Editing Gekkou:Volume 1 Hesitation

To my blank amazement, it was not pity that lay in the gazes of most students, but jealousy of their peers.

As soon as Youko Tsukimori appeared at school after her long absence, everyone strove to be around her. In no time at all, a wall akin to a fortress loomed before her.

Originally my classmates probably wanted to be the ones that comforted a disheartened Tsukimori, but in fact it turned out the opposite. If someone had taken a photograph of that scene and told me it was Tsukimori comforting her disheartened classmates, I would have believed it.

In other words, Youko Tsukimori could do perfectly without our worthless pity.

Though everyone wore the same uniform and was the same age, only she was special and stood out from the others, shining almost like the moon in the darkest night: magnificently and full of elegance.

As there was no way to get through the impregnable fortress that was protecting her, I was degraded to a mere "Villager A" who beheld the captivating princess from afar.

I can't deny that I found myself not incapable of interpreting her demanding gaze as an appeal to rescue her. But for one thing I would have looked stupid if I was wrong, and for another thing it was unreasonable to voluntarily take such a calorie-consuming action for someone like me who does not care two figs about knightliness. Thus, I slipped out of the uncomfortable classroom and brilliantly fulfilled my role as Villager A by silently watching the clouds through the corridor window until homeroom began.

Even during breaks the situation didn't change.

It didn't take me long to realize that I wouldn't be able to properly talk to her at school for a while, thus I chose to spend my breaks in the quiet corridor, away from the noise.

As a reaction to my quick resignation, clever Tsukimori started to write messages on a quartered report sheet and passed them to me during the breaks because she couldn't talk to me directly.

She had surely realized that mailing me would have done the job. I sensed a kind of unyielding spirit and pride from the fact that she still chose to stick to those messages.

He spotted me immediately and signaled me to come by waving me to him, while "hiding" in the shadow of the gate.

I would have preferred to just feign ignorance, but he wasn't someone that would allow me to ignore him. He would simply pursue me until he had me.

What speed, considering the number of letters! I could well imagine her pressing the buttons of her phone with a furious wrath at an imperceptible speed.

Even though I felt a little upset as I looked up at the clear blue sky, I had to acknowledge it was my own fault and gave up. After all, it was ''I'' who had evaded her that entire day.

"What do you want from me this time?"<!-- Who is speaking here? --><!-- Nonomiya. The following sentence refers to this dialog, but I left it down there because the "therefore" refers back to the "Konan was in a good humor..." -->

"Yes. I have to go to work afterward, so I find myself constrained to refuse if it's useless talk."

I saw that staying here would only give birth to bad rumors, so I reluctantly followed him out of the gate.

Konan's car, parked near the school in a side alley, was a bright red sports car that quite suited his style.

"Nice car, huh? Doesn't it have a nice ring to it that I ''deliberately'' chose an Audi instead of a Porsche, a Ferrari or an Alfa Romeo? Feel free to think to yourself that an Audi was the limit of my salary as a civil servant, but you mustn't say it."

I didn't recognize the make of his car, but I very easily recognized the no parking sign right next to the sports car.

The second I sat down on the passenger seat, Konan began talking in an earnest voice.

The authority he emitted made it seem as though the air of the car had been compressed in a split second, sending the previously peaceful mood away far away.

"Would she really do that?" I asked myself silently with several question marks popping up over my head. However, taking only the point of whether it's possible or not into consideration, the answer was clear.

He snapped his fingers, "Bingo! It makes sense if her goal was to get you to her home. No one would leave someone whose mother has just gone missing. Even someone as dry as you wouldn't. Well, and you ''did'' go to her home in the end."

—It was as though a crumbled block <!-- an apartment building? --><!-- I think it's more like an abstract image here. -->was reconstructed at a terrific speed. And the newly built block had a completely different shape.

"Indeed, you do have a point. It also stands true, however, that I could clearly sense that nobody was in the house the moment I stepped into the building. I'd say that Tsukimori must have been able to perceive the situation much more clearly than I, the outsider, who'd only come for the second time."

The instant I averted my eyes from him—his long arm whooshed past my head and his hand landed hard on the the passenger side window.

His sharp features were directly before me as he leaned forward. The stench of smoke assaulted my nose.

After declaring that, his gaze was drawn towards the front window.

Following him, I also directed my eyes there. Ahead of the straight side alley was the main street, bathed in madder red. One could see students on their way home passing by like fishes swimming.

"Child's play for her, right?"

What compelled me that moment was not impatience anymore but raw anger. Hearing someone else talk about her like that irritated me as if having my garden trampled down by strangers.

Konan pulled the car onto the sidewalk and smiled, "We're here."

I peeked out and found that he had parked along the main street, near the café.

The next moment he put on his usual frivolous smile and shrugged like an American.<!-- stereotyped thinking isn't good, Mamiya-sama! --><!-- if you've ever watched Karin you'll know that we overpronounce our terminal 'n's as well. Oh, and we're all blonde, loud and two metres tall. -->

"Sorry for startling you. But once in a while I have to show you that I'm still a policeman, a detective, you know," he grinned, but his eyes weren't at all smiling, "And I don't want to cause the misunderstanding that you can hide things from me forever." He pulled me closer by my shoulder, "...I would be very thankful if you could soon recall some interesting info, since that would save me some messy work..."

There was a grim high school boy who didn't move a muscle with the exception of the blinking of his eyes. I noticed that the hand of that student was holding onto his left breast.

Mopping the dim café after closing time. Suddenly, a shadow obstructed the course of my mop. I looked up and found the owner of the shadow standing with legs spread and arms crossed.

"It's pretty damn obvious if anyone looked at you two! You haven't talked at all lately, have you?"

Now that she mentioned it, I had to admit that in my thoughts I had been "miles away" with Konan indeed. I had been pondering over a way to surpass that man non-stop during work.

"Let me carry on; this time Youko's acting strange as well. It looks like she's actively avoiding you to me," she thrust out her chin and drew herself up, "So, what have you done to her? Come on, try to explain yourself. At least I'll hear you out."

"Ohh, you only noticed just now?" she answered my lamenting words haughtily, "The world's unreasonable and unjust wherever you go; otherwise social stratification would not exist in the first place. So why should I bother playing a saint if the world's very setup is already shit? I live by my own rules."

If you ever tried giving the word "self-centered" a form, you would definitely get this woman in front of you.

I couldn't help but be amused by such a reckless woman who would hold a mike with one hand and show the masses the middle finger with the other. As one of her fans I thought, "One or two like her wouldn't do any harm to the world."

"Her Highness begs to differ, I fear?"

We two, constrained at Mirai-san's side, were forced to face each other from close up whether we wanted or not.

She yelled down at us, saying things about her temper everybody already knew.

"Nonomiya! You apologize to Youko! And Youko, you forgive him when he does!" she said while scowling at us in turn, "I don't care about the reason behind this quarrel, but make sure you make up with each other on the way to the station! Then you come to work tomorrow as usual! Got it? That's an order!"

Upon entering the way along the main street<!-- Wie soll ich denn dieses verdammte 国道沿い sonst übersetzen? T___T --> <!-- It's a common usage in Japanese. I generally TL it as main street, high street, main road, or thoroughfare. In slang, 'main drag' works well. -->, our field of vision was filled with gorgeous neon light. The number of people increased in proportion to the illumination, and so did the noise. The headlights of the cars passing us by made us flare up in yellow. Far away a siren was resounding, whereas in the proximity a dog was raising a forceful bark to fight it back. And we were silent.

"You have been a little strange lately," she whispered, getting straight to the point, "Is there something bothering you?"

She thrust a cold and wet orange can out to me<!--can of orange juice ? oder wird das nur impliziert?--><!-- orange im farblichen Sinn, jo --><!-- leave it. It's better this way than spelled out -->. I was so taken aback that I completely forgot about my irritation.

"If we get into a quarrel here again even though Mirai-san told us to make up, I won't be able to face her tomorrow."

The sour but refreshing taste of the orange juice soothed my boisterous <!-- I don't like this word, but haven't come up with a better one yet. Original? --><!-- ささくれ立った感情, meaning he was on the edge, irritated -->feelings effectively.

She brought her face to mine with reproachful eyes.

"Oh yes, because a certain someone did not only refrain from helping me but also ignored me completely, I had no time for recreation at school."

"—Konan-san and you are like brothers with an age gap," Tsukimori murmured, "Perhaps it was that, supported by the fact that you're two men, that made me feel unhappy and left out."

"...Konan-san and I are like brothers, you say? Haven't you also compared Mirai-san and me in a similar way?"

She pulled her slender shoulders in as if she were attacked by a cold shiver.

I haven't seen her like this very often. If it's Konan, however, anyone would show a similar reaction. That man was not normal.

Because we resembled each other. Our trains of thought should resemble as well — She added with a smile.

"...sorry. There's something I have to do," I told her quickly, pressed 120 Yen into her hand and ran off home. I rushed through the night town without caring about her yell that caught up with me.

I hadn't found a clear answer to how I could settle that affair with Konan — I was going to think about that now — but I was on the right trail.

This matter doesn't necessarily have to end with a clear result. And it's not important what the truth behind the incident is. Those were the two things I was sure of.

Why? — Because I thought so.<!-- heißt das, dass die zeile zuvor konans standpunkt darstellen soll, wie nonomiya ihn vorraussagt?--><!-- sozusagen -->

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