Volume 1 - CH 2.6

“…and that’s all we saw of her.”

Kei was spending his lunch break in the Service Club room with Tsushima.

As it happens, Kei and Haruki are not the only members of their school’s service club. Typically, there are two or three new freshmen recruited every year, and the position wasn’t commonly turned down. But the room designated to their club typically remains unused, since the Service Club isn’t based on group meetings of common interest. They don’t need to change their clothes like a sports club, and it isn’t the kind of club you join because your friends are in it. There isn’t even any kind of attendance requirement. More often than not, Kei just uses the room for meeting up with Tsushima.

The club room was currently filled with the scent of coffee, coming from the coffee maker that Tsushima put in the room without permission. In fairness, he was probably the one that used the room most, though.

“So what happened with the cat?” Tsushima asked, scratching at his 5 o’clock shadow.

“Nonō-san took him back to the shrine.”

“So, you rescued the cat. Sounds good to me. Seems like another mission completed.”

He technically wasn’t wrong. They saved a life, no matter how small, and everybody came out on top. Saving cats today could turn into saving people tomorrow. Haruki Misora’s reset ability would gain yet more recognition for its usefulness, and they could get the cost of the cream puffs reimbursed once they filed their report.

That was all they could do as members of the Service Club. Pursuing anything more would be considered as purely out of their own curiosity. Having run out of options, Kei asked a question out of his own curiosity. “What exactly was Murase-san’s endgame for all of this?”

“Got me. Looks like she wanted to save a cat.”

“Do you seriously believe that’s all there was to it?”

“What else could there have been?”

That was the problem. All the puzzle pieces they had gathered failed to fit together in the end. All that Kei got to see was one very specific part of a much bigger picture. Was it asking too much to want to know more? Unfortunately, given his position, Kei was forced to admit that it probably was.

Tsushima poured some freshly brewed coffee into a mug. “Want some?” He offered, but Kei shook his head. Tsushima continued speaking as he drank a steaming hot cup of coffee in mid-July. “Look, you did a good job. All’s well, the cat’s saved, and the request is fulfilled. They even say the rain’s gonna stop tomorrow. What more could you want?”

He’s right, Kei thought.

He continued trying to convince himself.

There would always be tantalizing loose ends, be it Murase Youka’s true objective, holes opening in walls, the true meaning of the MacGuffin, or even The Operator’s leave of absence. But all of those things were reported to Tsushima, and the ball was no longer in his court. He wasn’t asked to look into any of those things in the first place.

The Bureau was an extremely effective organization. It didn’t matter what he thought of things, or even what Tsushima thought, to an extent. Everything would be taken care of in its own time, likely without him ever knowing about it. In fact, it was still entirely possible that there was no problem for him to even solve in the first place.

“Okay, I just have one final thing I’d like to ask.”

“What’s that?”

“Was this request officially processed by the Administration Bureau?”

“‘Course it was. Any work done by the Service Club gets processed through the Bureau. You know that.”

“Then, did Murase-san go through the Bureau to process her request, or did she go to you first, Tsushima-sensei?”

“I thought you said you only had one last question.”

“They’re effectively the same question.” Was it possible that Tsushima was taking his own initiative with this request? The purpose of the Administration was to eliminate problems caused by abilities. They weren’t in the business of using abilities altruistically. Giving permission for the use of the extremely risky reset ability purely to save one cat was not how the Bureau handled justice.

But it was possible that Tsushima could accept a request that the Bureau would normally deny. That would have made it very easy to slip the true purpose of the request past Kei. While posing as an idyllic request to save a cat from an accident, it could accomplish a much more functional purpose for the Bureau.

But Tsushima just laughed. “It’s no difference to you. Whether I headed the request and sent the details to the Bureau, or the Bureau headed the request and sent the details to me, your part doesn’t change. The Bureau has all the details now. What happens from here on out is none of your concern. The bureau takes care of its own business.”

He was definitely hiding something. He wasn’t even pretending anymore. If anything, he probably just wanted to control the flow of information so Kei learned about everything as late as possible. But to what end?

No, this wouldn’t do.

Kei paused, and forced a new train of thought for a much simpler approach. His choice right now was to either trust Tsushima or to doubt him. For now, Kei had no reason to believe that Tsushima had bad intentions, so he chose to trust him. “Understood. I’ll submit the completed report by next week. My expense receipts will be included.”

“Ah, no need to rush. You can take till the end of the month for all I care. Now then…” Tsushima paused as he poured milk into his mug. “I’m sure you saved yesterday afternoon, right?”

“Yes, sir. July 13th, 12:59:15.”

“Gotcha. Hold off on resetting for now.”

“For how long?”

“As long as possible, until 72 hours after the save.” Tsushima was still being cautious of something. So cautious that he wouldn’t even share what he was worried about. What was the purpose of all this secrecy?

There I go again, Kei smiled. Even after deciding to trust Tsushima, he was immediately casting suspicions on him. He’s not the only one being dishonest. “Understood. That’s not a problem.”

It wasn’t as though they would need to reset anytime soon. In fact, Kei would be busy attending the summer festival with Haruki tomorrow night. With that on his mind, Kei made an addendum. “That’s right. I need you to make up some Service Club work for tomorrow morning.”

“Why’s that?”

“I used the meeting with Murase-san as the reason to decline another classmate’s plans before our reset.” Of course, he was talking about vampire hunting with Minami Mirai. He still wanted to stick to the original timeline as much as possible. If he couldn’t be sure what effect his choices would have, he didn’t want to blindly toy with people’s futures.

“Alright. I’ll cover for you if anyone asks.”

“In that case, can I withdraw some club funds for breakfast with Haruki tomorrow morning?”

“You mean at the coffee shop where you met with Murase before resetting?”

“Yes.”

“Well, aren’t we high-class?”

“I can’t help it, their toast is surprisingly good.”

“Ah, whatever. Do what you want.” Tsushima stirred his coffee with a spoon, took a sip, and made a face. Every time he drank coffee, it looked like he hated it. Between only shaving once a week and drinking coffee while also hating it, Tsushima sure had some strange quirks. “Go on, you don’t wanna be late for class.” Tsushima stood with this coffee cup in hand, when normally, he would finish his coffee before leaving the room.

“You sure are busy,” Kei remarked.

“Well, it is what it is.”

“What’s taking up all your time?”

“Teacher work, what else? Now they got me visiting some truant student to ‘persuade them into attendance.’”

“You?” Kei couldn’t help but frown. Was he really going to visit a student’s house looking so unkempt?

“Yes, me. Teachers have to tell students to go to school. Nobody likes to do it, but welcome to the world of adults.”

“Are they resisting?”

“Of course they are, ‘cause school’s a pain in the ass.”

Whether that was true or not, Kei didn’t think a teacher should be saying that. But, well, nobody had asked for his opinion. “If they’re so reluctant, then how are you supposed to persuade them?”

“Well, when my first attempts were failing, I tried the angle that academic success was important.”

“How’d that go?”

“Yeah, they told me to test them, and got a perfect score. Then they asked me if our school would have even taught them how to get through all the trick questions I put in there. Really had me on that one.”

“Why not use a more emotional argument, like the importance of making good friends?”

“Who’d buy that coming from me? The only kinds of people capable of pulling off an emotional argument are children and women.”

He was so on point that Kei couldn’t help but snicker inwardly.

Tsushima stood up, took a sip from his mug, and let out a small sigh. “You just gotta take these things slowly. I try not to overwhelm them with visits. Sometimes it’s best to just let them do their own things for a little while if your initial persuasions aren’t working.”

“Does that make them more likely to come back to school?”

“I dunno. But whether it’s scolding someone or encouraging someone, timing is the most important element.” Tsushima delivered his line with a friendly smile. Learning how to effectively charm students with his facial expressions was probably a skill he attained through years of teaching. “High schoolers are old enough to know what’s expected of them. They know what works, what doesn’t, and how to get where they wanna go. Even if they don’t know some of the specifics, they’ve got the answer in them somewhere. We teachers aren’t here to tell them the answers. We’re just here so they can use us to find them. It’s easier that way, anyway.”

Tsushima turned his back to Kei and left the room, mug in hand.

Once the door closed, Kei leaned back into his chair. He tried connecting the dots for what brought together cats and Murase as he stared absentmindedly into the ceiling. He weighed predictions and scrutinized possibilities. Suddenly, he broke out into a smile. I’m really just thinking on autopilot here. It was easy enough to just think away whenever you wanted, but clearing your mind really took some discipline.

Just accept it, he told himself once more. The request is over. He didn’t need to actively ignore all the other details, but there was similarly no point in getting recklessly involved.

Kei stood up from his seat and left the room.

If it was problems he wanted, then he could find them in abundance by just going and living his life. For now, let’s just head to the stairway, join Haruki for lunch, and start thinking about some other… no, my own problems, Kei thought to himself.

✽

By the time school was out, the rain had finally let up some, and had reduced to a fine mist.

As Haruki and Kei walked home, Haruki suggested taking a detour together. She had been planning on asking since lunchtime. Kei had been debriefing with Tsushima at the time, which had left her alone with her thoughts atop the staircase.

A certain memory always came to mind whenever Haruki was near the school rooftop. It was fragmented and imperfect, like a torn up photograph. It was about Kei, and the girl who had died two years ago.

It was clear to Haruki that the girl held some special significance to Kei. After all, in her memory, the two of them were hugging each other. They were on top of the roof of their southern middle school building. The girl was leaning into Kei, and he was holding her gently in his arms. If the memory really was a photograph, they would have looked like the picture perfect couple.

Haruki had never heard any rumors about the two of them dating, and she didn’t want to ask them directly. Looking back on it, their relationship didn’t appear to be all that romantic. But at the same time, Haruki didn’t really understand much about love, so she wasn’t the best judge of romance. What she did know was that they both considered the other to be very special. She also knew that every time she remembered what happened on that rooftop, her heart was gripped with an inexplicable anxiety. That girl may have died two years ago, but that feeling still remained.

Haruki was unsure if that feeling was the exact reason, but while sitting alone on the top of the stairway, she had decided to spend her time after school with Kei. After all, the cat hunt was over, so there was nothing else to keep them busy.

Kei readily agreed to Haruki’s invitation. Haruki had noticed long ago that any given invitation was a coin toss when it came to him accepting or not. But as far as she was concerned, only being able to win half of the time made each victory feel distinctly thrilling.

“Where’re we going?” Kei asked.

This was going to be the difficult part. Haruki wanted to go shopping to look for a hair ornament that would match her yukata, but she didn’t think that would be something Kei would enjoy. But if she made too many concessions for what he enjoyed, they would just end up reading books in a café or something. She needed to strike the perfect balance. “Let’s go to a bookstore together.”

“In the shopping district?”

“What if we went to Mikura instead?”

“Sure.”

The Mikura Bookstore was located in the suburbs, and although it was a tad farther away, it always had a wide variety of stock. Coincidentally, on the way to Mikura, there was a small store that sold traditional Japanese products. Haruki was sure she could find a nice hair ornament there, and Kei was unlikely to object to such a small detour. Although, one of the difficult parts of dealing with Kei was that he rarely objected to anything.

Kei looked up at the sky through his vinyl umbrella. “The rain will stop on our way home.” If he said so, then it would be true. After all, he was speaking from experience.

They walked side by side, but had to make enough distance between themselves for their umbrellas. It’s just a little too far, Haruki thought. It really was better to capitalize on a sunny day if you wanted to walk with someone.

The town was quiet as the rain fell. As Haruki and Kei continued on, the number of students on the streets naturally dwindled as they made their way home. On top of that, both Haruki and Kei had less to talk about than usual.

Haruki wasn’t upset with walking quietly beside him. Having known him for two years now, they had had countless conversations, and she had asked countless questions. Not having anything to ask him right now was okay. Still, she couldn’t deny how fun it was to talk with him. There was always something new to learn about Kei, no matter how much they talked. It probably wasn’t possible to completely understand anyone, but she could always increase what percentage of him that she knew, little by little. At the very least, she found that more meaningful than simply not trying.

Haruki searched for any topic of conversation, no matter how small. “Have you been reading any new books recently?”

Kei was an avid reader. Typically, he was always reading a novel, but he often branched out to things like children’s picture books and even confusing philosophy books. He said he didn’t like stories with sad endings, but she saw him reading such books regardless. Haruki had once asked him if he liked novels. His response was, “I just love reading words.”

“Yeah, I’m in the middle of a book right now.”

“What type of book?”

“It’s a children’s book. The font is really big, and the more difficult kanji have their readings written above them.”1 Kei began describing the book’s story of a dragon who was feared and shunned. The dragon was very lonely, and traveled to many different places, but no matter where he went, everyone pushed him away. Villagers would scream in fright from him, and forest animals would run in fear. Soldiers constantly chased after him, trying to earn the glory of killing a dragon. Not wanting to hurt anyone, the dragon had no choice but to continue his solitary travels.

“One day, the dragon met a certain human. He had a silver tongue, and acted very suspiciously. But he was the only being that wasn’t afraid of the dragon. The dragon was so happy to make a friend that he began to travel with the human.”

“Was the dragon happy?”

“It’s hard to say. The human was a very devious person. He made the dragon chase off villagers while he plundered their houses. He stole crops, guns, clothes, idols, anything that would sell. He used some of the money he made to buy a necklace and music box, which were both cheap but looked very beautiful. He gave them to the dragon, telling him they were signs of their friendship.”

So, was the dragon happy or unhappy? It was a little more subtle than just a yes or no. He was all alone for so long that he would of course be happy to finally make a friend. But thieves rarely met a happy ending in fairy tales.

Kei continued, “The man had plenty of other friends, too. Just like the dragon, he had befriended many other animals by taking advantage of their weaknesses, like crows and dogs. Over time, the dragon became good friends with all of them. Eventually, the other animals told the dragon that they wanted to team up and defeat the human, because they all agreed he was a bad man. They knew that if they had a dragon on their side, they would never lose to a human.”

“So, did the dragon attack the human?”

“That’s where things get difficult. You see, the human always made sure to pretend he was a good guy at just the right times. He’d release a captured dragon, or share his food just as the dragon ran out. Personally, I think he was just skilled at deception. For example, before attacking a village, he would talk about everyone in it as bad guys, and the dragon would believe him. In the end, despite everything the other animals said, the dragon refused to believe that the human was a bad man.”

Kei stopped there, saying that was as far as he had gotten, but Haruki wasn’t so sure if that was true. He could have already read everything while only claiming he made it halfway, or he could have just made the whole story up. He enjoyed making up metaphorical stories from time to time. Haruki always tried to tease out the hidden meanings in his stories, but she was never very good at it.

“So, what do you think he’ll do? Will the dragon betray the human, and side with the animals?” Kei asked.

“What if he didn’t betray him, and managed to reform the human into a good man?”

“Hmm, but why do that?”

“Because that would be the happiest possible ending.”

Kei seemed to think it over for a while, before nodding. “Yeah, I agree.”

Her answer seemed to satisfy him. Haruki felt a little happier.

From there, the two talked about all sorts of things. Their conversations were light and sweet, like cotton candy. Just like cotton candy in her mouth, the time melted away as they chatted.

They talked about classical music from decades ago, and modern music that had just been released. They discussed their upcoming summer vacation, and their favorite ways to spend summer days. Kei shared that ramune and fireworks were the two staples of summer for him. After that, they debated over whether ice cream or shaved ice was better, although they both knew that the other didn’t have a preference.

While walking, Haruki noticed the store that she wanted to check out for her hair ornaments. She saw the rows of ornaments in the window display. She found the second one from the right to be the prettiest. It was a deep red, not too flashy, and simple, so she was sure Kei would like it. But she was in the middle of talking with him, so she continued walking past the store without making a fuss about it. I’ll buy it tomorrow if I have time, she decided.

A round trip to the bookstore took just a little over forty minutes. It felt far too short to Haruki, but she also realized that no matter how long it took, it wouldn’t feel like enough, so she decided to be grateful for the time she got.

1 Kei is speaking of furigana. Generally, the younger the target audience of a given book, the more furigana will be used, or in some cases, the kanji simply won’t be used at all. It’s meant to help younger readers (and, incidentally, newer translators) in learning their characters. Furigana can also be used for various stylistic purposes or for rarer kanji/kanji not in the 2,136 designated “normal use” characters, and is always used on the first time introducing a new character name. The page this passage is on has three furigana readings, with most pages in this book having one or two.