Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko:Volume1 Chapter5

Chapter 5: An Unbelievable Moment Of A Crawling Girl

Before I started attending high school, the teachers would always check the students’ bicycles at the start of every Semester.

They checked to ensure that the bicycle lights still worked per normal, whether they had the special sticker given to the students from the school, or if the brakes were loose……Teachers were told to stay back after lessons ended and check the bikes. It was rather time-consuming and unnecessary. Furthermore, everyone was forced to do it.

Those who did not take part in any clubs or societies and just wanted to go shopping or lurk around right after school had no choice but to stay back. Waiting for the teachers to inspect the bikes slowly and carefully, one by one, was no doubt excruciating. And the check was done outdoors.

The falling petals of the Sakura tree during April; the burning hot sun during September; the teeth chattering of coldness during January.

Athletic clubs also complain often due to the large amount of Charinkos (female bikes with bells) taking over their training area.

In the past, the softball club still had to have free training, obviously targeting the pile of softballs that the teachers hit. And they needed to hit the target within two shots. After that guy gets promoted into a second-year senior, he would become an official player for the school-team, right? But the only thing that makes people ponder is that, the person that he hit was the adviser of the softball team.

If anything, like having the bell of the bike malfunctioning or having rockets on the bikes, were to be found during the checks, the students would have to go through a “Second Check”. Therefore, most students would never forget to check their bicycles beforehand. This made things simpler for the teachers and is equivalent to helping them complete their work – since the bicycles were already checked by the students. This is similar to the feeling of a sheepdog chasing sheep. I dislike that type of attitude, the type where a superior looks down on its subordinates.

How long has it been since I last checked my bike?

Well, rarely, but sometimes I would actually pump some air into the deflated tires. But work like this that makes me sweat so much – trying my hardest to get those rust stains off the bike – is definitely a first for me.

I took out the rusted bike from the garage, the Charinko that I went to school with. I tried my best and hardest to revert it back to its original rust-free condition.

To try and clean the rust off, I’d even went through the hassle of going to the mini-mart and buying anti-rust spray. Eeeeh… I just can’t get it off!

I felt like I was trying to clean away the bloodstain from a T.V. program when looking at it from outside the T.V. It felt really stupid doing it.

I think that if I were to borrow aunt Meme’s bicycle, it would be a way faster job. But if I were to run into a “sea of life-source”, I think, economically, using the broken bike would be a better choice. And it wouldn’t attract anger from the crowd.

I seriously don’t believe that she can fly. Hahahaha.

Same goes for this bike.

Suddenly, I remembered that I saw this bike somewhere before. This bike that was painted red and white, the legendary bike. Yeah, definitely, it flew really high. I was sure of that. There was even a moon in the background and an alien sitting in the front basket of the bike.

It was the movie, “E.T.”. What I was repairing, was the bike used in that movie. I remembered, when I was in elementary school, I saw it in the twentieth-anniversary edition-copy of that movie.

I can easily imagine how the huge alien-fan Erio pleaded aunt Meme to buy this super-expensive Limited Edition bike.

No matter what she says, she definitely looked like she dotes on Erio a lot.

Once I saw that pair of hands belonging to her, I confirmed this matter. The pair of hands like that of a model’s – it had no scars at all with perfect-looking nails.

Erio-“nee-sama” was standing aside quietly, watching a certain guy beside her working his ass off. She didn't even thank that "certain person".

Her setting was a deep-blue sky where clouds flew past like airplanes.

It really looked as though she was a fiction character living in the non-fiction world. She gave off that kind of aura.

She stuck her hands out to straighten her hair that was flying all around due to the strong wind.

It looked perfect to me.

Eeeeh? Wait. What? I should be reprimanding her. Since when did the contents become that of me creating a poem of her beauty?......Forget it.

I think I'll just become a more inward guy that an outward one.

I soon gave up on trying to get rid of the rust.

I touched the rusted chains that looked like they were going to break any second.

With the tip of my index finger, I pressed the middle portion of the chain down. It was very loose. I'm really amazed that it lasted till now.

Well, it was obvious that it would never fly, even if I ride it at full speed towards the river.

Even if extraterrestrial beings were to use their 'alienic' powers, I would still doubt that it would repair this bike.

No. Wait. This bike was still working normally, until after it fell into that lake that it became like this.

But the again, shouldn't aliens be able to fly even without this piece-of-shit bike? I'd always thought that they could fly with just their legs alone. Looks like they wanted to attract attention, huh.

I took the dust-ridden tools that hid deep inside the scaffolding, trying my best to be the puppeteer of the bike.

After the flying lessons, time had past since it was morning, and now was noon. And I had my hands work non-stop on this work that looked like it would never end. I literally worked my ass off.

The hell am I doing? I was already grown to and tired of the same question that came up to my mind.