Editing Golden Time:Volume4 Chapter2

"...You're still hot, aren't you? Getting hurt like this when you're living on your own makes you anxious, doesn't it? But you're okay, so there. There's nothing much this useless piece of junk woman can do, but... I have love, more than anyone else. If nothing else, I can be by your side. I'll do whatever I can."

"Yes. I want to go. It doesn’t have to be Paris. I want to go with you."

"Oops, what about you, are you okay? I mean, for the time being, shouldn't you not be entering your little brother's room without permission, for each other's sake... uff!?

The Omaken meeting was in its usual place again today. They held it in one corner of the law school building lobby, at a table and some benches arranged by the bulletin board on the wall.

Kosshii-senpai was seated lightly, and next to the bench was Linda.

Even though Banri and Kouko were coming over, she recognized them with a smile and called "Yo!"

"Tada Banri, your fever's already gone down?

Her ankles peeking out the bottom of her girlish cargo-pants, and she wore a simple jersey, but her usual fighting spirit just wasn't there. With a manner as if he were meeting a handsome, nameless cat at a street-corner, Banri showed Linda a playful grin and,

"Yup, thanks to you! Thank you very much! I slept the whole night like a dead thing, and this morning felt just like new!"

While Banri worried about his split lip, she returned the smile with the same expression.

But casually, her gaze followed the headlines of the sports news, which somebody had laid out on the top of the table. She wasn't reading the content, of course. She simply followed the rows of text, deliberately fixing her vision there.

Banri felt she should wake up, that she should be made to get up.

It should be as it had been until now, not thinking nor feeling anything, normal, unchanging. If it were only for himself, he wouldn't change the situation at all. And then, once it was all forgotten and things calmed down, that would be best. But he had no choice.

With that Banri beside him.

"Really, it's all because of you, Linda-senpai. Thank you very much. Today Tada-kun wolfed down his lunch, so he's recovered already. See?"

While she entwined her fingers with his, Kouko glued herself to Banri and looked up at his face like a spoiled child. It wasn't like Kouko was saying "Linda, how do you like this?" but Banri automatically tried to push her fingers away, feeling awkward with her flirting with him in front of the regular upperclassmen.

"It's okay, you know."

She smiled, one eyebrow raised.

Determined, Kouko wouldn't let go of his fingers. It was a little troublesome, but he wasn't going to force the issue. While looking at Banri's face bewildered, Kouko kept up a shining smile.

Today's Kouko was again perfectly beautiful.

In her elegantly wound, long hair, a silk scarf with a bold pattern served instead of a hair-band. The frills attached to her no-sleeve ribbon-tied blouse were blue. The summer-like white and tight mini-skirt and flesh-colored strap-sandals with nine-centimeter heels were pushing her feminine style to the uttermost limits. The gloss on her smiling lips had a surprisingly deep cherry color. A brand-name, beige colored bag slung from her shoulder, that model-like form was, of course, Kaga Kouko!

"Dude"

"He's no 'dude'."

Popcorn being tossed at him by the Omaken upperclassmen, he had no choice but to wriggle out of the way in a strangely erotic way. Even so, most of it hit Banri in the face.

"Once you're all done playing around, please sit down."

At Kosshii-senpai's urging, Kouko's hand finally let go of his. Seating himself next to Linda, he received a printout being passed around. Looking it over briefly,

"Whoa... at last, it's our debut!"

Banri raised his voice without thinking.

The printout that was handed to him detailed the main points about Omaken's debut presentation for the year, at a large suburban shopping district's Awa Odori celebration.

It had already been decided that right after the start of summer vacation, Banri and the other Omaken members would be going up alongside some other large dancing groups.

Clearing his throat lightly, Kosshii-senpai caught their attention and started to speak.

"Just a few words. Everybody, you aren't to lose the printout you just received until after we're done. It has the schedule and times, what clothing and footwear to use, what accessories you will need, which is now your responsibility to prepare. And then, we will have to practice just how we will dance together. In fact, with only two practices to go, we will only just make it."

Everybody raised their voices in dismay. Banri too. The schedule was tighter than he'd thought.

"No whining. That's the Wednesday after next. So it's already crunch time."

The older girls showed their nervousness with "Crap! This is bad! Are you serious?" For their part, the older guys were only talking about "Where's the wrap party? What're we going to be doing? We'd better make reservations early!"

"Well, since we'll be dancing in groups, it shouldn't be that hard. Linda and I will be leading, though we might wind up feeling like we stand out a bit."

Seated cross-legged, Linda, making a pose as if she were bowing lightly, raised her hand in salute, signaling her agreement with Kosshii-senpai. Kouko looked over at Linda's face, questioning.

"'Feeling like you stand out'... has anything happened?"

"You could say that. And that's because Kosshi-senpai and I have to go out before the group a lot, directing from out front, using that position so we can all work together in unison. In fact, our costumes will be a bit fancier than yours."

"Eh, incredible! It'll be like that!? Wow... And since Linda-senpai's dance really is beautiful, then it will surely be great, won't it..."

Linda laughed softly at Kouko's ecstatic muttering.

"Would you switch with me?"

Though anybody else would have understood this as a joke,

"Kyaa!"

...Speaking of which, he wondered what kind of reaction that was.

It seemed that to the mind of everybody present came a vision of Kaga Kouko in the form of a golden robot, head thrown back in a shriek, doing the same shaking robot dance as before. If she were out in front of the group, standing out like that... laughter broke out from all around. Banri and the older guys wound up laughing loudly, and yet,

"Do your best, Linda!"

"Yo!"

At the edge of his vision.

He had seen Kosshii-senpai and Linda tap their fists together softly. It was clearly a crude greeting between comrades. But he knew they weren't so close from the start. After all, we were close friends long ago, with many shared friends from before. Things like that are okay. But with second and third year college students, it shouldn't be possible to develop such a close friendship. Or rather.

---Apart from that.

Thought Banri, looking away.

Apart from that, feelings don't happen without a reason. Apart from that, there is nothing. Nothing at all. There's nothing to think about.

Only, he saw in passing, Kosshii-senpai's arm, stretching out from his T-shirt. That straight reach, the masculine, angular joints, the thick, tense sinews which made his own as nothing.

He was thinking of nothing but nothingness.

The meeting over, the upperclassmen one by one got up to leave. Trying to follow after them, Banri hurriedly grabbed his bag too and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

As if it were only natural, Kouko tried to follow him, but,

"Excuse me, wait a bit!"

And having said that, he ran off by himself.

Catching up with the four guys who left first, he tugged on the sleeve of Kosshii-senpai's T-shirt.

"Err, Senpai?"

"Oh? What's up, Tada Banri? What a girly way to get my attention. Haven't you got the wrong kind of crush?"

"You wanna play mahjongg too? Shall we all go together?"

"Well, I've got something I need to talk with you about... would it be okay if we chat while we walk?"

"No problem. What's up, what's going on?"

Walking leisurely alongside the upperclassmen, Banri opened his mouth hesitantly.

"...Err... about, my girlfriend..."

"Robo-girl?"

"Yes, I've promised to... take Robo-girl to the seaside, but in a practical sense, what do you think would be a good plan? If we aren't going to my home region, then I have no idea where we should go, and I can't rely on my friends, as they all lack experience as well..."

"Yes, that's right. First of all, to make sure she doesn't rust in the salty sea breeze, you will have to blow like crazy over Robo-girl's entire body."

While he answered him back with a bright smile, Kosshii-senpai ground his fist into Banri's side near his liver.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!"

Banri was surrounded in the blink of an eye on the undergraduate building's outer steps by four upperclassmen, laughing and saying "Hahaha, give him a little more, Kosshii."

"We mean, there's not much fun in this for us!"

"Look at his face and judge for yourself!"

"Will you be staying overnight? Hm!? One night!? Eh!?"

He was being attacked mercilessly. Yet,

"Sta, stay overnight...eh!? Why do you think it will turn out like that!?"

"What's with these guys now?" he thought, as they stepped more and more mercilessly on the toes of his Jack Purcells. Both his feet being crushed and ground against, Banri could only raise a sorrowful cry.

"You must think you want to stay there overnight! Like it was nothing! Going to the beach, her long hair flying all over the place, her proud skin showing too... by the time you get back to the beach inn to take your showers, it'll be a wonder if you two young people will be able to control yourselves!"

"'Robo-girl, there's no way we're going to make it back to the inn as we are!"

"'I want to take a good shower! I want to get into a hot bathtub! I'm tired, and I want to take a break!'"

"...Don't go. If you're tired and sleepy, this is the perfect place. The place to spend the night..."

"...Yep. Looks like the place."

"That, like this, right now..."

"What're you saying, all on your own like that!?"

''Heey!'' Banri flapped his feet around, brushing off the upperclassmen's shoes. Besides, things like that were blasphemous in regards to Kouko.

And yet, even though he thought it was blasphemous,

---'It doesn’t have to be Paris.'

"..."

As if to shake off the remembered voice in an instant, he shook his head sharply side to side.

The remnant of the sweet, low, husky voice in his ears reminded him of the night. He shouldn't be remembering it in broad daylight on campus, and besides, exploring the meaning of those words would make him look incredibly shabby to himself. Apart from that, was he even sure there was any meaning at all? Just because it didn't have to be in Paris for now, saying 'Where do I want to go? Oh yeah, I want to go to the sea', was saying only that much.

...But, it might. Maybe the meaning... to put it simply... no, no no no no.

"...You bunch of sleeze-balls. You upperclassmen have your minds in the gutter. Please stop looking at Kaga-san like that. It's a violation."

His plain face, lately a notch brighter, was being made more and more angry. Banri glared at each of the upperclassmen's faces in turn as he shouted. Squealing high-spiritedly in falsetto voices, the upperclassmen pretended to start running away in exaggerated slow motion.

"What's with those voices? Besides, I don't want to ask about such things. More like, under normal circumstances... what kinds of places are good to go to!? What routes should I take!? I was asking about things along those lines. And in spite of that, you guys going disgustingly delusional and not at all trustworthy. I'm disappointed in you already!"

"Yeah, yeah. How about a train?"

"You got a driver's license?"

"...Neither of them. My feet are my only train."

''Phew...'' Suddenly the upperclassmen's expressions changed. Folding their arms as one, they surrounded Banri in thought. Kosshii-senpai muttered seriously.

"Going to the beach by train is painful."

All of them nodded.

"For sure. Guys, I'm not sure that a healthy young lady would like the feel of a place like that. You would be taking a high-heeled princess along with you on a train ride early in the morning, not knowing whether you will be seated or not, and on the way back you'd be sandwiched in with a bunch of salarymen. Your sandals gritty with sand. Smelling of salt. You might find middle or high schoolers there, but not many college students."

"You might be all right with it, but for Robo-Girl it would probably be mortifying."

"Now, let's show you the essence of 'slumming it.'"

"Yes, but the result would probably be 'Robo-Girl, I was afraid of this, but it won't work. I'm not good enough for you.'"

Watching the upperclassmen's faces nod together 'Yes, yes, true, true,' Banri had few words. Frozen with a stupid look on his face,

"What... the..."

He could only groan.

"For your information, it seems that Hosshii-senpai and his girlfriend of last year took the plunge and stayed a night in <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atami,_Shizuoka Atami]</span>. The cost for the two of them passing the night in what seemed a good looking adult hot springs hotel, going there and back in a bullet train and with this and that, came out close to 100,000 yen. Well, she's his former girlfriend now, since they broke up that fall. Even though they were half living together."

"Ah, it was, it was. It certainly was."

"Hosshii made a lot of noise about that time, but it was a total waste."

"Though now for some other reason he's going to waste. He told me the other day he was wondering if he'd have to repeat the year."

"For real?"

Confronted by his upperclassmen's reflections, as if they were becoming job searching warriors, their minds and bodies half destroyed, Banri himself was uneasy.

For Atami, one hundred thousand. Though for somebody from Shizuoka it was somehow or other, for once, a comforting name.

"So, Tada Banri. Have you got money?"

Kosshii-senpai seemed to have remembered Banri's existence.

"Eh. ...I've nothing... of course."

"Well, with no way to get there, nor any money, you've not got much choice. Then shouldn't you start earning money at once? You got a job?"

"...I haven't..."

"Don't give me 'haven't'! You'd better go get one, seriously."

"For sure. If you let such a girl get away, you could spend your whole life and not find another so pretty."

"Work like your life depends on it!"

"Go for it desperately!"

"You don't really look like somebody who's working really hard."

"Yep. I was thinking the same."

"I know what you mean. You might think you're working hard, but there's no point if you don't show her that."

"That's right, that may become important for me in such things as job hunting."

"Show her you're a man, Tada Banri."

"You have to do that every now and then."

Suddenly surrounded in all directions by upperclassmen, their faces serious, in preaching mode, Banri was cornered. Having gotten to where he could say nothing more, he touched the bandage by his mouth with his fingertip. He tried to say he was a wounded person, still recovering from his wounds, but no words came out.

At that moment, over past Kosshii-senpai's envious and macho-looking shoulders, he spotted the white face of a bored looking Kouko, standing by herself quietly waiting for Banri. Her solitary form seemed anxious, and looked lonely. It reminded him of how sad she had been that spring when they met.

Wait just a little bit more. It's because I want to gather some hints for the sake of your happiness. So just a little more... thought Banri, looking at her sidelong, when for some reason Kosshii-senpai,

"Haa... everybody hold on! Sheesh! It looks like something's made this guy cry!"

Saying things like that. When he realized he was being called a sissy, Banri got even more resentful.

<span style="font-size: 300%;"><center>* * *</center></span>

"You can't."

Saying it sharply, but with a smile, Kouko had her head tilted slightly, to the perfect angle.

"You can't! You can't get something like a part-time job."

Why was she telling him such things specially? Her gaze very much seemed to want to say something, going from side to side, back and forth, as if comparing Banri's left and right eyes.

At lunchtime the school cafeteria had been almost completely full, and even now, later in the afternoon, there were still students scattered here and there.

There were some guys who seemed to be eating lunch very late by themselves, and many seats were occupied by people just sitting here and there talking.

Banri and Kouko were seated in a less popular area, at the corner of a wide table, their chairs pulled together on purpose.

"Yeah, but..."

"You can't. The time we have together has gotten too short. That absolutely cannot be. I simply cannot permit it. It's impossible."

Indeed, from an outsider's perspective they were plainly a couple, their faces close together, "doing as they pleased." Kouko's knee was touching the denim on Banri's knee. Kouko had her elbow on the table, her upper body slightly inclined, and from Kouko's breast there arose the sweet smell of roses. Even if it was only from her seductive body heat, it was making Banri's face dizzy, and yet,

"...No. It's not impossible."

He said it flatly, and ripped his gaze away from her white breast. Right now, right here, he could not afford to be unable to think. The upperclassmen had told him just now to be a man.

Seeing Banri's face like that, Kouko pursed her dark cherry lips. When she did so, a soft 'nooo...' escaped her lips. Are you <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoh Raoh]</span>?

"But look, I promised to take you to the beach. In order to do that, I need money."

"Can't it be my treat?"

"No, I just said I really am critically short of pocket money. I think it's normal for students to have part-time jobs."

"Aren't I not working?"

"But you're from a rich family."

"...And if they raised your allowance?"

"Won't happen. As it is, they're giving me all they can. I can't ask my parents for more."

"But, what can't be done can't be done! I absolutely won't allow it! I don't want a job to cut into our date time!"

"That's rather selfish..."

"But! ...Well, let's do this. I'll take you with me. OK? That'd be good, right? Isn't that good? It's settled!"

'That', in other words was... 'let's go, my treat.' Something like that.

Could there be a more pathetic story than this? Well, could there be? Normally it would be impossible.

Having lost the words that should follow, Banri awkwardly scratched his head. Oh, really? Well then, this time your treat! He wasn't a guy to give in like that.

Apart from feeling a little guilty inside, for perhaps the first time he could remember, he was simply a guy who badly wanted to save face.

...Thinking about such things one by one, it seemed he already had a guilty conscience. As if he had suddenly fallen into a place or situation he could not understand, he felt as if he were another person, gawking at himself in amazement.

(Uuuhhh)

And.

(What'cha doing, Tada Banri?)

It was as if his unconscious had been ripped out and set outside next to him.

Returning to himself,

"...ngh..."

...It was all in an instant. It certainly felt like he'd returned to himself.

All of a sudden his back went cold. Sensing a really dangerous other presence, he broke out in drops of sweat.

What the heck was that just now, he wondered.

He wondered what he had been doing, spaced out like that.

Sneaking up on him to launch an attack without him even realizing it, Kouko, her wide, upturned eyes sparkling without restraint, glittering while she came closer to him,

"Hey, what were you thinking just now?"

"...Eh?"

She was slowly tracing around her tender looking lips with the tip of a very attractive fingernail. And she was laughing in a sweet, nasal voice.

Kouko's nails today were a pearlish light white. Lightly splashed on the tips only was a emerald green and silver lame, giving the impression of tropical fish scales sparkling brilliantly at the bottom of the sea. There was also a pretty ring of delicate lacework set on her slender finger.

Gazing at Banri's eyes, absentmindedly staring at the movements of those fingertips,

"From the very start, have you understood?"

Kouko's piercing eyes suddenly looked into his.

They gazed at each other in mutual incomprehension.

In that instant, feeling as if she could see just about everything about him, Banri's heart skipped a beat.

He had a feeling that at any moment, from Kouko's lips would be coming the words "I know that Tada-kun has changed..."

What will I do if that happens? What should I do? If she asked like that... what lie should he tell?

The inside of his mouth suddenly went dry, and he regretted terribly not having brought some of the free tea with him to the table.

However, Kouko's next words,

"I want to spend more time with you. Don't you know that perfectly well? Really, I want to be with you more, more, moooorre. But, because I don't want you to get annoyed, I restrain myself. Aren't you desperate? I'm plenty."

Having been expecting the worst, he found himself in a very different place. He took a breath without realizing, and groaned.

"...Is that... so?"

"Yes, it is. When we are apart, all I do is think of what you are doing, what you are thinking and what you feel about me. Really, I want to stick to you always, totally, 24 hours a day. What you see, what you hear, what you eat, what you feel, I want to know anything and everything. I want to understand, I want to share everything perfectly. But hey, I understand that me being like that could be painful, heavy and irritating. Acting like a stalker can be scary."

Aren't I learning?

Continuing in that way, Kouko showed a perfect smile on her beautiful face. Saying "Yes!" without thinking, Banri nodded exaggeratedly, thereby removing the sting.

"So, if you were working a job, our time would be more limited. Don't you see? Besides that, since it's this time I'm going to say frankly, I don't want you telling me about some girl I don't know that you met while working at some place I don't know. Absolutely, no way. Just imagining it will make my head explode. Or, do you want to see it? My brain, that is."

"...Hey, Kaga-san."

"What's up? Do you want to see? Really?"

"No no no, that's not what I meant."

"If you want to see, shall we take a look?"

"No, seriously, listen."

With Kouko's face drawing closer to his, staring intensely, Banri warded her away lightly with one finger and somehow managed to argue back.

"I terribly regret having to inform you of this, but with regards to your finding value in me as a male of the species, as of this moment you are alone in that."

It's painful to speak of it to this extent, but it is reality.

"Obviously, I am not the kind of guy who drips girls, and from the start the fact that I've been able to go out with you, as far as I am concerned, has been improbable, like a super unreal dream state. It truly is a miracle. And so, being told suddenly you were in shock, and you were afraid of this? I could just laugh. Such worries are really, completely, unnecessary."

The moment Banri stopped talking, Kouko's smile, which until then had been sparkling self-assuredly, suddenly darkened.

In so doing, her gaze, which had been thrust out toward him before, now slowly dropped, trembling, to the table. Letting go of a curl of her softly waving hair that she had wrapped about her finger, she shrugged her shoulders once, up, then down. She seemed to be heaving a long sigh.

At length, she murmured to herself "Why won't you understand?" her voice so soft as to not even have left her mouth.

He wondered if he had hurt her somehow.

Banri peeked over towards the face of the suddenly tense Kouko, trying to find the words he should say, but,

"...I've thought it'd be nice if you became small. About this tall."

She caught on to her smile once more.

Once more regaining her normal perfect expression, Kouko spread her thumb and index finger all of eight inches apart.

"Then, I could set you next to me all the time. Feeding you, putting you to bed, getting you dressed, I would hide and protect you so nobody could see you. To keep you from being stolen, I would take you with me in my purse when I go out. Mirror, gloss and Tada Banri... it would feel like that. And then finally, I want to wrap you up in a sushi roll and eat you!"

"Eh!? Though it is certainly somewhat of a shocking development... well, but unexpected, and not... bad? I will be accepted as delicious, but if I don't get acquainted with even one of your tender skin cells, then perhaps in another life? Even though it's something like the ending of <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Express_999 Galaxy Express]</span>..."

"What kind of story is 'Galaxy Express'?"

"It's like that! For no particular reason, while I was in the hospital, I read everything there was set around the ward. But they were scattered here and there, different volumes in the middle of series. I haven't spoken in detail because I didn't want to give out spoilers."

"Eeh, no way, I didn't know. It was the kind of story where spoilers become a problem? I was imagining a warm, comfy story with a more romantic mood. Then <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_on_the_Galactic_Railroad Giovanni and Campanella]</span> got mixed up in the sushi roll?"

"Hm? No, that's not right, it wasn't them. Rather Maetel and Tetsuro."

"Oh, those two!? No way! Tell me straight from the start! Just say it's the <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg_009 009]</span> story!"

Her cheeks going frighteningly red, Kouko opened her mouth wide with laughter while she pounded Banri on the shoulder, but

"No, no, that's not the right one either!"

I am Kouko... a girl somehow off topic...

At that very moment, as Kouko muttered behind Banri's back, her eyes downcast and lashes fluttering,

"Flirting in broad daylight!"

With what felt like a thump, their ears adjusted to the anime voice.

"Betcha that's Oka-chan!"

Turning their heads, as expected there was Oka Chinami standing there, and,

"No way! Or rather, what the!? What are you doing here!?"

[[Image:Golden Time vol04 131.jpg|thumb]]

She pointed at her own mouth, then at where gauze had been affixed to Banri's face. As it happened, in Chinami's small hand there was a partially emptied PET bottle of tea. With the bottom of it, she tapped Banri between the shoulder blades.

"Yo, Oka-chan. I fell down at home, my lip got cut and swelled up."

"Eeh! Are you okay!? How'd it happen!? Ah, perhaps..."

Grabbing the cap of the PET bottle as if it were a microphone, she turned towards Kouko. With an evil laugh, turning her head upwards as if she were a child,

"Have you been assaulted?"

"..."

As expressionless and silent as a <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh Noh mask]</span>, Kouko snatched the PET bottle from her. Just like that, she struck Chinami on the forehead with the thing. However Chinami, as you might expect, stood her ground. Without even pulling back, as if nothing had happened,

"Wow, that's awful. Was it serious?"

"..."

She had so much to say she wound up babbling. The afterimage was so shocking that Banri could hardly take it in. He took back the bottle from Kouko’s hand, and stuffed it snugly back into Chinami’s bag while explaining briefly.

"This thing is gonna self-destruct. By itself, when it feels like it, it’s going to fall apart."

"Nnyahahahahaa, reallyyy?"

He wondered just what had happened that was so funny. Chinami, at Banri’s explanation, was smiling like a cat whose stomach was being rubbed, and yet, their situation. If he spoke of it. Without him realizing it, Banri’s eyes became those of a skilled craftsman, having entered into a mode of appreciation.

Finding Chinami doubled over in laughter was a daily occurance... like a demon... no, that didn’t suffice to describe her. She was pretty, like a wild demon god or roaring waves.

Crowsfeet drooping softly because of her laughter, her face was surpassingly white and innocent. The texture of her skin was like that of sweet, sticky condensed milk. Her lips were strawberry colored.

Her thick, shiny, jet black hair gathered loosely and falling to her shoulders in the style of a foreign noblewoman, her features clearly those of a doll, her large eyes glittering prettily, as if moist.

And yet for some reason, there was this strangely spicy, not quite jasmine flower fragrance rising from Chinami’s body. It was incredibly comfortable, and slightly flamboyant.

Banri, without realizing he was enchanted, inhaled a lung-full of her aura, getting high on it. He could not get enough of how Chinami's cuteness always took him away from everything unpleasant about life. She had a natural gift of cuteness, he thought. She was, perhaps, a gift from the gods. A gift of transcendent cuteness. And Chinami passed her allotment freely to the other denizens of this world. He wondered if he had no choice but to open his mouth to the falling drops and receive them as best he could.

She was wearing a somewhat baggy embroidered black-linen blouse like a one-piece dress, and similarly black, skinny jeans. She had on leather sandals, and lacking her usual day-pack today, she carried a traditional woven shopping bag. The back of her neck, her wrists and her ankles, peeking from the black clothing were white, slim, fragile and delicate, giving an effect truly beautiful and especially girly. She had put on one slender bead bracelet, also flesh-colored, looking pretty and sparkly. It had white and mustard beige color scheme, with a contrasting red interspersed. It was conspicuosly beautiful.

Today, to Banri's eyes, the cute demon Chinami's form was like a brave figure crossing through the desert countries, materializing from the blowing sands, their brown particles dancing in the air. She was that dramatic.

Unable to keep from sighing,

"What's with you today, Oka-chan? It feels like you came here riding a horse..."

He gave his impressions. But, it seemed Chinami didn't quite get it.

"Does it? Even though I came here as usual from <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinshich%C5%8D_Station Kinshichou]</span> via JR?"

He could hear Kouko mutter, "You're from Kinshichou? For some reason it got changed to <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okachimachi_Station Okachimachi]</span> in my head." O-ka-chi-na-mi, oka-chi-ma-chi, ...Kaga Kouko... without thinking the rhythm was coming back to him again, but setting aside the joke for now,

"Adult clothing like that looks better on you than your usual Sai Baba cosplay..."

He continued with his impressions. But, as before, Chinami was puzzled.

"...When have I ever done a Sai Baba cos...?

She was confused about that part. The eyes looking back innocently at Banri were virtually a universe. Flickering stars in eternal darkness. Banri was standing still as if a spell had been cast upon him, as if he had been swallowed whole by Chinami's gaze. She was that pretty. With room left over for seconds.

But the feeling of having room for more wasn't being passed to anybody else here. Banri's arm was grabbed fiercely just below the shoulder and shaken,

"Tada-kun, let's go to a different shop."

Her face taut, Kouko stood up from her chair. Though she said "shop", it was just the cafeteria.

"Look. Ultrasonic here is giving off a lewd, perverted aura."

"Ooh... The day has come when words like 'pervert' come out of Kaga-san's mouth..."

"It's the truth, so it can't be helped. If I had been in a place like that, I would have become that meat-eating flower's victim in no time at all. Ah, was that the meaning of 'the flower below'?"

"Hah, that so!? What the heck!? The 'thing below' was me. Wasn't I about to be caught by the dangerously heaving, meaty blossom's crevices!? Ah, was that the meaning of 'the flower below'?"

"...St, stop with the comedy act. I'm not answering anything more..."

Chinami seemed to be muttering to herself while trying to distance herself from the exceedingly rude couple. Even Banri's over-late attempt at smoothing things over "We're just kidding, it's only a joke" was met with a snort and a peevish turning away from them.

"I mean, it's about time for me to head off to my job too. Take care, take it easy."

She lightly waved her hand. Hearing that Banri automatically,

"Hey, look! Even Oka-chan has a job. Of course it's normal. Everybody does it."

He pointed to Chinami, and turned back towards Kouko's face. Kouko frowned, and Chinami stopped trying to walk away and asked back in curiosity.

"Huh? What's that? What are you talking about?"

"Listen to her! I was thinking about getting a job too, but you won't let me, and are stopping me. I didn't think about Oka-chan having one. Part time jobs are super normal and everybody has one."

"It's super normal! Everybody does it! I mean, our shop is taking applications for part time work. Banri, would you work with me? You want an interview?"

"Eh!? Seriously!?"

"Seriously, seriously..."

The conversation was as fast as lightning. In the seconds it took to state the subject, he'd been invited by Chinami. Kouko was frowning opening, sputtering "Huh!?"

"What kind of job is it!?"

Banri had quickly sunk his teeth into it.

Even so, he absolutely had to get a part time job. He could not do as Kouko had told him. That being so, wasn't it all right to be in the same place, together as his friends? In any case, shouldn't it be okay if he was working with friends, Two Dimensions, Yana-ssan or even Chinami? Wasn't it common sense to think that way? And he still had room left over for seconds.

"It's at the <span class="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daikanyamach%C5%8D,_Shibuya Daikanyama]</span> Café."

"Eh! A C-A-F-E!? That's super cool!"

"Well, it's something else. Incredible, in fact. Kinda feels like "T, T, T, TOKYO! S, S, S, SHIBUYA, KUU!" So cool the juice drips from it."

"Ah!? Like how the flower below does!?"

"Didn't I say I wasn't going to answer anymore to that topic!?"

"Wouldn't a fashionable place like not normally hire somebody like me?"

"Well, both of you come and check it out once anyway. I mean, aren't you free now? It you like, would you come with me? Like, a right now kinda thing. If you'd like, Kaga-san too..."

At being invited softly like that,

"What's this 'too'...!?"

Kouko snapped. Stepping up to Chinami,

"Am I going to be treated like just something along for the ride!? Tada-kun and I are two hearts beating as one! I mean, we're on a date after this! You may be the temptress here, but isn't Tada-kun avec moi!? B, O, T, H, O, F, U, S! Get it!? WE! You understand!? With a "W", "II"! Understood!? Have you got it!? Right away! In other words, stay away!"

Looming over the petite Chinami like that, her beautiful face was like a guardian diety.

"Yessir, then won't you come with me? Err, the two of you."

Laughing away as hard she could Chinami's amended invitation as if it were some sort of backdraft, Kouko stood beautifully, like a model, raising her chin haughtily.

"We, can, not. Go. We simply cannot. It's impossible. Could you think things through before you ask something ridiculous? I am not going to let you interfere with the time we have together."

Saying all that while plainly acting the part of the Evil Queen, she turned towards Banri's face and said "Right?"

"Ehh, let's go, Kaga-san."

This was a deliberate stab in the back. Naturally Kouko,

"Huh!?"

Yelped, but.

"Around here, or back where I live, we always just drink tea. I'd like to take Kaga-san once in a while to someplace stylish, for some stylish juice."

That wouldn't be bad, being a café employee. A little late, but Banri found himself feeling like that. Like he had the energy to race through the interview, get the job and then even get a paycheck all in one go. He suspected that even if he had set aside the time to do it, there'd be too much going on to get it done.

"I mean, I don't want to be a problem for you. Once we get there, I will instantly be in employee mode, and because I will be rather busy, I won't be able to just chat with the customers."

"Hey look, even Oka-chan is talking like this. Let's go, Kaga-san, and have some juice and be cool. We've only just started dating, and we can't be getting into a rut already."

''Getting into a rut...'' Reacting as she had heard a curse, Kouko frowned darkly. Taking the opportunity to take off in pursuit, Banri,

"...But if Kaga-san won't come with me, then I could sneak on over on my own..."

"Eeehhh...!?"

It seemed to work better than he thought it would.

Kouko, a perfectly indecipherable expression on her face, stumbled two steps backwards, her disheveled bangs falling down to the tip of her nose.

A long time passed without her even clearing it away, when finally she let out a gloomy sigh. It seemed that even Kouko had finally given up.

"...Okay. It's all right if today's date be for a juice with style."

"Nyaha, that isn't what the place is called." Chinami cutely steered the topic around.

And so, Banri and Kouko found themselves in a sublimely stylish ambience.

Leaving the two of them in the customer seating, Chinami went into the back room through an entrance way in the back, hard to see from the street.

The light toned interior (stylish!) had a high ceiling (stylish!). Bossa-nova background music (stylish!) echoing in its bowels (cool!). As if cowering from it, Banri looked around the place. Completely overwhelmed, he was hunched over twice as much as usual.

Such was Daikanyama. Style!

The sense of stylish, cultured persons sharpened and magnified to where it reverberated, the café had become an outrageously stylish place. The rustling menu in his hands somehow felt like parchment (so chic!), and sucked up the sweat from Banri's hands.

From the very start, Chinami had been saying it was stylish, it was cool, but only now had the meaning of the word entered into their world.

"What is this... I feel really out of place here."

"You? Not just you, both of us."

All the same, even Kouko looking uncomfortable, squirming a little as she settled into the sofa. Even for the beautiful Kouko, she clearly wasn't adjusting to that stylish place. It was quite different from her taste.

Banri reflected that at their core, people come in different types. There was no universal language, of course. And he had a hunch that there was no universal definition of what constituted "basic culture". And yet already, we have no choice but to say what we think is stylish, and afterwards simply fall back in defeat.

"Aah, this interior design, it really feels nice. It's like my own house's living room."

"Really. In fact, this <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.karimoku.com/ Karimoku]</span> sofa is just like the one we put in our studio."

He doubted if the two guys, stylish hats on their heads, chatting and smiling, ever disagreed. He had a hunch about it. They took their beer bottles in hand, looked each other in the eye and chugged them down with gusto, calling "Cheers!" like foreigners and that kind of stuff. It didn't seem they were joking, nor role-playing, but there they were.

Chinami was however, as incredible as expected.

Dressed stylishly in her uniform shirt and apron, as a stylish employee of a stylish café, she was working stylishly. She adapted to where she was. Or rather, he had a feeling that whatever environment you tossed Chinami into, her character was such that her cuteness showed through freely. To Banri, she seemed to possess that much capacity.

"...Tada-kun, could you really work here?"

"I don't think I could so much as be a customer here, as I am..."

Flustered by the stylish locale, quite embarrassed, his body lost its balance, and he sank into the sofa at an angle.

<span style="font-size: 300%;"><center>* * *</center></span>

That night, past eight o'clock.

While thinking she might be away from home, Banri reached out his finger to his neighbor's intercom, but upon thinking about it, of course, he stopped. The unpredictable volume of the doorbell might put that difficult person in a bad mood.

For that reason, he tried knocking on her door in a reserved fashion. Shortly,

"...What?"

NANA-senpai suddenly stuck her head out the door, a cigarette in her mouth. In her usual colorless T-shirt and worn out jerseys, she looked strangely pale without her makeup.

From inside the open door, a smell mixed of incense and cigarette smoke slowly flowed towards him. Even though it was suppertime, there was no smell of food at all, Banri could hardly believe what a strange life this person seemed to live. In this regard, Banri's room right now was filled with a smell of stale yakisoba.

"Err, umm, thank you very much for yesterday."

"...What's with you? You reek of yakisoba."

"Oh, yakisoba. Because I ate some. You're right about that, but, well, for now I must return this to you..."

Looking towards the envelope Banri was holding out to her,

"Ah"

It looked like she remembered the money she had lent him for the clinic. She narrowed her eyes, lit the cigarette clenched in her lips, and gave it a strong pull while she took the envelope. Then suddenly twisting her body to face away from him, she blew the smoke out into the entrance to her own place. He wondered if perhaps she was concerned for his convalescence.

With just that little bit, feeling suddenly warm and fuzzy,

"...Oh man, even if I know it's a trick, it's one of those 'delinquent helps a stray dog in the rain' situations..."

As Banri muttered to himself, the door was shut in his face. Without so much as a good-bye.

When he realized he'd been left behind alone in the outer hallway,

"...Ah!? Hey, hold on NANA-senpai!! We still haven't finished talking!"

When he frantically knocked on the door,

"What's your problem? You're noisy!"

Clicking her tongue sharply at the same time, NANA-senpai deigned to open the door a little once more. There was a furrow on her brow like a lightning bolt.

"Yeah, I've got something to give you! If you'd like, then..."

In thanks for being helped, giving up on the matter of getting a job, he'd bought some stylish cookies and brought them as a gift. NANA-senpai watched Banri holding them out with that sullen look of hers.

Even though he knew she was basically a good person, he backed away a little. Well, his body wouldn't forget when she's knocked him down with a guitar, swung him around by his hair, kicked him in the rear and sent him flying.

"...Sweet stuff, somebody didn't eat them, perhaps?"

Snatching the cookies from the hand of the timidly inquiring Banri, NANA-senpai started examining the list of ingredients on the label closely. Saying "What the...", and then suspiciously, at Banri,

"Nuts"

That was all. Of course, he had no idea what she meant.

"...Huh? Is that something for flavor?"

"It's an allergy. Just to nuts in any case. I probably should be fine accepting this. It'll be my dinner."

"...Err, you're having only cookies for dinner?"

"Gotta problem with that?"

"...I could have brought you some yakisoba. I made too much for me to eat all by myself. It tasted rather good, but unfortunately you can tell I made it myself."

Still leaning against the door, NANA-senpai laughed softly. While she told him she didn't want to be fed by him. He realized it was the first time he had heard her laugh honestly, not in scorn or derision. When Banri automatically laughed in return,

"Is that already healed?"

Using her chin to point, NANA-senpai indicated the bandage near Banri's mouth. Banri nodded.

"It's fine. Though I still have to take my medicine."

"That so."

"Thank you very much, really. What would have happened if you hadn't helped me... it would have been a real disaster. Of my own blood."

Bowing his head once more, at that moment an image flashed through Banri's mind.

Of having escaped without his shoes on, among the mountains in early spring.

Of a light set against the darkness.

Of a voice calling his name.

Oh, that's what it was.

"...What I mean is, even Linda-senpai has rescued me from disaster. It's like my life is nothing but being rescued from disasters by women..."

"Linda. Yep."

She let out a sigh.

Muttering in a strange way, NANA-senpai roughly pulled the spent cigarette from her mouth and shoved it into an ashtray on top of the shoe rack. While that motion for some reason caught his eye, Banri swallowed the questions welling up inside him.

---He wondered how much NANA-senpai knew about himself and Linda.

It seemed to him that Linda and NANA-senpai got along incredibly well. It looked like they hung around together a lot, even staying overnight at NANA's place. He wondered if they talked about him.

The time he was avoiding Linda like crazy, it was NANA-senpai who forcibly arranged for them to talk, wasn't it?

He wondered how much this person knew, and what she was thinking now.

"...What's with the face? Are you feeling bad about something?"

Looking up at the completely silent Banri's face, NANA-senpai folded her arms. As if she were urging him to speak, she waited without lighting her next cigarette yet.

Involuntarily, complaints began to spill from his throat,

"I'm feeling... well... uncomfortable."

"Oh?"

But, he held his ground.

"...Mainly... well... it's money."

She laughed at his foolish expression. NANA-senpai stepped back for the space of a long breath, her head tilted to the side as if she were amazed. Then she held it out to him.

"You can pay me later."

The envelope with the money he owed her. Banri nearly jumped in panic,

"Eh!? Oh, no no no! That wasn't what I meant at all! Really, really, it would really bother me if you didn't accept that from me!"

Desperately refusing her,

"It would be impossible."

He retreated as if he had been pushed away. He escaped backwards like he was a crab while shaking his head from side to side and hiding both hands behind himself.

"No no no no! I mean, really, I'm okay! I about to look for a part-time job!"

"A part time job? ...Now?"

At last, NANA-senpai seemed to give up on returning the envelope to him. Her hand on her skinny hip, she asked him.

"I'm not working yet. Ah, if by chance you know somebody, or have some pull, please introduce me, I'm trying to find whatever I can quickly just so I can pay."

"...This weekend."

That ranked up there in speed with Chinami's stylish juices.

"There's a job where you could make a lot in one night, but would you do it? Though it's waiting on tables at a party event. You'd get a full day's pay, at once. ...But I'm telling you ahead of time, you may be given some responsibilities."

Banri sunk his teeth into NANA-senpai's words. Waitering at a party... he couldn't picture it, it would come to him one way or the other. At the very least, it would be better than that stylish café.

"Of course! I want to do it! There's money, so I'll be there! Will there be an interview?"

"I'll be introducing you, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. ...There's just one condition."

Her hand stuffed under her worn T-shirt's hem, scratching herself roughly in her rather flat chest region, NANA-senpai suddenly raised one thin eyebrow at him.

"That guy Yanagisawa. Though it's only what Linda said, he seems to be pretty handsome. Bring that guy along."

| Forward to [[Golden Time:Volume4 Chapter3|Chapter 3]]