Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai:Registration Page

2012-07-13T10:45:47Z

Sleepy920:

To re-iterate the registration procedure:

* "First Come, First Served": please register your intended chapters here

* The maximum number of chapters you are recommended to work on is no more then half of any given volume

* Maximum number of Translators per volume is two

* Maximum number of volumes you may be active on is one

* This is not some Binding Contract of "I must do the work I put down here". Choices put down here are negotiable between translators (including their own selves who signed up for it).

== Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Series Registration ==

=== Volume 1 ===
::*Prologue and Character Introduction is a Lot Like Clamping - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Kodaka Hasegawa - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Yozora - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Sena Kashiwazaki - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*The Hunt - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Welcome to the World of Galgame - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Underling - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Hasegawa Family Affairs - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*To the Tainted Sadness - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Tales of Momotarou - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*The Delinquent Samurai Returns to His Mother School - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Swimming Pool - [[User:Lilin1|Lilin1]] - '''Completed'''
::*Past - [[User:Teh Ping|Teh Ping]] - '''Completed'''
::*Afterword - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 2===

::*Prologue (LOL) - [[User:Kira0802|Kira0802]] - '''Completed'''
::* Takayama Maria - [[User:larethian|larethian]] - '''Completed'''
::* Shiguma Rika- [[User:Kira0802|Kira0802]] and [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Rotten - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Kodaka's Romance of the Three Kingdoms Talk - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Romancing Saga - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Comedy King Kodaka - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Little Sister - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Short Story Relay "Saint☆Aniki" - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Karaoke - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Consolation Party - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterwords - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 3===

::* Prologue: Farewell - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Feeding of the Little Girl - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* History - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Silent Phone - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sealing Technique, Release! - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Saint VS Vampire - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Jaws - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Everyone at the Pool　- [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Demon Astaroth's Arrival!!　- [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* A Visit to Kashiwazaki's Abode - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Sea - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Ghost Story - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Summer Festival - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Epilogue: Reunion - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterword - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 4===
::* Reunion: Part II - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Neighbors Club's Reaction - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Summer Vacation's Homework - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Tower - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Service Round (Kashiwazaki-san's Nude Scene) - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Homo Game Club. - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sister - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Answer Checking - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sisters - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* "Thanks For Your Hard Work" Meet - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterword

===Volume 5===
::* A Phone Conversation With Dad - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Invitation Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Black Dragon Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Astaroth Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Vomit Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Hot Spring - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* A Tale of the Unattached and the Unlucky - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Let The Second Term Begin - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Butler - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Welcome To The World of Otomege - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Time Machine - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 6===
::* Exposure - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Footsteps of Horror (aka The School Festival) - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Maid Cafe - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Fortune Telling - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The First Time - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Birthday - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Texts - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* On The Train - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* It's A Date No Matter How You Look At It. Seriously, etc. - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Birthday Party (With The Neighbors Club) - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Birthday Party (With Kobato And Company) - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 7===
::* Words Lost in the Wind - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Fourteen year old morning - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Something He's Known For a Long, Long Time Now - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Third School Festival Discussion - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Movie - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Yusa Aoi - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Born princess - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Is This a Date? No, it's a Bloodbath Flag - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Childhood friend - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The second round
::* Her answer
::* Pegasus fantasy
::* A shuraba between my childhood friend and fiance
::* The fall of Mikaduki Yozora
::* In the Rika room
::* Hasekawa Kobato
::* King of Riajuu

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Return to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai|Main Page]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

[[Category:Registration Page]]

Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai:Volume 1 Prologue

2012-05-19T11:22:10Z

Sleepy920: Re-added img that was previously removed

==Prologue- The Puppeteer from the Far East==

"Yaya is cute, Yaya is super cute. Yaya is the cutest in the world."

The girl was clasping her hands together, muttering softly like she was deep in prayer.

The gentle sunlight drifted down, with the rhythmic sound of steam hissing in the background. The train had departed from London, and was now Liverpool-bound. In one of the 2nd class passenger carriages, a scene was unfolding between an odd pair.

The two were Orientals, a youth and a girl.

Their oddity did not extend to their appearance alone. Inexplicably, the girl was leaning over the seat opposite her, as though trying to cover the youth with her body, while whispering strange words to him.

"Yaya is so cute I love Yaya Yaya is so bewitching Yaya is my wife-"

Abruptly, the whispering stopped.

With one eye open, the youth was shooting a sharp glare in her direction.

"... Were you awake, Raishin?"

"What were you doing so close to my ear?"

"Yaya was reciting a charm to make Raishin fall in love with me."

"Was it really something so cute and innocent? Because it sure felt like you were trying to corrupt me somehow, you know?"

Completely ignoring his retort, the girl calmly pointed out of the window.

"Look, Raishin. We're already inside Machine City."

"Ahh, about time we reached. Traveling half a day from London's no joke. My butt's sore from all that sitting."

"That means the top school in all of Western Europe should be coming into view shortly."

Grinning happily, the girl pressed herself up against the youth.

"This school houses its students in dormitories right?"

"Yeah."

"So when night comes, it'll be just the two of us to ourselves right?"

"I'd think so..."

"I'm looking forward to many sleepless nights then ❤"

"Actually, I'll be sleeping. If you try anything funny though, I'll kick you out of the room."

"...-?!"

"What with that look of betrayal on your face? I'll say it again, we're not here on a vacation."

The girl's face clouded over, heartbreak written all over her trembling black pupils.

"... This city is, after all, where the Wiseman's Night Party will begin."

The expression on the girl's face immediately tightened.

"Magi competing against one another for supremacy, the winner decided through a series of blood soaked banquet of battles..."

[[Image:KSwK v1 013.jpg|thumb]]

"Yeah. I'll be counting on you then, Yaya."

"Of course. If it's for Raishin, I'd be willing to go through anything; through fire, into your futon,"

"Don't sneak into my futon."

"Ah, is this what they call an interest in outdoor fuc..."

"What was that? Did something so vulgar just come out of such an innocent looking face?"

"If that is what Rashin desires, then Yaya will serve with all her heart. Whether if it's in the bushes, or even if it's in front of everyone."

"As much as I'd like to thank you for your devotion, I can't because you've absolutely misinterpreted something. I don't want THAT kind of service, rather, what I'm expecting from you is something altogether different."

In that vein, the two of them carried on their playful banter as the scenery of the modern town flashed by them outside the window.

Concrete buildings lined the main street, while T-Fords imported from America trundled along the paved roads. The street corners were littered with stands selling coffee, run by machine dolls. The dolls' body were made of tin, and their stiff, awkward movements were somehow amusing to watch.

Machine City Liverpool.

The point base from which the vast amount of cotton produced by the city of Manchester was exported to the rest of the world. The British Empire proudly boasted that it was one of, if not the best, port cities in the world. Recently however, it was also becoming famous for being the next city of academics, after Cambridge.

Finally, the train pulled into the station, which had a beautiful iron dome as the highlight of its modern design.

And then passed on through, without even a hint of slowing down.

"Why didn't it stop?" "This was supposed to be the terminal station!"

The passengers were stirring, doubt and and dissatisfaction lining their voices.

The train conductor burst through a door, a dire look on his face.

"Everyone, please, please calm down and listen carefully to me."

Having said so however, it was obvious that he himself was anything but calm. In a trembling voice, he continued on.

"The brakes are not working!"

There was a silence so quiet you could hear a drop of water.

And then almost immediately, the entire carriage descended into a panicked frenzy.

"Everyone calm down! It'll be fine, the train will eventually come to a halt on its own!"

However, the conductor's voice did not register with anyone. It was lost amid the screaming and roaring of the passengers.

In the first place, the train did not look remotely close to slowing down at all. This was probably because it was on a slope.

It was simple physics. Anything on a downward slope would never naturally come to a stop.

Like an omen of the catastrophe to come, the train literally began to shudder. At that moment-

"Everybody, return to your seats!"

All the passengers simultaneously turned to gaze at the speaker.

The voice belonged to the person who had been bantering with the girl earlier, the Oriental youth.

He was of small build and had a slender figure. His eyes were sharp like an eagle's.

The young girl standing next to him was clad in a kimono. The kimono was short, and the fluttering of the cloth allowed one to catch an occasional glimpse of her thighs. Her bare shoulders showed off her lustrous skin, which was as white as snow. Her face did not have any outstanding parts, so at first glance she looked plain and simple, but in reality, her exceedingly well-ordered features was like a delicate work of art belonging to a museum. Her waist length hair shone with a brilliance that made it look like it was perpetually wet. Her skin was tender and soft like a white peach. She was shorter than the youth by a head, making her look like a literal doll.

They weren't ordinary people. Overwhelmed by their presence, the passengers quietly returned to their seats.

"Conductor, please inform the rest of the carriages as well. Those who do not wish to die should hold on tightly to their seats."

It wasn't a request, it was an order. The conductor gave the briefest of nods, before dashing off into the next carriage.

The youth watched him disappear, before making his way through the carriage. As he did so, his eyes came to rest on a seat next to him.

A young girl was hugging her little sister, the latter curled up into a ball.

There was fear reflected in her eyes. Her small frame made her resemble a frightened little squirrel.

The youth flashed a clumsy smile at her, before placing his hand on her head.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

The youth took off his coat, and nimbly exited through a window, making his way to the top of the carriage. The kimono clad girl followed shortly after him.

Moving with the form of acrobats, the pair swiftly ran to the front of the train.

"Raishin, look at that!"

"That's... a pretty sharp bend."

The line running through downtown had a particularly harsh curve. If the train were to mount it, it would surely derail!

"We have to stop it before it reaches the curve. In that case... Yaya, Shinkan Shijuuhachishou<ref>48th fist: Graveyard smash</ref>."

"Got it!"

Using the nose of the train as a base, the girl kicked off it, propelling her forward. The backlash was tremendous, causing the train to decelerate sharply.

The girl sped through the air like a bullet, landing a considerable distance in front of the train.

However, the train had not stopped. The train was rapidly charging straight towards her, about to run her over!

The people below on the streets noticed the abnormal scene unfolding and started screaming.

The youth however, remained unfazed. Bracing himself against the spout of the engine locomotive, he prepared some kind of attack.

On doing so, the girl opened her palm towards him. In a flash, (something akin to) a bluish-white flame gushed forth, forming something like a chain that linked the girl and the youth together.

The girl was now right in front of the train. The train with a weight of at least a few hundred tonnes was now bearing down on her-

And then, a crash.

It was an attack so strong the front of the train was dented in. The inertia of the carriages behind the front car carried them forward, causing them to collide into each other in succession. Some of the carriages were even forced upwards. The girl had driven her geta firmly into the ground, breaking the railroad tie and causing it to be lodged deep into the earth. A great amount of train ballast had been blown up into the air, and the girl herself had been driven back fifty meters or so.

However, the girl was unharmed.

Demonstrating her body's extreme sturdiness, she had completely stopped the runaway train dead in its tracks. As for the rest of the carriages, there were some which were slanted in different directions, some had their shafts broken, others had derailed... although, having said that much, none of the carriages had flipped over completely. While it was impossible that the injury rate would be zero, at the very least the number of casualties had been minimized.

After confirming the train had come to a complete halt, the youth leapt down onto the tracks.

"Well done Yaya. You sure as hell didn't hold back anything, didn't you?"

The girl was delighted from the praise. She stuck her head out expectantly, fidgeting while waiting for him to pet her head. However, the youth abruptly turned on his heels.

Just like that, he started walking back. Having no choice, the girl chased after him.

When they returned to their carriage, a scene of carnage lay before them. Luggage was strewn about all over the place, and the moans and groans of the injured could be heard. Still, there were no serious casualties. Giving them a quick, unsympathetic glance, he began to search for his own trunk.

"-Excuse me!"

Just as he found his trunk, a voice called out to him from behind.

It was the sisters from earlier. The elder sister was looking at the youth with a shy expression on her face. The younger sister timidly approached the youth with a slight smile on her face, holding out his coat.

The youth took it, and turning to face the elder sister, curtly asked her.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. Um, are you... a mage?"

"No. I'm a Puppeteer."

"So, that girl over there, she's an automaton...?"

Her eyes widening, she stared at the girl next to her (a little unnerved)

Her shock was understandable. Blood flowed under the girl's skin, which had a slight tinge of red to it. She had a heartbeat, and she was breathing as well. No matter how you looked at it, she was totally human.

This high level of detail in an automaton, while not unheard of in this place known as Machine City, was something that could hardly be called a common sight. For most of the residents here, the automata they were familiar with were mainly cheap tin constructs which had exposed gears and cylinders.

The female form automaton, much like a real girl would, gave a gentle smile.

"Yes, Yaya is Raishin's 'personal doll'. -Even in bed"

That last part was an unnecessary remark.

The passengers started whispering amongst themselves. The elder sister started blushing deeply while staring at them.

"Nooooooooo you pervert!"

Whoosh, went her open palm through the air, as she slapped the youth on the cheek.

Hugging her little sister, she ran away as fast as she could.

"Yaya..."

"Yes, Raishin?"

"Right now, there's this dark feeling swirling about in my heart. I wonder what it is?"

"...Lust?"

"Dammit Yaya! Why do you always keep saying things that will cause other people to get the wrong idea!"

"But...! That girl was looking at Raishin with a lewd look in her eyes...!"

"You're the one who's looking at other people the wrong way!"

After being scolded, the girl dripped the hem of her kimono and looked down at her feet despondently.

Her thin eyebrows pointed downwards, while tears began to form at the corners of her eyes.

Her sad figure was painful to watch. The youth let out a sigh.

"Forget it. Let's go. If the police get here it'll be a hassle to deal with them."

"...Ok!"

Slinging his trunk over his shoulder, he started walking off. The clip-clop of the geta echoed as the girl followed closely behind him.

Stepping off the carriage, the passengers could only watch dumfounded as they disappeared into the throng of people in the city.

Machine civilization only started to blossom at the start of the 20th century. Alongside the remarkable development in science and technology, mankind was able to establish advanced magic as a system.

Machinart. An innovation which completely turned the world of magic upside down.

It involved running a magic circuit through an automaton, and having a puppeteer control it. This combination allowed the casting of magic that were faster, more detailed, and stronger than traditional methods.

With the advent of this technique, magi were able to compress complex magic circles and long incantations into automata, effectively being able to cast magic instantly.

At the same time however, this technique was also being exploited for military use.

The victory at Trafalgar, as well as the triumph at Waterloo. All these would not have been possible if not for the existence of the pride of British army, the Machinart Division

Of course, this wasn't restricted to just England. In this era, countries stockpiled automata in an escalating arms race, as well as continuing to develop new, talented puppeteers to control them. The major powers of the world were in a frenzied state trying to outdo each other.

It was only a matter of time then, before the field of education became something of national importance.

A few hours after the incident with the train, at the heart of the city of Liverpool.

A curious couple stopped before a massive gate.

An Oriental youth and an automaton girl. It was the pair who had stopped the runaway train earlier.

"The Royal Academy of Machinart, Walpurgis."

The youth read out the words engraved onto the plate, with a cynical smile on his face.

"Famous for being the highest institute of education within the realm of magic. It looks more like a fort, no, maybe prison would be a better fit."

The scenery he was describing expanded before his eyes as his walked on.

Towering over the front was a large, majestic lecture hall which brought Buckingham Palace to mind when one looked at it. It's brick walls were easily 50 meters tall, and it's stone-wrought gate had little eye-holes set in them. The holes didn't seem like they were made to repel incoming enemies, they felt more like they were there to shoot down any fleeing students. As further proof, the gatekeeper wasn't monitoring activity from the town, but rather, keeping an eye on the premises.

Even the most conservative of people would have to admit the whole thing was pretty overbearing. The school was as frightening as a military base.

However, unfazed by it all, the automaton girl pointed towards the dormitories.

"Look over there Raishin. That's our new love nest. ❤"

She was in high spirts.

In contrast, the youth was unnaturally silent. Noticing this, she tilted her head at him.

"What's wrong, Raishin? You look depressed."

"Once we pass through that gate, you know you won't be able to return to the world for a quite a while right?"

Testing her resolve, the youth stared straight into the eyes of the girl.

"It's the law of this country. All automata belonging to the students of the Academy cannot step foot into town until after graduation."

Her hand on her chest, the girl spoke without hesitation, like she was reciting a pledge.

"The only place Yaya desires to be is where Raishin is. Whether it's on the battlefield, or in prison, that will never change."

"You think too highly of me. I'm merely using you as a tool for revenge."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Raishin. Yaya was a mere doll created by Shouko, from the day I was born I was but a mere tool. And then once this tool was given a purpose, she started living for the first time in her life."

Her gentle smile was as beautiful as the blooming of a flower.

"I'll always be by your side Rashin. Even when you're in your futon."

"I'll have to decline that. However, keep up that strong resolve of yours."

The youth relaxed his face, and strode forwards with firm steps.

On that day, the solitary youth, alongside his peerless automaton, passed through the gates into the academy.

With that, what awaited him was that banquet of strife-

<noinclude>
===References and Translation Notes===
<references />

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai:Volume 1 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
| Return to [[Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kikou Shoujo wa Kizutsukanai:Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
|-
|}<noinclude>

Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 2

2012-04-21T10:08:01Z

Sleepy920:

==Chapter 2==

However, I was still a member of the Gardening Club after a week when December began; that was because Ayaka captured me after school every day for club activities. Why must she keep bothering me? I don't even know, and I thought my head was going to burst open.

As I did not have any knowledge about gardening, I still had to stick to the railings while blankly looking at the streets as usual. That day, the brilliant blue skies trailed across the horizon. There were only two or three clouds in the skies like stickers stuck onto the sky, dazzling anyone who dared to stare at it for a long period of time.

I had always wanted to ask Ayaka: "Why did you say all that on the day when we were on the way home from the ramen shop?" However, since I could not think of a suitable question to ask, I could only continue looking at the view opposite to the railings.

“Seriously, you should really give me a hand!”

Ayaka said while puffing out her cheeks and holding a pair of scissors used for pruning.

“…… I don’t even know what to do, and the flowers have already been watered.”

“Then help me use the ampoule on the trees, one for each plant.”

Ayaka handed the ampoule fertilizer to me. The ampoule was like a small bottle of soy sauce that comes with a sumptuous bento, just that there weren't soy sauce inside, but a yellowish-green liquid.

“Opening an ampoule is quite hard! If the opening is too big, the fertilizer would spill out too quickly; the ones that I open are actually done with professional-level skill.”

Ayaka said triumphantly while using her scissors to cut off a little of the the tip of the ampoule.

“I’ll be in charge of cutting, while you just stick them into the pot.”

“I hate work.”

I mumbled complaints while turning the ampoule over to stick it into the pot.

“You probably don’t hate work, just that you can’t imagine yourself working!”

“Hime-sama, why are you so sharp about these things?” I got flustered and accidentally blurted out honorifics.

“Because my brother has said similar things before. He said that he doesn’t know why we must work if we want to live, so he left school halfway through high school. He didn’t even find a job, and just went here and there without an objective.”

Don’t know why we have to work if we want to live… Indeed, I feel so too. If such a day would come upon me, would I really accept the fact that I need to work in order to continue living? Or would I become one of the guys behind Hanamaru Ramen?

I shuddered, denying the horrendous imagination of my future, and shifted my attention to sticking the ampoules into the pots. It was already past flowering season; many dry leaves and branches could be found lying on the ground. Now is the time to prepare for the next flowering season.

“If I misunderstood, I apologize now to you first. But I think that you and my brother probably have an illness that is worse than hating work.”

“Eh?” So this is an illness?

“For instance, some people hate to eat carrots or celery when they are little, but they eat them as adults! But if I tell you to eat boots or diamonds, that can’t be achieved for eternity. This isn’t a problem of liking or hating: they cannot be eaten even as an adult.”

“Do you mean to say: ‘I cannot imagine myself eating carrots or celery,’ huh?”

“Exactly.”

“Your analogy makes me feel down.”

“Cheer up!” Ayaka patted my back. Oh please, the person who made me feel down was you in the first place!

“The people at ‘Hanamaru’ seems to like Fujishima-kun a lot, probably because you guys give off the same aura! Tetsu-senpai told me take you there again.”

“I had already decided to never go there again.” If I continue to go, I would definitely become one of them sooner or later.

“Please go! Everyone’s waiting for you!”

Which quality in me do they admire? I almost never spoke to others willingly, so my social skills is quite poor!

“You are not as introverted as an armadillidium like you thought!”

“Really?” I didn’t say that I’m like an armadillidium.

“That’s right, and you keep talking to yourself.”

I accidentally stuck the ampoule onto my shoes.

“Do…… Do I often talk to myself?”

“Oh yes, I think that’s why you could communicate with them. Are you okay? You look terrible!”

I probably couldn’t function anymore.

“But if you don’t speak your mind, nobody would understand you!”

“I always forget how to communicate.” I answered randomly. But when I think about it, things are indeed so. Ayaka stared at me for awhile, and sighed.

“Then you should practice! Right?”

<center>*</center>

In the end, I still couldn't refuse her, and could only follow Ayaka to the ramen shop. That day, there weren’t anyone behind "Hanamaru’s" kitchen door. Although it was already evening, there weren’t any customers there.

“So you’re here again, Narumi?”

A surprised expression appeared on Min-san’s face, and she said so while cutting cabbages, glaring at me as well. As I saw before this, she wore a vest while her breast was covered up with a sarashi, her appearance looked as if people could easily take advantage of her.

“Forget it, I thought that you would turn out like that the last time we met.”

“Turn out how?”

“It’s still not too late!” Min-san said just that. What does she mean by not too late?

“If you just practice your communication skills, you probably would not become a NEET.”

After saying that, Ayaka went into the kitchen and put on an apron. I sighed, and sat down on a gas tank. Say whatever you want!

“Oh yeah, do you want to work part time here too, Fujishima-kun?”

Min-san replied immediately: “Narumi looks like he doesn’t know how to do anything, the shop doesn’t need these type of people.”

Discouraged, I took a spoon and stirred my coffee ice cream. Min-san took a bowl and poked her head out of the kitchen.

“That’s right, there’s still something that you can do.”

“What is it?”

“Take this to Alice.”

It was Japanese styled Dan Dan Noodles filled with vegetables, but this time, some noodles could be seen in the sea of vegetables.

“The last time you delivered it, Alice ate them all. Before that, she usually doesn’t finish them, so please help today too. If there’s anything left in the bowl, I’ll beat you up!”

<center>*</center>

“What is this? I ordered Dan Dan Noodles, but without noodles, carrots, mushrooms or meat.”

Alice puffed out her cheeks, eyeing the food in the bowl in displeasure.

That day, the air-conditioning in the detective agency was still very cold, but Alice was just wearing pajamas with teddy bears on it. Won’t she be cold like this?

“But there are obviously noodles, meat and other stuff in it! Please tell me a reason for me to eat this.”

“Min-san is worried that you will have malnutrition.”

“Oh, so there’s a standard for malnutrition? Then please enlighten me about this standard of yours. Let me make this clear, having lived for over ten years on only Dr. Pepper, I will not listen to unreasonable excuses, and don’t try to use a bad excuse to convince me. I will eliminate your arguments completely.”

I sighed. Although I wasn’t sure if Alice was a detective or not, but this little girl really had a lot to say. I’ve already known that I couldn’t convince her, so I quickly used the secret technique that Min-san taught me.

“Min-san said that you can’t have ice cream if you don’t finish them.”

Alice’s froze, and her lips started to tremble.

“…… So-so despicable…… According to Act 222 of the penal code, this can already be count as a threat, and violates the Competition law for refusing to sell as well.”

The teary-eyed Alice waved her hands, listing out one suspicious law after another. As I found it interesting, I watched Alice’s actions silently temporarily.

She probably gave up, huh? Alice picked up her chopsticks while pouting.

“Get me some Dr. Pepper! Three cans of them!”

“Do you want to drink them after eating?”

“I want to eat while drinking! How can carrots and meat be eaten directly?”

Alice, who was holding a dark red can in one hand while eating Dan Dan Noodles teary-eyed, was really worth watching.

“Stop scrutinizing me!”

Alice swiftly finished her first can of Dr. Pepper, picked up the empty can and threw it at me, while I could only hold in my laughter while turning my back on her. But Alice really is a picky eater! Is she really from Earth?

“What do you do when eating nutrition lunch at school? Didn’t you get scolded?”

I suddenly thought about that and asked Alice.

Alice was silent for awhile, and then she answered me:

“I have never been to a school.”

“Eh?”

"Although I know what is a nutrition lunch, I have never entered any educational institutions from birth.”

I didn’t think that Alice had a normal life, but I never would have thought that she haven’t even went to primary school.

“According to Tetsu, the NEETs who haven’t even graduated from primary school are on the highest level of them all. Hmph, I am completely uninterested in these rankings.”

Even so, I have this faint feeling that if Alice went to school like other people do, she would think that a normal life is very uninteresting as well.

“No such thing, I will not look down on normal things.”

I was startled and turned my head over. It looks like I accidentally spoke my inner thoughts again.

“I was really determined to finish primary school and middle school. Even though I hate ignorance, it is completely irrelevant to normalcy. Going to school is an experience that I never had, and that is also my regret. But when people who are the same age as me are going for mandatory education, what do you think I was doing?”

Alice paused to put a piece of noodle in her mouth, soured her face and gulped it down with some Dr. Pepper. It looks like she is asking for my opinion.

“Learning how to be a good wife?”

Alice nearly spat the food out of her mouth.

“…… Your sense of humor is indeed perplexing, it’s no wonder that you are excluded from other people. I pity you very much.”

I’m now pitied, but what Alice said was the truth.

“So what’s the correct answer?”

“Eh? Ah, the answer is as you see——opening windows in the network world, observing the limited and twisted world.”

Alice’s gaze fell on the black machines that covered up the whole wall behind her.

“…… Every day?”

“The ‘every day’ that I meant is worse than you imagine. My life consisted of only saving information into my body, and washing away my helplessness by drinking Dr. Pepper. I kept searching for the meaning of my existence. Do you know this? On Earth, a child dies because of poverty every 3.6 seconds, and actually all of this is ''‘my fault’''.”

“…… Ah?”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. What nonsense is she spouting?

“This is purely a hypothetical problem. Listen, if I have enough resources and ways to produce food, I can save the starving children. I am not worried about poverty, and I am not a holy person. I repeat, this is purely a hypothetical problem. If I have enough power, I can save the children who are gradually dying, so the death of the children is due to the fact that I do not have enough power to save them. Similarly, when a plane is kept hostage by terrorists and hits a building, it is because I do not have the power to stop it; The harm that is caused due to earthquakes or tsunamis is because I do not have the power to predict them.”

Purely a hypothetical problem.

But in that case, wouldn’t that mean everything that happened is Alice’s fault?

“That is how I passed my days, using my time to confirm my helplessness. To be exact, it should be about eight years or so, huh? I want to know what a powerless person like me can do for this world, for instance, to do something for the people who died hopelessly, or I cannot do anything for them at all.”

Using eight years. It's just too stupid.

“Because I felt some limitations, I ran away from home. I sealed myself in a new fortress, and continued to open windows in this world. Hehe, actually I’m now in pursuit by my family, so I have no choice but to open a window in the real world.”

Alice laugh self-deprecatingly, and looked at the countless cubical monitors at the right side of her bed. Although the monitors were small, I could not see what it was. It was not until the curtains of ‘Hanamura’ appeared on the monitor that I realized that it was the view of the surroundings of the building. There were six live videos that were taken from surveillance cameras, including the space between this building and the next, and also their interiors.

“Being pursued…..?

“As the people in my family aren’t stupid, they probably know where I am hiding already. This is just as a precaution for them from using unorthodox methods to look for me! I ran away from home, running away from my helplessness and from the world that is gradually lost because of my powerlessness…… But even so I couldn’t find the answer to that, so……”

I looked at Alice’s face, taken aback.

This girl is serious, although I thought that the things that she said was just a joke.

“So I chose to become a detective.”

“…… Sorry, your words confuse me, I don’t get it.”

“You don’t understand? In this world, there are only two jobs that can help those who are dead or have lost something, a novelist and a detective: A novelist can revive them in their dreams, detectives can dig out the real message from their graves. This is what leaders of a religion, a politician, a burial agency or the firefighters can’t do.”

I could not say anything that moment. Alice lowered her head in loneliness, using her chopsticks to swirl the food in her bowl.

“But sometimes I still feel somewhat queasy. A detective can only take action on things that have already been lost, right? They cannot solve the things that have not happened, or dig a grave that has not been made yet. So for people who might be hurt in the future, I am still powerless.”

After that, Alice became silent and shifted her attention to the food left in her bowl. Ashamed, I turned away from her yet again. The sound of Alice chewing the cabbage sounded sorrowful, for some reason.

After a very long time, Alice finally cleared away the food in the bowl. I silently handed her the vanilla ice cream that I kept hidden for some time, but Alice just placed it on the table, not even touching it, but raised her head to look at my face.

“Eh…… Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing, I just felt inconceivable, to why I would tell you so much.”

I felt mystified too, never have I thought that Alice would tell me so much about herself, making me feel a bit worried about the future of this pajamas clad girl—— even though I am absolutely not qualified to be worried for other people.

“You can just tell me what you think! I don’t mind.”

“Okay.” Although I hesitated, I still spoke my mind honestly, because I know how hurtful a white lie can be. “What you said was too abstract, I have absolutely no idea what you said.”

I thought Alice would throw a second empty can at me, but instead she laughed out loud. Alice, with her long, black hair that has become unruly, said while wiping away the tears at the corner of her eyes:

“What an interesting fellow you are. Just listening to Ayaka’s description of you, I thought that you were a hopeless person! It seems that it is not so.”

“Ayaka…… said something about me to you?”

“Hmph, so you mind? That’s surprising. I thought you have absolutely no interest in other people.”

Alice started to laugh mischievously.

“Of course I don’t mind.” I couldn’t help but retort.

“Really? Then I don’t have any reason to tell you.”

I bit my lower lip, finding that I was starting to get restless. Of course I mind how Ayaka see me. As if she had seen through my thoughts, Alice finally answered.

“…… Ayaka said that you are similar to Toshi.”

“Toshi? Who is that?”

“He’s Ayaka’s brother! He’s also a drop out who always hangs out with Tetsu and the others, but he’s not here lately. Which reminds me, useless, doesn’t speak when he’s in a bad mood, always talking to himself and always giving trouble to Ayaka, these qualities of his are extremely similar to you.”

What Alice said is really too over. When I thought about the situation when Ayaka was describing her brother, a complicated feeling came upon me. So it was because Ayaka was worried of me, who is similar to her brother, which compelled her to invite me into the Gardening Club? I couldn’t help but think that the things that I think about is quite silly.

“You don’t need to worry, you’re not that much alike, and also you’re not a NEET.” Alice said to me, who was silent. “Toshi is not as stubborn as you, at least……”

Alice suddenly stopped talking, her eyes glued to the monitor beside her bed.

“…… Is something the matter?”

“Well, speak of the devil. Here’s Toshi.”

“Eh?”

“Why did he come out from inside?”

Following Alice’s lead, I stared at the monitor, which was showing a skinny silhouette at the third box from the right. The surroundings of the gas tanks that could be seen at the bottom left corner of the screen was filmed from above, where the NEETs like to gather. The silhouette wearing a dark blue hoodie was standing at the gap between the buildings, not even moving an inch.

“Narumi, go catch that fellow for me. He probably just wants to go back like this.”

“Why……”

“Because Ayaka is worried of him. Don’t ask anymore, just hurry!”

<center>*</center>
When I walked down the ladder, the silhouette was walking further into the gap with his back to me. I pushed away the hill of garbage bags while running towards him.

“Hey!”

The silhouette donning a sports jacket shook for a moment, and then turned his head over. He had a thin, pale face, and had a nervous expression behind his spectacles that wandered here and there. It was obvious that he was Ayaka’s brother, as their eyes were identical. Seeing as he was so nervous, I, who originally wanted to talk to him, could not think of anything to say.

“Onii-chan?”

Ayaka’s voice rang in the alley. I turned around, and saw Ayaka, who was wearing an apron, poke half of her body out of the kitchen.

Ayaka’s brother —— Toshi sighed, as if he has given up on something.

“You could just give us a call before you come here.”

“My phone service has been cancelled, because I didn’t pay up.”

Ayaka dragged Toshi out of the gap between the buildings, and stealthily took some cash out of her wallet and handed it to him. Whoa, there’s actually such a useless brother, I could only pretend not to see anything.

Toshi, who went back to the ramen shop, sat on the ladders and said towards the kitchen: “Min-san, give me an ice cream! I’m parched.” Min-san, who walked out of the kitchen, knitted her brows, peered at Toshi and said: “You probably ate some strange stuff again, didn’t’ you? If you eat cold things you’ll throw up.” She returned to the kitchen after saying that.

Ayaka said: “ Onii-chan, wait for me awhile, I’ll make something hot for you to eat.” And she returned to the kitchen after saying that too.

Toshi smacked his lips, and then took out a small plastic bag out of his pockets, broke the pills in the plastic bag into half and crushed eat, then swallowed it down without even a drink of water, and he stared at me after he finished eating the medicine.

“Ayaka told me about you some time ago, so you’re in the same club?”

Toshi finally said to me, and I nodded a bit nervously.

“Oh really, so you’re Narumi.”

I thought to myself, what did Ayaka say to Toshi?

“She’s very dumb, being together with her is hard, isn’t it?”

I shook my head. Toshi looked at the winter sky that was full of clouds and gave a hollow laugh, his laughter felt like someone using a cold metal stick to scratch his back.

After that our conversation came to a stop. Toshi hunched his back, and then stuck his hands into the pockets of his sports jacket. His eyes wandered while starting to shake his legs. I secretly observed Toshi from the side.

Is he really that similar to me?

I dunno, maybe it really is that similar? He was older than me by about one or two years, but his skin looked dry, coarse and pale. No wonder Ayaka would be worried about him.

“Oh? How rare for you to turn up here!”

A voice suddenly sounded behind us. I turned my head around, and saw Tetsu-senpai wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt as usual, Hiro-san was wearing a leather jacket, while Major wore what seemed like clothes for the Siberian garrisons. The three walked into the gap between the buildings together.

“Toshi, what were you doing before this?”

“Nothing, I’m just busy with a lot of things.”

Facing Tetsu-senpai’s questions, Toshi averted his gaze and answered mysteriously.

Tetsu-senpai looked at me and then looked at Toshi, and said:” Narumi’s here again! That way, the three drop outs are all here, NEETs who graduated from middle school are truly the best!”

“I haven’t dropped out yet, don’t group me together with you guys!”

My objections were completely ignored.

“It’s because Tetsu-san say things like this, NEETs-in-waiting would increase! We can’t wait until he drops out, we must figure out a way for him to drop out willingly!” “The one who graduated from high school, you’re too noisy! Wanna have a fight?” Major and Tetsu-senpai started to argue for some reason.

“It’s rare that Toshi is here, since we haven’t gone to the arcade for a long time, lets go together!” Hiro-san suggested. “I learnt a new chain technique, and can use a new killer technique, so I can defeat Toshi now!”

“Eh, I don’t want to, aiyo!”

Toshi was unwilling to go, but his arms were held by Tetsu-senpai, and was forced to stand up.

“Will you come with us, Narumi?”

“To where?” Ayaka flew out of the kitchen in a hurry.

Hiro-san smiled and said: “The arcade.”

“Is Onii-chan going too?”

“Let’s go quickly!”

As if he found the situation hassling, Toshi looked at Ayaka for a moment and then quickly walked to the main streets.

<center>*</center>

**I was brought to the arcade at the shopping centre of the station. The first floor was filled with crane games and sticker making machines, while half of the second floor was occupied by large music game machines, online games and racing games. The older games were all squeezed in a corner.

Toshi was really good in fighting games, Toshi-senpai and Hiro-san challenged him in turn, but still can’t defeat him.

Major dragged Toshi to a Gundam fighting machine and challenged him with brimming confidence, but was also completely defeated. Toshi, who was controlling Sac II, had superhuman-like senses, making people think that he had another pair of eyes behind his back. Toshi did not want to play at the start, but his eyes became somewhat eerie after winning a few matches, and he also made strange noises. Having a six time winning streak while playing with Major, I originally thought that Toshi would again make the annoying laugh again, but his face suddenly turned green, said ‘I’m going to the washroom for awhile’, and left his game that was playing halfway.

“…… That guy, seems like he’s in trouble again.” Tetsu-senpai said worriedly.

“In trouble?”

“He once bought legal medicine from the Internet before. (Note: Legal medicine- drugs. Is not legal at all, and is said to be legal by the sellers who are doing promotions)”

I recalled the pills that Toshi swallowed just now, would that be the legal medicine that Tetsu-senpai said? I started to get a bit worried.

“I’ll go check out Toshi’s condition.”

Toshi walked out of the washroom with a sickly expression on his face, the corner of his lips were wet, and smelled somewhat sour. He probably threw up.

Toshi said: “I’ll go outside to get some fresh air.” I was still worried, so I followed him out.

Under the setting sun, the road was full of cars, Bing Crosby’s Christmas song and the red green lights of the decoration could be seen and heard in the sidewalk that was full of people. Toshi sat down on the stone steps outside the arcade, and drank the Fanta carbonated water that he bought from the automatic vendor. Toshi’s eyes wandered again, making people feel queasy.

“…… Are you okay?”

“They look as if they’re not moving.”

“Eh?”

“The people looks as if they’re not moving. It’s true, I can even see the movement of a dot. Even if I close my eyes, and just listen to the noise, I could win.”

After saying that, he laughed, giving no thought to the people walking around.

“Do you always hang out with Tetsu and the guys?”

Toshi said while having hiccups.

“No…… I only came to know them recently.”

“But you look like you’re very close to them.”

Toshi laughed again. Do I look like I’m very close to them?

“…… It was because I often skip school to go to the arcades, then I gradually became closer to them. They taught me a lot of things, so why don’t you go play fighting games too! I can teach you the next time.”

I felt a bit shy, and dropped my gaze to look at my knees. If I can play like this everyday, even if I’m kicked out of school, even if I become a NEET, then —— it isn’t really a bad thing.

“Toshi, would you still come to ‘Hanamaru’ after this?”

“Eh? Ah….. Hmmm, yes, right, I’ve already……”

Facing my questions, Toshi looked like he was looking far away.

“Forgot, because I didn’t meet them for quite a long time already……”

Toshi suddenly stopped talking, and started to cough violently. After he stopped coughing, his was still breathing heavily, his hunched back rocking up and down. I didn’t know what to do, and can only rub his back covered by the sports jacket.

Toshi used his trembling hands to take out a plastic bag from his pockets, this time he swallowed a pill with a gulp of Fanta. I tried to stop him, but it was too late. The carbonated drink spilled onto Toshi’s jeans, but he doesn’t seem to mind. The people passing by stared at us.

Toshi’s body finally stopped trembling.

“…… Angel Fix.”

“What is that?”

“This! Great name, isn’t it!? It brings you to heaven.”

Toshi pressed the remaining two pills left in the bag to my face. I could see a picture of wings and the letters A.F engraved on the small pink pills.

“Do you want it? I could sell it to you for a discount.”

“No thanks…… That isn’t normal medication, is it?”

“That doesn’t matter. It isn’t a drug, the others are just making a big fuss out of nothing, this is just a legal medication.”

I swallowed my saliva in anguish.

“Why? This type of medicine……”

“You ask me why? You, you……” What Toshi is saying started to get muddled up. “Why do you think humans live in this world?”

I don’t know what Toshi meant by suddenly saying this, so I could only remain silent.

“In a human’s brain, there is a type of thing called the compensation nervous system, which is what we call the A10 nervous system. When we eat tasty stuff, we are praised by other people or have bought something that we want, the system would synthesize neurotransmitters, and change it into signals so that we would have a blissful feeling. In contrast, schizophrenia or depression is usually caused by a decrease in dopamine. In short, no matter how hard we try to pursue happiness, if the brain does not synthesize neurotransmitters properly, we would not feel happy, so the reason we continue to live is to stimulate the A10 nervous system.”

I didn't say anything, but only stared at Toshi’s face. I could see that Toshi was not focused on me anymore, does he know who he is talking to? It was as if he was a different person from the Toshi just now, and has become very garrulous.

“That is why, we could just depend on medication! It’s straightforward, easy and you could feel pleasure straightaway. You don’t need to work hard to earn money, and don’t need to look for girls to marry, we can achieve the same results just depending on the medication. But The process is not the same, no pain and not time-consuming. Medication is perfect. For instance, people like me, kicked out of high school, fired at work, has only graduated from middle school and could not find any work, but I don’t really feel like looking for a job anyway. Only angels would not look down on me, that’s what this is all about.”

Toshi raised the plastic bag containing the pink pills to cover the glaring streetlights in the night. I couldn’t help but take hold of his shoulders and start to shake him.

“I’m alright, it hurts, stop shaking me.”

I’m alright, I’m alright, as if following a beat for a song, Toshi kept repeating this sentence.

“That’s right, I have something to ask you, did you see some yakuzas that are about the same age as us at the ramen shop recently?”

“…… Do you mean Yondaime?”

I told Toshi about Yondaime visiting Alice’s room.

“What the heck, so you even know about Yondaime and Alice! That’s good, I just wanted to know about this thing. Hahaha, you’ve completely become one of them now!”

Toshi strolled towards the sidewalk, laughing maniacally at the night skies. The people passing by knitted their brows and walked far away from us, forming a space shaped like a half circle.

“Does Ayaka get along with the others?”

I nodded.

“Isn’t she somewhat lonesome at school?”

"Although she’s a bit eccentric, Ayaka isn’t the same as me, she can happily talk to our classmates naturally."

“Is that so? Why is that, I wonder? She once refused to go to school when she was in middle school, why is that? When did she become a normal person again? And she even wanted to drag me to school too. I just couldn’t do it, it’s not that I like not going to school. She flew into a temper when I said that I wanted to drop out, really, nagging me should have its limits.”

After listening to this, I, who was sitting down, froze. While laughing boisterously, Toshi walked into the crowd, going towards the main road. Seeing Toshi disappear in the sea of people, I could only stare at the view in a daze.

In the din of the crowd, Toshi’s scary, screeching laughter could still be heard. I hastily stood up, pushing away the crowd and went after him. This is not good. Although I don’t know why, I felt that a problem is going to arise.

The people nearby also seemed to sense what I have felt from the laughter. Toshi walked unsteadily on the road, and a circular space formed beside him, as if he was wearing a large, invisible float. The crowd stopped moving, causing me to be unable to get close to Toshi.

It was like Toshi was enclosed in an inexplicable membrane, springing towards the zebra crossing while the lights were yellow. The yellow light changed to red in a flash, and the drivers started sounding their horn at Toshi. He unsteadily walked to the other side of the zebra crossings while laughing, and I, who was standing at the other side, could not do anything but keep my eyes on him.

The crowd who was waiting for the light to change to green made a small noise, but Toshi’s silhouette vanished in only a moment in the impatient horns and the cars that were passing the junction. As soon as Toshi’s silhouette disappeared, everyone seemed to have forgot about the scary laughter. The people in this city is very tolerant of oddballs, because things will be endless if they care about each and every one of them.

Even so, a man kept staring at Toshi with a smile on his face, until Toshi vanished. The man was very young, and was waiting for the lights to change by my side. He donned a high class Kashmir wool coat, has thin cheeks, and had a pair of frameless glasses on his face with a sharp chin.

Our gazes locked for a moment, and that was enough for me to shiver. I don’t know why, but I could feel that there is something hidden deep in his eyes that makes me feel queasy.

Music rang from the pockets of the man’s coat, it was a steady sound of a plucking guitar. He took out his phone and answered it: “Hello…… Yes, I’ve found Shinozaki, I’ll go back as soon as I pick him up. Hmm? Keep the distillation locked up first, and wait for me to go back.. Continue to put them in separate packs, you know that our stocks aren’t enough, don’t you? That’s right, yeah……”

The voice that could never be forgotten even though it is only heard once, gave people an unpleasant feeling like thorns. The man started to walk while talking on the phone, while I was pushed by the people at the back, and nearly fell down on the streets.I hurriedly caught hold of the railings at the side of the sidewalk. The traffic light changed to green when I didn’t notice, so the crowd rushed out to the zebra crossings.

But I could not move. The man’s words left an unforgettable impression on me, causing my legs to tremble, unable to move even one step.

The man indeed said: “Shinozaki.” Does he know Toshi? But who on Earth is he?

A bad premonition flashed across my mind.

“Hey! Where’s Toshi? Where has he gone?”

A voice spoke to me, who was standing at the end of the street, not knowing what to do. Turning my head to the voice, Tetsu-senpai, Hiro-san and Major were all there.

“…… I don’t know where he ran off to.”

I finally said. After telling them about Toshi’s condition, a dumbfounded expression appeared on Tetsu-senpai’s face, and he scratched his head.

“Don’t go crazy on the streets after taking drugs, that idiot……”

Major said: “Should we go find him?”

Hiro-san shook his phone: “But I can’t get to his phone!”

Almost at the same time, the three looked at the street that was full of people. It was impossible to look for anyone on this street. Even so, Tetsu-senpai lightly patted my head.

“Narumi, you go back to ‘Hanamaru’ first and deal with Ayaka.”

“B- But……”

“Don’t make her feel too worried. We’ll go look for Toshi.”

I didn’t even have enough time to answer him, then the three vanished in the crowd, looking for Toshi.

<center>*</center>
After returning to the ramen shop, I found that the shop was pitch dark, and there were not even one customer, while Ayaka could not be seen anywhere as well. Min-san was stirring the butter in a large bowl.

“I told Ayaka, since there’s no customers today, she could go home first. But she said that Toshi might come back, so she’s waiting upstairs.”

“Upstairs as in Alice’s agency?”

“Yeah.”

Ayaka sat on the mattress of the agency, and she let Alice sit on her thighs, combing Alice’s long hair.

“Is Onii-chan gone already? Where is he?”

“Ayaka, it hurts, you’ve pulled my hair.” Alice moved her neck in protest.

“Ah, so sorry.”

Ayaka wasn’t really tall, but in comparison you could see that Alice was very petite, almost like a real doll.

“Did Onii-chan say where he lives right now?”

“…… I’m not really sure.”

I couldn’t answer her properly. Getting delirious after taking drugs, and then disappearing, it was really hard to tell people about this kind of stuff.

“What a headache, he should at least tell me how to contact him!”

But it seemed like Toshi found Ayaka troublesome. Is that what he really thought? Or is it some nonsense that he said after taking drugs?

“Ayaka, just don’t care about that specky, ignorant guy who suddenly disappeared. Blood relation is the first stupid cornerstone of belief that humans should break.”

“Alice, don’t turn around!”

“(sobs)”
Alice wanted to turn her head around to face Ayaka, but Ayaka held Alice’s head, so she could not move her head, causing Alice to look terrible.

“And if you would also not care about my hair, I would be very happy.”

“That wouldn’t do! You have such beautiful, luscious long hair, if you don’t comb it properly, it would become unruly very soon. The shampoo and conditioners that I gave you, did you use them?”

“Really, there should be a limit to being a busybody!

Alice made a disgruntled noise, but still sat on Ayaka’s thighs. There is a type of person in this world that are busybodies, and could not leave other people alone. Ayaka was one of them. That would probably be it.

When I was about to walk out of the agency, Ayaka said that she wanted to go home too.

While walking down the ladder, the ringtone of a phone rang from Ayaka’s bag.

“…… Hello?”

“Hello, Ayaka? It’s me……”

Toshi, who was on the phone was very loud, so loud that even I can hear him. The effects of the drug is probably still there, his voice sounded inexplicably cheerful.

“Onii-chan?”

“This is Hakamizaka-san’s phone, so I can’t talk to you so long. I’m at his place right now, so help me to tell mother.”

“Ah, but Onii-chan……”

He hung up suddenly, just like when he called just now. Ayaka silently looked at her phone, and then looked at me, showing me a troubled smile. I turned my head away.

“Was it Toshi?”

“Yeah. It seems like he’s at Hakamizaka’s.”

Hakamizaka?

“Yeah—— I’ve only seen him two or three times, so we’re not that close. He’s probably a university student. He’s very knowledgeable about poppy flowers, so probably he’ll become a scholar, huh?”

“So do you know where they are right now?”

“No, I don’t know and the phone number was private too…… I couldn’t call him again. Onii-chan is too over.”

Ayaka sadly knitted her brows, placing her phone back into her bag.

“He’s like this everytime, always disappearing without saying a thing.”

I thought to myself: "That’s probably because he thinks that you’re troublesome." Ayaka looked at me and cocked her head.

“What did you say just now?”

I faked a ‘ididn’tsayanything’ expression. I’ve probably let slip my inner thoughts again.

“…… Onii-chan probably said something to you, didn’t he? I know that you’re hiding something from me.”

I silently lowered my head.

“Really, why won’t you tell me?”

I swallowed, and raised my head.

“…… I’ve heard that you refused to go to school when you were in middle school.”

Why did I ask this question? Ayaka’s expression froze, and an anxious, unnatural smile appeared on her face, showing that she wanted to hide something.

“A- About me, huh? Eh, um, that is……”

Toshi can’t be helped now, but if it was me——

“Do you think that I could still be saved?”

“…… What do you mean by that?”

I turned my back to Ayaka and walked quickly down the ladder. Even I do not know what I was talking about, why would I say such a thing?

“Fujishima-kun!”

I ignored Ayaka’s shouts and ran out of the building. On the way home, Ayaka and Toshi’s words muddled together, swirling in my mind.

<center>*</center>

The next day, I planned to skip the fifth and sixth period of Chemistry and go home straightaway. That was because I wasn’t ready to speak to Ayaka alone.

But when break time started, the guys nearby started to come and chat with me, causing me to lose my chance from escaping the classroom.

“Fujishima, I saw you at the arcade yesterday. You were with Ichinomiya-senpai, aren’t you?”

“Erm, hmm?”

Lately, my classmates kept chatting with me, but I’m still not used to it. To be exact, I haven’t remembered their names yet, so I feel as if I did something wrong when I talk to them. But I still answered them:

“Are you talking about Tetsu-senpai, Right? Do you guys know him?”*****

“Of course, Ichinomiya-senpai is extremely famous, I’ve heard that some boxing centers tried to recruit him for their team.”

“That’s right, he’s a legendary person. Didn’t he do a lot of great things before this? I’ve heard that the reason that the P.E teacher’s restroom is turned into a storeroom was that Ichinomiya-senpai ruined it.”

“It was also said that the back door is kept closed because Ichinomiya-senpai broke it, so it’s become crooked and couldn’t be opened.”

“The Principal is bald because of Ichinomiya-senpai.”

Te- Tetsu-senpai is that famous?

“How did you get to know Ichinomiya-senpai, Fujishima?”

That is because……

“Is it because Ichinomiya-senpai always goes to the place where Ayaka is working part time? Isn’t that right?”

The girls joined the conversation too.

“It’s a ramen shop, right? I went there once.” “The shopkeeper’s very pretty.” “Really? I want to go next time.” “Is it tasty?” “Their ice cream is the best.” “Why is it that the ice cream is tasty? Isn’t it a ramen shop?”

But Ayaka as the person that they were talking about did not say anything, or join the conversation. Our classmates ignored Ayaka and I, chatting away happily. Just when we were starting to get rowdy, the bell marking the fifth period rang, and the Chemistry teacher walked into the classroom.

That caused me to be unable to skip the class, and so I was forced to stay until school ends. Usually, Ayaka would immediately drag me to the Gardening Club, but today she just looked at me for a moment, and walked out of the classroom while putting on her armband.

“Did you guys have a fight?”

The guy who sat in front of me asked me casually, and I shook my head. The focus of my classmates were on me. If I were to go home just like that, it seems like the atmosphere would get worse. I was forced to leave my bag in the room and went to look for Ayaka in the courtyard.

Ayaka was holding a spade while squatting at the side of the garden. I sat on the bricks beside the garden, watching the plants that we tended, as I did not know what to say.

The one who spoke first was Ayaka.

“You still don’t remember the names of our classmates, right?”

“…… How did you know?”

“I sensed it from the way that you spoke.”

But is there a problem with that?

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember their names, it’s just that you seem very guarded when talking to the others, like you’re talking at two sides of a brick wall. You were like that yesterday too……”

Ayaka still minded what had happened yesterday…… Actually I mind it too. The words that Toshi have said is still lingering in my ears.

“…… Why do you butt in my business so much? Are those people who can’t fit in school life such an eyesore?”

After I said that, I felt that I’ve been too harsh. From yesterday, I had been trying to control my temper. Ayaka looked dumbfounded, with her jaw open. After about three seconds, she suddenly blushed.

“Why are you asking such a thing?”

She actually asked me why.

“I can only speak to the others through a wall, does that bother anyone?”

“…… It bothers me!”

Ayaka answered with her face red.

“…… You’ve bothered me!”

Ayaka’s tone became harsh, and she repeated it again. With my mouth half-open, I could only stare at her lips in a daze. What is she talking about? What does she man by that?

“You don’t need to know the others in class better, but can’t you lower your guard when talking to me? It makes me feel very lonely.”

“…… Why?”

“Why? You asked me why? Don’t you know?”

Ayaka stood up and said loudly. Quite a few students in the courtyard shifted their gaze to us.

“I…… Eh? Ah, wh- why?” My muddled thoughts made me seem as if I’m raving. I stood up.

“…… I really don’t know!”

“Forget it, never mind if you don’t know.”

Ayaka, whose face was dyed a sunset red, bit her lips and shook her head. I froze, and Ayaka took her bag that was on the bench beside the garden, turned around and ran away.

“…… Wait!”

I don’t know why I wanted to catch hold of Ayaka, but she roughly flung away my hand.

Bzzzzzzt.

The sound of something tearing rang out loud. My whole body suddenly became cold.

A yellow object fell onto the soil.

The armband of the Gardening Committee have become a torn, yellow piece of cloth.

“Ah……”

Ayaka turned around, used her hands to cover her mouth, and lowered her head to look at the armband for awhile. When I picked it up to say something, Ayaka hurriedly turned around and ran away, disappearing out of the school gate in a flash.

I was left behind. I squatted down and went into a daze in the winter sun, thinking repeatedly about the things that Ayaka have just said. I thought for many times, but I still couldn’t understand the reason for Ayaka’s tears, and have no idea what to do now.

I stood there for awhile, and resignedly picked up the spade and the armband. I originally thought that Ayaka might come back immediately, but I as a member of the Gardening Club should still do my job. But I only know how to water and weed, after I finished doing them, it was as if there was a hole in my heart.

Until the sun have set, Ayaka still haven’t come back.

I walked into the computer lab that I didn’t enter for a long time, tried to sit in the seat by the windows, but I couldn’t find the energy to turn on the computer. So the computer lab that has only one person is actually so quiet.

I placed the torn armband on the table. Why? Why did Ayaka get angry? I got more and more angry thinking about it. She didn’t even explain properly but started to cry, it gave me a headache too. I don’t even know if it’s my fault. No, it is probably my fault. If I cannot continue to be silent, what should I do?

Then I thought of something.

Doesn’t this mean that I’ve returned to the days when I’m alone?

But the silence in the room was suffocating. I couldn’t stand it, stuffed the armband back into my pocket and walked out of the computer laboratory.

<center>*</center>

When I think about it, it’s the first time that I went to the station by myself. Around the station were a lot of people waiting to cross the road, sometimes the crowd rushed out as if a gate suddenly opened.

On the road, there was an orchestra of the sound of exhausts, footsteps of hundreds of people, people selling phones and music of Christmas songs. Walking in the crowd, my back and my shoulders kept getting pushed, so I could only continue to walk unsteadily. Suddenly I had an illusion that I was alone at a barren place in the winter.

I shook my head, crossed the zebra crossings and went to the arcade at the street center.

I remember using a few coins to play, but didn’t really remember what game I’ve played. After I used up all the coins, I sat on the chair with my back to the wall and stared at the end screen of the game.

Before I met Ayaka, how did I pass my time alone? I actually could not remember it, it’s really unbelievable. I don’t know how to apologize to Ayaka if I went to the ramen shop and met her there, so I could only stay in the arcade, depressed. Because Ayaka doesn’t even want to speak to me.

That was how I tiredly leaned against the wall, and did not leave until the arcade played the ‘Goodnight Song’.

<center>*</center>

It was already past midnight, the streets that were further away from the station were already in darkness. I walked near Hanamaru Ramen shop and peered inside the shop from between the buildings. The curtains were already taken down, and a dim light could be seen faintly in the dark kitchen. There weren’t anyone else except Min-san, as it was already time for the shop to close.

What am I doing?

I squatted beside the air-conditioner to hide myself. Everything has already become messed up. I really feel like digging a hole to hide in it. When I sat down, the cold air passed through my thin coat. Maybe I should just sleep here? I might be able to freeze to death like this.

“Narumi, what are you doing here?”

Suddenly I heard a voice from above me. Shocked, I stood up and banged my head on the exhaust pipe. The pain made me see stars.

“…… It hurts.”

“Are you an idiot……”

A surprised expression appeared on Min-san’s face.

“How……” How did you know that I was here?

“Alice called me to say that someone was loitering over here. Why did you come? Ayaka has already gone home!”

“Ah……”

It’s the surveillance cameras. How annoying, wasting these high-tech machines on this useless place. I could not face Min-san, but felt her gaze on me.

I couldn’t say anything for a moment.

Finally, I heard her sigh.

“Do you want to enter the shop? There are some new dishes for the winter.”

I raised my head. Min-san has even took off her vest, wearing an apron on the lower half of her body, while only a sarashi was bound to the upper part of her body.

Min-san took hold of my arms and dragged me into the shop. I just came here yesterday, but now I still feel that the smell in Hanamaru Ramen Shop is very nostalgic. The large pot that was used to cook soup in the kitchen was still being heated up, with white fumes wafting out of it. Even if it’s winter, the soup that is prepared for a long time would still be steaming hot, wouldn’t it? It’s just that the way that Min-san was dressed: showing her stomach, was too hot for a teenager like me. I could only look away from her.

[[Image:Kamisama no memocho vol01 096.jpg|thumb|Min-san took two paper cups and sat down beside me.]]
Min-san took two paper cups and sat down beside me. Hello? You’re just wearing a sarashi for your upper body! Why don’t you at least wear a shirt? I tried very hard not to look at her and focused my attention on the ice cream. The ice cream this time was sprinkled with cocoa powder. Eating just a spoonful of it, I could taste the sweet flavor of cheese and the fragrance of orange wine, this is a flavor that even I know.

“…… Tiramisu?”

“That’s right, sometimes I would try to make something mainstream too. Does it taste good?”

I nodded. Compared to the ramen here, saying that the ice cream is good isn’t really just being courteous. I remember that tiramisu in Italian meant ‘give me a pull’, is my depressed feeling that clearly shown on my face? I fell into deep thought, and accidentally let my tongue slip.

“You can make such delicious ice cream, then why did you open a ramen shop?”

Whoops!

I cautiously took a peek at Min-san’s expression, but could only see a melancholic expression on her face.

“This shop was originally my dad’s.” Her expression suddenly returned to normal and said: “I have wanted to open an ice cream shop, so I became an apprentice at an ice cream shop. But one day my dad suddenly disappeared without a trace, so I came back to inherit the shop.

“So that’s it……” I don’t know what to say, and could only lower my head in apology. “I’m sorry, asking these strange questions.”

“You don’t need to be sorry.” Min-san said while smiling.

“Haven’t you ever thought of remodeling the shop into an ice cream shop?”

“Yeah, I did. But I like this shop, the customers and the atmosphere here. These are only present because of the ramen shop. If I remodeled the shop, these will disappear, so I chose to continue.”

Min-san looked around the dark shop. There were menus that were splattered with drops of oil, autographs of artists(probably) stuck onto the wall, a cracked counter, and an old but brightly polished kitchen ceiling and wall.

“Those who doesn’t have a job claimed the back of the ramen shop as their territory, it’s because they don’t have any other places to go. I don’t mind that!”

While saying that, Min-san patted her apron that had ‘Hanamaru’ printed on it. This is the symbol of the shop and the shop is what Min-san got for giving up on her dream of selling ice cream.

“Is…… that so?”

I again thought of meaningless stuff, and accidentally blurted out.

“But your father might be missing because he hated the ramen shop and may not have wanted you to inherit the ramen shop.”

“I know.”

Min-san slapped my shoulders roughly while laughing loudly.

“I don’t care what other people think of, I just do it because I feel like doing it, and that’s enough. People live by forcing others to accept other people to accept their own way of living.”

I blankly stared at Min-san’s face.

“We don’t even know what they’re thinking about anyways, so we can only assume that they are the same as us!”

…… Ah, so that’s how it is.

I finally understood the reason for Ayaka’s anger.

She was the same as me. I , too, was depressed and angry because Ayaka went away without saying a thing.

Because the only person by my side was Ayaka.

Ayaka was the only person who talked to me.

Why did I find out about such a simple matter only now? Why now?

After a long silence, I suddenly found that my forehead was on Min-san’s bare shoulders, then I hastily backed away.

“Ah, err…… So- sorry.”

Min-san laughed, patted my head gently and showed a ‘it’s all right, don’t you mind’ kind of smile.

Things are probably alright now, right? Although I still don’t know what to do. Probably because I was now relieved, my stomach started to grumble. Min-san did not miss that.

“There’s a ramen with a new flavor, do you want to try it?”

“Err….. Erm…..” I hesitated for awhile. It seemed that Min-san has noticed something, then she squinted while coming close to me.

“……Hmmm, I feel that you often tell people of your true feelings, so I have something to ask you.”

“Ah?” Do I look like this kind of person? Do I talk to myself so frequently?

“…… How is my ramen? Are they good?”

Min-san’s expression became very sincere. Her hands held both of my hands, wet eyes looking at me coquettishly, making me unable to keep silent.

“Err……”

“You can just tell me the truth, I won’t hit you.”

“Sometimes the soup just feels a tiny bit sweet……”

“You can just tell me honestly, is it good or is it bad?”

“If you really want me to say, then of course it’s bad. Ouch! That hurts, didn’t you say you won’t hit me?”

“Shut up, idiot!”

I was kicked out of the shop.

“I WILL make a soup that will make you say that it is tasty and touch you to tears, remember that!”

Like a child screaming at me, Min-san closed the grille door. I was the only person at the bottom of this building.

Will things turn out alright even now? How should I apologize? ‘It’s simple…..” Ayaka’s words replayed in my mind. ‘Shout when you’re angry like the others, and laugh when you’re happy like the others, speak your mind when you want something, you could do it too.’

If things were that simple, I wouldn’t be here right now. Then what on Earth could I do? I thought fuzzily while walking towards the cold, night streets.

<center>*</center>

I skipped classes for two days. It was not because I was sick or hurt. Although I, myself, thought that this is stupid, I still felt: I can’t face Ayaka before I’m mentally prepared.

On Friday, I went to school after it had ended. I haven’t gone to the rooftop after school for quite some time now, but Ayaka was nowhere to be seen. Crossing over the railings and looking at the campus, I could not see Ayaka at the garden.

I thought—— maybe it’s already too late, maybe I have already lost everything, but is still comically turning around in circles, trying to make amends. That couldn’t be helped, because I’m an idiot.

After pondering for a while, I thought of a place that I haven’t searched for yet.

The greenhouse was at the interior of the school, near to the walls surrounding the school. At the other side of the wall is a graveyard, so not many people goes there. Entering the Gardening Club for a month or so, this is still the first time that I’ve come to the greenhouse. As taking care of greenhouse plants requires special skills, Ayaka have always handled them alone.

Through the foggy glass, I could only faintly see the greenery inside, its interior should be about as big as a classroom.

When I was about to extend my hands to the high class rustless handle, the door opened from the inside.

“…… Fujishima-kun?”

Suddenly I came face to face with Ayaka, who looked shocked after giving out a scream. I was shocked too, and could not immediately accept the fact that Ayaka suddenly appeared before my eyes.

“I- I just sprayed some herbicide inside, so you can’t go close to it!”

Ayaka regained her cool and pushed me out of the greenhouse by the chest.

“Why did you come here?”

Ayaka sounded as if she was still angry.

“…… Well, I’m also a part of the Gardening Club.”

“You don’t need to force yourself again. It’s all my fault, dragging you into the Gardening Club against your will. Let’s just be a ghost member in each other’s clubs.”

Ayaka said angrily, which was out of character for her.

“……That wouldn’t do.”

I said with a voice that got smaller and smaller. Maybe Ayaka would never forgive me ever again. Thinking of this, my whole body shivered.

“Why? Aren’t you…….”

“…… If things go on like this, won’t the things that we’ve done painstakingly go to waste?”

“—— Eh?”

I took out a plastic bag from my pocket, took out one of them and stuffed it into her hands. She opened her hands and raised it to eye level. It was a piece of black cloth —— an armband, and on it was printed a round, orange shape.

Ayaka stared at the armband for awhile, and raised her head.

“…… Pervert, Repelling, Machine? (Note: Pervert, repel, and machine in Japanese are ‘Chikan’, ‘Genkitai’, and ‘Machine’ respectively. Their initials CGM is the same as the badge)”

“I think it’s better if you return that to me!”

“Whoa, I’m just joking, sorry.”

“You read it from the middle letter —— M High School Gardening Club.

“…… It means us, right?”

[[Image:Kamisama no memocho vol01 104.jpg|thumb|The expression on Ayaka’s face went through complicated changes, looking as if she’s both crying and laughing.]]
I shifted my gaze and nodded. The expression on Ayaka’s face went through complicated changes, looking as if she’s both crying and laughing.

“How did you make this? It wouldn’t be because you wanted to make this that you took two days off, would it?”

“Yeah, I designed it using a computer, and made it at a shop.”

Ayaka looked relieved. She carefully wore the armband and then showed it to me, her stiff expression is gradually gone too.

Ayaka looked at the plastic bag in my bag and said: “Did you make one for yourself, too?”

“Yeah, you need to order at least ten if you want to make it there.”

I thought up a lot of things as an apology, but my mind was blank right now.

“I never thought that you were that bad at negotiating with other people.”

Ayaka laughed delightedly, while I was completely embarrassed, and could only lower my head.

“But you made the armband for me, I’m really happy.”

She said to me. I raised my head, clumsily returned her smile and said with my voice that sounded like it was going to vanish at any moment: “Uh, I’m sorry……” That was the best that I could do at that moment.

“Hey, let’s make a bigger one! Like a flage or something. We can use it during the school festival for the club relay race.”

Who would take part, then? There’s only two people in the club.

“That’s right, we can make a webpage! We can let this logo take the stage on the website. Do you know how to do these things?”

What can you put on the website? But I did not have enough time to answer before Ayaka continued: “Then I’ll go borrow the keys to the rooftop!” and then ran away.

While looking at her silhouette, I thought to myself: it’s okay if things are like this.

I might be clumsy, but, it would be enough if I do the things that I know how to do bit by bit.

<center>*</center>

But all of this is too late. At a place that I do not know of, my small world is quietly but truly corroded by drugs. At the corner of the evening paper that night, there was a report of the death of a young man who was sent to the hospital because of overdose of medication.

The ‘Angel Fix’ incident made a mess of my sixteen year old life in that winter, and the first person who died in that incident was that person.

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| Back to [[Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kamisama no Memochou|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
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</noinclude>

Kore wa Zombie desu ka?:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-04-21T09:56:01Z

Sleepy920:

==Chapter 1 – "What I like is the Tsubamegaeshi secret sword technique. My special skill is the Tsubamegaeshi secret sword technique. My hobby is the Tsubamegaeshi secret sword technique."==



I came to this dirty world in order to exterminate Megalos, but my magical powers have been taken away by that sketchy guy. The situation can't be any worse. Though I wanted to send him flying, I restrained myself to do so, and thus decided to only kick him to make him become a star. However, I didn't think that a B-level Megalo bear would be beaten up by him in just one strike......could it be that he's the rumoured devilish baron?! It...it's possible.

When I opened up my eyes, math class had already ended. The next class has started without me noticing. Also, this class is almost finished too...

I glanced on my left. The curtains of the window were swinging from the wind. Probably because of this torrid weather, the window was opened. Though I don't know who did it, nice curtains. As I was thinking about this, the bell rang to mark the end of the class.

Next is—eh, is it already noon? Bento, bento.

What I took out was a hand-made bento. The one who made this bento – I don't need to hide that – is actually Haruna-chan. Yes, it is the genius-bishoujo-devilish-baron.

"I have a lot of confidence in my omelettes!" she said, while preparing the food with a sense of triumph.

Hehe. I put on the greatest zombie smile and lifted the bento's cover. Instantly, my already dead facial muscles spasmed......

The end has already been decided. I've got that premonition since the beginning.

"Please forgive me."

I muttered while bracing my myself. If it's like this, rice would be better. Pure white rice would be better.

In my bento box, there was only a yellow colour.

'''"I have a lot of confidence in my omelettes!"'''

I only know that. However, you are overconfident. It's only omelettes.

What is this green plastic separation made for? At the very least, it wasn't to make something like a ranch fence around the omelettes.

"Aikawa. It's really surprising to see you with a normal bento......"

Over there, a man appeared. His name is Orito. He has tea-coloured spiky hair and wears glasses, and was just an annoying classmate that you see everywhere.

His height and weight is just like any other normal person, his face is also ordinary, and he's not someone with any special trait. He probably understood the latter, and thus decided to have a trademark of his own—that spiky hair. This ill-fated relationship started since daycare, and he's a bothersome guy who always hangs around me.

"Waa......"

Orito saw my bento and was surprised.

Please, don't look at me with that compassionate expression in your eyes that you use to look at dead animals.

"Didn't you take that joke too far? It's so far that I can't even laugh at it."

Shaking his head, Orito dragged the chair beside me, and opened the very ordinary bento on my desk.

"I, simply really like omelettes."

While explaining that, I prepare myself to take a bite—but I didn't have chopsticks.

Hey, hey, why would you commit such a low-level mistake, devilish baron. I'm lucky to have here a pair of one-use chopsticks from the supermarket.

"Hn? What is it?"

"Since when it started? Aikawa never said such things as he'd eat at his seat."

That's because you'd still eat beside me no matter how many times I said that, so I've given up.

"Then, you can go eat at your seat. I want to eat alone. Please don't come."

"Well, what's wrong with that."

For some reason he showed a satisfied smile. Aaah, he's really a troublesome guy.

In the back of the classroom, I took out a pair of chopsticks from the closets that no one locked, and started my battle with the yellow demon in front of my eyes.

How scary. Even though after I've become a zombie I've battled with many types of creatures, compared to them, that's really scary. I get the feeling that something will happen for sure. I plunged my chopsticks into it. I took a deep breath, grabbed a piece and swallowed it in one shot.

"Hmm!"

I unconsciously let out a weird voice.

Delicious! How can it be so delicious!? It's so good as if the cosmos were in my mouth. Is that person a premium cooking chef? I didn't even know that something that simple could touch me to that point.

But—Ah.

I don't need the amount to fill a bento. Plus, since it's so good I long for rice even more. Even tears were almost coming out of my eyes, and for many reasons. The eyes of a zombie can still shed tears.

—That is why I proposed something.

"Hey, Orito. I now hold some really amazing omelettes. Trade with me, even if it's just a bit, for that Japanese spirit."

"Ha? You should have said that you wanted some rice from the beginning. Don't put up that kind of dumb—"

Though he got angry there, he still traded with me.

Taking that omelette which feels like a silver river inside of his mouth, Orito opened his eyes wide.

"What is this!" And he stood up, facing me.

"Hey! Aikawa's omelettes are too amazing! It seems that you can trade it now for rice."

Hey, hey. Orito-kun. Don't do such a rash thing. Zombies are beings who really love peaceful lives.

After hearing this, some people walked towards us. Alas, it can't be helped. The quantity of omelettes is stupidly great. It's not as if I can't share with you guys.

Though I thought of this at the beginning, there was a hot spectacular event of "Aikawa's ultimate omelettes", and before I noticed it, the yellow-coloured bento has become full of rice. And it was filled with every kind of taste.

It's true that I've said just before that '''"Compared to that, pure white rice is better"''', but it's really sad.

I didn't think that the greatest simple thing in this century would be traded into rice.

However, I didn't say "Why did it turn out like this".

Seeing the schoolgirls put on a smiling face and saying "Delicious, delicious", how can I say such a thing?

Even if it was a game or a movie, occasionally zombies can read the atmosphere, right?

—That is the same for me.

The afternoon classes calmly ended.

......Though I've slept through them.

After noon, that sun was quite foul. I thought that I'd die, really. Now I'll wait until the sun entirely falls before going back home.

I turned my gaze to the schoolyard under the sunset. The track and field team was running around on the orange field like kids playing in a park. What is there to be happy with? Everyone's vibrant smiles seem to be overflowing. Looking at the girls on the field, I hold an immense respect for the one who invented bloomers.

Now, there was basically no student in the classroom. Every time, it's just me and Orito who leave last. The ordinary students who are living their life of youth, left the classroom while smiling.

Orito is also getting ready to go home, placing the bag on his back, he yawned deeply.

"Aikawa. Speaking of which, you seem to go home very late. What are you doing at school?"

"Sleeping."

"You still plan to sleep even after sleeping that much?"

Orito patted my back while laughing. Though that is called sleep, it's rather falling from a battle with the sun......they're all the same.

"My house is nearby, so it's alright. There are many murder cases in these times, right? Shouldn't you be careful?"

So YOU are worried about me. Hehe, I laughed a bit with my nose. There are indeed some frequent dismembering murder cases in the past few days. It is probably done by the same person.

Plus, I was also killed by him. Right now, I'm the victim.

"Though I want to meet the murderer."

"Oh right, I almost forgot. Talking about meeting someone, Aikawa, my little sister's friend is also a victim in the serial murder case. She's called Kyoko-chan. Do you know her?"

Eh—Eh? There's a survivor? Hey, hey. She's a survivor from the serial murder case? Well, I should also be counted as one too.

"I don't know her name. What kind of kid is she?"

"As for the age, she's 14, just like my little sister. She's slightly taller than the average middle schooler, but she has the face of a child. Her chest is very big. She's many times cuter than my little sister.

"I don't know her. That, does Kyoko-chan want to see me for something?"

"Hehe, Aikawa doesn't know, but Kyoko-chan knows about you. That means that it's love at first sight."

Hehe. Exposing a smile like an idiot. The pair of eyes behind those glasses are the ones of a pervert.

"Isn't it way too one-sided if you only rely on that point." 

"I don't even know how many things Kyoko-chan asked about you......she's in love with you for sure! She's a middle school girl who lost both of her parents, and want to meet with the man she loves. Don't you understand~ can you go meet her at least once, please?"

How can there be anyone as bothersome as that guy. To join both of his hands while showing that kind of smile makes me really want to send you flying twenty meters away. No, it actually doesn't matter. I need clues. Clues about the murder cases are there.

"It's perfectly okay. I also hold some interest in this kid."

"......Aikawa......you are, as I thought, a lolicon."

"I'm not one for sure. I don't have any interest towards her in a sexual way. Rather, why don't you make a move?"

"Hey, Aikawa, don't put me in the same category as you. I, on the other hand, prefer mature women."

"How should I tell you that even though I'm in the flat-chested faction, I'm not a lolicon."

"I got it. I got it. Don't be so serious about it. Lolicon."

"Fine. Now, tell me the thing you love the most in the world—I'll transform it to the best that I can."

"In short, you can even meet her today if you want to."

"I got it. I'll meet her tomorrow at dusk."

"Speaking of which, why didn't I come to your house the past few days, Aikawa? Even though I always came there in the past."

I don't remember calling you over even once......hey, hey, don't think of any strange things.

"It has been long since I've come, can I go visit it today?"

You see. I know that it'd be like this—it'd be a headache. If you'd came here now, it'd be a headache. NO, not just now, but it'd always be a headache from now on.

"It's not possible. That......there are many important things I have to do. It's not easy to live by yourself, I'm really busy."

Is there something wrong? If you ask that question then I won't be able to say something back.

"Then it can't be helped......"

Orito looked through the window with a lonely expression. The happy voices of the sweating highschoolers in their club activities came from outside.

"I'm sorry. Right, how about going bowling next time? There's no way that you can beat me now."

Because I'm a zombie? I said that kind of voice out in my head.

"Fine! It has been long since we've place a comic book as wager! Let's go tomorrow!"

Rotating his wrist, Orito started to laugh in the corner of his mouth. That guy really loves bowling.

Just like this, we've casually chattered like this for a bit, and Orito left the classroom first. After hearing the footsteps completely disappear, I gazed again throughout the window.

The sky, dyed by the color of dusk......I didn't continue on what I was about to say. I've already encountered that kind of situation, I guess.

Haa, what good weather. Go eat shit. Sun, quickly fall and go eat shit.

Suddenly, I felt that the lights flashed for an instance, and it was followed by an ear-piercing noise due to the windows which broke, and it seemed that something entered the classroom. You'd understand if you look at it closely. It was a lobster. Wearing the school uniform, and slightly taller than an average person—WOW, THAT GUY'S REALLY BIG!

"I felt the magical energy of a masou shoujo and thus came here to see......"

The lobster shoved down the shards of the broken windows with his pliers, and furtively looked around in the classroom. Then, he fixed his cute little eyes at me.

"Masou—Shoujo......?"

It seemed that he inclined his head due to his astonishment. He's really full of human smell.

"Who are you? There are quite a few male masou-shoujos. Plus, your magical energy is really low. You, are you really a masou-shoujo?"

"Though I want to deny this, I guess I still count as a masou-shoujo."

"......Anyway, there are many responses in this area. I'm looking forward to that."

How is that called? The term use for these guys.

"Hn? There's one that is moving towards here......good timing. I can kill two masou-shoujos.

Oh, yeah, it's "megalo". The term used for these guys. I really remembered it.

At this time, beside the slowly drifting curtains, she appeared.

She was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of trousers.  With a chainsaw in her hand, Haruna appeared in the opened windows.

With the track court tainted by dusk as background, with her shirt and ahoge swaying in the wind. How magical and comical was her posture.

"Ayumu! What the heck are you doing!? Beat the megalo until it pisses his pants in terror!"

I don't know what would be the state where he "pisses his pants in terror". Rather why did Haruna enter the scene like this?

"Haha! Another wrong guess! I can only wait for the ones left...after I kill you two."

The lobster bastard clicked his pliers, emitted a lively laugh. You're Baltan or what? Ah, the shape of the pliers is different. (T/N: Baltan from Ultraman. Google it if you don't know who he is.)

"Ayumu, finish him quickly! Wait, hey! Don't look here!"

Just like what the clearly angry Haruna asked, I faced the lobster standing on a chair. It seems that the reason why Haruna is blushing is because she feels incredibly embarrassed at the fact that her panties have been seen. If it's like that, then why did you go outside in that outfit? You fellow. 

"Rather, what would the classroom become?"

"Ha. Something like that can also be fixed, because I'm a masou-shoujo."

"Then I can be in peace. First, that's a lobster, right?"

"Yes, that guy's an AA-class megalo, the lobster-mage."

That guy's a mage? I can't tell that by looking.

"Ah, no. Isn't it rather a super-evil outrageous lobster?" 

"Hahaha! Then, let's begin!"

Suddenly, a warm wind came from the lobster.

From the looks, it seemed only to be a huge fart. Why did it do that? The disgusting purple wind seemed to be surrounding my body. Then, Haruna let out a low-pitched "Eh" and embraced herself. After receiving that wind, she should have felt a disgusting feeling, just like me, I guess.

"What, this is......impossible."

"What is it? Are you OK?"

"Ayumu......that feeling of numbness is......"

The lobster took a step close to us. Haruna shut her eyes tightly, and her shoulders were shaking.

"You, could it be that you're scared?"

"What,what kind of joke was that!? The possibility that I, would be scared of megalos......how can it be—"

At this moment, Haruna stopped talking. She suddenly felt strenghtless, and immediately sat on the ground. A ripple appeared on her glabella, and while clenching her teeth, she tried the hardest possible to control her shaking.

Anyway, I should first cut down the distance, and just like with the bear last time, the goal is the lobster's head.

However, before my hand could grasp the lobster's head, it already fell on the floor, bleeding.

"Oho? You are more capable that you look......male masou-shoujo!"

With his large pliers covering his eyes, it was laughing.

"Ayumu!"

Her cute scream resounded in the entire classroom. It was obvious that Haruna would be worried. My wrist was bleeding, and everything that was beyond the wrist has fallen on the floor. Not good, the situation's become bad. Lobster-san's movements are very quick. It has been cut off so easily. On the other hand, his opponent's eye has also been damaged.

"The problem is that it's my right hand...it'd be easier to deal with if it was my left hand."

To not be able to use my strongest hand is quite bothersome. The ticking blood sounded like sounds made by a clock, and the lobster was shifting his body according to the sound. That lobster was probably having the same thought as me.

—There's no flaw. The one who moves carelessly will lose. What should I do?

"Ayumu! Hurry up and transform yourself into a masou-shoujo!"

Suddenly, Haruna threw the chainsaw towards me. Hey, hey. I'll be cut in half the moment I'll reach out to this.

—Look at the situation carefully.

While jumping backwards, I grasped the chainsaw with my left hand. Of course, the lobster also closed down the distance and charged towards me with his body. Then he pierced my abdomen with his plier, causing me to vomit blood.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka?:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-03-24T11:20:35Z

Sleepy920:

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai:Registration Page

2012-03-23T04:36:14Z

Sleepy920:

To re-iterate the registration procedure:

* "First Come, First Served": please register your intended chapters here

* The maximum number of chapters you are recommended to work on is no more then half of any given volume

* Maximum number of Translators per volume is two

* Maximum number of volumes you may be active on is one

* This is not some Binding Contract of "I must do the work I put down here". Choices put down here are negotiable between translators (including their own selves who signed up for it).

== Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Series Registration ==

=== Volume 1 ===
::*Prologue and Character Introduction is a Lot Like Clamping - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Kodaka Hasegawa - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Yozora - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Sena Kashiwazaki - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*The Hunt - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Welcome to the World of Galgame - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Underling - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Hasegawa Family Affairs - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*To the Tainted Sadness - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Tales of Momotarou - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*The Delinquent Samurai Returns to His Mother School - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Swimming Pool - [[User:Lilin1|Lilin1]] - '''Completed'''
::*Past - [[User:Teh Ping|Teh Ping]] - '''Completed'''
::*Afterword - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 2===

::*Prologue (LOL) - [[User:Kira0802|Kira0802]] - '''Completed'''
::* Takayama Maria - [[User:larethian|larethian]] - '''Completed'''
::* Shiguma Rika- [[User:Kira0802|Kira0802]] and [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Rotten - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Kodaka's Romance of the Three Kingdoms Talk - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Romancing Saga - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Comedy King Kodaka - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Little Sister - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Short Story Relay "Saint☆Aniki" - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Karaoke - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Consolation Party - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterwords - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 3===

::* Prologue: Farewell - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Feeding of the Little Girl - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* History - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Silent Phone - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sealing Technique, Release! - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Saint VS Vampire - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Jaws - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Everyone at the Pool　- [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Demon Astaroth's Arrival!!　- [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* A Visit to Kashiwazaki's Abode - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Sea - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Ghost Story - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Summer Festival - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Epilogue: Reunion - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterword - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 4===
::* Reunion: Part II - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Neighbors Club's Reaction - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Summer Vacation's Homework - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Tower - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Service Round (Kashiwazaki-san's Nude Scene) - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Homo Game Club. - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sister - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Answer Checking - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sisters - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* "Thanks For Your Hard Work" Meet - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterword

===Volume 5===
::* A Phone Conversation With Dad - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Invitation Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Black Dragon Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Astaroth Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Vomit Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Hot Spring - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* A Tale of the Unattached and the Unlucky - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Let The Second Term Begin - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Butler - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Welcome To The World of Otomege
::* Time Machine

===Volume 6===
::* Exposure - [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=User:Endaene Endaene]
::* School Festival ~ Scary Footsteps ~
::* Maid Cafe
::* Tarot
::* The first round
::* Party
::* Mail
::* In the train
::* No matter how you put it, it's a date...
::* Birthday (with club members)
::* Birthday (with sister)
::* Special ~Forbidden game~

===Volume 7===
::* Fourteen year old morning - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Things noticed - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]- '''Completed'''
::* School Festival ~Activity meeting~ - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Comleted'''
::* Movie - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Yusa Aoi - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Born princess - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Is this a date? No it's a Shuraba flag - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Childhood friend - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]
::* The second round
::* Her answer
::* Pegasus fantasy
::* A shuraba between my childhood friend and fiance
::* The fall of Mikaduki Yozora
::* In the Rika room - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Hasekawa Kobato
::* King of Riajuu - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Return to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai|Main Page]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

[[Category:Registration Page]]

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai:Registration Page

2012-03-15T06:39:38Z

Sleepy920:

To re-iterate the registration procedure:

* "First Come, First Served": please register your intended chapters here

* The maximum number of chapters you are recommended to work on is no more then half of any given volume

* Maximum number of Translators per volume is two

* Maximum number of volumes you may be active on is one

* This is not some Binding Contract of "I must do the work I put down here". Choices put down here are negotiable between translators (including their own selves who signed up for it).

== Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Series Registration ==

=== Volume 1 ===
::*Prologue and Character Introduction is a Lot Like Clamping - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Kodaka Hasegawa - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Yozora - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Sena Kashiwazaki - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*The Hunt - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Welcome to the World of Galgame - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Underling - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Hasegawa Family Affairs - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*To the Tainted Sadness - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Tales of Momotarou - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*The Delinquent Samurai Returns to His Mother School - [[User:thelastguardian|thelastguardian]] - '''Completed'''
::*Swimming Pool - [[User:Lilin1|Lilin1]]
::*Past - [[User:Teh Ping|Teh Ping]] - '''Completed'''
::*Afterword - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 2===

::*Prologue (LOL) - [[User:Kira0802|Kira0802]] - '''Completed'''
::* Takayama Maria - [[User:larethian|larethian]] - '''Completed'''
::* Shiguma Rika- [[User:Kira0802|Kira0802]] and [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Rotten - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Kodaka's Romance of the Three Kingdoms Talk - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Romancing Saga - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Comedy King Kodaka - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Little Sister - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Short Story Relay "Saint☆Aniki" - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Karaoke - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Consolation Party - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterwords - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 3===

::* Prologue: Farewell - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Feeding of the Little Girl - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* History - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Silent Phone - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sealing Technique, Release! - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Saint VS Vampire - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Jaws - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Everyone at the Pool　- [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Demon Astaroth's Arrival!!　- [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* A Visit to Kashiwazaki's Abode - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Sea - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Ghost Story - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Summer Festival - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Epilogue: Reunion - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterword - [[User:BeginnerXP|BeginnerXP]] - '''Completed'''

===Volume 4===
::* Reunion: Part II - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Neighbors Club's Reaction - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Summer Vacation's Homework - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* The Tower - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Service Round (Kashiwazaki-san's Nude Scene) - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Homo Game Club. - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sister - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Answer Checking - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Sisters - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* "Thanks For Your Hard Work" Meet - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Afterword

===Volume 5===
::* A Phone Conversation With Dad - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Invitation Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Black Dragon Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Astaroth Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Amusement Park ~ Vomit Chapter ~ - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Hot Spring - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* A Tale of the Unattached and the Unlucky - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Let The Second Term Begin - [[User:Vexed|Vexed]] - '''Completed'''
::* Butler
::* Welcome To The World of Otomege
::* Time Machine

===Volume 6===
::* Exposure - [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=User:Endaene Endaene]
::* School Festival ~ Scary Footsteps ~
::* Maid Cafe
::* Tarot
::* The first round
::* Party
::* Mail
::* In the train
::* No matter how you put it, it's a date...
::* Birthday (with club members)
::* Birthday (with sister)
::* Special ~Forbidden game~

===Volume 7===
::* Fourteen year old morning - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Things noticed - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]- '''Completed'''
::* School Festival ~Activity meeting~ - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Comleted'''
::* Movie - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Yusa Aoi - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Born princess - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Is this a date? No it's a Shuraba flag - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Childhood friend - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]
::* The second round
::* Her answer
::* Pegasus fantasy
::* A shuraba between my childhood friend and fiance
::* The fall of Mikaduki Yozora
::* In the Rika room - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]] - '''Completed'''
::* Hasekawa Kobato
::* King of Riajuu - [[User:HolyCow|HolyCow]]

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Return to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai|Main Page]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

[[Category:Registration Page]]

Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-03-11T11:53:08Z

Sleepy920: Lent is past tense

"It's a primitive response to gratitude. To give pleasure. You see, our normal hosts are quite mindless; they can be thanked only by physical sensation"

"Thank you for accepting transporting me. Thank you very much."

*from "The Only Neat Thing to Do" by James Tiptree, Jr.

==Chapter 1==
On the winter when I was sixteen, I actually met many different types of people – there was a boxer, a soldier, a gigolo, a detective and a yakuza member. They were all NEETs – just of different varieties. The term ‘NEET’ occasionally surfaces on the news or in the newspapers, and I thought it merely referred to unmotivated and unemployed youths, but in reality there are actually many different sides to them. There is no all-encompassing reason as to why they remain jobless or do not go to school.

“The term ‘NEET’ refers to neither ‘useless people’ nor ‘lazy people’.” That is what the detective said to me. “The only difference lies in the rules. While everybody else uses the board to play checkers, we use chess pieces instead.”

“I don’t really get it. Does that mean you’re just getting in the way?” I naively questioned. The detective thought for a moment, pursing her cherry-like lips which eventually gave way to a silent smile.

“I suppose it would indeed seem that way to those who merely want to rush ahead. I understand that society wishes to group us all up and label us thus, flinging us out into a rubbish dump; I also understand that they wish to point at us and laugh mockingly. Let them laugh all they want. No matter how you may want to argue it, the fact that we are a negative influence to the society at large is an undeniable truth."

The detective gazed at her opened hands, eventually raising her head again. This time, her smile was not one of sarcasm and bitterness – but one that was comparable to the rays of sunlight on a freezing day of winter. “We will never laugh at ourselves. Just as the earthworms do not fear darkness and a penguin will not be ashamed of its inability to fly. That is the meaning of what it is to live, is it not?”

I couldn’t give her any answer, because I had never thought so deeply about such matters. Regardless, no matter how many metaphors you use, isn’t the fact that you are all useless people the main gist of it?

However, it was also in that very same winter when I first saw a dead corpse, and when I first assaulted another person. It was the first time in my life that I personally contemplated about what it means to actually be alive. I suppose anybody who has witnessed another person giving up on his life or giving up and seek death will feel the same way as I have.

Yet, that is a story for much later. For now, I would like to talk about the winter when I first met all these people, and the story of a normal, non-NEET girl.

<center>*</center>

Near the end of November, I met Ayaka for the first time.

After school ended on Tuesday, I sat on the water tower on the roof of the southern campus, staring blankly at the tall buildings far away. Normally once school ends, I would go report in at the computer lab and focus on club activities that only involves one person. But on afternoons with computer lessons, there will still be a lot of students remaining to play with the computers that they usually don't come in contact with even after school . I am unable to bring myself to walk in just like that, so I always come up to the roof to waste time every Tuesday and Thursday. Staring at the computer lab on the second story of the northern campus, I gave off a huge amount of ''"Get Lost Already!"'' waves, and sighed as I look at the streets downwards.

The streets of the city I currently live in can be divided into two colors, while the long thin river that flows like the artery of a patient is the divider of the colors. The side closer to me has rusted roofs of factories, cheap apartments lying side by side, and then there is the high school. I am not sure why, but there are a lot of shrines and graves in this area; My house is also on this side. On the other side is a tall flyover bridge with a highway leading to the capital, a gigantic train station with countless railways, tall buildings packed along complicatedly interweaving roads on the slope, shopping malls and television stations. On sunny days, you can even see the shadow of the government building far away. Tokyo is an amazing place to let boring housings that can be found anywhere in Japan and tall modern buildings co-exist peacefully here.

Looking down from the roof, the train station is like a scene in an advertisement on TV, without realism. Perhaps it's because I don't want to get close to that area? As we can wear our school uniform and straightaway go out to play immediately after school, I heard that our school is rather popular in Tokyo; If the sailor costume has bright colors, it might even increases the attractiveness by around 40%.

That day was a cloudy day, just nice enough that you can closely examine the glass panels of the tall buildings that are normally unclear due to their piercing reflections. Speaking of which, they are just a bunch of glass windows that are cut using similar methods. I always filled those glass squares with colors in my mind, as though I was sketching pixel art.

I've gotten used to killing time like that. I think it's because I'm always transferring schools due to my dad's work. At the beginning of October, when I transferred into my current high school, I joined the Computer Club just because there was no one else active there, and went about my school life without getting noticed by anyone. I've often thought that there's no point in me going to high school, while I couldn't follow the lessons as well.

As I was gazing at the building, I suddenly heard a clattering sound below me, and thus I leaned my upper body outwards to have a look. The water supply tower was set on top of the stair room jutting out from the roof while the sound was that of someone who had climbed up the stairs and opened the door.

"Eh? He's not here?"

I heard a girl's voice. When I carefully leaned forward and peered directly below, she turned around, meeting my gaze.

She had short hair, and strong-spirited eyebrows, in contrast her eyes, which gave off a cute, friendly impression. I felt like I'd seen her before. As I moved to get up, she made an extremely surprised face, letting out a "Wah!", causing me to tumbled down from the water supply tower.

It was lucky that I fell from my feet, but as the backs of my hands scraped roughly against the concrete wall, the first thing she did when we met was to wash my wounds with water from the watering can she had.

"Why would you climb up a place like that, it's dangerous!"

She said while applying plasters on my wound. Being asked such a question, I couldn’t answer her.

“……idiots and something likes high places, after all.”

“You have to play down the ‘idiots’ part when you say that!” <ref>Japanese idiom, idiots and smoke like high places. </ref>

She calmly replied. Although I wanted to escape, I couldn’t do so as my hand was held tightly.

“There, I’m done. Remember not to climb to high places again.” She lightly tapped my right hand that was full of plasters, just like a caretaker who was scolding small children. Then, she said while smiling, “Even though I said all that, I actually climbed it before myself. Seeing the ladder over there really gives you an urge to climb it, doesn't it?”

Anyway, who on earth is this girl? As I can’t recall neither faces nor names of anyone in school, I cannot think of any girl who would talk to me with such a friendly tone.

Suddenly, I saw the yellow badge on her left arm. Although it was quite old and was already somewhat faded, the words ‘Gardening Committee’ could still be seen on it. At that moment, I finally noticed the large number of flower pots arranged by the railings. Does our school even have a Gardening Committee?

“Ah, so you have to climb that high to see the computer lab! Are you that type of person, Fujishima-kun? Those who can’t concentrate when someone else is in the room? The type that people call the artistic type?

The girl held on to the railings, saying all that while looking at the school building opposite of us. I was taken aback.

“——How do you know about that?”

I let out a shout that startled even myself. She turned around to look at me with a look of shock on her face.

“Well, our class is on this side of the third floor, so that's why the computer lab can be seen from there. Besides, Fujishima-kun always sits beside the windows.”

I was found out. Color drained out of my face. How much does this girl know? She doesn’t know that I was drawing naughty pictures on the computer, does she? Wait, that’s not the main point…

“Why do you know my name?”

She raised her arms like a baseball pitcher who was getting ready to pitch the ball. It seemed my question surprised her..

“Don’t you remember me? We’re even in the same class!”

“Huh?”

I started to become anxious. From the time when I transferred to this school, I practically avoided all contact with other people, which is why I can’t remember the names of my classmates.

“It was I who told you where the canteen is and also collected information of World History for you. Even when you were changing clothes during P.E class, I have helped you out!”

“Wa- Wait a minute!”

“That last comment was just a joke~”

Ugh, this girl…

“Although that I thought that you might have forgotten about me, I didn’t really believe that it would really be true…..”

Seeing the girl with tears glistening in her eyes, I can’t help but feel somewhat guilty.

“My name is Ayaka Shinozaki, and I sit just beside you in class. How can you forget about me even like this?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Fujishima-kun, you don’t think that you are a part of class 1-4, do you? You even skipped school during the school festival.

But the school festival was held just a week after I transferred, so I had no other choice but to skip it!

“And you aren’t even wearing the class badge. It's rare for public high schools to have class badges, so it would be a pity if you don’t wear it!”

I didn’t really think it’s a pity, so I lied to her: “ I lost it.”

“Then I’ll lend you mine then, I have some to spare at home.” Said Ayaka while she took off her class badge from her sailor uniform.

“Huh? No, there’s really no need to.”

“Seriously, don’t move.”

She caught me from the back when I was trying to escape. I couldn’t help but freeze and pause my breathing for a moment. She moved her hands to the front of my blazer and put on the class badge on the collar of my blazer. Looking at this from another angle, wouldn’t it seem like she was hugging me from behind? No, wait, I have to calm down.

After what seemed like a very long time, the warmth of her body finally faded from my back.

“Hmm, that’s better.”

She turned me around and nodded with a satisfied look on her face. With a complicated feeling, I lowered my gaze and gazed at the blue and green badge. It was as though an alien thing appeared on my neck. Why did she help me until this extent? I saw many other people who take very good care of transfer students, but it was the first time I saw someone who was ''that'' helpful.

“It is a requirement of the school rules that one must wear a class badge, so don’t you take it off.”

“Why do the schools in Tokyo have so many odd rules…..”

Actually, isn’t it my fault for feeling that Tokyo is a very free place in the first place? One of the many annoying rules is that students must join at least one club. It was all because of these rules that I got into these kinds of troubles.

“If it weren’t for the school rules, you probably would have been in the Going-Home-Club, wouldn't you?”

So? So what?

“But isn’t the Computer Club going to be abolished next year?”

“……Huh?”

“You see, the Third Years are going to graduate soon. I heard that they are going to abolish clubs that have less than two members when they decide the club budgets next April.”

It was the first time that I’ve heard of such an important matter. I thought of the pale, tomato-shaped face of the Computer Club advisor. That guy wants to let the Computer Club close down without saying a thing, huh? No wonder my club activities are so relaxing.

“As I was saying…”

Ayaka suddenly raised her voice, startling me into stepping back half a step.

“I have something to discuss with you. If you accept my conditions…..” Her expression was that of one who made a strong resolution. “I agree to join the Computer Club!”

“……Conditions?”

“Actually, I’m the only member left in the Gardening Club as well.”

Ayaka, who had a triumphant look on her face for some reason, placed the armband on her left arm on my palm. Gardening Club? Isn’t it the Gardening Committee?

“The committee was closed down ages ago. I found this lying around in a cupboard. Isn’t it cool?”

“Not at all.”

“Why do you always say things like that!”

Her whole face flushed red. Why do you have to be so agitated, I don't understand at all.

“Small clubs have to help each other out, isn’t that right?”

<center>*</center>

In the end, I succumbed to Ayaka’s threats and accepted her conditions. We went to the staff room to hand in our application forms, and things were supposed to end just like that. Realizing that I cannot stay at the rooftop alone anymore, I could only find another place to while away time after school. On the way home, I thought to myself: Is the library better or is the restroom exclusive for teachers better?

However, Ayaka walked by my table right after school.

“I’m going to borrow the keys to the rooftop, so you can get the gardening tools first! You know where they are , right? You can find them in the cupboard with “Gardening Committee” on it.”

My classmates’ gazes fluttered between Ayaka and I, who was busy putting away my books.

“Am I not just a ghost member?” I started to say.

“…..A ghost member?” With her face pale, Ayaka turned away and covered her mouth. “Th- That’s right, I’m so sorry. I- I was just too excited, and that confused me for a moment.”

It looked like tears could pour out of her eyes at any moment. My classmates’ gazes pierced through me, as though it was I who made Ayaka cry…… No, it ''was'' I who made her cry. Anyhow, this situation is just terrible.

“Erm, uh, wait a sec!”

“Fujishima-kun, you’re busy with your activities at the Computer Club, right? I’m really sorry for bothering you.”

“O- Of course not——”

“Aren’t you going to complete your drawing of the girl on the computer soon? You just haven’t added the dress yet, right?”

“UWAAAAAAHHHHH!”

I hastily covered Ayaka’s mouth.

“Alright, alright! I got it. I’ll help you then.”

“…… Really?” The tears vanished from her face in a flash. “Thank you so much!”

She stuck out her tongue, as though it was just a prank just now. Arrggh, this girl…

“Aya-chan, there's a new member in your club?”

A female classmate asked while giving me a suspicious look.

“Oh, yes. That’s why we have more horsepower now. You can ask him anything about plants!”

My classmates exchanged looks.

“Oh, yeah!” a male classmate raised his hand. “There’s a lot of mold on the washroom sink, please think of something to help.”

“Mold isn’t even a plant!” exclaimed Ayaka.

“No, it should count as a plant, shouldn’t it?” “Differentiating organisms by animals or plants is already outdated!” “Aren’t the ones in the washroom moss?” “Lichen are definitely not plants!” “The ones in the Biology Club, shut up.” “But it's growing really quickly.” “Looks like a person's face.” “Seriously?”

The guys started to discuss the topic with vigor. What is wrong with this class? After about twenty minutes of discussion, Ayaka ended up getting a mold spray to clear it away. I hastily stopped Ayaka, who was about to dash into the men’s washroom.

“……Allow me!”

My classmates probably feel sorry for me for having to clear away the mold that have spread on the whole wall. A few of them came in to give me a hand. The washroom soon stank of the pungent odor of chlorine.

“Fujishima, it was hard on you……”

They started to pity me.

“Of course, Shinozaki is not bad too.” “Not a bad person.” “Yeah.”

I nodded tiredly while scrubbing the wall vigorously with a sponge.

I suddenly noticed that it was the first time my classmates called me by my name. Even so, I just stammered, unable to even answer them properly.

<center>*</center>

“Let’s have a welcome party! My treat!”

She said that evening as we were carrying the orchid plants indoors.

“I work part time at a ramen store, so I can give you a discount.”

I thought to myself: How rare for high school girls to work part time.

“As I often went there, I became a part time worker in the end. There are many interesting customers as well. Do you want to go with me?”

“Why——”

Thinking that I would have to see Ayaka’s tearful face if I refuse her, I nodded reluctantly. After keeping the tools in the cupboard and returning the keys to the staff’s office, I walked out of the school entrance with her.

After learning that I haven’t even gone across the Shuto Expressway, she was astonished.

“But don’t you live just nearby?”

“Well, I’ve just moved here recently, and there’s a lot of people at the station, so I didn’t really feel like going. Besides, I don’t even have a reason to go there.”

“Don't you usually go to bookshops or record stores?”

I nodded. Usually, I would just buy books or records that I want online, as I might not find the things that I want even if the actual shops are big.

“Is that so? But the shop that I’ve just mentioned is very far from the station. The ramen isn’t really that good, but the ice-cream there is extremely delicious, so it’s still very famous.”

“Then just start an ice-cream shop instead…”

“Try not to say that to Min-san, or you’ll get ramen served with ice cream.”

Min-san would probably the owner of the ramen shop. Is he Chinese?

Ayaka walked a bit faster than me. Seeing her happily prancing around, I was extremely mystified. Where did it went wrong? How did it turn out like this? Why is she so nice to me?

When we were crossing the bridge, a large delivery truck passed by, spraying dust on us. After entering the streets, we walked passed the Shuto Expressway viaduct and towards the station. Then, we went along with the crowd and entered the south side of the underpass and exited it through the east side.

We walked back to the surface in the direction of the railways. After we passed by a tramp’s tent in a park, we found the ramen shop in a dark alley unreached by streetlights. On the first floor of the building that had both shops and lodgings, only the signboard that says ‘Hanamaru Ramen’ had any light on it. The customers gathered around the shop looked like bugs attracted to a bug zapper.

The interior of the ramen shop was very cramped. Most of the space in the shop was taken up by the kitchen, while only five tables were in the shop. The other customers could only dine outside on a steel chair. There were even some customers who were sitting on turned over beer crates, eating their ramen while holding the bowl.

“You can just sit wherever you like.”

After saying that, she entered the shop. Although she told me to sit wherever I like, the problem is the chairs and beer crates are already fully seated.

I saw a man sitting on the emergency staircase between a building and another one that Ayaka just went in, located by the entrance of the kitchen. Beneath the stairs, there were stacks of worn tires, small gas tanks and some cardboard boxes full of stains.

When he raised his head, I couldn’t help but take a step back. The man was about twenty and had darkish skin. It was already November, but he was just wearing a T-shirt, completely showing off his bulging biceps. On the moment that he stared at me, I even thought that I would get killed.

“Are you a student of M High School?”

“Nonono, I’m still in middle school. Do I look that much like a high schooler?” I lied for no reason at all. He put down his bowl and said:

“Really? There's a teacher teaching Maths, Fukumoto-sensei. Does he still have any hair left?”

“No, a lot of his hair has already dropped o……AHHH!”

He approached me and flicked my forehead. The pain made me feel as though it bore a hole on my forehead.

“…… Uuuuuu…… That’s too despicable of you. Since you’ve graduated from our school, why don’t you say so in the first place!” I, myself, don’t understand why I feel that he is despicable (It was obvious from my school uniform that I’m from M High School, its my problem for lying). I covered my aching forehead and crouched down while moaning. On that moment, a voice rang behind me:

“He didn’t graduate. This guy was kicked out of school: a drop out. Here, eat this.”

When I turned my head, I saw a young lady in a gray, sleeveless vest standing behind me. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and you could see a white sarashi<ref>A cloth used to bind one's chest</ref> around her chest. She looked just like a laborer. It was only because of the black apron with ‘Hanamaru’ printed on it in white that I realized that she was from the shop. Does that mean that she is Min-san? So she’s a woman!

The thing that Min-san just stuffed into my hands was a paper cup filled with ice cream.

“Master, I’ve told you many times already, I was not kicked out. I dropped out myself.”

“Say that after you’ve clear your tab, you bum.”

“Babies are jobless when they are born too! It’s just that they are tainted in the large bathtub called life after that!"

That would be colorless, not jobless. <ref>In Japanese, jobless and colorless have the same pronunciation (Mushoku)</ref> But Min-san doesn’t seem wanting to reply him, but instead turned around and went back into the kitchen that was filled with white smoke. I held the paper cup with the ice cream and just stood there in a daze for quite some time.

“Hey, you there!” the person who was kicked out of school called me. As soon as I turned around, I hastily covered my forehead.

“What are you so nervous for! So you’re in first year now, huh?” He said while looking at my class badge. “How many fails did you get in your test?”

“Huh?”

Why on earth are you asking me something like this?

“Fujishima-kun, don’t chat with Tetsu-senpai for too long, you’ll get the NEET virus!”

Ayaka, who wore her black apron over her school uniform, said while walking out of the kitchen with a tray full of bowls. The dark skinned guy —— Tetsu-senpai gnashed his teeth, but only pretended to flick Ayaka’s forehead. This is just plain preferential treatment! Ayaka stuck out her tongue, and started to serve the customers outside the shop.

“Oh, just answer me already! Your face is that of one who fails a lot since first year.”

Although I thought that he was a busybody, what he said was still the truth. I could only answer in a small voice: “ I need to retake my English and Japanese History.” Tetsu-senpai caught hold of my arms while beaming, forcefully dragged me to a gas tank and made me sit down.

“Actually, the seats here are specially for NEETs. You have the potential to be a NEET, so if you drop out, feel free to come here! We will always welcome you.”

“No, please don’t expect that of me.” We? Are there anyone else who’s with him?

“Why? I can start from teaching you how to choose pachinko machines! Also, I know some of the employees quite well, so I know which one has the highest frequency of hitting the jackpot!”

When I had a closer look, I saw some magazines about pachinko gambling stashed in Tetsu-senpai’s hind pocket. Whoa, so this guy is a professional pachinko player. What a useless person. I averted my gaze, and started to eat the ice-cream using a wooden spoon. Basking in the evening sun of this late autumn and savoring the delightful aroma of the ramen soup while eating ice cream is indeed exceptionally scrumptious.

The second person of the ‘we’ that Tetsu-senpai spoke of appeared when I was eating roast pork noodles. He suddenly pressed a hard object against the back of my head and said: “Don’t move. Throw away your weapon, raise your hands, declare your name and unit.” I almost spitted the roast pork out of my mouth.

“Erm…… Err…… But……” If I raised my hands, the roast pork will fall down!

“Major, you are so slow. Stop doing idiotic stuff and sit down.”

Tetsu-senpai said while stirring his vanilla flavoured ice cream and caramel sauce.

“But he’s sitting on my seat! Who is this fellow?”

“Narumi. He’s in the same club as Ayaka.”

“Hiro-san said that he’s coming later too, there won’t be enough seats then.”

“Hiro can just sit on Narumi’s thigh.”

“Oh, I see.”

What do you mean you see?

The guy called Major then walked into my field of vision. He wore a dark green and coffee-coloured camouflaging sports attire, a sturdy looking helmet, and a pair of sunglasses shaped like goggles. He was somewhat thin and his skin was a beautiful shade of pink that belongs to primary school students. He actually looked about my age. While putting away the model gun (Well, I think it might be a model gun, but what if it’s a real gun?) into his khaki backpack, he looked at me and said:

“But isn’t this guy a high schooler? He doesn’t fit the description of a NEET.”

“Don’t worry, he’s my kouhai. He’ll become a great NEET after a year or two.”

“I definitely won’t become a NEET!” I protested hastily. Through his goggles, Major glared at me and sat on a cardboard box.

“In this era when there are about a billion NEETs in our country, NEET-in-waitings like you are necessary, are they not? The future of our country sure is dark.”

“……in waiting?”

In bewilderment, I asked him what did he mean by that. Major pointed at me and started to chatter enthusiastically:

“Speaking of which, do you know the how a NEET is defined? The term ‘NEET’ was originally used on people who are between the ages of 16 and 18 and are not in education or employment. When the word came to Japan from England, its meaning changed to include people from 15 to 34. As a lot of types appeared after that, they were even classified into an active type and a passive type, a sudden type, challenged type, caveman type and hesitating type. Besides that, there were also some attempts to classify them using three-dimensional coordination to divide them into eight quadrants, but they are actually just meaningless classifications to me.”

“Mukai-san, sorry for the wait.”

Ayaka served Major his salt-flavoured ramen. It looks like Mukai is Major’s real name.

“I’m so sorry, Fujishima-kun, there would be less customers after a while.”

I tried to give Ayaka a ‘justfindanexcuseformetoleavethisseat’ signal, but she didn’t get it. Major sipped some soup and continued:

“NEETs were originally just a cultural illness of reliance, and will only appear in a prosperous country like ours. We should be more proud of NEETs! Love the country that strives to produce NEETs, for world peace, we must stand up! We must find more non NEET-in-waiting elites, learn from each other , form a new Japanese Party, and bravely challenge the evil! Grow, NEETs! Grow like blazing fire! NEETs!”

“So noisy! Just shut up and eat your noodles!”

Min-san’s furious outburst echoed from the kitchen, and a small frying pan flew out of the kitchen soon after, landing on Major’s head.

“Huh? What’s with that guy?”

A male voice rang in the alley, and a tall silhouette appeared at the end of the alley.

A young man daringly wearing a brightly colored coat with khaki jeans was standing at the end of the alley. His occupation was a mystery, but he radiated the aura of a professional person. His aura was different from what Tetsu-senpai had, but they have the same imposing manner. That man approached, almost causing me to fall off the gas tank.

“He’s Ayaka’s friend. See, he’s from M High School.” Said Tetsu-senpai. “Oh? Oh——”That man patted my shoulders and said:

“There was a time when Tetsu was wearing this uniform too!”

He shot a look at the narrow kitchen back door and sat down beside Tetsu-senpai. I started to get confused. Aren’t the seats here just for NEETs?

“Hi, nice to meet you. Here’s my card.” He took a piece of card out of his pocket and handed it to me. He ''is'' a working person! While thinking so, I took the card, on the card it was printed:

‘NEET - Hiroaki Kuwabara’

…… Huh? I nearly fainted at that moment.

To reconfirm the world that I live in, I breathed in deeply and looked at my surroundings. Tetsu-senpai was eating ice cream, Major was eating salt-flavored ramen. Ayaka was busy washing bowls in the smoky kitchen, Min-san was having a battle royale with flames. Looking at the night skies in this autumn, the only person who found something wrong was me.

“Is…… Is your job a NEET?”

I asked cautiously. Hiro showed me a smile worthy of a toothpaste advertisement while saying:

“What are you talking about? A NEET isn't an occupation!”

Well, that’s true. As I was about to nod, Hiro’s next comment completely devastated me.

“Being a NEET is a lifestyle.”

He actually said that it was a lifestyle? I almost cried. Hiro, with his eyes narrowed while pushing back his hair, was meaninglessly handsome. What on earth is with these people?

“Did you make these cards before this, Hiro?”

“Well, its quite convenient while flirting. People always laugh when they see it.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you’ll make your girlfriend angry like this, and that you shouldn't flirt with other people so much?”

“Ah, I broke up with her already. I’m now living at the house of a lady working at a night club. Making it clear that I’m jobless from the start makes my life much easier!”

So Hiro-san is a gigolo! Well, he did say that it was a lifestyle.

I listened to their conversation at the sidelines while drinking the ramen soup, but I didn't really notice its taste. From their conversation, I gathered that they were about 18 to 19, and are supposed to be teenagers who have bright futures.

I vaguely thought to myself: would Tetsu-senpai’s words that I’ll turn out like them soon come true? I could only hope that this won’t be true.

After we finished eating the ramen, and were enjoying the ice creams (Tetsu-senpai was already eating a second), extremely noisy rock music suddenly blared in this narrow space. It was ‘Colorado Bulldog<ref>Song by the band Mr. Big</ref>. The three immediately sprang up, took out their cellphones that were almost simultaneously playing the same ringtone.

Tetsu-senpai picked up the call first, then Major and Hiro’s phone immediately stopped ringing. An expression that looked very much like regret appeared on their faces.

“Min-san, Alice has an order for you! Onion ramen, without ramen, roast pork and egg.”

Doesn’t that mean that there's only leeks left? I thought to myself. After three minutes, the bowl that Min-san took out did look like there was only leeks and soup.

“Tell this to her clearly, we sell ramen.” Min-san said with a sour expression on her face.

The leeks floating in the soup looked like islands in a sea of soup. Tetsu-senpai, Major and Hiro-san looked at each other.

“The problem is, who’s gonna take it to her?” said Tetsu-senpai.

“Does Alice seem like she’s in a bad mood?” asked Hiro.

“Definitely.”

“Are you guys taking it to her?” me asking this question was a sign of doom. Tetsu-senpai nodded, and then slapped his kneecap.

“Since there’s four people here, lets decide by a Yamanote Line game<ref>Originally, it’s a game where the each player tells the name of a station that the Yamanote Line can reach. Here, they will say things that are related to the topic given</ref>, the one who loses sends it.”

Four people?

“So what’s the topic?”

“Lets use “Brochures commonly found at employment agencies” then.”

“Okay, but there’s only one chance when you can’t answer.”

“Wa- Wait a minute, did you count me in?”

“Okay, lets start from me. ‘ Guide to a Laborer’s Insurance’.”

“ ‘Searching for your Dreams from Thirty-two’.”

“ ‘Discover your Talents in Two Minutes’.”

“Ah, uh, erm……”

“Narumi, that’s your first loss. ‘How to Resign Favorably’.”

“ ‘Starting Your Business From A Computer’!”

“ ‘Guide for Blending in your New Workplace’.”

“…… How on earth would I know any of those!”

“Ah, getting angry are you? Narumi, as long as you’re a NEET, you’ll have to know about these! Going to an employment agency but coming back without doing anything, this is a route that all of us must take.”

No, the problem is I’m not a NEET.

“If you lose you’ll have to admit it, loser.”

“Don’t mind it, Narumi, it isn’t embarrassing that you don’t know about these.”

“Well, of course! Don’t console me!”

“But you still have to send over the ramen!”

Unable to retort, that was how I fell into their trap.

The place that I was supposed to send the ramen was in the same building as the ramen shop, but on the third floor, room 308. As they said: “You’ll know when you go.” There was a large signboard on the door.

‘NEET Detective Agency’

The words were written with a somewhat cute handwriting, and there were a row of mystifying English words.

It’s the only NEET thing to do

My mind had already gone numb after the events that I’ve gone through today, so I won’t be surprised even if I see a NEET being a detective. I used the corner of the tray that held the ramen to press the electric bell, and the side camera modified into the electric bell flashed blue. According to Tetsu-senpai, that was the sign for ‘Come in’.

After opening the door, I saw that it was a long single room. As the air-conditioner was going strong, it was even colder than outside. Walking past the fridge, kitchen and washing machine in the corridor, a narrow room could be seen. As there were not any partitions in the room, a computer rack could be seen even from the entrance, while countless monitors filled the walls of the room.

“Your ramen is here……”

“Please enter.”

The voice of a young girl rang from inside of the room.

While holding the tray,I walked into the room. This room is really quite something. Three sides of the walls were covered with unknown machines, liquid plasma monitors and electric cables, while the small space left —— the floor in the middle of the room, was filled with a mattress. As though she was buried in dolls, the silhouette wearing pajamas turned around.

[[Image:Kamisama no memocho vol01 037.jpg|thumb|''She looked just like a doll.'']]

She looked just like a doll. She had a small face, a pair of large eyes that were in contrast with her face, unbelievably white skin, thin limbs, sleek hair flowing on the sheets, and was wearing pale blue pajamas with pictures of cartoon bears on it. I held the tray and stared at the girl.

The girl shifted the table that the keyboard was on aside, and pulled to her bed another long table that was just like those small tables that were used with the mattresses in a hospital.

“What are you standing there for? I ordered leek ramen. I don’t remember ordering a high school student-shaped ornament.”

“Ah, um…… Where should I put the ramen?”

“Since you're standing so far away, do you think that my arms seem like they’re long enough that I can take the bowls from your hands?”

I was scolded by her. But I do not even feel angry or surprised anymore. I placed the tray on the table in front of the girl. She took the disposable chopsticks, looked at it for awhile and breathed in deeply. Her small face was full of determination while the hands holding the tip of the chopsticks were applying force on it. But when the chopsticks were dragged into a ‘人’ shape, it just shook but did not separate. How little strength does this girl have?

“…… Would you like me to give you a hand?”

The cute girl wearing the pajamas was visibly glaring at me.

“It seems that you’re the type that sees a frail bird that couldn’t fly, tosses them upwards and sink in your own satisfaction after that, are you not? These type of people are the most useless of them all. When you walk away triumphantly, the bird would fall back down on the asphalt road and die, but you won’t even know that. Being dumb really should have a limit.”

It’s just a pair of disposable chopsticks, why am I scolded like this? But I did not retort her. Again, she breathed in deeply and applied force to separate the chopsticks.

Thwack.

The chopstick on the right has split into two. This is the most common result. She emotionlessly stared for awhile at the chopsticks with unequal length, and then started to cry. Hey, don’t cry!

She used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears, and started to eat the leek ramen(that pretty much has only leeks in it). As I was thinking of this, she started to glare at me again and said: “Your interests are really out of my comprehension. Does silently watching people eat make you happy?”

“Ah, so- sorry.”

When I was about to walk out of the room, this time she said: “Where do you think you're going? If you are gone, who will dispose of the bowls? You should really think about this.” I scratched my head, and having no other choice, I squatted down at the entrance with my back to the mattress.

While listening to the girl wearing pajamas eating the onions, I mulled over the things that happened today. I'm just here because I couldn’t refuse Ayaka’s request…… Then, I encountered a lot of stuff. I'm really tired. As I was about to drift into sleep, the girl’s voice rang out yet again.

“Narumi, I’m done. Get some beverages for me from the fridge.”

Startled, I turned back to face the girl.

“Eh, huh?”

“I said, get me something to drink from the fridge. Falling asleep even in someone else’s house, you really are shameless.”

Who are you to say that about me? But still, I followed her instructions as I did not have the energy to retort. After opening the fridge, I found that it was stuffed full of 350ml red cans, and nothing else. I thought that all of them were Coke, but they were actually all [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Pepper Dr. Pepper]. I don’t even have the energy to say anything anymore. The girl drank all of the Dr. Pepper that I brought her in one breath, and happiness welled out from her face. Seeing that expression made me feel that I could forgive everything.

“When God was creating the world, it was because He drank Dr. Pepper that He took a rest on the seventh day. If Dr. Pepper does not exist, there would be twelve days in a week instead of seven.”

“Is that so?”

“Narumi, you should drink it too! I can’t give you the ones in my fridge, but I can tell you where you can get them.”

So you're not giving them to me?

“…… Wait!” That was when I realized: “Why do you know my name?”

Was it when she was talking to Tetsu-senpai on the phone? No, at that moment Alice was just ordering her leek ramen, and she hung up right after she ordered. There wasn’t any time for them to say my name.

“Fujishima Narumi, sixteen, male, 164cm tall, weighs 51kg, in class 1-4 of M high school……” She fluently spoke of all of my personal information —— address, phone number, educational background, and family background. I was speechless.

“Ayaka said that there was a new club member, so I just did a little investigation. There is so much information in your school, but so little protective measures, so it’s better if you be more careful.”

At a loss of words, I looked at the wall formed of computers.

“…… Are you a hacker?”

“I’m not a hacker.”

The girl smiled while shaking her head.

“I’m a NEET detective.”

The detective said, Alice was partly her real name, and partly an alias.

“Yuuko can also be read as Alice <ref>有子is read as Yuuko, but 有can be read as ari, 子 can be read as su</ref>. The name Alice was taken from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree,_Jr. James Tiptree's] real name.”

“Who is she?”

Alice sat on the mattress while hugging her knees, looking at me as though she was looking at an idiot.

“She’s a novelist! Didn’t you see the signboard at the door? Although I changed a letter, it was quite a famous quote! Haven’t you read of it before?”

I cocked my head, thinking of the English words on the signboard.

“The detectives that you speak of…… Don’t they just accept other people’s requests and investigate various cases?”

“I am not an ordinary detective, but a NEET detective. They are as different as Chofu and Den Enchofu, mind you. An ordinary detective asks around for information, monitors other people, all in all going here and there to search for information and find their target. NEET detectives, on the other hand……”

Alice puffed out her chest, turned around to the wall covered with machines and waved her hands.

“Do not need to leave their rooms even a step, but can search the whole world to find out the truth. You probably just think that I’m just a hikkikomori who’s overly reliant on the Internet, huh? You don’t need to lie.”

“Erm….. Yeah.”

“Hmph, that’s because the common man cannot understand the work of a detective. A detective is the messanger of the deceased, looking for the words lost from their graves, hurting the living for the sake of protecting the honor of the deceased, and condemning the dead for the sake of consoling the living. That is why this is such an unpopular and misunderstood occupation……
Is your expression questioning that why am I, as a hikkikomori, am saying all these?”

“No, my expression shouldn’t be that obvious.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“But you look like you have something to say. Don’t worry, just ask! Because of my occupation, I am already used to never ending questions. And I will let you fall into despair very quickly.”

…… Despair?

I don’t really have anything much to ask, just that I’m a bit shocked by the endless chatter of this strange girl, Alice. But in this situation, it seems that I need to ask a question. Looking around the room that looks like a control room, I asked the question that was the most confusing to me.

“You…… What do you usually eat? Do you always eat those stuff?”

Alice’s round eyes became even rounder.

“This trivial matter is the first thing that you thought of?’’

“…… I think that what we eat is very important.”

“Yes, you are correct. You are also an oddball, different from what Ayaka has said.”

Alice narrowed her eyes while looking at me, as though she was smiling.

“To obtain the nutrients essential for my body, drinking Dr. Pepper would suffice. But Min-san is very persistent, so sometimes I eat some vegetables as well.”

“So that’s why you don’t grow……”

“Where did your biased opinion that only tall people are good come from? I can list out fifty advantages for being a shorty and disadvantages of being tall, if you are willing to have a debate, I am always ready to accept the challenge.”

“No, sorry.”

I was just thinking about her height, which resulted in me mumbling to myself and getting heard.

“So do you depend on Min-san for your daily life?”

Alice raised her eyebrows.

“You’re really impolite, you know. I’ve already said that I’m a NEET detective, a NEET detective is an occupational detective! I have an actual income, and pay her for everything.”

“Eh, eh, but aren’t you a NEET?” aren’t all NEETs jobless?

“You misunderstood NEETs from a fundamental level. The second E in NEET is Employment, being employed by someone. My occupation is a personal enterprise, so I’m not employed. How other people view that depends.”

How other people would view.

“…… Lifestyle huh?”

“In Hiro’s life, that is so. Turgenev might say call it the ending of an illusion, Dostoyevsky might call it hell, William Somerset Maugham might call it reality, while Haruki Murakami might call it self. I use another name for it, but anyhow it’s unrelated to the matter of income.”

I have absolutely no idea what she is talking about, but the fact that the pajamas-clad girl earned money by being a detective is somewhat unbelievable. Which reminds me, she seems to be familiar with the usage of computers and the Internet.

“Your expression tells me that you don’t believe me. No matter, another man would come here in a moment to request for my investigation, you’ll probably believe it after you’ve heard it.”

“…… Huh?”

At that moment, the doorbell rang as she had predicted. I turned around and looked at the door.

“Open the door.”

“Me?”

“It would be nice if the agency adds some other way to welcome guests besides the blue lights.”

As I walked to the entrance to open the door, I froze as there were three men outside the door. The young man in the middle was wearing a leather coat and looked slightly older than me, but his expression was like that of a wild wolf. Among the other two who were flanking his sides, one was a man having muscles like a rocky mountain, the other was tall like an electric pole. Both of them were wearing the same gray hoodie.

“Who is this guy? Where’s Alice?”

The wolf said. It was as though I was pierced by his sharp gaze, my lips trembled and I was unable to speak. At this moment, Alice’s voice came from inside the room:

“Oh, Yondaime, please come in.”

The two people behind the man who was called Yondaime said: “We’ll wait here.” And then I was dragged into the room. After the door was closed, the two men disappeared from my field of vision. At the moment when I was closing the door, I felt as if I was glared at, and my hands holding the door handle trembled.

“Narumi, get another can of Dr. Pepper.”

Alice’s voice finally peeled my hands off the door handle.

“Hey, who is that guy? Aren’t we going to talk about the job?”

When I handed the Dr. Pepper to Alice, Yondaime who was sitting beside the matress used his chin to point at me, and then turned around and said to me: “You, get out for a moment.”

“Eh?”

Telling me to go outside the room to become best friends with the two bear-like bodyguards, and wait for you to finish discussing? What are you talking about!

“Yondaime, just imagine that there’s a high school student-shaped ornament here, relax and start the discussion.”

“Hey, Alice, are you joking? You should know that this isn’t something that you can let outsiders know!”

“It doesn’t matter, Narumi is only my assistant for today, I can guarantee that he will not speak of this to anyone else.”

I don’t even know when I’ve become an assistant.

“That's not the point.”

“If you’re so insistent, why don’t you talk so that outsiders wouldn’t understand? Your job has a lot of jargon anyway. If you would not want then, you can just give the request to some other people.”

An awkward expression appeared on Yondaime’s face and he used his foot to kick the bedstead. Finally, he sighed and started to talk.

Indeed, I could not understand a thing, it was all a bunch of unknown nouns and verbs that you couldn’t understand. The ones that I could barely understand “deal with him when we catch him”, are the ones that I really don’t want to understand.

“Hmm.”

Alice finished listening to Yondaime’s explanation and finished drinking her second can of Dr. Pepper.

“I understand. Narumi, do you understand what he just said?”

I hastily shook my head.

“Is that so? Basically, someone is doing unknown drug dealing behind Yondaime’s back, so he requested me to help find out about the ways that they deal drugs.”

“What is the use of me talking like that when you explain it to him!” Yondaime flew into a rage. That was quite understandable. I felt somewhat happy and thought: Great, finally someone would teach her a lesson…… “What is with that happy look on your face!” Yondaime’s changed his target of anger to me. I could only retreat to the corridor and hid behind the fridge.

“Well, as I had a big headache this morning, I wanted to enrage the first person who came in to vent my annoyace, whoever it was. Although Narumi was the first person to come in, but for some reason he is quite tolerant of it, and didn’t get angry at all.”

So she did all that on purpose!

“Coincidentally, the next person was you, so I vented my annoyance on you, so don’t mind it. If I did anything wrong, you’ll always get angry, and that’s why I like you the most.”

Alice stretched her legs out of the blanket and smiled sweetly. At this moment, I was totally defeated (Yondaime probably was, too). Yondaime hammered the blanket for some time, tried to say something but then stopped, and then he stood up.

“So are you willing to accept the request?”

“I accept it, so just leave it all to me!”

“I will mail the details to you, goodbye.”

Yondaime walked to the corridor and dragged me out from the fridge. He caught hold of my left shoulder and applied force on it until his thumb almost sank into my body.

“Ah, ouch…….”

“I’ve remembered your face, and will find out your address immediately. Listen closely, you didn’t hear anything just now. Is that clear?”

The wolfish eyes came closer to my eyes, while I could only nod while trembling.

“Answer me!”

“I…… I didn’t hear anything.”

Yondaime tossed me to the ground and walked out of the room.

“Are you alright?”

Alice came over and asked as I was huddled up on the floor in exhaustion. So she can walk? I thought that she had an illness that causes her to die if she leaves her bed.

“I just feel very tired.”

The words popped out of my mouth. That would be my feelings about what occurred the whole day.

“If I didn’t do so, I’m afraid you’ll still think that I’m a hikkikomori who’s over-reliant on the Internet. Don’t mind it!”

“No, I already understand clearly.”

Because of Ayaka, I stepped into an unbelievable world. Drug dealing, detectives and hackers, I had always hoped that these only exist in worlds that I don’t know of.

“You just wanted me to understand your work, so you said nonsensically that I’m your assistant and that I’m tight-lipped……”

“That is not nonsense. You are indeed tight-lipped, I am sure of it.”

I raised my head to look at Alice and saw that she was smiling. Since this is the first time that we’ve met, why does she dare to say so?

“Hey, Narumi. The people who met me, each and every one of them would ask: ''‘Are you really a NEET? Why did you become a NEET?’'', and you are the first one who did not ask me this question.”

Adjusting to my eye level, Alice squatted down.

“Although it might be because you’re thoughtless or uncaring, but I -- we NEETs would be extremely happy. Instead of pitying us, ignoring us would have been better. 'Why did we become NEETs?', this question shouldn’t even be asked. Because there is only one reason – it is written on our page of God’s notebook: ‘We lose when we work.’ There is no other reason.”

“…… God’s notebook?”

“Isn’t this statement so irresponsible that it’s great?”

Placing her hands and chin on her knees, Alice said while smiling:

“What the word NEET really means, is actually not ‘Someone who doesn’t know how to do anything’, and not ‘Someone who doesn’t want to do anything’.”

<center>*</center>

Holding the empty bowl on the plate while walking out of the NEET Detective Agency, I saw that it was already completely dark outside. The starlight could not be seen as it was hidden by the piercing lights on the earth. The ramen shop below had become extremely crowded. Laughter and angry shouts coming from there could be heard even from here.

After I walked down the emergency backstairs, I found Yondaime sitting on the seat exclusively for NEETs that I was sitting on just now. Tetsu-senpai, Major, Hiro-san and Yondaime surrounded the wooden table, and looked like they were doing something together. The clear tinkle of a bell-like sound could be heard even from far away.

“Sou-san! Didn’t you say that you are only playing for five minutes!?”

The bodyguard, Rocky, who was standing behind Yondaime was shouting angrily by Yondaime’s ears.

“Shut up, how can I go back when I’m in a losing streak! Tetsu, hurry up and throw already!”

“Okay, four five and six.”

“Impossible!”

A large bundle of money was on the bowl. So they’re playing a game of dices. Do these four know each other?

“Fujishima-kun, Min-san made a flavored ice cream, do you want to try some?”

Ayaka ran out holding an ice cream cone. While licking the ice cream which was giving out a fragrant aroma, I listened to the dice tinkling along in the bowl. Yondaime was shouting with his whole face red, throwing his cash onto the bowl like a ninja throwing knives. Looking at this situation, I couldn’t help but feel – somewhat happy.

<center>*</center>

On the way home, the streetlights on the street was very dim. Walking in front of me, Ayaka turned around and said:

“I’m so sorry, I did say that I wanted to have a welcome party for you, but coincidentally the shop was busy……”

Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve talked much with Ayaka today at the shop. There were so many customers that even I helped to deliver.

“Oh yeah, did you see Alice?”

“Yeah…… She’s an oddball.” I couldn’t say anything else about her.

“But it was really unbelievable today. There are indeed a lot of interesting people behind the ramen shop, but its rare that all of them were present like today! You’re so lucky, Fujishima-kun.”

“Does that count as lucky?”

Indeed, the people that I met and the faces that I’ve seen today has far exceeded my brain capacity, but I still remembered all of them. Tetsu-senpai, Min-san, Major, Hiro-san, Alice and Yondaime.

“It would be even better if brother could come.”

Brother?

“After my brother left school, he became a NEET. He usually goes to the ramen shop to hang out with Tetsu-senpai and the others. But recently he didn’t even go home or to the shop. I couldn’t even reach his phone.”

“You can’t really say that all of those who hang out there don’t have a job……?”

A horrible illusion came upon me. Would I turn out like them when I　leave school someday?

Ayaka turned around and said: “Did you ever think of leaving school?”

“Every day.”

Under the streetlight, an inscrutable expression appeared on Ayaka’s face.

“…… Even now?”

I was momentarily speechless. Being unable to immediately answer this question is indeed strange.

Ayaka gazed sincerely at me.

I averted her gaze and lied: “Now…… I don’t want to……. Probably!”

“Is that so.” A gentle smile appeared on Ayaka’s face.

“But I think you have no need to lie right now.”

I stopped walking, speechless, and Ayaka stopped too. Coincidentally, we were standing in the middle of two streetlights, while our shadows interlaced on the asphalt road.

“…… Why?”

I could only say this one word. Why? How did she know that I was lying?

“Because…… That place originally belonged to me.” Ayaka said. “It was because there were no other members that I entered the Gardening Club. So in this case, I’m your senior for about half a year!”

I pondered the reason why Ayaka can smile while saying such a thing. Because she is different from me, and can chat with the other students in our class as if nothing had happened, it seemed as natural as breathing.

Hearing me speak of my true thoughts, she showed me a glass-like small that was even more transparent.

“It’s really simple, you can do it as well. Shout when you’re angry like the others, laugh when you’re happy like the others, and speak your mind when you want something.”

I lowered my head, and thought repeatedly about what Ayaka meant by her words. I still don’t get it. I just felt that her words was like that of a busybody, although its contents completely suits my current situation.

After we crossed the bridge, Ayaka and I said goodbye to each other.

Looking at the silhouette of Ayaka running towards the station, I thought of a scene when she was shouting or laughing like the others. Wasn't she just pushing herself? Does she mean that I should do that as well? Forcing myself to talk to the other students, forcing myself to smile.

I wish that she would not care about me anymore. I just couldn’t do what she said anyhow.

<references/>

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| Back to [[Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
| Return to [[Kamisama no Memochou|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
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</noinclude>

User:Sleepy920

2012-03-08T13:46:35Z

Sleepy920: Created page with "==User:Sleepy920=="

==User:Sleepy920==

Talk:Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-03-07T11:21:33Z

Sleepy920:

I think this should be in the past tense. I don't know what tense it is in since I don't have the original book/can't read Japanese. I want to refine the sentences, but I don't want to lose the meanings of them. --Fwiss

Which part? -[[User:Zephyrus|Zephyrus]]

Just for minor tweaks:“Hiro can just sit on Narumi’s thigh.” Can it be changed from thigh to lap?
“It would be even better if brother could come.” For brother, can it be changed from that to onii-san/-chan or leave it be? Thanks for the translations and keep up the good work. - [[User:sleepy920|sleepy920]]

Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2012-03-07T11:06:48Z

Sleepy920:

"It's a primitive response to gratitude. To give pleasure. You see, our normal hosts are quite mindless; they can be thanked only by physical sensation"

"Thank you for accepting transporting me. Thank you very much."

*from "The Only Neat Thing to Do" by James Tiptree, Jr.

==Chapter 1==
On the winter when I was sixteen, I actually met many different types of people – there was a boxer, a soldier, a gigolo, a detective and a yakuza member. They were all NEETs – just of different varieties. The term ‘NEET’ occasionally surfaces on the news or in the newspapers, and I thought it merely referred to unmotivated and unemployed youths, but in reality there are actually many different sides to them. There is no all-encompassing reason as to why they remain jobless or do not go to school.

“The term ‘NEET’ refers to neither ‘useless people’ nor ‘lazy people’.” That is what the detective said to me. “The only difference lies in the rules. While everybody else uses the board to play checkers, we use chess pieces instead.”

“I don’t really get it. Does that mean you’re just getting in the way?” I naively questioned. The detective thought for a moment, pursing her cherry-like lips which eventually gave way to a silent smile.

“I suppose it would indeed seem that way to those who merely want to rush ahead. I understand that society wishes to group us all up and label us thus, flinging us out into a rubbish dump; I also understand that they wish to point at us and laugh mockingly. Let them laugh all they want. No matter how you may want to argue it, the fact that we are a negative influence to the society at large is an undeniable truth."

The detective gazed at her opened hands, eventually raising her head again. This time, her smile was not one of sarcasm and bitterness – but one that was comparable to the rays of sunlight on a freezing day of winter. “We will never laugh at ourselves. Just as the earthworms do not fear darkness and a penguin will not be ashamed of its inability to fly. That is the meaning of what it is to live, is it not?”

I couldn’t give her any answer, because I had never thought so deeply about such matters. Regardless, no matter how many metaphors you use, isn’t the fact that you are all useless people the main gist of it?

However, it was also in that very same winter when I first saw a dead corpse, and when I first assaulted another person. It was the first time in my life that I personally contemplated about what it means to actually be alive. I suppose anybody who has witnessed another person giving up on his life or giving up and seek death will feel the same way as I have.

Yet, that is a story for much later. For now, I would like to talk about the winter when I first met all these people, and the story of a normal, non-NEET girl.

<center>*</center>

Near the end of November, I met Ayaka for the first time.

After school ended on Tuesday, I sat on the water tower on the roof of the southern campus, staring blankly at the tall buildings far away. Normally once school ends, I would go report in at the computer lab and focus on club activities that only involves one person. But on afternoons with computer lessons, there will still be a lot of students remaining to play with the computers that they usually don't come in contact with even after school . I am unable to bring myself to walk in just like that, so I always come up to the roof to waste time every Tuesday and Thursday. Staring at the computer lab on the second story of the northern campus, I gave off a huge amount of ''"Get Lost Already!"'' waves, and sighed as I look at the streets downwards.

The streets of the city I currently live in can be divided into two colors, while the long thin river that flows like the artery of a patient is the divider of the colors. The side closer to me has rusted roofs of factories, cheap apartments lying side by side, and then there is the high school. I am not sure why, but there are a lot of shrines and graves in this area; My house is also on this side. On the other side is a tall flyover bridge with a highway leading to the capital, a gigantic train station with countless railways, tall buildings packed along complicatedly interweaving roads on the slope, shopping malls and television stations. On sunny days, you can even see the shadow of the government building far away. Tokyo is an amazing place to let boring housings that can be found anywhere in Japan and tall modern buildings co-exist peacefully here.

Looking down from the roof, the train station is like a scene in an advertisement on TV, without realism. Perhaps it's because I don't want to get close to that area? As we can wear our school uniform and straightaway go out to play immediately after school, I heard that our school is rather popular in Tokyo; If the sailor costume has bright colors, it might even increases the attractiveness by around 40%.

That day was a cloudy day, just nice enough that you can closely examine the glass panels of the tall buildings that are normally unclear due to their piercing reflections. Speaking of which, they are just a bunch of glass windows that are cut using similar methods. I always filled those glass squares with colors in my mind, as though I was sketching pixel art.

I've gotten used to killing time like that. I think it's because I'm always transferring schools due to my dad's work. At the beginning of October, when I transferred into my current high school, I joined the Computer Club just because there was no one else active there, and went about my school life without getting noticed by anyone. I've often thought that there's no point in me going to high school, while I couldn't follow the lessons as well.

As I was gazing at the building, I suddenly heard a clattering sound below me, and thus I leaned my upper body outwards to have a look. The water supply tower was set on top of the stair room jutting out from the roof while the sound was that of someone who had climbed up the stairs and opened the door.

"Eh? He's not here?"

I heard a girl's voice. When I carefully leaned forward and peered directly below, she turned around, meeting my gaze.

She had short hair, and strong-spirited eyebrows, in contrast her eyes, which gave off a cute, friendly impression. I felt like I'd seen her before. As I moved to get up, she made an extremely surprised face, letting out a "Wah!", causing me to tumbled down from the water supply tower.

It was lucky that I fell from my feet, but as the backs of my hands scraped roughly against the concrete wall, the first thing she did when we met was to wash my wounds with water from the watering can she had.

"Why would you climb up a place like that, it's dangerous!"

She said while applying plasters on my wound. Being asked such a question, I couldn’t answer her.

“……idiots and something likes high places, after all.”

“You have to play down the ‘idiots’ part when you say that!” <ref>Japanese idiom, idiots and smoke like high places. </ref>

She calmly replied. Although I wanted to escape, I couldn’t do so as my hand was held tightly.

“There, I’m done. Remember not to climb to high places again.” She lightly tapped my right hand that was full of plasters, just like a caretaker who was scolding small children. Then, she said while smiling, “Even though I said all that, I actually climbed it before myself. Seeing the ladder over there really gives you an urge to climb it, doesn't it?”

Anyway, who on earth is this girl? As I can’t recall neither faces nor names of anyone in school, I cannot think of any girl who would talk to me with such a friendly tone.

Suddenly, I saw the yellow badge on her left arm. Although it was quite old and was already somewhat faded, the words ‘Gardening Committee’ could still be seen on it. At that moment, I finally noticed the large number of flower pots arranged by the railings. Does our school even have a Gardening Committee?

“Ah, so you have to climb that high to see the computer lab! Are you that type of person, Fujishima-kun? Those who can’t concentrate when someone else is in the room? The type that people call the artistic type?

The girl held on to the railings, saying all that while looking at the school building opposite of us. I was taken aback.

“——How do you know about that?”

I let out a shout that startled even myself. She turned around to look at me with a look of shock on her face.

“Well, our class is on this side of the third floor, so that's why the computer lab can be seen from there. Besides, Fujishima-kun always sits beside the windows.”

I was found out. Color drained out of my face. How much does this girl know? She doesn’t know that I was drawing naughty pictures on the computer, does she? Wait, that’s not the main point…

“Why do you know my name?”

She raised her arms like a baseball pitcher who was getting ready to pitch the ball. It seemed my question surprised her..

“Don’t you remember me? We’re even in the same class!”

“Huh?”

I started to become anxious. From the time when I transferred to this school, I practically avoided all contact with other people, which is why I can’t remember the names of my classmates.

“It was I who told you where the canteen is and also collected information of World History for you. Even when you were changing clothes during P.E class, I have helped you out!”

“Wa- Wait a minute!”

“That last comment was just a joke~”

Ugh, this girl…

“Although that I thought that you might have forgotten about me, I didn’t really believe that it would really be true…..”

Seeing the girl with tears glistening in her eyes, I can’t help but feel somewhat guilty.

“My name is Ayaka Shinozaki, and I sit just beside you in class. How can you forget about me even like this?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Fujishima-kun, you don’t think that you are a part of class 1-4, do you? You even skipped school during the school festival.

But the school festival was held just a week after I transferred, so I had no other choice but to skip it!

“And you aren’t even wearing the class badge. It's rare for public high schools to have class badges, so it would be a pity if you don’t wear it!”

I didn’t really think it’s a pity, so I lied to her: “ I lost it.”

“Then I’ll let you borrow mines then, I have some to spare at home.” Said Ayaka while she took off her class badge from her sailor uniform.

“Huh? No, there’s really no need to.”

“Seriously, don’t move.”

She caught me from the back when I was trying to escape. I couldn’t help but freeze and pause my breathing for a moment. She moved her hands to the front of my blazer and put on the class badge on the collar of my blazer. Looking at this from another angle, wouldn’t it seem like she was hugging me from behind? No, wait, I have to calm down.

After what seemed like a very long time, the warmth of her body finally faded from my back.

“Hmm, that’s better.”

She turned me around and nodded with a satisfied look on her face. With a complicated feeling, I lowered my gaze and gazed at the blue and green badge. It was as though an alien thing appeared on my neck. Why did she help me until this extent? I saw many other people who take very good care of transfer students, but it was the first time I saw someone who was ''that'' helpful.

“It is a requirement of the school rules that one must wear a class badge, so don’t you take it off.”

“Why do the schools in Tokyo have so many odd rules…..”

Actually, isn’t it my fault for feeling that Tokyo is a very free place in the first place? One of the many annoying rules is that students must join at least one club. It was all because of these rules that I got into these kinds of troubles.

“If it weren’t for the school rules, you probably would have been in the Going-Home-Club, wouldn't you?”

So? So what?

“But isn’t the Computer Club going to be abolished next year?”

“……Huh?”

“You see, the Third Years are going to graduate soon. I heard that they are going to abolish clubs that have less than two members when they decide the club budgets next April.”

It was the first time that I’ve heard of such an important matter. I thought of the pale, tomato-shaped face of the Computer Club advisor. That guy wants to let the Computer Club close down without saying a thing, huh? No wonder my club activities are so relaxing.

“As I was saying…”

Ayaka suddenly raised her voice, startling me into stepping back half a step.

“I have something to discuss with you. If you accept my conditions…..” Her expression was that of one who made a strong resolution. “I agree to join the Computer Club!”

“……Conditions?”

“Actually, I’m the only member left in the Gardening Club as well.”

Ayaka, who had a triumphant look on her face for some reason, placed the armband on her left arm on my palm. Gardening Club? Isn’t it the Gardening Committee?

“The committee was closed down ages ago. I found this lying around in a cupboard. Isn’t it cool?”

“Not at all.”

“Why do you always say things like that!”

Her whole face flushed red. Why do you have to be so agitated, I don't understand at all.

“Small clubs have to help each other out, isn’t that right?”

<center>*</center>

In the end, I succumbed to Ayaka’s threats and accepted her conditions. We went to the staff room to hand in our application forms, and things were supposed to end just like that. Realizing that I cannot stay at the rooftop alone anymore, I could only find another place to while away time after school. On the way home, I thought to myself: Is the library better or is the restroom exclusive for teachers better?

However, Ayaka walked by my table right after school.

“I’m going to borrow the keys to the rooftop, so you can get the gardening tools first! You know where they are , right? You can find them in the cupboard with “Gardening Committee” on it.”

My classmates’ gazes fluttered between Ayaka and I, who was busy putting away my books.

“Am I not just a ghost member?” I started to say.

“…..A ghost member?” With her face pale, Ayaka turned away and covered her mouth. “Th- That’s right, I’m so sorry. I- I was just too excited, and that confused me for a moment.”

It looked like tears could pour out of her eyes at any moment. My classmates’ gazes pierced through me, as though it was I who made Ayaka cry…… No, it ''was'' I who made her cry. Anyhow, this situation is just terrible.

“Erm, uh, wait a sec!”

“Fujishima-kun, you’re busy with your activities at the Computer Club, right? I’m really sorry for bothering you.”

“O- Of course not——”

“Aren’t you going to complete your drawing of the girl on the computer soon? You just haven’t added the dress yet, right?”

“UWAAAAAAHHHHH!”

I hastily covered Ayaka’s mouth.

“Alright, alright! I got it. I’ll help you then.”

“…… Really?” The tears vanished from her face in a flash. “Thank you so much!”

She stuck out her tongue, as though it was just a prank just now. Arrggh, this girl…

“Aya-chan, there's a new member in your club?”

A female classmate asked while giving me a suspicious look.

“Oh, yes. That’s why we have more horsepower now. You can ask him anything about plants!”

My classmates exchanged looks.

“Oh, yeah!” a male classmate raised his hand. “There’s a lot of mold on the washroom sink, please think of something to help.”

“Mold isn’t even a plant!” exclaimed Ayaka.

“No, it should count as a plant, shouldn’t it?” “Differentiating organisms by animals or plants is already outdated!” “Aren’t the ones in the washroom moss?” “Lichen are definitely not plants!” “The ones in the Biology Club, shut up.” “But it's growing really quickly.” “Looks like a person's face.” “Seriously?”

The guys started to discuss the topic with vigor. What is wrong with this class? After about twenty minutes of discussion, Ayaka ended up getting a mold spray to clear it away. I hastily stopped Ayaka, who was about to dash into the men’s washroom.

“……Allow me!”

My classmates probably feel sorry for me for having to clear away the mold that have spread on the whole wall. A few of them came in to give me a hand. The washroom soon stank of the pungent odor of chlorine.

“Fujishima, it was hard on you……”

They started to pity me.

“Of course, Shinozaki is not bad too.” “Not a bad person.” “Yeah.”

I nodded tiredly while scrubbing the wall vigorously with a sponge.

I suddenly noticed that it was the first time my classmates called me by my name. Even so, I just stammered, unable to even answer them properly.

<center>*</center>

“Let’s have a welcome party! My treat!”

She said that evening as we were carrying the orchid plants indoors.

“I work part time at a ramen store, so I can give you a discount.”

I thought to myself: How rare for high school girls to work part time.

“As I often went there, I became a part time worker in the end. There are many interesting customers as well. Do you want to go with me?”

“Why——”

Thinking that I would have to see Ayaka’s tearful face if I refuse her, I nodded reluctantly. After keeping the tools in the cupboard and returning the keys to the staff’s office, I walked out of the school entrance with her.

After learning that I haven’t even gone across the Shuto Expressway, she was astonished.

“But don’t you live just nearby?”

“Well, I’ve just moved here recently, and there’s a lot of people at the station, so I didn’t really feel like going. Besides, I don’t even have a reason to go there.”

“Don't you usually go to bookshops or record stores?”

I nodded. Usually, I would just buy books or records that I want online, as I might not find the things that I want even if the actual shops are big.

“Is that so? But the shop that I’ve just mentioned is very far from the station. The ramen isn’t really that good, but the ice-cream there is extremely delicious, so it’s still very famous.”

“Then just start an ice-cream shop instead…”

“Try not to say that to Min-san, or you’ll get ramen served with ice cream.”

Min-san would probably the owner of the ramen shop. Is he Chinese?

Ayaka walked a bit faster than me. Seeing her happily prancing around, I was extremely mystified. Where did it went wrong? How did it turn out like this? Why is she so nice to me?

When we were crossing the bridge, a large delivery truck passed by, spraying dust on us. After entering the streets, we walked passed the Shuto Expressway viaduct and towards the station. Then, we went along with the crowd and entered the south side of the underpass and exited it through the east side.

We walked back to the surface in the direction of the railways. After we passed by a tramp’s tent in a park, we found the ramen shop in a dark alley unreached by streetlights. On the first floor of the building that had both shops and lodgings, only the signboard that says ‘Hanamaru Ramen’ had any light on it. The customers gathered around the shop looked like bugs attracted to a bug zapper.

The interior of the ramen shop was very cramped. Most of the space in the shop was taken up by the kitchen, while only five tables were in the shop. The other customers could only dine outside on a steel chair. There were even some customers who were sitting on turned over beer crates, eating their ramen while holding the bowl.

“You can just sit wherever you like.”

After saying that, she entered the shop. Although she told me to sit wherever I like, the problem is the chairs and beer crates are already fully seated.

I saw a man sitting on the emergency staircase between a building and another one that Ayaka just went in, located by the entrance of the kitchen. Beneath the stairs, there were stacks of worn tires, small gas tanks and some cardboard boxes full of stains.

When he raised his head, I couldn’t help but take a step back. The man was about twenty and had darkish skin. It was already November, but he was just wearing a T-shirt, completely showing off his bulging biceps. On the moment that he stared at me, I even thought that I would get killed.

“Are you a student of M High School?”

“Nonono, I’m still in middle school. Do I look that much like a high schooler?” I lied for no reason at all. He put down his bowl and said:

“Really? There's a teacher teaching Maths, Fukumoto-sensei. Does he still have any hair left?”

“No, a lot of his hair has already dropped o……AHHH!”

He approached me and flicked my forehead. The pain made me feel as though it bore a hole on my forehead.

“…… Uuuuuu…… That’s too despicable of you. Since you’ve graduated from our school, why don’t you say so in the first place!” I, myself, don’t understand why I feel that he is despicable (It was obvious from my school uniform that I’m from M High School, its my problem for lying). I covered my aching forehead and crouched down while moaning. On that moment, a voice rang behind me:

“He didn’t graduate. This guy was kicked out of school: a drop out. Here, eat this.”

When I turned my head, I saw a young lady in a gray, sleeveless vest standing behind me. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and you could see a white sarashi<ref>A cloth used to bind one's chest</ref> around her chest. She looked just like a laborer. It was only because of the black apron with ‘Hanamaru’ printed on it in white that I realized that she was from the shop. Does that mean that she is Min-san? So she’s a woman!

The thing that Min-san just stuffed into my hands was a paper cup filled with ice cream.

“Master, I’ve told you many times already, I was not kicked out. I dropped out myself.”

“Say that after you’ve clear your tab, you bum.”

“Babies are jobless when they are born too! It’s just that they are tainted in the large bathtub called life after that!"

That would be colorless, not jobless. <ref>In Japanese, jobless and colorless have the same pronunciation (Mushoku)</ref> But Min-san doesn’t seem she want to reply him, but instead turned around and went back into the kitchen that was filled with white smoke. I held the paper cup with the ice cream and just stood there in a daze for quite some time.

“Hey, you there!” the person who was kicked out of school called me. As soon as I turned around, I hastily covered my forehead.

“What are you so nervous for! So you’re in first year now, huh?” He said while looking at my class badge. “How many fails did you get in your test?”

“Huh?”

Why on earth are you asking me something like this?

“Fujishima-kun, don’t chat with Tetsu-senpai for too long, you’ll get the NEET virus!”

Ayaka, who wore her black apron over her school uniform, said while walking out of the kitchen with a tray full of bowls. The dark skinned guy —— Tetsu-senpai gnashed his teeth, but only pretended to flick Ayaka’s forehead. This is just plain preferential treatment! Ayaka stuck out her tongue, and started to serve the customers outside the shop.

“Oh, just answer me already! Your face is that of one who fails a lot since first year.”

Although I thought that he was a busybody, what he said was still the truth. I could only answer in a small voice: “ I need to retake my English and Japanese History.” Tetsu-senpai caught hold of my arms while beaming, forcefully dragged me to a gas tank and made me sit down.

“Actually, the seats here are specially for NEETs. You have the potential to be a NEET, so if you drop out, feel free to come here! We will always welcome you.”

“No, please don’t expect that of me.” We? Are there anyone else who’s with him?

“Why? I can start from teaching you how to choose pachinko machines! Also, I know some of the employees quite well, so I know which one has the highest frequency of hitting the jackpot!”

When I had a closer look, I saw some magazines about pachinko gambling stashed in Tetsu-senpai’s hind pocket. Whoa, so this guy is a professional pachinko player. What a useless person. I averted my gaze, and started to eat the ice-cream using a wooden spoon. Basking in the evening sun of this late autumn and savoring the delightful aroma of the ramen soup while eating ice cream is indeed exceptionally scrumptious.

The second person of the ‘we’ that Tetsu-senpai spoke of appeared when I was eating roast pork noodles. He suddenly pressed a hard object against the back of my head and said: “Don’t move. Throw away your weapon, raise your hands, declare your name and unit.” I almost spitted the roast pork out of my mouth.

“Erm…… Err…… But……” If I raised my hands, the roast pork will fall down!

“Major, you are so slow. Stop doing idiotic stuff and sit down.”

Tetsu-senpai said while stirring his vanilla flavoured ice cream and caramel sauce.

“But he’s sitting on my seat! Who is this fellow?”

“Narumi. He’s in the same club as Ayaka.”

“Hiro-san said that he’s coming later too, there won’t be enough seats then.”

“Hiro can just sit on Narumi’s thigh.”

“Oh, I see.”

What do you mean you see?

The guy called Major then walked into my field of vision. He wore a dark green and coffee-coloured camouflaging sports attire, a sturdy looking helmet, and a pair of sunglasses shaped like goggles. He was somewhat thin and his skin was a beautiful shade of pink that belongs to primary school students. He actually looked about my age. While putting away the model gun (Well, I think it might be a model gun, but what if it’s a real gun?) into his khaki backpack, he looked at me and said:

“But isn’t this guy a high schooler? He doesn’t fit the description of a NEET.”

“Don’t worry, he’s my kouhai. He’ll become a great NEET after a year or two.”

“I definitely won’t become a NEET!” I protested hastily. Through his goggles, Major glared at me and sat on a cardboard box.

“In this era when there are about a billion NEETs in our country, NEET-in-waitings like you are necessary, are they not? The future of our country sure is dark.”

“……in waiting?”

In bewilderment, I asked him what did he mean by that. Major pointed at me and started to chatter enthusiastically:

“Speaking of which, do you know the how a NEET is defined? The term ‘NEET’ was originally used on people who are between the ages of 16 and 18 and are not in education or employment. When the word came to Japan from England, its meaning changed to include people from 15 to 34. As a lot of types appeared after that, they were even classified into an active type and a passive type, a sudden type, challenged type, caveman type and hesitating type. Besides that, there were also some attempts to classify them using three-dimensional coordination to divide them into eight quadrants, but they are actually just meaningless classifications to me.”

“Mukai-san, sorry for the wait.”

Ayaka served Major his salt-flavoured ramen. It looks like Mukai is Major’s real name.

“I’m so sorry, Fujishima-kun, there would be less customers after a while.”

I tried to give Ayaka a ‘justfindanexcuseformetoleavethisseat’ signal, but she didn’t get it. Major sipped some soup and continued:

“NEETs were originally just a cultural illness of reliance, and will only appear in a prosperous country like ours. We should be more proud of NEETs! Love the country that strives to produce NEETs, for world peace, we must stand up! We must find more non NEET-in-waiting elites, learn from each other , form a new Japanese Party, and bravely challenge the evil! Grow, NEETs! Grow like blazing fire! NEETs!”

“So noisy! Just shut up and eat your noodles!”

Min-san’s furious outburst echoed from the kitchen, and a small frying pan flew out of the kitchen soon after, landing on Major’s head.

“Huh? What’s with that guy?”

A male voice rang in the alley, and a tall silhouette appeared at the end of the alley.

A young man daringly wearing a brightly colored coat with khaki jeans was standing at the end of the alley. His occupation was a mystery, but he radiated the aura of a professional person. His aura was different from what Tetsu-senpai had, but they have the same imposing manner. That man approached, almost causing me to fall off the gas tank.

“He’s Ayaka’s friend. See, he’s from M High School.” Said Tetsu-senpai. “Oh? Oh——”That man patted my shoulders and said:

“There was a time when Tetsu was wearing this uniform too!”

He shot a look at the narrow kitchen back door and sat down beside Tetsu-senpai. I started to get confused. Aren’t the seats here just for NEETs?

“Hi, nice to meet you. Here’s my card.” He took a piece of card out of his pocket and handed it to me. He ''is'' a working person! While thinking so, I took the card, on the card it was printed:

‘NEET - Hiroaki Kuwabara’

…… Huh? I nearly fainted at that moment.

To reconfirm the world that I live in, I breathed in deeply and looked at my surroundings. Tetsu-senpai was eating ice cream, Major was eating salt-flavored ramen. Ayaka was busy washing bowls in the smoky kitchen, Min-san was having a battle royale with flames. Looking at the night skies in this autumn, the only person who found something wrong was me.

“Is…… Is your job a NEET?”

I asked cautiously. Hiro showed me a smile worthy of a toothpaste advertisement while saying:

“What are you talking about? A NEET isn't an occupation!”

Well, that’s true. As I was about to nod, Hiro’s next comment completely devastated me.

“Being a NEET is a lifestyle.”

He actually said that it was a lifestyle? I almost cried. Hiro, with his eyes narrowed while pushing back his hair, was meaninglessly handsome. What on earth is with these people?

“Did you make these cards before this, Hiro?”

“Well, its quite convenient while flirting. People always laugh when they see it.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you’ll make your girlfriend angry like this, and that you shouldn't flirt with other people so much?”

“Ah, I broke up with her already. I’m now living at the house of a lady working at a night club. Making it clear that I’m jobless from the start makes my life much easier!”

So Hiro-san is a gigolo! Well, he did say that it was a lifestyle.

I listened to their conversation at the sidelines while drinking the ramen soup, but I didn't really notice its taste. From their conversation, I gathered that they were about 18 to 19, and are supposed to be teenagers who have bright futures.

I vaguely thought to myself: would Tetsu-senpai’s words that I’ll turn out like them soon come true? I could only hope that this won’t be true.

After we finished eating the ramen, and were enjoying the ice creams (Tetsu-senpai was already eating a second), extremely noisy rock music suddenly blared in this narrow space. It was ‘Colorado Bulldog<ref>Song by the band Mr. Big</ref>. The three immediately sprang up, took out their cellphones that were almost simultaneously playing the same ringtone.

Tetsu-senpai picked up the call first, then Major and Hiro’s phone immediately stopped ringing. An expression that looked very much like regret appeared on their faces.

“Min-san, Alice has an order for you! Onion ramen, without ramen, roast pork and egg.”

Doesn’t that mean that there's only leeks left? I thought to myself. After three minutes, the bowl that Min-san took out did look like there was only leeks and soup.

“Tell this to her clearly, we sell ramen.” Min-san said with a sour expression on her face.

The leeks floating in the soup looked like islands in a sea of soup. Tetsu-senpai, Major and Hiro-san looked at each other.

“The problem is, who’s gonna take it to her?” said Tetsu-senpai.

“Does Alice seem like she’s in a bad mood?” asked Hiro.

“Definitely.”

“Are you guys taking it to her?” me asking this question was a sign of doom. Tetsu-senpai nodded, and then slapped his kneecap.

“Since there’s four people here, lets decide by a Yamanote Line game<ref>Originally, it’s a game where the each player tells the name of a station that the Yamanote Line can reach. Here, they will say things that are related to the topic given</ref>, the one who loses sends it.”

Four people?

“So what’s the topic?”

“Lets use “Brochures commonly found at employment agencies” then.”

“Okay, but there’s only one chance when you can’t answer.”

“Wa- Wait a minute, did you count me in?”

“Okay, lets start from me. ‘ Guide to a Laborer’s Insurance’.”

“ ‘Searching for your Dreams from Thirty-two’.”

“ ‘Discover your Talents in Two Minutes’.”

“Ah, uh, erm……”

“Narumi, that’s your first loss. ‘How to Resign Favorably’.”

“ ‘Starting Your Business From A Computer’!”

“ ‘Guide for Blending in your New Workplace’.”

“…… How on earth would I know any of those!”

“Ah, getting angry are you? Narumi, as long as you’re a NEET, you’ll have to know about these! Going to an employment agency but coming back without doing anything, this is a route that all of us must take.”

No, the problem is I’m not a NEET.

“If you lose you’ll have to admit it, loser.”

“Don’t mind it, Narumi, it isn’t embarrassing that you don’t know about these.”

“Well, of course! Don’t console me!”

“But you still have to send over the ramen!”

Unable to retort, that was how I fell into their trap.

The place that I was supposed to send the ramen was in the same building as the ramen shop, but on the third floor, room 308. As they said: “You’ll know when you go.” There was a large signboard on the door.

‘NEET Detective Agency’

The words were written with a somewhat cute handwriting, and there were a row of mystifying English words.

It’s the only NEET thing to do

My mind had already gone numb after the events that I’ve gone through today, so I won’t be surprised even if I see a NEET being a detective. I used the corner of the tray that held the ramen to press the electric bell, and the side camera modified into the electric bell flashed blue. According to Tetsu-senpai, that was the sign for ‘Come in’.

After opening the door, I saw that it was a long single room. As the air-conditioner was going strong, it was even colder than outside. Walking past the fridge, kitchen and washing machine in the corridor, a narrow room could be seen. As there were not any partitions in the room, a computer rack could be seen even from the entrance, while countless monitors filled the walls of the room.

“Your ramen is here……”

“Please enter.”

The voice of a young girl rang from inside of the room.

While holding the tray,I walked into the room. This room is really quite something. Three sides of the walls were covered with unknown machines, liquid plasma monitors and electric cables, while the small space left —— the floor in the middle of the room, was filled with a mattress. As though she was buried in dolls, the silhouette wearing pajamas turned around.

[[Image:Kamisama no memocho vol01 037.jpg|thumb|''She looked just like a doll.'']]

She looked just like a doll. She had a small face, a pair of large eyes that were in contrast with her face, unbelievably white skin, thin limbs, sleek hair flowing on the sheets, and was wearing pale blue pajamas with pictures of cartoon bears on it. I held the tray and stared at the girl.

The girl shifted the table that the keyboard was on aside, and pulled to her bed another long table that was just like those small tables that were used with the mattresses in a hospital.

“What are you standing there for? I ordered leek ramen. I don’t remember ordering a high school student-shaped ornament.”

“Ah, um…… Where should I put the ramen?”

“Since you're standing so far away, do you think that my arms seem like they’re long enough that I can take the bowls from your hands?”

I was scolded by her. But I do not even feel angry or surprised anymore. I placed the tray on the table in front of the girl. She took the disposable chopsticks, looked at it for awhile and breathed in deeply. Her small face was full of determination while the hands holding the tip of the chopsticks were applying force on it. But when the chopsticks were dragged into a ‘人’ shape, it just shook but did not separate. How little strength does this girl have?

“…… Would you like me to give you a hand?”

The cute girl wearing the pajamas was visibly glaring at me.

“It seems that you’re the type that sees a frail bird that couldn’t fly, tosses them upwards and sink in your own satisfaction after that, are you not? These type of people are the most useless of them all. When you walk away triumphantly, the bird would fall back down on the asphalt road and die, but you won’t even know that. Being dumb really should have a limit.”

It’s just a pair of disposable chopsticks, why am I scolded like this? But I did not retort her. Again, she breathed in deeply and applied force to separate the chopsticks.

Thwack.

The chopstick on the right has split into two. This is the most common result. She emotionlessly stared for awhile at the chopsticks with unequal length, and then started to cry. Hey, don’t cry!

She used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears, and started to eat the leek ramen(that pretty much has only leeks in it). As I was thinking of this, she started to glare at me again and said: “Your interests are really out of my comprehension. Does silently watching people eat make you happy?”

“Ah, so- sorry.”

When I was about to walk out of the room, this time she said: “Where do you think you're going? If you are gone, who will dispose of the bowls? You should really think about this.” I scratched my head, and having no other choice, I squatted down at the entrance with my back to the mattress.

While listening to the girl wearing pajamas eating the onions, I mulled over the things that happened today. I'm just here because I couldn’t refuse Ayaka’s request…… Then, I encountered a lot of stuff. I'm really tired. As I was about to drift into sleep, the girl’s voice rang out yet again.

“Narumi, I’m done. Get some beverages for me from the fridge.”

Startled, I turned back to face the girl.

“Eh, huh?”

“I said, get me something to drink from the fridge. Falling asleep even in someone else’s house, you really are shameless.”

Who are you to say that about me? But still, I followed her instructions as I did not have the energy to retort. After opening the fridge, I found that it was stuffed full of 350ml red cans, and nothing else. I thought that all of them were Coke, but they were actually all [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Pepper Dr. Pepper]. I don’t even have the energy to say anything anymore. The girl drank all of the Dr. Pepper that I brought her in one breath, and happiness welled out from her face. Seeing that expression made me feel that I could forgive everything.

“When God was creating the world, it was because He drank Dr. Pepper that He took a rest on the seventh day. If Dr. Pepper does not exist, there would be twelve days in a week instead of seven.”

“Is that so?”

“Narumi, you should drink it too! I can’t give you the ones in my fridge, but I can tell you where you can get them.”

So you're not giving them to me?

“…… Wait!” That was when I realized: “Why do you know my name?”

Was it when she was talking to Tetsu-senpai on the phone? No, at that moment Alice was just ordering her leek ramen, and she hung up right after she ordered. There wasn’t any time for them to say my name.

“Fujishima Narumi, sixteen, male, 164cm tall, weighs 51kg, in class 1-4 of M high school……” She fluently spoke of all of my personal information —— address, phone number, educational background, and family background. I was speechless.

“Ayaka said that there was a new club member, so I just did a little investigation. There is so much information in your school, but so little protective measures, so it’s better if you be more careful.”

At a loss of words, I looked at the wall formed of computers.

“…… Are you a hacker?”

“I’m not a hacker.”

The girl smiled while shaking her head.

“I’m a NEET detective.”

The detective said, Alice was partly her real name, and partly an alias.

“Yuuko can also be read as Alice <ref>有子is read as Yuuko, but 有can be read as ari, 子 can be read as su</ref>. The name Alice was taken from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tiptree,_Jr. James Tiptree's] real name.”

“Who is she?”

Alice sat on the mattress while hugging her knees, looking at me as though she was looking at an idiot.

“She’s a novelist! Didn’t you see the signboard at the door? Although I changed a letter, it was quite a famous quote! Haven’t you read of it before?”

I cocked my head, thinking of the English words on the signboard.

“The detectives that you speak of…… Don’t they just accept other people’s requests and investigate various cases?”

“I am not an ordinary detective, but a NEET detective. They are as different as Chofu and Den Enchofu, mind you. An ordinary detective asks around for information, monitors other people, all in all going here and there to search for information and find their target. NEET detectives, on the other hand……”

Alice puffed out her chest, turned around to the wall covered with machines and waved her hands.

“Do not need to leave their rooms even a step, but can search the whole world to find out the truth. You probably just think that I’m just a hikkikomori who’s overly reliant on the Internet, huh? You don’t need to lie.”

“Erm….. Yeah.”

“Hmph, that’s because the common man cannot understand the work of a detective. A detective is the messanger of the deceased, looking for the words lost from their graves, hurting the living for the sake of protecting the honor of the deceased, and condemning the dead for the sake of consoling the living. That is why this is such an unpopular and misunderstood occupation……
Is your expression questioning that why am I, as a hikkikomori, am saying all these?”

“No, my expression shouldn’t be that obvious.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“But you look like you have something to say. Don’t worry, just ask! Because of my occupation, I am already used to never ending questions. And I will let you fall into despair very quickly.”

…… Despair?

I don’t really have anything much to ask, just that I’m a bit shocked by the endless chatter of this strange girl, Alice. But in this situation, it seems that I need to ask a question. Looking around the room that looks like a control room, I asked the question that was the most confusing to me.

“You…… What do you usually eat? Do you always eat those stuff?”

Alice’s round eyes became even rounder.

“This trivial matter is the first thing that you thought of?’’

“…… I think that what we eat is very important.”

“Yes, you are correct. You are also an oddball, different from what Ayaka has said.”

Alice narrowed her eyes while looking at me, as though she was smiling.

“To obtain the nutrients essential for my body, drinking Dr. Pepper would suffice. But Min-san is very persistent, so sometimes I eat some vegetables as well.”

“So that’s why you don’t grow……”

“Where did your biased opinion that only tall people are good come from? I can list out fifty advantages for being a shorty and disadvantages of being tall, if you are willing to have a debate, I am always ready to accept the challenge.”

“No, sorry.”

I was just thinking about her height, which resulted in me mumbling to myself and getting heard.

“So do you depend on Min-san for your daily life?”

Alice raised her eyebrows.

“You’re really impolite, you know. I’ve already said that I’m a NEET detective, a NEET detective is an occupational detective! I have an actual income, and pay her for everything.”

“Eh, eh, but aren’t you a NEET?” aren’t all NEETs jobless?

“You misunderstood NEETs from a fundamental level. The second E in NEET is Employment, being employed by someone. My occupation is a personal enterprise, so I’m not employed. How other people view that depends.”

How other people would view.

“…… Lifestyle huh?”

“In Hiro’s life, that is so. Turgenev might say call it the ending of an illusion, Dostoyevsky might call it hell, William Somerset Maugham might call it reality, while Haruki Murakami might call it self. I use another name for it, but anyhow it’s unrelated to the matter of income.”

I have absolutely no idea what she is talking about, but the fact that the pajamas-clad girl earned money by being a detective is somewhat unbelievable. Which reminds me, she seems to be familiar with the usage of computers and the Internet.

“Your expression tells me that you don’t believe me. No matter, another man would come here in a moment to request for my investigation, you’ll probably believe it after you’ve heard it.”

“…… Huh?”

At that moment, the doorbell rang as she had predicted. I turned around and looked at the door.

“Open the door.”

“Me?”

“It would be nice if the agency adds some other way to welcome guests besides the blue lights.”

As I walked to the entrance to open the door, I froze as there were three men outside the door. The young man in the middle was wearing a leather coat and looked slightly older than me, but his expression was like that of a wild wolf. Among the other two who were flanking his sides, one was a man having muscles like a rocky mountain, the other was tall like an electric pole. Both of them were wearing the same gray hoodie.

“Who is this guy? Where’s Alice?”

The wolf said. It was as though I was pierced by his sharp gaze, my lips trembled and I was unable to speak. At this moment, Alice’s voice came from inside the room:

“Oh, Yondaime, please come in.”

The two people behind the man who was called Yondaime said: “We’ll wait here.” And then I was dragged into the room. After the door was closed, the two men disappeared from my field of vision. At the moment when I was closing the door, I felt as if I was glared at, and my hands holding the door handle trembled.

“Narumi, get another can of Dr. Pepper.”

Alice’s voice finally peeled my hands off the door handle.

“Hey, who is that guy? Aren’t we going to talk about the job?”

When I handed the Dr. Pepper to Alice, Yondaime who was sitting beside the matress used his chin to point at me, and then turned around and said to me: “You, get out for a moment.”

“Eh?”

Telling me to go outside the room to become best friends with the two bear-like bodyguards, and wait for you to finish discussing? What are you talking about!

“Yondaime, just imagine that there’s a high school student-shaped ornament here, relax and start the discussion.”

“Hey, Alice, are you joking? You should know that this isn’t something that you can let outsiders know!”

“It doesn’t matter, Narumi is only my assistant for today, I can guarantee that he will not speak of this to anyone else.”

I don’t even know when I’ve become an assistant.

“That's not the point.”

“If you’re so insistent, why don’t you talk so that outsiders wouldn’t understand? Your job has a lot of jargon anyway. If you would not want then, you can just give the request to some other people.”

An awkward expression appeared on Yondaime’s face and he used his foot to kick the bedstead. Finally, he sighed and started to talk.

Indeed, I could not understand a thing, it was all a bunch of unknown nouns and verbs that you couldn’t understand. The ones that I could barely understand “deal with him when we catch him”, are the ones that I really don’t want to understand.

“Hmm.”

Alice finished listening to Yondaime’s explanation and finished drinking her second can of Dr. Pepper.

“I understand. Narumi, do you understand what he just said?”

I hastily shook my head.

“Is that so? Basically, someone is doing unknown drug dealing behind Yondaime’s back, so he requested me to help find out about the ways that they deal drugs.”

“What is the use of me talking like that when you explain it to him!” Yondaime flew into a rage. That was quite understandable. I felt somewhat happy and thought: Great, finally someone would teach her a lesson…… “What is with that happy look on your face!” Yondaime’s changed his target of anger to me. I could only retreat to the corridor and hid behind the fridge.

“Well, as I had a big headache this morning, I wanted to enrage the first person who came in to vent my annoyace, whoever it was. Although Narumi was the first person to come in, but for some reason he is quite tolerant of it, and didn’t get angry at all.”

So she did all that on purpose!

“Coincidentally, the next person was you, so I vented my annoyance on you, so don’t mind it. If I did anything wrong, you’ll always get angry, and that’s why I like you the most.”

Alice stretched her legs out of the blanket and smiled sweetly. At this moment, I was totally defeated (Yondaime probably was, too). Yondaime hammered the blanket for some time, tried to say something but then stopped, and then he stood up.

“So are you willing to accept the request?”

“I accept it, so just leave it all to me!”

“I will mail the details to you, goodbye.”

Yondaime walked to the corridor and dragged me out from the fridge. He caught hold of my left shoulder and applied force on it until his thumb almost sank into my body.

“Ah, ouch…….”

“I’ve remembered your face, and will find out your address immediately. Listen closely, you didn’t hear anything just now. Is that clear?”

The wolfish eyes came closer to my eyes, while I could only nod while trembling.

“Answer me!”

“I…… I didn’t hear anything.”

Yondaime tossed me to the ground and walked out of the room.

“Are you alright?”

Alice came over and asked as I was huddled up on the floor in exhaustion. So she can walk? I thought that she had an illness that causes her to die if she leaves her bed.

“I just feel very tired.”

The words popped out of my mouth. That would be my feelings about what occurred the whole day.

“If I didn’t do so, I’m afraid you’ll still think that I’m a hikkikomori who’s over-reliant on the Internet. Don’t mind it!”

“No, I already understand clearly.”

Because of Ayaka, I stepped into an unbelievable world. Drug dealing, detectives and hackers, I had always hoped that these only exist in worlds that I don’t know of.

“You just wanted me to understand your work, so you said nonsensically that I’m your assistant and that I’m tight-lipped……”

“That is not nonsense. You are indeed tight-lipped, I am sure of it.”

I raised my head to look at Alice and saw that she was smiling. Since this is the first time that we’ve met, why does she dare to say so?

“Hey, Narumi. The people who met me, each and every one of them would ask: ''‘Are you really a NEET? Why did you become a NEET?’'', and you are the first one who did not ask me this question.”

Adjusting to my eye level, Alice squatted down.

“Although it might be because you’re thoughtless or uncaring, but I -- we NEETs would be extremely happy. Instead of pitying us, ignoring us would have been better. 'Why did we become NEETs?', this question shouldn’t even be asked. Because there is only one reason – it is written on our page of God’s notebook: ‘We lose when we work.’ There is no other reason.”

“…… God’s notebook?”

“Isn’t this statement so irresponsible that it’s great?”

Placing her hands and chin on her knees, Alice said while smiling:

“What the word NEET really means, is actually not ‘Someone who doesn’t know how to do anything’, and not ‘Someone who doesn’t want to do anything’.”

<center>*</center>

Holding the empty bowl on the plate while walking out of the NEET Detective Agency, I saw that it was already completely dark outside. The starlight could not be seen as it was hidden by the piercing lights on the earth. The ramen shop below had become extremely crowded. Laughter and angry shouts coming from there could be heard even from here.

After I walked down the emergency backstairs, I found Yondaime sitting on the seat exclusively for NEETs that I was sitting on just now. Tetsu-senpai, Major, Hiro-san and Yondaime surrounded the wooden table, and looked like they were doing something together. The clear tinkle of a bell-like sound could be heard even from far away.

“Sou-san! Didn’t you say that you are only playing for five minutes!?”

The bodyguard, Rocky, who was standing behind Yondaime was shouting angrily by Yondaime’s ears.

“Shut up, how can I go back when I’m in a losing streak! Tetsu, hurry up and throw already!”

“Okay, four five and six.”

“Impossible!”

A large bundle of money was on the bowl. So they’re playing a game of dices. Do these four know each other?

“Fujishima-kun, Min-san made a flavored ice cream, do you want to try some?”

Ayaka ran out holding an ice cream cone. While licking the ice cream which was giving out a fragrant aroma, I listened to the dice tinkling along in the bowl. Yondaime was shouting with his whole face red, throwing his cash onto the bowl like a ninja throwing knives. Looking at this situation, I couldn’t help but feel – somewhat happy.

<center>*</center>

On the way home, the streetlights on the street was very dim. Walking in front of me, Ayaka turned around and said:

“I’m so sorry, I did say that I wanted to have a welcome party for you, but coincidentally the shop was busy……”

Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve talked much with Ayaka today at the shop. There were so many customers that even I helped to deliver.

“Oh yeah, did you see Alice?”

“Yeah…… She’s an oddball.” I couldn’t say anything else about her.

“But it was really unbelievable today. There are indeed a lot of interesting people behind the ramen shop, but its rare that all of them were present like today! You’re so lucky, Fujishima-kun.”

“Does that count as lucky?”

Indeed, the people that I met and the faces that I’ve seen today has far exceeded my brain capacity, but I still remembered all of them. Tetsu-senpai, Min-san, Major, Hiro-san, Alice and Yondaime.

“It would be even better if brother could come.”

Brother?

“After my brother left school, he became a NEET. He usually goes to the ramen shop to hang out with Tetsu-senpai and the others. But recently he didn’t even go home or to the shop. I couldn’t even reach his phone.”

“You can’t really say that all of those who hang out there don’t have a job……?”

A horrible illusion came upon me. Would I turn out like them when I　leave school someday?

Ayaka turned around and said: “Did you ever think of leaving school?”

“Every day.”

Under the streetlight, an inscrutable expression appeared on Ayaka’s face.

“…… Even now?”

I was momentarily speechless. Being unable to immediately answer this question is indeed strange.

Ayaka gazed sincerely at me.

I averted her gaze and lied: “Now…… I don’t want to……. Probably!”

“Is that so.” A gentle smile appeared on Ayaka’s face.

“But I think you have no need to lie right now.”

I stopped walking, speechless, and Ayaka stopped too. Coincidentally, we were standing in the middle of two streetlights, while our shadows interlaced on the asphalt road.

“…… Why?”

I could only say this one word. Why? How did she know that I was lying?

“Because…… That place originally belonged to me.” Ayaka said. “It was because there were no other members that I entered the Gardening Club. So in this case, I’m your senior for about half a year!”

I pondered the reason why Ayaka can smile while saying such a thing. Because she is different from me, and can chat with the other students in our class as if nothing had happened, it seemed as natural as breathing.

Hearing me speak of my true thoughts, she showed me a glass-like small that was even more transparent.

“It’s really simple, you can do it as well. Shout when you’re angry like the others, laugh when you’re happy like the others, and speak your mind when you want something.”

I lowered my head, and thought repeatedly about what Ayaka meant by her words. I still don’t get it. I just felt that her words was like that of a busybody, although its contents completely suits my current situation.

After we crossed the bridge, Ayaka and I said goodbye to each other.

Looking at the silhouette of Ayaka running towards the station, I thought of a scene when she was shouting or laughing like the others. Wasn't she just pushing herself? Does she mean that I should do that as well? Forcing myself to talk to the other students, forcing myself to smile.

I wish that she would not care about me anymore. I just couldn’t do what she said anyhow.

<references/>

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