Golden Time:Volume6 Chapter4

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Golden Time 6: Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Long time, no see, Shizuoka.

And then the unexpected class reunion.

And then the unexpected... cat.

Banri sat at an angle in a chair in the living room, on the verge of slipping off, staring fixedly at the creature. It was stretched out lazily, enshrined on his belly. Before he knew it, several months had passed since he'd last been home, and the only Tada son had no idea that more living things had appeared. That was this guy. A cat.

"...How does this sound? 'Pom-Tail'"

It's tail was short, and the tip looked like it'd been broken (when he first saw it, he thought it was broken, but it seemed there were such cats). Since it looked like a pom-pom on its butt, he thought 'Pom-Tail'.

But the cat hardly reacted, and it remained sitting on Banri's stomach, eyes half-closed and unmoving. Not good, Pom-Tail.

Wanting to give the cat a name it would agree to, Banri had already come up with several ideas, but they had all been rejected like this. He'd started with "Tama", the ordinary "Shiro", the inoffensive "Nyan-Dog", then bit by bit "Mochi", morphing to "Norimochi", then one more "Yogorimochi", then reluctantly "Tarashimochi", then running out of ideas, "Bandai Namco", had enough of "Nya-Purin", then for some reason called it "Nyanyamura-kun", "Mountain Lion Boy", "Nennenyan", "Bring-it-on Boy", "Dog"... and by the way, his gender was indeterminate. He'd already been fixed.

He gently stroked it's narrow forehead with his middle finger. The cat, whose name had not yet been decided, looked back at Banri with its calm, khaki-colored eyes. As if to say, "A cat is a cat."

It was an ordinary cat, not at all like that luxuriously beautiful fur-ball that belonged to Kouko's house. It was fully grown, no longer a kitten. Its basic color was a sooty white, and there was a pattern as if somebody had spilled India ink on top, though if you looked closely, you could see it wasn't pure black, but had faint, blurry stripes. The pattern was scattered unnaturally from the back of the cat's head to its face, and Mother called the cat "Bogger-Nose-chan." As for Father, he called it "Hitman Koro-chan." Its upward slanted eyes looked like just like those of a professional killer.

Mother said, "No way! Hitmen are scary!" and Father said, "Wouldn't having a booger in her name be unfortunate?" They were not in agreement at all.

But something seemed suspicious. Banri saw that both his parents called the cat "Banri" when he wasn't present.

Yesterday, when it was time to feed her, he heard his mother tapping the plate with the cat-food and calling "Hana-chaan, food~, Ha~na~, ...Banri~." The cat would come eagerly when called, and when his father came home late from drinking, he would sit down cross-legged, pick up the cat, and say enthusiastically, "This guy dances. Come on, Koro-chan, look! Weird old man, there, weird old man, do it like you always do, Koro-chan, Banri." And when he said, "Dance", he would simply grasp the cat's front legs from behind and shove them backwards and forwards.

While he watched him making the cat dance, Banri tried to ask about it.

"You know, it's not particularly important, but this cat... aren't you calling it ‘Banri'...?"

"No I'm not, no I'm not!"

His parents both denied it in unison. And while denying it, "It's just, well, look... it just sort of showed up on the porch... right, Father?" "Yes, yes. It's face... all of a sudden. Sort of."

It seemed that somebody had suddenly noticed this previously unseen and unknown stray cat and in a moment of compassion, recklessly gave it something to eat. Eventually, there came a rainy day when he suddenly came into the house. Eh? This is my home, right? It's okay, right? Because it surely is. Making a face like that, it seated itself nonchalantly and confidently in the seat, stopped moving and ceased being a stray cat. They said its face at that time reminded them a little of the family's only son.

What was the meaning of this...?

It had returned home casually and with dignity, and planted itself on top of the low chair, which bothered Banri a bit. He would have to make time to ask about this, fair and square. Am I not the true son of this house!? Much to his surprise, they had found a boy who had lost his memories, and out of compassion they'd declared, "We are your parents," and he was recognized as family. When at length he was released from the hospital, and had come back to the house, "Eh? This is my home, right? It's okay, right? Because it surely is." Making an expression like that... that's exactly what it is, right!?

Anyone would have quite the identity crisis if something like that were to turn their world upside-down, but that aside,

"......Crap! It's so cute...! Why can't I have a pompom tail!?"

The cat was cute.

Everything about him was irresistibly cute: the way he stared blankly with a vacant expression and half-closed eyes, and the warm, heavy feeling of his stomach. Even the sound of its breathing was cute. It had a slightly stuffy nose, and it was adorable when it opened its mouth every now and then to breathe. Banri was beginning to understand the feelings of cat lovers around the world.

Since returning home in the morning the day before, Banri had been constantly cuddling the cat. The cat didn't seem to mind, either, and even came into his bed at night. Waking up to the sound of rumbling vibrations, but it was clear that Banri not only wasn't bothered by it, but in fact quite enjoyed it. You could even say it relaxed him. He was being overwhelmed by an intense love for cats. He wished he had paid more attention to that high-class cat in Kouko's house. He would love to visit that magnificent mansion again... but preferably when her father wasn't home.

Then, his cell phone rang from where he had set aside on the rug. Thinking it was a note from Kouko, he and the cat sat up. When he looked and saw it was from Linda, so he quickly picked it up.

"What? Is it time already?"

"Sorry, but it looks like I'm going to be a bit early. Is it already if I come over already?"

"It's okay! I mean, I'm sorry to have made you come to pick me up, Senpai."

"It's fine. I'm leaving in three minutes. And by the way, you are not allowed to call me 'senpai' today. Seriously, I'm gonna charge you 100 yen... no, 500 yen every time you do."

"Roger that, sir!"

"Even being so polite sounds awkward..."

"Roger that...!"

"Oh, you held back."

"...Sir!"

"Almost! NOT."

After laughing a while, Banri hung up the call. Actually, it was kinda tough with only three minutes. He lifted the cat off his stomach, stood up and shouted, "Whoa, amazing...! Mom, the roller!" The black T-shirt he had bought for this occasion, with a map of Mexico printed on it, was completely covered by white cat hair! Though of course, even it's shed fur was cute.

"You're leaving already? Isn't it early?"

His mother appeared in the living room with a lint roller in her hand, looking up at the clock with a puzzled expression. The cat approached her and rubbed it's body against her ankles. Just how cute can that cat be?

"Linda is coming to pick me up in her car, and should be here any minute now."

"Really? A car? Be careful!"

"There's no point in telling me to be careful. I won't be the one driving. She said her older brother has somewhere to go, so he'll take us both. Hand it over, hurry."

When he took the lint roller and quickly used it to remove the cat fur from his T-shirt, Mother (Mieko) continued to stare at him with the same puzzled expression. "What?"

"You musn't have another accident, okay? How are you getting home?"

"I don't know the time, so I'll call. Oops, the bathroom!"

"Wait, Banri. Your back too. Come here."

The cat, still seated perfectly still, let out a long meow. It had the nuance of, "But I'm over here!" In contrast,

"Not you," said Mother. Of course it was a shame. While giving off the impression he didn't want it at all, he let her run the lint roller over his entire back, then headed off to the bathroom.

He quickly finished his business, rinsed his mouth at the sink while washing his hands, and even fiddled with his hair a little with his fingertips. He'd gotten his hair cut back in Tokyo before coming home, but he felt as if they had cut off a little too much. Well, it was better than it being messy and unkempt. At this point, there was little that could be done about his face.

When he got back to the living room and checked the clock, he found it was 2:34. In other words... the class reunion would start in twenty-six minutes. There was no longer time to escape reality by fussing over the cat.

Had it already started?

He felt a sudden heaviness in the vicinity of his stomach, where he had put away cold noodles about an hour and half before, but he deliberately pretended not to notice, and ignored it. He had decided to go, and it was as simple as that.

Clearing his mind as best he could, wiping his mind as if thinking no more, Banri shoved his cell-phone into his back pocket.

"...I'm leaving!"

Slipping on his beach sandals, he opened the unnecessarily wide glass entry door. The sky was clear and bright blue. The sunlight was dazzling, but it no longer had the intense, powerful force of mid-summer.

Mother came to see him off, saying "Take care!", but for some reason she followed him carrying the cat wrapped in her arms.

The area in front of the Tada family's entrance was landscaped with fruit trees and other trees, a hobby of their now-deceased grandfather. Beyond that, there was an old well that looked like something out of The Ring, and a pond enclosed by a wire fence—it was a quintessential rural house. The property had a garage that could accommodate a small pickup truck and two passenger cars, a home vegetable garden that his mother tended to as a hobby, and a large, dome-shaped azalea bush that is taller than he was, beyond which was the road. And all around, of course, were tea plantations as far as the eye could see. Vast stretches of vibrant green stripes, interspersed with tall frost-protection fans, extended endlessly into the distance.

"How, how far are you going to follow me?"

"It's okay. Isn't this my own house, so I can do whatever I want to? It's your mother's prerogative, right Ban... Hana-chan?"

"Whatever you want, I suppose..."

He felt a little embarrassed that Linda might see this. As he turned around repeatedly to look at his mother holding the cat, he stepped onto the road, just as a silver compact car, its turn signal flashing, was pulling up in front of the Tada family's house. Yes, she saw his mother with the cat.

Linda was in the passenger seat, smiling and waving, and he could see her lips saying, "Oh! A cat!"

"Oh? Is that Linda-chan? You've changed quite a bit in appearance. I thought your hair had always been really long, but now it's been cut short."

"She's always looked like that since I met her in college."

"Eh? What a waste. You were so pretty... but I can't believe you two are back and hanging out together again. I was really surprised."

It seemed that Mother knew that Banri and Linda attended the same college, but it seemed she didn't know they were in the same department. When he explained yesterday at dinner that they not only attended the same school, but were now in the same club and hanging out together again, she was truly surprised. And now, looking at her son's face,

"You're some kind of stalker, aren't you...?"

Saying things like that so casually. So rude! It was disrespectful to him, let alone to real stalkers. Right, Kouko? He pictured an image of his beloved in the clear blue sky. (I'm keeping an eye on things from above, Banri.) ...The woman, whose image lingered in his memory, was stalking Banri on the earth below with opera glasses.

The driver's side door opened and from within,

"Banrii! Uvoy!"

A gorilla got out.

He had the face of a gorilla. The body type too. Without a shadow of a doubt, he was a gorilla. This gorilla was so perfectly average that it was like you lined up a hundred gorillas and averaged out their appearances – this is what you'd get. The balance between the upper body and the lower body was exactly like that of a gorilla. He looked surprisingly like a gorilla, even though he was wearing a track-suit and a T-shirt. Those bulging chest muscles looked like they were about to burst through the neckline of the T-shirt. Those arms, as thick as logs, looked like they were about to burst through his sleeves. Because a gorilla is a gorilla. The gorilla's behavior was so intense that even Banri was taken aback. But why was there a gorilla in Shizuoka in the first place? For the moment, to ensure he knew he wasn't an enemy, he shouted "Avoy!" in response, but

"Banriiiiiii...!"

At that moment, the gorilla grew a human heart. It suddenly burst into tears, a massive stream of tears gushing from both eyes, then covers its face and crouched down. It said, "Are you okay?" and "I didn't know a thing at all." And so on.

Behind Banri, who was bewildered by the sight of the uncontrollably sobbing gorilla, his mother was saying "I wonder if we have any bananas..." He thought this guy must be a gorilla in Mother's eyes as well...

"I'm getting really annoyed by that! Banri's in trouble, isn't he!? Seriously, can't you stop!? I mean, didn't I tell you to stop!?"

Linda got out from the passenger side and said something rather heartless and insensitive.

"I'm sorry, Banri. This isn't a gorilla. He's my older brother."

"He isn't a gorilla!? Eh!? Br, brother!? ...You've got to be kidding."

Banri stared in stunned silence at the still-crying gorilla, it's ears bright red... or rather, Linda's brother. Could there be anyone on earth less resembling brother and sister? He couldn't believe it. Because the one side wasn't a gorilla. Images of peas and fruit flies flashed vividly through his mind. Could science even explain this?

"Since he's my older brother, you can just call him 'Bro'. Jeez, get up already you big ape!"

So in the end he's 'Bro'. Not a gorilla?

"I'm not a gorilla! You won't find any gorillas that can speak this clearly! ...That is, sorry already, it's just that I'm sorry, when I saw your face it all welled up inside... Oh I give up, ah, Banri... how're you doing? How're things lately!?"

Banri couldn't quite understand what he was saying as he stood and wiped his face, but anyway. He clearly realized that he'd been causing this person a good deal of worry for a long time. Taking a big step forward, Banri replied in a loud voice, "Yes, sir!"

"I'm fine! I'm in tip-top shape! Everything's just perfect!"

"Really...!?"

Upon hearing Banri's answer, Bro grinned happily. Seeing that face, Banri finally understood that this man was indeed Linda's brother. Though their faces and body types were different, their way of laughing was exactly the same.

"Well then, shall we go? ......Hold on a moment."

Linda suddenly saw the sandals on Banri's feet.

"I forgot to mention, but I was told we should wear comfortable shoes to the gathering today. Did you bring any shoes apart from sandals?"

"Y, yes I did. Just like yours."

Linda's gaze flickered briefly up to Banri's face.

"Five hundred yen?"

"...I was wearing the ones you gave me the other day... so I have them!"

"Safe! Well done. We still have time, so go change into them."

What does it mean to wear comfortable shoes to the class reunion? Although he found it quite strange, Banri did as he was told and went back in the house, took out a pair of socks from his luggage in his room, put them on, changed into his shoes, and then ran out of the front door again.

When he got back to where the car was parked, Banri snorted when he heard his mother (standing like a scarecrow, still holding the cat) ask Linda if she'd just gotten a haircut. This wasn't the time or place to laugh. After all, they had only twenty minutes left.

As the car pulled away, Banri turned and looked back. Mother was still standing there by the street in front of the house, holding the cat, watching Banri, who was now settled in the back seat, for a very long time.

Bro asked as he drove, "Why in the world are you guys meeting up at a time like this? It's still broad daylight!"

Linda answered from the passenger seat, "I don't really get it myself. At first, they had planned a normal barbeque party in the evening, but since it turned out Banri would be coming, it seems the organizers got excited and started planning all sorts of activities."

As it happened, Bro's body was too big for the car. Gripped by hands so big they seemed to have gloves on, the steering wheel looked like one of those macaroni wheels you sometimes found in salads. As it happened, though this is irrelevant, it seemed that whenever Bro went past the gorilla enclosure at the zoo, all the gorillas would greet him with a whistle and a bow. If even his actual younger sister said this was true, it probably was. Well, from the start there had been no reason to doubt.

It seemed the car with three people in it was headed for the high school that Linda and Banri had graduated from. As for Banri, he only remembered having gone there to get some documents he needed for his college entrance exam. It was a brief event that didn't leave much of an impression on him: a white-haired man that looked like an office worker had simply handed him through a window the documents he had requested by phone beforehand.

"...I wonder what they're really going to do? Will they have some sort of amazing plan...?"

"Are you perhaps feeling nervous?"

When Linda turned around, Banri nodded deeply from the back seat. He spread his arms wide at the same time. His hands were drenched in a cold sweat. Linda was startled by how incredibly nervous Banri was.

That made sense. It couldn't be helped. They were about to touch upon the very core of the matter, something they had been avoiding all this time. They were heading at 40 km/hr straight towards the very people who knew the past version of Banri, the version he didn't even know. While he was staying at his parents house, he had the cat as a way to escape reality, but now that things had come to this, it was impossible for him to stay calm. Banri clenched his damp hands and lowered them to his denim-clad thighs, trying to breathe as slowly and deeply as possible. Closing his eyes, he quietly repeated inside his head the lines he had memorized. He did, at least, think about what he would say at the very beginning.

First, "I apologize for causing you concern." And then, "I am perfectly healthy now. But my memories have not yet returned, so I think I may offend you. I am truly sorry for all the trouble I have caused." He would adopt an extremely humble attitude and say, "I am truly happy to be able to attend today's reunion. I will be intruding on your enjoyable time for a little while, but I hope you will bear with me." ...And that was it.

From that point on, he would try to be pleasant, read the room and behave himself. Above all, he must not cause problems for Linda. In the worst case, he just needed to stick to those lines. He had dramatically declared that he wouldn't run away from his past anymore, but in any case, he'd only just started. He hadn't thought it would be easy. He would just have to get used to things, little by little.

However, but,

"Ah... what should I do?"

For now, of course, he was nervous and scared. He let out a long sigh of relief. Since he was aware that they had avoided contact with him up to now, the awkwardness was immeasurable. He gazed through the car window at the rustic countryside. In truth, he often thought to himself, "I'm really here!" He'd had plenty of opportunities to escape, yet he'd managed to hold out this long.

"What a face. Stop being so nervous and stressed out. Try to relax a little."

Turned around and looking at him, Linda laughed and slapped her knee.

"There's no point in getting scared now that you've come this far. I'll be there to help you out if something happens, so you'll be fine. I was the one who brought you here, so I take full responsibility and provide you with the support you need."

"...Thank you very much."

With such desperate thoughts, he bowed his head to Linda. Because this person was with him like this, he was able to be there. He could steel himself and be determined to do his best and not to run away.

"Nonetheless, if you really don't feel like staying, you can leave any time you want."

"...Yes."

Her bright eyes were narrowed gently.

As a so-called person, he had once tried to drive away someone who looked at him with such eyes, by saying terrible things and pushing them into a realm of complete irrelevance. The moment he thought that, he felt a chill down his spine. He was horrified on his own foolishness. And then, not saying a thing, he realized once more the profound depths of Linda's heart as she acknowledged and accepted Banri's attempts to correct his mistake. He also realized how fortunate he was to have met such a person twice.

He was truly a lucky person. He had been blessed with incredibly fortunate encounters. He was so glad to be alive and here, and to be able to realize that. What incredible luck!

At last, Banri was able to lift his head and smile back at Linda. Seeing this, Linda smiled even more broadly.

"...I will try to do my best!"

The gorilla, who had been listening to the conversation between them from the driver's seat, suddenly laughed out loud.

"You guys really act like senior and junior! Like a skit from school club! Banri, don't let Linda boss you around! That's Linda we're talking about!"

The gorilla-faced Bro may have the same surname Hayashida as her seemed to call her "Linda", but,

"Linda is Linda, of course! I know that, and that's perfectly fine!"

For some reason, Banri replied rather confidently, puffing out his chest.

"And I am Tada Banri, through and through! For me, with Linda as my senior right now, she was my best friend before, and I hope she'll be my best friend from now on. I was lucky to meet her, she's special, and she's incredibly fun to hang around with. She's someone I trust, and she makes me want to be the kind of guy who she can trust in return! That's Linda. And if that is what Linda is, then I'm perfectly fine with that!"

Bro groaned softly, looking back at Banri through the rear-view mirror.

"What are you? I don't really understand it, but anyway I felt an incredible power of persuasion just now..."

"And Bro is Bro! Whether you're a gorilla or a human, you're fine!"

"No, I'm not a gorilla."

Linda caught that and burst out laughing.

The gorilla dropped his sister and Banri off at the intersection in front of the high school, waved his enormous hand from the driver's seat window, and drove away.

The street was scorching hot in the early afternoon sunlight, an indication that it was still summer. "It's kinda hot," said Linda, wearing a T-shirt and shielding her eyes with her hand.

"There sure was a lot of traffic. What day of the week is it today? When you get a long break, you lose track of what day it is. I meant to get here early, but before we knew it we arrived just on time."

"..."

"Well then, shall we go!?"

"..."

"Banri?"

"..."

"Ah, let's walk. Is something wrong?"

Having been dropped in the middle of the intersection, Banri stood there standing, frozen like Benkei. Having Linda there was reassuring... but, of course, no matter what,

"...I got here... I got here, finally...!"

He was scared. Anxious. Nervous. Incredibly so. He'd come, once more. Anew.

The high school grounds, covered with brick and greenery, are elevated above the road, and the view inside is obstructed by a black iron fence. The meeting place was supposed to be the school gate, but perhaps because the school grounds weren't a perfectly rectangle, they couldn't see anything resembling a gate from where they were standing. Beyond the flowerbeds, a long row of cherry trees with lush green leaves stretched out, and he could just make out the school building far in the distance, deep within the expansive grounds.

Had everyone already gathered...? Banri stood on tiptoe, awkwardly stretching to try and get a better look at what was beyond the fence, and was met with surprised stares from people coming from the opposite direction. From an outsider's perspective, it certainly looked like he was just a pervert trying to peep at high school girls, and sure enough, Linda grabbed his shoulder from behind and said, "Hey!"

"What're you doing, stalling like that!?"

"N, no... I was wondering if I couldn't see inside from here... but it's really, really scary... ah, what should I do, what should I do...?"

"Have you gone back to that again!? Are you kidding!? Didn't we go through all that already!?"

"We went through it all, but now we've gotten close to it! Oh geez it's scary!"

"I mean, you keep saying it's scary, but what in the world is it you're scared of?"

"Everything! The atmosphere! The mood!"

"Be more specific."

"...The dagger-like stares! The feeling of 'you aren't him'! Because I'm... like this! I have no memories! I don't know anyone! People will be thinking, 'who is this guy?'!"

"I told you, everyone already understands that."

"What's this guy doing here? You shouldn't be here... that sort of thing!"

"Everyone is so excited to finally meet you."

"But I'm not the Tada Banri that everyone wants to meet, am I!?"

Masculinity, zero. Having completely abandoned all sense of shame or self-respect, Banri openly showed his distress. Linda, true to her promise, remained kind to him.

"Jeez. There's nothing can be done now... you're probably overthinking things too much. Well, I can't say I don't understand your feelings completely, though."

Furrowing her brows as if she were worried, then put her fingertip to her mouth in a thoughtful pose. As if an idea had just occurred to her, she held up that finger.

"Let's do this instead. Banri, close your eyes."

"Eh? ...Like this?"

As instructed, honest to a fault, he closed his eyes. Apart from the light he could feel through his eyelids, he couldn't see a thing.

"You think too much, and try to predict strange things, which is why you panic. So, it would be better if you didn't see anything at all."

"Ah... oh..."

When his hands were suddenly and gently grasped, he let out a soft, almost Michael Jackson-like sound at the cool, soft touch. Linda was taking him by the hand. If by some chance Kyoko were to see this scene from somewhere, she might attack him and try to beat him to death while wearing pantyhose on her face. But with his anxiety at its peak, he felt he had no choice for now but to rely on those trustworthy hands. Besides, if Linda were to say, "Calm down, Kouko. This isn't cheating. It's caregiving!", even Kouko would probably lower her fists and admit, "Caregiving? In that case..." She would say, "You know, I may not look like it, but I'm actually quite understanding when it comes to elder care," and would even take off the pantyhose she was wearing over her head.

Having nothing to do with Banri's ridiculous imaginings,

"I'll take you there like this, so don't think about anything unnecessary and just keep your eyes closed. Okay, let's go. Walk slowly."

Linda was incredibly, even overwhelmingly kind. The hands that touched his were soft and smooth, slender, yet surprisingly, her fingers were firm, making them strangely pleasant to hold.

"Hmm..."

Losing the ability to speak at the same time he lost his sight, Banri, trembling and hesitant, entrusted his entire being to the hand that was guiding him.

For certain, he was so worried, having been in a hurry to see the future, and that may have made him even more scared. As he tightly closed his eyes so he couldn't see anything, and entrusted everything to Linda's kindness as she held his hands, his heart surprisingly regained its composure. Taking alternating steps, Banri was led along like an old man, receiving instructions such as, "There's a step there," "There's a caterpillar, so let's avoid it," "We're turning," "There's a pitfall," "I can see magma," and "Just kidding!"

"We'll be there very soon now."

He felt that keenly.

The soft tone of Linda's voice, filled with a smile, really touched his heart. He felt incredibly grateful from the bottom of his heart. And whatever happened, he wanted to express that now,

"...Linda. Just a second."

Banri, his eyes still closed, spoke without embarrassment or pretense.

"I'm repeating myself, but really, really, really: thank you. Thank you very much. Seriously, for having done so many things for my sake, thank you. And it's not just about today."

He realized that expressing the feelings that welled up in his heart honestly in words wasn't as difficult as he thought.

"And I'm sorry for having been a bother up to now. ...I said earlier that I wanted to pretend that the past never happened, but I truly regret having said that now. I regret it terribly. I wonder why back then I couldn't simply be happy we had the chance to meet again. That's why I wanted to change myself, and that's why I decided to come here today."

Linda didn't say a word and seemed to be quietly listening to what Banri had to say. Even Banri could tell that she was listening carefully as she gripped both his hands. The feeling of the palms was both reliable and gentle. The warmth gradually built between their hands.

"...I wonder if I can change?"

He had wound up just a little spoiled. He was sure that she would tell him that he could change.

However,

"..."

There was no answer. Banri was taken aback. Even if she was just listening quietly, it would be nice if she said something now. A little suspiciously,

"...Linda? You're listening, right?"

He said quietly, his right ear asking.

"Hm? Ah? Hmm? What?"

Strangely, he thought he heard Linda's voice slightly behind him. She had been right in front of him holding his hand, so why? Now he was clearly suspicious.

"That's you there, aren't you? This is Linda, right?"

He tried tugging on the hand clasping his. But again there was no reply. The silence continued for a while, and then, after a considerable delay, "...Ah, what's wrong?" Strange. Something was strange.

Before his eyes, this hand gripping his should be Linda's. So he believed... but it couldn't be. Banri opened his eyes wide. Sure enough, there was...

"......Ah!"

Ah, it wasn't. Some old man he didn't know was there. A thin old man Banri had never seen before was gripping his two hands and walking backwards, gently guiding him forward. Linda was standing a good distance away, whispering something to some guy he didn't know and said, "Oh no, I've been discovered. Sorry, sorry." He was now in front of the school gate. Grrrr.... Banri felt as if his face was being drawn in, stretched out and divided into thirds, filling the entire vertical frame. That final touch before the ending of 'Devilman'. As this was happening, the man who had been holding my hands without my knowing said, "Umm, long time no see~"

"Aren't you... an old man!?"

His most passionate confession, his most heartfelt, had been stolen by a middle-aged man... Banri suddenly realized just how pretty Kouko had been the other day (and in that case, the older man was a blood relative) and jumped back in surprise. Before he knew it, Banri was surrounded by a group of strange men and women, and face, face, face, face, another face and face, then the back of somebody's feet... no, skip that, another face. He finally realized they were definitely classmates. The old man still holding his hands,

"I'm a classmate too... so I'm not an old man... so I was walking to the meeting place when I saw someone with Linda and thought, 'Oh! Tada Banri! Aah!' and then suddenly... like this..."

As he said all that with a sad-seeming, old looking face, he gently squeezed both his hands.

He apologized for any concern he might have caused. He was completely healthy now. But his memory had not returned and he was afraid he might do something rude. He apologized over and over again. He had managed to take part in the class reunion, and he was truly happy. I'll be interrupting your fun time for a while, so please be considerate... the empty comments which Banri was unable to actually say a single word of, continued to repeat silently in his mind.

* * *

Swish! The ball came flying towards his thigh, and by a miracle he narrowly managed to avoid it. Banri thought Linda was a demon. No more screaming, no more complaining. Why had the gods given this woman such athletic ability? Failing to knock Banri down, she clicked her tongue and saying "Almost!", in the next instant catching a nice ball from the outfield with one hand, she stepped forward with a battle cry. The ball she had avoided went off to the outfield. From the outfield to Linda again, then Banri was targeted once more. She was probably aiming for a moment when he had lost his balance and still unable to recover, but somehow, without so much as a grunt, he managed to avoid it by rolling over, and Moa, who was standing behind him, was unfortunately hit. Linda's merciless, serious fast-ball hit her right on the side of Moa's frilly tank-top, making her cry out. The whistle blew to signal 'out', and Banri hurried to pick up the ball, which had rolled out to the other team's territory. Even though some of his team-mates had been sacrificed, he had the ball for the first time in a while.

She'd had her way with him up to now, but now it was time to get back for Moa! He immediately held out the ball and aimed for Linda, but,

"Oops! Isn't it against the rules to aim at somebody with the ball?"

"Whaaat!? I didn't hear that!!"

"If the one holding the ball gets hit, they die instantly! If you have any doubts, just try it!"

He stomped his foot from being laughed at. In Linda's hand was a ball passed to her by the her outfield teammates. Linda and Banri glared at each other, each holding a ball in their hand. Behind Banri, another ball was quickly being passed from one outfielder to another of the east team. The moment he was distracted by that,

"Make sure to follow the five-second rule, okay!?"

Linda's ball flew unexpectedly further into the east team's outfield. Another ball was thrown across Banri's West Team. Realizing he was the target of a pincer attack, "Banri! 3, 2, 1!", a countdown began according to the demon's rule that the ball could not be held for more than five seconds. "Whoa!" He panicked and threw the ball towards the outfield, but it was easily caught by the tall Tanny in the East Team's territory.

"Okay, Banri, get ready!"

"Wait, wait, waaait! Ah, no! Waaaaaah!"

Three balls were aimed at Banri, one from Tanny and two more from the outfield. He screamed, "Nooo!" and stepped back, look for some way to escape. Wasn't he as good as dead? These guys were that terrible. They had suddenly thrown Banri, who didn't remember a thing, into the game without even explaining the rules.

From the start he was surrounded, and it gave the impression of a surprise attack, though looking back it now, he thought they had been a bit shy about it. Being told by one after another, "Wow, it's Banri!" "It's been so long." "Your face looks a little different." "Eh, you haven't changed much, have you?" "You've gotten taller!" and so on, Banri having no idea what to say back to them, for the time being settled for just apologizing to the guy he'd suddenly called an old man.

"No problem, I've had an old man's face for a while now. Here, put this on."

He was handed a sort of red vest with a number tag on it. On a piece of fabric attached with a safety pin was written by hand, "Banri." Looking around, he saw that everyone was wearing a red or blue vest with their first name, their surname, or their nickname written on it. Even Linda, who was wearing a blue vest with "Linda" on it.

"I thought it would be inconvenient if you didn't understand their names right away."

When the old man with the red vest -- or rather, "Koichirou" -- said this to him, and Banri replied, "Th-Thank you...!" and felt something slowly catch in his throat. At that moment he finally realized his mistake, feeling like he'd been tossed into the middle of a storm of rejection.

They were located just a little in from the gate, about halfway down a row of cherry trees leading to the school building.

More than thirty classmates had gathered here and waited for Banri, a guy who had no memories of them, and had even made a vest for him with his name on it. They had thought up a way to communicate with him without causing him trouble. If they had been trying to reject the changed Banri, they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of doing something like this. Everyone was trying their best to accept Banri as he was now. Banri once again realized how mistaken and narrow-minded he had been in fearing them and speaking ill of them based on one-sided assumptions. He felt frankly ashamed of himself. He said once more, "Thank you very much!" as loud as he could as he put the vest with his name on it. Now he matched everyone else.

Linda, however, looked puzzled and asked, "I think it's a nice idea, but why have numbers?"

"We've decided to finally settle the score from two years ago! Now finally... Banri has returned. Today it is time for the showdown!"

Suu, wearing a red vest, took one step forward. As if he had understood,

"...Oh! Now I get it!"

Linda blinked. But, Banri still didn't quite understand how the story was unfolding. Settle the score? What the heck was all that about? As Banri tilted his head in confusion, Suu said passionately, "Hey Banri, remember what happened two years ago!?" He had no choice but to reply, "No, I don't remember anything."

"Oh yeah, that's right! Sorry! When we were in our third year, out class was divided into two teams, East and West, and we duked it out!"

According to Suu, the traditional ball games held once a year at this school involved all classes dividing into East and West teams, playing three different games and adding up the points. Volleyball, basketball and,

"The final event was dodgeball. The last event was chosen by lot. It turned into a showdown between our class's East and West teams, but the result was something that has come back to bite us. At that point, the West team was in the lead by four points. A win would give five points, a draw would give each team three points. So as long as the West team didn't lose, they would end up winning easily."

"This was where you caused a problem, Banri."

Linda suddenly became serious, leaving Banri confused and making questioning noises.

"We blues were the East Team. You reds were the West team. The game was a twenty-minute match, and the winner was decided by how many people remained at the end. We were going back and forth for a long while, but just before the end, you got hit by my ball. It hit you hard on the shoulder. And yet you said, ‘That was on the face, so I'm safe!' and for some reason the referee accepted it. In the end you were declared safe, and the game ended in a draw."

"We, the West Team, won, of course! Yea!"

When Suu shouted, the guys in the red vests erupted into cheers, clapping and whistling. Linda shot back, "No way! It was absolutely on the shoulder!" and the guys on the blue team chimed in, "Yeah, it was the shoulder!" Then here and there some people started saying things like, "No, it definitely was the face." "No, it was definitely the shoulder!" "But the judges said it was his face, didn't they?"

"But the east team really did win!" "Just accept reality!" "We can't accept that at all!" ...and so on.

Not knowing what to do, Banri, with a dopey look on his face, stood in the middle and nodded at what each team said as if he were some sort of yes-man. "Hmmm!" "Hmm, I see!" "You have a point!" "That I understand too!" But,

"Has that been your intention from the start!? That really ticks me off!"

With a demonic expression the likes of which he had never once witnessed in all their time together, Linda, who had been so kind up to now, his childhood friend "Linda-sempai", known for her poker face, closed in on Banri, looking as if she were about to grab him by the scruff of his neck. But even if he were to say something like that,

"No, I honestly don't remember a thing, so..."

Suu sidled up to him, slung an arm around his shoulder decisively and whispered, "It's all right. None of this is your fault. It's these guys from the East Team still picking fights, even now. They're truly the vindictive ones. Hmph!"

Linda let out a screech, violently twisting her body and gritting her teeth in bitter frustration. True to form as the Gorilla's younger sister, she expressed her frustration with such sheer intensity that her comrades in the East Team began to mirror her sentiments. As if to rub salt into their wounds, though he really should have known better, Suu spoke up.

"Right? Do you understand, Banri? This is how a foolish loser harbors such needless resentment. And so, we of the West Team, in the name of justice, shall once more beat these scoundrels to a pulp!"

The West Team roared.

"Don't mess with us! Now's the time to right these wrongs and seize victory back into our own hands!"

In response, the East Team raised their voices like the earth rumbling. Across from Banri, who was still confused and couldn't keep with what was going on, come to think of it, there was one girl wearing a yellow vest. She had a petite stature that reminded him of Chinami Oka, a cute, fair-skinned face and long, flowing, silky black hair reaching down below her chest. She had a whistle hanging around her neck and the name "Meiko" written across her chest. Raising both her hands,

"I am the referee. There will be no time limit. It will be a deathmatch ending only when one side is entirely wiped out. That match, starts now!"

Crossing her arms overhead, she blew clumsily on the whistle. Her lung capacity was insufficient, but with nobody daring to point that out,

"Huh!? What!? Where are you going!?"

Whoa! Just like that, everyone took off running somewhere at full speed. Even Linda, having lost all sense of reason, appeared to have completely forgotten any promises she had made, like "I'll follow up on everything." And just like that, she left Banri behind and dashed away. Having no clue what was going on, he had no choice but to simply chase after everyone; for the first time in ages, Banri, too, ran at full sprint. The group of thirty-odd people dashed all at once beneath the rows of cherry trees, then burst through a gap in the shrubbery and onto the sports field. He could see that dodgeball lines had already been marked out there in white paint. It immediately dawned on Banri that a game was about to take place right here; what he couldn't figure out, however, was why three balls had been placed in the center of the field, right between the two zones separated by a line. The frontrunners who had rushed in scrambled for the prizes on a first-come, first-served basis; driven by sheer intensity, the East Team secured two of them, while the West Team claimed one.

"Three balls!? We're playing dodgeball with these!? What kind of rules are these!?"

"Don't you belong over there!"

Linda, who had followed him without thinking, was pushed to the opposite side of the field. Suddenly, the ball began to spin around in circles in the outfield and within the field at an incredible speed.

"You're gonna be the first to die!"

As if events were flowing in the most natural way, he was caught in a pincer attack. Suu, who had amassed far too much ill-will by this point, was the very first to be struck. That ferocious, all-out throw, followed by a heavy whack sound, followed by screen of pure agony. Banri shuddered, "Are they kidding!?", but they weren't kidding. Every one of these young people was in earnest here.

From that point on, the game proceeded at the East Team's pace. The West Team, distinguished by their red vests, found themselves almost completely deprived of possession; one after another, they were struck by the ball and sent out to the sidelines. To Banri, who could do nothing but run around in circles, Koichirou said, "We have to somehow get the ball and pass it to the outfield, or else the ones who've died won't have any way to come back to life!" Right after he said that, Linda's fastball came hurtling over to their side with the blunt, unvarnished remark, "You don't actually have to show them!" Thump! With a heavy sound, the ball slipped from Koichirou's hands… he had failed to make the catch… and went rolling away. Meiko declared in a listless voice, "Koichirou, you're out." Wearing a sorrowful, middle-aged face, Koichirou sheepishly headed to the outfield. By this point, the West Team, Banri included, had dwindled to a handful of survivors; the East Team, in the meantime, still swarmed with ten members, led by Linda. Lined up side by side, generously spaced, they formed a line, and, moving with the disciplined coordination of a living organism, they fluidly shifted back and forth within their territory. And so they gained control of the three balls.

"All right then, Banri, don't you think it's about time this coward met his end?"

Banri shuddered at Linda's words. He was being targeted.

"You're saying something like that!? Weren't we close, you and I, senpai!?"

"Yes, and I've got five hundred yen! Don't you forget, right now I'm just plain Linda. Got it!?"

She was coming for him again.

She truly possessed astounding athletic ability. He already knew from past performances that she was very light on her feet, and he had even seen her execute a magnificent somersault that would put a gymnast to shame. But seriously, wasn't this just a little too incredible? Every single soft pitch was caught as if it were magnetically drawn to her hands, while the fastballs hurled with full force by the boys were (astonishingly) effortlessly dodged with a one-handed cartwheel. At Linda's command, the three balls spun wildly at high speed—twirling as if they were living creatures... and the Western Team was being unilaterally toyed with. If she wasn't the Devil, then what was she?

Linda took out Moa, leaving the West Team with only three members left, including Banri.

The East Team had Banri in their sights from three directions: a pincer attack from the flanks, plus Tanny bearing down from the front. Seeing the three of them winding up to throw, aiming right at him, Banri flinched, thinking, "It's over. I'm going to die." The two teammates he had left, fully aware that Banri had been sole target for some time now, let out screams (albeit in a surprisingly explanatory tone): "It's the first time we've seen you since last year's graduation!" "Banri, we finally got to see you again after so long!" But, it was a terrifying trap.

Two heavy thumps in succession weren't from Banri, but from the two guys on either side of him. Each of them taking a hit near the knees, they collapsed to the ground with looks of utter astonishment. "Huh!? Why did I get hit!?" "Why did I get hit when they were aiming at Banri!?"

It was an extermination operation masquerading as a targeted strike and aimed solely at Banri. He was the very last one. To the trembling eyes of Banri, everything unfolded in slow motion. Right in front of him, grinning evilly, was Linda's face. Trailing slightly behind, with his timing deliberately offset, Tanny leaped high into the air and shouted, "See you later!" As he did so, he began the motion to unleash the ball, this time aimed squarely at Banri. But at that moment, Banri had already sprung over to the side. A ball bounced off another person and soared into the air. Banri leapt high into the air and caught the ball before it could touch the ground. The ball had bounced, so he would have been safe anyway. Tanny gave a sharp grunt and stopped his motion. If you target the one holding the ball, it meant instant death. The ball, released from Tanny's hand, traced a lazy, high-arching trajectory. One of Banri's teammates, judged to be released when Banri caught the ball, effortless caught the slow ball thrown by Tanny. While he was at it, Banri also picked up a ball lying within their territory and tossed it out to the outfield; with this, the West Team had secured control of all three balls.

Perhaps rattled by the sudden crisis, the East Team uncharacteristically allowed their formation to fall apart. The absolutely straight horizontal line began to fray and unravel. The obvious target here was the mastermind: Linda the Demon. If Linda died, the rest would turn out okay. Without even saying anything, all three players holding balls must have been thinking the very same thing. Banri locked his sights on Linda and entered into his killer pitching motion. The feeling that it was a sure thing was coursing through his entire body.

"Hold on a minute! Banri, isn't it me!? Your senior in the club!? Have you forgotten everything I've done for you, watching over you all this time!?"

"Begging for your life like that... you are just, Linda!"

Just die already!

First, two balls, one from the outfield, one from the infield, sandwiched Linda from before and behind. Linda evaded the two attacks, both aimed low, with a desperate, soaring leap... yet even this was something Banri had long since anticipated. Before Linda could land, he unleashed the ball with full force, aiming right around her thigh. The ball flew straight toward Linda's thigh, exactly as intended, and just as he thought she would be out... that was the moment it happened.

Showing tremendous physical ability, Linda spread her legs wide like a dancer, landing from her jump in a low, flat position. The ball, which had been aimed at the lower half of her body, slammed hard into her face.

"Waahh!"

Banri shrieked involuntarily. Wham! The ball, having bounced straight up high into the air, slowly tumbled and rolled deep into the East Team's territory. Meiko didn't blow her whistle.

"That one hit the face, so she's safe."

"......Banri......"

Linda stood up, swaying. The ball was clutched in her hand. On her uplifted face, the imprint of the ball was clearly visible. Banri let out a frightened squeak and recoiled.

<~~60% Completed~~>

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