Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko:Volume6 Chapter1

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Chapter 1 - Tokaido Melos

I suddenly found myself wondering what last year’s school festival was like. I was fumbling through my hazy memories as if trying to recall a dream I had yesterday… Ah, I was asleep.

Old movies were being shown all day in the gymnasium, and I was lost in the darkness on the second floor. I was lying around with my friends in that dimly lit, stuffy space that made my lips dry. Even though it was called a school festival, it was a rather unexciting school. There were only a few food stalls and nothing special except for a blood donation van. There weren’t any exhibits from each class or anything like that, so we were really just just killing time.

After having about 200 cc of my blood drawn in the donation van, I was given some bread and milk, and then I collapsed in the corner of the gymnasium, succumbing to exhaustion. “Let’s make the most of our youth here!” I didn’t have the passion left in me to stand up and rally everyone by shouting that. After all, I’d had my blood drawn, wah ha ha. It was my first time donating blood, and I learned first-hand that it makes you surprisingly drowsy.

…I looked up from my bowed head, thinking self-discrepantly that it wasn’t really worth reminiscing about.

Hi everyone, it’s Niwa Makoto. “Tanbashin” sounds like a musical instrument when you read the word, doesn’t it? Anyway, that’s irrelevant.

In late September, the scorching heat continued day after day, a far cry from the concept of an Indian summer. Only the clear, high sky seemed to signal the beginning of autumn. Just as my mind and body, accustomed to the laziness of summer vacation, were beginning to adjust to school schedules again, the school festival began. Without any opening greetings or anything like that, the students simply arrived at school, put their belongings in their classrooms, and then proceeded to prepare their individual performances or explore the festival grounds.

Just after 9 a.m., looking down from the third-floor window towards the school gate, I could see a large group of students running a little late as they made their way to school. The hustle and bustle and loud voices reached me as if I were passing by a night festival. The line of students was moving very slowly. Probably because of what the school festival committee members were handing out.

“Transfer student, have you found Ryuushi?”

A tall shadow fell by the window. It was the faint shadow of Maekawa-san, who was standing next to me. With her hands behind her hips, she had the air of a female teacher even though she was wearing her school uniform. She pressed her palms against the windowpane and leaned forward, looking down at the schoolyard. Maybe her eyesight was failing, as she narrowed her eyes as if glaring.

“I’m not really looking for her. Besides, Ryushi’s running a food stall with the basketball club, so I think she’ll be here early.”

So, I doubt that my lovely classmate was among the people caught up in the crowd below. I hadn’t even seen her in the classroom today. It’s debatable whether they count as a replacement, but instead I run into Nakajima and Hanazawa-san near the shoe lockers. Those two, who met through playing amateur baseball during summer vacation, were both in sports clubs, so they’ve been called upon early in the morning to set up the food stalls. Nakajima was the first to greet me.

Not with a “Hey Isonou, let’s play baseball.” “Hi! So you’re the transfer student?” “…Hi.”

The couple, Nakajima friendly as ever, and Hanazawa-san, whose face looked sleepy, surrounded me and peered at my right hand even though I wasn’t the kind of person they’d usually be very interested in.

“Hey, what kind of thread do you have?”

Both seemed intrigued by the “thread of Attraction” that had been handed out to the cultural festival committee members at the main gate.

Urged on by Nakajima and the others, I unintentionally raised my right hand, which I had been hiding. The thread I was given was purple. I tied the grape-coloured thread to the first joint of my little finger, just like everyone else had done. To be honest, whenever I saw someone with a piece of string tied around their finger, I felt like telling them, “Ah, you have a piece of thread hanging.” Its appearance was kind of… not very memorable. I didn’t feel any sense of destiny.

But everyone I passed or who greeted me would intently examine the pattern of the thread with their keen eyes. Even Nakajima and Hanazawa-san did that. Nakajima looked at the colour of my thread and let out a sigh of relief. Hanazawa-san silently raised her hand to shoulder height. On her little finger was a lemon-yellow thread.

“I don’t want to be bound by the threads of fate to a man, especially not someone I know.”

Nakajima gave a wry smile, showing his thread, which was striped with moss green and blue. Apparently, these two didn’t have enough Attraction to each other. I mean, what was even Attraction between people?

Whether it was love, friendship, or hostility, was Attraction simply the force that draws people together? I really can’t tell. Since there was no clear line between what to affirm and deny, all I could do was accept it with an ambiguous attitude.

Putting that aside, I didn’t consider this distributed thread to be important at the moment, but it seemed to be a big deal to the other students. Well, it’s not like they were desperately trying to find their soul-mate, though.

Apparently, if one found someone with the same kind of thread wrapped around their little finger and tied it together, one could get arena seats at an event in the gymnasium that started after 2 PM. I didn’t know the details, but apparently a somewhat famous singer would be performing a live show or concert. Ryuushi-san told me she was a fan of that singer. “What?! Niwa-kun, you don’t know Nijou Owari? That’s just as bad as not being able to pronounce Ryuko-san’s name properly, I told ya,” she said. Huh, is that bad?

“Well, I might have seen her on TV. What kind of person is she?”

“Well, well, she’s a total dog lover, I told ya.”

“…A top breeder?”

“An artist, I told ya.”

“Oh, so she’s someone who hits homeruns?”

“Huh? Hmm… what’s that, I told ya?”

My joke didn’t land, and the silence that followed was rather sad. Incidentally, as she promised it would be, this month was apparently Ryuushi-san’s “I told ya special intensive training month”, and she’s been adding more often “I told ya” to the end of her sentences.

Needless to say, I thought to myself, “No, that’s not what you should be training.”

…And so, that’s how I ended up arriving at school earlier than the other students and breathing the same air as the art club. Yes, I was in the art room on the third floor of the school building. Yes, I was helping out with the art club’s exhibit. I wasn’t a member of the art club, but I was helping out the club president, Maekawa-san. That was my morning at the school festival. Since the festival only lasted one day, half of it was spent in the art room.

To be honest, the circumstances and motivations that led me to help were quite vague. Something was hanging just above my forehead, and no matter how hard I tried to find out what it was, it kept disappearing into a blind spot. Haunted by that memory, and yet driven by a compulsive feeling that I “had to help”, my school festival began in the dusty air of the art room, together with Maekawa-san.

“Transfer student, I underestimated your memory.”

This is what Maekawa-san said with a smile that made her face soft and squishy like a freshly made daifuku when I offered to help a week ago. I couldn’t exactly deny it cheerfully by saying, “Well, I can’t remember anything, haha,” so I awkwardly accepted her compliment. However, I suspected that this is what she meant when I wrote “Help Mae-tan” on the back of my right hand during our beach trip. The only other thing I could do to help Maekawa-san was to support her back when she was about to fall. In terms of academics, which is the main duty of a student, our height difference was certainly a factor. Model physique, excellent grades, and (in a way) great sense of humour. So, what could she need?

“By the way, what exactly am I supposed to help with at the art club?”

“Hmm, well, just various odd jobs that will come up during our activities. It’s only during the morning. I’m counting on you.”

Incidentally, the string on Maekawa-san’s little finger had a white background with scattered green speckles. It gave the impression of being made from the wrapper of a melon-flavoured candy. It looked as if it would be slightly sweet if I licked it.

“Maekawa-san, are you looking for someone to tie your thread with?”

When I asked this casually, Maekawa-san glanced at my purple thread and then smiled faintly.

“Isn’t Attraction something that exists so that things naturally attract each other, rather than something you search for?”

“Fair enough.”

Just drop a line in the fishing pond and lie there and wait. How romantic!

I turned around because I heard a particularly loud laugh behind me. Around the piled-up desks were the art club members, only a few boys and girls, who had formed a circle and were enjoying a lively conversation. Maekawa-san and I were standing a little distance away from them. I had decided to keep my distance because I didn’t know any of them, and I wasn’t in the art club, so joining their conversation would only make things awkward.

I guess Maekawa-san, the president of the art club, which is full of ghost members, was putting up with me. When I looked up at Maekawa-san with that thought in mind, she seemed to understand, her lips softened, and she closed her eyes.

“I’m a ghost member too, so I barely remember the faces of the other members.”

“So it’s practically a ghost club then?”

As I said that, Maekawa-san shook her shoulders slightly. As usual, she seemed to have a low threshold for laughter. If it were Erio, she would just nod expressionlessly with a “hum”, and I would struggle to figure out what she was thinking. Well, whatever.

One more completely irrelevant thing, but the art preparation room next door was strangely noisy. I could hear intermittent shouting, or rather, excited conversations between a boy and a girl, and I was wondering who was using it.

It seems like all the art club members were here. And although I couldn’t recall any specific names or faces, the voices I heard sounded familiar… A chicken farm? Why did that word just pop into my head now?

“Transfer student, your thread. Does it match Ryuushi’s or Touwa’s?”

Leaning against the window and squinting, Maekawa-san asked this without looking at me.

“Well, I haven’t checked either of them… but Erio told me she wasn’t coming.”

“Heh? I don’t need to ask why. It must be difficult for her to come to school.”

Maekawa-san let out a wry smile. I agreed, putting on a polite smile myself as I muttered to myself, “I wonder.” It would certainly be awkward for her to come. After all, she caused trouble at this school and was expelled. And all the people involved were still enrolled.

But she did receive an invitation, so it wasn’t as if there was no hope at all.

Participation in the school’s cultural festival wasn’t mandatory, so it was up to her whether she wanted to come or not.

With that in mind, I pondered how this thread would lead to someone I knew personally. Was Attraction really such a romantic thing?… No, it couldn’t be. It’s me we’re talking about after all. If there was a connection fitting for me, then… maybe Meme-san? No, no, impossible. I was frightened by that thought and hastily shook my head to dismiss it. It was so plausible that it was terrifying how it could escalate from mere imagination to precognition. Meme-san snatched an invitation ticket from someone’s hand without being invited and declared, “School festival date accepted!” I gave up on getting it back from her. She was like a monkey ransacking an orchard.

If the question “Are you doing alright with your job?” made any sense, then she wouldn’t be referred to as an adult-child. Come to think of it, she had been acting strangely restless lately, and I wondered if it wasn’t like the excitation of a child the day before a school trip.

“……………………………Anyway, back to the main topic.”

What’s the fun in thinking about Meme-san all the time? The important thing was the school festival. I was here today so that my point card would be full and we could call it the Autumn Youth Festival.

Well, it was unclear whether the experience in the art club’s project would contribute to Youth Points.

The art club’s plan was to draw a picture of the students who visited, alongside their requested ideal lover. A sign outside read, “If it’s your ideal, we will use our imagination to draw it, no matter what kind of person they are or whether they exist in reality.” The price was set at 200 yen per drawing. When I first heard about it, I was impressed by the skill required to reproduce something like that on a sheet of paper.

“However…”

Everyone would get embarrassed when asked about their ideal partner. At least, that’s how I would feel. Is there anyone who would seriously come here and ask, “A picture of OO-san and me, please”? The project was conceived by a member of the art club, and apparently that girl and Maekawa-san were in charge of drawing the portraits.

The other club members didn’t seem to know much about painting, so I wondered what they were supposed to do, what their purpose was, and if they weren’t simply there to liven things up. But I was in pretty much the same position, being here to help out even though the details were still unclear, so I couldn’t really say anything too harsh.

Ultimately, whether the project succeeded and what they would end up doing was all up to chance.

That’s why I couldn’t wait for it to start.

Enveloped in this buzzing excitement, this time spent waiting by the window for the school festival to truly begin was both frustrating and unbearable. It was like the feeling you would get after raising both hands to your feet and experience extreme dizziness. It was a contradictory, itchy feeling that one was happy to embrace, yet simultaneously longing for release or liberation.

“Oh my, you seem to be having a lot of fun by yourself. How unusual for you, transfer student. Are you actually a party animal?”

Maekawa-san, who leaned in to look at my face, also showed a more genuine expression of joy than usual.

Maekawa-san, who leaned in to look at my face, also showed a more genuine expression of joy than usual. “Oh, so my face looks happy too,” I thought, accepting the observation readily, and I felt my cheeks curling up even more.

But if it was rare, what did my face usually look like? And does Maekawa-san check my face all the time? Thinking about it made me feel a little embarrassed.

“I’m the type of person who travels far and wide in search of youthful experiences, and I never miss a night festival.”

When I replied jokingly, Maekawa-san seemed to recall summer vacation and said, “Indeed you are.”

“I hope we both have a great school festival.”

“Absolutely.”

As I answered, I felt ticklish and scratched the underside of my chin with my finger. A school festival. It was like a bonus stage for Youth Points, or were there lots of coins and green mushrooms under the pipes?

The sun, just after nine o’clock, began to appear from the boundary between the east and west school buildings. The sunlight, reflecting off the windowpanes and marking the transition between summer and autumn, burnt the eyes from the side. It felt like being immersed in a lukewarm flood.

The light silently melted away the thin layer of stagnation that had accumulated in the school during the night. I experienced this illusion as I became intoxicated by the exhilaration that matched my slightly quicker-than-usual heartbeat.

The pleasant tingling sensation in my fingertips automatically made my hands float through the air, rising to eye level.

I gazed intently at the purple thread dangling from my little finger, which was fluttering in the wind.

Where would today’s Attraction draw me towards?

The thread of fate still swayed alone, unconnected to anything.

It was just past nine o’clock at the school’s back gate. Unlike the main gate I had just looked around at, the flow of people here was calm. The back gate seemed to be the entrance exclusively for visitors from outside the school who had received invitation tickets. There were still hardly any people around, and students who had arrived by bicycle glanced enviously at the deserted gate as they passed by. The female student on the cultural festival committee who was checking the entrants and tearing tickets by the side of the gate was yawning repeatedly with a bored expression. She squinted her tear-filled eyes towards the rising sun.

About three metres to the left from there. Facing the back gate, there was a path leading to the main gate stretching straight ahead to the left. There stood a fence separating the school’s sports field from the path, and there I was, peering over that fence into the playing field.

I was wearing Mom’s clothes without permission, and I’m also putting on rimless round glasses that I’ve never worn before. And even though I wasn’t riding a bicycle, I was wearing a yellow helmet, with my long, eye-catching light blue hair tucked inside. It was I, Touwa Erio. I was currently in disguise.

I stared blankly at the school that I attended a year ago. I clearly remembered the trouble I caused last year. That was why it was difficult for me to confidently enter a school where I knew so many people. In fact, when Cousin invited me to the school festival, I refused.

“Everyone at school hates it, anyway.”

“Is that so? Well, come if you feel like it.”

I accepted the invitation ticket he offered me, but at first I really didn’t intend to go. However, when I found out that Mom was going to the school festival, my resolve wavered a little. Then, while I was minding Tamura Shop, the candy store where I worked, Mom came in (who smiled and ignored my question, “Mom, what about work?”) and invited Grandma Tamura, who was sleeping in the back, to the school festival. I didn’t hear the full conversation, but I later heard Grandma say she would go. That made my resolve waver even more. And then, last night, Mom hugged me and said, “Eri-tan, if you come to the school festival, Mom and Grandma will be so moved. I’ll carry Eri-chan on our portable shrine!” After thinking about it all night in bed (with of course my upper body wrapped in my blanket), I secretly decided to go. Only Mom and Grandma knew that I was going to the school festival. When Mom heard that I was going, she smiled a little. She was acting a bit more grown-up than usual.

I haven’t told Cousin, who left early this morning. If I did, he would have probably given me a mean look and said, “Oh, so you wanted to come after all?” Cousin is kind but also mean. So I’ll try my best to avoid him at school. Then, in the evening, I will greet him at home as if nothing happened. I might even ask him with a cool expression, “Did you enjoy the school festival?” If that happens, I would consider today a great success. I might even chuckle at Cousin trying to act like a big brother.

“…Uhh…”

But I regretted a little turning him down since it made it harder for me to come.

I started walking down the street slowly, silently telling myself to tiptoe. I had to be brave and slip through the back gate. There were surely lots of people inside who remembered me.

Let’s sing something so I don’t get scared.

“Mofu, mofu, mofu-mofu-mofu, mofufufuuuu, mofufufufufufu” “Ah, Eri-chan! If it’s not Eri-chan!” “Mofu!” Suddenly someone called out from behind and gave me a push on the back, which made me jump.

My feet flailed in the air, swinging like a pendulum three times. Even after landing on the ground, I couldn’t really tell if the soles of my feet were firmly planted because I was wearing shoes. I wanted to just toss my shoes off, but I was more flustered by the fact that someone had spoken to me.

How odd, I was disguised with glasses, a helmet, and Mum’s clothes.

“It’s been ages! Still acting like an alien, are you?”

The one who pushed me forward was a girl wearing a school uniform… Ah, I knew this girl. She was a friend of mine back when I attended school. But I’ve forgotten her name. My eyes were drawn to her abundant blonde hair. That was her most striking feature, and I felt like if I stared at it for a while I might remember a lot of things.

“…………………………..Uh, uhhh.”

I shook my head, then froze. I still didn’t remember her name. Ignoring my confusion, the girl who had approached me started laughing heartily. Every time she laughed, my face felt hot. It also annoyed me.

“Hahaha, are you wearing a disguise? What an idiot; the colour of your eyes makes it so obvious. Who else has light blue eyes besides you, Eri-chan? You’re still the same as ever. Are you from a water planet or something?!”

I regretted not wearing sunglasses. I instinctively covered my eyes with my hands. The other person reacted to my gesture by raising her laugh by an octave.

“It’s not just your eyes, your hair too. You can’t hide it at all; just be yourself. Are you some kind of chemical waterfall?!”

I didn’t really think I should have cut my hair short. As I was fiddling with my bangs, stuffing them into my helmet, the girl who spoke started staring at me with a mocking look in her eyes.

“Eri-chan, you’ve got some nerve. And you’ve become so well-behaved.”

“Uh, yeah. Thanks to Cousin.”

I answered while waving my hands wildly.

“Cousin? Oh, well, since you’re well-behaved, can I kick you? …Oh no, I’m just kidding.”

The girl was busy pushing and pulling her body in an exaggerated way. And what she said was incredibly abrupt. Was a brain arranged vertically? That’s the feeling it gave me. Ah, but I vaguely remembered her being like that. If I recalled correctly, her father was a foreigner and her mother was Japanese, just like me. That’s why we became friends soon after starting school… or so I thought. We were even reprimanded together by the student guidance officer… I mean the teacher.

“What’s with that hair colour?!” he said. So we ran together, all the way outside the school. To the fence overlooking the playground where we are now. I think that’s when she ran out of breath and stopped.

“W-what do you want?”

But all these memories were from before I left school. So I wonder why she’s talking to me now. The girl, averting her eyes, dismissively said:

“Hmm, nothing in particular. It’s just that I saw Eri-chan and called out to her. Rare animal spotted! Or something like that.”

“…I’m not an animal.”

I didn’t deny that it was rare. Kashiwagi also told me that there weren’t many girls with my hair colour.

“Ah, by the way. I’ll give you this thread as a special gift.”

The girl took a piece of thread from her skirt pocket. It was a long, plain white thread with no distinguishing features. She dangled it back and forth as she offered it to me, so I took it without thinking.

I rebelled inwardly, thinking, “Why can’t she find a trash can by herself?”

“If you tie that around your little finger, something good might happen.”

“……Kay”

“Huh, isn’t it just trash?” I thought, but I tied it anyway. Something good?… I looked around. No immediate effect. I was about to ask what it was all about when I turned my head and saw the girl frowning, staring at her wrist, which wasn’t even wearing a watch. She also had a black and white striped thread tied to her little finger.

“Ah, this is bad; time is running out.”

“Hmm?” If so, then she shouldn’t talk to me.

“I’m busy looking for newspaper articles! Well, see you later! Stupid Eri-chan!”

“…Newspaper?”

I groaned, watching the blonde girl run off into the school grounds. I groaned “huh, huh” for a few seconds, my eyes darting around, and then finally, her name came to mind. That’s right, that girl’s name was “Mary something”.

Feeling satisfied with recalling this, I started walking along the road again.

Come to think of it, I used to have friends.

And somehow, I was happy that I wasn’t treated badly even now.

The question of whether customers would come was answered less than 30 minutes later. Because they did come.

“Huh? My ideal lover? I still have some time, so why don’t you draw it for me?”

“In our case, all we have to do is draw the person next to us, so it’s easy, right?”

“Oh my, you’re just too honest.”

They were a stupid couple. These two seemed to be the complete opposite of the customers seeking their ideal partner, as they walked into the art club practically huddled together. The warmth in the eyes of the welcoming art club members quickly vanished.

Both were wearing school uniforms. The boy was unremarkable, but the girl was undeniably a beauty. Her long indigo hair resembled flowing water, and she had the air of a senior student. Her facial features, body shape, and everything about her was “appropriate”, and if I had met her on my first day of school, it would have been difficult not to admire her. To be able to captivate a girl’s gaze and make her eyes glaze over like that, I’d like to call this boy “teacher” and ask him for some pointers. Though I had no idea what to ask him to teach.

The two were wriggling along. They weren’t holding hands, but they were walking so close together that their feet looked like they were about to get tangled. The art club members didn’t even say “welcome”; they just looked at each other in bewilderment. They probably hadn’t anticipated these kinds of customers. They were people who didn’t need to seek their ideal person on paper or in their own minds.

Only Maekawa-san bowed slightly to the girl, saying, “Hello.” Did they know each other? It seemed the girl finally looked beyond the scope of her stupid couple and noticed Maekawa-san’s presence.

Maekawa-san really knew a lot of people. I wish she would share some of her sociability with Erio.

“Hey, Maekawa-san. Thanks for all your preparations today. You’re really good at wearing mascot costumes. You should definitely come to our event.”

“I’ll come if I can find someone.”

“Haha,” Maekawa-san replied with a forced laugh. She then glanced at me… Hmm?

“I don’t really want to go…”

The boy muttered to himself, turning to the side. Huh? Looking closer, aren’t these the same stupid couple who were playing catch with a porno magazine at the bookshop? They’re from the same school? Today they didn’t have a porno magazine with them, but they made an appearance with their little fingers tied together with string. However, the strings weren’t matching; their colours were completely different. The boy’s thread was brown, and the girl’s was amber. With beaming smiles that seemed to say, “But we’re each our own colour,” they sat down in the customer chairs. Not in front of Maekawa-san, but in front of another female art club member.

“Two pictures of my ideal lover!”

The girl ordered with a peace sign, as if she were buying movie tickets.

“Huh, two? Isn’t that double the effort?”

When the boy interjected, the girl responded with a “Hupf!” and crossed her arms.

“Well, it’s just drawing the same man and woman twice. This way you and I can each get one copy.”

“Ah, you’re right. Tamako-san, you’re so smart.”

“Heh heh, it’s the wisdom of age.”

“Hooray for big sister! Anyway, two pictures, pleeeease.”

This time, the boy innocently thrust out a peace sign. The female art club member who was facing them turned to Maekawa-san, pleading that she reached her limit.

“Club leader, this project makes me want to give it all up!”

“Weren’t you the one who suggested it? Well, she and I are acquainted, so I’ll draw it.”

After brushing off the female club member, Maekawa-san moved in front of the stupid couple with her sketchbook in hand. As the head of the art club, Maekawa-san could draw pictures. She was really talented.

I called out to her broad, thin, and unreliable back.

“Anything I can help with?”

When I tentatively asked her that question, Maekawa-san looked around at the ceiling and began to ponder, saying, “Let’s see…”

“Well, if it’s so much of a bother, then I won’t help.”

“So, will you stay there then?”

“Yes?”

At that point, Maekawa-san hesitated, closing her mouth and averting her eyes. But then she continued:

“If, for example, Ryuushi… Or rather, Touwa suddenly showed up here and you didn’t immediately start touring the cultural festival with her, that would be enough for me.”

“Ugh. Well, I did say I’d help, and, err, I think we agreed on the morning, right?”

“That’s right, the morning.”

“So I’ll stay here until lunchtime then.”

Why should Erio suddenly show up? And if it were the case, I wouldn’t do anything anyway.

“Are you there?” murmured Maekawa-san playfully, turning back to face the stupid couple. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Tamako-san,” she said, somewhat cheerfully, as she moved her pen while speaking to the girl of the couple. The only sound in the art room was the scratching of the pen across the sketchbook. I followed her pen with my eyes, impressed by the fact that it never stopped moving. There is still so much more to discover about Maekawa-san.

The other art club members just stood there watching, not really offering any help. A feeling of weariness, almost like apathy, quickly enveloped the art room. I was a part of it.

If I just sit here and soak up the atmosphere, my Youth Points would only diminish.

“…………”

I wonder what Maekawa-san expected of me when she asked me to help… Wait, did she even ask? Was it me who offered to help myself? If so, maybe I was just being a nuisance?

That’s embarrassing. I sighed and lightly banged the side of my head against the window.

“This is more boring than minding the shop for Erio.”

She was always just sitting there looking bored whenever I went to the candy store.

Although it was impossible to see from here, I turned my chin towards the direction where the Touwa family house was located and closed my eyes.

I wondered if Touwa Erio, the light blue Pi○min of the Touwa family, was still rolling around at home wrapped in her futon.

I could easily picture the Smakin rolling around in the hallway of the house, and it made me a little sad. If I really wanted to, I could probably imagine Smakin rolling through the night sky or outer space.

“… Huh.”

My cell phone vibrated in my school uniform pocket. The vibration made me lift myself up from my chair, and then I tried to pull the phone out. The character keychain attached to my phone that I had received as a gift at a convenience store got caught on the edge of my pocket. I couldn’t get it out easily.

I frantically pulled the phone hard, and the sound of the fabric tearing gave me a chill. But it looked fine, so I focused on the phone. I smiled at the name displayed on the LCD screen, pressed the answer button, and brought the phone to my ear. The swaying keychain brushed against my cheek.

At that moment, a cacophony of noise came through the phone like a series of small fireworks blooming. And amidst it all, the lively voices that I rarely go a day without hearing suddenly sprouted:

“Ahhh, I’m finally connecting through!”

“Huh, was your signal bad?”

“That’s right… So, fufufu, you can guess who I am, right?”

“Hmm… Ah, I know. Ding dong.”

“Yes, Niwa-kun.”

“It’s I-told-ya-san!”

“Wrong! I told ya! That’s the second half!”

I laughed and got up from my seat. After all, there were customers, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to have a phone conversation in the art room. I gave Maekawa-san a small nod, and she narrowed her eyes. She saw me off with a slightly stern look, and I hurried out into the corridor.

Ah, I shouldn’t need to explain this, but the person on the other end of the phone was Mifune Ryuushi-san.

The light that permeated every corner of the corridor seemed to be accompanied by sound, making the surroundings a little more lively. Even though there weren’t that many people around. I leaned my back against the wall that stretched out beside the art room door and took a deep breath.

“Anyway, good morning.”

“Good morning! I told ya!”

“You don’t need to say this when saying good morning.” She should think carefully about when to use “I told ya”.

From the phone, beside Ryuushi-san’s voice, I also heard a lot of noise, like static. She was probably outside. She was probably at one of the food stalls run by sports clubs around the bicycle parking area. Besides the sounds, I could almost smell the savoury aromas wafting through the air.

“My cell phone isn’t connecting at all. Everyone is using one, so the signal isn’t going through.”

“Ah, I see. Looks like you’re heavy.”

“I told ya not to say this!” Ryuushi-san protested. Her sulky tone was so cute.

“So, Niwa-kun, you’re helping out Maekawa-san, right?”

“Yeah, Maekawa-san, or rather, the art club… well, I guess it’s the same thing.”

Back when Ryuushi-san gave me some pieces of the giant takoyaki she had made during practice, she had asked, “Won’t you help me out?” But at that point, I had already told Maekawa-san I would help her, so I had to decline.

Besides, she was from the “female” basketball team. If I were at their food stall, I would totally stick out.

“Is there a set time when you’re done helping?”

“Humm, sometime in the morning.”

As I said that, for some reason, a tatami mat appeared in my mind, and a teacup rolled across it. What was that flashback all about? Did it actually happen, or was it just an image in my head?

“Hmm, well then, when you’re done, let’s go round and round the school festival togetheeeeer.”

I expected a spinning motion, but the invitation came with shoulder rotations as well. Hmm, not bad.

“That’s totally fine. Ryuushi-san, can you sneak away from minding the food stall?”

“I told ya, I’m Ryuuko, but I should be able to.”

Yep, looks fine. Her “I told ya” had already reached the level of “Ah” and “Err”.

“Okay, then around lunchtime… where should we meet?”

As I spoke, I glanced left and right down the corridor. Loud and slightly noisy footsteps came running up the stairs on the right. A blonde girl, practically leaping up the stairs, kicked off the wall as she appeared in the corridor. “Wait, you hottie!” she shouted, using the momentum from her kick to quickly ascend the stairs. She certainly was an energetic one.

Just as the girl was passing by, someone jumped down the stairs. He was quite a handsome fellow, though he stumbled upon landing due to the force of his jump. Was he being chased? He glanced back up the stairs with a wry smile and continued down, almost jumping again. He was in casual clothes, so he must be a guest… Was this town full of people like that? After all, right now, my train of thought and line of sight were cut off at “So, this is the place that holds special memories for Niwa-kun and Ryuuko-san!”

“Where is it?”

“Wow, so many memories. They’re really coming back to me.”

“So, it’s like everyday life is a time when memories start to fall into one place.”

“Hmm, then let’s go with that. And, err, how about we meet in front of the shoe lockers?”

“Okay. I’ll go so I don’t forget.”

Well, there’s no way I’d forget an event like going around the school festival with a girl, which was a classic example of Youth Points. I wasn’t a typical youthful man for nothing.

“By the way, told ya…”

“I wonder if anyone is going to compile a Ryuushi-san dictionary soon?”

“Niwa-kun, what colour are you dyed in?!”

“Huh? Err, m-my own colour?”

“That explains nothing!”

Ryuushi-san, I don’t understand what your question means!

I almost yelled, but then Ryuushi-san’s voice faded away on the other end of the phone. There was a moment of silence, as if a switched-on microphone had been tossed aside, a flow of air, and then a new voice came through.

“Hey there, are you the transfer student who’s talking to Ryuushi-chan on the phone?”

The pitch went up by one note. The way she spoke had a wide, dynamic quality, perhaps because she was running.

“Err, Mickey-san, is that your voice?”

I unconsciously used polite language. I mean, you can’t treat someone’s name rudely or disregard it, can you?

“That’s right, I’m Mickey. Ryuushi-chan’s friend. Oh, wait, it’s Miggy now.”

I could hear a faint voice from behind her saying, “I told ya, I’m Ryuuko; give it back!” I guess she was trying to get her phone back and was getting brushed off. Hmm, so that was the difference between a regular and a substitute on the basketball team.

“It’s question time for the transfer student! What is it you find attractive about Ryuushi-chan?”

“Would there be any benefits from answering that?”

“I have an embarrassing photo of Ryuushi-chan taken during her club activities!”

“Her cheeks”, was my immediate answer. It seems my youth sensor was functioning perfectly. Nothing erotic about it.

“Oh, her cheeks?! They’re so squishy and irresistible, especially since recently Punimi-chan has become a bit like Puyomi-chan… Ahhh.”

The call ended with a drawn-out scream from Mickey, or was it Miggy? Maybe Ryuushi-san jumped on Mickey and ended up hanging up. I waited for a while, staring at the phone. A lively announcement of the start of some event echoed down the hallway. Well, I’m not going.

Since there was no sign of her calling me back, I shoved my cell phone into my pocket and went back to the art room.

“Jiwa-kun, let’s go around the school festival together once we’re done helping out.”

The moment I entered the art room, Maekawa-san blurted out that comment in a much more casual tone than usual. I involuntarily straightened my posture. She was apparently impersonating Ryuushi-san’s voice and was quite successful at it. That girl was so talented.

As expected of someone who calls herself Maeemon. Although, I felt like something was off.

Maekawa-san paused writing, turned around, and gave me a sarcastically knowing smile.

“Fufufu, I guess I got it right, transfer student.”

“Well, there was just one minor flaw.”

“Really? I practised that imitation… I mean I was secretly confident about it. Where is the problem?”

“My name.”

Maekawa-san blinked. Then, with a faraway look in her eyes, he nodded and said, “Ah.” She put his pen to his chin, his expression still stern, and looked pensive. I stood by the entrance to the art room, waiting for Maekawa-san to finish her thoughts. The other art club members and the stupid couple who were visiting… were fidgeting, each nudging the other’s shoulder with their free hand. Of course, the thread of their little fingers was still tied together. I wanted to tell them with a smile that they should stay holed up in their own world and not come over here. I wished some tough-looking foreigner would come along and pat them on the shoulder and say, “Go home.”

Eventually, the pen left Maekawa-san’s chin, and she turned her chair towards me as if taking a break. After lightly brushing her bangs aside, Maekawa-san let out a sigh. It seemed like a sigh to release the tension in her shoulders.

“Hey, transfer student.”

“Humm?”

I tilted my head at the strangely formal and almost distant way she addressed me. Maekawa-san was smiling.

“Shall we introduce ourselves to each other now?”

“Yes.”

Huh? After so much time? I swallowed my surprise and managed to reply. Well, I didn’t even know her first name anyway.

We both cleared our throats.

“I am Niwa Makoto. I moved here in April. Nice to meet you.”

It felt incredibly awkward to say it out loud. The ripple effect of my self-introduction seemed to have spread beyond Maekawa-san, causing a slight murmur around us. “Is that the rumoured one?” “Yes,” the stupid couple confirmed without lowering their volume. I suppose they’re referring to the transfer student who was rumoured to have committed suicide by jumping into the sea.

The other art club members’ perception of me changed a little after my true identity was revealed, though saying it like that might be an exaggeration. So, up until now, I was just that mysterious guy brought here by the art club president. It was a little embarrassing to imagine them thinking, “Why is this guy even here?”

But more than the reactions of those around me, the person I wanted to focus on was Maekawa-san. Maekawa-san accepted my belated self-introduction and began to speak. Finally, after the mystery of these past five months, her first name was about to be revealed.

“My name is…”

“Yes, yes?”

“Maekawa”. “Is it okay to just call her a guest? Ah, it’s alright? We wish to call for a guest. Nijou Owari-san, Nijou Owari-san. Many people are waiting for you, so please come to the venue immediately.”

Just as if on cue, the old speaker in the art room vibrated, and Maekawa-san’s voice was cleanly cut in half between us. The disjointed words spilt onto the floor, swallowed up by the reverberation of the broadcast, and vanished like sand. A jarring, unexciting sound of the connection to the broadcasting room being cut off pierced the back of our ears. And immediately afterwards, the speaker resumed its operation and began playing some mysterious background music, perhaps to liven up the school festival. It was a collection of sounds with unfamiliar melodies that somehow made me feel uneasy.

All that remained for me and Maekawa-san was the emptiness of having failed to grasp something important in each other’s lives.

To cover up the various voids and helplessness, we both laughed.

Apparently, there was no name-based Attraction between Maekawa-san and me.

“Mofu.”

Having successfully entered the school, I improved my disguise. I called it the “Hiding My Eyes with a Pamphlet” strategy.

I unfolded a school festival pamphlet that had fallen on the school grounds and covered my face with it. Now my eyes and bangs were hidden from everyone around me. Perfect disguise! “Mofu!” I bumped headfirst into something hard. The slight problem was that I couldn’t see anything either because my eyes were covered with the pamphlet. I shifted the pamphlet to check what was in front of me.

What stretched out before me was the white wall of the school building. It felt rough to the touch. I had bumped into something near the back entrance of the staff room. I turned around. The wide path between the two school buildings was full of students in uniform. Those walking in the middle were chatting loudly, peering at pamphlets and discussing things. A boy walking alone that I passed was slightly looking down. But they all had a string tied around their little finger. But I didn’t see anyone with two strings tied like me.

As I passed through the school gate, I had received another thread in exchange for my invitation ticket. It was a light blue, sparkly thread. It looked like a hair I shed. I wrapped the white thread around my left pinky finger and the light blue thread around my right pinky finger.

This should double the happiness! …or so I hoped.

Correcting course. Reattaching the “Mofu” pamphlet, I set off. I drove with quick strides towards the main gate, plodding along.

Becoming a youthful woman was quite difficult.

Especially today, I couldn’t even cling to Cousin’s back.

I wonder where Mom and Grandma are. Mom wasn’t home, but maybe she’s here now? Was there a lost and found centre where I might collect her?

“Excuse me, young lady.”

“Mofu?”

Someone called out to me. But I still had my face covered with the pamphlet, so I couldn’t see what they look like. I couldn’t reveal my face in a place like this. The other person seemed understanding and continued talking to me.

“May I ask where I can find the restroom?”

“Mofu (right).”

“Thank you.”

“Mofuuufu (You’re welcome)”.

Apparently, I got my message across, as I sensed the person who asked for directions moving away from me. Helping people feels good. But how did they know I was a young lady when I was hiding my face? “Mofu?” I sensed a different presence at my feet. I waited to see what they would do, expecting to be asked for directions again. They remained silent and showed no signs of moving away. I waited. They waited too. … “Mofu” woof. “Mofu mofu” woof woof. “Mofuffuuu” woof, woof… I won. But since a conversation wasn’t taking place, I gave up. I shifted the pamphlet slightly and checked my feet. From their appearance, it didn’t seem like they wanted directions.

It had four legs.

“A dog.”

Woof, the dog at my feet barked. When the dog lifted its head, its belly jiggled back and forth in response to my movements. It was like Mom’s breasts after she took a bath. The round dog stared up at me. I stared back at the dog. Neither of us moved. “Have any free time?”

When I asked, the dog shook its head from side to side and then barked again. Apparently it didn’t have any free time. What a shame; if it did, we could have walked around the school together. “Are you looking for someone?” Woof. Hmm, humm, so it was looking for someone.

I preferred cats to dogs, but I couldn’t just abandon it in a time of need. I’ll offer advice. But before that, I took the dog and moved it away from the crowd. People in uniform were walking towards the gymnasium, chatting and looking at pamphlets. I crouched down a little to hide from them.

“Your mom?” buzz buzz woof. “Your dad?” buzz buzz woof. “Your owner?” woof woof.

“Attention everyone! The drama club will be practising in the gymnasium from 10 o’clock! What will they be doing? Why, a play! What will they be doing? You’ll have to come and see! If you have some free time, please come and check it out!”

The speakers attached outside of the school building vibrated, advertising the performances in the gymnasium. Oh, right, everyone’s going to see the play. I wonder if Mom would like watching something like that? She probably won’t go; she doesn’t like sitting still. Just as the broadcast ended, the dog stretched its neck to the right and barked towards the middle of the road. I turned to look in that direction.

“Ah, there she is.”

A woman was coming towards me, pushing her way through the crowd from the direction of the dog’s bark. She had short chestnut-coloured hair. Her lips were strangely bright red, making her pale skin stand out. She seems to be in her twenties.

To be honest, she seems more mature than Mom. Mom hasn’t changed at all since I was little.

The woman held a partially eaten chocolate-covered banana on a stick.

“Hey, your master is running towards you, and you have no intention of running back? Well, apparently not.”

The woman stood behind the dog, hands on her hips, nodding in anger. The dog turned around, sliding on its belly, and looked up at the woman. Then it let out a joyful “woof”.

“Does that girl smell like honey or something? Ah, sorry about that…”

The woman bent down, picked up the dog, and then looked up, frozen with a wry smile. She stared at my face, not blinking. People’s eyes were scary. No matter how much I resisted in my heart, my eyes and skin reacted with a tingling rejection. I cried out, my eyes darting from side to side, searching for a hidden back. Not for Cousin, but for Mom. She wasn’t there. It wasn’t that convenient. But I couldn’t completely give up hope that Mom might be here. Just then, the woman looked away. I peered at the dog’s face in my arms.

“Nice dog. You still have a great nose. But don’t try to eat my chocolate banana; you’re a dog.”

As the woman praised and scolded the dog, it barked as if to say, “Of course, I’m a dog.” Then it properly pulled its head away from the chocolate banana. The woman stroked the dog’s head as she was holding it and then glared at me again. W-What’s up with her? I tried to remain reserved.

She was humming “funfunfun” and staring intently at my little finger. Was she checking the thread? The white thread.

The woman clapped her palms together as if she had a sudden realisation.

“I see, I see…”

“W-what’s going on?”

“You’re so cute. Ever thought about becoming an idol?”

“…Huh?” She could tell I was cute even when I was wearing a disguise?

The dog barked woof, looking up at the woman’s jaw. The woman nodded and scratched her eyebrow with her finger.

“No, no, that’s not it. I’m just picking up girls.”

“…?”

Who was this person? A weirdo? A harasser? A con artist? All sorts of thoughts were running through my mind. So I looked around again, searching the surrounding area. Cousin… no, Mom. But as usual, the only people passing by are boys wearing the same uniform as Cousin or girls wearing the uniform I used to wear.

“Hey… don’t you recognise my face?”

“…N-Not at all.”

I was so scared because a stranger was talking to me, so what was she even asking?

“Looks like it… Hmm, how should I put it?”

As the woman turned her head along with the dog, the speaker vibrated and emitted a sound again.

“Is it okay to just call her a guest? Ah, it’s alright? We wish to call for a guest. Nijou Owari-san, Nijou Owari-san. Many people are waiting for you, so please come to the venue immediately.”

The woman turned around with a displeased look on her face as the broadcast started. She said, “Aah?” in a rude manner. I knew it; she was a delinquent.

A delinquent with a dog. Looks weaker than Lone Wolf and Cub. I glanced at the dog as if to ask, “Think we can win?” Woof.

“What the hell? Calling me like that? Don’t they have any idea why I came so early?”

Scratching her waist, the woman cursed into the speaker. Nijou Owari? Was it that woman’s name? Apparently so. The woman sighs, “Oh well.”

After the broadcast cut out, an unfamiliar tune started playing.

“Anyway, you’re, err, cute!”

I was slapped hard on the shoulder, and my spine tensed up. I awkwardly stretched on my tiptoes and bowed my head, saying, “Th-thanks.” The woman turned to the side and muttered, “Oh, is that okay? It’s fine, whatever.”

“Okay, see you then. You absolutely have to come to my event!”

I was slapped hard on the shoulder, and my spine tensed up.

The woman ran off, waving with her dog (or was it the dog’s front paws waving?). The chocolate on the chocolate-covered banana was melting in the sunlight and about to spill, but I didn’t have time to point it out.

I was left all alone. I stood slightly away from the flow of people, staring blankly at where they were going, my eyes unfocused. As I did so, soft, white, soap-bubble-like things began to form out of the corner of my eye and float above people’s heads. This created a sense of distance, as if separating my presence from the view I was gazing at with envy, like a dream between reality and a dream.

I shook my head from side to side, making all the soap bubbles pop.

I felt nervous after being spoken to, and my body temperature had risen, making the sunlight outside feel much hotter than before. And I also felt cramped. The heat was pushing me around, making me feel like I was bundled up in thick, heavy clothes.

Ugh, it was hot. My head felt like it was getting hot because I was wearing a helmet. But I couldn’t just stand there forever “mofu” without doing anything, so I first tried to protect my face with the pamphlet. It got even more humid, and I couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t quite the same as being snuggled up in a futon. All I felt was discomfort. Still, I threw the pamphlet stuck to my face and started running.

…Now that I thought about it, that woman earlier didn’t have a string tied around her little finger.

“Ah, it’s Touwa-san. There’s a weird Touwa-san with a pamphlet stuck to his face.”

“Mofu?”

I was being called by name again and stopped almost immediately. Another obstacle arose on my way to Mom. The road of youthful girls was a harsh one. But this time, the voice sounded familiar, so I stopped and removed the pamphlet from my face. I let out a big “Mofuuu” of relief as the restriction on my breathing was released. I then checked the face of the person who had called out to me. Just like the voice, I recognised the face.

“Ryuushi something.”

The person named Ryushi or something was carrying a bag of flour and approaching with a frown on her face. As expected, Ryuushi-san was wearing her school uniform, and a phone strap was sticking out of her skirt pocket.

“I told ya, it’s Ryuuko.”

She uttered a line I often heard back when I was attending school. I was the first one to call her Ryuushi, after all.

“…I told ya, I’m Erio.”

“I told ya, don’t copy me.”

Ryuushi’s shoulders somehow rotated round and round. I rotated mine too. Our arms occasionally bumped into each other with a slapping sound, disrupting the rotation. Then, gradually, as if gears were meshing together, our movements somehow began to synchronise. For no particular reason, our arms started to rotate smoothly.

Round round and round. I was jealous of how Ryuushi or something’s uniform sleeves fluttered every time her arms moved.

Ah, Ryuushi or something has somehow tied a thread to her little finger. The pattern was a net. The red lines made up a net pattern.

“I’m not going to let you go to Niwa-kun’s place so easily, I told ya!”

“I-I’m not going, I told ya.”

But what if Mom and Cousin were together?… In that case, maybe since I was older than Cousin, I could compromise, and we could go around the school festival together as a family. Yes, yes, that was a good idea.

But maybe Cousin still didn’t know that Grandma Tamura was my mother’s grandmother? Cousin was so hopeless, so dense. I’ll have to teach him a lot of things.

“Ryuushi-chan, what are you doing?”

My bouncy ride with Ryuushi or something came to a sudden halt. Ryuushi or something reacted incredibly quickly and turned to the side. I slowly looked in that direction as well. A girl was standing there, holding a box full of cabbages, staring at us with cold eyes. She looked familiar, yet unfamiliar.

“M-Mickey-chan”

“How nice of you, Ryuushi-chan, to slack off and goof off at the stall. But I can’t accept Erio-chan doing that.”

The girl’s gaze pierced through my light blue bangs. I instinctively hid them with the pamphlet I was holding. It didn’t really matter, because my disguise hadn’t been working at all so far. Failure.

“Well, you see, Mickey, how should I put it… I told ya, I’m Ryuuko, but…”

Ryuushi or something was visibly troubled. Her eyes were a little frightened and confused, and she was troubled by something related to me. About me finding out. She took a step back. That was… natural. It was only natural. Both Ryuushi or something and I were careless. That’s why she was looking at me like that. The same look that I always get when I walk around town. My knees were buckling, and I felt like I was going to collapse into tears. Before it gots worse, I needed to do what I could.

The decision to work, the decision to play baseball, and the decision to become a youthful girl, all of these made me move my feet forward before they happened. Even if I couldn’t fly, I could walk and run.

To prevent Ryuushi or something from being in any more trouble, I stuck the pamphlet to my face and ran away. “Ah,” “The alien ran away.” I felt fingers pointed at me. But I didn’t look back and ran in a straight line.

Perhaps it was because my face was covered, but my hearing was heightened on the sides. Cheerful voices, voices, voices. Something was said to a friend, and the friend would say something back. Clang, clang, relationships that bounced back and forth.

But the way it bounced back wasn’t too abrupt or too cold; it was just pleasant.

The surrounding environment that kept pushing me back was incredibly rigid and cynical, and it was nothing but walls I’ve brought upon myself.

Right now, I couldn’t make friends.

…Ugh, Cousin.

“Kachiwa-kun, aren’t you a little too handsome by my standards?”

“Oh Tamako-san you’re just too cute. It’s as if you had the vitamin C of hundreds of lemons.”

“No, no, I still have about five more ways to reveal Tamako-san’s charms.”

“No, no, no, even I, Kashiwa-kun, will only use one hand in a serious fight.”

Were these two playing a DNA game or something? They were wiggling their fingers, pointing at the paper the other person was holding, as if drawing a helical structure. The girl in this stupid couple was apparently named Tamako-san, and the guy was Kashiwa-kun. They were praising each other’s lovers in the picture that Maekawa-san had just finished drawing. Both of their drawings were indeed well done. The girl next to me also complimented them, saying, “They’re pretty good.” Well, that was fine.

If these were a puzzle, there would be a lot of people trying to solve it by brute force. The room was hot because these two were passionately in love…but I could feel the heat rising in the art room for a different reason. What an amazingly stupid couple. A plausible motive for a crime would be, “I threw a stone at them because they’re such a stupid couple.” Was “stupid couple” the name of an alien from another planet?

Wow, just watching them made me feel like my Youth Points were going downhill.

“I mean, this isn’t the time for flattery! Let’s hurry, Kashiwa-kun! We need to start preparing too!”

“More importantly, Tamako-san, I’d like to go to the blood donation bus with you.”

“I don’t want to go on that kind of date! Come on, let’s go!”

There was no way for the man to escape, as their little fingers were tied together with a string. Finally, the stupid couple hurriedly ran out of the art room with the woman taking the lead. They looked like chickens that had been pecked in the rear with a sword.

After that, the atmosphere in the art room relaxed. The stifling heat loosened, creating space. Naturally, everyone exhaled the breath they had been holding in and relaxed their shoulders. The silence, accompanied by tinnitus, permeated the art room, creating a boundary with the noise coming from outside the window and the stairs in the corridor. It was similar to the pleasant feeling of being at the boundary of temperature as a body that has been heated up after exercise gradually cools down.

No one did anything in particular to reach that effect, which goes to show just how intense that stupid couple was.

Only Maekawa-san, who had risen from her chair, moved without any hesitation, as if out of the ordinary. She folded her sketchbook and brushed the bottom of her skirt. She then came towards me.

By the way, I was literally just sitting by the window. During the whole time Maekawa-san was working on drawing the stupid couple. I couldn’t deny that it was a minus in terms of Youth Points, but staring blankly at the nape of Maekawa-san’s neck, where her hair met her uniform, was quite a treat for my eyes.

“They were a lively bunch. Well, that’s nothing new, though.”

Maekawa-san dragged a chair in front of me and sat down. For a moment, the strong light streaming in from the window caused Maekawa-san’s left eyelid to flutter. Hmm, I should keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t collapse from too much sun exposure.

“Maekawa-san, was she a friend of yours?”

“More or less… That girl is actually one of our underclassmen.”

Huh? I almost cried out. She was? With that kind of look and demeanour, she was younger than me? Terrifying.

“Children these days seem to be developing well.”

“Haha, are you telling me that?”

She shook her shoulders, looking amused. Well, compared to Maekawa-san, there are probably few students in the entire school who could compete with her. And as for the girls, I’d say there were practically none.

“Well then, transfer student, it’s your turn.”

“What is?”

“Your ideal lover. I’ll draw it.”

Maekawa-san flipped through the sketchbook and smiled mischievously. I waved my hand to the side, saying, “Give me a break”, but Maekawa-san casually ignored me and picked up her pen again. I was astonished and wondered whether she was kidding.

It took some time to paint a single picture. Even though some time has passed since the stupid couple visited, there was no sign of any new visitors coming into the art room. In fact, there were very few people walking down the corridor that I could see through the open door. Everyone was probably still heading to the food stalls outside the school building. The exhibits inside the school building would probably only get busy after lunchtime.

“Come on, what’s your ideal lover, transfer student? Touwa or Ryuushi? Clearly make up your mind.”

She twirled her pen around with her fingers as she forced me to choose from a limited number of options.

“This is too specific. It should be more like an ideal scenario or a dating research project.”

“So, Meme-san, then?”

“Ah, that joke was pretty funny.”

Ha ha ha. I faked a genuine laugh from the bottom of my heart. Maekawa-san didn’t laugh at all. She picked up her pen.

“Hmm, well then, tell me what qualities you look for in a partner. I’ll try to summarise them.”

“Are you really going to do it?”

“I mean, you looked bored the whole time, didn’t you?”

Well, I mean, I was here waiting to help, but there was nothing I could do to help, and all I was asked to do was to “stay here”. If that wasn’t dull, then I’d have to wonder how busy she was with all the silly things she was thinking about. I wasn’t that naive. I was just concentrating, pondering, and admiring how beautiful Maekawa-san’s nape was.

“Hey, transfer student. Don’t worry, I won’t charge you anything.”

“Yeah, ideal, ideal… Hmm, ideal? It’s hard to think of one off the top of my head when asked so suddenly.”

“Don’t high school boys constantly wander around, breathless, searching for the shadow of an ideal girlfriend?”

It was a biased image, but not entirely wrong either. So, my ideal lover…?

Wouldn’t that kind of thing change from time to time? Depending on who I interacted with, where I was, and so on?

“Okay, I’ll leave it up to you.”

“Are you ordering dinner? Do you even understand the point?”

Maekawa-san chuckled and began to move her pen. Wait, could I really leave it up to her? Wouldn’t this just be Maekawa-san’s prediction, rather than my ideal? Not that it matters.

Besides, if it was just about drawing my ideal lover, there was no need for me to be facing Maekawa-san like this, posing as a model, was there? “…Well, never mind the details.”

I accepted that. There was nothing else to do, and Maekawa-san was the only person I knew in the art room. The sound of her pen moving across the drawing paper was regular, like the ticking of a clock’s second hand. It was a creative act, drawing, yet the sound was so regular that if I listened only to it, my eyelids would get heavy.

“School festival, huh… I wonder what I should do.”

I muttered, glancing out the window. This question arose after my summer trip to the beach. I never learnt how to get involved in, or even cause, an event that felt like a school festival. Last year, all I did was have my blood drawn and lie in bed. I still remembered the darkness and the taste of the stagnant and lukewarm air.

Maekawa-san raised her head slightly in response to my mumbling. I wasn’t expecting a reply, though.

“Since you’ve already tied the thread to your little finger, it might not be a bad idea to look for someone who has a matching thread.”

“Wait, is it okay to exert Attraction from this side?”

When I pointed that out, Maekawa-san stuck out her tongue slightly and said, “That’s right.” Oh, that gesture was so cute.

“Attraction is so inflexible.”

Said Maekawa-san as if she were giving a wry smile and evaluating a friend standing beside her. I reluctantly agreed.

“That’s troubling.”

“But that’s precisely why it sometimes brings wonderful things.”

Just as if she’d waited for my agreement, Maekawa-san suddenly reversed her stance on Attraction. Seriously?

“If you think about it normally, transfer student, it’s highly unlikely that your school festival would start from here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m sure Ryuushi, Touwa, or Meme-san are nearby.”

“…………”

Was the fact that my aunt was included as an option a sad point? I wouldn’t like it if my ideal lover was portrayed as that person. That’s just how it looked in other people’s eyes.

“But in reality, transfer student, you are here.”

Maekawa-san said with a slightly triumphant air. And she continued; her tone rose.

“I didn’t cause anything to happen today. Rather, it’s the result of me manipulating Attraction in the process leading up to today.”

“Heh?”

“Even if you can’t make a rubber band harder, you can bring about a different change by stretching it.”

“…Sorry, I don’t understand.”

“It’s like, ‘Long live Attraction,’ or rather, ‘Long live me!’”

“What, so it all boils down to self-praise?”

“No, what I’m trying to say is…”

“Yeah?”

Maekawa-san placed her pen and the folded sketchbook on her lap and sat up straight. Her back was perfectly straight. She lowered her long legs, which she had been crossing, and firmly planted both feet on the floor, maintaining a model student-like posture.

Her pale skin was tinged with a hint of blood, giving it a cherry blossom pink hue.

Then, Maekawa-san’s lips, now more formal, gently curved into a beautiful smile.

“Thank you for spending time with me today. I am completely satisfied.”

Gwah. Maekawa-san thanked me so sincerely to my face, and my eyes started rolling back and forth uncomfortably. What was wrong with Maekawa-san today? Her Youth Points were fluctuating much more than usual… Aah, right. It was because she wasn’t wearing a mascot costume. Well, being a high school cosplay girl suited her really well.

I faced Maekawa-san, mindful of the stares of those around us. Various parts of my skin were itchy.

“Well, I’m not really dating, and I haven’t really done anything, but is that okay?”

“It’s a good thing. The fact that there’s a ‘transfer student who hasn’t done anything’ here.”

That was enough. I was content with Attraction. Maekawa-san said this with a slightly downcast smile.

The Attraction Culture Festival had only just begun, and it was already over so quickly.

But Attraction doesn’t ripen just because time passes, does it?

“It sounds like something profound.”

Or perhaps it was the fact that it was praised as a decorative ornament that left me with mixed feelings.

“Well, it would be a bit of a problem if people thought about it too deeply…”

Maekawa-san mumbled a denial, staring at the cover of her sketchbook. She tilted her head in a way that seemed to push me out of her field of vision, making it impossible for me to force my way in, so I fell silent.

Maekawa-san placed her pen and the folded sketchbook on her lap and sat up straight.

An awkward silence fell, and I felt uncomfortable. It was full of youthful energy, but it was a little painful. So I got up from my chair. After standing up, I brushed the hair that was covering my ear with my fingers.

Suddenly, a torrent of lively voices reaches me from the scene unfolding outside the window. The school festival was in full swing as people gathered, and the one-day festivities were beginning. This peaceful place would soon be engulfed in it as well.

I got the impression that Ryuushi-san symbolised liveliness, while Maekawa-san represented the calm atmosphere of the art room.

“Transfer student?”

“I’m going to the restroom for a bit. Can we continue posing for the painting when I get back?”

“Sure, see you later.”

She waved goodbye to me. It was an awkward exchange, considering my destination was the restroom. I started walking a little hastily when Maekawa-san called out to me, “Ah, wait a minute.” I turned around.

“Hmm, what?”

“Ah, well, you see… well, N-Niwa-kun.”

Huh. Maekawa-san called me by my last name correctly. I guess it was because of my self-introduction. But I’ve always been called transfer student or Jiwa-kun, so it was a bit confusing to hear her say my name like that now.

“Ah, did I say it right?”

“Haha,” Maekawa-san asked awkwardly, her cheeks curled up on one side.

“Uh, yeah. That’s correct, yes.”

“That’s good. It’s good, yes.”

“…So, is that all?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Uh, well, you called me. But you didn’t have anything in particular to tell me?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Perhaps because we were both flustered, our conversation was starting in a monotonous way. Maekawa-san frowned, seemingly trying to think of something to do. No, no, that wasn’t the right order.

“Well then, make sure you wash your hands properly.”

“……Roger that.”

I scratched my forehead and felt embarrassed, thinking, “It’s like a nursery teacher and a child.”

I stepped out into the hallway, trying to escape the heat that had arisen from my embarrassment. “Ugh.” My cheeks were tingling.

I stopped and lightly slapped both my cheeks with my palms. Then I walked down the corridor. Cheerful music could be faintly heard in the distance, either being played or broadcast somewhere.

I started walking towards the toilets without really thinking about it until halfway down the corridor. When I realised where I was going and looked up, I could see a sign that read “Toilet →” leading down the corridor. It must be a sign posted for today’s guests. I followed it, and along the way, I glanced down at the thread on my little finger.

“Attraction, Attraction… does it even exist for me?”

There was “Attraction” at work in every action a person took. For every choice, there was a force pulling it towards oneself. Therefore, there was no such thing as coincidence in this world; everything was “predetermined” by something.

“…If the future is all predetermined, then I guess our current actions are also predetermined.”

That was probably one way of looking at it, but I couldn’t imagine any powerful, fireworks-like Attraction acting on me today. I wondered if that was what lay at the end of this thread.

I was about to enter the restroom as I thought jokingly about such matters, almost as if singing. As I was entering, a man came out of the restroom and lightly pushed my shoulder, saying, “Excuse me.” I shifted my body to avoid bumping into him, took two steps into the restroom, and then instinctively turned around.

It felt as if ‘it’ was gently tickling my skin and hair.

“…Huh?”

He was about half a head taller than me and was wearing a suit that was too short for him. He was slender but didn’t look frail, and his skin was so beautiful it was not only pale but almost translucent. He had a high and well-defined nose and perfect features.

And his ultimate features were his light blue hair and eyes.

The moment I recognised that colour, I rushed out of the bathroom and back into the hallway. But the person had already vanished from the hallway in a flash, and what was floating in my path was…

It was just familiar light blue particles. But it was something else that was emitting it.

The particles tickled my nose, and that’s when I come back to my senses.

“No way.”

Could it be that the person emitting those particles right now was…?

Well, the fact that he had light blue hair pretty much confirmed it anyway.

That person looked exactly like the description Meme-san gave me.

“Elio’s…”

Father?

Her father was here at the school festival?

---

• Memento of the start of the cultural festival: +1
• Kept my promise and helped Maekawa-san: +2
• Made a promise to tour the cultural festival with Ryuushi-san: +1

Total current Youth Points: +10

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