Kokoro Connect

Chapter 21

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Prologue - January 1 of This Year

On New Year"s Day, Yaegas.h.i.+ Taichi visited the local shrine.

This area was usually calm and relaxing, but today it was thriving with wors.h.i.+pping visitors and street vendors.

Among the crowd veiled with the aroma of spice and sweets, Taichi and Inaba Himeko, who was dressed in a black long coat, were panic-strickened.

"Gah——Darn it! I don"t see him on this side either."

Inaba let out a white breath and ran her fingers through her windblown, mid-length straight black hair.

"Inaba you couldn"t find him either? ...Where did he go?"

"Where did he go~"

"Go~"

One of Taichi"s hands was holding onto the hand of a girl who looked like a shrunken, grade-schooler Kiriyama Yui, and his other hand was holding onto the hand of a girl who looked like a shrunken, kindergartener Nagase Iori. The two girls echoed the conversation.

Taichi"s company of five came for Hatsumode[1] , but one of them got lost on the way.

"I guess we really shouldn"t have come to this crowded place..."

Inaba responded to what Taichi said in a displeased tone:

"We"re already here, it can"t be helped."

"Can"t be helped~"

"Helped~"

"We have to find him quickly... It"d be dangerous for an ordinary child to get caught in any trouble, not to mention his current state..."

Very dangerous indeed.

"You don"t need to remind me, I know it"s bad. Pfft! I should"ve given him my cell phone... But then he"s gonna play with it and mess it up..."

"We should say that coming here to wors.h.i.+p was a bad idea to begin with."

"Quit complaining. Taichi, you"re the one who said "We made a promise to celebrate New Year together after all" and voted for it."

"Voted for it~!"

"It~!"

"You"ve been noisy the whole time, you two brats over there!"

As if to vent her frustration, Inaba lashed out at them.

But the Kiriyama Yui look-alike and Nagase Iori look-alike didn"t seem to have heard her at all.

"Noisy~"

"Sy~"

"These two are hopeless... it"s never going to end. Forget it, let"s hurry up and find Ao... I mean, Yos.h.i.+fumi."

Just as Inaba and Taichi, who was holding on to the two girls, were about to split up and search, a boy that looked to be a grade-schooler Aoki Yos.h.i.+fumi strolled towards them from the front.

"Hey Inaba-nee-chan, I wanna buy a toffee apple, give me money!"

He seemed oblivious that he was lost.

"Haa-!"

"Ouch!"

Needless to say, the boy took a beating from Inaba (a single hand chop).

"Wha—What~ It wouldn"t hurt to buy me one~"

What seemed to be a miniature Aoki protested with teary eyes.

"You made us worried sick, and now you have the gall to say that?"

"...Inaba, you don"t have to scare him like that. He"s fine now, right? But wandering off on your own like that is bad, okay?"

Aoki look-alike replied, "Okay!"

He didn"t seem to mean any harm. Once reminded, he would properly keep his promise.

"Well, Inaba, why don"t you buy him a toffee apple?"

"Huh? We already bought him cotton candy... Oh well, I"m going to be asking Aoki for the money back later anyway... Hey, here you go."

"Hooray!"

After he received money from Inaba, the Aoki look-alike gleefully queued for the sweets.

"Come back right away when you"re done!"

Taichi reminded him. But since he was still within sight, he shouldn"t get lost again.

Well, that solved the problem nicely.

"Oh yeah, are you two all right?"

"We got this~!"

"This~!"

The two girls who were looking up at Taichi proceeded to put their temporarily forgotten cotton candy in their mouths.

"There"s no need to be courteous, you know. Onii-chan will buy it for you."

"You sure like to spoil little girls, don"t you?"

"Please don"t limit who I spoil to "little girls". Normally speaking, I spoil all children."

Bearing possible suspicions just for being nice to little girls... Society has really changed.

"Well if you"re gonna spoil children so much, may I have my share of favour as well?"

"You"re asking me to treat you?"

"That~ is~ correct!"

"Why must I treat Inaba..."

Taichi wanted to protest, but he stopped short. Remembering how he was always indebted to Inaba for her help and adding that he felt a bit guilty towards her, a treat would not hurt.

"...my wallet is in my back pocket. Take as much as you like."

"Gotcha."

Inaba swiftly took out his wallet and picked out a 100 yen coin.

"This should be ideal..."

"Hm? 100 yen isn"t gonna buy you anything, would it?"

"It"s fine. Wait for me here a bit."

Inaba left those words and ran towards a takoyaki vendor nearby.

Taichi looked out to the other side. The Aoki look-alike hadn"t gotten his toffee apple yet and was still in the queue. Seemed like it would take a while.

Inaba came back with a dish of six takoyaki.

"Here, open your mouth."

"Wait what—— Why?"

"I can"t finish all six, but I felt like getting some takoyaki. So I want you to help me with two. I"ve already had you pay for one third of the price, so you"ve got every right to eat two. OK?"

Inaba gave her reason promptly and fluently, as if it was rehea.r.s.ed beforehand.

"Okay, but I can help myself——"

"Your hands are busy, no?"

"I"ll just let go——"

"You said you want to keep the girls from running off though. And besides, you two don"t wanna let go either, right?"

"Don"t wanna let go~!"

"Don"t wanna~!"

"What they said."

...It felt as if he was set up. There was no way out of it.

"Fine... but let it cool a little first—"

Foo~ Foo~

"There. All cool."

He never would have thought that after calming one storm, a new trial(?) would arise.

Taichi surrendered and opened his mouth.

"Ah~ Open wider."

"Ah... Ah~"

The takoyaki and Inaba"s face were closing in.

Taichi was so embarra.s.sed that he wanted to look away, but it felt awkward, so he faced towards Inaba again.

His eyes were then connected to that slender pair of eyes under those long eyelashes.

Eyes that captured you and wouldn"t let you go.

The takoyaki was put into his mouth-

Click.

The sound of a camera shutter came. Taichi jolted and faced towards its source.

There stood a female in kimono attire who was holding a cell phone.

Her gla.s.ses were gleaming.

And her usual tied up hair was ornamented with a hairpin.

This female in such flawless attire was none other than the cla.s.s representative of cla.s.s 1C, also known as the "Love Specialist (commonly known as)" and the "Missionary of Love (self proclaimed)"——Fujis.h.i.+ma Maiko.

"Fancy seeing you here, Inaba-san, Yaegas.h.i.+-kun. Happy New Year."

One storm subsided, and in came a new one.

She would always pick such a timing to show up that one couldn"t help but suspect: She didn"t plan this, did she?

Anyway, Taichi and Inaba first responded with "Happy New Year".

"Say, that was really an interesting moment. I couldn"t help but to take a photo of it."

"(Sounds of chewing) ...Don"t take photos, delete it."

Taichi said a.s.sertively, but since he was chewing, it didn"t sound very convincing.

Leaving that photo in her phone would be very problematic.

"No way. This kind of love-filled harem scene is a rare sight these days."

"It"s not a harem."

"If the sight of you being surrounded by cute girls and having Inaba-san feeding you isn"t a harem, then what is?"

"...My bad, Fujis.h.i.+ma-san."

Taichi couldn"t help but to apologize, even though he didn"t know why.

"But, Yaegas.h.i.+-kun with Inaba-san... does Nagase-san not matter to you anymore?"

"Me?"

The name Nagase caught the attention of the Nagase look-alike, who was holding onto Taichi"s hand.

Taichi crouched, withdrew his hand, and covered the Nagase look-alike"s mouth.

"Mmph! Mmph?"

"Please, until I say "Okay" don"t say a word. Can you do it?"

Although puzzled, the Nagase look-alike nodded. She was really an honest and good child.

"What? What does that mean?"

"N—Nothing, it"s not important."

Taichi said that, but Fujis.h.i.+ma still gave him a surprised stare.

"This feels suspicious... But we"ll put that aside for now. Well then, why are you flirting with Inaba-san just as New Year arrives? What about Nagase-san?"

"W—We are not flirting... And I have not been dating anyone..."

That"s right, I have not yet dated anyone——More accurately speaking, have not dated "either one".

"I see, you want to hold on to this half and half situation and fully enjoy being loved, am I right? But Yaegas.h.i.+-kun, men of that kind never end up well. You best be more careful."

"I—I didn"t mean it like that..."

"Are you saying you didn"t mean it like that, but you ended up being like that? You really are a sinful man. Should I, the "Missionary of Love", bestow the iron fist of punishment upon you?"

"The love preacher shouldn"t swing her fist around like that... And why are you being so quiet from the start, Inaba? Say something to deny it!"

"Hm? I was going to say that if I let Fujis.h.i.+ma misinterpret this into something strange and then help spread rumors around, it could become an "accomplished fact"."

So insidious. Inaba Himeko, you"re being too insidious!

"You know we"re kind of in a pinch..."

"What, I"m just kidding. Just~ Kidding~!"

Lately Taichi was finding himself unable to tell if Inaba was serious at all. What seemed like a thoroughly calculated speech didn"t seem to imply anything, and appeared to be nothing more than a tease.

"But leaving that photo does seem bad."

Inaba murmured to herself, and proceeded to whisper into Fujis.h.i.+ma"s ear.

A sharp gleam sparked across Fujis.h.i.+ma"s eyes.

Fujis.h.i.+ma operated her cell phone and showed the screen to Inaba.

After Inaba examined the screen, the two of them clasped each other"s hand.

And then Inaba came back to Taichi"s side as if nothing ever happened.

"What"s going on... What kind of deal did you two make?"

He thought Fujis.h.i.+ma wouldn"t compromise that easily...

"Nothing important, Taichi. It"s something between us girls."

"That"s right, Yaegas.h.i.+-kun. It"s a boy-restricted secret garden for girls only. Fufufu~"

Fujis.h.i.+ma brushed off her drool.

If he delved any further, something terrifying might come up; hence, he had better pretend he didn"t see anything.

"Whatever. As long as the photo is deleted. Well then, see you later Fujis.h.i.+ma, during the new semester——"

"——We"ll just leave this at that. However..."

Fujis.h.i.+ma pushed her gla.s.ses up.

"Those two cute young ladies with Yaegas.h.i.+-kun, who are they?"

She indeed brought it up.

"Uh, they... are a relative"s children."

"Yaegas.h.i.+-kun"s?"

"Uh, yeah I guess."

The moment Taichi answered, Inaba gave Taichi a sharp glare.

"...You moron! ...You should have said they"re their relatives" children."

c.r.a.p, Inaba was right.

"Huh~ But this girl looks exactly like Nagase-san, the other looks exactly like Kiriyama-san. Now that"s strange."

"Looks exactly like? I am Kiriyama—— Mmph!"

The Kiriyama look-alike spoke, but Inaba promptly covered her mouth. Then Inaba put her arm around the young girl"s body and pulled the girl towards herself. The girl struggled in Inaba"s grasp, making sounds of "Mmph~ Mmph~".

Needless to say, Fujis.h.i.+ma responded with another surprised stare towards them.

"...Why are you covering her mouth? That said, they are looking more and more like Nagase-san and Kiriyama-san. They would look like this if they were younger..."

"Inaba-nee-chan~ I finally bought it~"

Meanwhile, the Aoki look-alike returned with his toffee apple raised up high.

"Oh? Is this a relative of Inaba-san? ...But this child... Looks shockingly like Aoki-san..."

"c.r.a.p! We"ll miss the meeting time at this rate! Run, Taichi!"

Inaba shouted, and at the same time she pulled the Kiriyama look-alike and sprinted forward. On her way, she carefully tried not to drop the takoyaki dish in her hand and nudged the Aoki look-alike with her elbow:

"Run quickly! If you"ll be good and run, I"ll buy you anything you want later!"

"Eh? Really? Hooray~ Das.h.!.+"

"Hey don"t just randomly run around! Stick beside me! Gah, you idiot! You wanna get lost again?"

"Hey, hey! Wait for me!"

Taichi was half a beat slow, and turned his back on Fujis.h.i.+ma as well. Inaba and the others were leading in the front, sprinting.

"Bear with me just a bit."

Taichi carried the Nagase look-alike and ran after Inaba.

"Whoa! So fast! So high!"

The Nagase look-alike seemed to enjoy the thrill of being carried, as she gleefully swung her body around.

"I get it, but please be good and don"t move! Don"t swing your cotton candy around——Ack! Whoa?"

Attacked by the cotton candy, Taichi, whose view was blocked, subsequently ran into a pedestrian.

"Ouch~~"

"Ah, s—sorry!"

"It"s alright, I"m fine... Eh, strange? Onii..."

The girl, who quickly retracted her courteous smile, was...

"Onii-chan?"

——Taichi"s five-years-younger sister narrowed her eyes and stared at him.

A lot had happened, so his sister was in a very bad mood.

"You... Why are you..."

Struck by unbelievably bad luck, he kept encountering trouble after trouble.

"I"m with my friends... Putting that aside, Onii-chan?"

His sister beamed with a meaningful smile. By the way, her eyes were not smiling at all.

"Who"s that little girl Onii-chan is carrying? It can"t be a relative"s child right? It can"t be someone Onii-chan knows either right? Should I be calling in the police judging by the situation?"

"What?"

The girl in Taichi"s arm asked; his sister once again glared sharply at Taichi.

She really is... in a bad mood.

"I"m sorry! I will explain later, please forgive me for now!"

"O-Onii-chan!?"

Taichi ignored her sister"s questioning and fled.

Taichi, fearing what kind of price he would pay for fleeing like that once he got home, barely caught up with Inaba and escaped from the crowd around the shrine.

There was no sign of Fujis.h.i.+ma or his sister coming after them.

"Puff... puff... It was certain that we might run into people we know, we were probably too careless... too full of ourselves."

Inaba, still gasping, reflected upon her actions.

"Yeah... Probably... We should just stay put today... Hm? Message?"

Taichi opened his cell phone.

He had two new messages.

The senders were... Fujis.h.i.+ma Maiko and his sister.

"After the new semester starts, you better let me ask you questions properly. I won"t let you go until I accept your explanation, little dummy~ ❤"

That heart symbol at the end was too terrifying, Fujis.h.i.+ma-san.

"Explain yourself. Choose what to say carefully."

Your simple and cold tone was scary, dear sister.

Taichi gloomily lowered his head, and murmured:

"Why... did it end up like this..."

"Like this~"

"This~"

"Yui, Iori... It"s good to see you two in such high spirits..."

Taichi looked at the two girls who represented this time"s event, and sighed.

Directly interacting with the younger selves of his peers was impossible——it was the sort of thing that would only occur in a world where a time machine has been invented.

Yet, the impossible occurred and was happening right now before his eyes.

This story dated back to Christmas, the day of Yamabos.h.i.+ High School"s graduation ceremony.

Translator"s NotesJump up↑ Hatsumode (初詣) is the first shrine visit of the New Year in j.a.pan.

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