「 Minaho-san, Misuzu-san also mentioned that those who had s.e.x with Yoshi-kun can’t have s.e.x with anyone anymore 」
Megu said.
「 Indeed. I saw her mentioned that through the monitor 」
Minaho-neesan points at the monitors.
「 Yet, why does Yoshi-kun look like he’s troubled? 」
Well.
「 Well, everyone says that but I 」
I’m not confident.
I don’t think that everyone will love me forever.
There are so many people better than me in this world.
I’ve got nothing good on me, not my face, my brain, nor my muscles.
「 Misuzu-san says that, and I think of the same. And yet, you still don’t believe us? 」
Minaho-neesan looks into my face.
「 Well, I don’t have any talent at all. I’m being desperate to meet everyone’s expectations every day, and yet I can’t do it correctly 」
「 In the end, your mother’s curse has taken a significant toll on you 」
My mother.
「 Your mother placed such heavy pressure on you because she wants you to become the perfect son she wanted 」
My mother…
She doesn’t even take care of me and yet she forces me to become her ideal son.
She wants me to be on the top 1 in j.a.pan level just in the first grade of elementary.
She wants me to be polite and dress neatly.
“Your son is magnificent. It must be a gift from his mother’s education,” and such praises coming from teachers are what she wants.
I can’t do that.
n.o.body even watches me study.
Since Grandma died, both my clothes and shoes I’m wearing are the same until it’s tattered. It needs to be unwearable, so I could buy a new one.
Even with my hair, it’s bald hill to ruffled, to bald hill and repeat.
Anyway, my mother wasn’t interested in me at all.
She doesn’t even give me a decent life and yet she asks me to become an ideal son.
In the end.
She understood that I can’t be the son she wanted, so she abandoned me.
You’re not my child, she said.
I never forgot that.
「 Your mother’s curse is what gives you the urge saying that you must become the ideal man for us. That if it doesn’t happen, somewhere in your heart thinks that we’ll abandon you 」
…I
「 Now then, what do you think we should do, Megumi? 」
Minaho-neesan asks Megu.
「 I don’t know. Everything’s becoming hard to understand for me 」
Megu.
「 Until yesterday, I thought that I’m the one who knows the most about Yoshi-kun in the family. After all, I’m Yoshi-kun’s cla.s.smate, I help him out in the bakery, we also have our own house that I made a selfish conclusion that I’m the one closest to him 」
Megu speaks in a dark tone.
「 But, Nikita-san happened, then after that Kana-senpai, then Takakura-san, I, all I did was get angry every time Yoshi-kun had s.e.x with a new girl, but Nei-oneesan and Misuzu-san are thinking about Yoshi-kun and the whole family 」
Tears gather in Megu’s eyes.
「 Everyone thinks profoundly of Yoshi-kun more than me, I just… 」
The tears fell on the floor.
「 I feel like I’m just a drag for Yoshi-kun and this family, that I’m not needed 」
「 That’s not true, Megu! 」
I say that but,
「 Be silent for now 」
Minaho-neesan stops me.
「 Megumi, sorry but we’re not done with him yet. You can voice all your complaints later. I don’t have time to talk to you right now 」
M-Minaho-neesan, that’s.
「 I-I’m sorry 」
Megu shuts up.
「 Also, I need your opinion when talking to him, so I had you come. So, could you not run away? 」
「 O-Okay 」
Megu’s opinion is necessary when talking about me? What?
「 Let’s get to the point 」
Minaho-neesan looks at me.
「 Are you aware that you’ve got a loose screw? 」
Huh?
「 That’s an easy question. You just have to answer YES or NO 」
That’s natural;
「 YES 」
「 I see. So you know 」
No, well.
「 And so, what specific part is crazy? 」
That’s.
「 Like, how these many beauties are my women 」
「 That’s all? 」
「 That I’m a criminal and yet I live a calm life without paying for my crimes 」
「 I see. What sin? Be specific 」
…I
「 I raped Yukino and got her pregnant, and that I killed someone 」
I shot Cesario Viola with my hand.
「 Oh, putting Yukino-san aside, Viola’s case was legitimate self-defense. If you didn’t shoot him, then someone else would 」
「 But 」
「 Okay. That’s your sin 」
Yeah.
But, it’s too late for a trial anyway.
There’s not even a record of Cesario Viola coming to j.a.pan.
「 What else? 」
Minaho-neesan asks me.
「 What other reason you have to think that you’re crazy? 」
I look inside my mind.
「 No, nothing else 」
Yeah, nothing else remains.
「 Okay. Then, close your eyes 」
Eyes?
「 Just do it 」
「 O-Okay 」
I close my eyes.
「 Imagine your current self inside your head 」
My current self.
「 The you right now. Imagine yourself and all the people around you, your relationships with them 」
I do as Minaho-neesan says.
Inside this darkness.
I see people wrapping me.
「 Can you imagine it? 」
「 Yeah 」
「 Then, first, take out all of your women 」
Huh?
「 Just do it, start with Takakura-san 」
「 Ah, o-okay 」
「 Take Tsukiko-san, Yomiko-san, and Luna-san away 」
Tsukiko, Yomiko, and Luna disappear.
「 Done. 」
「 Good. Next, take away Nikita-san, and Hoshizaki Kana-san 」
Take away Anya and Kana-senpai.
「 The two from Kouzuki SS 」
Shou-neechan and Rei-chan.
「 After that, Michi-san and Edie 」
Michi and Edie also disappear.
「 The two from Kouzuki house 」
Misuzu and Ruriko.
「 Mana-san and Agnes. 」
The two also disappears.
「 Katsuko, Nagisa, Mao-chan. Margo, Nei, and then me 」
Everyone in Kuromori disappears.
「 Lastly, Yukino-san and Megumi 」
Everyone disappears inside my heart.
「 Once you take away Kuromori, Cesario Viola disappears as well, doesn’t he? 」
Minaho-neesan said.
「 Everyone’s gone, aren’t they? This is you before you entered high school 」
That’s right.
n.o.body’s on my side.
This is me, a few months ago, in front of the high school entrance ceremony.
「 Okay, what kind of person are you when you were alone? 」
Me?
「 Be specific. How was life when you were alone?
T-That’s.
「 Uhm, it’s dark and hopeless 」
My father was gone at that time, and I felt hopeless.
「 I’m dumb so I don’t even know what I would do in the future, I don’t have any talent, and I’m just an ordinary high school boy 」
「 DOUBT, I say 」
Minaho-neesan’s voice was sharp.
「 That’s the mistake. Your perception is incorrect 」
Huh?
「 Open your eyes now 」
I open up my eyes.
Minaho-neesan sends me an earnest look.
「 You’re an ordinary high school boy? Don’t joke with me 」
W-Why are you angry?
「 You’re not ordinary at all. You’re crazy. You had s.e.x with the girl you liked and came inside her without thinking of consequences. Even though you say that you’re not confident in yourself and that you’re afraid that your women would go to another guy someday, you contradict yourself by saying “I’ll protect you forever” You’re filled with inconsistencies. You even faked your family register just to please Nei, also, though that’s an enormous crime, you don’t even count that as your sin. You really are half-baked 」
Now that she mentioned it.
I had myself register as Nei’s younger brother, Keito.
I have two family registers right now, that’s indeed a crime.
I’ve even smuggled myself to the US just to commit it.
Yet I didn’t feel guilty at all.
「 Really, what a crazy man. Even now, you commit crimes without care for the sake of the family, don’t you? Cesario Viola’s case left a sense of guilt on you? Then, if the same thing happens, do you plan on not pulling the trigger? No, you’ll shoot it again and again to those who harm your family. You won’t even hesitate 」
She’s right.
I think I’ll kill someone again.
The next one would be my second time so there won’t be any hesitation anymore.
「 And what part of that is normal? 」
My sense of what’s right, what’s normal, is broken.
「 It wasn’t an influence of Kuromori because you joined in. You’ve been crazy from the start 」
From the start?
「 When you first raped Yukino-san, you didn’t hesitate at all. If I recall, you did it ten times in one night 」
Right.
I did something that horrible without a problem.
「 In short, you’re already crazy even before I met you 」
…I
「 Then, think about at what stage have you lost it 」
At what stage?
「 How old were you when you became crazy? 」
She’s right. Since when?
Since when I’ve been crazy?
「 Since Father disappeared? 」
That’s.
「 Since when you were sent in the boarding middle school? 」
Err.
「 Since elementary school, when your mother abandoned you? 」
No.
「 Since when your grandmother died? 」
That’s, uhm.
「 No! Since the start!!! 」
Minaho-neesan?
「 You were crazy from the moment you were born. I know it because I’ve investigated the environment and the parents you grew up with. I’ve also checked about your past. Your memories which say “this was the case” and the reality of what your family and the people around sees, I know them both 」
My memory and reality.
「 Your memory says that your grandmother is very kind to you, but in reality, she’s not. She’s hot-tempered and emotional 」
「 That’s not 」
「 Just listen to me first. She’s not kind, but she’s ordinary. She has common sense and can have a good relationship with the neighbors 」
Minaho-neesan keeps on talking, so I don’t interject.
「 The hopeless are your parents. Both your father and mother are crazy. They can’t act as a decent member of society at all 」
I think so too.
Mother always acts as she pleases.
Father’s tolerating Mother’s acts.
「 To put it bluntly, there’s not a single good reputation among those I surveyed about your parents. Everyone hates your parents it seems 」
Even Father, he was working in my maternal Grandfather’s company.
My Grandfather was a selfish tyrant company president and worked his son-in-law hard.
Oh, my father said that he felt inferior to himself.
In reality, he just did something that the people in the company didn’t like.
In the end, he’s been regressing so much that he disappeared from work.
That’s not something a person with a sense of responsibility would do.
One has to work until the end of the fiscal year, and then you can retire.
「 To begin with, your Grandfather is also another crazy person 」
He’s selfish that he always throw insults on other people and yet he thinks that he should be praised.
He’s a man beyond saving.
「 I see, you hate your grandfather too. And also your parents 」
…I
「 What’s wrong? Answer honestly, Yoshin.o.bu 」
Hearing my name surprises me.
This name is the one my Grandfather gave me.
「 I hate them. I hate them all. Isn’t that obvious? Grandfather, Mother, and even Father, I can’t possibly love them! 」
They were all selfish.
They didn’t love me.
They think of me as a hindrance.
They’re not family.
「 But, Grandma. Grandma was kind to me! Grandma was the only one who treated me like a human, as someone alive 」
I don’t care about other people’s testimony.
Grandma, my Grandma loved me.
「 Well, that doesn’t matter now. It’s something we can’t find out anymore, and if you think that way, then sure 」
Minaho-neesan speaks coldly.
「 But, you see, it’s true that your parents and Grandfather were crazy. And you’re born from those people 」
…I
「 Don’t you think that you’re crazy from the moment you were born? 」
Now that she said it.
I can’t say anything except “she’s right.”
About 80% of the house is Mother’s private room, so we’re forbidden from entering.
I’ve been lying down and getting up from the couch in the kitchen for a long time.
My personal items all fit in just one cardboard box.
If anything’s outside, she will throw them away.
My shoes are nothing but a single pair, even if there’s already a hole, Mother won’t replace it until I can’t wear them anymore.
I mean, I don’t even talk to Mother directly.
Father does all the talking.
What the h.e.l.l.
I’ve lived with everyone in here for four months so now I understand how crazy my house was.
As a matter of fact, Mother divorced Father arbitrarily and returned to her parents’ home.
But, she didn’t carry any luggage from the house, and she kept the rooms locked.
My father disappeared during the entrance ceremony in high school.
「 They all are crazy 」
That’s all I can say
「 It’s not just them, you’re included 」
!!!
「 You say you’re shocked from your father abandoning you, that you’re worried about your future, that you feel uneasy, and yet, you raped Yukino-san, didn’t you? 」
Well.
「 Doesn’t that selfishness resemble your mother? 」
Guh!
「 I remember it. My father was a man who got my mother pregnant then abandoned her. I was Yuzuki Minaho until I was 12. Mother and I were poor but, we lived happily together. I didn’t know anything about Kuromori Kouchiro at all! 」
Minaho-neesan
「 But I was kidnapped when I was 12 and turned to a prost.i.tute. My father didn’t say anything as Shirasaka Sousuke raped me. I’ve always thought that he’s not my father 」
Minaho-neesan’s father. Kuromori Koichiro.
Minaho-neesan drugged him and then turned him to a crippled person.
He’s living in some facility now.
「 But you see, after I got involved in the management, all the old customers say: “You’re similar to your father,” I know that they don’t mean bad by that. I know it, I have the same blood as that crazy man. Therefore, I’m also crazy. All I’ve done is crazy things 」
Minaho-neesan.
「 That’s right, I’m also crazy from the moment I was born. I’m a daughter of a single mother. A woman who was deceived by such a man. Then, when I was 12, I was kidnapped, and my life was turned crazy! It’s nothing normal at all!! 」
It’s not normal.
「 Let me be honest. We all got a loose screw. We’re not normal. We’re crazy. Crazy. Do you get it? 」
Minaho-neesan looks at me.
「 Katsuko and Nagisa as well, they were kidnapped at their first year in high school and turned to prost.i.tutes. Their high school life was taken away and became too painful memories during the prost.i.tute era. That makes it impossible for them to have ordinary love. Even so, they fell in love with a high school boy, which is you, they’re crazy! 」
Katsuko-nee, Nagisa.
「 Nei as well. Her parents died, and she had a trauma as she was unable to save her twin brother. She can’t have ordinary love. You replaced her brother and also she even has s.e.x with that said brother. She’s crazy. Crazy for you. She can’t live without you! 」
Nei.
「 Misuzu-san and Ruriko-san as well. They were born from the prestigious family of Kouzuki house. Those girls will never open up their heart for any man other than you. After all, they’re crazy! They dedicate their everything to you only, and that’s who they’re able to bear the burden of being born as the daughter of Kouzuki house! 」
Misuzu. Ruriko.
「 Mana-san is like you. She’s abandoned by her real family, she has nowhere to go. And if you were to leave her, she’d die. She’s also crazy. She’s broken beyond repair. After all, she can’t return to her real family anymore! 」
We killed Shirasaka Sousuke, Mana’s father.
Mana’s house is only here.
「 Agnes, that girl’s crazy from the moment she was born. She was made to become a s.e.x slave after all! No matter how much you follow up on her life, the secret of her birth can’t be changed! You have no choice but to keep your deception 」
If Agnes knows the reason why she was born, then…
「 The other girls as well. Michi-san is crazy. Edie is crazy. Shou-san is crazy and that includes Reika-san. Even the new girls are all crazy people. What Miko power?! Everyone’s just crazy! Crazy I say! All the people around you are all crazy!!! This is a gathering of crazy people!!! 」
Minaho-neesan tells me.
「 Then, you’re also crazy. Crazier than anyone. As much as you’re crazy, I’m in love with you 」
…I.
「 I also can’t live without you. If not for you who’s ten years old younger than me, a high school student, then my heart won’t keep this balance. I’m not going insane because you’re here. Four months ago, and even now 」
Oh, I.
But, I’m also crazy.
I’m a crazy person
「 Listen, you’ve never done anything normal until now and in the future. You’ve been crazy since you were born, and from now on, you’ll continue your crazy life with all these crazy women around you. You must understand that. Prepare yourself. And resolve yourself. Your life has nothing but this 」
That’s right.
I wonder why I call myself as an ordinary high school student now?
Minaho-neesan’s right, I’ve never been normal since I was born.
「 But, you’ll become happy. Make yourself happy and think of how to make everyone happy 」
That’s right.
No matter how unfortunate our births are,
We may live a crazy life, but,
That doesn’t mean that we can’t become happy.
「 I want to be happy with everyone. I want to make everyone happy 」
I said.
I’ll do anything for that.
「 Yes, but, Yoshin.o.bu. This is what I think 」
Minaho-neesan?
「 Maybe, the happiness we crazy people should reach is different from what the ordinary people think 」
Huh?
「 Well, we’re crazy, see? Don’t you think that we can’t be satisfied with the happiness ordinary people imagine? 」
That’s.
「 Yoshin.o.bu and Megumi, that’s the problem that sticks with you two 」
Minaho-neesan tells the two of us.
「 The two of you have been chasing the ordinary happiness people want for the past four months 」
Megu gasps.
「 You don’t get it, do you? Megumi? 」
That’s right, Megu as well.
She lived and grew up in this brothel.
She was blessed with a good foster parent, the Yamamine house, but,
Yukino, her sister from another, kept on bullying her.
The Yamamine couple continued to attend to her needs.
She kept all her anger inside.
「 You’ve been crazy since you were born, no matter how close you are to an ordinary girl, no matter how much you dream of ordinary happiness, you’re still crazy. You can’t be satisfied unless you receive crazy happiness! 」