Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 4 Chapter 2 (section)

==2.02 Chiharu Part 3==

Dispensing with the preliminaries, how is everything going?

It seems that I am still right at the height of youth as always.

Last night, I experienced a common page of youth as expected; I had a quarrel with my parents. —I had unintentionally fallen asleep at Urban Dome again, resulting in me returning home late. As to be expected, mother was livid. I’m glad that she was worried for me, but she may have been too overprotective… Anyway, when I awoke, ''that girl'' was gone, I wonder why.

Hey, how are you over there?

Are you well?

“Senpai… what are you in a daze for? ''Aah!'' Your organisation of the documents has not progressed at all!”

Only when Chiharu heard the voice of her junior did she awake from her ‘narrating quirk’, returning to the real world.

After lessons ended before noon, the usual four people gathered in the student council room.

Apart from Chiharu, there were the first-year pair of Tsushima Ayumu the secretary, and Noda Saori the accountant. The last was the second-year in charge of general affairs, Kanadome Naoki.

“Please do your work properly, vice-chairman!”

“You’re wasting your efforts. Ayukawa’s concentration is practically non-existent. Her ability to take action being a different case.”

In contrast to Saori whose cheeks have swelled up, Naoki had a look of having already given up and was silently continuing on with his work.

Even Chiharu thought that Naoki’s words were on the spot. Chiharu could be distracted by anything, so long as it enters her sight. That’s why, if there was someone completely opposite from Chiharu—someone who thinks of everything and always plans ahead, she felt like she would complement perfectly with them, no matter if they were just a first-year. Alas, there did not seem to be anyone like that around her.

“Fine, fine, I’m the type to move before thinking after all. That’s to say, my body moves by itself?”

“What are you doing as you say that, Ayukawa-senpai…”

“From what I’m seeing, you are just distributing your portion of the work to all of us…”

“How can you do that, vice-chairman…”

“I’m sorry, everyone. For being such a worthless vice-chairman.”

As she pretended to be wipe her tears, Chiharu briskly distributed her portion of the work to the three’s stack. When she returned to her seat, she could hear the sigh of three person in unison. As if they did not even have the spirit to protest anymore, they wordlessly arranged the extra portion into their stacks. What a bunch of truly endearing companions, she thought.

Surely, these fun and warm days would continue on tomorrow and the day after that too. Ah, it’s already spring now. Once spring break arrives, perhaps I’ll go somewhere. All by myself to somewhere far—.

It was right at the moment when her ‘narrating quirk’ resumed.

“Noda!”

Suddenly, the door to the student council room was violently pushed open. Chiharu and the rest turned around with a startle.

“If it isn’t Ue-chan. Yo!”

It was a face Chiharu knew. He was the captain of the Swimming club known as Ueda.

Ueda ignored Chiharu who raised a hand enthusiastically, heading straight to Saori and grabbed her arm.

“I could see you from the window and so I came… didn’t you say you were taking a break from club activities due to a cold! If that’s the case, why are you here? Right before the sports meet and here you are slacking?”

“E-erm, err…”

“Do you have any awareness of being a first-year regular? Hurry up and come with me! If you have the free time to waste here, come and practice!”

Facing Ueda who was forcefully trying to drag her away, Saori contracted. She looked as if she was petrified by his threatening attitude.

“W-wait a moment! Don’t get rough!”

“Oi, that’s our junior you are getting touchy with. You can’t just do whatever the hell as you please here.”

“''Aa?'' This is a problem for our club activities, so shut up!”

Ayumu and Naoki stood up from their seats and glared at him.

A dangerous atmosphere came over the student council room in an instant.

However, there was still one person seated in her seat. It was Chiharu.

“Well, well, just calm down, Ue-chan. Your stormy face when you are angry is pretty scary, probably much more than you think so.”

“Don’t use Noda at a time like this, Ayukawa! Didn’t council activities ended last week!”

“I-it’s not like that, vice-chairman didn’t—”

“Understood, ''roger'', ''okay''. Then, I shall first apologise to you. I’m sorry, Ue-chan, Noda-chan.”

When Chiharu apologised with some lamentation, Ueda was taken aback. His mouth which was about to yell back came to a shut. Ayumu and Naoki looked like they were about to protest, but Chiharu spoke before they could.

“I didn’t know that the sports meet was just arriving, but to make Noda-chan help out for our work was my failure at management. I’ve certainly caused some trouble to the Swimming club and Noda-chan.”

“T-that’s all because I didn’t say anything—”

“But, you still need to respect the will of the person herself. Why did Noda-chan lied that she had a cold? Because she thought that if she said the truth, you wouldn’t give her time off? What Ue-chan is doing right now is like saying, ‘Just neglect the council’s work!’.”

Ueda looked as if he had some words stuck in his throat.

“Coming here even if it meant that she had to lie—see, doesn’t that show that she has a sense of responsibility. She just wanted to clear up what’s left of the council’s work. Really, that’s all.”

Truthfully speaking, that was not the case. As far as Chiharu saw, Saori was not so much focusing on work as much as she was at the same year student seated next to her—That is, she was referring to the complicated thing known as a girl’s feelings. Chiharu figured it was better left unsaid out of Saori’s privacy.

“Being the case, Ue-chan, you need to apologize to Noda-chan.”

“Why do I have to…!”

“Yelling angrily at her and pulling her arm roughly—that’s not what you call acceptable behaviour towards a junior, right. This has nothing to do club activities nor council work. You need to respect the will of the person herself no matter what. You see, there’s something called motivation? She won’t improve if you force her to practice.”

“…”

“If you won’t apologize, then please leave this place.”

Chiharu smiled wryly at the silent Ueda.

“I understand that you are angry at my cute junior, but you need to cool your head a bit, Ue-chan. Don’t worry, Noda-chan will be returning very soon.”

The student council room was still. Ueda stared at Chiharu for a while in silence, and then took a deep breath to calm himself. He apologised to Saori with a, ‘Come back quickly, okay’, before leaving the room.

“E-erm… vice-chairman…”

“No problem, I have high hopes for you, Noda-chan. To think you were a regular for the sports meet?”

Standing up with a smile, Chiharu took Saori’s portion of the documents. She then distributed the documents to her own together with Ayumu and Naoki’s.

“We’ll have to cheer you on too, right? I’m sure no one has any disagreements.”

“…I have. It seems like Ayukawa-senpai’s portion of the extra work is excessively small compared to ours.”

“I’m sorry for being so useless.”

“That’s fine already.”

Ayumu and Naoki showed their support with smiles and Chiharu faced Saori.

“Now then, we will split the rest equally amongst ourselves so hurry up and return to your club activities. Don’t forget to apologise to Ue-chan properly too.”

“I’m sorry… and thank you.”

“Thanks for your help so far. It’s very much appreciated.”

Following after Chiharu, the other two repeated, ‘Much appreciated’. Saori bowed with a look of being moved to tears and replied, ‘Thank you’, before leaving the student council room.

“Now I feel kind of tired. …Can I just nap for a while?”

“I’ll hit you.”

“But, it feels like something changed about you after all, Ayukawa-senpai.”

Just before he resumed working, Ayumu looked at Chiharu as he spoke.

“What’s with that, saying something rude all of a sudden. Are you at your rebellious period?”

“It’s not that… How to say it, you look like you’re always in a daze, but when the necessity arises, you are calmer than anyone else. How do I say it, you seem adult-like… that’s not it either.”

“From how I see it, it seems that Ayukawa has overcome quite a bit of difficulties thus far, despite how she looks though.”

Listening to Naoki’s joking remarks, Chiharu tilted her head.

“It looks like that to you? Am I actually not just an ordinary highschool girl?”

“Well, even if you ask us that… wouldn’t you know that yourself.”

“I guess you’re right. Why do I feel this way?”

…What do think about this? Am I weird?

Directing that question at nobody in particular, Chiharu started sorting the documents.

—By the time the three of them finished up, the school building was already dyed in the orange shade of the evening sun.

As Ayumu and Naoki exited the school gates walking next to each other, Chiharu stopped her feet.

“Thank you guys very much for the trouble this half a year. You’ve really helped me out for lots of stuff. Thank you, the two of you.”

Thanking them with a sweet smile, the two youths were startled. They looked at each other before smiling bashfully.

“No problem, it was fun. —Don’t forget about our promise. When the new school term begins, let’s assemble with these members again.”

“Yep, it would be great if it’s like that.”

“See you.”

“Thank you for your work!”

Waving her hand, Chiharu turned her back towards the school.

She hesitated about whether to head home first to put down her bag and change her clothes or not. But, contrary to the turmoil in her heart, her legs were headed straight for the town centre. It seems her body had already decided on her destination even before she did.

Humming along as she walked, she emerged at the sidewalk along the national highway which was led to the station. Shops lined the street including fast food restaurants, cafes and clothing stores.

There were all kinds of people walking about. It goes without saying, but all those people had all sorts of past as well as possessing a myriad of possibilities for their future.

Without breaking her hum, a slight smile formed on her face as she passed by the station.

—Strictly speaking, the memories that Chiharu lost were those of before she was twelve. It was around the time right before her mother married her stepfather. She could not remember a single thing before that.

Just what kind of life had she led up till then? Just who was her real father? And also, just what kind of child was Chiharu like?

She had posed all these questions to her mother before. Was that when she was still in middle school?

—There’s no difference between now and then.

Her mother had ended the conversation with just this one line. At that time, her mother had a hardened expression, looking extremely sorrowful. Since then, Chiharu had never touched on the topic about her memories. Rather than to say that it was out of concern for her mother, it was more like she realised that her mother would never say anything about it to her.

Her mother was the one and only person who knows about her past, yet she refuses to speak about it.

That’s why, Chiharu did not know a thing about her past at all.

Chiharu led an exceedingly ordinary and full life… yet she was always bound by this groundless feeling of guilt.

Humming as she walked along, Chiharu start talking to a non-existent somebody.

This kind of thing is known as a trauma, right. I even went to search it up. I may have experienced a horrible shock for all I know. There were lots of examples of people with this condition after being mistreated when they were young written in books… but, I don’t think I’m like them. If you were to ask which am I, it seems more like I was the one to have done something to somebody… right? What do you think?

Before her stood a tower and a dome shimmering in silver light. She climbed over the fence which had a sign prohibiting the entry of unrelated personnel. It was right as she was about to enter the premises of ‘URBAN’.

“!”

She saw the figure of a person in front of Urban Dome.

Her slender body was faltering as she walked in unsteady steps, her hair draped down. Her pale face coupled with shaky footsteps made her look like an apparition from a ghost story. If one saw her at night, they would definitely be creeped out.

This was the first time that Chiharu had seen her awake. She was the girl that Chiharu had seen sleeping in the forested paradise on the second floor lounge. Today too, Chiharu had come here to meet her.

“Is she… heading out? Or perhaps she is returning?”

Chiharu hurriedly distance herself from the fence and hid in the shadow of a car parked by the roadside.

—…Why do I feel the need to hide. But, well, my body had moved before I even realised.

Hiding herself like this, she made up some excuses in her heart.

Whether she discovered Chiharu or not, the girl continued with that wobbly footsteps and crossed the fence, heading in the direction of the station.

“This kinda feels like I’m going on an adventure. To shadow the mysterious beauty! That kind of feeling?”

Leaving the shadow of the car, she followed behind the girl.

Much unlike what she was saying earlier, what she was doing was far too crude to be called shadowing. If one turned around, they would clearly be able to see her. In the midst of her chase, she had even started to hum.

Chiharu and the girl walk with a fixed distance between them.

Not a single person turned around to look at the girl although she was only wearing a thin piece of clothing for some reason. She seemed to be surrounded by a space that belong to another world, a space that segregated her from the crowd and the exhaust noise of cars on the street.

The girl stopped as she reached a roundabout near the station.

“…?”

She lifted her head and looked upwards. The only things in her line of sight was the station, followed by the most luxurious hotel in Nishito City, the Nishito Imperial Hotel.

Looking at the side view of the face of the girl, there was a change. The mouth of the girl slowly curved into that of a smile—.

“Eh…? What? How come?”

In an instant, the slender girl had disappeared into the crowd. When the pedestrians cleared from the spot, there was no one left there.

Chiharu ran to the spot where she last saw the girl, it was right next to the ticketing machine. She turned and looked around at the surroundings, but she could not see the figure of the girl anywhere.

“Did she enter the platform? When did she…”

She stood there stunned for a moment, but the simmering curiosity and rebelliousness in her heart came to a boil.

“''Huhu'', I see. Is this a challenge directed towards me? Fine, the one you are challenging is this Ayukawa Chiharu. I, attendance number 23 of Class H of the Second Year of Nishito Sousei High School, vice-chairman—former vice-chairman of the student council accept your challenge! …Eh, ''uwaah!'' I don’t have enough money. Not even sufficient to buy a ticket… D-dang, if only I didn’t buy that roasted ginger set meal from the school cafeteria and settled for the curry udon instead…!”

Leaning on the ticketing machine, she hung her head down crestfallen.

“E-erm.”

“All because of that aroma which piqued my interest. Now that I thought about it, that was the biggest culprit. How devious, the school cafeteria aunty…”

“Erm…?”

Chiharu, who was beaten down by a sense of defeat, heard a reserved voice calling out to her. When she finally realised that and raised her tear-stricken face, a small-statured girl came into her view.

It was a girl around the age of a middle-schooler who had a red ribbon tied around one of her forelock and wore a dress which she looked good in. She had cute features that seemed to captivate the eyes, but even more so, Chiharu had a strange impression looking at her.

That even though she looks very fragile, she was in fact very strong—.

At one look, she might look like an upper-class lady unknowing to pain and worldly matters, but in reality, she looked as if like a work of art that had been shaved and beaten at countless of times—indeed, one could feel a deep sense of composure from her.

“What’s the problem? If you’re lost, you should look for the station staff for help.”

“…!”

Hearing Chiharu’s first sentence, the girl was shocked. After being stupefied for a moment, she came to her senses and held out a hand.

She was holding out a note of cash.

“Please use this.”

It seems that her soliloquy just now had been overheard. Chiharu scratched her head and sighed.

To be pitied on by a younger girl like this… just what am I doing?

“Thank you. I’m happy for your gesture, but it’s not like I’m actually that troubled. How do I explain it, this is just something like a reckless act of youth? It’s like a, ‘if it doesn’t work out, okay, let’s give up and try again tomorrow’, kind of trouble.”

The girl stared at Chiharu in puzzlement and then burst into laughter.

“But, you look like you really want to go.”

Hearing this, Chiharu smiled wryly.

This child… unexpectedly, her words hit the point.

“Yeah, I really want to go. Really, this is so troubling if I say so myself.”

With a smile, she accepted the note from the girl’s hand.

“You, what’s your name?”

“Ah… it’s Anmoto Shiika.”

“Thank you. I’ll return this to you later.”

Chiharu put the money into the ticketing machine and chose the cheapest fare. Taking the ticket, she quickly passed through the gantry.

“Eh? Return it…?”

She did not turn around even when she heard the girl’s bewildered voice.

She ran and weaved through the human traffic.

Yes, I really, absolutely want to know! Just who is the girl and why does she interest me so much! I want to know it so awfully much!

Breathing wildly, she searched for the figure of the girl.

However, she could not find the lightly dressed figure inside. Maybe she had already boarded a train, or perhaps, she did not even enter the station in the first place.

“That’s why, I can’t give up here…”

Trying to control her breathing, she gave a smile.

“Okay, I’ll try again tomorrow!”

In front of Chiharu, a limited express train sped by.