Golden Time:Volume6 Chapter3
Status: Incomplete
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Golden Time 6: Chapter 3
Chapter 3
That town's station was far from Banri's normal stomping grounds, but according to the map was still barely within city limits. But as Banri left the ticket gate the word "Dejima" welled up in the back of his mind like the scum on a hot pot made from cheap pork, forever unable to disappear. This place, its appearance, its culture and everything else about it seemed to have been taken over by its neighboring prefectures. The black and brown heads of the people meandering before him as far as he could see all along the straight riverbank. Desolate fields. The black shadows of apartment and condominium towers. The white lights of electric lamps in every direction. A gas tank so large it made one nervous for no reason.
Shouting "Me! Right now! I'm in Tokyo!" with all his might, he jumped up, as if his head was hitting the ceiling of "localness" and punching straight through. This was a trap that many young people heading up to Tokyo fell into. Even though he should have been excited to come to Tokyo, he always found the area around his hometown railway station to be visibly more prosperous.
He returned his gaze to his hand. Checking the time on his cell phone, Banri stood impatiently alone in the middle of the hustle and bustle. No sooner had he stepped off the train on to the platform and had been swallowed up as if by a swirling mass of people crowded together, his steps turned slow and sluggish. Had he known it would be so crowded, he would have given himself more time. It seemed he had not taken a few things into account.
Just outside the ticket gate, a banner for this evening's fireworks display hung overhead, several young station employees, sweating so much they seemed to have been doused in water, were directing people to the exit with a loudspeaker. "It will be very crowded today because of the fireworks display! If you are coming to the venue, then go to the left of the ticket gate! Please go to the left! ...It seemed virtually everyone was going to the left. But whether the exit was blocked, or the occasional person was jostling to go to the right, the neither spacious nor impressive station was even more crowded than during rush hour.
A dangerous weapon zipped past Banri's nose, which was on the edge of oxygen deficiency. Right before his eyes, a group of girls was laughing noisily and imitating the station worker's way of speaking, "Wow! This is sooo good!" "Bwah hah ha!" They were dressed in yukatas and the pins stuck in their dumpling buns of hair were aimed straight at his eyes. Having no choice, he fought back using his cell-phone as a shield. But then "Ugh!" his feet got stepped on. "Oof...!" by beach sandals. The other one was wearing clogs.
He had a bad feeling about this.
Shortly after sunset, the train Banri was on was already packed with groups of young people in yukata and parents with children. With all the excitement, the train cars were like a tea-house for wild animals, filled with a deafening roar, and this wasn't even the main event yet. The posters inside the cars were all about the fireworks display. At that point, as he finally wondered (no way...), almost everybody on board got off the train at this station, the same station as Banri was going to. Naturally, the station premises were crowded. And every few minutes more and more people arrived from other places, and he was sure they would keep on coming in large quantities.
There was no point in complaining, as they were all in the same boat. Banri headed slowly with everybody else taking their time heading for the exit stairs. He was just managing to escape from the station, but as for the surface of the road, the crush of people on top of it, the straight path leading to the venue on the riverside was so crowded with people that one could not even see the markings on the road. Head after head, a single butt-crack, no, that was another head.
In amazed wonderment, the word "incredible..." escaped his mouth without his meaning it to. Do you guys like fireworks that much? That much? You like it that much? Fireworks.
Before Banri's impatient eyes, a group of rough-looking middle and high school girls all dressed like men in jinbei deployed themselves in a beautiful fan shape, blocking his way. "What!? My phone's got no signal!" Their faces looked demonic as they made a horrible racket. Then there was that couple over to the side, the two of them wearing disgusting yukatas made of a strangely thin and glistening cloth, like lamé. At the launch of a shell, Boom!, perhaps because they were already excited, when they walked together their butts wrinkled in unison. The woman had put so much effort into her long, red fingernails that they looked just like five hot peppers on display. The man's five fingers were digging excessively into the knot of the sash around her yukata. Banri couldn't stand the sight of it.
At first he'd been told to meet up at the train station exit, but in the afternoon he'd received a message from Kosshi-senpai, and it was changed so they would meet up separately at the destination. Banri thought that was the right thing to do. Even if they had met up there, the members of Omaken would probably have spent an eternity meeting up and separating, being pushed and shoved over and over again for no good reason.
Eventually, beyond the human wave, he could see the gate leading to the steps up the riverbank. The stalls, painted in bright colors and emitting almost violent smells, were lined up all along the steps and down the slope, with signs of "Takoyaki", "Yakisoba", "Beef Skewers", "Ikayaki" and "Explosive Monja (what in the world is that...?)". Here and there were clearly unsavory types, with all sorts of designs seemingly etched into their bodies, with dark, evil eyes and menacing voices calling out, "Hey, you there, come over here!" "I'm gonna kill ya, suckaa!" It was not a deception to call it a 'fireworks display,' but it was entirely a festival. It wasn't just a great gathering. It was a festival. And festivals were the natural occasions to which to summon the Omaken.
His ears deafened by the noise and the sound of generators, pushing through as if dividing the people flowing along the stalls, Banri finally tumbled out of the maelstrom. Once he walked one street in from the one right along the levee, he came out to a street lined with tall, skinny pencil-towers and old buildings where he could finally walk normally. People could be seen here and there, mostly on the outside of the buildings and on the balconies, waiting in anticipation for the fireworks to start.
Many of the bars and restaurants along the street had signs saying “Full” or “Reserved”, but before long he spotted the name of the place he was looking for, and gently opened the glass door.
The waiter told him that the whole floor had been reserved for the day, but when he replied that he was part of the Japanese Festival Research Club, he was directed to go up to the roof using a narrow staircase at the back of the restaurant.
Up to the third floor, it all seemed to be for customers, but after that, with beer cases and mops here and there, it was suddenly all business. But he’d been told to go to the roof, so he guessed it was all right. Immediately feeling uneasy, he climbed the stairs, the soles of his flip-flops sometimes sticking strangely, he felt a bit like a cockroach climbing the steps.
When put his weight against the heavy iron door to open it, there he was, outside. The space opened out and he felt the soft wind caressing his cheeks.
He had come out on the roof of the building.
The space, concealed by a simple fence, was fairly large. The view of the riverbank was entirely unobstructed, with a large expanse of hazy deep blue sky in front of him that had yet to darken. When he considered how many spectators were crowded below, this place was indeed close to paradise.
A breeze smelling a bit like fish, perhaps due to the river right in front of him, blew quite comfortably over his sweaty T-shirt. It was still summer in the daytime, but it cooled off as the sun set, and it definitely seemed like the change of season was underway.
There were a few tables placed together on the concrete floor, and a few small chairs, most of them still stacked on top of one another.
It seemed that most of the senior members of Omaken were already there. As first year novices, this situation should not have happened.
But the seniors all had their backs turned to Banri, bent over in front of the fence working on something, and seemed to not have noticed him. For some reason they were holding a miniature light bulb cable like those used for Christmas decorations. Even though it was a special place from which to view the fireworks, they seemed to be trying to brighten up the rather bleak space by fixing crawling flickering lights to the fence.
Trying to make up for having arrived late as if he were the boss rather than the lowest man on the totem pole,
"Sorry about that! I'm late! But I'm here to help!"
He approached them half at a run, and spoke the loudest he could. Whereupon,
"Ah......"
An older female student turned around and when she saw Banri, raised her voice in a strange way. Squatting shoulder to shoulder, the older students, who had been working together happily until then, turned at the sound of her voice, noticed Banri, and suddenly fell silent.
Inside of 0.3 seconds, Banri could guess why. This atmosphere. The averted gazes. The senior's lips wanting to say something... gathering information. Complete. Thought. Yes, understanding. QED. A 19-year-old's body has lightning reflexes. Banri's right hand immediately responds to a command from his brain and shoots downward. He grabbed his crotch with a speed and boldness that would make even the most experienced teacher of the exhibitionist arts shudder. It was more important to fix the situation than to be shy about it. How's that for judgement? And it was cool. If it had been a better time, he would have imparted this knowledge on all the world... resolution first, shame later! He was a man of the world! But,
"...What the?"
Not touching with his right hand the warm space he had expected, rather he felt the metal fixture that had been well and properly closed. Running his fingers over it, he mouthed, "What... the?" as he ran his fingers over his crotch again and took a peek down there.
The zipper he had thought was open was closed quite securely. "Am I... an idiot!?" Then why are the seniors looking at me like that!?
"Eh!? What is this...!?"
There was no answer to Banri's question. And then he noticed that Linda's face was not among those lined up along the fence. There were only the seniors, staring at Banri with unreadable expressions.
Those eyes... were they pitying him? And yet somehow... were they half showing kindness? What's more, was that a spoonful of "Hey, why'd that guy touch his crotch just now?" ...were they disgusted...?
N, no! It's not like that! Banri panicked.
"I didn't just touch my crotch! I, I was just checking if my zipper was open! I mean, what is...?"
In the end, no one answered.
"Really, what is it!? Why are you all looking at me like that when it's not even unzipped!?"
But no matter how far you go, it was one person against many. Worse, a first year against all the second and third-years together. Before them, he was far too inferior.
Banri lost all judgement and his cool, and simply freaked out. No matter in which era he had been born, even were he royalty, he would never attain even the level of roadside grass, a tiny existence not edible, useless as fodder, and having no use save it be as an ordinary roadside backdrop. He would be very difficult to point out or even make a fuss about...
"Nah, never mind..."
The senior who first looked at Banri and said something strange turned to him and smiled awkwardly. Standing up with an electric cable in his hand, he was dressed in a beautiful yukata, perhaps because he was going to be wearing it for the Awa Odori dance. All of the other seniors were dressed in colorful yukatas. And then, with a gentle manner he had not seen from them before,
"Come here, Tada Banri."
"We'll all do it together. Let's install this perfectly before the fourth-years get here!"
"Don't forget these lanterns!"
Saying, "He he heh..." "Look, look..." "Come here, come here..." they beckoned him to come. He was as nervous as if he were going down a road deserted of everything but ghosts, his sweat soaking the back seat of a taxicab.
Incidentally, with the sole exception of Kouko, the women were called "giants" behind their backs. The word "giants" means a group of greedy, arrogant and unscrupulous people. Omaken consisted of men, Giants and one golden robo-girl. The giants were ghosts already, frankly.
"...No way!"
And,
"That's scary!"
"Why...?"
When they approached him, dragging the electric light cable in their hands, Banri automatically said, "Look now! Now I'm scared! That's scary!" and tried to run away. But the shop's roof wasn't wide enough for him to escape, and he was easily surrounded.
"Y, you're not usually like this! There is got to be something wrong with you!"
"There's nothing weird about us... right..."
"Hey... this is fun, isn't it...?"
"Yeah, its fun... the Omaken is fun, yeah..."
The upperclassmen cheerfully wrapped electric lights around Banri's paralyzed body. The captured Banri turned into an stupid, round, illuminated man. Wrapped all the way to his forehead like Christ with his crown of thorns, the gathered lights shone annoyingly through his eyelids. In addition, he was made to hold in each hand an original Omaken red and white lantern. He wondered when they were made, as they were magnificently done.
"Okay now, please sit here..."
"It's the best seat in the house..."
He was invited to sit in one of the seats lined up against the fence, or more precisely, he was half thrown there as he twinkled. It came to him in a flash.
"Huh... Could this be some sort of trick...!?"
The countdown suddenly starts. He wondered whether his chair would explode when it reached 'zero' and he would become a firework that blossomed in the night sky one step ahead of the others? He wondered if body parts violently scattered by an explosion and falling on the heads of innocent people gathered for the festival would be classified as a practical joke. He wondered if they would laugh at that.
That, or, at "Zero!" would he plunge forwards from the chair, the only clothes he was wearing be snagged by a hook and left behind, and he be thrown out into the crowd completely naked under the shining illuminations, blooming in a fireworks hall of shame? If he fell the wrong way he would become a laughing stock, but for now, should he run away before the countdown starts?
Unable to imagine any other possibilities, the frightened and blinking Banri's shoulder,
"Hey you! Whatcha been up to lately!?"
"Eeek...!"
Only his first word was in Kabuki style, then after that like from some refreshingly trendy drama, the smiling Kosshii-senpai suddenly embraced him from behind. Behind him were smiling third-year senior guys. Even in this gathering dusk, everyone was strangely dark and shiny.
"......La, lately... well, I've been... kind of like that...!"
"Like that!? ...Is that sooo!? Yeeaah!"
Kosshii-senpai, while bathing in Banri's idiotic light and flashing his idiotic darkness, stretched deliberately like a bad actor whose script said, "Senpai / One big stretch." Then he leaned his back against the fence, in front and to the side of Banri, who was facing the riverbank. "Senpai / Lean against the fence and smile." He held a plastic bag containing a big box of something in one hand, but Banri was not interested in it at all.
"Oh, this? That's right, I forgot. It's for you,"
Kosshi-senpai acted all theatrical, coldly turning his gaze away while suddenly sucking in his cheeks, he scratched the resultant hollow with his index finger while pushing it out from inside with his tongue,
"Let's do this!"
Intoning something like "KaanCHI!", he suddenly threw the box at Banri. He was relieved from the bottom of his heart that no more words followed, but on the contrary, that was all he could be relieved about.
If this had been a television drama, it would have probably been enhanced with computer graphics, showing the box describing an arc through the air and landing neatly in Banri's hand, but unfortunately, this was reality. Caught by surprise, unable to move, both of his hands caught by the paper lanterns, the cardboard box came flying surprisingly fast at him. Aaaah! It hit him on the jaw as he was ducking down.
"Agh......!"
What fell into his lap with a bounce was Okinawan sea-salt flavored chinsokou . Fifty-two pieces to the box (a lot). ...Oh, I see, he went there. Something to do with the third-year volunteers.
"......Kosshii-sempai, that, that hurt!"
"Well, what can I say?"
He wasn't listening. At all.
"Tada Banri and Robo-girl, isn't that what you are to us? Kinda like a fertilized egg!"
"......"
He truly, from the bottom of his heart, had no idea what to make of that. He felt as if he had turned to stone. A stone unable to understand what was spoken to it, unable to reply back, a stone from which water spilled from a crack. What the water wrote on the surface of the rock, he could not tell.
While dripping water from such a rock in his psychological inner world, Banri was deeply disappointed that Linda was not there. If only she were here, she could probably keep Kosshii-sempai in check and get some sort of resolution to the situation, but she wasn't here, and was perhaps delayed.
The Okinawan shortbread still fallen in his lap, Banri blinked stupidly. As he was blinking,
He repeated weakly, "Fe, fertilized egg...?"
"It's sort of like two lifeforms becoming one. It's always like you two come as a set!"
But this guy, Kosshii-senpai. Was he always unreasonable like this?
"........ Why isn't Linda-senpai here...?"
"Let's forget about her for now! She said she was on her way here from her parent's house, but she said the Toukaidou Shinkansen got delayed and now their schedule is all messed up, so let's set that aside for now!"
"Eh, from Shizuoka? She went home?"
"I told you to forget about her! I'm talking about you! Don't go running away!"
Somehow a thought came to Banri's mind. Had everything about his accident and what happened afterwards been leaked to the upperclassmen? No, but there was no way. Denying it, his head tilted more and more to the side. There was no way it was possible, and even if it were, he would never understand why.
"......Umm, I really don't understand it all, but isn't it about time you explained the reasons for this situation?"
"We don't really need an explanation. Right, guys!? We don't need one!"
Having left a single freshman behind as scenery, glittering in the wide open sky, the seniors loudly raised their voices and nodded to each other. They gave each other meaningful glances, and anxious glances in Banri's direction, but nobody said anything definite. He really didn't understand why. What in the world had come over the Omaken all of a sudden? Why were the seniors suddenly treating him with this kind of strange attitude?
The last time the members got together was in August, in that hot hellhole that was Saitama. We performed the Awa Odori, and once that was safely done and over, they'd passed the bottle around and he'd excused himself a bit early... maybe he'd done something careless that time?
Having approached right in front of Banri without him noticing, Kosshii-senpai suddenly grabbed his tee-shirt at the shoulders with both hands. Taken by surprise in his recollections, Banri was shaken. His brain was shocked, and he could not think.
"Anyway, what I want to say is, you and Robogirl both, we all... want to wrap our arms around you both! That's all! Gently, warmly, as if we were pie-dough, we of Omaken want to wrap you two freshmen up! This pie crust would be soft, but would never crumble! We might be nice and crunchy, but we would never crumble! Do you understand!? Understand!"
When he replied that he didn't understand, Kosshii-senpai backed away, a little irritated.
"You don't understand!? You're an idiot! So, anyway, there it is! ...You know what I mean!"
He didn't know... he gotten accidentally tongue-tied and had become a real idiot.
"Huh!? Jeez, you're really stupid...! So... look at this!"
Kosshii-senpai looked away once and licked his lips. He looked around at the other members' faces for a moment, then they nodded to each other in a small, tense way. He was going to have to say something difficult. He would say it. He would say it all. Raising his eyebrows in a sign of readiness rising plainly from his entire being, he looked at Banri, sucked in his breath and,
"......Things really get awkward whenever someone quits! Such things shouldn't happen!"
He struck Banri lightly on the shoulder as if to cover up something. Ouch, but rather than saying "ouch", his mouth already hanging open, Banri tilted his head with a foolish look on his face.
"You two are ingredients in the pie we call Omaken! You are already one with us! And even if you are no longer a couple, it doesn't mean you will lose the bond of being friends in Omaken! Right!? That's how it is! Everyone!"
Oooh! Their voices rang out once again, more certain than before. "Let's cheer up Tada Banri!" they said, and applauded him, which naturally turned into rhythmic clapping. "Taada!" cheered one side. "Banri!" cheered the other. "Taada!" "Banri!" "Taada!" "Banri!"...... The Omaken were always prepared for this sort of call and response.
"......Huh? Broke... up? What're you talking about?"
Banri still hadn't made the connection. He was forced to blink by the illuminations he was wrapped up in, but finally, little by little, belatedly, "Huh..." it came to him in a flash. As if a chisel were continually pounding the words "split up" into a crack in the rock and had finally broken through to the soft, half-living core, Banri understood what was going on.
By some chance.
Had these people come to the conclusion that he and Kouko... had broken up? Was this what their mysterious tension was all about? Were they afraid they were about to lose their only first-years? "Ah, I see!" he nodded without thinking, nodding in understanding. This this wasn't some sort of prank after all, and this chair wasn't going to explode, nor fly forward while stripping off his clothes. Well then, we're good... no, no, no! Confused and shaking his head,
"......That's no good! What is this!? Why have you suddenly started talking like this!? There's no way we're breaking..."
It was with that perfect timing.
The sound of the knob being turned on the door leading to the stairs inside the shop made everyone turn their heads. The heavy door squealed as it finally, somewhat hesitantly, opened.
"Excuse me! I wound up running late... uff, this thing is heavy......"
Losing her battle against the door's weight, the door slammed shut. Her voice quickly faded out, but it was certainly Kouko's voice.
"Ko, Kouko!? Are you okay!?"
Banri tried to stand up, but the lanterns in his hands and the electric cords wrapped around his body made it difficult for him to move quickly. And he still hadn't been able to clear up the misunderstandings of the upperclassmen.
"It's Robogirl...!"
"That was Robogirl just now!"
"Aah! That Robogirl's back from the heart repair shop!"
"Hey guys! Let's all give a warm welcome to our broken Robogirl!"
"Whoaa!"
The seniors all raised their fists high one time, left where they were and dashed for the exit door. Because Banri had been comforted sufficiently, and the chisukou cookies already turned over to him, then they'd probably made up their minds. Banri had been left behind, but he staggered along, blinking in the cheerful illumination, but he still managed to get up and follow the upperclassmen's backs.
"I said you're wrong! Our break-up..."
Just as he was about to clear up their strange misunderstanding, the door opened wide. Kosshii-senpai pulled the heavy iron door open from this side.
On the other side of the open door,
"Th, thank you Senpai! I'm really sorry for showing up so late! I got swept up in a wave of people and wound up coming here!"
Kouko......? But? ......She's here......?
Everyone was a loss for words. Banri moaned too, unable to say anything... summer (was over).
On the rooftop, which had been noisy the whole time, there suddenly fell a moment of silence. Only the sound of the wind and the clamour of the world below was alive and noisy, as there had been some mistake.
"......Eh? Umm......? What? Is this place... all right? Ah, Banri... eh? What? What is it?"
Several seconds passed, Kouko tilting her head much like Banri had a few short moments before, nobody able to say anything, when finally,
"......Please restrain yourselves!"
Kosshii-senpai sank into a crouch as if for leg stretching exercises, his face composed as if posing for a camera. The right half of his body was pulled back, the left half extended forward. He greeted her formally. Th, that was it. Nothing else. One by one the other seniors said, "Please restrain yourselves!" "Please restrain yourselves!", and even Banri, like an idiot still in the twinkling lights repeated, "Please restrain yourselves!"
Having received a formal greeting from a dozen or so members of Omaken, a woman resembling Kouko stood there, frozen in the doorway with a bewildered look on her face.
"......Eh, what should I do? ......Please restrain yourselves......?"
For the moment, she followed Kosshii-senpai's example, extending one hand more or less as he had. For his part, he was in superb form, not moving in the slightest.
"Thank you very much for having behaved yourselves! I am Koshino, and my nickname is Kosshii. With all due respect, Miss Robogirl, the young man that follows you around has something to say!"
With the hand that was not extended, he signaled to Banri behind him to move. Strangely enough, Banri had no problem understanding what Kosshii-senpai was trying to tell him. He gulped it down freely, like water streaming from the rocks or mapo tofu stuffed into a fat man's mouth. Still with his legs spread wide (as the Illumination Man, no less) Banri stepped out before the upperclassmen and sticking out his chest in a pose like Michael Jackson, with his lower lip sticking out towards that Kouko-like person,
"You are not a Yakuza lady!"
He said it loudly.
"Whaa...!?"
That wasn't it. Really. He couldn't diss her!
Kouko appeared there in a yukata, looking like a gangster's wife. She was wearing heavy, old-fashioned thick makeup that made her look like she was going to pick up a pistol at any moment. Her face was painted with pure white greasepaint, with frighteningly dark shadows. Her black eyebrows looked as if they had been drawn with a brush. The silver bridge of her nose rose in the middle of her face with a tremendous three-dimensional effect, and her lips were drawn in the style of the Showa period with blue, purple and pink rouge. Prepare yourself!
She was wearing a stylish linen yukata, probably a high-end item, with the collar open in a daring way impossible for an amateur to get away with. Her excessively soft hair was swept fully back and tied way down low. What an airhead! If you're going to shoot, then shoot!
Holding her hair back from her nape with her fingertip with the air of a forty-something person, Kouko said, "It's all a lie!"
She said it without shame or hesitation. Whether lying or not, as she acted the part of the gangster lady to the utmost.
"I mean, they had thought that we had broken up."
"Whaaa!?"
Her second denial was muffled when a strong wind slammed the door shut.
"That's how rumors spread."
"Yeah, that surprised me! To think they thought we had broken up."
Setting aside her showing up all at once in heavy makeup from the Showa period,
"Well, actually, yesterday was a close call."
"No it wasn't, no it wasn't!"
Kouko shook her head, saying she wasn't in that much danger. As she shook her head, she was trying to tear off some paper packing tape from her fingertip. Not knowing how to remove it, she used all her strength, tearing off the altogether too long, sticky, disgusting tape wrapped around her arms up to her elbows, then wrapping it around the fence railing.
"...And with that, you're all set."
The section so wrapped looked too big, turning into what looked like a praying mantis egg sack. The feeling she'd done a bad job was so strong that Banri instinctively wanted to tear it all down and redo it, no questions asked. But one of the upperclassmen happened to pass behind them, saying "What? Are you guys still doing that? Aren't you out of time?" He panicked, and quickly said, "Excuse me, I'll hurry up!" and started working on the next part. Banri would place the string of lights in place on the fence and hold them down, and then Kouko would tape them in place. The two first-years were both late, and their work so slow and useless, they were in quite a fix.
It seemed that the fourth-year students had been told ahead of time to arrive late for the get-together. Preparations were moving ahead quickly to get the place ready before then. This rooftop space was apparently not usually open for guests and was too bleak even for Banri's eyes. But what do we do now? By the hands of the active Omaken members, the fence was wound about with twinkling lights (a work still in progress), and Omaken lanterns were hung around the tables (though they were just decorative cables hung from coat racks borrowed from the restaurant). While it was kind of cheap, it was also dazzling and mysterious, creating a unique atmosphere like a night stall in Bangkok (though he had never seen one before).
And above all, there was the view. In just a few moments, the fireworks display would be unfurled in the unobstructed night sky. The bustle of the street below seemed to increase as the start time approached, and the noisy buzz reached this rooftop on the fourth floor.
Many things had happened to get to this point, but as he crouched down and let the cool breeze ruffle his hair, Banri's heart frankly leapt. Best of all, Kouko was there by his side. ...Putting mantis eggs on the fence again and saying things like "Yeah, all right, we did it!", anyway, she was here. She was certainly lively.
At that moment you could hear the upperclassmen cheering from over by the tables. Apparently, it had taken several people from the shop to bring in a huge container. The container, which was the size of a storage bin for clothing, could be seen to be packed full of ice, into which bottles of beer had been inserted to cool them down. Soft drinks had been brought to the tables earlier in plain, boring all-you-can-drink pitchers. It was such a busy day, they were on the rooftop, and the beer probably had some strange flavor along those lines... but the seniors had resigned themselves to many things.
Glasses had been placed upside down on the tables, saucers and chopsticks were set in order. Next, there were three plates of salad piled high, three plates of fried potatoes, and three plates piled sky high with fried chicken. The volume of the dishes, which were piled almost desperately high, seemed to suggest that the shop wanted us to just eat quietly for a while so we wouldn't be coming and going very often.
Kosshii-senpai stared at the left-over salad with a raised eyebrow, saying "Won't that dry up...?" Seeing him with both hands above the lettuce, some senior girls carrying chairs shouted at him, "Kosshii, get to work!"
This guy was very probably the source of the rumor that Banri and Kouko had broken up. The muscular Koshino-senpai, their best male dancer, was relied on by all for everything from organizing the drinking parties to negotiating for off-campus activities.
The first-year couple had not replied together to their invitations to attend. From that fact alone, Kosshii-senpai (Eh? These guys...) had jumped to conclusions.
The pair of them, who had perfect attendance so far at every club event, seemed very vague. And Kouko, for her part, had been completely unreachable. Strange. Something must have happened, he thought.
It seemed that from the moment they'd heard that the two of them had officially started going out, not only Kosshii-senpai, but all the members of Omaken had been feeling somewhat uneasy. Relationships between men and women were always fraught with trouble, so sooner or later they would part ways. Kosshii-senpai would say, "Will that breakup bring the unhappy end of Omaken, perhaps?" The other upperclassmen would nod in agreement as they heard those words.
To the older members, there was only the two of them. They had finally snagged somebody, but it was only the two freshmen. If something happens between two people, and one quits, there is only one left. And a freshman alone is as good as gone. The next thing you know, it is no longer a club, the next generation ceases to exist and Omaken begins to end. It would be a miracle that a first-time relationship between freshmen could last for so many years, and from the outside looking in, it seemed that the two of them had so little in common that it would not be surprising if they were to have an awkward breakup at any moment.
...Hearing that explanation, Kouko protested "We're not like that!", but Banri quietly thought, (Ah, the upperclassmen have no idea how stubborn Kouko is...) For that matter, he had come to realize he was pretty stubborn himself.
And so, as Kosshii-senpai waited for a reply to his e-mail, he was very, very, veeery worried that something might have happened between the two of them. Banri's reply, saying he would be going, finally arrived the day before, but he said that he didn't know about Kouko, and that he thought she would be contacting him... not very informative!
One monkey-faced junior, a guy who had been a high school basketball player and had only 10% body fat, seemed to shiver when he read that e-mail. He thought that the situation they had feared had finally come to pass. And then, as if to support that idea, no reply ever came back from Kouko. Kosshii-senpai became convinced that the two of him had come to nothing.
So today, without telling Banri nor Kouko, the sophomores and juniors had gathered a little bit earlier. When Kosshii-senpai announced the breakup of the freshman couple, a tremor ran through the Omaken stalwarts. After many rambling discussions, the only thing that was clear was that they would do their best to treat them both warmly and care for them so that they would not quit the club. They all seemed to think of Banri as a nice, warm, soft, not too hard wrapper, kind of like a pie crust. Suddenly there appeared a face with ghastly makeup, showing up like a cursed face emerging from the darkness. Kosshii-senpai was truly astonished. Then upon realizing that what he believed was a misunderstanding, Kosshii-senpai was so relieved that he cried out "It's you! Thank God...!" and then grunted and slumped to the ground in a heap then and there.
Kouko, on the other hand, said she had thought that Banri had contacted them all to say they would be participating.
Yesterday. Her father had finished up his ramen and was just starting to wash up the dishes when Kouko finally woke up.
Banri was just about to leave when Kouko called out with a low, husky voice, "Are you leaving?" When he answered, "Yes, I am," she said "...are things back to normal?" "Yes, they're back to normal," he answered back. When she said, looking off to one side, "Are you mad?", "Do you hate me?" and "I'm sorry about everything," he said, "I'm sorry too." That was all they said, but the words were enough. The words that would have followed were not spoken, and in the end, they would have been nothing but words. In the darkness behind Banri's eyelids, pink and white lights were flickering, and for a long time he saw a very dowdy Kouko there. The many overflowing emotions were simply there, and he wanted them to stay there.
Folding the borrowed apron and setting in the low table, he tried to ask, "What will you do tomorrow?" He planned on participating, and if Kouko felt inclined to do so also, he said he'd be happy to go together with her. After all the back and forth up to now, knowing full well that Kouko's mental health had only just returned from the brink, he felt he shouldn't pressure her too hard to go. So he just said, "Think about it."
In reply, Kouko gave him a vaguely dirty look and nodded. Banri thought that meant she would only think about it. But in reality, it was a cockeyed "Then I'll go." For the first time in a while, he felt his mind invaded by a bit of good, wholesome sleepiness. In that part of his mind, Banri decided he must inform the upperclassmen of his decision to participate. Because he was Banri. Because he was the boyfriend. Because he was the guy who made ramen for her father.
And then Kouko decided to rejoin human society. She managed to reconstruct her battered feelings, ate a good meal that evening, took a bath and washed her hair. For the first time in a while she returned to the life of a young woman. She sent off e-mails to Mitsuo and Two Dimensions, and called Chinami on the phone. All of fifteen minutes after she hung up, she received replies from both the guys. Feeling exquisitely light, but at the same unable to hide a heaviness and wanting to cry, Kouko fell on to her bed and the next thing she knew, for some reason it was morning already. She had fallen fast asleep... and to her dismay, the dazzling light revealed an utter disaster under her chest. When she had thrown a pillow at the devilish expression on Banri's face, two bottles of body lotion had fallen and broke. Able to sleep after acting so violently, convinced there was nothing strange about that at all, Kouko quietly put them in order.
Then she got her yukata ready and sent Banri an e-mail saying, "I'm going to wear my yukata!" So far, so good, but she hit a roadblock when she tried to get appointment with a salon to get outfitted. She refused to accept that they refused her an appointment, but when she called other salons she found herself utterly defeated. She had no choice but to go to the first salon she could find on the internet.
It was a strange, dimly lit salon. A very old woman... no, a grandmother ran it by herself. She noticed the overwhelming smell of "grandma" the moment she entered, but it was too late. And then putting on her outfit, the old lady was strangely scary, and when she tried to twist her body a little to see herself in the mirror, she would get her butt slapped.
When it was finally done and she was about to pay the bill, she was told that she had to get her makeup done right and was made to sit on a bench in front of the cash register. Powder was smashed onto her face with such force that it made her gag, and she was sent out of the shop without knowing what had been done to her. Already almost out of time, she hailed a taxi and flew on her way. Unexpectedly, the roads having been restricted because of the fireworks display, she had no choice but to run in her geta, and so arrived at the restaurant all out of breath. And she had been made to look like some idiotic yakuza wife.
"......I wonder if my hair looks okay?"
Kouko was still a little worried, touching her bangs with her fingertip.
A little bit ago, the older girls thought it was all too much and took Kouko to the bathroom, makeup pouches in hand. In the ten minutes it took them to return, they had returned "Kaga Kouko" back to her normal self.
With most of the makeup removed and a thin layer of powder patted back on, a translucent blush and a plump gloss, a beautiful woman had returned to the Heisei era. Her hair and bangs had also been braided. Her bun had been redone in a loose, youthful style. And it seemed they had redone how her clothing to make her look more mature, and yet exposed the nape of her neck.
"You're okay, you're okay. Your hair and face are perfect. Even your yukata suits you."
When Banri said that, Kouko broke out in a broad grin. A look... of perfect smugness. Crouching down and making more praying mantis egg-sacks, while also looking really happy, shaking her head from side to side. She seemed to be saying, "How do I look, how do I look?" As for that triumphant look, she had such a beautiful modern face, impeccably well done up, there was no way one could allow such wonderfully overflowing Gosha-ism be looked down upon. Banri was rather impressed by the old lady at the salon. Or rather, wasn't her technique amazing?
Even with packing tape in her hands, Kouko looked truly stunning in her yukata. The dark gray dyed linen looked great against her translucent, pure white skin. The obi was a cool white color with a light blue obijime fastened to it. The antique-style obi clasp was a deep purple colored stone, and if you looked closely, you could see that it was shaped like a rose. And of course, since it was for Omaken, there was a yes-no fan hung from the obi. All the yukata giants were like that: Banri had one too.
"You see, this yukata was made this year. When summer started, I told myself that I would definitely go with Banri to see the fireworks! No, I decided we would go, and so I had it made special express order. I'm glad I had the occasion to wear it."
Once more tearing off a wasteful length of packing tape, Kouko fixed in place a cable Banri was holding as she gazed up towards the sky.
"Why don't they just start?"
That child-like, innocent way of speaking filled Banri's heart all at once with genuine anticipation. It was mostly likely due to having been without Kouko for a whole week, but with his own feelings on top of that, and it all being shoved down his throat all at once. It was so sudden he could barely keep himself from crying out loud.
Saying only, "...Isn't it about to start?" Banri laughed.
The sky was not yet completely dark, and only a pair of huge gasoline tanks across the flood plain were entirely black. Seeing them lined up, the smiling Kouko suddenly pointed at them.
"I hope they don't catch fire."
She grinned. Banri said nothing.
She said it as innocently as a child. It was genuinely ominous. It wasn't "Aaah! The fireworks will start soon, and that will catch fire, and I wonder if all this area will be blown to bits! Look! (lol)", but rather "Aah, I shouldn't say ‘I wonder if there is a chance the fireworks will make that catch fire?' I'm an idiot (lol)," he believed, ignoring it. Ignored. Getting back on track,
"Well, really, what to say... I'm glad. For now. I was able to come and be here with you."
Though Banri had muttered something unintentionally sincere, Kouko nodded deeply too.
"Yeah. I'm glad. Really."
If they had made some sort of mistake in yesterday's awful bit of theatre, then around now the two of them really would have wound up in a situation just like Kosshii-senpai's misunderstanding. With this in mind, Banri tried to ask.
......If by chance we had broken up, do you think they would have tried to follow up and recover us in the way they did before? I would hope we would not wind up retiring from Omaken."
As she continued energetically making praying mantis eggs, Kouko shook her head side to side and at once said, "There's no way."
"You don't think so?"
"No, I don't. First of all, I would not even have come here. Then I would never see the seniors again. I mean, I would never have gone outside again. I would have hidden myself in my room. I would have quit the university and its clubs. My hair would grow out long, greasy and sticky. I would become hairy and fat, and would never take a bath. I would be a beast unable to talk. I would turn into a truffle pig. How would you say it, it would be what's it called... what's it called... what's it called..."
She looked at Banri's face for a bit, then "......Ah, I lost it! Even though I only just got here!"
Ruefully pointing at his throat, he was squirming with regret over the probably useless, but surely lost "what's it called?" The one regretting was Banri.
"......Are you growing a beard!?"
"You can grow one, can't you? It may be peach fuzz, but if try your best it will turn into a nice fluffy beard."
He rubbed around his chin with his fingertip. At that moment, as Banri was trying to show her how they moved, his chest filling once more with heartfelt regret, the announcement from the fireworks venue came to his ears.
The other upperclassmen seemed to notice, and saying "What'd they say?", "Ugh, I couldn't hear it... are they starting?", "Are they starting already?" they strained their ears, but the sound simply echoed between the buildings in a weird way, and the tumult and the wind blocked it, and they could not understand clearly what was being announced.
Then all of a sudden, Kosshii-senpai said, "Oh, wow! Everyone stop what you're doing, gather around and listen to me!"
Cell-phone in one hand, he called everyone to gather around him. Banri and Kouko stopped what they were doing too and hurried over to the upperclassmen.
"I'm going to read a text I got just now from my senpai! 'Kosshii, you're always the same! You're really handsome and cool, and you're built too...'"
He passed it around the circle.
"Sorry, excuse me, pardon me! 'Kosshii, always the same! I'm on the way from the station right now. Only Hosshii isn't with us, but we think he'll be dressed up shortly. By the way, it looks like Hosshii finally got a job offer.'"
"You're kidding, seriously?" Voices arose from the circle of seniors. Even Banri clenched his fists.
So far this summer, all of Omaken's fourth-year students had been struggling to find jobs. Suddenly, as if a hold had been lifted, job offers were being made in rapid succession. The younger students were naturally happy and congratulatory, but only Hoshino-senpai, a.k.a. Hosshii, the leader of all omaken, had not yet received a job offer, so it was natural to imagine his inner impatience, and he had yet to openly celebrate.
So now, at long last, that was settled.
"She said, 'Hosshii, you said you weren't coming today if your final interviews didn't work out, but you came! I'm so glad!'"
"Ya-hoo!" Kosshii-senpai raised his fist high in a very determined pose, and the circle of people surrounding him spontaneously applauded. The fourth-years who should have been getting the applause had not yet arrived, and as much as they would have loved to receive it, they could not. Banri was clapping his hands as hard and furiously as he could too.
As for the fourth-year seniors, they all shouted "Wonderful!" from the heart. If Hosshii-senpai's informal job offer worked out, they would be feeling especially good for him. Around when Banri first met him, he was already tired of job hunting. He was in a constant state of exhaustion, both physically and mentally. When they met, he was so wretched he was falling apart. And he would not have been surprised to see his future self in the same state. Kouko seemed to feel it too, smiling and clapping with packing tape stuck to her fingertips.
Just then, the fourth-years made their appearance, one after another... all but Hosshii-senpai. As soon as the door opened their faces lit up with smiles as they said "Wow!" and "What's this? Isn't it something!?"
"Congratulations!"
Naturally, their voices were mixed with those of the younger students greeting them. The applause turned into a loud, rhythmic beat, and everyone formed a ring around the fourth-years. Facing each other, they clasped their hands and raised them high, making a tunnel of arms to greet those that had returned proudly from the front lines of the job search. As they clapped loudly together, Banri truly regretted that he had not entirely finished his preparations. Oh he wished he could have greeted these people with a more perfect setting...!
"Wow, this is so nice! Wait a little more, eh, no way, this sort of thing, you've moved me... I'm going to cry..."
One senior, overcome by emotion and wiping the corner of his eye,
"......Hey!"
He'd been dead tired like this since noon. But he could really jerk that chin of his. It was amazing how far he could move his chin and stretch his face. And just like that, the fourth-years all at once cried out "Hey!", then one after another "Hey!", with evil eyes "Hey!", with their eyes closed "Hey!", and when they saw it, all the younger students naturally grunted as hard as they could.
"Ngh...! Ngh...! Ngh...!"
It was their privilege to back them up. To help their seniors feel better, bent down as if they were casting fishing nets, not caring if the hems of their yukatas got messed up, they grunted so hard it was like they were about to rip their bodies apart. Everyone: the guys, the giants, even the golden robo-girl, were moving furiously together in the Omaken tradition of twisting their whole bodies like crazy. Over there,
"Oh, yeah! Are you doing it!? Hey! Hey! Heeey!"
Hosshii-senpai was that sort of person, expressing himself with amazing poses, strangely light movements and amazing triple turns. "There he is! Hosshii's divine pirouette!" "A perfect arabesque!" "He doesn't move at all!" "Hey, he's standing en pointe!" ...To Banri, the other senior's echoing words sounded like nothing less than an incantation, but anyway he understood how the super high-energy Hosshii-senpai looked. Of course the guy who got the interview was different! Besides, this was the first time he'd seen Hosshii-senpai looking like that!
Bravo! All around the posing Hosshii-senpai, praising him, the first, second, third and fourth years, all the Omaken members here rushed him, cheering. It was not unlike how people would rush to gather around Kinpachi-sensei of Class 3B ("Third Years, Class B!"... "Kinpachi-sensei!").
<~~49% Completed~~>
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