Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko:Volume7

Novel Illustrations

These are the novel illustrations that were included in volume 7.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
  Index
• 
  page 9
• 
  page 27
• 
  page 55
• 
  page 70
• 
  page 82
• 
  page 109
• 
  page 135
• 
  page 160
• 
  page 176
• 
  page 198
• 
  page 215

Prologue - If Space Stretched Out Beyond

“I was given a game.”

Erio immediately reported this to me without even saying hello when she came back from minding the candy store.

When I went to the front door to greet my cousin and saw what she was holding up expressionlessly, I said, “Huh?” Did she receive her daily wage in kind? I wondered, as I tilted my head. But it didn’t appear to be the case.

“You were given? From whom? Anyway, wipe your feet with this,” I said, handing her a cloth. Erio, who still couldn’t shake off her habit of going outside barefoot, picked up the cloth and continued the conversation with an attitude that suggested that she was simply holding onto it for the time being.

“A stranger.”

“Don’t accept things from strangers.”

I pinched Erio’s cheek and pulled it. “Mmmph,” she protested, slapping my arm with the cloth I gave him. Even though I wanted her to wipe her feet with it instead. It was about time she got into the habit of wearing shoes.

Anyway, this was a day off, a Saturday evening. Mid-October, about three weeks after September’s school festival.

Good evening, this is Niwa Makoto. Due to certain circumstances, I used up all my Youth Points, so I was feeling pretty depleted lately. I was trying to replenish my reserves, but it was proving difficult.

“Was it really given to you by someone you don’t remember? Or rather, was it given to you at the candy store?”

“Yes, yes.”

Erio nodded twice. She then tried to go up into the hallway without wiping her feet, so I pushed her away.

“A strangely dressed middle-aged man handed it to me, saying, ‘Send my greetings to Meme.’”

“Meme? Meme-san? A middle-aged man and Meme-san… Ah, maybe it was Yamamoto-san?”

I remembered that middle-aged man who was infatuated with Meme-san. I couldn’t quite remember what he was wearing, or even what he looked like. Was he trying to apply the logic of shooting the general by trying to win over her daughter first? Seems the daughter in question doesn’t remember him at all, though. And the mother doesn’t even remember the middle-aged man’s real name. Poor guy. I gave Elio a nudge while I felt sympathy for him. Elio pouted, “Mmm”.

“Cousin, you’re trying to kill me.”

“I’m not that much of an extremist. I told you to wipe your feet.”

Seriously, why does this girl go outside barefoot? She looks more like an alien child than a wild child. By the way, her mother is forty years old. She’s a youkai whose appearance gets younger day by day, but she’s forty years old.

That point must absolutely never be forgotten. Furthermore, that youkai hasn’t returned from work yet today.

Well, I still didn’t know what she did for a living.

“Ooh.”

Erio slapped her palm with her fist. And then, as if she had come up with a brilliant idea, she made a suggestion:

“Cousin, if you wipe my feet, the problem is solved.”

“Are you a king? Rejected.”

“Uhhgh.”

She reluctantly sat down and began wiping the soles of her feet. I pondered whether I should also warn her about sitting normally on the dirt floor but decided there was no point in being so overprotective, so I waited for Erio.

“They’re all clean!”

“Yes, yes.”

I brushed off Erio, who was showing me the soles of her feet after wiping them, and decided to head back to my room. I had left the paperback I was reading on the bed, so I headed down the corridor to finish it.

Just as I stepped onto the stairs, my back, clothes and flesh together were pulled. I turned around.

“What should I do?”

Erio was holding up the game package that she received as a gift.

“Cousin, do you want to play the game too?”

“Is it designed for two people?”

Erio tilted his head. I picked it up and checked the back. It looked like an RPG. Oh well, should be fine.

“I shall humour you.” I said as I leaned back.

Erio nodded, “Mmm”, and dashed off towards the living room. She didn’t say a word about my attitude. I felt my haughty attitude was a bit pointless if she wasn’t going to call me out for it. Alone in the corridor, I scratched my cheek as I lost the urge to lean back with my hands on my hips.

“I know she’s not suited to being the tsukkomi, but still…”

I think Maekawa-san is probably the only one among us who could fill that role. Ryuushi-san was a natural airhead after all. And I could easily imagine that her only way to retort would be “I told ya”.

I followed Erio into the living room. As I watched Erio happily running around and setting up the game console, I thought, “Well, it’s not so bad, I guess, blah blah.” I’ll spare you the details.

Finally, Erio started working on the futon she had brought down from the second floor. That’s when I finally intervened.

“Why are you wrapping yourself in a futon?”

What kind of ritual was this? Where is Smakin supposed to fit in: us → game console → TV?

“Mofu?”

“No, your face is inside the futon right now.”

Erio, who never was one to pay much attention to people’s questions, gripped the controller with her futon still wrapped around her.

What was that?

Wasn’t she supposed to have become a Youthful Women last month? She keeps doing stuff like rolling herself in a futon, or refusing to wipe her feet.

She hasn’t changed much at all. Well, if she had changed dramatically and become completely independent and suddenly didn’t require any attention, I would have felt lonely… No, no, I would have become a perfect father to her.

This can’t be, I shook my head, but as I did so, company logos started appearing one after another on the TV screen. Erio frantically pressed a button, presumably to skip them. I sat cross-legged next to her, resting my elbows on my knees.

“Have you read the instruction manual?”

“I read it thoroughly in my free time while minding the shop.”

“Bad girl.”

When I playfully tapped her on the head, Erio, uncharacteristically, broke into a smile and let out a surprised “Heh”.

Games, huh? I used to play quite a bit, but I haven’t touched them much since coming here. When I get too engrossed in games, I sometimes get headaches from thinking about weird things.

Erio pressed the buttons with her index finger, as if she were using a calculator. She was an eccentric one, even counting her appearance.

When she started a new game, the first thing that appeared was a screen to set the protagonist’s name. There didn’t seem to be a default name, so it was blank. For some reason, Erio stared intently at my face.

“What?”

“Hmm.”

It was a mismatched response. Erio tapped the button with her index finger.

“Niwa Makoto”.

“Can’t you use your own name?”

Moreover, her choice of kanji was wrong. Who’s that guy? And she didn’t even confirm it with me. How irresponsible or her.

“Nickname: Mako-kun.”

“Wait!”

Cousin, transfer student, Niwa-chi. Maa-chan… She rejected all those on unspecified grounds.

Out of all the nicknames available, why did she choose that one? People around will start calling me Mako-kun or something. It gives vibes like Enma, I don’t like it. But she paid no attention to my objections, and her game started anyway.

“Teketeketeketeketeteteee, teeeteteteteee, teeete.”

“You don’t have to hum the background music.”

Out of habit, Erio continued to control the main character in the centre of the screen without stopping. The Touwa family’s game console was a generation old. Naturally, the game itself is also old-fashioned. Though it was only about seven or eight years old.

The protagonist, who was inexplicably wearing a school uniform, was also poorly depicted on the TV screen. It might be due to the TV, but the whole image was blurry, and the background was indistinct. So the protagonist was seen pacing around his room.

“Rub-rub.”

Erio was twisting the analogue controller around, toying with the protagonist. The protagonist (Makoto Niwa) was spinning at such a high speed on the futon laid out in the centre that if it were real life, he’d definitely be dizzy. Enough with this Mako-kun. I don’t even want to be called Mako-kun by anyone around me.

I watched for a while as Mako-kun, that strange man who could reverse direction faster than he could spin left and right, was still spinning, but it didn’t seem to end, so I turned my attention to the player, Erio:

“Just get out of the room.”

“Before that, I’ll open a drawer and break a vase.”

“You don’t often find vases in the private room of an average modern person.”

Just as I gave that warning, I spotted a vase in the corner of the room. It looked incredibly out of place. A vase with a pattern that looked like something you’d find in a royal palace was sitting on a tatami mat. That was completely crazy. What were they thinking?

“I found one. I found one.”

Erio pointed at the screen, triumphantly. “That’s strange,” I replied, brushing it off.

I opened the package and looked at the instruction manual inside. It’s irrelevant, but I wonder what Yamamoto-san would have done if the Touwa family didn’t have a game console. If he knew about it, that was kind of scary.

“Let’s see,” I thought, glancing at the game’s synopsis. Hmm, the protagonist is a high school student who one day awakens to a mysterious power and fights monsters with his friends? That’s a pretty typical story. Should I call it a classic? And the next page was the character introduction. The protagonist transferred schools this spring… Hoh? I felt a connection with Mako-kun.

His companion character was… “A beautiful girl who seems to emit light from her whole body, and is she the child of the relative where the protagonist lodges?” “Hum?” Erio looked up and turned to me as I read the instruction manual aloud. “No, never mind.”

I turned her to face the TV screen. I had a bad feeling about this, but I turned the page. The other companions were a tall, dignified but somewhat frail girl and an ordinary, naive girl? And a mysterious girl with superpowers?

“I sense clear malice in this selection!”

What’s going on, Earth?!

Erio’s shoulders jumped in surprise at my sudden shout. “…No, don’t worry about it,” I said, shaking my head, clutching the edge of the instruction manual. “Cousin, you’re acting weird,” muttered Erio, turning her back to the game screen. It was true that I was acting weird, but was it really something that could be resolved with just one word?

“Ah, let’s see,” I said, glancing down at the rest of the instruction manual. Depending on how things unfold, you might even become lovers with your companions, and that might even affect the ending? Ha ha ha, that’s nice, quite the dream.”

I couldn’t bring myself to read it all the way through, so I closed it and put it back in the package. Then I leaned back on my elbow and, still feeling uneasy, turned my attention to the TV. I hope my 40-year-old aunt doesn’t feature in it.

Mako-kun, controlled by Erio, finally left his room and headed to school. Even though I just got back home too.

“…………”

Sometimes… And I’m not just talking about games, but also about movies and TV shows.

I try to think about what’s on the other side of the screen. Of course, it’s just data, or footage, and such. And I also understand that there’s no “other side” to the screen in the first place.

But I find it mysterious. A never-before-seen world unfolding before my eyes. To me, there was not much difference between seeing scenery from a place I’ll never travel to in my lifetime and gazing at a game world that’s completely out of my reach through the television screen.

Both were like different worlds. It felt like peeking into another world. Was I the only one who felt that way?

Perhaps my way of thinking stemmed from a complete lack of understanding of how TVs and game consoles work. We use them daily, operating them with remotes as if it were the most natural thing in the world, yet they’re filled with the unknown. This kind of expectation, born from ignorance, made me dream about connecting myself to a distant and unperceivable world. I have always loved daydreaming.

The game’s protagonist was a transfer student. Similar circumstances, similar classmates. So, the TV screen must be showing a parallel world, right? The universe was incredibly vast, so there had to be at least one Earth far beyond our reach in which Erio and I were living similar lives… How many times have I stopped immersing myself in the game to think about that? I even got a headache from thinking about it too much, I think. Ah, I was so young.

This time, the reason was simply that I was engrossed reading a novel about parallel worlds some ten minutes ago.

I cut short my daydreams and looked at the screen to see the protagonist being called “Mako-kun-kun” by a female classmate. Mako-kun-kun? Sounds like she’s sniffing him. Sniff, sniff. Sounds like a typo. Or rather, what kind of girl calls someone Mako-kun-kun with a smile on her face? I couldn’t bring myself to look at this smile for a different reason.

I really didn’t like this alternative possibility. Please, no more Mako-kun-kun.

If it’s going to be a fantasy story anyway, it might as well be more imaginative.

That’s right, like for example…

If I were to truly pursue every possible scenario…

Chapter 1 - Ending No. 4: Niwa-san

“Makoto-kun.”

“Hmm?”

“Fu fu fu, how do you like it? I’ve perfectly memorised your name, right?”

Maekawa-san’s smug smile grabbed me right to the core. I wanted to interject, “Well, you still get my last name wrong sometimes, don’t you?” but my mouth just relaxed and nothing came out.

Because of her height, I felt like dating an older girl, which made me feel embarrassed, but I was also infatuated with how cute she was. My busy emotions were a multicolour jumble, as turbulent as a swollen river, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I was enveloped in what could be called a positive sense of impatience, and it was a strange and ticklish feeling.

As Maekawa-san sat with her back straight, she seemed like a single, perfectly polished block of ice placed amidst the chaotic atmosphere of the lunchtime cafeteria. It was a long, slender block of ice that looked like it could melt at any moment, and looking at it made me uneasy, wondering if it would disappear, but it was also true that its unique coldness was addictive.

“As expected, the oyakodon here is sweet. Aah, Makoto-kun, I know you like this kind of seasoning.”

I was caught off guard. Suddenly, a question arose in my mind, so I put the bowl I had been holding down on the table and asked:

“In that case, couldn’t you have just ordered something else?”

I was quite proud of my suggestion, but after hearing it, Maekawa-san paused for a moment, then sighed in exasperation and scratched her forehead. “I don’t really want to say it,” she said, slightly blushing, leaning over to look at me as if covering my eyes, and muttering something.

“I just wanted to eat the same thing as Makoto-kun.”

“………………Guh.”

I almost spat out the sweet sauce in my mouth that was even sweeter than the oyakodon. My nostrils were also in peril.

“Well, nothing really happens just because we eat the same thing, you know. I guess it’s similar to how people feel when they want to believe in something scientific or superstitious, ha ha ha.”

Maekawa-san spoke rapidly and fluently what sounded like excuses. But far from being excuses, wasn’t she just making herself even cuter? “What a troublemaker,” I thought, gripping my chopsticks tighter and with more heat.

“The probability of Mae-tan and I starting a family in the future has increased from 80% to 90%.”

“W-what’s with that sickeningly sweet report? Come on, let’s stop flirting and eat our food.”

I was reprimanded by the person who was helping with the flirting, but I grinned creepily and shovelled down the rest of my oyakodon. He didn’t notice the cold wind coming in from outside at all.

It’s been over two months since Maekawa-san and I started dating.

The moment that I confessed my feelings during the school festival felt like a dream. Especially since I got a positive response.

And it was now December of my second year. I had just transferred to this school; the year was about to change, and just as I was starting to feel uncomfortable still being called “transfer student”, I was lucky to start dating Maekawa-san. After all, Maekawa-san was the only one who called me “transfer student”, and when she became my girlfriend, she changed the way she addressed me. She skipped Niwa-kun to go straight to Makoto-kun. It was kind of embarrassing.

Incidentally, the first time she called me in such a manner, she repeated it about five times. Needless to say, I almost died of excitement about five times. Maekawa-san was becoming a potent drug for me.

“Maekawa-san, you look better in your winter uniform, don’t you?”

“Really?”

Maekawa-san tilted her head, tugging at her sleeve to check.

Maekawa-san tilted her head, tugging at her sleeve to check.

“Even the largest size doesn’t fit me. The sleeves are too short.”

“No, no, that school uniform cosplay is truly worthy of praise.”

“It’s not cosplay… I feel like we’ve had a similar conversation before.”

Indeed. We looked at each other, and both smiled as we remembered that moment. Then, as we were really running out of time, we kept the conversation brief and started eating. As we continued to eat, the sweetness of the oyakodon became addictive. Maekawa-san’s tongue seemed to be getting tired of the sweetness, as she was drinking water more often. I was even thinking that maybe I should skip the oyakodon and order something else next time, which just went to show how incredibly fortunate my everyday life was.

“…I ate too much today.”

After emptying the bowl, Maekawa-san grumbled regretfully.

“Don’t you always say that?”

“So I always eat until I’m completely full. That’s a problem; I’m going to gain weight.”

As she said this, she pulled with a bit of force at her side, which had virtually no flesh on it. Was Maekawa-san trying to pick a fight with all the women out there who were struggling to lose weight? Rather, I believed she should put on a little more weight.

“Well, you see, I tend to gain weight easily if I’m not careful. After all, I have no muscle, right? Heh heh, look at these upper arms. Some people ask me, ‘Did you eat the Gum-Gum Fruit?’ That’s just how thin I am.”

She rolled up the sleeves of her winter clothes, proudly showing off her slender arms. From her upper arm to her wrist, the thickness was almost uniform. Because of this, I got the illusion that they were unusually long. More than that, I wanted to lick her pale skin. No, no, why was I suddenly having this desire? So far, with Maekawa-san, we’ve only gone so far as kissing.

“Can I touch your upper arm?”

“W-what’s with this sudden request? Go on.”

I got up, walked around the table, and massaged the upper arm that Maekawa-san offered. I wasn’t just touching it; I was kneading it. She said he didn’t have much muscle, but perhaps that was why it was so soft. It was cool to the touch, a coolness that was pleasant, unlike that of winter. It felt similar to the texture of Maekawa-san’s earlobe. It was soft and squishy.

“Hey, what are you doing rubbing my arm this hard and breathing this heavily? E-everyone’s watching.”

Who is everyone? Ah, whe meant the people sitting at other tables who created that chaotic atmosphere in the cafeteria. A group of guys sitting together were looking at Maekawa-san and me. I see.

“I’m showing off. In fact, I’d like to loudly proclaim the appeal of your biceps.”

“What kind of declaration are you making with that cheerful face?! That’s enough, upper arms done!”

She forcefully pulled her arm away and pulled down her sleeve to hide it. I clicked my tongue in annoyance, but since the end of lunchtime was approaching, I cleaned up my bowl and other things myself. When I placed the tray on the collection shelf, Maekawa-san quickly gathered her bowl and chopsticks together with mine and arranged them in an easy-to-clean position. She was so responsible with these kinds of things; I was really impressed. She was definitely my future wife.

“Makoto-kun, lately I can’t help but feel that your perverted tendencies have increased. I must take precautions.”

“Well, you see, there’s this stupid couple in the same grade as me. I asked them for advice, and this is what it led to. I used to want to throw stones at them, but that was just a terrible misunderstanding. They’re good people.”

“…I see, I get the gist of it. I’ll make sure to give them a stern warning next time. To not brainwash my boyfriend. What a headache,” said Maekawa-san, putting a finger to her forehead with a sigh. Brainwashing? What an exaggeration.

I just showed a little bit of understanding towards that stupid couple.

“Listen, Makoto-kun. If you become a pervert, I’ll have to become a pervert to match you. But that’s irreversible, so we must restrain ourselves. Understand?”

“Ummkay!”

“Thanks for the super half-baked reply.”

She pinched my cheek. It wasn’t serious, just playful, so we continued walking together.

As I stepped out of the cafeteria, shivering from the cold wind, Maekawa-san, who had let go of my hand, cleared her throat and spoke to me. She was coughing, and I was a little worried she might have caught a cold. Her ears and the top of her nose were coloured in a strange red.

“By the way, Makoto-kun…”

“Yes?”

“What do I need to add in order to make up for the 10% left for a marriage proposal?”

“Bufeeee.”

I felt like a runny nose coming out. We both seemed to have caught a cold, and we were blushing.

Lovey-dovey couples are really wonderful, aren’t they?

As soon as we returned from the cafeteria to our classroom, the lesson began. Reluctantly, I said goodbye to Maekawa-san at the entrance and took my seat. As I hurriedly took out my Japanese history textbook and notebook, I felt a gaze for a moment and looked up. Did she turn her face away immediately, or was it just my imagination? Ryuushi-san, who was sitting in the place where I felt a gaze coming, was facing the blackboard and twirling her mechanical pencil with her fingertips.

“…Am I being overly self-conscious?”

It was only natural, but I’ve grown distant from Ryuushi-san. Contact with her, like hanging out together after school or meeting up on weekends, has drastically decreased. In fact, I couldn’t even remember any such occasions in the last few months.

It was unavoidable, but a little sad. And I’ll get used to it someday and just accept it as inevitable. Human adaptability could sometimes display a cruelly positive outlook.

It wasn’t just my relationship with Ryuushi-san that changed, but also that with the Touwa family. Erio and I had grown somewhat distant, and I could no longer see her innocently running after me calling me “Cousin”. As for Meme-san, she hasn’t changed, I guess? Though, perhaps it was wrong of me to even consider her in the first place.

In that way, I ended up destroying almost everything I had built since coming to this town.

But I had chosen this present moment of my own free will, hoping to drastically change my surroundings. Feeling lonely was one thing, but I must never regret it. Keeping that in mind, I opened my Japanese history textbook and, as an afterthought, turned to look at Maekawa-san. Maekawa-san wasn’t looking at me.

What a pity. Even between lovers, complete telepathic understanding was still difficult.

“What do you want to do after? Should we stop somewhere?”

As soon as school ended, Maekawa-san approached me. She already had her school bag, apparently having finished packing. Meanwhile, I hadn’t even unpacked my desk yet. I wondered what I should do.

It went without saying that I would be spending my after-school hours with Maekawa-san.

“Is there anything you’d like to buy? Or anything you’d like to see?”

“No, I’m good with shopping for now. After all… Ah, right. Makoto-kun, are you interested in speed?”

“Hah?”

What was that about? I looked over and saw Maekawa-san with her eyes closed and her nose puffed out in a smug look. She seemed proud of something. But I was confused and couldn’t grasp what she was talking about until Maekawa-san pointed to her chest.

“After school today, I’ll show you the next world of cycling.”

“Huh?”

“Well, come along. Oh, but you should change out of your uniform. Okay, how about we meet in front of my house in an hour? Not at the izakaya, but at my parents’ house.”

“That’s fine, but what are you so excited about?”

Maekawa-san smiled silently, teasing me. She apparently intended to keep it a secret for an hour. I wondered what it could be as I packed my things into my bag. Anyway, I stood up and reached out my hand.

“Let’s go back to the shoe lockers together first.”

“…Hmm.”

After watching Maekawa-san hesitantly take my hand, we left the classroom together. I made sure not to look left or right. In particular, I made sure Ryuushi-sun wasn’t in my line of sight. Was it cowardly of me to behave like that?

If you gain something, you lose something.

I thought it was admirable that she didn’t try to make everything about herself.

I was advised to change into my everyday clothes, so I went back to the Touwa house and scattered my uniform around. Meme-san was at work, and Erio was minding the shop at Tamura Store, so there wasn’t a sound in the house. The hallway and stairs were cold because no sunlight reached them, and I regretted taking off my clothes so quickly at the entrance. Why was I putting on a stripping show as I walked? I told myself I would have plenty of time if I didn’t rush, but I walked quickly anyway. I picked up my discarded uniform and rushed up to my room on the second floor. Of course, my room was cold too.

The room hadn’t changed since I left this morning. The only difference was the light streaming in through the window that had shifted from morning to late afternoon. There was no sign of anything being moved. My futon, which I made after getting up, was still pristine, and no one had tried to wrap herself in it or anything like that. The futon only carried my smell. Come to think of it, Meme-san has also stopped bothering me at night as often as before. I was no longer keeping pace with the Touwa family. I became an outsider.

I changed into my casual clothes and put on gloves, then tried to sit on the bed for about three minutes to wait until it was time, but I couldn’t wait any longer and left the room. I could just wait at Maekawa-san’s house, probably. As long as I didn’t run into my father-in-law, or rather, Maekawa-san’s father, there shouldn’t be any problem. Whenever I ran into him, he would grind his teeth before I could even open my mouth, and I was always at a loss as to how to respond. And in the end, I would just laugh awkwardly.

As I was putting my shoes back on at the entrance, I suddenly noticed something. The white shoes that had been prepared for Erio, but which she never wore every day, were gone. I looked under the shelves and inside the cupboards, but there was no sign that they had been put away.

“Did she wear them?”

After accepting that fact, strangely enough, the ringing in my ears intensified.

Before I knew it, Erio had started wearing shoes. She must have put them on of her own volition.

I was changing, and Erio was changing too. Without either of us knowing. I was no longer “Cousin” but “a cousin”, and Erio, too, was losing her connection to me to become Touwa Erio. That, too, was a form of change.

It would be a lie to say that I didn’t feel a sense of loss at losing the relationships I had cultivated.

However, it was also true that my values ​​had drastically changed from how they used to be.

Some people found ideals in the circle, while others found perfect beauty in the triangle.

And now I felt love for rectangles, so I won’t look back.

Niwa Makoto, who had completely surpassed the definition of Youth Points, was now heading outside.

“Gaoon, Gyuuuin”

“Duruduruduru”

“I wish they’d stop with the unromantic sound effects.”

Maekawa-san pouted. As I clung to her slender, upright back, I felt an air of authority that completely erased her usual unreliability. However, at the same time, I feared that if I hugged her too tightly, her spine might break and we would both fall, which made me feel relieved, as I thought, “Ah, that’s Maekawa for you.” As we approached a curve, I naturally tightened my arms around her torso. Maekawa-san seemed amused by the amount of force I was using, and a grin spread across her face.

“Makoto-kun, it feels nice to rely on you.”

“It’s refreshing to rely on Maekawa-san, too.”

She curved to the left and headed towards the bridge. She sped along on my moped across the bridge, which offered a panoramic view of the riverbank.

The next convenient item that Maemon came up with was a motorised bicycle.

The next world after cycling was riding a moped with a passenger. I sniffled at the biting wind on my cheeks, and my heart pounded with excitement at my first test ride on the moped, which, while riding, accelerated almost as well as a bicycle.

Maekawa-san had bought a moped with the money she had earned from her part-time jobs and had apparently got her driver’s licence without me noticing. And here I was, clinging to her ridiculously thin waist, in the middle of a two-person ride. Naturally, riding two people on a moped was illegal. And putting someone in the basket of a bicycle wasn’t a good idea either.

“As I thought, since it’s a weekday in winter, nobody is exercising.”

Said Maekawa-san as she looked down at the grounds spread out on the riverbank. Two rugby poles were set up in the shape of an H on the field, and perhaps because of the season, there were no crows scurrying around on the soil in search of earthworms. The weeds had been cut down, leaving the ground exposed in a somewhat painful way, creating the atmosphere of a bleak and desolate place. If I were to go down and stand alone in the middle, I would likely feel it even more keenly.

The river flowing beneath the bridge also has a low water level, and the algae floating on the bottom are reflected in the colour of the water’s surface.

“Ideally, I should have waited until it got warmer before riding.”

After descending the bridge and stopping at a traffic light, Maekawa-san turned around and gave a wry smile. Wearing a helmet only halfway, her eyes and the corners of her mouth were red, and white breaths escaped her. It was only a little past four in the afternoon, but the sunlight was already fading and seemed about to sink below the horizon.

“But you wanted to brag.”

“That’s right. I can’t even use it to go to school, so there was absolutely no opportunity to show it off.”

She narrowed her eyes in displeasure and glared ahead. The traffic light turned green, and she started driving again.

“Speaking of which, transfer student, I mean, Makoto-kun…”

“What is it, Mae-tan-like Maekawa-san?”

“What’s with that ‘like’… I mean, aren’t you cold?”

“I’m happy because I’m hugging you.”

The moped swerved for a moment. Maekawa-san, whose hand had almost slipped, gave a light nudge with her elbow.

“You just needed to answer whether you’re cold or not. I wasn’t asking about your heat source.”

“I wanted to make you feel embarrassed.”

The sight of her was unbearably cute. That was common sense, wasn’t it?

“…Being honest is fine. But it’s time you feel ashamed once in a while, Makoto-kun.”

“I still feel embarrassed when we kiss and do other things.”

“Other things? B-but we haven’t done anything else yet… Come on! Makoto-kun, it really throws me off when I’m talking to you,” grumbled Maekawa-san, sounding somewhat pleased.

The scooter continued straight ahead, leading to the back of the station. It felt like ages ago, but it was close to the place I’ve been to when I went to a job interview with Erio. It was a memory that seemed distant, like “Oh, something like that happened, didn’t it?” A memory that wasn’t very close. It was getting chilly, so I pressed my nose against Maekawa-san’s back. I hugged her tightly, gazing at her long, slender back up close, ignoring her eyes that seemed to want to look into the distance.

“Makoto-kun, maybe someday when you get your driver’s licence, we could go on a trip somewhere a little further away?”

“……Hum.”

“Ah, if you’re not in the mood, I won’t force you.”

“Well, Maekawa-san, I was thinking it would be a shame to lose the opportunity to hug you from behind without any reservations.”

The scooter’s trajectory became unstable again, shifting from side to side. Finally, it came to a complete stop at the side of the road, and Maekawa-san turned around. Her entire face was flushed and discoloured from something other than the winter wind. I was captivated by how alluring she looked.

“Well, about that… Since you’re the one asking, Makoto-kun, I’ll consider it positively.”

“Really?”

“I’m serious. Yeah, really serious, so bring it on.”

“Then bring on your boobs too!”

“Don’t get carried away and say that!”

In a very unusual turn of events, Maekawa-san raised her voice. The moped accelerated again, and Maekawa-san’s momentum exceeded her usual limits, propelling her forward with increasing speed. Looking up at the sky, she abandoned her usual calm demeanour and roared in a manner that was uncharacteristic for her.

“About my breasts!”

“Oh, ooh?”

“I won’t let you touch them until they’re a little bigger!”

Maekawa-san’s bold declaration caused the group of students who were walking around with their heads bowed to look up. Their reaction was like a dog jumping up after its tail was stepped on. Meanwhile, I pressed my forehead against Maekawa-san’s back, feeling her warmth spreading to the tip of my nose, and I was overcome in a strange sense of relief as I thought, “Ah, I’m so glad that person is my girlfriend.”

Although I was asked to wait, it was worth it if it meant I could finally encounter such cuteness.

And at the same time, I feel pity.

Pity for the other version of myself in another universe who wasn’t in a relationship with Maekawa-san.

Maekawa-san, who could even care about my parallel-world self, was truly the best.

We wandered around on a different route than our usual one to school, stopped at a convenience store along the way to eat a steamed bun, and then returned to the Maekawa house. My cheeks were parched and the inside of my nose was freezing cold, but it was fun and worth it.

I guess this is what they call a motorcycle touring date. It was all over now, though.

“Well, you know… Want to come to my room?”

As Maekawa-kun put her moped under the garage roof, she hesitantly pointed to the second floor. It was a very tempting proposition, and I would have probably been up to the challenge had she asked to “Come to my room via the roof”.

There was one thing that was a cause for concern.

“What about your parents?” Or rather, my father-in-law?

“At this time, they are preparing the shop.”

My concern was easily resolved. I decided to come in.

“They used to ask me to come help too, but lately it seems like my mother is being more considerate of me. Is it really that unusual for me to have a boyfriend?”

“Huh, it isn’t unusual?”

The theory that Maekawa-san was a go-getter suddenly emerged. Maekawa-san puffed out her cheeks and replied sulkily.

“It is extremely unusual. Apparently, guys don’t like women who are taller than them.”

“Yeah, there are quite a few people like that.”

“Even you, Makoto-kun?”

“Maekawa-san, doesn’t your appeal precisely come from the fact that you are tall?”

Rather, I couldn’t even imagine a small Maekawa-san. I’ve been looking up at her ever since we first met, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to surpass her in height. But that was a good thing. I liked the tall and frail Mae-tan.

“Hearing you say that makes me feel good, you know. Yeah.”

She was grinning. Far from being malicious, she seemed quite pleased.

“Because of my height, this is probably, well, the first time I’ve ever had a proper romantic relationship with a man.”

“Earthlings really have no taste. Maekawa-san is so cute. Like this,” I said, spreading my arms wide to show how cute she was. Maekawa-san choked, her eyes rolling back in her head.

“Well, Makoto-kun, as long as you have good judgement, then it’s fine, I guess?”

“Marrying my classmate Mae-tan. Second year. Niwa Makoto. My future wife is a dream come true.”

“Don’t read some mysterious essay!”

We went to the Maekawa house, playfully teasing each other. I’ve unfortunately forgotten how many times I’ve been there. But I remember the first time I visited. It was during this past summer vacation, before I started dating Maekawa-san.

I took off my shoes and stepped into the hallway. I checked the entrance to see if there were any shoes that looked like they belonged to his parents, but they seemed to be out. “I’m home,” said Maekawa-san, greeting the empty house as she walked in. The hallway was chilly. “But Maekawa-san, your body heat lingers on my skin, which is how I can endure it.”

I tried to explain. I expected her to yell at me for saying such mysterious feelings, but Maekawa-san turned around, her cheeks flushed crimson, and she glared at me with a sulky expression. She looked sulky and generally sharp.

“The brainwashing has progressed too far. Treating you will be a tough job.”

“Huh? It’s normal, though? Aren’t you warm, Mae-tan?”

“I will allow us being a sickeningly lovey-dovey couple, but I won’t stand for us being a perverted one.”

Maekawa-san seemed to be brimming with determination. She clenched her fist and raised it, shouting “Waah!”, and a few seconds later she almost fell over with a groan, so I caught her as if it were prearranged. With her back still supported, we both went up the stairs to Maekawa-san’s room on the second floor. Something about today’s scene felt a little forced.

Whenever I visited Maekawa-san’s private room, it was always neatly tidied up, a stark contrast to my own room where books I’m half-reading are piled on my desk. When I complimented her on it once, she casually replied, “I’m probably tidying up because you are coming,” and I hugged her tightly. I almost got sued for sexual harassment. I had no regrets hugging her.

Maekawa-san picked up the remote control and turned on the heater. Then, she opened the closet in the back, which was full of cosplay costumes, and threw some kind of mascot costume at me, saying, “You can wear this until the room warms up.” It was blue. I grabbed what looked like the head and spread it open. It was a penguin.

“It’s fluffy and warm, so just trust me and try it.”

“…Are there any other candidates?”

“If you’re into polar bears…”

“…It’ll take the penguin.”

I put it on. Perhaps because it was sized to fit Maekawa-san’s height, the head part was too big and hung loosely at the back. Saying I was wearing a penguin’s skin would be appropriate. I couldn’t reach the fins either, so they were flimsy. I dragged the excess fabric of the costume along the floor like a tail as I walked around the room.

“You’re so cute, Makoto-kun. I’d love to keep you as a pet in my room.”

Maekawa-san, dressed in a polar bear costume with her face peeking out from the mouth, was showering me with compliments. Her 180cm polar bear costume was a perfect fit and quite frightening. When she closed her mouth, she looked like a real bear. “Gao!” she raised both hands to intimidate the penguin look-alike.

Was that really how bears sounded? I had the same question when I saw her crocodile costume.

“Gaaah.”

Deep inside the bear’s mouth, Maekawa-san began to feel dizzy. It seemed as if the bear’s eyes were spinning along with her.

If such a bear existed, I wanted to bring it to the Touwa family too.

I sat down on the yellow cushion that Maekawa-san had prepared. The penguin costume was indeed warm, and as it mixed with the gradually warming heat of the heater, it became as hot as summer. I could feel sweat on my back.

The polar bear facing me placed its hand on its chin and stared around me. Seeing the polar bear and the penguin facing each other made me feel like I’ve become a resident of a charming animal village, which I found quite amusing.

“For a beginner, you’re dressing up much better than I expected.”

“It’s really saggy.”

When I raised my hand, the tip of my fins naturally bowed. Come to think of it, penguins are birds, so they have wings, not fins. Either way, it felt like the whole thing lacked substance. And it was hot.

“How about we go around town together in cosplay sometime? Familiar places might feel fresh and new.”

“We’re just going to be looked at with strange eyes.”

“Well, that’s fine.”

Ha ha ha, I was casually persuaded to agree. I wondered if it was okay, but Maekawa-san’s polar bear costume was so incredibly cute that I wanted to show it off to the world. So, it was fine.

“Ugh, it’s so hot. We don’t need the heater.”

Maekawa-san turned off the heater. Wasn’t this costume putting the cart before the horse?

“Would you like some tea?”

“Hmm, okay. So, do you want to talk about anything? Or play a game?”

I flapped my wings frantically, trying to get her opinion on what we should do. “Let’s see,” Maekawa-san said, her eyes darting around as she pondered. I waited for her to come to a decision, glancing sideways at the bed… Damn, I should have borrowed the futon and picked the Smakin cosplay outfit. That would have been heaven.

Because I could be nice and warm in a futon like the one Maekawa-san used every day.

I had so easily overlooked the paradise option that was right there beside me.

Even so, the fact that I could be this happy made me realise that Maekawa-san was truly great, and I arrived at my usual conclusion.

“Makoto-kun.”

“Hm?”

Reluctantly, I looked away from the bed and turned to face Maekawa-san. She was glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

“W-what’s going on?”

“…You haven’t made any mistakes with Touwa, have you?”

“Mistakes? With Erio? What kind?”

Surely she wasn’t going to claim she was an alien again? “No, no”, Maekawa-san shook her head.

“So, did you cheat on me with Ryuushi then?”

“We haven’t talked much lately. Unexpectedly, things aren’t going smoothly.”

I said solemnly. Maekawa-san, or rather Shirokuma-san, made a pained expression, saying, “Ugh.”

“How about you tell me about how you got eaten by your newlywed wife?”

“I don’t have a newlywed wife!”

I didn’t go so far as to shout, “In fact, you’re the actual candidate as my new wife!” What kind of interrogation was this?

“Makoto-kun, you’re so unfairly popular that it annoys me, so I have to keep an eye on you regularly.”

Shirokuma-san was scolding me. I had so many questions, like how was I popular with girls and why was my aunt involved in that check, but there was something else that I needed to point out first.

“Maekawa-san, do you actually happen to be quite possessive?”

When I pointed this out, Maekawa-san shook her head hastily, as if to say, “No, no.”

“Isn’t it natural to seek that kind of confirmation?”

“Really?”

“Really”, she nodded emphatically. “I see,” I replied, convinced. Shirokuma-san patted my head and said, “Good boy.” It felt like a terribly wrong exchange, but oh well.

After stroking my head, Maekawa-san scratched her own nose, which was deep inside the bear’s mouth. As if she felt itchy.

“For example, err… Makoto-kun, you’re a high school student, so there must be nights when you use books like the kind you bought at the bookshop during summer vacation, right?”

“You found out about that!”

“Well, yeah, I’ve always seen it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Well, for me, it’s quite a problem.”

“Back to the main topic.”

She swept the subject away without my consent. Kumagawa-san sat in seiza position. Seeing a bear sit in seiza position somehow made me feel intimidated.

“So, even though I know it can’t be helped, the thought of you imagining other women’s naked bodies, and… you know, that kind of thing, it kind of annoys me, and I can’t help but bite my pillow in frustration. Do you understand, Makoto-kun?!”

“…… Hum.”

I pondered over Maekawa-san’s explanation, whose nose seemed to have gone completely red. Indeed, as a woman, that was something she might be jealous of. If I’m going to complain, I must respect her feelings.

“Well, I guess I’ll just take lots of pictures of you and paste your face on nude paintings.”

Bam, I was hit hard on the head by the polar bear.

“Who told you to make an aikora?”

Did she want another solution? Hmm, in that case there was only one answer. I brought my wings together with a soft “bom”.

“Okay. Let’s go pick some porn magazines now. How about next time, I invite you to my room?”

After struggling to buy one book during summer holidays, I had been secretly buying a few more and hiding them from my family and friends! Each time there was tension, an encounter, and a story, but I’ll omit those details.

“Huh? …Hah, haaah?”

I managed to surprise her twice. I took Maekawa-san’s slender hand. I couldn’t tell what it felt like to the touch.

Because my hands were wings, and Maekawa-san’s hands were bear paws.

“I’ll only keep one item that you’ve officially approved!”

“You’re saying something completely stupid while flashing such a bright smile!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, let’s begin part two of our touring date!”

With unwavering courage and a radiant glow of hope, we ran forward, our figures unchanged, sprinting along.

“Wait a minute!” shouted Maekawa-san as I grabbed her, and we ran out into the cold air.

The sight of a penguin and a polar bear riding a moped in the twilight really reminded me of a heartwarming scene in an animal village. I wondered if such a scene could be possible if we travelled to the future, perhaps 800,000 years from now, when humanity might have gone extinct.

“I mean, why do I have to go and pick some porn magazines…?”

“To be honest, Mae-tan, I just wanted to see you get embarrassed.”

“Isn’t that bullying…?”

Muttering to herself, the polar bear started her moped. Clinging to her fluffy body with my wings, I asked her a question that had been on my mind. For some reason, it seemed like it would be okay now.

“Say, Maekawa-san.”

“W-what is it?”

“Why are you being so obviously wary?”

“Well, Makoto-kun, it looks like you are about to say something really bad… So, what is it?”

“Maekawa-san, when you’re doing that kind of thing at night, do you ever imagine doing it with someone other than me?”

“Right now I’m a polar bear, so I don’t really understand those kinds of things.”

As if she had anticipated the question, she avoided answering it without showing any signs of distress. Nicely done, Maekawa-san.

The slightly harsh tone she used, indicating that she hadn’t completely ignored the situation, made it even better.

As the polar bear and penguin engaged in what they considered the happiest and most pointless conversation in all of Japan, they arrived in front of the Touwa family’s house. While she parked her moped by the barn, I checked and noticed that Meme-san’s bicycle hadn’t been returned yet. What about Erio? I slightly braced myself and peered into her room on the second floor.

The curtains were still closed, so it probably hasn’t come home. When she’s in her room, she opens the curtains so she can see outside the window. Maybe as an attempt to get closer to the stars.

“Okay, let’s go, Penguin-kun.”

Swallowing hard, Shirokuma-san began to stomp forward. I took the key out of my pocket and let it fall inside the costume. I mean, only the mouth area was open.

Since I couldn’t handle the key properly with my wings, I entrusted it to Maekawa-san. Her polar bear costume, with all five fingers tucked together, shouldn’t be much different, but Maekawa-san easily picked the lock. How skilled.

“I’m just used to wearing a costume.”

“But Maekawa-san, it would be difficult for you to do a part-time job in a mascot costume show, right?”

She’d probably immediately collapse from the heat. Any flashy action would be impossible. Maekawa-san shrugged, and since she wasn’t wearing shoes anyway, we went straight up into the hallway. I lined up my shoes, which I had retrieved from the Maekawa house, in the usual place and then went upstairs. Shaking my head in the silent, heatless space, I realised there was indeed no one at home. Even if there were, I probably wouldn’t be able to get too involved.

“Makoto-kun, it’s been a while since I’ve been to your room. I feel a little hesitant to go inside.”

“What do you mean by hesitant?”

“Maybe because it’s Touwa’s house.”

“…What do you mean?”

As I played dumb, she scoffed and said, “Don’t be silly.” She was really sharp. “I can’t win against her,” I thought as I pull on the penguin’s drooping head and climb the stairs with my head down. I looked down and laughed again at my all-white outfit. Was this the path I’ve chosen? I never imagined it would end up with a penguin.

“So, Touwa isn’t here, huh?”

Maekawa-san murmured with a sigh of relief as she peeked into Erio’s room on the second floor. I felt the same as her, so I simply nodded and hurried to my own room at the back as I responded, “Looks like it.” I rushed in with my girlfriend to pick out some porn magazines. I felt kind of nervous.

“Oh, Makoto-kun’s room, huh? Wow.”

“You don’t have to pretend to be impressed… but I think I remember having that exchange somewhere.”

Maekawa-san paced around the room. I wondered if a polar bear would react like this and stay if it suddenly appeared in a room one day. It was too scary. Maekawa-san plopped down under the light fixture and crossed her arms.

“…So, let’s begin the review of these items. Now, submit them so I can have a look.”

“Ha ha.”

Since the fact that I possessed porn magazines had already been discovered, I felt I could move on. Rather, I decided to enjoy the situation and gleefully presented all the books I had been hiding in front of Maekawa-san. Maekawa-san’s blush, unbecoming of a polar bear, intensified, and the area around her eyes in particular turned a vivid red, as if bloodshot.

I surrounded Maekawa-san with my porn magazines, as if building a wall. Although I only had three. My entertainment expenses were quite high, you see. Maekawa-san glared at me without mercy, even though I was being modest. Combined with her bear stern expression, I shivered slightly.

“When did you manage to keep so many women in your room?”

“I’m a penguin, so I don’t really understand that kind of thing.”

“Hey, that’s my signature line!”

Angry, Maekawa-san began glaring at the covers of the three porn magazines. I angered her further by saying, “The only difference between a picture book and a porn magazine is one character,” and waited for her to make her decision. Of course, I didn’t forget to enjoy watching the expressions on Maekawa’s face as she faced the porn magazines.

Eventually, Maekawa-san looked up, her brow furrowed in exaggerated wrinkles. It looked like she was displeased with something… Was it my taste? Surely she wasn’t upset that I chose women with large breasts? Arrgh.

“As expected, I want to confiscate everything.”

Pointing to each cover one by one, Maekawa-san pouted quietly. Her reaction was cute, so it was fine, but…

“That’s so unfair… In that case, Mae-mon, give me Maekawa-san’s naughty stuff in exchange.”

“Th-that doesn’t exist!”

“I mean, if I just had Maekawa-san, everything will be solved, right?”

My fingers twitched among the feathers. The polar bear let out a threatening “Gahgiii”, trying to keep the penguin from approaching. The polar bear’s howl was different from last time, but I wasn’t afraid, and just as I was about to charge forward, I jumped in surprise at a noise. I heard the front door open on the first floor.

Maekawa-san and I stared at each other, frozen in place. We heard the sound of a door closing, then being locked. And the sound of shoes carelessly tossed off. It was Erio. Tap, tap, the sound of small footsteps coming up the stairs.

The footsteps no longer peeked into my room like before but quietly settled into the next room. The door closed, and I could hear the fan whirring from outside the window, suggesting the air conditioner had been switched on.

“…Welcome back.”

I tried calling out in a low voice from the other side of the wall. But, as expected, my greeting wasn’t returned. That girl, she’s even turned on the air conditioner. Has she stopped wrapping herself in her futon? I hadn’t even noticed.

“Touwa’s back? Well, I guess we shouldn’t make too much noise then.”

I looked at Maekawa-san, who seemed about to say something like, “No, maybe I should just go home.” Maekawa-san smiled awkwardly, lowered her voice, and asked me a question with her eyes downcast.

“Well, you know. Sometimes I wonder, are you fine with me?”

“What?”

“I mean, Makoto-kun… transfer student, if you wanted to, you could have chosen Touwa or Ryuushi, but you chose me.”

She deliberately used the old way of referring to the penguin, trying to find out if it had any regrets. The penguin got angry at Maekawa-san for that.

“Even if it weren’t a penguin, I wouldn’t really understand that kind of thing.”

With my wings spread, it slid closer. Maekawa-san trembled at the sight of the penguin overwhelming the polar bear. I peered into the polar bear’s mouth and, looking at her bewildered expression inside, and poured out my thoughts.

“I like Maekawa-san. Not Erio, nor Ryuushi-san.”

I felt a strong sense of righteousness because I had no regrets about what I said and no hesitation about looking back. Including Maekawa-san’s reaction.

Yes, I chose this future. No matter what, other possibilities could not interfere with who I was now. My past and my feelings worked to lead me to this outcome.

Perhaps somewhere in the universe, there was a part of me that fell in love with someone else.

But that had nothing to do with me, right?

The moment I started feeling differently, that “Makoto Niwa” would no longer be “me”. Even a single subatomic particle.

“That’s how I feel.” Literally.

I delivered my speech impulsively. After finishing, the concept of shame burnt into my eyes and the back of my throat. Something that governed my actions that I had long forgotten. I felt the breath of Youth Points deep within my gut.

Maekawa-san sniffled loudly, then forced a smile from deep inside the polar bear’s mouth.

“It really touched me. The polar bear is so moved.”

“Even penguins can get carried away.”

We both laughed mischievously, trying to hide our embarrassment. It felt like the middle of summer.

“But if ‘this’ means that there are other universes, then there must be a Makoto-kun who doesn’t like me. For example, a ‘transfer student’ who hasn’t gotten together with anyone yet and is taking care of Touwa.”

“It seems impossible to me right now, but maybe.”

“That’s not very amusing.”

Maekawa-san snorted, arms crossed. I glanced at her profile, which was difficult to see, and wondered whether I should hug her or point it out first and decided to say it first.

“Maekawa-san, you’re the jealous type, aren’t you?”

“Ha ha, maybe.”

And then I hugged her. Even with the thickness of the penguin and polar bear costumes, her slenderness was still evident.

In the end, Maekawa-san gave up on confiscating my porn magazines this time (she emphasised it was only for this time), and when I went outside to see her off, the sun was setting and deep night was about to fall. The setting sun, pushed far into the distance, resembled receding waves. The night sky, though continuous with the land, had contrasting colours and was dyed a purple that was almost black, with stars shining like white grains of sand on a beach.

“Good. If you ever add any more women to your room, make sure you consult me ​​first.”

“Okaaaay.”

I guess if I wanted some porn magazines, I’d have to talk to Maeemon about it. I’m curious to see her reaction.

“…Oh, by the way. Makoto-kun, your bicycle is still at my house.”

Maekawa-san, nicknamed Shirokuma-san, straddled her moped and averted her eyes, realising she had made a mistake.

“I’ll stop by to pick it up tomorrow morning before school. Then we can go to school together.”

“Hmm…Okay, let’s do that. Ah, I’ll give you the penguin costume. I hope you’ll wear it often.”

“……Yaaay.”

I lifted my heavy wings weakly. I couldn’t fly like this. Even walking was too much effort for this penguin.”

“Makoto-kun, come here for a moment.”

She beckoned me. I shuffled along, dragging my buttocks across the ground as I approached. Then the polar bear placed its arms around my back and pulled me closer. Its face came closer, and I yelled, “Whoa!” and it bit my face.

Hidden deep within the polar bear, Maekawa-san’s bright red face suddenly lunged at my lips for a kiss.

“…………”

The polar bear’s and the penguin’s kiss lasted a few seconds.

The polar bear’s and the penguin’s kiss lasted a few seconds. The polar bear pulled its face away. Then, it covered its mouth from above and below with its hands, hiding its face. In that position, it began to mumble.

“It’s a goodbye kiss.”

I could vividly feel the blood rushing to various parts of my body. That surge of blood spoke to me. Inside the loose penguin costume, I opened my mouth as if commanded by all the things that were stretching out inside me.

“That’s not enough.”

“Hah?”

“Next, a goodnight kiss.”

I used my wings to forcefully pry open the polar bear’s mouth, which it had been holding down. Maekawa-san was dizzy.

“But the sun has only just set!”

“Just getting an advance.”

I stretched on my toes, placed my arms around Maekawa-san’s head, and pulled her close as we kissed. Maekawa-san seemed to give up halfway through, bending her knees to be considerate of me stretching. I wished I could grow a little taller too. But what if Maekawa-san grew even taller in the meantime?

“…A penguin and a bear kissing is pretty surreal, isn’t it?”

“I think it’s lovely that they are full of love.”

No matter what I said, she could see right through me and know what I really meant. I just laughed it off.

“Hey Maekawa-san, I… err, what’s the matter?”

She narrowed her eyes and stared at me. With that same expression, she repeated my words with a look of dissatisfaction.

“Maekawa-san, huh?”

“Huh, what? Would you prefer Mae-tan?”

She ignored me. Maekawa-san gave a wry smile and shook the polar bear’s head as if to say, “Oh dear.”

“At this rate, will you be calling me ‘Niwa-san’ in the future, Makoto-kun?”

“Huh? You want to be adopted into the Niwa family?”

“No,” Maekawa-san immediately retorted. Kumagawa-san quickly lost her momentum and became flustered.

“I think that once we’re engaged, we should definitely call each other by our first names.”

“We need to decide on a date for the ceremony.”

“That’s not what I mean! So, my first name…”

“Well, I still don’t know it. I don’t know it, I don’t know it,” the penguin said, shaking its wings from side to side. “Ah, really?” Maekawa-san blinked repeatedly, looking disappointed, and then lowered her chin as if she finally understood. Half of the bear’s face shook as well.

“No matter how many times I tried to introduce myself, it was as if some mysterious force was preventing me from doing so, and I always failed.”

“It’s really strange, isn’t it?”

Last time was during the school festival. We both shrugged and looked around. There were suspicious looks from some people, but this time there was nothing that would get in the way of our introductions. To prevent another Niwa-san in the future, we should reveal Maekawa-san’s name now. We both nodded at the same time.

Pushing up the face on top of the polar bear, Maekawa-san clearly emerged from the back of the mouth. With the same gaze looking down at me, she smiled defiantly and moved her slightly chapped lips up and down.

The name her lips uttered was hers.

“I had to postpone it at the school festival, but this time I’ll definitely introduce myself.”

“Yeah.”

“My name is…”

“Guhehe.”

“Cousin, you’re drooling while you’re laughing.”

Chapter 2 - Ending No. 3: Sharing Happiness

“Niwa-kuuuuun, I’ve been waiting for you.”

“……I’m sorry.”

I hunched my shoulders and gave a wry smile in response to Ryuuko, who was waving her hand excitedly with an innocent smile. From what Ryuuko said, it sounded like I was the one who was there first and was going to meet her when she arrived late, but in reality, it was the other way around.

Ryuuko was already standing in front of the golden clock inside the station, waving to me as I arrived exactly on time for our meeting. Therefore, there was no question mark in Ryuuko’s words. She was simply reporting the fact that she had been waiting.

She was a natural airhead, so I was sure she didn’t mean any harm, but it was a pretty sharp snide remark. “I wasn’t late though,” I thought to myself as I weaved through the crowd and ran all the way to where Ryuuko was standing, directly beneath the golden clock.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m still not used to changing trains at the station. You know, I don’t use the train very often.”

“Noooo, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

She was still wearing that perfectly relaxed smile, and her gentle demeanour softened the atmosphere. In the hurried, tense mood filled with the anxiety of waiting for someone, her comforting presence was precious.

“Is there still some time before the movie starts?”

Ryuuko jumped up and down as if playing hopscotch, looking up at the gold watch. The hour hand was pointing to eleven, and the minute hand was pointing to the boundary between six and seven. The movie we were planning to watch today was at 12:10, so it was indeed a little early.

“But we also need time to go to the movie theatre, so if we wait, it’ll be over before we know it.”

“Yeah, let’s get going then.”

Ryuuko naturally extended her right hand. Her bright smile hadn’t changed since high school. I grasped her hand firmly, but not too tightly, and walked away from the gold watch.

I, Niwa Makoto, along with Mifune Ryuuko, have become university students. It had only been a month since we started, but we had already got used to university life. There were still some things that were confusing because it was so different from high school.

Last year, I confessed my feelings to Ryuuko at our high school’s cultural festival, and we started dating. It felt like it happened naturally, but at the same time, it also felt like I had mustered up a lot of courage. Thanks to that, on Sundays, like today, we naturally started talking about going to the movies together.

After graduating from high school, I left that town to return to my parents’ home. My parents had returned from overseas and were present, so I had no plans to live alone anytime soon. For some reason, now that my family had returned, they were acting like doting parents, and honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to leave. Well, if I got home late from university because of social events or lectures, I could just stay at Ryuuko’s place nearby, so it wasn’t really a problem.

Rather, it allowed me to do whatever I wanted with Ryuuko… ahem, ahem. Whoops, if I keep talking so casually about that kind of thing, I’ll have to graduate from Shounen J○mp. Well, I only ever browse manga magazines at kiosks when I have the time. I didn’t read manga or novels on a regular basis.

“Aaah, Niwa-kun, you’re grinning. You’re daydreaming again, aren’t you?”

As we crossed the crowd in front of the ticket office, Ryuuko pointed something out to me. I covered my mouth with my hand and quickly tried to brush it off, saying, “Yeah, something like that I guess?” There was no way I could tell her in public that I was remembering what happened three days ago. If I did, Ryuuko would have a meltdown.

“Was Ryuko-san making a live appearance in your fantasy?”

No, a live appearance was impossible. Are you a succubus?

“You were the lead actress.”

“Then that’s fine.”

She gave a thumbs-up, and we showed each other the white of our teeth. That kind of playful interaction hadn’t changed since we first met.

We’ve both grown a little bit in appearance, though, haven’t we?

Ryuuko started growing her hair out around the time she entered her third year of high school. For some reason, her complex about her hair becoming straight unless straightened seemed to have disappeared, since it was now perfectly straight. Her brown hair hadn’t changed, and her youthful features were almost the same, but her overall impression changed quite a bit.

“Ryuuko-san, is there anything you’d like to eat for lunch?”

When I asked her, Ryuko flinched and pouted.

“I-I told ya, I’m Ryuushi!”

“…That’s the complete opposite of how it was back in high school.”

Her habit of immediately correcting those who called her name remained, but it had been reversed.

“Oh no, shy Ryuuko-san is getting ahead of herself.”

She cupped her cheeks in her hands and wriggled her body. Her reactions hadn’t changed since then. It was endearing.

“Niwa-kun, you’re the bad guy here. Really bad.”

She gently patted me on the shoulder.

“Huh, me? Why?”

“Because you and the others keep calling out Ryuushi-san, Ryuushi-san. Ryuuko-san has caught the Ryushi-san disease and is in a terrible state!”

I wanted to say, “In that case, Erio is the one to blame,” but I kept quiet and got punched in the shoulder.

The train station in May was filled with a stifling heat, as if the noise itself had transformed into heat. We passed between the ticket office and the ticket gates and headed towards the entrance with the silver clock. If we went outside the station and walked along the road to the left, we would find a small movie theatre. It was called the Whatchamacallit Theatre, and I once saw a triple feature of movies called “Ki○ I○kami Shi○na” there a long time ago. In fact, that was the only movie theatre I knew of near the station. When I asked Ryuuko, all I got were wrong answers like, “It’s Bunbunkanbun.” Getting angry would serve no purpose.

“He he heee.”

The calm Ryuuko suddenly burst into laughter. It was a villainous laugh, as if she could no longer contain herself. “Guh?” I tilted my head, half-laughing along. Ryuuko added another ominous laugh, “U he he”, and made a sound, “Ughhh”, that I couldn’t tell was of satisfaction or pain.

“Well, Niwa-kun, when I hold hands with you, Ryuuko-san’s laughing bag just pops up; I can’t help it. It’s right here,” Ryuuko said, pressing her palm against the area near her lungs. It was typical of Ryuuko-san to have such a mysterious organ in that location. Perhaps that organ was the reason she was always speaking in such a mysterious way.

“Oh, akabuku. Oh, shachihoko manju. Oh, a public telephone.”

Ryuuko was even more excited than her usual self today. She pointed to everything that caught her eye. A foreigner picking up a stack of akabuku mochi at the front of the souvenir shop and an old man sitting on a public telephone stand drinking Regain glanced at us, wondering what’s going on. But Ryuuko seemed to be having fun, so that was all that mattered.

We stepped outside the station, catching a whiff of the sweet aroma of sweet potato confections being sold beside the entrance. The sky outside was clear and blue, befitting a beautiful May day. There were few clouds, and virtually nothing to block the sunlight. In short, it was hot.

“What nice weather! The sun’s so strong, I could collapse!”

Ryuuko raised her left hand, which is currently idle, and pretended to collapse.

“You’re not Maekawa-san.”

When I said that and laughed, Ryuuko had an ambiguous smile. Pulled back from that subtle smile, I scratched my cheek. Why was that? I believe both Ryuuko and I feel the same way.

When we talked about the past, which should have been fun, we somehow felt awkward.

Without saying a word, just with a smile plastered on, we walked along the station wall. We turned right at the intersection leading to the station parking lot, briefly ignoring the traffic light, walked past the convenience store, and stopped before the traffic light on the main street.

“…Haa.”

I was overwhelmed by the view straight ahead, with towering buildings stretching out before me. There was a real estate agency, a sign for a shoe store that had just closed down, and a cell phone shop down the street to the right. A colourful array of buildings and diverse shops, unlike anything I’d ever seen in my hometown.

A place closer to a city than my town, yet stretching endlessly across the land. A world parallel to the universe.

Whenever I came here, I couldn’t help but think back to my high school days back in that town.

Along with the concept of Youth Points that was lost within me.

“……Hum?”

While waiting for the red light to turn green at the intersection, I noticed that Ryuuko next to me was looking up at me. I carelessly realised that the way she tilted her head was similar to how I used to look up at Maekawa-san, and a pain shot through my side.

My temples were also tingling. Trying not to show these various minor pains, I asked, “What’s the matter?” Ryuuko shook her head from side to side, “Hum”, looking very happy.

Ryuuko often stared at me intently, smiled, and then said nothing. I could understand it if it were the other way around, but I was always wondering if my face was really worth admiring.

“Niwa-kun, you’ve become so handsome. That’s all.”

Despite shaking her head, she conveyed an unusual message today. Her unqualified praise made me smile.

“Oh, I did? Compared to when?”

“Hmm”, Ryuuko began, counting on her fingers. The fact that she had to count on her fingers to look back made me realise how much time had passed since I met Ryuuko, and it was quite moving. Wait, was I really that uncool back then? That was embarrassing.

Ryuuko had always been cute, so I wondered what was causing this difference. Were we even on the same level?

“Yes, it’s been about five days.”

It was more recent than I thought. Had I been a lame kid all this time? What a shocking revelation.

“No, five days? That was just a haircut.”

Moreover, I had simply cut it back to its original length after it had grown a bit. “Hmm, hmm,” Ryuuko nodded.

“Niwa-kun, you look better like that; you’ve always been that way.”

“…Ryuuko-san.”

“I-I told ya, I’m Ryuushi…”

She mumbled a correction in a low voice. In the wrong direction. I was relieved to hear that the I-told-ya girl was still alive and well.

The red light in front of us started flashing yellow. But Ryuuko didn’t even glance at it, she was looking up at me.

Her ears were faintly tinged with crimson, and she seemed a little feverish. She was giggling, “Fu fuuu.”

“Ryuuko-san developed the I-wanna-kiss disease.”

I applauded the report of this enviable and delightfully strange illness that appeared at regular intervals since we started dating.

“Hoh hoh? Then let me heal you right away.”

After such a silly yet endearing exchange, we boldly began kissing. I could sense the irritation of the stares around us, but I still wanted to cherish Ryuuko more than I cared about those people whose names I didn’t even know. After our kiss ended and we pulled our faces apart, I stroked my cheek with my palm even though it wasn’t itchy.

“Is it a sign of a serious problem if I’m no longer embarrassed about kissing?”

When I asked with a smile, Ryuuko shook her index finger from side to side, her face bright red as she said, “No, no.”

“A kiss, I told ya.”

“…Kiss.”

I glanced sideways and noticed the traffic light had long since turned green, and despite being overtaken by the crowds at the intersection, I exchanged a kiss with Ryuuko. Kissing whenever we wanted, regardless of whether we were in public or not. That was what was important.

Kissing whenever we wanted, regardless of whether we were in public or not.

We firmly believed that love was not something to be maintained but something to be built up, so perhaps what lied between us was still infatuation.

“…Hahaha.”

“Hmm?”

“Well, you see.”

I could only manage a wry smile at myself for no longer being able to laugh at the perverted idiotic couple I once encountered.

The movie’s plot could be described as a B-grade suspense thriller. I was familiar with its general outline because it was based on a novel I read several years ago. It was a story by novelist Tachikawa Eiji about high school students, where people die, are killed, and kill others, a truly bleak story. But in the end, it was mostly resolved by love or brute force. Looking back at that book now, I couldn’t help but laugh at how haphazard its structure was.

Well, if it were expressed visually, like in a movie, it might turn into a tearjerker.

To be honest, I’ve never been moved to tears by a work of fiction. Maybe because I’ve never consciously tried to empathise with a character.

“There’s plenty of laughter, but no crying.”

I murmured, trying to blend into the dim light of the movie theatre. Ryuuko, sitting next to me, let out a quiet “Ohhh” at the trailer for another 3D movie. Of course, she didn’t have the special glasses, so she couldn’t see the 3D effect.

After all the promotional trailers for other movies, the movie we’ve been looking forward to was about to start.

…Two people died within the first three minutes. The bleakness seemed to have been faithfully recreated. Was this the kind of movie a couple should see? A fleeting thought of regret crossed my mind. But then again, I’d rather be at Ryuuko’s apartment engaging in romantic activities than watching a romance movie.

Our seats were the two seats on the far left of the last row, offering a view of almost the entire theatre. Being a holiday, the theatre was almost full, and I couldn’t help but wonder why there were so many couples.

Though I was probably the last person who should be saying this. But it was truly amazing how many people loved romance. Even on screen, a woman who had killed someone and a man in the middle of killing someone were embracing and whispering sweet nothings to each other. Hmm.

Humans are so thick-skinned. I continued to watch the screen change, my attention somewhat detached. Occasionally, I glanced over at Ryuuko, who was staring intently at the screen with her mouth half-open. Unlike me, who was easily distracted, she seemed surprisingly engrossed in the story. Well, she was the one who suggested we watch it, so that was to be expected. I also stared at the screen, hoping we could discuss our impressions afterwards. Another person died. This time, the protagonist had stabbed the bad guy repeatedly.

But then the protagonist suddenly started talking about the love lurking within him, which I don’t think cancelled out the gore… I doubt it ever would. It was not like eating pickled ginger to cleanse one’s palate. Was this really okay?

I wanted to exchange opinions with Ryuuko right then and there, not after the screening, but I refrained, considering it a breach of etiquette. The film’s content made it difficult to continue watching without pointing out its flaws, and I couldn’t help but yawn.

The building was dimly lit, after all. On top of that, sitting still and staying calm would make anyone sleepy.

It was very similar to the drowsiness that often sets in when one was sitting quietly on a train or in a car.

“…………”

The darkness of the movie theatre, the light of the wide screen, and the background music that can be heard from somewhere far away.

As my concentration deepened, my eyes focused on something far away, creating the illusion that I was projecting memories from within my own mind. Visual information stopped entering, almost as if my eyes were closed. I gave up on the movie and quietly turned my attention to the past.

I started to see my own back from high school in a daze. I was in my summer uniform. So what?

I was a second-year high school student, riding my bike with a carefree expression on my face. I didn’t take the future very seriously, and I seem to be enjoying every day, muttering nonsense about Youth Points and whatnot. I was bossed around by my cousin, sometimes taking care of her; bossed around by my aunt; and sometimes foolishly almost seduced by her age-inappropriate charm. I also had a tall, reliable friend, and most importantly, there was Ryuuko, or Ryuushi-san, as she was known back then.

If I were to describe my life in terms of thickness, that period would surely be when I was at my most fulfilled and plump. I believed I started to wither after I became a third-year student and chose to date Ryuuko. I didn’t think it was a wrong choice, and I’m certainly still fulfilled now… But I wonder.

It was also the moment when something that had been surrounding me began to peel away little by little.

My life changed drastically after I announced that I was dating Ryuuko. I became estranged from many people while at the same time growing closer to Ryuuko. Conversations with Erio, who I was living with, became awkward and subdued. I also grew increasingly distant from Maekawa-san. So, without even a moment’s thought, I rejected the idea of ​​staying in that town and returned to my parents’ home.

Since I left that town, I haven’t visited the Touwa’s house, not even once. I wondered how Maekawa-san was doing or if Tamura-san was still running her shop. All the connections that I once had had been severed and were now gone.

I may never visit the Touwa family again. I no longer have any special business or reason to go there; I simply became a relative, drifting further and further apart. Somehow, that shook me more strongly than the most moving ending of a movie. Why was I getting teary-eyed over thoughts completely unrelated to the movie that was currently playing? I didn’t understand. So I held back my tears.

The Youth Points I once possessed were already gone. The points I carefully saved up for the future have withered away, and only I remained, my past dried up, sitting in a movie theatre seat, basking in the light. I had absolutely no intention of denying the present. In fact, strictly speaking, people only ever have the “present”. Time was a continuous series of presents, and the past and future were nothing more than the present moments I have experienced, or will experience, at each given time.

That was why life was sometimes described as a series of choices. As a result of those choices, I ended up here with a lovey-dovey couple, yet at the same time, I felt a slight void.

What exactly was I dissatisfied with regarding my current situation?

What was I regretting?

…I couldn’t believe it, but…

Did I make a mistake somewhere along the way to arrive here?

“…Is it even possible that I haven’t made a single mistake?”

With a small sigh, I whispered so softly that no one could hear me. I looked up and saw that the movie was at a good part. Great music, a tense atmosphere, and passionate performances from the actors.

Even if one only watched a part of it, it was very clear that it was an important scene.

Drawn by a swirling, unique passion and the intersection of life’s paths.

That was exactly the kind of world I had envisioned when I was a second-year high school student, and it was what I felt the most strongly about.

After the movie, we went into a coffee shop. Well, it was actually a manga café.

It was next to the movie theatre and has private rooms, so it was quicker than going back to the station. We chose a couple’s seat and requested to stay for an hour and headed to the room with the designated number, each holding a self-service oolong tea (Ryuuko, as usual, was mixing various drinks). On the way, Ryuuko let out a knowing chuckle.

“Brings back memories.”

“Huh? What does?”

“This is the manga café where Ryuuko-san went when she ran away from home.”

“Ran away from home? Aah, I remember hearing something like that.”

I wasn’t involved, so I didn’t know the details. I only vaguely remembered hearing something like that.

“Ryuuko-san was so young back then; how nostalgic.”

“Hoh hoh, how plain.”

“Who are you calling plain, I told ya?”

She herself was the one who suggested it. We entered room number 48. It was a couples’ seating area, and instead of chairs, there was a single red sofa. Ryuuko sat down first, and I followed beside her. I placed my paper cup and bag on the sliding table and took a breather. Ryuuko had already quenched her thirst with a mixed drink. It was a strangely purple liquid.

“The movie was fun, wasn’t it? Weeeeell, did you enjoy it?”

We were speaking in hushed tones because if we talked too loudly, the people in the other rooms would get angry.

“Why are you phrasing this in the style of a presenter on an educational programme?… Well, it was pretty good.”

I gave a safe answer. The original novel was quite interesting, so I thought that if I watched the movie seriously, I would probably have a similar impression. Ryuuko nodded in agreement. She placed the paper cup on the table.

“By the way, Niwa-kun, what kind of stories do you like?”

“Huh, me? Hmm… Now that you’re asking me that again, I wonder, what could it be? SF maybe?”

“SF, huh? When you say SF, you mean something like Predator?”

“Is Predator even SF? Hmm, well, I do like it.”

“I seeeee. Well then, next time, let’s try SF.”

Ryuuko gulped down the contents of her glass. I also moistened my lips and throat with oolong tea.

“But so many things happen in movies, don’t they? It’s completely different from our everyday lives.”

Ryuuko smiled enviously. I wondered if it were really the case, my eyes darting around a bit, and I tilted my head.

“We all have our own things going on, you know. Like going to university or watching movies.”

“Hmm. That’s true, but, how should I put it, there aren’t many events that really take off.”

Ryuuko twisted her hips back and forth, spreading her arms wide and saying, “Baa, baa.” What was that supposed to represent?

“Niwa-kun, every day you and I spend together is introspective, like we’re packing everything in tight, and it’s fulfilling. But it’s not like in a movie where all sorts of things are suddenly spread and change the world around.”

“… Hmm.”

“Niwa-kun, back when we were living in that town, there was definitely an atmosphere that suggested something incredible might happen. Now, that feeling has kiiiiind of disappeared. Hehe,” Ryuko smiled, a hint of sadness in her voice. Her speech was a bit in her own unique style, which made complete comprehension difficult, but it seemed to suggest she had calmed down. Or perhaps she had stopped daydreaming?

“So, you mean it’s not exciting?”

“That’s a rather clever way to put it.”

“Hmm, indeed. But isn’t that because we’re now college students? I think there are definitely things that can only be experienced when in high school.”

“Hmmm, so Ryuuko-san and you already lack youthfulness. Mmmm.”

Ah, she melted. Ryuuko slumped against the sofa and collapsed. It was a gesture that somehow reminded me of Meme-san. Were all women like this? A hundred million Meme? No, no, that would lead to the extinction of humanity. Or perhaps they reproduce explosively? Which is it?… Probably the latter.

And so I began to speak, thinking of my aunt whose face I still wouldn’t forget, as if she were some unknown bacterium.

“You know, my favourite part of a movie is the credits.”

“Hmm?”

Ryuuko, who had been squashed, lifted her head. Her soft body revived with a “honihonihoni”, and she sat up again.

“Is that weird?”

“Err, well, you focus your attention on interesting things.”

She didn’t need to force herself to praise me. Of course, not that I minded, but… Anyway, what were we talking about?

“Oh yeah, the credits. I love the way the names of the staff are listed against a black background, and I also like how they sometimes show a short epilogue. Either way, I love it. I’ve even been moved just by watching the credits without watching the actual movie at all.”

“… As always, Niwa-kun, your fetishes are a little bit perverted.”

Wait, so she thought I was a bit of a pervert? This shocking truth came to light after six months of dating. On the other hand, it gave me hope that from now on I could just be more open about my perverted side and have a pure relationship.

Anyway.

“There’s a mix of wanting to watch a little longer and a sense of relief that it’s finally over, and when you see the names of all the people involved listed, it really hits you. It makes me cry more than the movie itself.”

It was a work that expresses loneliness and a multitude of emotions, imbued with the solemnity of witnessing the death of someone close. I’ve been strongly drawn to things that symbolise the end, feeling drained, and sometimes shedding tears. Life was the same.

The end credits of my entire life were still far away. But at each milestone in my story… Ah.

“I see… so that’s why?”

“Hmm? Niwa-kun, did you just have some kind of epiphany?”

“Well, yeah.”

I chuckled jokingly, “Fu fu fu”, brushing it off.

The feelings of the past I had experienced in the movie theatre earlier. Realising their true nature, I propped my chin on my hand to support myself. I gulped down the oolong tea to quench my thirst and finally turned my eyes to the credits that had been rolling in my mind. The moment I became aware of them, the scene instantly ended.

When I left that town, I suppose one movie had come to an end.

And finally, after the credits finished rolling, I arrived at the present moment.

What I was feeling was the same kind of exhaustion one gets after watching a really long movie.

“…I see.”

I finally figured out the source of my unease and let out a weak laugh. I rotated my stiff shoulders. I felt like complaining, “I’m tired,” but I couldn’t waste the time I had with Ryuuko. The movie screening was over.

I was sure I would never be able to watch that movie again.

So, it was time to seriously begin working on the sequel.

Even if the resulting work was dismissed as a failure by the public, it was done for self-satisfaction.

It was our life, and that was enough for us.

Our one-hour package contract was over, so we stepped outside, still holding hands. Cars were constantly crossing the road in front of us, and their scents rose into the air with the movement of the vehicles. Like dandelion fluff that curls up and sticks to your clothes, their scent clung to us. As soon as that subsided, the spring sunshine poured down from the sky. I looked up at the sun, which we could see from Earth as it was eight minutes ago.

A ring of light slowly blurred its outline, like the surface of a burning body of water. The blue sky was pale, just like the light blue hair I’d seen before. I squinted, feeling as if this seamless sky might burst forth and rain down like unravelling hair. Of course, that was impossible. I lowered my face, feeling the warmth and sensation of her tightly gripping right hand. Ryuuko-san laughed cheerfully and gestured for me to cross the road.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

After confirming that the traffic light on the pedestrian crossing was green, we started running, determined to cross before it turned red. We passed a discount ticket shop and a small sports field on our way to the sidewalk, passing bank employees, OLs carrying lunch boxes for everyone, and students on bicycles, and overtaking them as we headed towards the station.

Running made our skin feel hot almost immediately; it was that time of year between spring and summer. While I was dreading the increasingly high temperatures, that rise stirred something deep inside me. Something was about to begin. I could only feel that kind of sensation, even if it was just an illusion, during the warmer seasons. The long winter and the still somewhat chilly spring are over, and our university life, which we’ve both entered, was surely just beginning.

The credits roll, and what will begin is a sequel to a hugely successful film. They are often criticised in reviews as unnecessary, something that shouldn’t have been made, something that should have ended nicely. But we let it be like that. We’ll stay stable and go on adventures. Constantly change the way stories are told, and find satisfaction.

“I told you that it wasn’t exciting enough.”

As expected of an ex-sports-orientated person, I spoke to Ryuuko as we ran side-by-side without getting out of breath. My body swayed up and down, and my voice was bouncy, and Ryuuko replied in a similar state. The quality of her voice suited Ryuuko very well.

“Yes! Stay tuned for entertainer Niwa-kun!”

“Okay, I get it. I’ll say something so amazing it’ll take your breath away!”

“A-a murder case against Ryuuko suddenly occurs!”

As the green light flashed, we finished crossing the pedestrian crossing. But we wanted our hearts to beat a little longer, so we kept running. We passed the bank, we sprinted past the pharmacy, and one half of our stupid couple shouted. A short-sighted fool who doesn’t think about tomorrow was preaching about an important event in the future.

“Let’s get married!”

“Let’s get married!”

Everyone nearby turned around. They turned back, shook their bags noisily, and glanced at the speeding, stupid couple with disbelief. “How’s that?” they seemed to say, thrusting their left arm forward and letting out an indistinct shout. We laughed wholeheartedly, intoxicated by the pleasure of creating something that had spread around us, something we had somehow lost.

As Ryuuko, taken aback by my proposal, collapsed to her knees as if melting and let out strange cries like “Hogyaaa!” and “Gubaaa!” in the middle of the pavement, I looked up at the sky one last time.

The light blue sky and the sun blend together, and those familiar particles rain down upon us.

To that celebratory illusion, I whispered, “Thank you”, pouring out all the emotions I had felt over the past two years.

“Ge he he.”

“Moooom, Cousin is acting weird.”

Chapter 3 - Ending No. 2: The Earthling in the Town Observed by Aliens

“Mofuffuffufu”

“…Hey, now that’s nostalgic.”

When I turned to face Erio, who was sitting in the back of the shop, she broke into a smile and slowly stood up. A girl who was sitting and minding the shop, wrapped in a futon, toddled over to me. The sensor at the entrance of the candy store beeped. The little girl wrapped in a futon, or Little Smakin, was the height of a fourth- or fifth-grader but wrapped in an adult-sized futon, so her balance wasn’t great. It looked like the insides (a girl’s torso, legs, etc.) were protruding from a long, thin tube. I lightly tapped her. I had a pretty good idea who she was, but I was drawn in by the nostalgia and decided to play along.

“Show your face.”

When I gave the command, the girl obediently peeked her face out from above the futon and laughed carefree, “Hee hee”.

“Hi, Grandpa!”

“If it isn’t my great-grandchild. What’s with the futon?”

“I’m copying Grandma Eri!”

Well, that was obvious at a glance. What I asked was where she got it from. I looked up at Erio, who had come over to beside me, and we both smiled. We’ve both got more wrinkles now.

“Until what age were you doing that?”

“Twice a week.”

“You’re still doing it?”

I chuckled at Erio’s peace sign, shaking my shoulders and thinking, “Well, indeed I do see her do that sometimes.” As I was laughing, Erio, who had come down to the shop barefoot as usual, stroked her great-grandchild’s head.

Her great-granddaughter’s hair was a thinning, ephemeral light blue. And Erio’s hair had lost that shimmering, particle-like light blue to become a silvery white. The light no longer scattered around my cousin but seemed to flow down smoothly.

“Don’t shorten it. She is Grandma Eri*o*.”

“Alright, Grandma Eli!”

That habit of not listening to people with a big smile on her face, did she inherit this from her great-great-grandmother? Erio pouted like a child. Her great-grandchild buried her face in the futon and danced around, making “moffufuuu” sounds.

There were no other children in the shop. This candy store, which could almost be registered as a natural monument in this day and age, could be considered successful if it got one or two customers a day. It was run entirely as a hobby. I couldn’t guarantee the consumption or expiration dates of the detergents and snacks on the shelves in the back. No suppliers came here either.

But still, just drifting off to sleep in the stagnant, detached atmosphere that permeates the shop brought a warm, happy feeling. If this place existed for that reason, then it wasn’t all bad.

A slow, undulating, and pleasant time unfolded. The gentle warmth from outside filtered in just right, and the sunlight streaming through the glass at the entrance, the moment it entered this side, softened its sharpness and spread warmly once more.

I felt incredibly happy that these days continued, days when I could doze off in this air and think, “I wouldn’t mind dying like that.” If this were the old me, the one chasing after Youth Points, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been content to stay put and would have started running again.

I, too, have grown old, along with the world I’ve lived in.

Even if I started running now, I’d probably hit a wall in no time.

“Mofuu.”

My great-grandchild, who had been dancing, suddenly fell backward with a thud. It seems her centre of gravity was still too high. Erio bent his knees and helped Little Smakin back up. She was really getting the hang of being a great-grandmother. Though I was not really in a position to say that, considering how much I spoilt her.

“Mofuffu.”

I smiled at my great-grandchild, who was wriggling her body and blanket in a strange way, presumably to express her gratitude. I remembered our own children and grandchildren all imitating her when they were little. The transmission rate was incredibly high.

“Bloodlines really do exist, don’t they?”

I murmured, watching my great-grandchild spinning around and around. Then Erio, who was sitting beside me and pushing her long hair back, smiled at my profile. Erio, who should have lost her brilliance like a burnt-out star, at the moment she smiled, released the remnants of particles, causing me to hallucinate “that” light blue. I blinked many times.

As if scattered by that blink, Erio returned to a black and white colour scheme.

“So, is this girl going to become a scent fetishist?”

“…… Don’t take that joke to the grave.”

I snorted, “Huph”, and turned away. I also twitched my nose and sniffed the candy store.

A smell of dust mixed with the scent of old wood hung in the air. It was our smell right now. Like trees, we’ve rooted ourselves down, patiently waiting for the end. Living each day without any ups and downs, smoothly.

I wondered if I could smell Tamura-san’s scent here.

I wondered if the scent of Meme-san still lingered on Erio and me.

Scent could be the evidence of a person’s life. Could it be considered proof that they were here?

“Mofuufuu”

With my throat and ears scratching at the sound of my great-grandchild singing from deep within the futon, I turned my head to the ceiling.

Just like them, I should be able to leave this world feeling satisfied, just like those people.

I moved to this town and graduated from high school, and yet I stayed here.

How many decades have passed since then? I felt like I stopped counting the years after we stopped celebrating each other’s birthdays in a big way. Or maybe it was after Meme-san passed away.

Even now, I still couldn’t quite believe that Meme-san was no longer here.

“I always thought my mother would be alive and well even after she turned 100.”

Erio muttered to herself, closing her eyes and swinging her legs back and forth.

“…Well, I guess so.”

Err, please keep the same appearance you had when we first met.

It was as if she were peeking out from the entrance of the candy store, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pop out. I sometimes found myself looking at the store door with an indescribable feeling, whether it’s anticipation or something else. I strained my eyes to look at the view that now stretches far into the distance, since the house across the street has been demolished.

Of course, there was no sign of Meme-san’s inappropriate adult-child smile. Instead, there was an endless, empty landscape. And after confirming this, we were puzzled by that “obviousness”. Both Erio and I. It wasn’t loneliness or regret, but rather a feeling that something in our bodies was missing, yet we still felt connected to that missing part. We were tossed about by that feeling.

“But Cousin, if you say that, then it’s strange that you’re all wrinkled.”

Erio stroked my cheek with her thumb. She rubs it against it, as if to confirm its texture.

“I still feel young inside, you know.”

I could now truly understand how Meme-san felt as she resisted ageing. Though, I didn’t think I could have resisted to the point where I would manage to look younger. I wasn’t a youkai after all.

“I never thought your hair would turn completely white. I always thought it would be kind of sparkly.”

Such vague predictions of the future were meaningless in the face of time. Erio and I grew old, and the beautiful girl who defied Earth’s standards became a beautiful old woman who fit within Earth’s framework. As for me, I was just a grumpy old man now. I had children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. All my old friends are no longer here.

Both Ryuushi-san and Maekawa-san had passed away. I believe I remained good friends with them until their deaths. Including Erio and I, the four of us hung out together even after graduating from high school. In a way, the ideal relationship we had as second-year high school students continued, at least in the parts I could perceive, and I was happy about it. Somehow, I felt that if I had dated or become friends with anyone else, a visible rift would have formed between us. There was no right answer to what I might have done about the possibilities I didn’t choose. But I had no regrets about being an old geezer here and now.

“Her sleeping face is so cute.”

Erio smiled as she peered at his great-grandchild’s sleeping face, and I replied with just my lips, “Absolutely.”

My great-grandchild took off the futon that was wrapped around her, lay down, and went straight to her nap. At least she doesn’t fall asleep wrapped in the futon, so she has more common sense than the first Smakin. She had a promising future, yup yup.

Even though they lived nearby, having a great-grandchild who comes to visit regularly was quite a treat, wasn’t it? The grandchildren themselves rarely showed up, but the great-grandchildren are very fond of Erio and seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of the candy store. The fact that the candy was practically all-you-can-eat was probably another big plus. Or maybe it was the real reason?

“Hmm…”

From my granddaughter’s perspective, we might be mean grandparents who bribed her beloved daughter with sweets, and she might be gossiping about us behind our backs. Especially now that elementary school was on spring break and she was visiting more often. I worried that she didn’t have any friends to play with. Playing Smakin wasn’t something all friends could do together, after all.

“Cousin, what would you like for lunch?”

Erio, looking weary, put her hands on her knees and slowly stood up to ask for my requests. Her back was bent, and her posture was mature for her age, but the only thing that hadn’t changed was that she was barefoot. Her demeanour reminded me of Tamura-san, and I involuntarily narrowed my eyes. My eyes too have been getting smaller lately. I couldn’t go without my reading glasses anymore, but today I’ve forgotten where I put them.

“Hmm… then ramen.”

I ordered my great-grandchild’s favourite food. I also took into consideration what Erio could cook. Thanks to Meme-san’s guidance, I’ve become reasonably competent at cooking, but wasn’t something I was particularly good at.

“Hmm.”

Erio nodded slightly and headed towards the back of the candy store. After vaguely watching my wife’s retreating figure, I sat back down by the cash register, where I could see the front of the store. The cash register, whose age was uncertain and whose surface was yellowed and sticky, still worked perfectly. I hardly ever entered numbers anymore, but it was strange how the mere fact that it was still functioning made my heart flutter. I sat cross-legged, resting my elbows on my feet, and gazing out the window.

Sitting here like this, I find myself reminiscing about all sorts of past events. Different versions of me, at different times, have sat here in this candy store, taking a breather under the guise of minding the shop. After graduating from high school, I looked for a job in this town. While I was still in high school, Tamura-san passed away, and Erio took over the candy store.

And so we all lived together in this town. Of course, Meme-san continued to live in the same house. The three of us continued that life, living in the Touwa family home. Meme-san’s personality really didn’t change even when she was fifty or sixty years old. If anything, it felt like her mischievousness got worse. She even started using old lady jokes, and it was impossible to control her. Even in such circumstances, true to form, he never failed to dote on his grandchild. It’s such a shame that she passed away before she could see her great-grandchildren. I still felt dissatisfied about it, thinking it just wasn’t like her. It really didn’t suit her to disappear so suddenly.

Eliott-san didn’t attend Meme-san’s funeral. Or rather, all the alien types disappeared without a trace. Hoshimiya Yashiro vanished without a warning, as did Princess Kaguya’s family. At the time, I imagined something big had happened in space and chuckled a little. But Erio had stayed in town all this time, and I felt a strange sense of relief that she was a human after all, which now made me cringe wryly.

“In one year, two years… Elio or I, one of us will die first… huh?”

We didn’t have much time left. That’s what I felt. Looking back at it, both Tamura-san and Meme-san exhibited behaviours and words in their later years that suggested they sensed their impending death. Perhaps, rather than sudden death, the body sent some kind of signal when it was reaching the end of its lifespan. I had no scientific evidence for this, though.

Life was like a board game. Towards the end, the number of spaces where you “stop and die” increased. We tried to avoid them by using the chance card of medical facilities, and sometimes we were saved by sheer luck.

Lately, when I got into bed at night and closed my eyes, I often find myself drifting off into a hazy state. Would I sleep like this forever, without ever waking up? What does sleeping even mean? Such thoughts swirled around in my head, becoming vague and indistinct like a mist, and then I drifted off to sleep.

And today, once again, I wake up in that state of uncertainty, basking in the morning sun and chuckling muffledly. The town welcomed dawn, and we, who live there, rubbed our eyes in the light, continuing to live along with its rotation.

I had no regrets. Perhaps, as my brain ages, I would forget even that. Wasn’t that a blessing?

Listening to the sound of aeroplanes rattling the old roof, I surrendered myself to the passage of time.

Patiently, patiently. Until a gentle warmth slowly enveloped my palms and my body.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Ooh.”

I gathered around the table with my great-granddaughter, who had slowly woken up at the smell of the ramen Elio cooked, and we slurped it down. It was instant ramen, and actually the kind you’d find at a candy store, but it was delicious if one overlooked that fact.

“Morumoru”

My great-grandchild’s nose, a mix of slimy and fluffy, was glistening with ramen oil. When I wiped it with a tissue, she grined, showing her teeth. Yup, I’d like her to be my daughter.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

I tentatively made a suggestion to Erio, who was sitting across from me.

“How about we go looking for aliens together tomorrow?”

Erio’s eyes widened. Immediately afterwards, she looked as if she doubted for a moment about whether I was senile. How rude of her.

“Looking for aliens? I’ll go, I’ll go!”

A girl with hair the colour of an alien happily raised her hand, saying, “Yay, yay!” Ramen broth splattered from the tip of her chopsticks onto the table. “Woups,” she said, rubbing it with her finger and licking it.

“Destruction of evidence.”

“Hey. Wipe it properly with a tissue.”

Erio scolded his great-granddaughter. Anyone who knew her past would want to retort, “You’re one to talk,” but I held back. I also raised my index finger to remind her that I’ve been telling her for decades to get into the habit of wearing shoes, but for the sake of her great-grandmother’s honour, I cleared my throat and brushed it off.

“So, what do you think? It’s like an alien hunt combined with a picnic.”

“Aliens.”

Erio mutters without any emotion. She arranged her chopsticks and placed them on the table, then stared at me. Her eyes. The edges were droopy and wrinkled, but the light blue pupils shining deep inside hadn’t changed since the first time I untied her futon.

In the middle of the night. Illuminated by the bright lights of a convenience store. With pizza stuck to her head and face.

Her expression was as unchanging as a Noh mask, yet light blue particles swirled around her, subtly repainting the world and my perception of reality. Those light blue eyes stared straight at me, and I was completely overwhelmed.

From the moment I peered into her eyes and confirmed their gleam, I was captivated by Erio.

Erio’s radiance still lingered like a planet. As I find myself speechless, Erio smiled faintly and asked me a question in a more formal tone. Her somewhat affected demeanour was both pleasant and slightly embarrassing.

“Looking for aliens?”

“Yes.”

Erio turned her face towards the entrance of the shop.

“Want to ride a bicycle?”

“Yes.”

Just you and me. Riding a bicycle.

“I’ve made the plans suddenly, but thankfully it’s sunny.”

I looked up at the high-rising sun, its rays burning deep into my eyes. The road in front of the candy store was deserted, with few people or cars passing by. In fact, the houses in the neighbourhood had all been torn down, making it look like a wasteland.

The sky wasn’t exactly crystal clear but rather hazy. However, I liked this kind of weather. I appreciated that it offered more flexibility than a sky that was just a single shade of blue and didn’t allow for any other expression.

“What were you going to do if it rained?”

Erio asked as she polished her bicycle, almost as if testing me. I tilted my head and thought, “Well… We would just do it tomorrow. There’s not much else to do anyway.”

While I was turning my head back, I readjusted the strap of my bag over my shoulder. Doing this reminded me of my high school days.

But I was just an old man. The fate of a human who had lived in this town for decades.

Taking care of my great-granddaughter was the most challenging, yet also the most enjoyable. What an ideal retirement life!

Of course, this was all assuming that the two of us were still alive tomorrow. When we were younger, that was a normal occurrence, but at this age, it wasn’t not so easy.

However, I didn’t believe in living life while neglecting the future.

“……Kay”

Erio stood up after finishing polishing the pedals. I wonder how many bicycles we’ve owned now, or rather, how many generations we’ve gone through. We never even got our driver’s licences, so we were still riding bikes. At least Erio didn’t fit in the basket anymore. “She’s grown up,” I thought “to myself, nodding as I watched her.

“What, Cousin?”

“The fact that you didn’t try to prepare a futon in a situation like this shows how much you’ve grown up.”

She was the kind of girl who, when it came to travel, when it came to going far away, when it came to going out, was always in her futon. When I pointed that out, Erio turned away. It seemed like she was going to pretend she hadn’t heard anything.

Meanwhile, our great-grandchild was running around as Little Smakin. Her parents would surely be worried if they saw this. They’d probably be furious, asking what kind of things we’ve been teaching their child.

“Moofufuffufu”

I picked up my great-granddaughter, who was trying to climb onto the bicycle with just her feet, making a clattering noise, and put her back on the ground. “Mofuuu?” “I don’t know.” She poked her head out. “What are you doing?”

“It’s dangerous, so don’t get in the basket.”

“Well, E.T. rides in a basket. That’s what Grandpa said.”

“You’re not E.T. Your grandfather’s driving skills aren’t improving, so you can’t do anything dangerous.”

I tried to persuade my great-granddaughter while criticising myself. She was a precious treasure entrusted to me by my grandchild, so I had to treat her with care. “Uhh,” she grumbled, just like Erio used to grumble. Then, for some reason, I heard another “Uhh” from behind me, so I turned around. Erio was sulking.

“What is it?”

“You weren’t that careful with me when I got in the basket.”

“No matter how many times I told you, you’d only say ‘mofumofu,’ so I guess I gave up.”

She groaned and scratched my back. Ugh, don’t get jealous at this age. I was at a loss for how to respond when Erio and my great-granddaughter growled at the same time, and I was doubly confused as to why I was troubled by something so simple.

“Cousin, take good care of me.”

Erio, who was leaning on my back, was demanding a change in how she was being treated. I thought I was treating her well enough. “I made that promise with Meme-san,” I muttered casually, and Erio stopped leaning on me.

“With Mom?”

“Yeah, well, I guess I made a promise to take good care of you.”

The old woman had jumped at me, saying, “And of Meme-tan too!”, it was really bad for my heart. Calling herself “tan”? Come on!

“Hmm… but you haven’t been able to keep it.”

She pointed at me with a happy expression, as if to say, “Yay!” My great-granddaughter then imitated her.

“Grandpa, you’re stingy.”

“Oh, so you want some pocket money? Guess it can’t be helped. Here, I’ll give you some payment in kind.”

I took out from my pocket the candy I always kept with me and offered it to my great-grandchild. “No way,” she said, but took it anyway and popped all three into her mouth at once. She would have done the same thing even if I gave her ten, and I think we should do something about this habit of hers of rolling them around in her mouth all at once. She looked like a frog with its cheeks puffed out.

Yet, her adorable, almost alien-like, refined features remained unchanged. Just like Erio’s.

“By the way, have you learned to ride a bicycle yet?”

My great-granddaughter laughed, her lips twisting into a deep grin. Then she made a peace sign.

“I trained with Grandma Eri!”

“Heh?”

When did that happen? I glanced at Erio, and she, too, puffed out her chest proudly and said, “Hmm.”

“Knowing the secrets of the park is a basic skill for elementary school students. And also she is Grandma Eri*o*.”

“There wasn’t anyone close to me who was undergoing special training, though.”

“It was a secret. You are dense, so you didn’t notice.”

“Okay, okay, let’s go. Come on, get in.”

I straddled the bicycle saddle that Erio had polished. My hips made a satisfying snapping sound. My back was stiff from lack of exercise, and my whole body felt cramped. I still used the bicycle as transportation, but it was gradually becoming a struggle. I wonder how old Meme-san was when she stopped riding her bike. As I wiped the sweat from my nose, I felt the impact of someone sitting on the luggage rack. Then a slender hand wrapped around my waist. It was Erio’s arm. Even without turning around, even though it was thin, even through her clothes, I could recognise her immediately just by touch. It’s like how I could close my eyes and remember the placement of things in my own home and move around freely. Erio and I had a well-established relationship.

“Where am I going to ride?”

My great-grandchild, still wrapped in a blanket, ran around the bicycle.

“Haven’t you learnt to ride a bike? Where’s your own bike?”

“I’d rather be with my great-grandparents.”

The way she puffed out her cheeks, combined with the length of her hair, reminded me of Meme-san. “Oh yeah,” I thought, glancing left and right across the road to see if she wasn’t hiding there. To my surprise, I found no sign of her.

“She’s not here.”

Erio said, as if he could see right through my thoughts.

“…That’s unusual.”

Without turning around, we both laughed and rocked the bicycle. Our great-grandchild stretched on tiptoe and looked up at us, saying “Nuu”. She was giving us a piercing “Don’t ignore me” look, so we reluctantly slapped the basket. Our great-grandchild’s face lit up, and she tried to jump on, so we stopped her. “Wait.”

“Make sure you take off your futon. Look, even your great-grandmother isn’t wearing a futon today.”

“W-what does ‘even’ mean?”

“Well, in that case, there’s nothing we can do.”

My persuasive words convinced my great-grandchild, and she rushed into the candy store with a somewhat convinced look on her face.

“Cousin, what do you mean by ‘even’?”

“Locking up the candy store is fine, I guess. The only thing I’d be really upset about losing is my life, ha ha.”

“Uhg, ugh.”

While I was trying to distract her, our great-grandchild, who had taken off her futon, returned. She jumped into the bicycle basket and settled in. Seeing that, Erio asked me a question unrelated to “even”.

“Cousin, where are we going?”

“Well, where are the aliens?”

“D-don’t ask me. I don’t know.”

“Oh, really?” I tried to play dumb. If their whereabouts were known, there would be no need to search for them in the first place. Besides, there were no aliens. I’ve lived in this town and encountered countless self-proclaimed aliens, but I was utterly disgusted by how much they acted like Earthlings. They were far more Earthling than I, a pure-blooded Earthling, had ever been. A lot of them were gluttonous.

“Okay, then, shall we go to the beach?”

Whenever I was unsure where to go, I always decided on the beach. I’ve been doing that for decades.

“The beach? I don’t have a swimsuit.”

My great-grandchild pouted.

“It’s too early in the season to swim. The sea is cold at this time of year.”

I’ve dived in before, so I was sure of it. Huh? Or was that in May?

“Then, in summer! In summer too, to the beach! I’ll swim!”

She spoke in an infantile manner, yet with great enthusiasm, trying to secure a promise.

“Tell your parents to take you there.”

“My great-grandparents must come too!”

“Ah… well, if we have some free time. Careful, it’s dangerous, so face forward.”

I turned my great-grandchild to face me and griped the steering wheel tightly. I needed to drive especially carefully today.

Erio hugged me tightly around the stomach. Then she rubbed her cheek against my back.

“Cousin.”

“Oh.”

“You must not pant when you see our great-grandchild’s swimsuit.”

“Shut up, you idiot.”

I started pedalling. Every time at this moment, I felt a definite force of gravity rushing up from the soles of my feet to my knees. It was heavy. I winced at the weight of the movement and the bitter taste of my clenched molars, and then…

Nevertheless, I will put all my heart and soul into moving forward in my own way as an inhabitant of Earth.

I was still striving for that miracle of hanging on just five more centimetres.

I was worried about whether I’d have enough energy to make it to the sea, but as the saying goes, “Old habits die hard.”

To ensure that those words and my life up to that point weren’t a lie, I pressed down hard on the pedals.

“I’m not lying. Your great-grandparents once flew through the air on a bicycle.”

“Wow! How far did you fly?”

“For about two seconds.”

“Wow, it’s the sea!”

Apparently, our great-grandchild didn’t like our heroic tale. She pretended she didn’t hear it.

I went through all the trouble of reminiscing about my wild days, even though I was out of breath. I still dreamed about those days occasionally.

“When I smell the sea, the inside of my nose gets itchy.”

“Cousin, is your scent fetish finally showing its true colours?”

“You’re going to be dragging around that joke until the day you die, aren’t you?”

She was tormenting me as if she were carrying on Meme-san’s will. With a feeling of nostalgia, deep emotion, and bitterness filling my mouth, I stopped my bicycle just before the beach. The brakes screamed, bringing the wheels to a halt. Looking up, blinded by the light, I saw that the road we used as a runway was still there.

“The seaaa.”

“The seaaaaaaaaaaa.”

My great-grandchild and Erio were experiencing a mysterious resonance. Together, they began to praise the green sea, swaying gently. I gazed at the sea, considering whether I should join in with something like “Seaaaaaaaa” in a round-like manner.

The sea here has become so polluted. It used to be much clearer and more exciting.

Even if we jumped over the guardrail into this sea, I would never be able to find Erio on the surface of the water. The sea, too, has grown old. Eternity didn’t exist, not even in nature.

However, the scent of the sea remained unchanged, no matter how many years passed. As if the air itself alone had transcended time.

After finishing singing the mysterious song, my great-grandchild jumped out of the bicycle basket and ran out onto the beach, shouting, “Wow!”

“Hey, it’s dangerous to go alone. Stop, stop! Come back!”

I warned her, not expecting to be obeyed. My prediction was spot on; my great-grandchild was running around on the beach like a puppy. Can’t help it; I got off my bike and hurried after her.

First, Erio, who was riding on the back, dismounted. Using my shoulder for support, she carefully lowered her feet to the ground and exhaled to settle her upper body. Due to a period of illness that kept her bedridden, Erio’s body had become weaker. I was not exactly strong myself, though, so I wasn’t in a position to call someone else weak.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been to the sea.”

Erio smiled, squinting her eyes and looking up at the blue sky as if searching for a UFO. She took in the sunlight directly in front of her, and her hair and skin seemed to regain their former lustre and radiance as they became moisturised. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of that illusion.

But in reality, Erio was Erio. An old woman, with withered hair that let nothing escape her lips.

I felt like if she really wanted to, she could even defy the passage of time. Perhaps she chose not to fight against her own ageing, instead matching my own steady decline. If so, I’m sorry.

“Shall we look for aliens?”

“Let’s play with our great-granddaughter first.”

After locking my bicycle, I pointed to the girl on the beach who looked like she was setting off a firework. Erio’s eyes drooped.

“I might not have that much energy left.”

“Well, if we’re completely exhausted, we’ll postpone our search for aliens.”

“What did we come here for, then?” chuckled Erio. However, she didn’t seem to disagree with my opinion.

We walked side by side, our feet crunching on the sand. A light, crisp sound enveloped the soles of our feet. With each step, with each foot I put forward, I was reminded of the moments I walked on this beach with Erio. How many times have we faced the sea together like this?

“Grandpa, Grandma Eri, hurry up and come!”

She urged me on, twisting her body in a strange wriggling motion. “Okay, okay,” I said, placing my hand on Erio’s waist for support, and we both quickened our pace slightly. Erio looked up at me with a wry smile, and I couldn’t help but let a smile spread across my face. So I pretended not to notice her gaze and looked out at the sea.

I couldn’t find a single alien I didn’t know of, nor any aliens I had encountered before.

“Alright, you’ve finally arrived. Good, good.”

My great-granddaughter, arms crossed and chest puffed out, had an incredibly arrogant expression. Her long hair was tossed about by the sea breeze, spreading out to the sides. The wind picked up particles hidden deep within her hair, sending them flying like confetti. Light blue particles.

I watched them with a sense of reverence and transience, a feeling mixed with a tightening sensation in my insides. The sea breeze gouged the side of my eye, and a deep, dull pain covered the side of my temple. But I was parched, and no tears came.

“Hey, Great-Grandpa, there are no aliens.”

My great-grandchild was stomping her feet and pleading with me. Hmm, I looked around in all directions, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. It was refreshingly quiet, with only three figures standing on the beach. The wind still carried a chill, making me shiver slightly.

“Shall we play until the aliens appear?”

Erio suggested, scooping up our great-grandchild’s flowing hair with her fingers. Our great-grandchild jumped up and down, exclaiming, “Whoa!” Was that good or bad? Which is it? I just didn’t get young people these days.

“What should we play?”

She asked this with a smiling face, so she apparently agreed. I exchanged glances with Erio. What should we do for fun at the beach? I remember worrying about that before. After several decades of life, I had to come up with an answer. Rather, if I couldn’t come up with one, what had I been doing with my life? I nodded to Erio. Erio also nodded, “Hum”, silently accepting my instruction.

It appeared we were both prepared for the possibility that we wouldn’t be able to stand up tomorrow or the day after. That’s fine then.

I rummaged through the bag I was carrying on my shoulder and pulled out three short, soft vinyl swords. Needless to say, they were weapons for sports chanbara. I used them whenever I went to the beach with my son in my younger days, but with some maintenance, they were still perfectly usable. I handed one sword each to my great-granddaughter and Erio.

“Oh, so that’s what I’m going to play with my great-grandparents?”

Our great-granddaughter’s eyes lit up as she swung the dagger around excitedly. Erio nodded, “Hum”, and aimed her sword at her great-granddaughter. Great-grandma was full of enthusiasm. It was as if she could see Ryuushi-san on the other side of her blade. That summer beach trip back then was fun. I could even still remember the feeling of the hangover.

“And now, the new generation steps in! Ta-daa!”

That’s why, whenever I was at the beach, I only did sport chanbara. It’s not like I was too lazy to think of anything else.

“Fu fu fu, Cousin, let’s settle it.”

Declared Erio defiantly. Settle it? Have I ever actually fought you? I swallowed the question and stomped my feet hard on the sand. My breathing, which had been ragged from cycling this far, slowly calmed down, converging like the tip of the chanbara sword. The sound of the waves faded into the distance.

“I’ll beat you up on behalf of Ryuushi-san.”

When I dared to mention that name, Erio’s lips twisted into a sly grin. She’s really become more expressive.

Perhaps, by abandoning her alien identity, she has become a complete Earthling.

“And now, the new generation steps in! Ta-daa!”

My great-grandchild attacked with a sword, accompanied by a mysterious sound effect. Towards me. Her great-grandmother also attacked at the same time. Huh?

My great-granddaughter was short, so she was at a disadvantage against us. I was worried that she might get upset if I hit her too hard, so I had to go easy on her. But those fears were unfounded. We were practically powerless against our great-granddaughter’s energy. For every time I swung my sword, she’d hit me five times. We couldn’t keep up with her incredible speed, as if she were constantly doing side-to-side jumps.

Erio, who was accompanying her, widened her eyes and said, “Ah, ah,” her sword was unstable, swaying from side to side.

“Buiiin, jakiiin, clack-clack-clack-clack!”

With her hair flying and particles flying around, accompanied by sound effects, it really looked like she was wielding a Force-like sword. Erio and I were quickly out of breath, but our smiles never faded.

No matter how much pain my lungs were in, my cheek muscles tried to smile regardless. For instance… There were people suffering on the other side of the ocean, and many people were still suffering and dying. But we were so happy right now that we couldn’t bring ourselves to let it go. We had no intention of going to the other side of the ocean.

Amidst the widespread misfortune in the world, a smile that resembles pure happiness. Genuine, unadulterated feelings.

As I raised my arm, drawing all those feelings from within, I questioned the unchanging scent of the sea.

I wonder if that sports chanbara old guy met an alien in this ocean.

“It’s lunchtiiiiime!”

“Ru ru ruuu.”

“No, Great-Grandma, this isn’t time for ‘rururu’, help with the preparations.”

Unfortunately, the beach huts weren’t open because it was out of season. So, it was time for our bento. We spread out the rice balls that Erio and I had prepared that morning on the breakwater, which was half-buried in the sand. Picking up the oddly shaped rice balls wrapped in plastic wrap, I was reminded of the day when Maekawa-san brought some for us during a casual baseball game. Maekawa-san’s rice balls were much nicer shaped, I thought, smiling at my defeat.

With my great-grandchild sitting between me and Erio, it made me think that we looked like parent and child.

I moved my arms, which were more than just exhausted, and prepared a water bottle. It contained barley tea. I poured it into a cup and offered it to my great-grandchild. My great-grandchild took it and swallowed it down in one gulp. And then let out a sigh of relief.

“I want barley tea too.”

“Yes, yes.”

I poured barley tea into the cup my great-grandchild handed me, even though Erio kept urging me on. Erio also swallowed it down with a gulp and wiped her mouth. She seemed to have caught her breath, and the tension in her shoulders slowly subsided.

“What flavours are there?”

My great-grandchild asked, peering into the rice balls. I compared the rice balls and handed one to my great-grandchild.

“This is your favorite. Furikake flavour.”

“Wow. Great-granddad, you’re high-tech!”

My great-granddaughter clapped her hands and took it. She quickly tore off the plastic wrap and took a bite without so much as a courtesy. Erio, who had been watching from the side, made a loose fist and lightly tapped her great-granddaughter on the head.

“Make sure to say itadakimasu.”

“Oh, I forgot. Itadakimasu.”

She put her palms together while still holding the rice ball. Erio was as much of a nagger as ever, sticking to the rules taught by her Meme-san. I also put my hands together and said, “Itadakimasu”, before she would get angry at me.

I grabbed a rice ball at random and munched on it while facing the sea. The sound of the waves rolling in and out reached me without any noise. Was the sea this quiet in the primordial days, before life teemed on Earth? The more I pondered about ancient times, the fewer moving shadows I could see besides the waves. The movement of the clouds floating in the sky was so slow that one wouldn’t notice it unless they watched them for a long time, just like Erio and me right now.

“Are the rice balls good?”

Erio asked her great-grandchild. Her great-grandchild had already finished the first one and nodded enthusiastically. “Mmmm!”

Then, she looked up at my face and Erio’s face alternately, her cheeks curving into a grin.

“Aliens, hi.”

“Hi.”

Erio started imitating her. Her habit of mimicking people’s gestures and words seemed to be alive and well. I was tempted to be drawn in too.

“Maybe aliens don’t exist after all.”

I grumbled, wiping the grains of rice off my mouth with my fingers. Erio nodded, “Hum”, and then…

“I think that’s fine. Cousin and this child are on Earth, after all.”

The former futon-spinning Denpa Onna was now easily denying the existence of aliens.

And she was doing it with a positive attitude. While it was refreshing, as someone who remembered her earlier days of eccentricity, I couldn’t help but think, “Hold on a minute.”

“Well, you know, people say I look like an alien.”

In response to her great-granddaughter’s remark, Erio pouted and spat out something. Then she rolled up his sleeve with a grunt and bent her withered arm, which looked like it would make a satisfying crackling sound if stepped on.

Rather than showing strength, it evoked a sense of ageing that made me feel uneasy. It looks as if she were about to be broken by the waves.

“Do you ever get into fights with kids who say things like that?”

“Not really. They compliment me. They ‘I’m jealous’ and ‘You’re so cool.’ Hehehe,” said our great-granddaughter, shaking her hair. Erio also shook her head, saying “sapapapa” for some reason.

“If a fight breaks out, Grandma Elio and Cousin will come to help.”

“Huh, me too?”

“Hmm,” “Hmmmm,” the great-grandchild imitated her great-grandmother. But could she count on a wrinkled duo as helpers?

Just playing chanbara with my great-grandchild left my whole body aching, and I was dreading the bike ride home. I glanced at the bike I’ve parked just before the beach, with the vision of a bleak future ahead.

I’ve lost count of how many bicycles I’ve owned, and this one was a far cry from the colours E.T. usually favoured. That bicycle will never fly, and it served that purpose admirably. We, too, could no longer fly.

That’s why my partner even said that we didn’t need aliens.

“…Yeah, I guess so.”

Just as we were unaware of the misfortunes beyond the ocean, we could not find aliens. The dreams and hopes of the far reaches of the universe, encompassing miracles, prayers, and superpowers, were no longer necessary for us.

What was important was the time being. In a world that stretched out as far as the eye could see, my great-grandchild and Erio were there.

Having a son and grandchildren and having contributed to the future of the Earth.

To this coastal scenery, where a youthful man’s youth came to an end.

The happiness that Erio and I sought kept coming and going.

“Hey, hey, the wind is strong. So hide behind your great-granddad, he he he.”

“Ah, Mako-kun-kun has been defeated (already no longer paying attention to Cousin beside her).”

Chapter 4 - Bad Ending No. 1: Denpa Otoko

“My apologies, I kidnapped the wrong person.”

“…Um, what is this?”

I had gone to sleep at night, only to wake up in the morning to find a mysterious man standing before me. Furthermore, everything in the background was unfamiliar. The white walls occasionally emitted a faint, translucent light-blue glow. The interior felt mechanical, and despite the total lack of visible lighting, the space maintained a constant brightness. I could barely feel any temperature at all.

The room was roughly twelve tatami in size. Its shape was a perfect square, much like the inside of a die.

As for the man scratching his forehead with a slight smile, he looked like a middle-aged man you might find alone at a golf course or a driving range, dressed in a polo shirt and jeans. However, that was only skin deep. His true nature was clearly not of this Earth. After all, much like the mysterious glowing phenomenon on the walls, the man’s hair was also light blue.

“To introduce myself, this is what you would call the interior of a spaceship, and I am what you would recognise as an alien.”

Ha ha ha, the man laughed cheerfully while pointing to himself. My head started to spin, even though I had just woken up. Why was it that self-proclaimed aliens always seemed to gather around me? Moreover, this was an obvious kidnapping. I didn’t know if he expected a profit. But if he did, I wouldn’t have suggested him to expect much from my family’s finances. You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip. In fact, I’m not even sure my parents could manage to find a turnip to squeeze. I felt like recoiling, but strangely, my feet wouldn’t move.

“But even if I say that, you look like you don’t believe me. Fu fu fu, quite alright, quite alright. That’s a very Earthling-like reaction.”

Somehow, he had taken a liking to me. I couldn’t help but think of how Erio was when we first met, and I felt a wave of gloom wash over me.

“Let me show you some proof. Take a look at the view outside. It’s outer space!”

As he moved his fingertips, the wall changed in an instant. As if the panels were flipping over, the white walls and the glow vanished, replaced by a panoramic view of a dark abyss. Within a heartbeat, even the floor had become outer space, and the blood drained from my face. Though, I suppose fearing a fall in a zero-gravity environment was a bit absurd.

Come to think of it, I wanted to argue that there was still gravity in this room and that this isn’t actually space, but when I looked up, the Earth and the Moon were clearly floating there. My mouth hung open as I stared at the blue planet.

“Just so you know, this is the real thing. It’s definitely not some recorded image data.”

“Th-then, where’s your proof?”

“Well, if I were to toss you out of this room and into the vacuum of space, I’m sure I would prove it in a few different ways.”

There was no way I could tell him to go ahead and try. I averted my eyes from the middle-aged man and looked toward my home, Earth, the most striking sight of all. Staring at the blue planet, far too vivid to be anything else, and the Moon, where the American Stars and Stripes should have been planted, I began to believe it was real. But if I accepted that, then it meant…

Let’s compare this middle-aged man with Earth. The tip of his tongue was stained a pale blue.

That casual, mindless gesture was simple proof that he was not from Earth.

Goosebumps prickled my skin as I stumbled backward, bracing myself against the pitch-black wall. My heart pounded violently, and perhaps because the cold sweat of shock wouldn’t stop flowing, my throat felt parched. When I swallowed, it burnt with pain.

As the saying goes, third time’s a charm.

This was my third encounter with a self-proclaimed alien.

Could it be? Had I finally encountered a real one? And he’s saying I’ve been kidnapped?

“Help me, Mulder!”

The cry escaped my lips before I could stop it. Naturally, that specific track from certain Files was playing on loop in my head.

“No, no, I’m not going to harm you. I’ll send you back right away. But if I just take you away without any explanation and then let you go, people will mistake me for a kidnapper. I simply need to offer an explanation.”

The alien approached and gripped my shoulder. The reason I wasn’t as terrified as I expected to be was likely due to the colour of its hair. Perhaps because I was so used to the particles drifting from that radiant hue which looked exactly like my cousin’s, but simply seeing it brought me a sense of calm. Furthermore, the sensation of his fingertips on my shoulder wasn’t as cold as the void of space. Rather, his body temperature was high, and it felt lukewarm even through my clothes.

“So, even aliens have body heat in their hands?”

“It’s fine to have some warmth. I’m human after all.”

Are you really an alien? The (uncertain) alien let out a cheerful laugh and began pacing around the room with light footsteps. With a casual flick of her fingertips, he turned the walls of the room back into light-emitting surfaces.

“The fact that you ended up here was a mistake, or perhaps I should call it my own lack of virtue? Maybe I should become more proficient, but unfortunately, practice is a difficult thing.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t quite follow… the language of the universe is difficult.”

“No, I’m speaking in perfect Japanese. What I mean is, the salvage operation failed.”

After saying that, the alien with chiselled features scratched his nose. He seemed somewhat embarrassed.

“Salvage?”

“To be honest, for some reason I detected a signature from one of my kind near your house, so I tried to pull it up for confirmation, but it proved to be quite difficult. To use an Earthly analogy, it’s like a UFO catcher in an arcade. If you’re not skilled, you’d need a whole mountain of coins just to grab what you’re after, right?”

“Some people might never succeed in their entire lifetime…”

I wondered if during development they thought that the level of difficulty was acceptable. Shouldn’t they have considered making it accessible to everyone? Regardless, that wasn’t the point. An alien signature near the Touwa residence? There was only one possible culprit.

Then again, I wondered if it was even worth worrying about whether I could think of a suspect in the first place.

“That was just the person in the next room.”

Wait, so that girl really was an alien? Strictly speaking, her father was, but her mother was a youkai, so that made her a half-alien, half-youkai hybrid? That’s one hell of a combination, my dear cousin.

“Ah, just as I thought. My apologies, I’m not quite used to these controls… I ended up catching a little bird from the power lines earlier.”

Just like that, the alien turned his palm over, and a sparrow appeared. To be precise, perhaps “retrieved” would be the more accurate word. Yet, watching that magician-like feat, I couldn’t help but stare in wide-eyed wonder, forced to acknowledge once again that this guy is an entity far removed from Earth’s common sense. Much as it pained me to admit it.

“But perhaps it’s for the best. My reports indicate that humans are generally quite dexterous.”

“Well, there’s a lot of individual variation, though.”

“What about you? From the looks of it, you have the face of a protagonist possessed by the unfair talent of being incredibly popular with the opposite sex, despite having no notable features whatsoever.”

The alien rested a hand on his chin, casting a scrutinising gaze at me as if trying to read my very soul. While I wondered whether he was complimenting or insulting me, I found myself, in turn, observing the alien from head to toe. Light blue eyes, and upon closer inspection, lips with a faint blue tint. I wondered what Erio would think if she were to meet this old man.

And if that theory she used to scream about back in her “delusional” days, the ones about aliens, actually turned out to be true…

“Well, I suppose it’s worth a shot.”

The old man pulled back his face and moved his hand. Then, in a manner that could only be described as suddenly sprouting from the ground, he produced what appeared to be a massive machine. Its shape was somewhat reminiscent of a UFO catcher.

“Hey, would you mind giving this a try instead?”

The alien asked me in a friendly tone, slapping the side of the machine with his palm.

“Huh? I mean, what even is that?”

“You heard me just a moment ago, didn’t you? It’s a device for pulling things up from Earth.”

“Is it really okay for humans to use a machine like that?”

“I suppose it should be fine.”

Permission granted. The universe was apparently a forgiving place. The alien gave a wry smile and a small bow.

“Think of it as a lifelong request from an alien. Just accept it as a souvenir.”

“So, just how long does an alien live, anyway?”

He only let out a soft, cryptic chuckle, “Fu fu fu”, offering no direct answer. I was a little afraid to find out. If I ever learned that the reason the self-proclaimed aliens I met in town all had faces far beyond their years was because of their long lifespans, I would be utterly horrified. I might even start boasting about my own kind, claiming that Jojo-tan, an Earthling youkai, was just as impressive. Hum, I was already starting to feel unsettled.

“Well, but… just one thing. What do you plan to do once you’ve brought Erio here?”

“Erio? Is that the name of your kin?”

“Probably.”

“Oh, I’m not going to do anything in particular. I just want to ask why she’s settled here on Earth.”

“In that case, why don’t you, being an alien, just descend to Earth and ask her yourself?”

“Too much work. I’m not familiar with Earth’s geography, so I’d probably end up getting lost in the neighbourhood.”

The alien shrugged with a sigh. This was the first time I had ever met an alien who was so worried about getting lost.

“Though this is my first time meeting an alien, after all.”

I stood before the console. It was a large, indigo-coloured box, with its front obstructed by something that looked much like glass. Mysteriously, it emitted a faint glow, just like the surrounding walls. It was an enchanting light, one that drew you in like a winged insect swarming around a street lamp. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but worry that it might just explode at any moment.

Was it because I’ve just woken up, or was I still thinking I was in a dream? Somehow, it still didn’t feel real, and yet here I was, standing outside of Earth. When I peered into the console, I saw another Earth floating inside it.

“Alright, let’s get started, Earthling-kun.”

The alien prompted me, pointing to two round buttons attached to the console. They were marked with up, down, left, and right arrows, and given their shape, well, they were exactly what they looked like.

“…………”

Attached to the corner of the machine was a slender, small, and flimsy silver catcher hand. Its distinctive features were that its fingertips were as slender as tweezers and that they didn’t splay out. It was shaped so that it could be pinched between the fingertips.

Despite these peculiarities, no matter how I looked at it, this was clearly the cabinet of a UFO catcher.

“Um… this is Earth, you know.”

I pointed to the object floating inside. Aside from that, there was nothing but darkness.

“Well, of course it is. We’re pulling stuff up from Earth, after all.”

“Wait, are you saying we have to pull it up from here?”

“What other option is there?”

The alien spoke with a straight face, showing no sign of joking. In other words, I was actually being told to properly guide the claw machine toward the spherical Earth floating within the cabinet and successfully grab whatever it was he was after.

“The scale is way too huge! Help me, Scully!”

“Earthling-kun, you look just exhausted.”

“I don’t want a shady Scully like this! Besides, it’s impossible! Just enlarge the Earth more!”

How was I supposed to just pluck Erio out of the entire Earth?! That was an impossible demand!

“Well, it’s difficult. That’s why we fail occasionally and end up pulling up strange things. Most of the mysterious disappearances occurring on Earth seem to be caused by this.”

“That’s quite a nuisance… Wait, does that mean you aren’t letting the things you’ve pulled up go back? What happened to the philosophy of catch and release?”

“We couldn’t possibly do something so wasteful. Well, bringing Earth’s flora and fauna back to our planet isn’t permitted, but as long as it’s within the scope of personal enjoyment, we turn a blind eye. After all, living organisms are extremely vulnerable to unknown bacteria. If we kept making careless contact with Earthlings, there’s a risk your entire planet could face extinction. Something like that happened once before. More than half of humanity became infected and nearly went extinct,” the alien said, nodding in solemn agreement.

If that was the case, wouldn’t it be dangerous to meet them now? If the little bird and I simply head back as we were, humanity might face the same kind of destruction. Hmm, so am I the one who will bring about the end of mankind?

While lost in these thoughts, I recalled the alien’s words about giving it a try and pressed the button. Instantly, the catcher tucked in the far right corner moved to its designated position. Then, the button began to flash.

“Does this mean I’m supposed to press it?”

“Have you never been to an arcade?”

With a huff, I pressed the up and down buttons. The claw moved forward with a whirring sound. Panicking, I immediately pressed the left and right buttons. Carrying a bit of momentum, the claw came to a temporary halt before veering to the left. That path hadn’t even come close to the prize. As I watched in a daze, the claw reached the far left edge of the machine, slowly plucked something from the darkness, and then headed toward the hole at a frustratingly slow pace. It opened its grip, dropping nothing into the prize chute, and returned to its original position. Once it did, the buttons began to flash again.

I instinctively glanced at the alien. The alien flashed a bright, refreshing smile, his teeth gleaming.

“Well, shall we get started?”

He swept it under the rug. I decided to go along with it and pretend it hadn’t happened either, so I rolled up my sleeves and said, ‘Right, let’s do this!’ To be honest, I wasn’t particularly good at UFO catchers, but I was so frustrated by that recent miss that I suddenly felt a surge of motivation. I even found myself naturally mimicking the whirring sounds of the machine, “Wuiiiin, Gatcha, Wuiiiin”.

This time, I pressed the buttons with caution. Since Earth was floating in the centre of the machine, it wasn’t hard to track. The problem was, how could I possibly know something as minute as Erio’s position? Should I just aim for the Japanese archipelago? I wondered, gripped by uncertainty. As the claw reached the right position, I pressed the left and right buttons. I glared at the tiny Japanese archipelago floating near Earth, even refraining from blinking until the claw reached the perfect spot. Then, the moment it reached the centre of the archipelago, I pressed down with everything I had, shouting, “This is it! Ah, damn it!”

The claw machine didn’t stop immediately. Due to a little bit of inertia, the landing point was slightly off. It overshot, finally coming to a halt somewhere around Hiroshima. Then, the tip of the tweezer claw pulled something upward. A tiny speck of something brown was visible at the very end. It was tossed into a hole at the edge of the machine. The alien poked around the hole on the outside of the cabinet.

What emerged was a cat. A bicolour cat, sleeping peacefully. The alien cradled it, remaining silent.

“One… one more time.”

I almost wanted to ask if five hundred yen got me five tries, but there was nowhere to insert a coin. Tapping the machine lightly, I tried again. This time, I’ll lift Erio up. No, at the very least, I’ll lift a human.

Having mastered the laws of inertia, I had no openings. At least, I shouldn’t. My sense of up and down was perfect. Now, if I just factored in the lateral inertia, good. “Okay!” I captured the very centre of the Japanese archipelago perfectly. The catcher descended slowly and picked something up. As it was being carried away, I noticed it was something dark, clearly different from the light blue. Then, passing through the hole, what emerged with a heavy thud was a furry dog.

“Just having fun.”

I tried to gloss it over with a lovely smile and went at it again. Next, it was a tree. “…I mean, look how bleak this room is.” It was a roadside tree, far from being a decorative household plant, with its dirt and roots exposed, but I didn’t care. Try again.

“Vroom, rumble, rumble…” I plucked at the brown wig. I wasn’t just playing around. I was going for it big time. I dug into a section of the road and pulled it up. This was bad; it could cause an uproar on Earth. An alien invasion might be triggered by my own hands. Next time, I’ll make things right.

“Oh, looks like I’ve hooked a humanoid! Yes!”

Something slithered out of the hole. I froze. I froze the moment I saw the face.

“Err, what? Niwa-chi?”

“Put it back! Put it back right now!”

I immediately teleported the familiar face away. Man, that scared the life out of me. It was even worse because she was in the middle of taking off her pyjamas. The middle-aged alien man tapped me on the shoulder with a half-grin on his face. In his arms, he was cradling a little bird, a dog, and a cat, and because every single one of them was fast asleep, they wouldn’t budge an inch.

He surely intended to take them home. I had no idea what use he would put them to.

I could only pray that, at the very least, they would be raised in good health.

“You really have no talent, do you?”

The alien evaluated me in a voice tinged with sympathy. I must have been wearing an expression somewhere between a sob and a grin.

“I am ashamed to say so.”

“Well, it was a bit of a reckless request, wasn’t it? My apologies. Let’s get these back to where they belong.”

With a snap of the alien’s fingers, the machine was pulled down into the floor. The way the metal body vanished into the ground, as if melting away, looked just like a movie. I remembered seeing something like that once. If I recalled correctly, the floors and walls turned into spears to attack people.

“By the way, what happens to my memories of meeting you? Will you erase them?”

“No, we don’t really perform that kind of procedure. Considering the nature of humans, there’s no need for it, honestly. Hahaha,” the alien laughed cheerfully.

I wondered what he meant by that, or why he thought it wasn’t necessary. While I was abducted once, sometimes other humans also were. Despite him speaking as if this had happened before, the existence of aliens was not recognised on Earth. It remained in the realm of rumours and fairy tales.

“…Err.”

“Hm?”

As if preparing to give some sort of signal, the alien tilted his head, his fingertips held in a peculiar shape.

“Have there ever been cases where a human you abducted was sent back to Earth after several months?”

After all, Erio’s story was that she had been abducted. Perhaps this was the cause.

The alien’s eyes wandered as if he were deep in thought for a moment, but eventually, he gave a vague nod.

“Well, I suppose an irresponsible person might do something like that, yes.”

“An irresponsible person, huh?”

“It is irresponsible, isn’t it? After several months pass, wouldn’t it be difficult for you to reintegrate into your society?”

True to being an alien who seems quite well-versed in Earth affairs, he offered a very accurate opinion. And he was absolutely right. Because of that good-for-nothing, Erio had likely endured a great deal of hardship. And for good measure, I ended up flying on my bicycle and breaking my arm. While there was a certain air of self-inflicted misfortune regarding that part, I decided to shift the blame anyway. Since the person in question was such an irresponsible bastard, he should be able to shoulder at least one unreasonable grievance.

“Still, you’re living in the same house as an alien? That’s quite a rare case, in many ways.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Of course it is.”

The alien’s eyes shone with curiosity and amusement as he spoke with such certainty.

“You might find yourself targeted by other aliens as well, so you’d better be careful.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to live my life being on guard against aliens?”

I’ll definitely end up acting suspiciously. Like suddenly staring up at the sky in the middle of the road, searching for enemies. That’s just plain stupid.

“Well, just give my regards to the alien.”

“Oh, I will. I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”

If she loves the stars in the universe, she’ll probably welcome aliens with open arms too, probably. As for me, my drowsiness was gradually fading, and my head was beginning to throb with a heat similar to a feverish sweat. It was clearly the excitement of encountering an unknown lifeform. I wanted to share the profound emotion of this historic moment with others as soon as possible.

“So, with that being said, I would very much like you to send me back to Earth immediately!”

“Oh? I thought you might start asking for a tour of the spaceship. This is unexpected.”

“No, because if I don’t get back soon, I’m going to be late for school.”

Since there were no clocks in the room and the morning sun was a bit difficult to see from our location, I couldn’t be sure of the exact time, but as a perfectly normal high school student, there is no way I was the type to go to bed early and wake up early. My routine usually involved waking up at the last possible second, rushing through breakfast, and then scrambling out the door on my bike. Given that, I figured we were already running quite late, including all the time I spent playing with the UFO catcher. When I told the alien this, he nodded understandingly.

“That makes sense, given the circumstances. Wow, humans really are industrious, aren’t they?”

“So, does that mean aliens are lazy?”

“Well, for us, most things are done for fun. That’s how we were able to build machines like this and get ahead of you with spaceships. However, it’s also true that our cultural evolution has become quite lopsided. Especially regarding food. Compared to Earth, my planet’s food is quite pathetic. There is no diversity. It’s disheartening,” he said, shaking his head with a bitter expression.

I nodded, feeling as though I were on a field trip.

“Maybe that’s why once people settle down there, they rarely come back from Earth. Aside from a few countries, food is abundant; science has so much room to grow; it’s a land of dreams. Plus, since the human population is abnormally high, there’s a high concentration of cute girls. Even the variety of hair colours is vast.”

“…Does everyone of your species have the same hair colour?”

“Yeah, this light blue. I’m sick of looking at it.”

He was grumbling, half-joking about whether he should go to a salon to dye it, so I recommended a place. It was the salon run by Ooi-san, since she was the type who would happily cut an alien’s hair.

“Well, since you requested it, I’d better get you back soon.”

Once again, the alien repositioned his fingers. His omnipotent fingers. His all-powerful fingers. Perhaps for these aliens, who travel through space as if on a casual road trip, even their fingertips were different from those of Earthlings. Light blue hair, a light blue tongue, and eyes to match.

The glowing walls turned even whiter. The ground beneath my feet shone, and my entire body was enveloped in light. I felt no heat from the radiance; instead, the sheer intensity of the light only fuelled my anxiety. It felt as though I might vanish, starting from my feet.

Ah, should I ask to take a souvenir with me? But then, I grew cold feet, wondering what might happen if I brought something back and inadvertently triggered a revolution in Earth’s civilisation, so I withdrew my request.

I won’t call it the butterfly effect, but it would be presumptuous of me to think I could transform the future of Earth.

I shall take only my memories back to the world where I live.

“If fate allows, let us meet again in some corner of the universe.”

With those final words, even the silhouette of the alien was swallowed by the light.

Then, before I knew it, I was back in my futon in my own room. I bolted upright, kicking the futon away. I ran my hands over my body, checking for any abnormalities. After frantically rubbing my face, I replayed everything I had experienced… It wasn’t a dream. If it had been a dream, there’s no way I could remember every single detail so clearly.

Above all, the heat from the alien’s palm still lingered on my shoulder where it had touched me.

“Oooooooohhhhhh! Insane! That was insane, Niwa-kun! Yay!”

I burst out of my room still in my pyjamas. Peeking into the next room, I saw that Erio was already gone. At a time like this? I clicked my tongue and scrambled down the stairs. Leaning forward as if I were rolling down the hallway, I lunged into the living room, where Meme-san and Erio were sitting and having a meal. Erio, still holding her bowl of miso soup, gave me a brief “Yo”. Meanwhile, Meme-san was making a slurping sound, “Muchuu”, as she sucked on the edge of a piece of hanpen.

I shouted to them both, my heart boiling with an equal mix of excitement and pure joy.

“Listen to this! I encountered an alien!”

The cosy atmosphere froze instantly. Erio and Meme-san both stiffened, their smiles twitching. Their right cheeks twitched in unison as they scurried away to a corner of the room, huddling their faces close together. Oh… oh dear?

“…Even Cousin has eventually…”

“Mako-kun’s lust for Meme-tan was just too suppressed…”

“Stop whispering! I can hear everything! No, I’m not lying! Um, so, the alien had light blue hair, and even his tongues were light blue! And his spaceship was glowing faintly, the Earth was blue, and then…!”

I knew that every single one of my fragmented, excited words was the truth!

Why are you all making faces as if I were scary?!

Anyway, I continued my heated insistence. I wanted to find a way to convey to them what it was probably the first time such a feat happened in human history. Because I felt it was my duty as a citizen of Earth. But instead of their eyes sparkling, they were looking at me in total horror!

“Erio, you really were an alien after all! To be precise, on your father’s side, so you’re half alien! In one sense, your claims were right, and I’m sorry for denying them! Now, I completely understand how you feel!”

I draw near to Erio. In response, she quickly scurried behind Meme-san, looking at me with a timid and frightened expression. Dammit, it feels like I’ve only fuelled her distrust. Clicking my tongue, I turned on the TV. Hoping against hope, I glared at the news programme, and sure enough, that incident was being broadcast. Apparently, an explosion-like phenomenon of unknown origin occurred this morning, leaving a crater in the road.

This certainly proved that I went to the spaceship and did what I did with that machine!

“Look at this natural disaster! This is proof of my failure with the UFO catcher! Fortunately, there were no casualties? Oh, thank goodness. If there had been, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night! What do you think of this?!”

“…*whispering*”

“…*whispering*”

“I won’t be able to face Onii-chan, *sob*.”

“You still won’t believe me?! Argh, what do I have to do to make you trust me? You Earthlings are far too sceptical!”

I scratched my head in sheer frustration. It looks like the gesture of a madman, but I wasn’t insane. I simply couldn’t find the words to convey it. What is with this Earthling caution?! At this point, they seemed like people from an entirely different planet. They were all so conservative and refused to face the truth. That is why we had yet to even encounter a single alien. They were far too content to remain in their closed-off environment when they shouldn’t be.

“If your scientific capability is so low-dimensional that you cannot notice a spaceship and an alien approaching so closely, you will have no way to defend yourselves against a stealthy invasion in the future, let alone right now! This is no good, Earthlings! I have a duty to speak up and lead humanity toward a better path!”

Because that was exactly what it meant to have met with an alien! Why won’t they understand?!

Meme-san approached with Erio clinging to her back, gently patting my shoulder.

The way she patted me was so tender; it somehow reminded me of my mother.

“Youthful boy: okay. Delusional boy: bad. Okay?”

Uggghhhhhhhnnnnnnn!

Why must the truth be nothing more than such a fragile arrow? In the midst of my disappointment, my scream echoed in vain.

“I’m not delusional! I really did meet an alien!”

Later, I became momentarily famous within the town as a Denpa Otoko, and I lost everything.

In the end, I even ended up jumping into a river while chasing a spaceship on my bicycle.

But that was a different story altogether, woven by a man driven to a madness so profound even he could no longer understand it himself.

“It’s a nightmareeeeeee!”

“It’s a nightmare! (Total party kill).”

Chapter 5 - Ending No. 2559: Do Spacesuits Dream of Silkworms?

“Cousin, let’s go stargazing. Hey, come on!”

“Don’t grab me by the back of my neck and pull. Am I a cat!?”

“You’re not as cute as a cat.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” I grumbled as my cousin dragged me along. It was an annual tradition where I would come to stay at my aunt’s house during summer vacation. I’d stay for a week, or sometimes up to two. Even though my aunt’s place was in a much more urban area than my own town, it had a certain rustic charm that made it strangely comfortable. Here, I found my playful young aunt and my blue-haired cousin.

And here, there stood a massive, towering rocket, visible from almost anywhere in town.

“Whoa! Did you spray bug repellent?”

My aunt called out to me from down the hallway. My cousin, who was pulling me along, looked back with boundless energy as she ran. “I’m fine!” In reality, I couldn’t smell any bug spray on her. This meant that tomorrow, she’ll be in trouble, scratching away after getting bitten on her arms and legs. Me too, though.

With our shoes slapped on haphazardly, we burst from the entrance out into the garden. The sun had completely set, and summer insects were chirping from all corners of the yard. Before I even had a moment to listen to their subtle melodies, a stark contrast to cicadas in the daytime, the telescope my cousin and I had carried out was set up in the garden. The telescope was ancient, its once-white body now yellowed and covered in scratches. *Wheeze, wheeze…* I didn’t know exactly how old it was, but my aunt once told me it was used by our ancestors so long ago that neither my dad nor my grandpa had ever even met them. Of course, she said she never met them either.

“Hey, Cousin, move aside. Leave the rest of the preparations to this great master!”

My cousin puffed out her chest and brushed me aside with a smug “Hmph!” She’s the only one who knows how to adjust the telescope. Even so, could I let that look on her face slide? I brought my fist down, planting a playful thud right on her head.

“What are you doing?! You’re going to crush my precious brain cells!”

“I doubt they’re that precious; you’ve got plenty of them. More importantly, stop making your hair glow like spores.”

“How should I care? It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose!”

She twisted her body to dodge my fist. Then, while pouting, my cousin gave me a warning: “Don’t get in my way!” “I won’t,” I replied bluntly, before swiping a hand at the insects fluttering around us.

Every night, we do this: sit and gaze at the stars. We did it last year, and the year before that.

If I come to this house next year, I’m sure we’ll be doing the exact same thing.

“But seriously, your hair really is weird.”

“Got a problem with that?”

“It’s pretty, so it’s fine, right?”

“Then we’re good.”

My cousin nodded cheerfully. Even as she spoke, her hands and eyes moved with precision, continuing to adjust the telescope. Every night, we stood beneath the starry sky in search of the stars’ radiance. Yet, depending on what we sought in that light, what my cousin and I saw was slightly different. I suppose that, too, was part of the charm of dreaming of the stars.

Looking back, there were clouds drifting across the night sky and a massive shadow spreading out like a monster. That shadow swallowed the night with a shape like the tip of a blade, possessing a presence so overwhelming it felt as if it might collapse upon us at any moment.

“Once again, the moon is hidden behind the shadow of the rocket.”

“Mm.”

My cousin cast a brief glance upward and gave a short nod.

There was a rocket in our town. It was much larger than any of the massive structures, a rocket built for travelling into space. It stood in a detached area of town, and apparently, it was once a local attraction. Since that was long before I was born, I didn’t know much about it. The rocket itself had been left abandoned for various reasons since it was manufactured over two hundred years ago. There were still some eccentrics who maintained it on their own, which was why it remained standing to this day.

No matter how long we waited, the day will never come when that rocket, which seemed to tear through the night sky, would actually launch into space. Someday, the people who maintain it will vanish, and fearing it might collapse, someone will dismantle it, and the rocket, along with its shadow, will disappear somewhere. Yet, I felt as though if the rocket were to vanish, this town itself might just fly away with it.

“It’s finished, Cousin. Now, go on; give this Great Master your praise.”

“Nice, great, now move over and let me have this spot!”

“Oh, I can see it, I can see it! There are some wonderful stars visible tonight, too.”

She completely ignored me. Peering through the adjusted telescope, a wide grin spread across her face. I couldn’t bring myself to pull her away from the lens and her expression, so I just scratched my cheek. Swatting away the buzzing insects, I waited patiently.

Eventually, my cousin pulled her eyes away from the telescope and looked up at the sky with her naked eyes, pointing firmly upward.

Toward the night sky, and toward a star 20 light-years away, far, far into the distance.

Toward that far-off place she continued to stare at through the telescope.

“If we keep travelling and travelling in this direction, we’ll find aliens there.”

“I know. Those who send light signals from the stars, right?”

That much was common knowledge. My cousin nodded, her eyes sparkling like the stars themselves.

“The aliens… I really want to meet them.”

Every night, no, at every possible opportunity, my cousin let those droplets of dreams spill from her lips. Each time, as she tilted her chin up and her lips parted just slightly, a flood of various emotions welled up within me. There was no negativity in her expression, yet the mixture of goodwill and affection was so incoherent that it tormented my mind, becoming a constant source of headaches.

Because I tried so hard to swallow it all down, everything only became more of a jumbled mess, and my vision began to blur at the edges.

Then again, this is nothing new.

But today, I truly wanted to cast a light upon the dreams she so passively gazed toward.

As if to frame her against the silhouette of the rocket.

Spreading my arms wide, as if to catch every single drop of those dreams with my entire being, I made my declaration:

“Alright, I’ve got it. I’ll build you a rocket.”

“Hmm?”

My cousin gave a dull response to my sudden outburst. What? After I go out of my way to make her dream come true?

“I’ll build a rocket that travels as fast as light, and I’ll make sure you meet an alien. And I’m telling you, rockets like that are actually being developed right now. There’s even a real plan to meet aliens. Yashiro-sensei at the research institute said so, so, uh, well, I’m not lying!”

The more I spoke, the more it sounded like a lie. After all, Yashiro-sensei was a self-proclaimed alien and the kind of person who could say incredibly suspicious things without blinking an eye. I shouldn’t have brought his name up. As for my cousin, she was staring straight into my eyes, wearing a fearless and knowing smirk. “Ho ho.” W-what’s with that look?

“When?”

“What do you mean, ‘when’… obviously when you and I are adults.”

“Are you sure? Cousin, are you really that smart?”

She peered into my face with a mischievous, yet charming, smirk. Her expression looked as if she were thinking, “I don’t expect much, but I appreciate the sentiment,” so I let out a derisive snort. Just you wait.

There were no shooting stars in the sky. Only the ancient, quietly twinkling light casts a faint glow upon us. Since neither wishes nor prayers would be granted, I made a firm, resolute vow to achieve it all through my own strength.

“It’s okay, no problem.”

“Wow, suddenly that sounds super fake.”

“Shut up. Listen, I’m making a real promise, so just listen.”

“Mmm.”

A strong wind blew. It was a tailwind, brushing past my back as it rushed by. As if riding that very current, I spoke:

“You’re going to ride in the rocket I build, and we’re going to go meet the aliens. It’s a promise, Gertie.”

“You haven’t left yet, Makoto?”

I was dozing off with my cheek pressed against the long table when a familiar voice caused my eyelids to flutter open. Without even realising it, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and rubbed my eyes with my fingers. As I lifted my head, the excessive brightness of the breakroom rushed in, forcing me to instinctively close my eyes. Shielding my face with my hand, I cracked open just my left eye, only to be struck by walls so perfectly white that they looked like a cascading waterfall of light. Upon waking, I was besieged by nothing but white, and to top it all off, even the hair of the person who had called out to me was pure white.

There stood Yashiro, wearing a lab coat that was slightly too large for her. As always, she shone so brightly that even the background walls and lights seemed dim by comparison. She possessed a fragile hue, as if she might dissolve into sand every time someone touched her. White hair, white skin, a small frame. Though, perhaps due to a recent lack of sleep, her gaze seemed sharper than usual.

“Right back at you. You said you were calling it a day, but didn’t you pull an all-nighter yesterday, too?”

“Fu ha ha, you fell for it. I was lying.”

“And who exactly does that lie benefit?”

I roughly pulled out the chair opposite me, sat down, and slumped face-first onto the desk. As I stretched out both arms, they moved with a dry, skittering motion, like the legs of an arthropod; it was quite creepy. The flesh of her cheek, pressed up against the desk, looked plump, and when I touched it, it felt firm and incredibly satisfying. Yashiro’s eyes darted toward me, her pupils shifting sharply.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, touching me so casually, Earthling. Such insolence will be the death of you.”

“Sure, sure.”

I’ve grown completely used to her delusions. Who could have imagined we would be together for this long? Well, since Yashiro called herself a psychic with precognitive abilities, she might have known.

I sneered.

“I’m honestly impressed you can live your life so fully immersed in your delusions.”

“Hmph. Even the very first ‘Makoto’ from generations ago, so long ago I’ve lost track, used to say the same thing. Like your names, your family has made no progress whatsoever.”

“Hey now, ‘the first’, you say?… Don’t go inflating your age, Yashiro Junior.”

Both you and I only exist because of our ancestors. Though, for some reason, it seems we’ve both been inheriting the same names for generations. Makoto and Yashiro. The kanji were different, but the pronunciation was exactly the same for everyone in the family.

“That said, from my perspective, and my father’s and grandfather’s, you haven’t changed at all, and it’s actually a bit creepy. It’s as if you aren’t even a ‘junior’, but the original person herself just living on without ever ageing.”

When I said that, Yashiro let a suggestive smirk curl her lips. As if to say that was exactly the case. She looked away with an exasperated smile, as if to say it was better not to point this out.

“So, what were you doing in a place like this?”

Yashiro asked, still slumped over. She was blinking frequently, perhaps trying to hide how sleepy she was.

By now, my eyes had finally adjusted to the excessive brightness, and I could keep them open without any discomfort.

“Tomorrow is the big day, after all. I was just lost in thought.”

“It looked more like you were fast asleep, snoring away.”

“Shut up.”

I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. I had only been reminiscing about the past, but it felt somehow embarrassing. It would be enough to make me cry if someone as famously insensitive as her pointed out that I was being sentimental. Looking at the calendar posted where my gaze had drifted, I saw a red circle drawn around tomorrow’s date.

There were not even five hours left until tomorrow.

Until the day the rocket we built would go to greet the aliens.

This was the research institute in the town watched over by aliens. More precisely, it was a manufacturing plant, but because the locals have always called it a research institute, we have come to call ourselves that as well. Well, we do conduct research, so it wasn’t all a lie. For hundreds of years, rockets have been developed and manufactured here. Unfortunately, there was a part of our history where the first unit was in development, but after some scientists devised a groundbreaking engine and flight method, it ended up being abandoned just as it was nearing completion. That was what the rocket that has become nothing more than a building in town was. Then, after many twists and turns, hundreds of years passed.

The rocket we developed was sent to another country, and from there, it had reached the point of launch.

Tomorrow is the beginning, but today was also the end. The end of me sharing the same flow of time as that cousin of mine.

I looked up at the ceiling, the back of my chair creaking. The artificial sky was so bright, it was hard to believe it was night.

“Aliens, huh…?”

“Even without going all that far, there are aliens right here.”

Yashiro shrugged with a “good grief”. To match her sentiment, I shook my head with a heavy sigh of my own.

The year was 2559 AD.

Humanity received a message from extraterrestrial life over five hundred years ago, and we had progressed to this point. We spent twenty years exchanging messages with a planet located 20 light-years away. Having repeated such dizzying exchanges countless times, humanity will attempt a leap toward the next level of communication tomorrow.

The rocket destined for that planet departs Earth tomorrow. It was the first attempt in human history. Among the crew embarking on this vast journey in search of contact with extraterrestrials, my light-blue-haired cousin was included.

“It really feels like a dream, doesn’t it?”

Ever since we were kids, rumours had circulated that my cousin was like an alien, so now she was actually going to meet real ones. The beings on that planet might be the ones in for a shock. “On planet Earth, we have the very picture of aliens,” we’d tell them. I chuckled, my shoulders shaking as I imagined their reaction. No matter where she goes, she always ends up being the centre of attention. Being a rarity even on the scale of the universe, that’s just my cousin for you.

Yashiro took a sugar cube for her coffee from the pot sitting on the long table. She crunched on it loudly, muttering with pure satisfaction, “It’s so sweet it stings my teeth.” After swallowing, she turned to me and asked:

“Are you not going home today?”

“Yeah, I mean, is it today again? I wonder how many days it’s been since I last went home.”

I tried counting on my fingers, one, two, three, but I ran out of fingers and gave up. I knew it was a bad habit to start staying overnight at the lab just because I couldn’t be bothered to go home, but when laziness wasn’t permitted at work, it inevitably took a toll on my personal life… Now, let’s see, when was the last time I actually left the lab?

Even the last day I last saw the scenery outside was a blur; this is bad. I tried counting on my fingers again: one, two, three.

“…Ah, I remember.”

It was five days ago. I went to see the rocket. I clenched my hand into a fist, all fingers tucked in, and thrust it toward the ceiling.

I straightened my back and let out a groan, something that caused a ringing sensation in my ears.

In the midst of that, I wondered what I should do next. I was in no frame of mind to just sleep peacefully and wait for tomorrow. Then again, I was not exactly in the mood to go out and party, either, so I was at a loss as to how to spend my time.

“Hey, Makoto! You’ve got an international call!”

One of my colleagues from the lab peeked into the breakroom, calling out to me teasingly.

The mention of an international call triggered something in my mind. I pushed my desk aside, stood up, and left the breakroom. Yashiro remained slumped over the desk, nibbling on a second sugar cube. She didn’t even look my way.

Leaving Yashiro behind, I walked briskly down the hallway. Perhaps because my colleague knew who was on the other end of the line, he was wearing a smirk. I shoved him aside as if to push him out of my way and entered the lab, picking up the receiver lying on the desk. I took two or three deep breaths. I had a vague feeling the call was coming, but I was still a little nervous.

Ah, ahem. I cleared my throat, adopting an exaggeratedly formal tone that felt as though it could carry even to the other side of the line. Then, as I pressed the receiver to my ear and sensed that familiar breathing, I felt a sense of relief, as if ice were melting away.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

We exchanged brief greetings. Because of the time difference, “good evening” probably wouldn’t match the time on her end. My cousin’s voice, somewhat mechanical and consisting of short, clipped tones, hadn’t changed at all even as an adult. I turned my gaze toward the wall.

“It’s been a while, Cousin.”

“Ah? I mean, we just talked about a week ago. Anyway, whatever. You doing okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I have to be fine, otherwise they won’t let me board the rocket.”

“Right. Well, then. Just don’t oversleep and get left behind.”

I tossed out a silly joke, but my cousin didn’t laugh in the least. She just gave me a plain “Okay”.

That was just how my cousin is. She was indifferent to the subtleties of language, for better or worse.

“I’m too excited to sleep much, so I’ll be fine.”

“I see. Hmm, I see. I guess you can just sleep after the rocket launches, then.”

“Mm.”

“…Ah. So, uh, anyway, what’s up?”

I find myself at a loss for words. Even though I wasn’t the one who called, I find myself searching for something to talk about. Staying in silence could be comfortable or awkward depending on the moment. Right now, however, I feel that every second of silence is a waste.

That was because today was the last day my cousin and I would be the same age.

“Aren’t you sleepy, Cousin? It’s already night over there. Right, since there’s a time difference.”

“Yeah. …Though next time, the time difference between us won’t be something so simple.”

Because my cousin will be travelling through space at speeds approaching the speed of light, the time dilation effect, the Urashima effect, will take hold. Once she has travelled between planets, accounting for the time spent accelerating and decelerating, and based on observations from Earth, over forty years will have passed. At that point, a massive age gap will have opened up between my cousin and me. While I might be a frail old man on Earth or perhaps even sleeping beneath the grave, she will undoubtedly still be much, much younger.

The time experienced by my cousin and me will drift far apart. The very fundamental nature of the world we inhabit will change.

“By the time I’m an old man, you’ll still be young. I’m jealous.”

“Then, do you want to come along, Cousin?”

“…That doesn’t sound half bad. But unfortunately, I haven’t renewed my passport. I won’t make it by tomorrow.”

I would have loved to use the time dilation effect to solve that problem too, but science wasn’t quite that convenient. We were sprinting toward the goal of omnipotence, but we were still a bit far from being able to pull a time machine out of our pockets.

“As soon as I get back, I’m coming to see you first.”

Coming over to come see me at the speed of light? If she moves that fast, it’ll be a struggle just to get her to stop here.

“I’ll be an old man, having aged a full forty years or more over here. I wonder if you’ll even recognise me at a glance.”

“I’ll recognise you because you are Cousin. Besides, you’ve always looked like an old man to begin with.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, you brat? I don’t think I look that old.”

The colleague sitting next to me muttered, “How pitiful…” in a low, performative whisper. Hey, watch it. It felt like I was going to be branded as the “old man” of the office starting tomorrow. “What a pain,” I muttered, scratching my head.

“So, Cousin…”

“What?”

“Just make sure you stay alive until I get back.”

Her poignant wish pierced me like a single, sharp needle. I found myself at a loss for words, casting my eyes downward.

A span of forty-some years was by no means a short amount of time for a human being.

This might very well be my final farewell to my cousin. I had to prepare myself accordingly. It wasn’t a promise I could make lightly, and yet, it was a wish I had no choice but to promise.

I would wait for the day my cousin and the rocket returned as the very first Earth-born aliens in human history.

“…Yeah. I’ll do my best to stay healthy and live a long life. Just you make sure you don’t pick fights with the aliens.”

“Mm.”

“Okay. Take good care of my rocket, First Officer.”

“Mmm.”

After setting the receiver down, I muttered the following words to the person on the other side of the wall. After setting the receiver down,

“I’ll be there to meet you when you arrive. Just make sure you come back safely.”

I muttered the following words to the person on the other side of the wall… Actually, maybe it’s better not to tell her; it might be a shock when she returns. So, rather than emphasising it, I simply straightened my clothes and said to my colleague:

“I’m stepping out for a bit.”

“Why don’t you go home once in a while?”

“It’s hard to go back to an empty house. I haven’t been out in five days, so I’m actually kind of scared to leave.”

Feigning ignorance, I left the lab.

My cousin will be aboard that spaceship for about twenty years. Well, the perceived time inside the ship will likely be much shorter, but it was bound to be longer than five days. With that thought in mind, as I walked down the corridor, I decided to bid farewell to this unhealthy lifestyle and invited Yashiro, who was still gnawing on a sugar cube in the breakroom.

“Hey, why don’t we go get some night air?”

“I’m tired of going to places like this.”

“Come on, just this once.”

I gave Yashiro a nudge, and we clattered our way through the ship. Of course, this was a version of the spaceship that wouldn’t launch. The interior of the rocket, which could almost be called an old symbol of this town, was pitch black; even with a flashlight, it felt like you could easily trip. However, perhaps because I had used this place as my playground since I was a child, I could navigate the interior smoothly even with my eyes closed. I was sure my cousin could do the same.

With the glowing Yashiro leading the way, we climbed up toward the tip of the rocket. Because a group of eccentrics occasionally performed maintenance as a hobby, the rocket still retained its shape. No matter how many times the exterior was cleaned, it immediately became covered in moss, making it look as if it were painted moss green, but the interior remained stable. Otherwise, a useless piece of junk like this would have been dismantled long ago.

The rocket located behind the research institute was a place that any researcher would have climbed at least once.

“Being able to climb up here at night is a privilege for those who work here, isn’t it?”

It would be the perfect place to invite a girlfriend by telling her you knew a place with a wonderful night view. Though, I didn’t actually have anyone like that.

Apparently, one of our ancestors was incredibly popular, but it seemed that his charm was lost somewhere along our lineage.

I stepped out onto a balcony (?) attached near the summit for tourists. It was like an observation deck that offered a panoramic view of the town from the outer surface of the rocket, an altitude that would surely cause anyone with a fear of heights to faint. Because of the height, the wind was strong, and the night breeze was cold for a month of May. I sat cross-legged on the floor, looking down at the endless expanse of metal plating stretching toward the launch pad. The landscape, illuminated by the lights of the research institute, was exactly as it was in the old days.

It felt somewhat otherworldly. Far removed from daily life.

My cousin and I are just as we were on that day, standing motionless, dreaming of the rocket’s launch.

“Hooooooo.”

For some reason, Yashiro, standing beside me, mimicked the sound of the wind. The petite Yashiro looked as though she might be blown away by the gust at any moment. It was easy to imagine her drifting off into the sky, wailing, “Hooooooo”.

For some reason, I could easily imagine her landing safely right after that.

“So, you were getting a call from that fake alien just now. Hmph, getting all worked up just because of a little trip into space. How unmanly. Shouldn’t the name ‘Meme’ have a much more audacious and powerful ring to it? This is embarrassing.”

I had absolutely no idea what she was so indignant about.

“…Loooooooveeeeeeers of loooooooost dimennnnnsiooooons…”

Yashiro suddenly began to sing. She seemed to make up the lyrics as she went, and the sound, caught in the gusts of wind, was quickly swallowed up. After she finished, Yashiro gave herself a score of “ninety points”. What a generous evaluation.

“What was that song?”

“It’s a song for a lover far, far away.”

She lets out a smug “Fu fun”, laughing at me as if to mock me. Was she trying to tease me?

“…I wouldn’t call her a lover. To me she’s just Gertie.”

When I said this jokingly, Yashiro snorted.

“Eliott’s little sister? And yet you can’t fly, how odd.”

“Heh, you know about that? It’s a rare piece of footage from over five hundred years ago.”

“Because I watched it with Makoto.”

“Which Makoto?” I asked with a bitter smile. I couldn’t help but think that she really might have crossed through time. And all just to keep teasing descendants since the era of the first Makoto? How spiteful can one be?

“What was the name of the rocket you launched?”

Yashiro asked, tapping her feet impatiently as if to demand an answer.

Even though I was the one who named it, I answered with a feigned struggle to remember, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“Prime.”

“It seems that lack of taste runs in the family.”

“Shut up.”

Everything noteworthy was already used by our predecessors. For all I know, I had no idea what my ancestor’s taste was like.

“But it’s space, space! It’s incredible.”

“What is so incredible? You can see space from here, too, can’t you? Look, look!” Yashiro said, pointing at the stars and the vast expanse of the night sky. Clouds drifted overhead, swirling in eddies or mimicking the shapes of great beasts. The indigo sky felt somehow more distant than the blue sky of day. The stars flickered in and out of view behind the clouds. In their place, what shone brightly above me was Yashiro’s hair.

Looking up at that hair, as Yashiro continued to radiate light itself, I suddenly asked:

“From where exactly in space did you come from?”

“It’s a secret.”

“What kind of annoying response is that?”

She had said it with her usual grumpy expression; how uncute of her.

“Meme taught me that when there’s no need to speak, you should just dodge the question like this.”

“You mention her sometimes, but who exactly is this Meme?”

“As I said, it’s a secret.”

This time, her expression was somewhat suggestive and playful. Her cheeks relaxed, and a smirk curled her lips. Unable to decipher the meaning behind that look or what was crossing Yashiro’s mind, I simply rested my chin in my hand.

For a while after that, both of us gazed out at the night town. The lights from the houses reaching the outskirts, where the research institute was located, were sparse. Even when staring toward the pitch-black mountains, nothing more than a faint, blurry mass of shadows could be seen. No sounds reached us, save for the rushing wind, which echoed like a restless murmur. And as the wind hit us, some part of the rocket creaked. It was often teased that the sound was the rocket’s cries. Because it continued to wail through the night, some people who had just recently moved to this town apparently mistook it for a ghost story. The creaking lasted a little longer than usual tonight, sounding almost as if it were lifting its head to gaze up at the sky.

“I guess this guy wants to fly, too, after all.”

I tapped on the rocket with a light tap-tap. The sound was bright and bouncy, like a bouncing ball. Yashiro, who had been staring at the scenery while gripping the railing, looked down at me and replied in a cold voice, “I wouldn’t know. Aren’t you going to fly, Makoto?”

“Fly? Where to?”

“To space, obviously, you fool.”

Yashiro sounded exasperated. Her lab coat, slightly too large for her, fluttered in the wind, making her look like a ghost.

“You should have flown alongside that fake alien. Even a dimwit like you could be carried along in the rocket indiscriminately as mere cargo.”

“You certainly made some discrimination there. Besides, well, I did give that some thought.”

But to even worry about that, I would first need a rocket capable of flight. Since I was the one who has been dedicated to building such rockets, if the two of us didn’t exist, it would result in a paradox.

However, having made a promise to my cousin, I was the only one here. Therefore, this was how it must be.

It felt reckless, a dreamlike promise, like attempting to run toward a sky that was far beyond reach. Yet, as years passed, that promise took shape, and now, it became a rocket, ready to take flight.

I will watch it launch from Earth. There was no one waiting for me to return to the apartment I rented. Because of that, I found myself constantly putting returning home on the back burner. I had to wait here so that my cousin didn’t end up the same way. So that she, who had been called an alien for so long, didn’t truly settle on another planet.

“Denpa Onna flying on a Seihuun Rocket?”

Yashiro uttered something cryptic. There was a certain implication in her words, something that more specifically carried the weight of the passing years, and so I remained silent. Hoshimiya Yashiro was truly a mystery from beginning to end.

It was this very person, full of enigmas, who once spoke to me of the wonders of space and guided me all the way to this point.

I wondered what a self-proclaimed alien felt when looking at the view from a rocket that would never take flight.

And I wondered what she would think of the rocket launched tomorrow in search of aliens.

The psychic said nothing, her lab coat simply fluttering in the wind.

The next day, I stood under a clear blue sky. It was a slightly windy day, and the hem of my lab coat danced about. Keeping my hands in my pockets to prevent them from being tossed about by the breeze, I looked up at the rocket that had ascended last night.

Keeping my hands in my pockets to prevent them from being tossed about by the breeze, I looked up at the rocket that had ascended last night.

I was beyond sleep-deprived, yet strangely, I could not muster a single yawn. My body felt heavy, but my eyes were parched and stinging with a slow, creeping ache. Not a single drop remained of the eye drops I always kept in my lab coat. A pity.

At the very least, it looked like a perfect day for a launch in Japan. It was the kind of sunny May weather that made one miss short sleeves, a day that made one want to head out for a sunbath on the ground rather than fly toward the sky.

It was the last day that my cousin and I would live within the same span of time.

The midday sun poured down upon a continuous expanse of metal plating that seemed to stretch endlessly toward the horizon. The white-painted floor absorbed the light and reflected it back in a pale glare that stung my eyes. My vision was dazzling from both above and below, yet even as I squinted, the overwhelming presence of the rocket remained undiminished. When I looked up at it as a child, I naively thought that once I grew up, this wouldn’t seem like such a great height, but I was wrong.

The wingless mass of metal loomed high above me, like a tower attempting to reach the gods.

“Wh-at-are-you-do-ing-in-a-place-like-th-is?”

I turned around when I heard a strange voice calling out from behind me, accompanied by footsteps that were far too light for metal plating. Clad in what looked like a makeshift spacesuit, as if ready to board a mock rocket at any moment, the figure was none other than the person I had been talking with deep into the night. Wow, it’s been a while.

“You still have that outfit?”

“It-is-my-u-ni-fo-rm.”

Uniform? Ah, her uniform. Where did she get it? What even is that? The sunlight scattered wildly off the helmet’s visor, making it difficult to look directly at it. Yashiro then stepped a little away from me, coming to a halt by my side.

“Whew, it’s hot.”

Yashiro let out a sigh as she removed the helmet with a pop, her speech returning to normal. With the rocket, the spacesuit, and that otherworldly appearance, the three elements combined to make her look like a traveller returned from outer space.

In forty or so years, this might be the kind of crowd we find ourselves welcoming on Earth.

“So, why are you here?”

“Aren’t you watching? The live broadcast of the launch is really picking up right now.”

With a quick motion, she pointed behind her with her thumb. I turned my head just enough to glance back, then shook my head. My hair, which had grown a bit long because I’d been too busy to maintain it, brushed against my face, swaying in the wind.

“Watching the rocket launch like this feels much more immersive.”

After all, the rocket about to be launched was modelled after the hunk of iron that was right in front of us. Since it was purely a matter of appearance, and they weren’t close enough to be called siblings, I suppose… cousins would be more accurate. Much like how my cousin and I shared the same human skeletal structure, and yet we were entirely different in essence and appearance.

“How much longer until lift-off?”

“A few minutes. I saw a countdown on the right side of the screen.”

“I see,” I muttered with a small nod. I glanced over at Yashiro, who was gazing up at the rocket just as I was. She didn’t seem to have any intention of rushing back to the lab. Well, in her case, she’d probably just say something like, “It’s not as if an alien going to space would be anything unusual,” so I decided not to bring that up. Instead, I decided to try telling her a story. It was more of a monologue, or perhaps a memoir; it didn’t really mean much.

“When I was a kid, I was a captain.”

“Hm?”

Yashiro looked at me. I pointed to the top of the rocket. Not the very tip, but the top.

“The top of this rocket. I used to run wild inside it with my cousin, pretending we were going on a trip to space. She was the first officer, and I was the captain. As for why someone as selfish and strong-willed as her would hand the captaincy over to me? She said it was because she didn’t want to bother learning a language if we had to talk to aliens. Apparently, conducting dialogue was the captain’s job.”

I shrugged my shoulders. That same girl was now far more proficient in languages than I was. I wondered how many she could speak. We’ve both spent our lives faithfully trying to keep a promise we made back in the fifth grade.

As for what that truly meant, I’ll have to wait until the rocket returned safely.

It looked like it was going to be a long journey. Though, I certainly wouldn’t be growing weary of the wait.

“Well, to be fair, if we were surrounded by people like you, Yashiro, even talking would be a struggle. Wahaha!” I laughed, joking around. I watched Yashiro closely, expecting a rebuttal, only to find her resting her chin in her hand with a solemn expression. I wondered what she was thinking right now. And I wondered what she had been thinking throughout her entire life. I had been by her side, but to be honest, I had never understood her once.

I slipped my hands into the pockets of my lab coat and looked up at the rocket as if waiting for something, feeling the wind brush against me freely since there was no cover to shield us. During this time, the digital clock inside my mind displayed the time. Naturally, the numbers were slowly ticking down. There was no need to say aloud what would happen once they reached zero. Without knowing the exact time, the moments continued to pass.

Then, as if timing it perfectly with the creaking of the rocket’s various parts in the passing wind…

“Do you know what a silkworm is?”

Suddenly, Yashiro spoke. Silkworm? An insect? My thoughts raced through the connections until I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know. They’re used for food on the spacecraft, after all.”

But what was she on about? Was this her response to my sudden remark? While I was busy speculating, Yashiro continued. Light particles seemed to dance and scatter from her bangs, which swayed in the wind.

“They can’t fly on their own, and they can’t survive outdoors without human intervention. And yet, they still undergo metamorphosis. Why do you think that is?”

“…Who knows. Maybe it’s just the natural course of things.”

Just as humans have long yearned for rockets, stars, and the cosmos, only to eventually take flight.

“I spent hundreds of… no, I mean a few years thinking about that very thing, and that was why I helped build rockets.”

Built spacecrafts while thinking about silkworms. I couldn’t help but smile wryly, thinking what a strange person she was, not just in appearance, but in everything else. Then, Yashiro pointed at the rocket, just as I had done moments ago. As if in response, the rocket began to sing.

The supporting steel frames and the aged parts crying out for replacement creaked. It was a lovely rhythmic creak, like a restless child.

“Humans are not much different from silkworms. They cannot fly through the sky on their own, and without rockets they cannot drift through space. They struggle to take flight within their protected environments. Even though they have no idea if anything awaits them in the cosmos once they do. Silkworms are the same. There may be nothing waiting for them even if they succeed in flying. Yet, they emerge from their cocoons with wings. Just as humans foolishly dedicate their entire lives to dreaming of the stars.”

“…………”

“That was why the hope humans held for space must be much like the dreams of silkworms. Not every silkworm wished to fly through the sky. Nor does flying necessarily lead to anything. Yet, as long as they continue to live, it is only natural that they dream of vast, unimaginable worlds.”

The rocket was set to launch now. Yashiro spoke with that implication, naturally guiding my gaze toward the mass of steel towering before us. A dreaming silkworm, flying into the far reaches of space, huh? Surely, in the void of space, we humans were as powerless as silkworms. Just as silkworms couldn’t stand on their own. And yet, still.

“Spacesuits dream of silkworms, I guess.”

I mumbled the words, playing on the title of a book said to have existed long ago.

“Yeah. The cocoon waits through the long passage of time, awaiting its emergence.”

With Yashiro’s agreement, the steadily decreasing numbers on the clock all hit zero.

Instinctively, I looked up beyond the rocket, toward the peacefully stretching blue sky. Nothing had changed. The blue sky, born of ultraviolet light, and the migratory clouds drifting on the wind. The rocket, looking as if it might take flight at any moment, remained silent.

But for me, this was the moment of the rocket’s launch.

The rocket that I had launched so innocently in my fantasies was now, in reality, heading for the sky with my cousin aboard. Carrying the dreams and hopes of humanity upon those unreliable shoulders, she was going to meet the aliens.

I tried to recall myself running around my cousin and the rocket. However, no matter how hard I try, I couldn’t. My cousin had already taken flight from this timeline, accelerating into a time of her own.

This was simultaneously a space voyage and the moment she became a time traveller.

During my childhood, all the dreams I had envisioned with pure imagination finally converged and came true.

What remained in my heart was a mixture of pride, exhilaration, and a sense of loneliness, where the wind bit just a little too deep.

“……Kay”

After everything had returned to zero, the clock within me displayed “1”. Then, in the blink of an eye, it became “2”, followed by “3”. The count of seconds did not stop; it continued, endlessly. “Ah,” I breathed, a smile breaking across my face as I understood the meaning.

My time was moving toward a far, far and distant goal. Surely, the target of this count was more than forty years away.

Until the moment I arrive there, my digital clock will keep ticking. No miscounts or irregularities were permitted. It was a span of years for which there was no guarantee of continuity. Even so, I let my thoughts drift toward the dreams I have sent forth.

And I prayed for the emergence of my cousin, wrapped within her cocoon.

I prayed that her wings were more than just mere physical growth.

And then.

I will stay here until she returns to the same flow of time as mine.

In this town, watched over by aliens, alongside the rocket.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew from behind. The hem of my white coat fluttered, and the grounded rocket let out a cry.

I felt as though the wind from the distant rocket’s liftoff had reached all the way here.

“Hey, wouldn’t it be fine to call this the series finale already?”

“I think it’ll go on just a little bit longer.”

Chapter 6 - Ending No. 5: Together with Meme-tan

During summer vacation, with her daughter too busy stargazing and her nephew treating her coldly and no one paying her any kind of attention, she suddenly charged towards the mirror on her dressing table while shouting, “Meme-taaaaan”. I have a mountain of things I want to say about this forty-year-old woman who slammed her forehead into it and writhed in agony, but I’ll stick to just one carefully selected remark.

No way.

“Just kidding~!”

“Gah!”

She forcibly prevented the forced shutdown. Before I knew it, Meme-san, who had appeared out of nowhere by my side (purely in my imagination, mind you) threw herself at me and latched onto me. She grabbed my head, digging her fingers into my waist.

“My husband is a high schooler!”

“I refuse to have a wife who’s a forty-year-old youkai!”

I pressed my hands against my cheeks, trying to peel Meme-san off me. In my imagination, the way the flesh of her cheeks stretched and deformed felt incredibly soft, which left me feeling somewhat flustered. But regardless of that, she refused to let go. Since she was merely a figment of my imagination, things should be going exactly as I wish. Perhaps my aversion to her has seeped in so deeply that I couldn’t even win against her in my own head. It was like trying to train a dog.

“You really had the nerve to turn Meme-chin into an old hag and then kill her just now, didn’t you?!”

“I paid my respects to her throughout the whole thing!”

“Mama, Papa”,

“Argh, stay away, you hallucination!”

I waved away Erio, who came running toward us with her small hands outstretched, looking like a child. For some reason, Erio began to orbit us like a moon. Pale blue particles sparkled like stars, falling upon us like snow. It felt as if she were blessing us. I’m going to burn that glittery dust, you bitch. I feel like she got shorter every time she circled us, too. What are you, a stick of butter?

“U fu fu. Look at Eri-tan, so totally attached to Papa now. Jealousy!”

“What kind of pronunciation is that?! And hey, don’t get lost in your own delusions inside someone else’s delusions! How brazen!”

“I’m already a completely new bride, right?”

“Please don’t brag about your mastery at defying the flow of time!”

As expected of a delusion, where even time leaps were at will! Come up with something better.

Since it seemed Meme-san had no intention of letting go no matter what, I give up on trying to push her back. At that, Meme-san also stopped her unusual clinging. “Erio, welcome home!” she said, beckoning. “Papa!” Erio, who has shrunk to about half her usual height, leapt at me. Does she want to get punched or something? Just like that, Erio and I were together, embraced by Meme-san. Ugh, it was incredibly stifling. It’s not that I was embarrassed.

“What is this composition?”

“It’s just our usual happy little family.”

“…Wait, family? You two should take that somewhere else.”

It was slightly better than being described as a newlywed plus her ex-husband’s daughter, at least.

“Seriously, what kind of lifestyle leads to an end like this?”

“This is what happens when you just act like yourself. Happy-py!”

Meme-san raised both her arms. She finally released me from her hug. Ah, the air tasted sweet. It was worth holding my breath. I mean, sniffing the body odour of my forty-year-old aunt, I’d just be a lost cause, right?

“Happy-py!”

“Don’t repeat after me, you little one.”

Little Erio wiggled around and settled herself on my lap. Even she was acting like a pampered daughter! However, unlike the forty-year-old, she was much harder to brush off. Perhaps it was because her eyes were so light blue that they always gave the illusion of being watery. Erio turned around and stared intently at me. Staaaaaare. What?

“Papa, buy me a gold bar!”

She made her request with a deadpan expression. It was obvious she just asked without really knowing what she was talking about.

“Do you want me to shove it up your nose?”

“Papa, I’m getting married.”

“Wait, to whom?”

Was there even a male character that fitted that description?

“Hmm…” Erio said, crossing her arms. Could someone who barely remembers names actually remember faces?

“Then, with Cousin.”

“…Given the setting, you should probably stick to calling him Papa to be consistent.”

Suddenly reminded of reality, I felt a wave of shame. I scratched my nose with a hint of embarrassment.

“Kyaa! Every time I look at this photo, I get so excited!”

Meme-san placed the photo frame on the desk, swaying side to side with such high-speed glee that I half-expected her to start splitting into clones. Glancing at the photo framed within, I found myself thinking, “Is the Earth coming to an end?”

“Let’s display the wedding reception photo right here!”

“Image manipulation technology these days is truly something else, isn’t it?”

It was impressive. The fabricated bride and groom were captured with beautiful smiles. They even had tears in their eyes. Right now, I was the one who wanted to cry. As if seeing right through my feelings, Meme-san looked at me with a grin.

“Fu fu fu, it seems you aren’t too pleased.”

“It’s not the photo arrangement that I’m dissatisfied with.”

I pre-emptively shut down her attempt at a joke. Meme-san let out a small “Tch” and straightened her posture.

“You’re saying you don’t want to face a future like this, dear husband.”

“Please find me a husband who says he does want to face it.”

I rested my hand on Erio’s head as she sat quietly in my lap, letting out an exasperated laugh.

“But Mako, was there any other ending you could have imagined that would have satisfied you?”

“Huh? Ah, well…”

If I had to say, staying in this town and playing with great-grandchildren might seem like an ideal life at first glance… but perhaps that’s because it was a path that lead all the way into old age. I couldn’t help but feel that the sense of satisfaction came from forgetting all the bad parts and focusing only on the good. It’s as if, without a future, one found himself clinging to the past.

…Even if I said all that, as of right now, I was just an ordinary second-year high schooler. I didn’t truly know how an elderly person felt. I felt like if I tried to shrug it off by saying, “Ask Meme-tan about that,” she would punch me without a second thought.

“If you’re looking for something ephemeral, how about this?”

“Yes?”

“Eri-tan, grow uuuuuup!”

With Meme’s spell-like declaration, the shrunken Erio began to grow. While I was struck by the question, “Why is she acting so freely even though this is all a figment of my imagination?” things happened, and before I knew it, “Mogu”, my face was pressed against Erio’s chest, which seemed about twenty percent more developed than usual. I was thrown into confusion, wondering why I was being controlled and where the logic was, but even the sensation of her pressing against me felt terribly vague. “Be smaaaaall!” With a single word from Meme-san, she shrank again.

“So, isn’t this what you wanted?”

“It’s not a matter of wanting or not! This is way too sudden!”

“What are you even saying? I don’t get how you can deny Meme-chin when you’re such a good-for-nothing who can’t even figure out what he wants.”

Once again, she lunged at me. “Gah!” It felt like being hit by a tsunami. With Erio at the centre, Meme-san and I were effectively surrounding her. It was not quite as striking as Erio’s, but her calm indigo hair brushed against my face. And her chest too. A full-on collision straight to my face…………………………………….. I tried to stay blank-minded, resolving not to say a single word, but I reached my limit. For a seventeen-year-old, I had reached my limit in every sense of the word.

“Mofuu.”

My entire world was, for the most part, filled with breasts.

Erio, caught quite comfortably between Meme-san and me, let out a voice that sounded like a protest. However, Meme-san’s arms were latched onto my back like a parasite and wouldn’t let go, and given the state of her chest, her breasts were swaying away as she wriggled her body happily. My entire world was, for the most part, filled with breasts.

Combined with the fact that she was my aunt, my grasp on global common sense began to blur, and I felt lightheaded from the lack of oxygen.

Then, with a smile that bordered on conviction and a mischievous glint in her eyes, Meme-san peered into my face, her gaze shining intensely. For some reason, even within my blurring vision, I felt as though her hair had emitted a brilliant radiance.

I refused to admit, even at the cost of my life, that this was the “newlywed effect”.

“Fu fu, this ending isn’t bad either, is it?”

“…………”

I was foolish, ephemeral, and only seventeen, unable to say, “Yes, it is!”

However, well, there was that one thing. The thing I feared most, or rather, the real problem.

It was the fact that “this” was not much different from the reality surrounding me.

In the fact that reality was even encroaching upon my nightmares, I caught a glimpse of the end of my delusions.

“Nwaaaaaaaah!”

“Mako-kun-kun, shut up.”

Chapter 7 - The Day Off of a (Beginner) Seishun Onna

“…Just kidding.”

I cut off those aimless delusions and faced reality. Meme-san had completely dampened my mood.

On the actual game screen, Mako-kun-kun was paralysed and being pummelled by enemies. The reliable allies controlled by Erio continued the battle, intent on wiping out the enemies while completely ignoring the protagonist.

Did she have a grudge against me or something? I glanced sideways at Erio, only to see her frantically mashing buttons. Hey, don’t tell me you were letting the protagonist die just because it was too much of a hassle to select any command other than Attack! The battle ended, brought to a close by the merry band of companions who continued their frenzied attacks even as Mako-kun-kun fell.

“Ah, I don’t have any items to revive him.”

“Are you turning back?”

“I shall press on, swallowing my tears.”

“Whoa, everyone is sprinting full speed with such perfect form.”

I wondered what would become of Mako-kun-kun, left behind all alone. In modern games, wouldn’t they at least let you put a fallen comrade in a coffin and drag them along? I also felt it was somewhat questionable how the story could continue progressing even in the absence of the protagonist.

“Ah, we’re in a pinch now that Mako-kun-kun isn’t here.”

Overwhelmed by the numbers of enemies they next encountered, the remaining companions were being beaten mercilessly. It was then that Erio, finally ceasing her button-mashing, began to focus her mind on healing them and improving the situation for her allies.

Watching the screen from a protagonist-biased perspective, thinking things like, “No, you’re too slow; you should have helped him the moment Mako-kun-kun was in danger”, was actually quite entertaining. I let my focus blur slightly and rested my chin on my hand.

“…Phew.”

After passing through four or five great adventures that spanned across time and space, my brain was screaming from the sheer strain. I marvelled at how I had managed to immerse myself in such lengthy fantasies. The last one, in particular, had gone completely off the rails. I couldn’t fathom how a second-year high schooler, someone who had no grandchildren, no children, no wife, and no girlfriend, could find himself dreaming of such a peaceful and fantastical old age. Wait, a newlywed life with Meme-tan at the very end? I had no idea what I was talking about. That part never happened, and it was better to just leave things at that.

Setting Meme-san aside, my delusions had been a bit too intense this time. I almost suspected that someone had sent me some kind of radio signal, but perhaps it was simply that because my Youth Points were empty, some mysterious function had stepped in to provide everything I needed to compensate. It was none of its business, but thanks anyway.

I envisioned three main pillars.

Viewing it through a gaming lens, there was the Maekawa-san route. And also the Ryuushi-san route and the Erio route? Getting involved with one made my relationships with others change significantly, and my surroundings had shifted as well.

No matter which possibility I reached, I would inevitably lose something. Something that existed in my life right now.

Precisely because that was a realistic and natural consequence, I felt the urge to cover my eyes.

Regarding the choices from here on. No matter which path I took or how I proceeded, I would lose the “present”.

I wondered how long this period of fulfilment, where I lost nothing, could possibly continue.

I found myself thinking that perhaps having a time like this last forever was my true ideal.

“Hmm, the phone… is ringing.”

The cellphone, left sitting in my second-floor room, played its default electronic ringtone, as if urging me to “pick up already”. I pushed myself up from the sofa and ran toward the stairs. It was doubtful whether I would make it in time even if I hurried, but I ran nonetheless. Since the ringing did not cease, it seemed to be a phone call rather than an email. If so, I could more or less guess who was calling. It was that person whose I-told-ya special intensive training month had just come to an end.

I raced up the stairs and burst into my room. With the momentum of a high school baseball player sliding a ball into their glove, I snatched the phone, which was vibrating faintly on my desk. I moved with such force that I slammed my arm against the leg of the desk. The momentum did not stop there; my shoulder collided with it, and finally, I struck my back against the furniture. It was perhaps the first time that I had proven myself to be a true idiot three times within such a short span of time.

“Bkeeee, bkeeeeee!”

I arched my back on the carpet, writhing in a pain so intense it felt numbing. However, I couldn’t afford to let the phone keep ringing, so while rolling around, I pressed the answer button and held it to my ear. Since I had made it that far, I tried to suppress my screams and cries of agony, but I couldn’t hold them back even as I bit my lower lip. Straightening my spine, I let out a spirited,

“Gugueeeee!”

“O-oh? What’s wrong, Niwa-kun? Put the automatic Japanese mode on!”

The voice belonged to Ryuushi-san, as expected. Since she was demanding a response, I tried to stifle my agony by digging my claws into the carpet. As I delivered my heavy, ragged breathing to Ryuushi-san in real-time, she misunderstood, asking in a carefree voice, “Are you playing a prank call game?” Should I be grateful she didn’t call me a pervert?

“Fuu, Hii… Ah, hello. This is Niwa Makoto.”

“Well, well, how polite. This is Mifune Ryuuko.”

My memories instinctively drifted back to the very beginning. I bowed my head toward the other end of the line, offering a quick, “Nice to meet you.” Now, then.

It was Ryuushi-san, who was not a college student, and her hair was not long. I decided I should avoid calling her Ryuuko.

“By the way, I told ya, I’m Ryuuko.”

“Wait, didn’t your special intensive training month end already?”

“He he he, did you really think I wouldn’t see through something like this, Niwa-kun?!”

There was a dramatic sound effect accompanying her words, so she was likely striking a pointing pose.

“I know all about it! Niwa-kun, right now, your phone is displaying Ryuushi-san!”

“No, no, didn’t you register your real name under that contact, Ryuushi-san?”

“Oh? Did I? Well, you did just say Ryuushi right now. In other words, I-told-ya was in response to a future event. Yup. I was simply predicting a future event that might occur where I should say I-told-ya.”

Since she had reached her own unilateral conclusion, it was difficult to comment on it. Recalling that there were things that simply could not be spoken of, I remained silent. In the meantime, Ryuushi-san moved the conversation forward.

“And with that, the introductions are over. Hello, Niwa-kun. How are you? You were making quite a lot of noise at first, though.”

“If I can make that much noise, I’m probably doing fine. So, what’s up today? Do you have business with me?”

“Well… I might be free tomorrow.”

No youthful boy would ever turn down an invitation from a girl on a Sunday. This was not the time to be indulging in fantasies that were already reaching their breaking point. I sat up straight and replied, “I’m free.”

“As reliable as ever, Niwa-kun. However, what comes next is a surprise show!”

“Huh? Clap, clap, clap.”

Thinking that perhaps she was about to perform some sort of hidden talent, I gave her a purely vocal round of applause.

“I meant a surprise show!”

The meaning was the same, but the nuance was quite different. As I nodded in understanding, Ryuushi-san cleared her throat with an “ahem, ahem”. I waited for Ryuushi-san’s next words, focusing on nothing in particular, like how her cough sounded unnecessarily dusty. I waited for a few seconds. Then, her high-pitched voice reached me:

“For this time, I was wondering if we could, you know, do something like a Touwa-san-style thing!”

“Something Touwa-san-style?”

I looked down at the floor, thinking of the half-Smakin who was facing off against a game on the first floor. It was a roundabout way of putting it, but the only person Ryuushi-san could mean by “Touwa-san-style” had to be her. Meme-san was more like Mochi-mochi Sensei.

“So, you’re saying Erio is invited, too?”

It was certainly surprising, and I couldn’t help but smile at how unusual it was.

“If that’s the interpretation you want to make Niwa-kun, then fine! Hmph!”

“Alright, then let’s do this.”

“Geez, you’re being way too honest, Niwa-kun. Ryuuko-san is going to end up blushing so hard bees will sting her.”

What was that supposed to mean? Was she trying to say she’d turn even redder if she were stung? That would just be painful.

“I was thinking we could invite Maekawa-san too and maybe go grab some food or hit up karaoke or something.”

“Like a social gathering? Similar to the one we had after the cultural festival the other day?”

That particular event had been nothing but stomach-turning developments. Mostly due to Hoshinaka’s antics. Man, what a headache.

“Muu… mumu.”

“What are you grumbling about?”

“Niwa-kun… you were being called things like ‘Niwa-chi’… and it was just so Niwa-kun…”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand what you’re trying to say.”

Anyway, I told her I would ask her myself. Keeping her on the line, I headed down the stairs and returned to the living room. Erio was once again lost in a frenzy of button-mashing. It seemed she had been repeatedly fighting the same battle, diligently working on levelling up. My heart wept at such careless treatment, thinking she should have revived Mako-kun-kun before doing that.

“Ah, Cousin, you’re back.”

Erio finished her button-mashing with great joy. Then, she moved on to the next scene, controlling characters other than Mako-kun-kun.

It appeared she had made an effort not to progress the story until I returned. She seemed to be more lenient toward the real-life Mako-kun-kun. Hmm, she was certainly adorable… Wait, no, she wasn’t. I pulled the phone slightly away from my face.

“Erio, do you have to work at the shop tomorrow?”

“Every day. I am a career woman.”

She flexed her arm, making her bicep assert its strength. It was so devoid of muscle it was almost sad.

“The Tamura store is open all year round. Let’s go anytime to the Tamura store!”

“Thanks for the advertisement. I see, that’s a shame, then.”

“Hm?”

Erio tilted her head, her eyes fixed on the phone in my hand. I wondered how she would react once she heard the truth.

“Actually, Ryuushi-san is inviting you to come and play with us.”

“I’m coming!”

She immediately powered off her gaming console and bolted out from under the covers. She came running toward me with frantic, eager steps.

I was taken aback by how instantly she bit. At the same time, I could faintly hear a voice from the other end of the phone demanding a correction, saying, “I told ya.” It seemed Ryuushi-san’s intuition was working perfectly again today.

“No, I was talking about tomorrow.”

“Eh, ah… the game…”

She looked back at the television screen as if regretting that she had hung up without even saving her progress. Even though it was a misunderstanding on her part, I felt a strange sense of guilt. However, Erio did not give up, raising her clenched fist with determination.

“A-Anyway, I’m going. I’ll play with something Ryuushi and Cousin.”

“Maekawa-san is coming too.”

“With something Maekawa too!”

The placement of the word “something” was awkward, but her enthusiasm was clear, so I decided to skip correcting her.

“But don’t you have to watch the shop?”

She looked so incredibly happy that I decided to be a little mean. In reality, if she had just explained the situation honestly, Tamura-san would have forgiven her, saying, “You don’t need to come.” It still felt more like she was a child helping out with chores, after all.

However, Erio had grown quite clever lately. She pressed her hand to her forehead, her expression turning grim in her own way.

“M-My head hurts. I suddenly have a fever from thinking too hard.”

“Stop faking a headache. Tamura-san will just give you a poke on the head.”

“I-I’m not faking it. It’s a real illness.”

I wondered for a moment if such a word even existed in Japanese. But regardless, she seemed brimming with the desire to go.

I replied to Ryuushi-san, who had brought the phone back to her ear and was repeatedly practising saying, “I told ya, I told ya.” Well, there was no need to be so roundabout about confirming it. Seriously.

“She said she’s coming.”

“Hoh! A-Alright! I’ve claimed the demon’s head!”

“No, that’s a massive misuse of the idiom.”

“T-Then, tomorrow! Ah, I’ll invite Maekawa-san myself, so, um… I told ya!”

After struggling to find a closing line, it seemed the result was simply the fruit of her practice. Why “I told ya”, though?

After hanging up, I stroked Erio’s head, which was right beside me. She squirmed as if it tickled her.

“That’s great, isn’t it?”

“Mofu.”

“I already told you not to wrap yourself in a futon.”

When I pointed it out, for some reason, she busily rewrapped the futon around her upper body. Then, she stood up just like that and began wandering aimlessly around the living room. Realising that she was actually dancing, an exasperated expression naturally came to me.

“Mofuu-mofuu, mofumoomofumofufuuu, moomoomofumofufuuu.”

“Why are you dancing after wrapping yourself in a futon?”

Well, I suppose dancing around so energetically without a futon wasn’t Erio-like. But was that “like” even needed to begin with? I tilted my head exaggeratedly as I pondered over that. Then, something caught my eye in my tilted field of vision.

“Mako-kun, hey, hey.”

Meme-san was there, peering halfway out from the edge of the hallway and beckoning to me. I wondered when she had returned. Since she was calling me, I approached her while remaining fully on guard. It was only natural that she might suddenly leap or bounce around, and I had to be prepared for the possibility of multiplication or fusion. My aunt was certainly a handful.

“What was that?”

“Is the real Meme-chin not making an appearance yet?”

How did this youkai even know about the non-real version?

“Let’s look forward to the next time.”

“Waaaaah!”

Ah, Meme-chin dissolved into the hallway. Then, her daughter began to dance. In a writhing, contorted motion. She seemed to be having fun, that one.

It was perhaps about time I taught her the concept of Youth Points. Maybe then she might actually function properly.

“How am I supposed to wait until next time? I’ll force an appearance!”

Ah, the liquid Meme-chin solidified. She sprouted back into existence with a slippery slither, resurrecting as if nothing had happened. Gross.

“I don’t really care, but aren’t you going to unify the names Meme-chin and Meme-tan?”

The comment, which was utterly trivial, was treated with utter indifference. It was ignored entirely. Meme-san approached Erio, or rather, Smakin, with a skip that was quite unbefitting her age. Without hesitation, she hugged her right through the futon. While squeezing Erio as tightly as she could, as the latter let out a cry that it was impossible to tell if it was a protest or a sign of surprise, a sort of “Mofuuu”, Meme-san spoke in a sweet, coaxing voice, “Hey, Eri-chan.”

Meme-san’s suggestion was, to put it mildly, unexpected, or perhaps it was more accurate to call it a natural progression.

Regardless, there was no doubt that it was a change accompanying Erio’s transformation into a “youthful girl”.

“Don’t you want something like a cellphone?”

“Mofuu.”

Even if I could decipher what she said, it somehow irritated me.

“Oh, oooh. B-bzzzt.”

“Why are you emitting radio waves yourself?”

Facing the countless mobile phones displayed on the white shelves, Erio panicked. Her eyes darted around nervously. She seemed overwhelmed by the unnaturally bright interior of the mobile shop and the loud, blaring music, clinging to my arm as if to hide half of her body. The clerk, dressed in a uniform, seemed so overwhelmed by the supernatural particles Erio was emitting that she hesitated to approach us. Consequently, I ended up acting as the clerk myself.

“So, which one do you want?”

“Th-the best one, please?”

“Decide on your own what the best is. Look closely, now,” I urged, pressing against her shoulder. Erio peeked at the shelves with extreme trepidation, making sure not to let go of my back. “Bzzz, bzzz.” She began emitting radio waves again. She stared intently at a phone screen, but she didn’t seem to be comparing the devices or paying any attention to their designs; she was simply staring.

It seemed that Erio’s search for a new mobile phone was going to be a difficult ordeal. Even when the shop clerk provided detailed explanations, Erio’s extreme shyness threatened to cause nothing but further confusion. A heavy sigh escaped her.

“…Having to accompany a child on a shopping trip they have no interest in, is this how a father feels?”

I didn’t want to admit it, though.

Meme-san stood a short distance away, smiling. If she had just stayed quiet, she would have looked like a truly dignified mother.

“Eri-tan, I’m going to send you a hundred emails a day, ok? Mostly just complaining about work! (Chomp!)”

“Are you trying to drive your daughter into a nervous breakdown?”

With eyes wide open, she waved her hands around irritably. Even if she was a fine mother, as an adult, she was a lost cause. She was ±zero. In fact, it might be a miracle that things were even breaking even.

“But this is getting us nowhere. Is there any specific feature you’re looking for?”

I tried to narrow down the choices after listening to her requests. Erio held up her fingers in a peace sign.

“O-One that can do email. And one that can do calls.”

“Does a cellphone even exist these days without those two features?”

I pointed across the entire shelf, assuring her that they all had everything she needed. Erio recoiled with a small, intimidated whimper. There was no sign that the situation was making any progress whatsoever.

“Fine, then pick by colour. What’s your favourite colour?”

I picked up red, green, and yellow at random. Erio stared at the phones in my hand and muttered, “Like a traffic light.” It seemed as though she was pointing them out one by one, as if mentally checking them off. I felt that if I strongly recommended one of them, she might actually settle on it. But I hesitated.

Eventually, Erio looked up and, for some reason, poked me in the nose with her finger. Her nail dug in deeper than I expected.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

“Cousin, what colour is your phone?”

“Ah? It’s white.”

“Then… then this one. I’ll make mine match Cousin’s.”

“…You really lack any sense of initiative, don’t you? Well, nevermind.”

I started to suggest that a light blue one might provide a better sense of cohesion, but I decided to just let her have her way. I grabbed a white mobile phone at random from the shelf. There was no need to even ask the clerk; I assumed this one possessed email and calling functions as well. Rubbing my nose where her nail had poked me, I handed the phone to Erio.

“Are you fine with this one?”

“Hmm.”

Erio received the phone with both palms, as if she were catching raindrops falling from the sky.

“By the way, Meme-chin’s phone is in its final days!”

Without me even noticing, the forty-year-old stood by my side, brandishing a banana-yellow mobile phone. It was adorned with a mountain of silver accessories and had two or three bells dangling from it, which made a loud, clattering noise whenever she shook it. It was as if the object itself were a symbol of Meme-san.

“Maybe I should get one just like Mako-kun and Eri-tan. You know, since Meme-tan is a pure, white butterfly, I’ve been thinking lately that maybe I should go with a pure style in white.”

“Rather than a vivid yellow, a yellow that looks sun-bleached suits you much better.”

When I said that, she pinched my cheek with a frustrated grunt. Then, she simply pulled me along as she began talking to the shop clerk.

“I’d like to sign a contract for this one!”

“Fugi!”

Erio remained indifferent to her cheek being pulled, and although she acted a bit suspiciously, she held up the white mobile phone. The shop clerk, who had been taken aback until then, widened her eyes even further at Erio’s proximity. Nevertheless, the clerk followed her to the customer service counter to fulfil her duties.

Watching Erio’s retreating back, Meme-san suddenly returned to a serious expression and spoke with deep emotion.

“Erio has reached the point where she needs her own phone, right?”

“…I suppose so.”

“Ahhh, this is truly the fruit of the love power between Mako-kun and me!”

“Gaaah! Ending Number 5 is attacking!”

I ran around to avoid her, only to be scolded severely by the clerk. I was scolded right along with Meme-san. It felt as though Erio was our guardian. Erio, for her part, silently filled out her name and other details on the contract.

Meme-san, acting as the guardian, finished entering her details on the contract, and once the paperwork was complete, we proceeded to purchase the mobile phone.

“I’ll put in Cousin’s number and Mom’s.”

“You’re doing that right here in the middle of the store? Well, fine, I guess.”

I dialled the number of the phone Erio had pulled out of the box and registered the contact for her.

“How should I register my name?”

“Cousin.”

“That’s pretty literal. What about Meme-san?”

“Mom.”

“You could even go with Meme-chin, or Meme-tan, or Mysterious Beauty; all choices are free, Erio!”

I ignored Meme-san, who was acting as deranged as usual, and pushed the excited Erio along as we left the mobile shop. Erio tapped away at her new phone, scrolling through screen after screen.

Once we stepped out onto the sidewalk, Erio ran excitedly toward the prep school across the street. There, she pulled out her mobile phone and began operating it with her index finger, as if she were handling a game controller.

I could guess exactly what she wanted to do, so Meme-san and I exchanged a glance and waited while smiling.

Having finished her clumsy manoeuvring, Erio held the brand-new phone to her ear. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement, and her eyes sparkled brightly as she gazed at us. The particles overflowing from her hair coated the pure white phone, ensuring that no matter what colour it had been, it would ultimately be dyed light blue.

“Oh.” It was my mobile phone that rang. “Where’s Meme-tan?” I thought, casually brushing off the thought that the next call would likely be hers as I glanced at the phone’s screen. The three characters for “Erio,” which I had only just registered, flickered to life, and the cheap electronic beep sounded almost like Erio’s own calling voice. Erio was waiting for me, intently.

I pressed the call button and answered. Erio’s voice vibrated against my eardrums in stereo, coming from both the phone and the space beyond it. Her high-pitched voice, which already possessed a somewhat electronic quality, bounced as if dancing across ice.

“’Hello, this is Towa Erio.’”

Reflecting on the various processes and choices that had led to this connection, I replied with a simple, “Oh.”

This time, the signal reached me clearly.

Now, the following day. It was Sunday, and it was just before noon, with the air tasting of what could only be described as early autumn.

“Did Ryuushi or something and the others manage to make it?”

“They haven’t come. I mean, go check for yourself.”

“Oh, how gracious.”

What was that even about? I felt exasperated by Erio, who was hiding behind my back and refused to even show her face. Well, though, I had to give her credit for not wrapping herself in a futon. It might have just been that she didn’t have a moment to reach for it, since Meme-san had been busy dressing her in all sorts of fancy clothes, saying this was nice and that was nice.

Because of that whole ordeal, Erio was dressed quite strangely today, looking all fluffy. Her hair was styled so elaborately that it looked like intricate pulled sugar, and in many different senses, she was drawing attention as a beautiful girl unlike any other around here. As for me, being stuck to her back, well, I was reasonably fashionable. Wouldn’t the synergy result in me being treated as a slightly handsome guy or something?

“The ones coming today are… Ryuushi or something, and something-or-other…”

“Maekawa-san.”

“Something-or-other Maekawa.”

“Maekawa is her surname, so putting ‘something-or-other’ before it is grammatically awkward.”

“Maekawa something-or-other.”

“Mm.”

To me, she was also Maekawa something-or-other. I wondered if the day would ever come when that “something-or-other” would be resolved.

“…Still, this feels somewhat nostalgic.”

The meeting spot Ryuushi-san had designated was near the station’s taxi stand. It was the same place we had used to meet on the day of my first date with Ryuushi-san. Back then, I knew hardly anything about this town.

Now, I knew just a little bit more than I did then.

“Ah, an email.”

Erio quickly raised her mobile phone. Since she never cared to carry anything like a bag, she had been clutching that phone since morning. I wondered if her hands ever slipped from the sweat, but she didn’t seem to care at all and refused to let go.

“It’s from Mom.”

“Well. Of course it is.”

“Because Meme-san and I were the only ones who knew her phone number.” Erio operated the device with clumsy hands and opened the message. I wasn’t particularly interested, but I took a peek anyway.

“Which angle of Meme-chin looks the most photogenic?”

Image data of Meme-san, taken from various angles one after another, was sent through. There were more photos than in the opening gravure spread of a certain manga magazine. Had she bought her daughter a cellphone just for this?

“Cousin, which version of Mom do you prefer?”

“Cousin, which version of Mom do you prefer?”

“Don’t ask for my opinion; it’s giving me a headache.”

Leaving Erio to earnestly compare the photos, I looked up at the building across the street. The sky was slightly overcast, preventing any direct sunlight from reaching us, and it looked like it would be a pleasant day in terms of the weather.

While I was doing that, I heard the sound of bicycle brakes screeching behind me. And then, a voice.

“Transfer students, you’re quite early.”

“The use of the plural is a bit strange…”

I looked back and was speechless. Erio stood there with her mouth half-open, looking dazed. It was obvious from that familiar voice that the person joining us was none other than Maekawa-san. However, her outfit was equally bizarre.

“Whoops, I don’t need chocolate for our little social gathering. I’m more of a Japanese sweets person myself.”

Maekawa-san joked, “Ha ha ha”, and her mascot costume for today was that of an extraterrestrial lifeform. Maekawa-san joked with a laugh, and her mascot costume for the day was that of an extraterrestrial lifeform. She was E.T…… So big. A Japanese E.T. And far too tall. Moreover, she wasn’t relying on young Eliott; she was actually pedalling the bicycle herself. Even the face inside her costume looked quite handsome.

“Since I heard Touwa was coming today, I decided on this particular theme.”

“Uh, yeah. Come on, Erio, say hello.”

Flustered, I acted like a guardian and presented Erio. Though she flinched visibly, she softly extended her index finger forward. Perhaps sensing the intent, Maekawa-san also extended her index finger. While passersby began to gather and stir with curiosity, the two of them attempted to touch the tips of their index fingers together.

No flash of light erupted, but their fingers met perfectly. Two E.T.s. Was there anyone whose cheeks were being wet with tears by this E.T.-style encounter? As if a ritual had concluded, their fingers parted, and Maekawa-san looked around the surroundings, saying, “Well then.” She seemed to be searching for a place to park her bicycle. Incidentally, as per our usual arrangement, Erio sat in the basket while I pedalled the bike… Division of labour?

“I’m going to go park my bike for a moment.”

E.T. made her breezy declaration. But instead of flying through the air, she simply pedalled the wheels normally and headed toward the bike parking area. Erio, who was supposed to have deepened our bond through our game of playing with index fingers, hid herself behind me even more thoroughly, using me as a shield.

“Does Maekawa or something always dress like that?”

“…Go ask her yourself.”

Ah, she was coming back. The sight of E.T. trotting back toward us was a precious moment to capture. Perhaps the part of her scalp that felt limp and heavy was too hot, because she had pulled her hood down like a hat, exposing her glossy black hair to the open air.

“Good morning, once again. Touwa, I think the last time we met was at the school festival, right?”

“I-I’m Niwa Makoto, representative of Earthlings. Nice to meet you.”

I felt humbled when E.T. greeted me. Erio also attempted a somewhat awkward greeting, trying too hard to act familiar with a forced “H-hey.” In response, Maekawa-san offered a smile as gentle as a clear stream in a small brook. If it weren’t for E.T.’s excessively long torso, the scene would have been quite picturesque.

Even so, Maekawa-san, who remained unfazed by such flaws, felt somehow nostalgic. It had been a while since I had seen her in cosplay lately. In my delusions, however, she had become the cutest polar bear in the world.

“You don’t need to be so formal. It looks like Ryuushi hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Well, Maekawa or something…”

Erio spoke to Maekawa-san as if summoning all her courage. From the shadow of my arm. Maekawa-san wasn’t the type of person to prey on others. Although she possessed an intimidating presence, she would undoubtedly lose in a simple fight.

“What is it?”

Maekawa-san knelt down to bring herself to Erio’s eye level. Erio held up her cellphone while cowering slightly, making low and hesitant noises. Maekawa-san squinted and glared, pushing her bangs aside and leaning in close before she was finally able to make out what it was. Was her eyesight poor?

“Oh, a cellphone. So you have one too, Touwa?”

“B-bought it yesterday. So, exchange numbers.”

“My number? Sure, let’s register it. Ah, that reminds me, I think yesterday was the first time, but I received an email from Ryuushi, and at first, I wondered who it was from.”

As she spoke, Maekawa-san operated her phone to call Erio’s number. In stark contrast, Erio faced the phone with a look of intense seriousness, focused on registering the number. It felt quite innocent, as if I were watching over a fledgling. I couldn’t take my eyes off them until the exchange was complete, and even after Maekawa-san said, “There, done,” my shoulders felt heavy. I scratched my neck, blushing, trying not to let it show that Erio’s tension had rubbed off on me.

A few minutes passed as the three of us gazed vacantly at the other side of the road when I noticed a familiar figure jogging toward us. She didn’t seem to be wearing a hat today, and her hair and bag, as well as the dreams of her upper body, were swaying. It was an ideal, breezy sight, gentle on both the Earth and high school boys.

“Ah, she’s here. It’s Ryuushi-san.”

Even at such a low volume, it felt as though someone might have eavesdropped and interjected, “Oh, is it?”

Perhaps fearing that her hair would be ruined by a helmet, as had happened once before, Ryuushi-san appeared, running there on her own two feet. This time, she had avoided getting caught at the traffic lights and had run at full speed.

As I watched, thinking that it was dangerous to cross even on a green light without checking both ways, she finished crossing the road safely and waved her hands vigorously. As if caught up in her momentum, Erio peeked out from behind my back and locked eyes with Ryuushi-san. I did not know what had sprouted between them in that moment, but they both called out to one another almost simultaneously.

“T-Touwa-saaan!”

“R-Ryuushiiii or something!”

Moving away from my back, Erio ran toward her with quick, light steps. Ah, it felt somewhat… like the loneliness one felt when a child grew too fond of someone else’s parents. Well, I didn’t really know what I meant by that. Both of them raised their arms meaninglessly and leaned their chests forward as they rushed toward each other. Then, they collided head-on.

“Boooom!”

“B-Boooom!”

Why did they tackle each other? The two of them continued to collide with heavy thuds, gradually making their way toward me. Erio was being pushed back, which meant Ryuushi-san was, well, the rest goes without saying. Even though she was a fruitarian. I suppose it is because fruitarians have a separate stomach for sweets. No, I didn’t intend any deep meaning.

“Whoa.”

Maekawa-san bent at the waist and suddenly peered into my face. Since she had an alien mask hanging down behind her head, it startled me on two counts. Alien Maekawa’s shoulders shook as she curled her lips into a teasing smirk.

“Are you lonely now that Touwa has left your side?”

“No, not really.”

Though it was a bit like a child leaving the nest. Well, I suppose it was fine. Probably. I wasn’t lonely, no.

Maekawa-san was grinning so mischievously that it made me feel uneasy. Then, her body began to sway like a willow leaf.

“Boom.”

For some reason, she collided with me. It was so sudden that I stumbled. Or rather, Maekawa-san did. No, wait.

“Transfer student, I thought I’d offer some comfort to you.”

“Do you see something in my face that’s asking for a sparring match?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, Maekawa-san just chuckled, “Fu fuuun”, as if she saw right through everything. Though she really didn’t.

“Whew, that was a good workout.”

After the “Boom” ended, Ryuushi-san approached us and made a gesture as if wiping her forehead. As for Erio, for some reason, she tackled me with a “B-Boooom.” I suspected that wasn’t exactly the appropriate way to behave, whether expressing affection or communicating. This girl just loved imitating others.

Perhaps it was because she was so innocent that she was easily influenced by others. It was quite troublesome as it made it difficult to feed her lies.

“Hi there, Niwa-kun.”

Ryuushi-san raised her hand, offering a greeting that sounded like she was imitating the protagonist of some famous manga (though specifically the anime version). I cheerfully raised my hand back with a “Hey!” and received her usual “Nihi” smile.

“Oh my, do I not get a greeting as well?”

The incredibly present E.T., standing beside me, pointed it out with a smirk. Perhaps having finally noticed her outfit, Ryuushi-san jumped up with a “Nuwa!” the moment she caught sight of her. It was an excellent display of shock, one that likely wouldn’t have been inferior to the impact of a first encounter with a real extraterrestrial lifeform. Perhaps because she was in the basketball club, her jumping power, too, was impeccable.

“Maekawa-san, you’re wearing an intense outfit again.”

“And you yourself, Ryuushi, seem to have chosen quite a cute outfit today.”

“I-I told ya, I’m Ryuuko! And it’s not true!”

Ryuushi-san lunged at the E.T. Maekawa. As I watched the two of them bickering, I felt a wave of relief, realising that the relationship which had been so beautifully severed in the future I had imagined was, in reality, still connected without any such animosity. As I watched the two of them bickering, I felt a wave of relief, realising that the relationship which had been so beautifully severed in the future I had imagined was, in reality, still connected without any such animosity.

“Besides, I-I’m no match for Touwa-san anyway.”

I glanced at Erio, who was draped in fluttering, frilly clothes. Erio sensitively caught my gaze and pressed herself against my back once again. While part of me thought she really needed to grow out of that habit, another part of me felt conflicted, unable to simply brush her off. Being a guardian was difficult; it was hard to decide how to feel.

“And, ugh, it’s… it’s the clothes Mum picked out for me.”

“If we let you choose, you’d only ever pick a futon, so we didn’t have much of a choice.”

I shrugged. A small doubt remained as to who on earth the clothes Meme-san had pulled out had belonged to, but since they looked good on her, it didn’t really matter. In fact, despite how flashy the clothes were, they seemed to settle into something quite modest whenever Erio’s particles drifted over her, as if shrinking away.

“You’re terrifying, you know.”

“W-what?”

I gently shook my head, telling her not to worry. Erio stared up at me for a moment, but eventually, she seemed to have decided to truly let it go. She peered out from behind my back and raised her right hand.

“Ryuushi or something, Ta-daaa!”

Erio thrust her mobile phone towards her, looking as though she were bursting with pride. Because she had over-polished the surface of the phone with a cloth last night, she ended up leaving it covered in scratches. It was certainly shiny, though.

“Oh, did you get a cell phone too, Touwa-san?”

“I bought one yesterday. So, let’s exchange numbers…”

“Hmm, mmm. I suppose that’s fine, right, Niwa-kun?”

“Eh, you’re putting me on the spot? Well, I guess so.”

I offered a half-hearted endorsement. With a subtle expression, a sort of “hmmm” that seemed to stem from an unknown cause, Ryuushi pulled out her phone and held it in front of Erio. There were even more straps on it than before.

“Pe, po, po.”

“Pi, pi, po.”

As the two of them operated the phone while creating a world of their own, I snapped a photo from the side and sent it to Meme-san. I had included a note saying that no reply was necessary, but I wondered how effective such a thing really was.

“There, done. I’ve registered your name as Touwa-san.”

“And I registered you as Ryuushi or something.”

“I told ya, I’m Ryuuko!”

I gently nudged the two of them as they playfully batted at each other, saying, “Alright, alright,” and the four of us began walking together in a group. Erio with friends of the same age walking outdoors alongside her. While Erio also clung to my side, she moved through the town without being wrapped in a futon.

While I occasionally wished that time would simply stand still, I was also struck by the realisation that we could never have reached this point if time had not flowed, and a thin line of conflicting emotion ran through me. Things rarely go as planned, don’t they? In the end, I suppose the only thing I could do was accept things as they were… For now, I decided to just enjoy the moment.

An easygoing person, standing just under 180 centimeters (self-proclaimed).

A wonderful classmate who dressed in a normally cute manner.

A cosmic girl who radiated a brilliance that could even overpower an outfit designed to emphasise nothing but cuteness.

And me, maintaining a horizon of exactly zero Youth Points.

It was an unusual combination. However, it was also a precious moment that we had earned after a long journey.

And so, I found myself accompanying the Youthful Girl on her day off this Sunday.

The footsteps of the four of us echoed, each with a unique rhythm. Among them, the most prominent was likely Erio, whose flip-flops made a rhythmic slapping sound. Her footwear was the one thing Meme-san hadn’t picked for her.

“Hey, Touwa-san, aren’t you going to go back to school or something?”

Along the way, Ryuushi-san suddenly asked that. She directed it at either Erio or me.

Erio immediately shook her head vigorously. Vertically. She then muttered, “I won’t.” As if to say, could someone who had already dropped out really just return to school so easily? When I looked up at Maekawa-san, she was tilting her head with a “Who knows?” expression. The part of her E.T. mask that hung loosely also tilted. It was surreal.

“Hmm, I see. Ah, I wasn’t asking with any deep meaning, really, no.”

Ryuushi-san waved her hands, emphasising that I shouldn’t worry about it. Erio tended to look down.

“By the way, where are we headed?”

As if sensing the atmosphere was on the verge of becoming awkward, Maekawa-san offered a lifeline. Her consideration was wonderful, but it was a secret that I felt like asking exactly where her mascot suit was headed.

“The karaoke box at that corner over there. Since Touwa-san is here, I thought karaoke would be fine.”

“Wh-why? Karaoke=me? Why?”

“Eh, you were singing, weren’t you? You sang live with Owari, didn’t you?”

It seemed she was still jealous about it. Erio used me as a shield in an attempt to escape that longing gaze. In response, Ryuushi-san circled around, trying to peer into Erio’s face. Erio tried to dodge that as well, and the two continued to circle each other further and further, and so on. They spun around in circles like dogs chasing their own tails.

“Mmm.”

“Mmmmm.”

After glaring at one another, the two began repeating movements like side-to-side lateral shuffles around me. It was impossible to remain at peace with people bouncing erratically all around my person. Or rather, it was far too difficult to walk.

“Help me, Maeemon!”

I tried to cling to E.T., who had taken a step back and was clearly enjoying the spectacle. E.T. Maekawa simply gave a blatantly insincere, “Ah ha ha ha,” and brushed my words aside. Shit, even though she was supposed to be my future bride (in my delusions).

“It’s fine that they are getting along so well. It seems their mental ages are quite similar, too.”

“Actually, we are all supposed to be around the same age…”

All of us here were. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder why Maekawa-san was so much more composed than the rest of us. Though, I wondered if Maekawa-san wasn’t a bit too calm, since she could walk around outside in a mascot suit without a second thought.

Erio’s and Ryuushi-san’s jumping around continued until we finally reached our destination. By that time, I had grown used to it.

I grabbed the shy Erio by the scruff of her neck and led her into the karaoke box. The interior seemed to be themed for Halloween, as several pumpkin decorations were scattered around. There was also a dart set and a preserved apple that looked like something William Tell might have worn on his head. There didn’t seem to be any bow and arrow to shoot through it, though.

According to the staff, many customers had apparently been singing since the morning, and there were only two private rooms left.

“How many hours are you going to sing for?”

Having been appointed as the representative to deal with the staff, I turned around and asked my companions for their opinions.

“About three hours?” “Th-three-minute cooking!” “Chan-chaka-chaka-chaka…”

Since there was only one viable suggestion, I settled on three hours. I will leave it to your imagination as to who uttered which line. As we moved toward the room, I found myself counting on my fingers, wondering how many years it had been since I last went to karaoke.

“I prefer karaage to karaoke.”

Erio, who was clinging to me, muttered her complaint. I silently agreed, thinking, “Me too.”

As we climbed the stairs at the back and entered the reserved room, it was already lively. The hallway had been unusually boisterous and loud, but the inside was quite noisy as well. Although the light fixtures glowed without restraint, not a single ray of daylight reached the room; yet, not one of the athletic types present complained that being in such a place during the daytime was unhealthy. After all, the only sports-orientated person among us was the one who had requested this very room. Long live karaoke.

“Where are you going to sit, Niwa-kun?”

“Hmm, well, I’ll just sit somewhere here, I guess.”

I sat down on the left side of the two available sofas. Immediately, Erio sat down right next to me. Then, Ryuushi-san sat down beside me as well with a heavy “thump”. Maekawa-san, who was left behind, decided to sit “on the transfer student’s lap, in true E.T. fashion”, choosing a position that was quite a stretch. And yet, she actually settled in. I mean, even without a girl sitting on my legs, I was already surrounded by girls on both sides.

As a young man, or rather, as a high schooler, I didn’t have much confidence in my ability to restrain my physical reactions, no matter how much E.T.-like her outfit was! However, for the sake of my honour, I bit down on my molars and cheeks, trying my absolute best to endure.

“Whoa, she’s light, but the presence is intense. It feels like a small wall is resting on me.”

I muttered such casual observations aloud. In reality, something like a red lamp was spinning round and round inside my head. It created the illusion that I was just standing vacantly inside a dark tunnel at night.

“Nuu, Maekawa-san! As far as Ryuuko-san is concerned, this is beeep beeep!”

“What are you talking about? You were the one who chose that spot and sat down first, Ryuushi.”

“I told ya, I’m Ryuuko!”

They spent a good ten minutes engaged in such back-and-forth banter. After those ten minutes, I felt full, or, well, yeah.

I felt as though something slightly more profound than Youth Points had accumulated, I suppose.

In the end, Ryuushi-san and Maekawa-san sat on the sofa across from us, leaving Erio and me exactly where we were. Maekawa-san had persuaded Ryuushi-san with an argument that was somewhere between persuasion and sarcasm, saying, “Wouldn’t it be pitiful for Touwa if her guardian wasn’t sitting right next to her?” and that was how the seating arrangement was settled.

Sitting by the intercom, Ryuushi-san took our order, requesting drinks and some fried potatoes to serve as a substitute for lunch. Maybe the secret of the fruitarian to maintaining her physique lay in the moderate consumption of potatoes?

“Man, it still feels strange. Spending a day off with Touwa-san and all.”

Ryuushi-san, who had repositioned herself on the sofa, gave Erio a wry smile. Erio looked up at Ryuushi-san, her gaze fixed on her, while simultaneously looking down as if trying to read her expression. Her eyes were shining so brightly that Ryuushi-san actually recoiled.

“It’s something that would have been unimaginable just a little while ago, right?”

When Ryuushi-san sought agreement, Maekawa-san gave her usual cynical chuckle and said, “I suppose so. I guess we have the transfer student to thank for this, too.”

“…No. Wasn’t it because Erio sang on the stage during the school festival?”

I tried to praise Erio’s spontaneous action by giving her a little nudge. However, Erio naturally shook her head vigorously, saying, “No, no.” As she denied it exactly as expected, the three of us looked at one another and laughed.

Somehow, Erio had settled in quite well. With enough time, it certainly wouldn’t be impossible to expand that sense of belonging even further. Even if it was impossible for her to blend in completely.

“Well, let’s just settle on it being thanks to the Youth Points, then.”

“Youth Points?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

While I held a finger to Erio’s forehead to prevent her from pressing for more answers, the drinks and fried potatoes were delivered. We had ordered green tea in a pitcher (Maekawa-san had mentioned that oolong tea makes one’s throat dry because it strips away the oil, so it was no good for singing), and we poured it into our respective glasses. Then, for the time being, we held a toast.

“What are we toasting to?”

“Hmm, well, to Touwa-san, then.”

“I-I decline.”

I ignored Erio’s protest and unilaterally declared, “Cheers!” It was such a troublesome way to praise someone that it even made me burst into a “Wa ha ha” laugh. A toast to Erio.

Back in April I wouldn’t have believed it. With the Denpa Smakin by my side, I would have said, “There is no way this could be possible.” Including the fact that the following month, I would suffer my first broken bone and be hospitalised.

“Well, shall we start singing soon?”

The four of us entered the codes using the remote while picking at a large pile of fried potatoes.

“What are you going to sing, Touwa-san? Some Nijuo Owari?”

“A-a Mofu-mofu song.”

“There is no such thing as a mochi-mochi tree.”

“Ugh… the one I listened to with Cousin.”

That was all she had talked about since yesterday. As she found herself distressed, it was Maekawa-san she turned to, not me.

“Ah, in that case, shall we sing it together?”

“Hmm.”

“Ehh, then Ryuuko-san shall join you as well!”

“Since Maekawa-san is someone who can read the room, I shall participate too.”

One after another, people raised their hands until it turned into a chorus. “Fine, whatever, let’s just all sing together.”

There were many songs whose lyrics I didn’t know, but I decided to just bluff my way through with the rhythm.

“The first song is… Ah, the one I entered.”

An unfamiliar melody echoed through the room. Maekawa-san began preparing the microphones.

“Whoa, that’s a song I’ve never heard before.”

“It’s that Nijo Owari song, the one she was singing on stage. It’s called Tokaido Melos.”

I had missed that song at the concert because I was too busy following Eliott-san.

“I sang it while lip-syncing.”

Erio boasted, raising her hand. I nudged her with my elbow to shut her up and gripped the microphone, fuelled by the momentum of the moment and a sense of desperation. I had absolutely no confidence in my singing, but simply clapping along seemed just as boring.

The music paused for a moment, followed by a brief silence. Then, I felt Ryuushi-san take a deep breath. I glanced at the screen, realising that the lyrics were about to begin. Did Maekawa-san memorise the song? She looked off into the distance with a satisfied expression, her lips and cheeks relaxing into a slightly smug, goofy grin.

“…*Inhale* *Exhale*.”

“Stop breathing like that.”

While I was busy reprimanding Erio, the song began. Ryuushi-san started with a solo. Maekawa-san hurriedly joined in, revealing she couldn’t sing even if her life depended on it, and then Erio and I joined in.

Maekawa-san hurriedly joined in, revealing she couldn’t sing even if her life depended on it, and then Erio and I joined in.

… Well. As for the content, the quality was abysmal. The three of us, whose knowledge of the lyrics and pitch were all dubious, ended up dragging down Ryuushi-san, the only one who should have been able to sing properly, creating a clumsy, garbled echo.

Between Ryuushi-san’s distorted vocals and the chorus of the Distortion Crew, it could only be described as a complete disaster. It was nothing more than a loud, aimless wall of sound that felt like nails scratching against a chalkboard.

It seemed likely that for the next song, and the one after that, we would continue to fail to stay in sync, merely asserting our presence through undisciplined voices. From the very first song, everyone realized this.

Even so, we continued just as we were, clutching the microphones and straining our voices however we pleased.

To begin with, no matter how hard we tried, there was no way our paces would ever align. I wanted people to remember us who gathered. A 180 cm E.T. – a perfectly wonderful classmate. A girl that seemed to come from a water planet. And I, with no prospects of recovering my Youth Points. There was no way people like us could ever reach a consensus.

I didn’t think our bond was something that was meant to be maintained in that way. As long as Erio was around, being a group of ordinary, happy friends was nothing more than a pipe dream. Just like E.T. was never able to fully adapt to Earth.

In that sense, it was actually correct to call the existence known as Touwa Erio an “alien”.

If this town were to be compared to a miniature Earth. Then calling her a foreign, heterogeneous presence would not be a lie. I, too, had been an alien, a transfer student, even if only for a very brief period. Erio’s degree of “alienness” was simply too strong; it would surely be impossible for her to ever fully blend into this town.

Touwa Erio was an Earthling. However, from the perspective of the townspeople, she was also, inevitably, an “alien”.

Yet, there was no reason why Earthlings could not become friends with an alien.

I believed that this could be achieved through a completely new form of communication and a way of existing through emotions, something entirely different from the methods Earthlings used to deepen their own bonds. And I believed that this was my current choice. Regardless of the motive, the fact that I had dragged this futon-woman this far was the result of my process over the past six months.

I wondered what motive would drive me next, and what kind of present I would choose then.

“Aaaaaaaaah, I look forward to iiiit!”

I suddenly poured out my feelings, having nothing to do with the lyrics. Since I had shouted it without any preamble, hoping no one would understand, the fact that all three of them looked at me in equal shock was exactly what I had expected, and it made me feel incredibly uplifted.

Finally, around the sixth or seventh song, the track I had registered began to play.

The moment I desired was coming. I continued to choose the present, always believing in that fact.

It was after five in the evening when I parted ways with Ryuushi-san and Maekawa-san. The cloudy sky failed to clear until the very end, and night gradually began to bleed into the mouse-grey horizon. At least it didn’t rain, so I felt relieved.

“See you at school tomorrow!”

“See you at school tomorrow!”

“Don’t go stealing my lines!”

Perhaps it was because I had spent so much time laughing along with Maekawa-san and the others as they exchanged those kinds of greetings, but my cheek felt a little sore. It wasn’t as if my life was filled with nothing but boisterous laughter. If anything, at the Touwa household, I was usually the one doing the pointing and teasing.

…I see. So the reason Meme-san’s cheeks were always so soft was because she was constantly laughing her head off.

What a happy person, I thought, my sentiment carrying a double meaning.

“Mmm fuuufuuufuuu, mmm, fuuufuuufuuufuuu. Fuuufuuufuuufuuu, fuuufuuu, fuuufuuufuuu.”

Erio, who was perched comfortably in her basket, was in high spirits, and her humming was just as energetic. Even after we moved away from the station area and toward the residential district, her solo performance continued. Devoided of the usual mofu-mofu from her futon, her voice sounded electronic.

Should we have dinner too? A discussion came up regarding whether we should grab dinner, but since Meme-san had sent an email saying, “Tonight will be chicken or something,” it appeared Erio decided to head home. Following that momentum, we naturally went our separate ways.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah!”

She nodded vigorously. Then, for some reason, her expression turned startled, and she looked away, pouting her lips.

“Well, it was ok-ish.”

There seemed to be absolutely no need to correct it, though. I wondered why children were so unable to live so simply. Light blue particles drifted through the air like spores on the wind, dancing across the road in the wake of my bicycle. The evening sky was overcast, imbued with a sense of fantasy. Within that setting, her pale right hand and her mobile phone possessed an aura that felt as if they might even pick up signals from some special, alternative world. Yes, for example, something like a multiverse, or perhaps the future.

“My phone feels so much heavier now that Ryuushi or something’s and Maekawa or something’s numbers are in there.”

“It’s not like they actually have mass… Well, I suppose that works as a metaphor.”

I pressed down on the pedals, accelerating my journey home just a little. The sound of the two wheels spinning resonated with the chirping of the insects. Clank-clank-clank, in resonance, like gears meshing together. The blowing wind felt damp, as if heavy with moisture, leaving a chill between my clothes and my skin. It felt as though I were puffing on the air to cool the lingering heat left behind by summer. It was already autumn.

“We, are, heading, home, now. Ah, we, are, on, our, way, home. Ah, we, will, arrive, soon.”

Erio tapped away, sending emails addressed to Meme-san. There was no need to provide a live play-by-play just because her location was constantly changing. Looking at her hair, which was beginning to lose its volume, I thought that radio waves might actually be broadcasting from her very fingertips, and I felt a sense of mystery in the colours that resembled the underside of Antarctic ice.

“And after that, Ryuushi or something, please… get… home… safely…”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone sitting in a bicycle basket.”

And I told you to wear a helmet was the kind of reply I could imagine.

While the sense of accomplishment felt strange, I arrived at the Touwa residence, sharing a certain tangible feeling with Erio. I slowed down as we entered the grounds, and after the wheels ran over the garden grass that had begun to grow long again, I brought the bicycle to a stop in front of the barn. Then, a curtain of colour, slightly redder than orange, draped over our shoulders.

That curtain was the radiance of another star, which had visited us about eight minutes ago.

“Ooh.”

Perhaps drawn by the setting sun that was rapidly dyeing her mobile phone, Erio was the first to let out a cry of wonder.

Through a gap in the thin clouds, a coppery hue surged across the sky. It spread with a vivid intensity, as if droplets of flame had spilt onto a sheet of drawing paper. The light radiating from it was deep red, yet it felt somehow cold.

“The day is ending. A wonderful day is ending.”

Erio murmured those words. Bathed directly in the brilliance of the setting sun, her form blended with the light blue hues, making her look as if a tiny Earth were floating upon the surface of Mars. The particles of light dissolved into one another slowly.

It was a world of light that evoked an image of Erio standing at the very centre of a dying star.

Woosh. A sensation like tinnitus enveloped my ears. It felt like the sound of the wind coming to a standstill.

I reached my hand out toward the landscape where that encounter with another world was taking place. Then, with incredible ease, the light burst and accepted my hand. I placed my hand upon Erio’s head. Because her hair was so heavily adorned, it was difficult to stroke.

“Tomorrow will have its own joys.”

“Hmm.”

Was I trying to persuade her or comfort her? I didn’t know myself, but I spoke those words nonetheless. Erio nodded with a smile, spread both her arms out horizontally, and ran toward the entrance with a “Wheee!” Of course, her footsteps went tap-tap-tap.

I watched her go, and then, with the sunset glaring beneath my eyes, I pushed my bicycle. After putting the bike away in the back and stepping out of the shed, the sun had already vanished. There was no light, and a heavy sky enveloped me.

I had seen skies like this many times before. Because I had seen them, I would face tomorrow once again today.

There were no infinite possibilities. It was nothing more than a one-way street. Even so, we “choose” our path, moment by moment, day by day.

I interpreted the accumulation of subdivided choices as the very act of living.

When the peak of those accumulated choices finally broke through to the surface. Just like Erio did today.

I wondered if she would think, “I am glad I am alive.”

“Mako-kun-kun, hurry, hurry!”

Peering through the living room window, Meme-san beckoned to me, calling me by that unwanted nickname.

“How did you even know…? Fine, fine, I’m coming!”

And so, our holiday drew to an end.

And following the holiday, of course, the time came to fulfil our respective duties.

Next Chapter - Daydream, Invasion

“…And so, Ryuushi or something, uh, sang that thing that was playing on TV…”

With an expression that said, “I see, I see,” Tamura-san listened intently, nodding along at appropriate intervals. Erio was reporting on how she had spent the previous weekend playing with everyone, using all sorts of gestures to embellish her story.

I sat there blankly, facing the entrance of the candy shop with my back turned to both of them. Since a young girl, much like a granddaughter, was speaking so joyfully, Tamura-san had little choice but to listen.

A week had passed since that Sunday, and a new Sunday had arrived. I sat there in front of the shopfront of the Tamura store, narrowing my eyes in the atmosphere of the October air as I breathed it in deeply. My eyelids slowly grew heavy.

I closed my eyes without resistance and found peace, using Erio’s energetic, topic-jumping boasts as my background music. The air touching my skin was cool, while my toes, warmed by the sunlight, felt cosy; it was an ideal climate.

I had decided to help Erio keep watch over the shop, and a day off like this wasn’t so bad. There was a small part of me that worried this was becoming the “Great-Grandpa Chapter” of my own fantasies, but it was a trivial concern.

“And look, look! A cellphone! I bought a cell phone!”

When I turned around, Erio was holding up a mobile phone at Tamura-san’s eye level, making a mysterious “ta-daaa!” sound with her mouth. The matching sparrow straps we had bought together swayed from side to side. Tamura-san stroked her chin and gazed at the light blue phone, feigning indifference.

“How many times have you been boasting about it now? I’ve heard it seven times already this week.”

That basically meant every single day, huh? How did you put up with it every time, Tamura-san?

“Grandma, what’s your phone number?”

“Idiot, do you really think I have it? Go call Meme or something.”

“Mom sends me plenty of emails.”

“Ah, those that caused incessant chirping while we were working the shop yesterday? That fool should get a job.”

“She sent about a hundred yesterday.”

Any more than that, and it would have crossed the line into harassment. Meme-san often sent messages to my phone as well, but her contents consisted of emojis and emoticons that were entirely inappropriate for her age, making them almost like a cypher. They were impossible to decode.

“Aaah, so what kind of stuff is in those messages from that idiot?”

Tamura-san peered at the phone, feigning complete lack of interest. Erio, however, operated the device with pure delight. She tapped the buttons with her index finger, pulling up the inbox history.

“Something like this.”

Tamura-san readjusted her reading glasses and stared intently at the screen, her face contorting into a scowl as she let out a disgruntled, “Ah? ‘Eri-chan, what did you have for lunch?’… Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

“That girl is really an idiot. She could have just come and asked you directly.”

She dismissed Meme-san with a dismissive snort. Clutched tightly in Erio’s hand, the mobile phone served as the backdrop for her continued, staccato-filled high-pitched chatter. She pressed on with her mixture of bragging and self-reporting.

“And then, I managed to get Ryuushi or something’s number and Maekawa or something’s number, too…”

I did not interrupt her and instead looked forward again, letting my mind drift into the autumn air.

It had been about seven months since I moved to this town. Seven months since I met Touwa Erio.

Ryuushi-san had said the same thing at the karaoke box. Over and over, I would find myself ruminating on the mysterious flow of reality, as if reflecting deeply and thinking, “Yeah, that’s right.” Even though my final conclusion was exactly the same: “I can’t believe it.”

Starting from the day I first spoke to her, I could never have imagined that I would arrive at a day like this. That I would find peace of mind while sharing the same space as that Denpa-san and that I would find myself laughing at the way she proudly spoke of her connections with friends, even if her words were a little clumsy. If I were her father, I would have burst into tears at how much she had grown.

It wasn’t as if I had intentionally chosen this path. It was simply that I had always chosen the path that seemed best in every given moment, and it just happened to turn out this way. I didn’t deny that.

From then on, I would likely continue to be lured by whatever seemed best in the moment. I would struggle with the tip of a swaying fishing rod, giving my all only to the fish that bit at that very instant. In the end, that was all I could do. Even if the future were all predetermined, the only time I truly lived was the present. The future was nothing more than a present that would eventually arrive.

Furthermore, the present was not something to be changed but something to be chosen. While my way of choosing remained somewhat vague, it was beginning to stabilise, and I soon found that I rarely struggled with such decisions anymore. If any doubt remained, it was only regarding the nature of Youth Points.

“…………”

I turned around. Now that Erio had become a “Youthful Woman”, I found myself unable to predict how the scenery of my youth would evolve around me. For better or worse, Touwa Erio was an unpredictable element in my life. Her mother was the same, though in her case, it was mostly for the worse. Setting that aside, the situation was deeply troubling.

However, looking back at my own burgeoning delusions… someone might have argued that it was only natural, since they were delusions to begin with, but they were filled with nothing but a bright future. Whenever the April version of Denpa Erio was by my side, realms of imagination that I surely could never have reached would unfold easily within my mind.

That was why I felt certain, yes, certain, that my “present” would never be labelled a “bad future”. I felt a twinge of guilt, however, for having reached a conclusion that was the polar opposite of what I had concluded when I dismissed her as a negative factor.

As long as I lived my life alongside Erio…

“… Crap, the Great-Grandpa Ending or the Living with Meme-tan Ending are looking way too likely. How scary.”

Even as I felt that fear, there was one thing I felt certain of.

It was a single light that brightened the future, born from my decision to believe in the person I had been until now.

No matter which path I chose from here on out, that light-blue “Denpa Onna” would likely never appear by my side again.

I had been optimistic, perhaps even too complacent, thinking such things.

But reality, as if finding its very purpose in mocking me, summoned the “next” thing.

From a “beyond” that I knew nothing about.

“Mofuffuffufu”

The silhouette of a creature that suddenly, with lazy dexterity, used its toes to swing the entrance door open was…

“Mofuffuffufu”

It was a combination of a familiar appearance and an unfamiliar smallness.

“Mofuffuffufu”

“Mofufu.”

Little Smakin had made its appearance at Tamura store.

Afterword

“Something incredible is going to happen next October!” ← a certain charismatic editor.

“Eh? What is it? Is there something else happening?” ← a certain me.

“No, I have absolutely no plans. No evidence, nothing at all. But it’s going to happen!”

“…Um, are you sure there’s really no basis for this? Like, you’ve been told something but you’re just keeping it a secret?”

“No, really, I have nothing. But don’t worry, it will definitely happen! I don’t know why, but I’m just so full of conviction! This is incredible, isn’t it insane?!”

“…………………………………….Yeah, it’s pretty insane.”

I am not wondering whether it is safe to follow this editor.

However, if nothing happens next October, I really don’t know what he’ll do.

Lose his charisma, I suppose.

Hello, I am Iruma Hitoma. When I started playing the latest Pokémon game on the day I bought it, it was springtime, but by the next time I played, one step outside my house and it was autumn. What a relatable protagonist.

Well, now.

Every once in a while, someone points out something like this to me: “Didn’t the characters’ personalities change quite a bit between volume one and the rest of the series?” And honestly, that is absolutely true. But look, even Hi○ in Yuu○○○ was totally different in the beginning. This is a common occurrence when you’re writing a long-running serialisation. So, I’m asking for a little bit of… leniency, shall we say.

With that in mind, please enjoy the series. And please also extend your patience to my father, who points at random hives on his body and says, “This cat-shaped birthmark is actually a royal crest…” He’s not a bad person, so please forgive him.

Thank you so much for your purchase again this time.

Iruma Hitoma

Iruma Hitoma

A creature that, when staying at a hotel, ends up eating nothing but sweet bread, vegetable salad, and jelly. The games I want to play right now are El Shaddai and Way of the Samurai 4. I’m getting impatient every day, wondering when they’ll be released. I haven’t changed at all since I was a kid.

Buriki

I live in the Kansai region. I worked hard again this year. I’ll work even harder next year!

Translator's Notes and References

Back to Volume 6

Return to Main Page