CH 18

We left grandpa’s house during the daytime on Sunday as planned. It’s sad, but I still need to go to school tomorrow. Just before we leave, I promised grandpa that I would come to play again next New Year.

He asked me about my upcoming exam, but I can study at grandpa’s house, so it’s fine. Besides, he’s about to have surgery next month, and I don’t know if there will be next year for him, so I wanted to make a future promise with grandpa. The timing is just right.

I play with my smartphone in the back seat of the car while my brother is flipping through his notes beside me. I shouldn’t bother him while he’s studying. In addition, currently, my mom is sitting in the passenger seat beside my dad who is driving. It will be bad if I got scolded for disturbing my brother’s study and get grounded again.

Last week, because diving into the pond during this time is too cold, I prepared dozens of balloons and dived from the roof towards the garden. After that, I used carbon dioxide to make a rainbow-coloured fountain in the garden. It was peaceful until I made a big decision to attach a rocket made from a plastic bottle on my back and fly across the river. I got grounded for a week as result.

While I was thinking about what to do, my brother put his book on the seat beside him and began to look outside. His study time seems to be over.

“Onii-chan, do you want a drink?”

“No…?”

“It really tastes good and is perfect for people who are studying for exams!”

“That’s kind of suspicious.”

My brother looks at me with a troubled face in front of my parents, but he actually would be happy if I really brought something dangerous, as he can use it to torture insects and other animals. I took out the plastic bottle from my bag and gave it to my brother.

“Here, water, fresh from the source.”

“Isn’t it dirty?”

My brother, who understands my joke, opened the bottle’s lid. In a second, butterflies pop out with a sudden force. Because it’s made from plastic, it’s more like spurting out than flickering. My brother who seems already predicted that, didn’t look surprised, and returned the butterflies to me. My mother saw that and immediately warn me to not joke around.

“I’m not, I just want Onii-chan to have a break.”

“No more excuses. Look, we will have lunch at that family restaurant, so just stay still until then.”

My mother basically treats me like a kid who is fussy because of hunger. But it’s a little past 12 o’clock now, and because I ate breakfast at 5 o’clock with grandpa, now I’m hungry. The surprise goods’ stock was depleted too, so I stay obediently. When we approached a crossroad, my father suddenly made a strange groan.

“No good. The family restaurant’s parking lot is under construction to make a multi-storey car park. It says that I should park after the right turn. I’ll go to park the car for a while, so three of you can go to the family restaurant first.”

“I understand.”

My mother nodded and the three of us got out of the car. After we saw off my father who went to the parking lot, we head to the family restaurant.

“By the way, didn’t Onii-chan go to the family restaurant with grandpa last time? What did you eat there?”

“Hamburger lunch set.”

“And today?”

“Same.”

“You really love hamburgers, aren’t you?”

“Well…”

My brother actually does not have a particular interest in food. Because he doesn’t have any particular like or dislike, I can put a variety of foods for his bento lunch easily. but it’s a little frustrating that I can’t pack his favourites foods in a box to provide both surprise and joy. After walking for a while to the family restaurant, I saw a parking lot that seems to be under construction on the other side of the big traffic light.

While I was thinking that we will arrive soon, the moment the construction site was reflected in my field of vision, I suddenly feel a chill on my spine.

The building under construction is a three-story building. It’s a multi-storey car park, so I don’t think it’s impossible to renovate. However, it was very similar to the background setting of the scene when the cat I read in the manga was run over.

――Don’t tell me, it wasn’t a station building, but a parking lot construction site…?

When I think about it, the television screen panel attached to the station building was not described in the manga. I thought maybe because it was too bothersome to be drawn, but if it was a parking lot drawing in the first place, of course, screen panels are unnecessary. Besides, the traffic lights in this city all looks the same. This crossroad is no different from the background setting I saw in the manga…

“Hey, why don’t we go through a pedestrian bridge instead of here?”

“What are you talking about? Isn’t it a detour?”

Mother sounds shocked. When I look towards my brother, he was being absent-minded.

Strange. When in the presence of my mother, my brother will definitely act as a good son and pay attention to me. Following his line of sight, a white cat was seen scratching its head in the corner of the sidewalk.

As expected, if the cat just stays there, it won’t be run over, right? Jumping into the street from here means suicide. There are many cars on the street, even cats can notice the noise. It won’t jump out to such a place, right?

The moment when I thought so…

The white cat that was scratching its head suddenly jumped toward the centre of the road. As if waiting for the moment, on the other side of the road, a truck rushed in.

It will run over the cat.

On the spur of moment, I kicked the ground. From the back, I heard my mother cry, “Mai!” with a voice like a scream. Fortunately, I was able to catch up to the cat in the centre without being run over by any car. I frantically tried to reach the cat.

“Uh? No way.”

However, as if to avoid me, the cat ran to the opposite sidewalk and disappeared into the residential area.

The cat will not be run over by this. And my brother won’t have to die either. No, I mean… —The moment I was thinking so, a truck lamp came into my view. The horn honked with a roaring sound. As soon as the big impact hit my body, in the corner of my eyes, I saw my brother.

“Onii-cha…”

I feel my body floating as I’m being pushed out into the sky. Ah, it feels the same as when I was doing bungee at the balcony… As soon as I felt that the scenery rotated and fell, my field of vision became pitch black. And then, I feel my body sink into somewhere messily.

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T/N: Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022!!! I’m very sorry for my own lack of skill to manage my time, I didn’t finish everything according to my plan, it’s super super late, please forgive me. Here are new chapters! Enjoy and pls don’t hate the series… I won’t drop this but my updates may be a bit slow… I’m very sorry.