The thing awaiting Kenta, who had just returned from school, at the door was Koiijirou’s swaying, bored and s.e.xy tail.
Kenta’s father was a workaholic, and had brought Kenta’s mother along to an a.s.sociate enterprise in America. Thus, on first glance, the only residents in this Nonomiya residence were Kenta and his pet cat, Koijirou.
After feeding Koijirou some food, Kenta quickly changed his clothes. Though his father paid for the food and utility expenses in the Nonomiya family, Kenta would have to earn his pocket money as part of his father’s instructions. Thus, he had to work for 3 days every week.
Naturally, it was a day where he had to work on his part-time job.
“—I’m going then.”
Kenta pulled the zip on his parka up till his chest, placed Koijirou at his chest, and walked out of the house. His working place was an approximate 15 minute walk from this place.
“Oh?”
He stopped in front of the railroad, and suddenly widened his eyes as he looked to the side, cheering within.
Right beside Kenta was the big sister office lady who would often appear here whenever he returned from school or came back from part-time work—she was also Kenta’s secret crush.
She stared at her watch worriedly, looking around from time to time. It seemed she was feeling anxious, for the train had yet to come, and the train gates would not reach.
This railway crossing gate, located between two stations, was widely known for being a major roadblock. During the peak hours, when the train rides were more frequent, it would not be rare to wait for 10 minutes once the gates were lowered, and at this time, though it was past peak hours, one could end up waiting for 3 minutes.
In contrast to the anxious big sister, Kenta was practically in heaven, and his eyes were catching sight of her, moving up and down along her body.
This big sister was probably working at a certain company nearby, and it seemed she was running about on this day due to business matters. Her long hair was tied in a ponytail by a cloth hairband, she was dressed in a neat suit, and her stockings showed the profound, taut outline of her legs, giving off the vibe of a rookie office lady, an innocent charm.
And so, Kenta continued to pretend that nothing happened, and during the 3 minutes the gate was lowered, he enjoyed the temporary blissful moment, happier than ever before.
“—And so you were ogling that person with lecherous eyes again?”
“I did not!…Don’t say anything that will cause misunderstandings here!”
Kenta pinned the b.u.t.tons of his convenience store uniform as he argued back.
The woman, who was petting the cat Koijirou Kenta brought over, was Kyouko, the daughter of the boss. After having graduated from college during Spring this year, she had been helping out in her family business.
As Kyouko continued to feed Koijirou with dried squid, she continued on with a gleeful look,
“But aren’t you attending college next year? Do you still have time to chase after girls?”
“That’s a different thing…and speaking of which, don’t feed that sort of weird thing to my cat.”
“Ah—it’s fine, it’s fine. I won’t let it eat until it can’t walk…either way, I’ll continue to look after Koijirou, so hurry over to the cashier counter.”
“Okay okay…goodness.”
Kenta muttered as he grumbled at this subst.i.tute boss who loved to give others commands, and left the changing room. The following six hours would be the respectable time for work.
…However, once he opened the wings of pipedreams, the 5, 6 hours of part-time work vanished in a flash. Rather, one would say it simply was unsatisfying.
After finishing that day’s worth of work, Kenta took Koijirou back from the subst.i.tute boss, and left the convenience store.
“…If you like cats so much, you might as well move out and own one.”
The boss, Kyouko’s father, hardly appeared in the shop, and it was said he had a slight allergy to them, which meant that she could not raise them in her house. Kyouko wanted to play with cats no matter what, and requested for Kenta to always bring Koijirou along whenever he came to work.
Kenta put Koijirou in his clutches, endured the urge to sleep, and walked down the road devoid of people at night.
Once he reached home, he would watch a little television, fool around and study a little, and then go to sleep afterwards. This would be Kenta’s life on days when he had work. It was a common daily life that did not vary too much.
“…Oh?”
The red warning lights start to flicker, ostensibly meant to prevent Kenta from moving forward as the long stick of black and yellow stripes slowly fell. Kenta stopped in front of the track and suddenly found the big sister he had a crush on standing on the other side. It was certainly lucky of him to meet her twice.
He felt giddy within, and patted Koijirou on the head as he continued to ogle the big sister.
She, carrying a sling bag, was looking down at her feet, sighing away. It seemed she was very fatigued, probably because she worked late into the night.
I can help you ma.s.sage your back if you are willing, big sister—Kenta’s delusions were about to run wild whilst his face was showing a lewd grin, but at this moment, he froze in shock.
There was a suspicious looking person slowly walking out from the darkness behind the big sister, where the street lamps could not shine on.
“WAI—!”
Kenta could not help but yell a warning, but his voice was probably overpowered by the train’s whistle, and did not reach the big sister’s ears.
The man suddenly reached his hand out forcefully and grabbed the big sister’s sling bag, trying to s.n.a.t.c.h it.
“d.a.m.n it…!”
Once he saw the man wrestling for the bag with the big sister, Kenta was holding onto the gate railing, looking around.
The train lamps were around right in front of his eyes, arriving from the previous station. He did not have the courage to run over to the other side of the rail tracks.
“No other choice here…!”
After a moment of hesitation, Kenta reached his hand into his clutches, pulled Koijirou out, and used all his strength to throw this delicate, small animal at the man.
“Please do it, Koijirou! Do this for me!”
Koijirou curled into a ball as it flew about 10m or so in the far, and as Kenta had expected, it hit the sungla.s.ses man in the face, causing him to let out a loud shriek.
Soon afterwards, the train roared across, blocking his path.
“Hurry up and move!”
Kenta was on teeters as he stared at his watch. At this time, after the downhill train pa.s.sed by, it would take several seconds for another train to move along in the uphill direction. The train crossway gates blocking Kenta’s path would only be raised after the trains have pa.s.sed by in both directions. Thus, it would take about 3 minutes of waiting time for him.
“—No choice then!”
Immediately after the first train finished moving downhill, Kenta immediately ducked down and crossed the railing. This was the first time in his life he did so while the alarm was ringing, but this was for the sake of helping that big sister, and he could not risk anything more than this.
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…dare to on my important big sister here!?”
Kenta just needed a few steps to cross the tracks, and then he just had to bend down and duck under the black and yellow crossing gate. He rolled the sleeves of his parka, ready to beat the man up as the latter struggled because of Koijirou being in his face.
But the big sister’s actions were faster than Kenta’s.
“—Eh?”
While Kenta has his fist clenched, the big sister grabbed the man by the collar and did a splendid judo throw right before his eyes.
“…Ugh.”
The man that was slammed into the concrete ground let out a groan.
The big sister adjusted her sling bag nicely, and then walked towards Kenta as if the robbery attempt from a just a moment ago did not happen.
“A-Are you alright there, big sister?”
Kenta hurriedly lowered his clenched fist, wiped his sweat palm on his jeans, and tried his best to show a sincere smile.
The next moment however, this unforgettable smile he made was answered with a slap.
“Ah. Eh?”
Kenta’s vision so tremendously, and he fell onto the floor.
“That was totally unbelievable! You are no better than a monster!”
Kenta heard this voice from the big sister for the first time ever as he laid on the ground. However, he did not understand why he got hit.
“W-Why?”
“Why did you do that!? Are you so cruel? Throwing a kitten like a ball!?”
Kenta finally managed to lift his head, only to find the big sister picking Koijirou up, stroking it by the chin gently, and giving him a very stern look.
He turned to look in another direction, and found the man, who just took a judo throw from the big sister, attempting to get up and escape.
Kenta feebly pointed his trembling finger at the man, and told the big sister.
“H-He-He’s running away—”
“Don’t change the topic!”
“D-Did I do anything bad…? It’s better than getting robbed, right…?”
“Aren’t you being overboard? You threw a cat like a ball! You have no right to raise a cat!”
The Big Sister lashed out at Kenta, whose plea was to no avail. She picked up Kojirou and walked past the gate that has opened up.
“Ko-Koijirou, you—”
Kenta shook his head as he stood up, And reached his arm out to his beloved cat. However, the cat showed no resistance as it for taken away by the big sister, and merely purred lazily in her clutches. It shows no intention of struggling from the big sister’s clutches and returning to its owner.
“Y-You ingrate!”
Kenta slammed his first into the ground as he roared out.
“A-A dog will never forget any fortunes it gets! You scoundrel cats are much lesser than that!”
However, Kenta’s roar was overpowered by the siren and the train’s horn.
The next day was Sat.u.r.day, and though Kenta did not need to work, he went to the convenience store to voice his grievances on how the big sister dumped him, and how Koijirou left him.
“But that’s certainly your fault, right?”
Kyouko, who was at the cashier, rubbed salt into his wounds.
“Ehh!?”
“Come on now. that’s just animal abuse.”
“B-But I was just thinking about helping her—”
“Then couldn’t you have thrown those sports shoes with ridiculously thick soles instead? Any cat lover would have been furious at how you treated Koijirou.”
“H-How can that—”
“Anyway, no matter what happens now, you’re hated thoroughly after what you did last night.”
“Uuu…”
Kenta did not gain any consolation, and felt more depressed than ever in the face of this current reality.
At this moment—
“Kyouko!”
A voice Kenta once heard before reached his ears along with the chime of the automatic doors opening, and he looked up. He did not expect it to be the big sister to actually appear, holding Koijirou in her clutches as she walked to the cashier.
Kyouko’s eyes immediately widened, glanced aside at Kenta, seemed to realize something, and snickered.
“I see…so you’re the famous big sister.”
The big sister walked to the cashier, and upon hearing Kyouko’s muttering, seemed visibly shocked.
“What?”
“It’s nothing…now when, what purpose do you have today? You’re a rare customer in our shop here.”
“Ahh, that’s right.”
The big sister leaned forward, seemingly not noticing Kenta at all, and started chatting intimately with Kyouko. It seemed, from their conversation, that they were acquainted with each other during college.
“And Kyouko, I remember you really like kittens, right?”
“That’s true—and then?”
“This kid here’s really pitiful.”
The big sister brought Koijirou to Kyouko.
“—But there is a rule at the apartment I live at, forbidding me from raising pets. Can I leave it with you?”
“Pitiful? How?”
“That owner’s too much!”
The big sister furiously told all the details of what happened the previous night to Kyouko, not noticing that the other party, Kenta, was standing beside her, pale faced. Kenta had admired this big sister for a long time, but to her, he was just a brat who just took a slap from her in the shadows the previous night, and naturally, did not recall how he looked.
With a devious grin on her fact, Kyouko, upon hearing out her friend’s description, nodded away and pointed at Kenta.
“Unfortunately, the old man in my house is overly sensitive to cats, so I can’t do that even if I want to…but how about you hand over it to this kid?”
“Eh? This kid is—”
The big sister started to size up Kenta, and Koijirou immediately slithered out of her slender arms, and then leapt gently into Kenta’s parka.
“Ah, eh…? A-Are you—?”
“Ah, well—sorry for yesterday…I’m the guy who’s worse than a monster…”
Kenta greeted the big sister with an awkward smile.
“Meow…”
Don’t mess it up this time—Koijirou seemed to be reminding Kenta this as it poked its head out to look at him, and yawned.