Welcome to Underground Pain, Pain, Fly Away, and Then don"t Ever Return Again
Part 2
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A total of ten days pa.s.sed between welcoming Ig home and starting the "operant conditioning challenge", during which time Amanoiwato was closed (though the CLOSED sign had been up everyday since it opened anyway). Amanoiwato has become a gathering spot for middle-school students, so if it"s empty for too long, other places will become their gathering spot, even if those places aren"t as interesting. Therefore, even though I"m still in the process of training Ig, I decided to resume normal business.
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Toukchan, who I"m seeing again for the first time in 10 days, greets me politely. Her eyes light up when she spots the newcomer sitting on my shoulder.
"Is that the much rumored Ig-chan? So cute!"
"Looks weak."
Shoutkun said cruelly while staring at Ig, who was wary of these strangers but also deeply interested in them. Shoutkun took a chocolate cigarette1 out of the pocket of his winter uniform, lit it with his lighter, and inhaled. Well, I guess it tastes good. The sugary chocolate smell spread throughout the bar.
While I was in Brazil, I guess Shoutkun started smoking actual cigarettes, saying "I like watching it burn" or some such nonsense. He was immediately found out by Toukchan, who punished him by burning up his supply and forced him to switch to chocolate cigarettes. I was told about this small incident by Kaburagi-san, but seeing the results of it in reality is quite amusing. It makes him look even more like a delinquent, but he"s really just burning and inhaling (eating) some cheap candy.
*Ha*-, Shotkun, who was completely normal, has become quite an interesting character. Who"s fault is that? Is it mine?
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Ig is a monkey with an extremely rare superpower that the "boss" found in Brazil. After she was attacked by the world"s darkness, she was separated from her group and was close to death. So "I" (as the bar-master), following the boss"s instructions, went to Brazil to pick her up. That"s the story I created anyway.
Ig was fine with Toukchan at first, but when Toukchan said "Don"t be afraid," and gently held out a finger, Ig went "*Jijijijiji!*" threateningly and slapped Toukchan"s hand away. Toukchan made a slightly sad expression, but she didn"t force it, and obediently withdrew. *Umu*, she"s a good kid. But, with the exception of myself, Ig still hasn"t gotten used to people. She was also on guard against Kaburagi-san as well. I guess it"s not unreasonable, considering that human beings were the ones that abused her.
Or so I thought, but when Shoutkun – who still had the chocolate cigarette in his mouth – held out a finger after Toukchan, Ig timidly touched his finger, while I tried to keep a straight face. Ig quickly drew back, but she definitely touched it.
Eh? Huh? What?
Beautiful women and bishoujos are no good, but a delinquent is OK?
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"Oh, it touched me."
"She touched you? I also… (tries again to approach Ig, gets rejected) Ouch! Why?"
"Because you smell like Buddha, you know. As I thought, fire is better than Buddha."
"Shut up. How can fire be better than Buddha? Besides, shouldn"t I have more fire than Shouta, since I can make it come out of my hands?"
"No, it"s because Touka doesn"t have enough of a heart of fire."
Shoutkun and Toukchan took turns extending their hand to Ig, but it was obvious that Ig was far less vigilant against Shoutkun than Toukchan. Shoutkun"s self-satisfied expression was irritating.
After a while, they both challenged each other to see if one of them could feed Ig (it was a failure). Ah – it"s not like that – they didn"t actually do it. After arguing, they left to go down to the bas.e.m.e.nt for 30 minutes of ability training. And so, the room once again was a peaceful place for one human and one small animal. Ig sniffed her surroundings with her nose and looked around, then loosened the strength of her grip on my shoulder, seemingly relieved. She narrowed her eyes in comfort as I tickled her armpit.
Is this female animal strongly attracted to men, or is that because I"m a man, she"s less cautious around men in general? Hmm, I don"t understand it at all.
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It"s the winter season, so in order to include Ig in my daily routine of walking around the neighborhood early in the morning, I wrap a scarf around my neck and hide her in it. Although Ig suffered from abuse in the past, she can"t have stranger anxiety forever. She needs to gradually get used to it. It can"t be helped that I can"t completely wipe away her fears, but I can train her so that she can overcome them. Based on her reaction to Shoutkun, there should be buds of her overcoming it.
After 2-3 weeks of walking around with Ig, I discovered a few things. Mainly, that it seems that Ig dislikes the scent of perfume and/or makeup. She shows no caution against women with no makeup on, older women, and children. But, she dislikes men who wear makeup, and people who use too much hair product. It seems that hair dye is safe.
If I think about it, the obasan who ran the orphanage – and was the main cause of Ig"s abuse – had makeup caked on her. The children of the orphanage often played with the empty makeup bottles as well. It"s highly possible that the scent permeated the entire orphanage. Which means that she learned to fear that smell.
As a test, I had Toukchan try to approach Ig while not wearing any make-up. There"s no mistake; Ig let down her guard.
Hmm.
…Yep.
Concerning Kaburagi-san, I"m at a loss.
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Kaburagi-san firmly refused to remove her make-up in order to become friends with Ig. It was an immediate answer. It seems that Kaburagi-san wanted to put Ig on her shoulder and make Ig her magical girl mascot, so she felt a little regret, but even so, apparently wearing no make-up is absolutely unpleasant. Because I also know what Kaburagi-san"s face looks like with no make-up, I told her, "It"s all right, you"re still beautiful even without make-up," but it seems that that isn"t the problem.
Because wearing a thin layer of make-up instead was slightly less objectionable to Kaburagi-san, we managed to reach a compromise. Now, Kaburagi-san still comes to Amanoiwato every night, and during the day, she keeps trying to make an effort to get closer to Ig, but honestly, it seems likely to end in vain.
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I was wiping down the table at Amanoiwato as usual when, for no reason, I fell and carelessly hit my head on the corner of the table. I was in groaning in pain as Ig slowly extended her hand to my head. Then, for just a moment, there was a soft white light.
"Oh, ooh!?"
There"s a response from Healinglycogen! Yes, she did it! One month since coming to j.a.pan! But she finally did it!
"Ig! Good girl! Good job! Great! I"m healed, I"m healed Ig! Excellent!"
While praising and stroking her as much as possible, I took from the shelf the highest grade monkey food, which I had been saving for this occasion, and fed it to Ig. In truth, since she hasn"t trained her healing at all, it works like s.h.i.t, and the spot where I hit my head still hurt, but I still made sure to praise her.
Really, Ig"s healing ability deserves praise. I seriously saw it. What an amazing white light effect! Was that holy light or something? Heals people with holy light, has a history of abuse, a tragic 9 year-old little girl. She"s already the main heroine!
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Footnotes:
1: Chocolate (Cocoa) cigarettes are a dagashi (cheap/novelty candy). They"re basically a sugar stick that tastes like chocolate. Looks like this ⇒ Cocoa Cigarettes