Golden Time:Volume3 Prologue

Status: Incomplete

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Golden Time 3: Prologue

Prologue

The eldest Hayashida son, who Banri only knew of as "Ani", was already gone by the time he entered high school.

The Hayashida-san of his same class, who joined the running club with him, in short, was Linda,

"That, actually, is my big brother."

She said, pointing before her with a strangely sour looking face: There was Ani.

Doing activities on the same playing field as the running club, he was subbing for the soccer club coach without pay.

A graduate of Banri's high school, and an old member of the soccer club too, Ani was in those days a third-year student at a local college. That he was really Linda's older brother was unexpected, but even Banri knew of him from the past. That coach, his voice strangely loud, shouted "Go Big!" and on that occasion seemed to be all seeing.

Dressed in an old jersey, quicker than anybody, he came into sight around the dusty track. Standing imposingly, he lay in wait as the soccer team, running double-time, gathered to him.

"Uvoi!"

He shouted at them one by one, his voice as if it were bolts of lightning cast off by a sky-god. While he nodded, his chin drawn back, his eyes burning hotly, he clapped loudly with the palms of his big hands. The team members dutifully shouting back, "Avoi!", the group now slowly taking shape and running off as light-footed as ever. There was certainly a reason the soccer club had a tendency to be forever hoarse.

In that place, if there were girls calling out "My Boy!" (the average fan-girls), there were also those saying "My Ball!" (the noisy ones), and there were even those shouting "Move it!" (the demon coach's fans). There were even a few who seemed to have fired themselves up so they could just shout "Oi! Oi!" (the punk rocker types).

His muscular silhouette was altogether Donkey Kong. All of Ani's body brought about the impression: his athletic body build, the thick feet characteristic of an experienced soccer player, even a certain monkey-like friendliness towards others. You couldn't say those looks were flattering, as if he were descended from gorillas. His slender younger sister Linda was almost exactly the opposite, the two of them never having resembled each other.

Before long, Ani seemed to notice the gazes directed at him. While easily waving in our direction and showing a friendly smile, he deliberately shouted "Uvoi!", like a gun going off.

But Linda, not cutting him any slack for being her brother, frowned and complained "Hey, cut it out! It's embarrassing," flipping her long hair (done in a ponytail), and quickly turning the other way.

Without answering, he turned his "Uvoi!" gun to vainly fill the entire grounds with its roar. Not the giant, glove-like back of his hand, nor a covering smile, entirely got rid of that sad place.

Unable to sit still, Banri rushed in by himself, belatedly reacting to him. Flying before Ani, imitating, no, mimicking the members of the soccer club, he shouted "Avoi!" at the top of his lungs.

Ani took what he was hearing with a happy-looking face. He looked as happy as a gorilla spotting a banana in the forest. Banri knew that by the standards of wild animals, he was a lonely one. In the natural world, to be isolated from the herd was life threatening.

From then on, it got to where every time Ani and Banri ran into each other, they greeted each other with shouts. Sometimes, punching each other in the shoulder, nearly smashing them, they'd call out good-humoredly, "Hey, howya doing!?" and "Whatcha up to?" not really expecting an answer. Before long, it got to where Ani even shouted to Linda.

One day, Ani decided to find a job, and quit the coaching he'd done for two whole years.

---Well, that was all.

If he said so, then it really was all there was.

"Your brother is such a nice guy, I can't just watch and see him betrayed like this!"

It was a summer day, in their third year of high school.

Banri spoke forcefully, looking in profile at Linda crouched down next to him. Whether it was righteous indignation, feeling like this? Banri's voice was going high and hysterical. Even though he was merely acquainted with the matter, for Banri it was something he could not be quiet about.

On the road in the blazing sun, the two were playing detective like kids.

They were making themselves small, hiding in the gap between a telephone pole and some bushes. The hot rays of sunlight were shining down on their heads, putting at risk the preparations they had done for their college entrance exams. Nearly an hour had pased already.

Drops of sweat flowed steadily down from Linda's temples to her suntanned cheeks. Eyes wavering in concern, they fell to the shadows at her feet, not looking at Banri's face. Her lips moved slowly.

"I understand. But, calm down a little."

"What's with this?" Banri muttered to himself, quickly and roughly.

At first, it was Linda who suggested that there was something important they had to talk about. She said she might need his help.

That person is cheating on him. She's betrayed Ani. I won't allow it. Linda went on like that, her lips trembling.

He'd heard from Linda that they'd decided to get married after Ani had been working for a year. It was around the time of the summer rains, if he wasn't mistaken. He remembered standing next to Linda, watching and talking as the raindrops painted arteries across the glass, the pale hydrangea blooming all over the schoolyard.

At that time, Banri blessed Ani from the bottom of his heart. He felt she must be quite a woman, to fall in love with that Ani, understanding the goodness in that Ani. He heard the ceremony would be in the fall, when the colors were at their best, and he imagined that it would surely be a magnificent day. Dancing on the brightly colored leaves under a deep blue sky, the couple would celebrate a sort of youthful happiness. Thinking along those lines, even the chill of that day's rainfall was forgotten.

But this summer, Ani's fiance betrayed him.

At another guy's suggestion, he had gone out to a part of town he didn't know so he could take the mock exam for a big-name college prep school when by chance he'd spotted Linda.

Linda said the photo she'd taken was proof. Jabbing the irrefutable evidence towards him, she said that she was going to tell everything to Ani and all their relatives on both sides, and get them to own up to their mistake. She said she had to stop a trainwreck. The engagement would be called off, of course. She said she wanted to her to fall apart, living alone, branded as "a woman of negotiable virtue" forevermore, unable to earn a living yet made to pay a settlement. Even speaking of wanting to brand a scarlet letter on her forehead, it didn't sound like she was joking. Frankly, she's a little scary, Banri thought.

In spite of carrying on so much, Linda made Banri come along with her to the apartment where the cheating occurred. When Ani's fiance, arm in arm with her boyfriend, was about to enter, she suddenly lowered her voice and aimed her cell-phone camera at them. They waited a bit, crouched down once more, unmoving.

At Banri's side, her blood risen to her head, she witnessed the scene of the crime. Indeed, the two who'd done it, the disgusting pair, these that had walked all over Ani and made a fool of him. The more he thought about it, the more he was losing control over his anger. This is horrible, he thought. Should such as these even exist? Rather, Banri thought, if they were to break into the apartment somehow, they would even more certainly be able to get pictures showing yet more evidence of their cheating. He wondered, would they be able to weasel out of it, with only the picture of the filthy couple entering into the apartment hand in hand?

<~~31% Completed~~>

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