Volume 2 - CH 5

Chapter 2: Yuuji a “Loner-NEET” Evolves into “NEET”

Part 5. Yuuji, Understanding the Little Girl’s Situation

Yuuji found a little girl that seemed to be stranded inside the forest, brought her to his house, and nursed her all night long.

The next morning, when Yuuji and Kotatrou were watching over her, the young girl woke up.

In his first conversation in 10 years with another person that was not his family, the shaken Yuuji spoke to her in Japanese.

“Ah, if it Japanese, can she understand it?” while thinking about this, Yuuji’s ears heard the words the little girls spoke, and moreover he could grasp the meaning of it.

「Ano..... Where is this place? Eh? Alice was in the forest, running, and then, and then...」[1](Alice)

It seemed that it was not just Yuuji who was shaken.

「Yes, umm, you were collapsed in the forest, uh, then, I couldn’t just leave just like that, and uh, I really don’t know if I should feel guilty, but, I thought I needed to take you to home first, and then...」(Yuuji)

“Woof!” (Kotarou)

Kotarou made a small bark,

“Please calm down, both of you!” (Kotarou)

, is what she wanted to say.

The only individual that was calm in this room was Kotarou.

Do you best humans!

「Ah, uh, OK. Thanks Kotarou. I am Yuuji, and this dog is Kotarou. We are living together in this house. Do you understand? What is your name?」 (Yuuji)

Receiving assist from Kotarou, Yuuji regain some of his composure.

「Alice is Alice. 6 years old. Papa, Mama, Basil-oniichan, Charles-oniichan, the entire village, villa-ge... uu... uu... pa-papa... mama.... oni....onicha.....」(Alice)

Perhaps Yuuji was ingrained to always begin with a self-introduction. Yuuji was surprised that she could begin talking fluently, but in the middle of it, she started crying and sobbing.

Something unrelated from the past came into Yuuji’s mind, the scene of his imouto starting to cry more than 20 years ago. He was escaping from reality.

Why could she understand his language, this natural question was leaping out from his head since the beginning. It seemed that the composure he regained awhile ago was only an ephemeral moment.

「Everything is fine, there’s no need to worry, everything is fine, everything is fine.」(Yuuji)

Yuuji said while softly hugging her and patting her back to calm her.

It was good that he remembered the time when his imouto was young. For someone who hadn’t communicated with another person for 10 years (except for family) it was a “nice play”.

Until the crying *hic*sob*hic* sound stopped and she finally calmed down, Yuuji continued hugging Alice.

「Alice-chan, if you like you can drink this. Please be careful, since it’s hot, okay? I want to hear your story after you have calmed down a little.」(Yuuji)

After seeing that Alice had stop crying, leaving the words「Please wait a moment」, Yuuji left the living room and came back with the hot cocoa that he had prepared before in his hand.

“If child is crying then isn’t it hot cocoa?” Was an inexplicable stereotype Yuuji had in his mind.

By the way, it was instant cocoa drink Yuuji had set aside for winter. The cocoa was only enough for two small cups, but even so he gave all of it to Alice like it was nothing. But what will you do if she cries for the second time, Yuuji?

Holding the mug with both of her hand, while blowing it with her breath *fuu*fuu*, Alice taste the cocoa slowly. Suddenly, she opened her eyes wide. It seemed because it was tasty.

“Even if this was another world, the reaction is still the same, I’m glad that she find it tasty...” were Yuuji carefree thoughts.

「Umm, let’s do this once again. I am Yuuji, this dog is Kotarou. Alice-chan, could you tell me why are you in the forest?」(Yuuji)

「Alice was sleeping in the house. Then, Mama woke Alice up, then she said, ‘since thief come, run away to town with Basil-oniichan and Charles-oniichan’, but, Basil-oniichan remained behind, and then, running together with Charles-oniichan, but, the thief was pursuing, and then, together with Charles-oniichan running to forest, but still pursued, then Chales-oniichan said, ‘Alice run away, since Alice is already 6 years old it will be alright’, then, then, alone, in forest, alone, running far, walking far, the day come, then night, again and again, but since Alice is 6 years old, so Alice will become an onee-chan, that’s why, that’s why...」[2](Alice)

It was something that came crashing down heavily on Yuuji’s carefree feelings.

Yuuji softly hugged Alice who continued talking while trying to not burst into tears. As if to cuddle both of them, Kotarou jumped onto the sofa.

After her village was attacked by bandits, the young brother and sister escaped. Her brother became a decoy to protect Alice, and thus she fled into the forest. This was the summary of the story hat Alice narrated while holding back her tears.

Judging from Alice words 「Day come, then night, again and again」she seemed to wander for several days until she became so wasted and collapsed. It was only by good luck that she had been saved, Yuuji thanked God for the first time in 10 years.

He was also thankful, for being able to understand the language this time, even if he didn’t know the reason for it.

「Everything will be fine. It’s fine now. Since you will be safe in here, cheer yourself up, okay Alice?」(Yuuji)

Yuuji hugged her and kept saying “it’s fine, you’re safe” repeatedly to Alice. Although he didn’t know how the future would turn out to be, Yuuji already decided to become her guardian.

However, Alice who had finally calmed down gave out a brief comment that would shake Yuuji down to his core again.

「Thank you, Yuuji ojichan[3]」(Alice)

This was the first time in his life that he was called “Ojisan”.

☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽

That was some dark back-story...

I can imagine that several ten chapters after this, Kotarou will exact retribution for Alice to the bandits and brought them to receive their due punishment.... After that with the silhouette of the crumbling burning bandits’ hideout behind her, Kotarou gallant figure silently walked on all fours towards the waiting Yuuji who didn’t move a step after saying, “This is for Alice!”

Also, some bad news, I may take a break here and there until New Year due to my RL schedule really get messed up, especially on November... hopefully I get some reprieve in December. But don’t worry as I don’t have any intention to leave translation stage and I will always inform beforehand and won’t disappear without news.

Now I'm curious about the average burnout rate for a fan translation....

Also, If you can help me set up a email subscription based on RSS feed or something? For some reason google's feedburner keep rejecting my blog.... So I can't set up the intrinsic blogger widget....