"Agh...!!"

Yozora started trembling all over.

"T-then prove it! Ride The Black Dragon again without getting scared at all!"

"Fine with me! And you're coming with! I'll be so bored on it I'll even have time to take a picture of you bawling your eyes out! You can't make any more excuses once I've got it on film, now can you!?"

"Hmph, very well. That thing is as easy for me to ride as the train to school. I've got no reason to cry on something like that at all!"

"Yozora, weren't you really bad at riding the train when it's crowded?"

I shot out a quick quip at Yozora.

"What was that!?"

"...Nothing at all, ma'am."

I wonder if I can get Yozora and Sena to stop scaring people into silence with that look of theirs.

"...That aside, Meat, did you even bring a camera with you?"

"Heheh, I've been hiding it in this pocket all along."

"? Why would you go out of your way to hide it...?"

"W-who cares about that? It doesn't matter..."

"...?"

Sena hurriedly tried to change the subject as Yozora stood there, honestly confused.

That Sena, she couldn't have been taking peep shots of Yozora today too, right...? ...No, what am I saying, she probably was...

Anyway, that's how we ended up where we are now.

Yozora and Sena both agreed to go ride The Black Dragon again after lunch.

By the way, I firmly refused to join them on their trip, and even Maria, who wanted to ride it again said, "I want to ride it again, but I'd rather be with Onii-chan!" and so, ended up coming with me.

Rika, Yukimura, and Kobato were also tagging along with me.

...I remembered the time we all went to karaoke together while eating my neither good nor bad curry.

☺

The five of us went off to do our own thing after we all finished eating lunch, leaving Sena and Yozora to ride The Black Dragon.

We figured we'd just go with whatever we saw nearby that looked fun.

The first thing we rode was a thrill ride called "The Viking" modeled after a pirate ship. It was pretty big, like everything else in this park, and went up fairly high too.

That said, a big ship that just rocks back and forth is nowhere near as abusive as The Black Dragon. In fact, it actually feels kinda refreshing.

"Ahahahaha~! We're so high up! Look how high up we are~! Being up high is so much fun~!"

Maria was in just as good a mood as she was on The Black Dragon.

"...Senpai, I don't feel too good."

Next to me was Rika, whose face had gone pale.

"Wh- What's wrong!?"

"I... It feels like I'm sea... sick."

"H-how can you get seasick when we're on land!? A-anyway, just hold it in! It's almost over!"

"Uuuu..."

............

......

...Rika managed to hold it in until the ride ended.

...Phew... That was one thrill I didn't see coming...

☺

Next we decided to ride the free fall.

The main idea is simple really, all you do is go up and then it drops you, and honestly speaking, this is the second worst ride for me after The Black Dragon, but I had to ride it since Rika, Maria, and Kobato all said they wanted to.

"Aniki, I wish you the best of luck."

I got strapped in to the seat, and then the lift started to bring us up. 

By the way, there are only four seats per ride, so Yukimura had to go without us on the next one.

We got farther and farther away from the ground, along with an unsettling vibration coming from the lift.

It feels like I'm about to be executed or something.

"Ahahahaha~! We're so high up! Look how high up we are~! Being up high is so much fun~!"

Maria was enjoying herself, as usual.

...So you don't care what it is, as long as you get to go up high, do you?

After we reached the top of the lift, our seats were pushed out away from it―――― and then we fell.

"Nuowamuahhhhh!?"

I let out a pathetic shriek.

"Ahahahahaha!"

Maria was exploding with laughter.

".........!"

Kobato had her eyes shut tight.

"Fuck you, gravity! Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck!!"

Rika switched into her other weird personality I saw back on The Black Dragon.

By the way, the “fucks” above ↑ were all said within about a second.

As we waited at the exit for Yukimura, Rika murmured something with a dead look in her eyes.

"...This isn't something civilized people enjoy. The only ones who can ride that thing and enjoy it are savages."

"Ahahahaha, that free fall was super fun~! Going up high and then falling was so fun~! Hey~ hey~ Onii-chan, wanna ride it again!? Do you!?"

"Shut your mouth, you damn dirty savage!!"

"Gyaahhhhh!?"

Rika looked pissed as she opened her eyes wide and shouted at Maria.

If I had to say, Rika looks more like the real savage here.

"......Rika is going to live in space when she grows up. Gravity can go eat shit."

"I see. I hope you're happy up there."

"Senpai, come live with me in space."

"No thanks."

"Ehhh~ Come on, let's purge the world of all these Neanderthals and their precious gravity~ We could drop a space colony on them or something~"

"Maybe, if I feel like it."

Yukimura came out of the exit just as I'd finished dealing with Rika spouting nonsense in a voice that sounded like a kid begging his mom for some candy.

He was as expressionless as always, but his eyes didn't seem to have much life in them.

"...Are you ok?"

"...It felt as though I were Rokusuke Keyamura."

"I see... it must've been rough."

...Knowing Yukimura, that was probably the name of some general from the Sengoku Era, but I didn't know the name, so I just gave him a vague reply.

☺

Going on three thrill rides in a row would've been a little bit much, so we headed for the haunted house next.

It was a tiny, Japanese-style mansion sitting by itself in a corner of the park, and the sign board hanging down from it had "Haunted House" written in eerie-looking letters.

We were the only ones there, and hence, managed to get in right away.

This was the first time I'd ever been in a haunted house, but, how to put it, it's even more shoddy than I thought it'd be.

The monsters consisted of chopped off heads, dolls, fairies, etc. that were all so poorly made it was obvious they were fakes. You could see parts of the machines inside them, and hear the gears turn as the neck did on some of them... Seriously, at least make it so we can't see the machines...

Why is there such a huge gap in quality between the amazing rides like The Black Dragon, and the other ones like this haunted house and that costume show?

This is something I only found out later, but apparently this haunted house is one of the few remaining original attractions from about 40 years ago when the park was built, and is due to be renewed soon.

"Hey~ hey~ Why is there a blanket hanging on the ceiling!?"

Maria asked, while pointing up at a piece of white cloth hanging down from the ceiling (the strings holding it were in plain sight).

They probably meant for it to be some kind of ghost or something.

"There's ghosts like that out in the world too... Flying blanket ones I mean."

"Do the sheets that old hag hangs out to dry fly too!? Those were ghosts!?"

"That was probably just the wind. These ones aren't like that, they can fly on their own (I think?)."

"Ehhh? Even though they're blankets!?"

"Even though they're blankets."

"Ahaha~! What the heck? I don't get it at all~!"

Maria was still full of energy, unfazed by the haunted house.

"Kukuku... Although they may indeed be my fellow clansmen of the night, to think they would allow lowly life forms such as humans to control them as such... Leysis vi Felicity Sumeragi commands you... Destroy yourselves immediately."

The very second Kobato said that to the woman-shaped doll wearing a kimono in front of her, its head fell right off. 

"Fhyahhh!? An-chaaaann!!"

Kobato came running over, screaming, and then clung on to me.

...I gotta admit, that was some good timing. It even scared me a little bit.

Then it happened, right after I thought that.

Something started pulling on my sleeve from behind.

"...Uoh!?"

I had just gotten startled by that doll, so having the additional shock of getting grabbed from behind made me twitch in surprise.

I turned around, and saw it was a beautiful maid with a pale face grabbing on to me.

...It was just Yukimura though.

"W-what's the matter, Yukimura?"

"I-I'm terribly sorry, Aniki."

Yukimura looked a little flustered before letting go.

"...Did that scare you too?" I asked.

Yukimura nodded, his cheeks a little red.

"Yes, to a most shameful extent... I still have much to learn..."

"I don't think you really have to be ashamed about it... Actually, I'm relieved."

"Relieved...?"

Yukimura looked mystified as he tilted his head.

"Yeah. It's good to see that even you have things that make you panic."

"Aniki..."

Yukimura started staring at me with a blank look on his face.

I accidentally let my heart skip a beat seeing that, and quickly turned away to hide it.

He's cute, but he's a guy, he's a guy, he's a guy...!

"Gfufu... Thank you for the unexpected eye-candy, Senpai, Yukimura."

A disgusting smile rose to Rika's face.

Apparently that doll with the head that falls off was the last thing in the haunted house, because we got out after walking through a dark hallway a little while later.

"Man, that was kind of a letdown!" I said.

"I agree with you completely!" Rika said, with a nod.

"But, I do think that armored soldier's ghost that kept floating in front of us was super high quality. The rest was all retro machine designed stuff, but the way that ghost flew around was in a whole different dimension. In fact, it's kind of embarrassing, but even Rika couldn't tell how they managed to control it. I think it probably used lasers, but I couldn't find anything that looked like a sensor on the walls or ceiling no matter how much I looked~ It's gotta be a pretty detailed system to get it to float in front of us the whole time like that~ I kinda wish I could've figured out the trick~"

She was talking as though she didn't really care one way or the other, but I could tell that she actually was frustrated she couldn't figure it out.

My reaction to that cute junior of mine who surprisingly hates losing was as follows:

"..................T-there was a ghost in there...?"

I think our genius inventor, Rika Shiguma, might be able to see into the other world.

I left the haunted house with a cold chill running down my spine.

☺

After the haunted house, we did three more thrill rides: the coffee cups, the swings, and go karts before getting on the Ferris wheel.

"Uohhh! This is super high~! Being up high is so fun~!"

...Maria must really like high places.

Maria generally liked every attraction we went to, but she gets particularly excited whenever we go on one that takes us up high.

The Ferris wheel we were riding right now was called the 'Aurora Borealis', and was one of Yokoshima Wonderland's more famous rides, which isn't surprising, considering that it's one of the biggest in Japan.

It used to boast being the largest attraction out of all of them until about 10 years ago when The Black Dragon stole that position.

That said, it lets you enjoy the view way up high, unlike The Black Dragon, and remains popular to this very day.

"Kukuku... They're like little ants..."

Kobato gave us one of her standard lines as she looked down at the people on the ground.

"Still, you can see how amazing The Black Dragon is when you look at it from up here."

It was easy to tell how huge it was when you looked at it from the top of the Ferris wheel.

It's insane when you think about how you fall from a spot higher than the top of the 'Aurora Borealis' where you can see not only the entire park, but way off into the horizon too.

"...Now that I think about it, I wonder what Yozora and Sena ended up doing."

They were the ones who were supposed to tell us when they wanted to meet up, but I had yet to get a text from either of them.

"Do you think they're still in line?" said Rika.

"Nah, no way."

I looked over at The Black Dragon's entrance.

There were more people than this morning, but even so, it didn't look like more than a 10-20 minute wait.

It's already been two hours since we split up with Yozora and Sena too.

I figured I'd call just to see what was up, but neither Sena nor Yozora answered.

"Do you think they're just too busy arguing with each other to notice?"

"You know, they probably are."

I had to agree with Rika's deduction.

"...Oh well, should we go look for them?"

☺

We headed over to The Black Dragon's entrance area after getting off the Ferris wheel.

It's technically possible that they went over to other attractions, but I really doubt it considering how bad they get along.

I tried calling them again when we were walking over, but, as I'd expected, I didn't get an answer.

While wondering just what the heck they were doing, I started darting my eyes left and right, looking for them as we walked.

And, just a short while later,

"Aniki. I have discovered their location."

Yukimura said in a calm tone of voice, raising his finger and pointing at something.

I looked at where he was pointing, and saw a girl with short black hair sitting next to one with blond hair on a bench about 10 meters away from us.

"Oh, there they are."

We quickly walked over to their bench.

Yozora was there in her boyish clothes, as was Sena in her flashy, but cute ones.

The way they were sitting together, resting on each other's shoulders, made it look like a young boy with black hair was out on a date with his blond-haired girlfriend, flirting with her. Honestly, it looked very picturesque.

...As you got closer though, you could see that was a huge mistake. Their eyes were half rolled back, their mouths were just hanging wide open, they looked like they were sick, and I could even see that their cheeks were stiff, probably from screaming too much.

They looked just like a... zombie couple.

[[Image:Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai_Vol5_Ch05_Img01.jpg|thumb]]

"...What the hell did you guys do?"

I timidly asked, and they both answered, "Ah, Kodaka..." in a voice that sounded more like a moan than anything else.

"...A-are you guys…?"

"Ughh... My head hurtsh..."

"I feel shick..."

Yozora and Sena both answered in turn, like a pair of zombies.

"What the heck happened...?"

"...We rode it..." said Yozora.

"Rode it...? The Black Dragon?"

They both gave a weak nod.

"Eijht times..."

Sena moaned out a follow up to what Yozora said.

"...? Eight times...? Ummm..."

I told myself there was no way, but asked anyway to be sure.

"...You rode The Black Dragon eight times?"

They both nodded.

Just riding it once was enough to severely damage your mind and body, and here these two went and rode it eight times in a couple hours...

"Are you retarded?"

I stated my honest thoughts to them, which resulted in two pairs of bloodshot eyes glaring at me.

Holy shit, that's scary!

They look like they're about to pass out, but those stares of theirs aren't any weaker than usual. In fact, they're actually scarier.

"...It's because Yozora wouldn't just admit she lost..."

"...It's because Meat wouldn't just go and die already..."

They both glared at each other.

"...So you decided to keep riding until one of you gave up, and in the end you both rode it eight times...?"

They both nodded again.

Sheesh... There's a limit to being a sore loser, ya' know.

"Wow~ So, who won?"

Rika just had to ask, didn't she?

Yozora and Sena then said, while glaring at each other,

"...There isn't a winner yet... Ghh..."

"...Now then... It's about time to start round nine... Uuu..."

Their voices were so deep they sounded like a zombie's moans, but they both managed to stand up, albeit barely.

I have to admit that their iron will to continue the battle no matter how badly they get hurt is admirable, but this is one showdown that just isn't worth the effort.

And I mean, I get the feeling their lives might actually be in danger if they keep this up.

"Give it a rest, you both fought well... Just call it a draw and shake hands, ok?"

"I refuse...!"   "I'd rather die...!"

They both replied instantly.

"This piece of meat is the one thing I'll..."   "Yozora is the one person I'll..."

""Never lose t――

OgEHhhHhHHhHhhhH""

Aaaand they barfed.

Forcing themselves to yell that loud when they were already barely standing caused them both to spectacularly throw up everything in their stomachs at almost the exact same time.

"Ugeh! Eww, they threw up! Nasty!"

Maria said that cold, hard truth without even the slightest hint of tact or consideration.

"Uguah..."   "Uegh..."

They both spent the next little while hunched over, going "guehh guehh" as they threw up.

"A-are you two ok...?"

I was worried about them, but couldn't stop myself from letting out a big sigh.

These two are such a handful.

Anyway, at least this means their little match is over.

...By the way, I was actually standing right in front of them, and as a result, got some of their puke on my clothes......... I want to cry...

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| Forward to [[Boku_wa_tomodachi_ga_sukunai:Volume5_Hot Springs|Hot Springs]]
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Boku wa tomodachi ga sukunai:Volume5 Amusement Park ~ Vomit Chapter ~

2012-09-16T01:16:36Z

MiY4Gi: free hole >> free fall

==The Amusement Park ~Vomit Chapter~==

It was 11:30 a.m. when we'd all gathered up again and decided to go get some food at one of the restaurants in the park.

Every single place to eat in here was pretty expensive, and I would've rather just made my own lunch, but it would've been a waste of time, since you aren't allowed to bring any food or drinks in with you.

Anyway, Yozora, Maria, and I decided to get curry, Sena wanted yakisoba, Kobato wanted a hamburger patty set, Yukimura picked plain udon, and Rika ordered mabodofu.

"Hey, what'd you guys all ride while we were gone?"

I asked, to which Yozora replied, "...Nothing," with an unhappy look on her face.

"Nothing?"

"I was reading a book on the bench the whole time."

"Again!?"

"...Shut up. I like reading alone."

Yozora said, as though she were pouting a little bit.

If this is how she was gonna end up, I should've done something with her instead...

"Rika rode the merry-go-round about ten times."

I was surprised as to why Rika would do that.

"T-ten times...? Did you like the merry-go-round that much?"

"No. Honestly, it's a little weird. The feeling you get when you ride it isn't anything special, but it slowly builds up, and right as you think to yourself 'Ah, I can cum like this! Here it comes―― I'm about to cum!' the ride ends. Just three more minutes is all I needed..."

"Just what the hell were you trying to accomplish!?"

"Rika was testing to see whether or not she could use it the same way she uses her adult merry-go-round."

T-this girl is so...

"I managed to get pretty close on my last ride... but in the end, I couldn't do it. As a result, Rika is currently quite sexually frustrated. That is to say, I'm incredibly horny."

All I could do was get creeped out by this gigantic pervert.

"Umm, so Maria, what'd you and Yukimura do?"

"I ate hot dogs!"

Maria answered, full of energy.

"Oh? Did Yukimura buy them for you?"

"Yeah!"

Maria nodded, and then added,

"Also, also~ I had popcorn~, and a crepe~, and a hamburger~, and shaved ice~, and takoyaki~, and ice cream too!"

Just how much did she eat, for God's sake?

"...Was it good?"

"Yeah!!"

I couldn't say anything to that big smile on her face.

"I see... Sorry Yukimura, for making you pay for all that..."

"Do not be absurd. It is an honor to be given the task of accompanying your little sister."

Yukimura said, in his normal tone of voice.

A silver haired little girl eating food from all over the park accompanied by a maid―― I wonder if people who saw them thought Maria was a princess or something.

"Little girls and hot dogs certainly make for a sexy combination, don't they?"

"You can be quiet now."

I quickly retorted to Rika without a moment's delay.

We spent the next few moments talking like that, and before long our food was brought to us.

We all ordered a bunch of different stuff, but I'm glad they brought it all out at once.

"Yay~ curry~! Ahaha, the curry looks just like a pile of po――"

"I may have to kill you depending on how you finish that sentence."

"Po... Poerfectly cooked meat and vegetables!"

"...Good."

After that little exchange, Maria and Yozora began eating their curry.

"Ahaha, this curry is so good! It's so weird how good it tastes when it looks like a pile of poop~!"

"...Maria, I'm going to kill you later."

I followed their lead, and scooped some curry into my mouth.

...It didn't taste good or bad; it was just your typical pork curry. I can't believe this cost me 1,000 yen.

"Kodaka-senpai, you're making a scary face."

Said Rika, dumping tabasco sauce onto her mabodofu.

"Ah, sorry, it's nothing... Wait, isn't that a little too much sauce!?"

The mabodofu Rika had ordered already looked like it was on fire the way it came.

Putting tabasco sauce on top of that gives me the chills.

I looked at her, dumbfounded, and before long Rika's forehead broke out into a sweat.

"Hafuuuu~~ Rika loves a good hot and spicy lunch. Did you know, Senpai? Spiciness isn't a taste, it's actually a form of pain. Ah, the double pain of heat and spiciness! Hawah, it's so hot, it hurts, please give me more pain! Gahh Gahh Haa Haa..."

Rika ate her ridiculously spicy mabodofu with a look of ecstasy on her face.

Sena and Kobato, on the other hand, were fully devoted to devouring their yakisoba and hamburger patty respectively.

Yukimura was expressionless even when eating, slurping each noodle one by one.

...Now that I think about it, this is actually the first time all seven of us have gotten together and eaten out at a restaurant like this.

Although we did eat together over summer break at the training camp.

It kinda feels like we're a group of friends who stopped by a fast food joint or something on the way home from school.

"What is it, Kodaka? That grin of yours is disgusting."

Yozora said, looking at me with one eye half-open.

"I-it's nothing. Anyway, what do you wanna do after we eat?"

"I know!"

Maria threw her hand up energetically.

"Go for it."

"Everything!"

"That's impossible. Let's start with what you want to do the most."

"Ehhh? Ok, let's go to the crepe stand then!"

"That's what you want to do most!? Wait, how much have you eaten today anyway!?"

I was seriously taken aback by her gluttonous appetite.

"? But crepes are really good. Don't you think so too?"

Maria tilted her head in confusion.

"...You can have another snack after three. We've got these free passes, so let's use 'em."

"Hmmm... Ok, then I wanna ride The Black Dragon!"

"Uu..."

I'm guessing everyone remembered the fear from earlier, because they all cringed.

"Let's give The Black Dragon a rest for today... It's too scary. Ok?"

I was looking for some support from the rest of the club members, when all of a sudden,

"W-well, you might've been scared, but I was totally fine! I could ride it one more time no problem! Rather, I want to go ride it again! But I guess I'll skip it if you're all too scared~!"

Sena said, trying to act tough.

...Why can't you ever just be honest about this stuff...

"Hmph... Quit bluffing, Meat. You looked like you were about to die earlier."

A bitter smile rose to Yozora's face, and Sena's stiffened in return.

"Haa? You're the one who was so scared you were shaking like a leaf."

"Wha...!? I-I did no such thing! I was completely fine!"

Now even Yozora's trying to act tough.

"Hmph, I wonder about that. I know you were crying like a little girl when we rode it before!"

"What nonsense... You're the one who was crying, fish meat."

"'Kyaaa.'"

Sena imitated Yozora screaming in a monotone voice, causing Yozora's face to go bright red.

I certainly do think I heard Yozora go "Kyaaa" when we rode The Black Dragon in a normal, girly high pitched voice you'd never have thought would come from her, considering how deep her voice usually is. 

It was so normal for a girl her age, I would've thought it was just one of the other female passengers if it weren't for her and Sena sitting up in front.

"I can still hear your scream perfectly in my head. Your crying voice as you went 'Kyaaa' - 'Kyaaa' - 'Kyaaa!’ - 'Kyaaa, Mommy~' Ahaha, Yozora-chan, you're so c~u~t~e~ when you cry for mommy like a widdle baby! Gyahahaha!"

Sena tried to rile Yozora up with a strangely provocative expression and tone of voice.

"Gh... A-are you sure your memory isn't mistaken? Hmph, I guess that's what you get when you're dealing with a zombie meat woman who's got crap for brains..."

Yozora launched a counterattack, but it's a bona fide fact that she was screaming and crying before, so it didn't have much force behind it.

"Pfffft! Look evwybody, widdle crybaby Yozora-tan is trying to say something! Bhyahya!"

"Kgghh...! Y-you cried too, you stupid Meat!"

"I-I-I-I-I-I didn't cry. What are you talking about!?"

"Hmph, don't lie. Your eyes were red after crying so much when we fell. And besides, I know that you didn't just cry... you also wet your pants a little!"

"W-w-w-w-why do you kno-... A-a-a-as if I did that! Are you retarded!?"

Sena denied it with a beet red face.

Why did she stutter there...?

"Eh... Meat, did you really...?"

Yozora made a seriously creeped out face.

"O-o-o-o-o-of course not! That stupid little roller coaster wasn't scary at all! In fact, it was so boring I wanted to fall asleep! Actually, how do we know that you didn't wet your pants!?"

"Hmph, it hurts watching you make all these excuses, you rotten piece of ammonia-smelling Meat!"

"'Kyaaa.'"

"Agh...!!"

Yozora started trembling all over.

"T-then prove it! Ride The Black Dragon again without getting scared at all!"

"Fine with me! And you're coming with! I'll be so bored on it I'll even have time to take a picture of you bawling your eyes out! You can't make any more excuses once I've got it on film, now can you!?"

"Hmph, very well. That thing is as easy for me to ride as the train to school. I've got no reason to cry on something like that at all!"

"Yozora, weren't you really bad at riding the train when it's crowded?"

I shot out a quick quip at Yozora.

"What was that!?"

"...Nothing at all, ma'am."

I wonder if I can get Yozora and Sena to stop scaring people into silence with that look of theirs.

"...That aside, Meat, did you even bring a camera with you?"

"Heheh, I've been hiding it in this pocket all along."

"? Why would you go out of your way to hide it...?"

"W-who cares about that? It doesn't matter..."

"...?"

Sena hurriedly tried to change the subject as Yozora stood there, honestly confused.

That Sena, she couldn't have been taking peep shots of Yozora today too, right...? ...No, what am I saying, she probably was...

Anyway, that's how we ended up where we are now.

Yozora and Sena both agreed to go ride The Black Dragon again after lunch.

By the way, I firmly refused to join them on their trip, and even Maria, who wanted to ride it again said, "I want to ride it again, but I'd rather be with Onii-chan!" and so, ended up coming with me.

Rika, Yukimura, and Kobato were also tagging along with me.

...I remembered the time we all went to karaoke together while eating my neither good nor bad curry.

☺

The five of us went off to do our own thing after we all finished eating lunch, leaving Sena and Yozora to ride The Black Dragon.

We figured we'd just go with whatever we saw nearby that looked fun.

The first thing we rode was a thrill ride called "The Viking" modeled after a pirate ship. It was pretty big, like everything else in this park, and went up fairly high too.

That said, a big ship that just rocks back and forth is nowhere near as abusive as The Black Dragon. In fact, it actually feels kinda refreshing.

"Ahahahaha~! We're so high up! Look how high up we are~! Being up high is so much fun~!"

Maria was in just as good a mood as she was on The Black Dragon.

"...Senpai, I don't feel too good."

Next to me was Rika, whose face had gone pale.

"Wh- What's wrong!?"

"I... It feels like I'm sea... sick."

"H-how can you get seasick when we're on land!? A-anyway, just hold it in! It's almost over!"

"Uuuu..."

............

......

...Rika managed to hold it in until the ride ended.

...Phew... That was one thrill I didn't see coming...

☺

Next we decided to ride the free fall.

The main idea is simple really, all you do is go up and then it drops you, and honestly speaking, this is the second worst ride for me after The Black Dragon, but I had to ride it since Rika, Maria, and Kobato all said they wanted to.

"Aniki, I wish you the best of luck."

I got strapped in to the seat, and then the lift started to bring us up. 

By the way, there are only four seats per ride, so Yukimura had to go without us on the next one.

We got farther and farther away from the ground, along with an unsettling vibration coming from the lift.

It feels like I'm about to be executed or something.

"Ahahahaha~! We're so high up! Look how high up we are~! Being up high is so much fun~!"

Maria was enjoying herself, as usual.

...So you don't care what it is, as long as you get to go up high, do you?

After we reached the top of the lift, our seats were pushed out away from it―――― and then we fell.

"Nuowamuahhhhh!?"

I let out a pathetic shriek.

"Ahahahahaha!"

Maria was exploding with laughter.

".........!"

Kobato had her eyes shut tight.

"Fuck you, gravity! Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck!!"

Rika switched into her other weird personality I saw back on The Black Dragon.

By the way, the “fucks” above ↑ were all said within about a second.

As we waited at the exit for Yukimura, Rika murmured something with a dead look in her eyes.

"...This isn't something civilized people enjoy. The only ones who can ride that thing and enjoy it are savages."

"Ahahahaha, that free fall was super fun~! Going up high and then falling was so fun~! Hey~ hey~ Onii-chan, wanna ride it again!? Do you!?"

"Shut your mouth, you damn dirty savage!!"

"Gyaahhhhh!?"

Rika looked pissed as she opened her eyes wide and shouted at Maria.

If I had to say, Rika looks more like the real savage here.

"......Rika is going to live in space when she grows up. Gravity can go eat shit."

"I see. I hope you're happy up there."

"Senpai, come live with me in space."

"No thanks."

"Ehhh~ Come on, let's purge the world of all these Neanderthals and their precious gravity~ We could drop a space colony on them or something~"

"Maybe, if I feel like it."

Yukimura came out of the exit just as I'd finished dealing with Rika spouting nonsense in a voice that sounded like a kid begging his mom for some candy.

He was as expressionless as always, but his eyes didn't seem to have much life in them.

"...Are you ok?"

"...It felt as though I were Rokusuke Keyamura."

"I see... it must've been rough."

...Knowing Yukimura, that was probably the name of some general from the Sengoku Era, but I didn't know the name, so I just gave him a vague reply.

☺

Going on three thrill rides in a row would've been a little bit much, so we headed for the haunted house next.

It was a tiny, Japanese-style mansion sitting by itself in a corner of the park, and the sign board hanging down from it had "Haunted House" written in eerie-looking letters.

We were the only ones there, and hence, managed to get in right away.

This was the first time I'd ever been in a haunted house, but, how to put it, it's even more shoddy than I thought it'd be.

The monsters consisted of chopped off heads, dolls, fairies, etc. that were all so poorly made it was obvious they were fakes. You could see parts of the machines inside them, and hear the gears turn as the neck did on some of them... Seriously, at least make it so we can't see the machines...

Why is there such a huge gap in quality between the amazing rides like The Black Dragon, and the other ones like this haunted house and that costume show?

This is something I only found out later, but apparently this haunted house is one of the few remaining original attractions from about 40 years ago when the park was built, and is due to be renewed soon.

"Hey~ hey~ Why is there a blanket hanging on the ceiling!?"

Maria asked, while pointing up at a piece of white cloth hanging down from the ceiling (the strings holding it were in plain sight).

They probably meant for it to be some kind of ghost or something.

"There's ghosts like that out in the world too... Flying blanket ones I mean."

"Do the sheets that old hag hangs out to dry fly too!? Those were ghosts!?"

"That was probably just the wind. These ones aren't like that, they can fly on their own (I think?)."

"Ehhh? Even though they're blankets!?"

"Even though they're blankets."

"Ahaha~! What the heck? I don't get it at all~!"

Maria was still full of energy, unfazed by the haunted house.

"Kukuku... Although they may indeed be my fellow clansmen of the night, to think they would allow lowly life forms such as humans to control them as such... Leysis vi Felicity Sumeragi commands you... Destroy yourselves immediately."

The very second Kobato said that to the woman-shaped doll wearing a kimono in front of her, its head fell right off. 

"Fhyahhh!? An-chaaaann!!"

Kobato came running over, screaming, and then clung on to me.

...I gotta admit, that was some good timing. It even scared me a little bit.

Then it happened, right after I thought that.

Something started pulling on my sleeve from behind.

"...Uoh!?"

I had just gotten startled by that doll, so having the additional shock of getting grabbed from behind made me twitch in surprise.

I turned around, and saw it was a beautiful maid with a pale face grabbing on to me.

...It was just Yukimura though.

"W-what's the matter, Yukimura?"

"I-I'm terribly sorry, Aniki."

Yukimura looked a little flustered before letting go.

"...Did that scare you too?" I asked.

Yukimura nodded, his cheeks a little red.

"Yes, to a most shameful extent... I still have much to learn..."

"I don't think you really have to be ashamed about it... Actually, I'm relieved."

"Relieved...?"

Yukimura looked mystified as he tilted his head.

"Yeah. It's good to see that even you have things that make you panic."

"Aniki..."

Yukimura started staring at me with a blank look on his face.

I accidentally let my heart skip a beat seeing that, and quickly turned away to hide it.

He's cute, but he's a guy, he's a guy, he's a guy...!

"Gfufu... Thank you for the unexpected eye-candy, Senpai, Yukimura."

A disgusting smile rose to Rika's face.

Apparently that doll with the head that falls off was the last thing in the haunted house, because we got out after walking through a dark hallway a little while later.

"Man, that was kind of a letdown!" I said.

"I agree with you completely!" Rika said, with a nod.

"But, I do think that armored soldier's ghost that kept floating in front of us was super high quality. The rest was all retro machine designed stuff, but the way that ghost flew around was in a whole different dimension. In fact, it's kind of embarrassing, but even Rika couldn't tell how they managed to control it. I think it probably used lasers, but I couldn't find anything that looked like a sensor on the walls or ceiling no matter how much I looked~ It's gotta be a pretty detailed system to get it to float in front of us the whole time like that~ I kinda wish I could've figured out the trick~"

She was talking as though she didn't really care one way or the other, but I could tell that she actually was frustrated she couldn't figure it out.

My reaction to that cute junior of mine who surprisingly hates losing was as follows:

"..................T-there was a ghost in there...?"

I think our genius inventor, Rika Shiguma, might be able to see into the other world.

I left the haunted house with a cold chill running down my spine.

☺

After the haunted house, we did three more thrill rides: the coffee cups, the swings, and go karts before getting on the Ferris wheel.

"Uohhh! This is super high~! Being up high is so fun~!"

...Maria must really like high places.

Maria generally liked every attraction we went to, but she gets particularly excited whenever we go on one that takes us up high.

The Ferris wheel we were riding right now was called the 'Aurora Borealis', and was one of Yokoshima Wonderland's more famous rides, which isn't surprising, considering that it's one of the biggest in Japan.

It used to boast being the largest attraction out of all of them until about 10 years ago when The Black Dragon stole that position.

That said, it lets you enjoy the view way up high, unlike The Black Dragon, and remains popular to this very day.

"Kukuku... They're like little ants..."

Kobato gave us one of her standard lines as she looked down at the people on the ground.

"Still, you can see how amazing The Black Dragon is when you look at it from up here."

It was easy to tell how huge it was when you looked at it from the top of the Ferris wheel.

It's insane when you think about how you fall from a spot higher than the top of the 'Aurora Borealis' where you can see not only the entire park, but way off into the horizon too.

"...Now that I think about it, I wonder what Yozora and Sena ended up doing."

They were the ones who were supposed to tell us when they wanted to meet up, but I had yet to get a text from either of them.

"Do you think they're still in line?" said Rika.

"Nah, no way that's it."

I looked over at The Black Dragon's entrance.

There were more people than this morning, but even so, it didn't look like more than a 10-20 minute wait.

It's already been two hours since we split up with Yozora and Sena too.

I figured I'd call just to see what was up, but neither Sena nor Yozora answered.

"Do you think they're just too busy arguing with each other to notice?"

"You know, they probably are."

I had to agree with Rika's deduction.

"...Oh well, should we go look for them?"

☺

We headed over to The Black Dragon's entrance area after getting off the Ferris wheel.

It's technically possible that they went over to other attractions, but I really doubt it considering how bad they get along.

I tried calling them again when we were walking over, but, as I'd expected, I didn't get an answer.

While wondering just what the heck they were doing, I started darting my eyes left and right, looking for them as we walked.

And, just a short while later,

"Aniki. I have discovered their location."

Yukimura said in a calm tone of voice, raising his finger and pointing at something.

I looked at where he was pointing, and saw a girl with short black hair sitting next to one with blond hair on a bench about 10 meters away from us.

"Oh, there they are."

We quickly walked over to their bench.

Yozora was there in her boyish clothes, as was Sena in her flashy, but cute ones.

The way they were sitting together, resting on each other's shoulders, made it look like a young boy with black hair was out on a date with his blond-haired girlfriend, flirting with her. Honestly, it looked very picturesque.

...As you got closer though, you could see that was a huge mistake. Their eyes were half rolled back, their mouths were just hanging wide open, they looked like they were sick, and I could even see that their cheeks were stiff, probably from screaming too much.

They looked just like a... zombie couple.

[[Image:Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai_Vol5_Ch05_Img01.jpg|thumb]]

"...What the hell did you guys do?"

I timidly asked, and they both answered, "Ah, Kodaka..." in a voice that sounded more like a moan than anything else.

"...A-are you guys…?"

"Ughh... My head hurtsh..."

"I feel shick..."

Yozora and Sena both answered in turn, like a pair of zombies.

"What the heck happened...?"

"...We rode it..." said Yozora.

"Rode it...? The Black Dragon?"

They both gave a weak nod.

"Eijht times..."

Sena moaned out a follow up to what Yozora said.

"...? Eight times...? Ummm..."

I told myself there was no way, but asked anyway to be sure.

"...You rode The Black Dragon eight times?"

They both nodded.

Just riding it once was enough to severely damage your mind and body, and here these two went and rode it eight times in a couple hours...

"Are you retarded?"

I stated my honest thoughts to them, which resulted in two pairs of bloodshot eyes glaring at me.

Holy shit, that's scary!

They look like they're about to pass out, but those stares of theirs aren't any weaker than usual. In fact, they're actually scarier.

"...It's because Yozora wouldn't just admit she lost..."

"...It's because Meat wouldn't just go and die already..."

They both glared at each other.

"...So you decided to keep riding until one of you gave up, and in the end you both rode it eight times...?"

They both nodded again.

Sheesh... There's a limit to being a sore loser, ya' know.

"Wow~ So, who won?"

Rika just had to ask, didn't she?

Yozora and Sena then said, while glaring at each other,

"...There isn't a winner yet... Ghh..."

"...Now then... It's about time to start round nine... Uuu..."

Their voices were so deep they sounded like a zombie's moans, but they both managed to stand up, albeit barely.

I have to admit that their iron will to continue the battle no matter how badly they get hurt is admirable, but this is one showdown that just isn't worth the effort.

And I mean, I get the feeling their lives might actually be in danger if they keep this up.

"Give it a rest, you both fought well... Just call it a draw and shake hands, ok?"

"I refuse...!"   "I'd rather die...!"

They both replied instantly.

"This piece of meat is the one thing I'll..."   "Yozora is the one person I'll..."

""Never lose t――

OgEHhhHhHHhHhhhH""

Aaaand they barfed.

Forcing themselves to yell that loud when they were already barely standing caused them both to spectacularly throw up everything in their stomachs at almost the exact same time.

"Ugeh! Eww, they threw up! Nasty!"

Maria said that cold, hard truth without even the slightest hint of tact or consideration.

"Uguah..."   "Uegh..."

They both spent the next little while hunched over, going "guehh guehh" as they threw up.

"A-are you two ok...?"

I was worried about them, but couldn't stop myself from letting out a big sigh.

These two are such a handful.

Anyway, at least this means their little match is over.

...By the way, I was actually standing right in front of them, and as a result, got some of their puke on my clothes......... I want to cry...

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