Kure-nai

Chapter 2-7

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Volume 1
Chapter 2-7

Once night fell, Tamaki came carrying five-dozen cans of beer and a dozen cans of soda. She even handed Shinkurou a used heater from her university.

“Is this okay?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine”

“…Even though there is a sticker that says, Removal from school grounds is strictly prohibited?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine”

Is that really true, thought Shinkurou but because he was thankful he accepted Tamaki’s gift. If it were just himself he would be able to handle the cold but there was no way that he would force Murasaki to endure it as well.

Yamie joined them later on; it was her first time meeting Murasaki so in a formal voice she exchanged greetings with Murasaki.

“My name is Yamie. Pleased to meet you, girl”

“Yes, pleased”

Taking advantage of the opportunity Yamie also introduced David, the black cat at her feet. David looked up at Murasaki and then meowed, Murasaki responded with a meow as well. Murasaki then moved her gaze to Yamie and stared at her intently.

Yamie wore all black and a skull necklace charm, as one would expect Murasaki would probably have been surprised by her.

“…Are you a witch?”

It was such a brazen question, was it because she was so young?

The mood was not particularly affected and Yamie answered Murasaki.

“No, I am a wicked woman”

“Wicked woman?”

“I lead men by the nose and live in refinement with the support of their money; as a woman I am of the upmost quality”

Murasaki looked at Yamie with an earnest look of admiration that said, that is amazing; Shinkurou made a stained smile.

Shinkurou had moved into May Rain Manor at the same time he had entered high school but he was not acquainted with all of the tenants. The only ones that he interacted with were Yamie from room 4 and Tamaki from room 6. Apart from them there was Koumori in room 1 who was hardly ever there and as for the remaining rooms somehow Shinkurou did not know if anyone lived in them. Shinkurou had not even seen the manager since he had moved in.

From the beginning it seemed that it was normal for there to be little interaction among the tenants at May Rain Manor; It seemed that it was rare for him to interact with Yamie and Tamaki as well. At May Rain Manor one was free to do as they please in his or her own room. Besides, it was pointless for the other tenants to meddle with each other. Even if a tenant was obviously committing a crime and Shinkurou knew about it he would probably not report them to the police. When he moved there he adhered to this rule.

Tamaki and Yamie knew about Shinkurou’s dispute mediation business but they did not know anything beyond that about him. Shinkurou as well only knew that Tamaki was a college student and that she was the neighborhood karate instructor, and that he knew nothing about Yamie’s everyday life.

Despite meeting Yamie nearly every day, we have such a shallow relationship? As Shinkurou thought this he found that he liked the limited interactions between them. He felt that is was good to be able to interact with each other normally in a mutual manner without knowing much about one another. There were many things that Shinkurou did not want others to know about him.

All four of them sat down at the dining table, which Shinkurou had set up with a gas stove and hot pot. The contents of the hot pot were boiled tofu. Because Tamaki and Yamie had no cooking skills at all, inevitably it was up to Shinkurou to prepare the meal. Murasaki silently watched the hot pot come to a boil; was it her first time having hot pot? When Shinkurou served tofu and Chinese cabbage into a bowl and handed it to Murasaki; she blew on the food as she ate it and then smiled a bit. She seemed pleased with it. By then Tamaki had already emptied ten cans of beer and Yamie slowly drank hers little by little. With the four of them gathered in such a small room it soon became hot and once Shinkurou saw that Yamie was preparing to light a cigarette, he opened the window. A single dead leaf blew in with the cool fresh air as it filled the room. The leaf landed on Murasaki’s head and without noticing she continued eating with a smile upon her face; Shinkurou casually picked the leaf up with his fingertips and returned it back outside of the window.

“…So Shinkurou, how far have you and Yuuno gone?”

Tamaki was starting to become drunk; she wrapped her hand around Shinkurou’s neck and pulled him towards herself. Her face was red and her breath reeked of alcohol; She had a broad grin across her face, there was little difference between her and a drunken old man.

Because this happened so often, Shinkurou simply drank some oolong tea and calmly endured it.

“There is nothing really going on between us”

“Then, Ginko? Are you fooling around with your childhood friend, you lady-killer!”

“Don’t talk about strange subjects please!”

“Don’t be so bashful. Come on warm me up a bit. Is it okay if I call you Tama-chan?”

“…Your breast, please zip up your jacket. I can see your bra”

“And yet you’re excited”

“I am not interested at all”

“Oh, are you making fun of my 77 centimeter bust!1 If you round it up it’s 80!”

Despite Tamaki rubbing her fist against his head telling him to be kinder to her, Shinkurou added more tofu to the hot pot and then he adjusted the temperature of the stove. When he looked at Murasaki she was cutting up small pieces of tofu and feeding them to David. However David would not put the hot tofu in his mouth. Murasaki thought about it and then cooled the tofu and offered it to David. At last David ate the tofu and Murasaki laughed happily.

“Cats certainly are cute creatures”

As Murasaki stroked David’s coat he purred blissfully showing how good it felt.

Shinkurou, who looked up this scene, thought to himself, It’s not bad. He could not explain what was not bad but as he watched Murasaki’s child like smile for a moment he felt like he was free from the various things of life. This was how powerful her smiling face was. Was humanity this simple? This kind of simplicity was not bad on occasion.

“So, there were definitely some good men at the university but they did not want to go out with a woman who seemed like she could break a rock with her fist. Running a full marathon in geta is really strange. What do you think about this?”

“…I am not really sure what to think”

Translation Notes and References

1. As a reference to American cup sizes Tamaki is likely somewhere between a B and C cup based on this measurement.

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