NOVEL NEXT Chapter 382
I don’t think of myself as a miser.
I’m aware that I’ve received a lot of favors from the people around me, and those favors are not something that can be easily repaid.
But still, I’ve always had a personality that tries to do various things for the people around me. In my previous life, I regularly sent my parents some pocket money and even gave my little sister birthday gifts. Though, it wasn’t something I did frequently.
I thought I would live that way in this world as well.
Someday I would be an adult, and once I got a job, I would have money, and then there would be so many things I could do for the people around me.
And—right now, I would buy various things for the kids with the money I have.
Like buying gifts for my friends. Celebrating anniversaries in human relationships is quite important, and as much as possible, I didn’t hesitate to give such gifts to those very close to me.
“…So, how about we go to the festival together?”
Yuka asked seriously, with a look that suggested she might have misunderstood something.
The first semester was almost over. The weather had begun to warm up to the point where the word “spring” felt hard to find, and the sun didn’t easily set anymore.
Soon it would be summer vacation, and summer in Japan is also the season of festivals.
“Yeah. Are you busy?”
Sitting across from Yuka in the cafe, I asked her.
Ah, we had already exchanged emails.
Kagami had recently bought me a cellphone. Though Kagami isn’t attuned to the trends of people in her age group, she is quite sensitive to those of kids my age.
Kagami must really dislike the thought of me being treated as lagging behind other kids.
It’s not just a matter of pride as a parent; she knows our family isn’t completely ordinary, which makes her particularly attentive in that regard.
In Kagami’s mind, the world soon becomes me. She sincerely hopes that I can stand proudly before others and not feel small before anyone.
I also maintain a confident attitude in front of my friends, partly because I don’t want Kagami to carry that weight in her heart.
“…You know, our business might be busy that day.”
If a Yōkai appears, things can get busy. If not, it wouldn’t be that hectic.
Unfortunately, tracking one Yōkai requires quite a bit of effort. Time spent keeping an eye out and following traces feels almost like an investigation.
Naturally, Yōkai are typically beings that ordinary people don’t believe in. Their existence, by mere definition, negates everything we know in science. Obviously, we can’t rely on regular police for help.
Those who chase Yōkai are a select few exorcists. In Yuka’s case, she gets advice from her grandfather and father, but those two often have their hands full chasing Yōkai in different places.
Thus, “busy times” can’t be pinpointed precisely. Even crime rate statistics in human society don’t allow for that kind of concentrated enforcement.
“What if it’s not busy?”
But even then, Yōkai aren’t always around. In the original novel, it may have been a Light Novel, but I at least had some time during the summer festival or holiday periods.
… Well, living in this world is reality, and it might be different since the main story of the Light Novel hasn’t even started yet.
“If I’m not busy, I’ll have time.”
“If you have time?”
“What kind of answer are you hoping for?”
Yuka said a bit sulkily.
“If you have time, it means saying let’s hang out together.”
“…….”
Yuka looked at me.
Again, she had that expression, like she was observing something hard to understand.
“How long has it been since we met? No, even more than that, we haven’t met that often, right?”
Since the Kappa incident, we’d met a few more times. Whenever Yuka called me, it was usually related to Yōkai. While it wasn’t the kind of thing that happened “too often,” accidents involving Yōkai had occurred surprisingly steadily, so if we met twice in those few months.
Neither of those was a case where someone died, and the other was merely a missing person found safe and sound, so it wasn’t a big issue.
The one Yōkai incident we had was resolved quickly by Yuka brandishing a knife. It wasn’t a group attack like the Kappa; it was just a slightly dangerous, medium-sized beast.
However, it wasn’t just those two meetings.
After I asked Yuka for her email, I periodically sent emails reaching out to her. Yuka would reply sometimes, and sometimes she wouldn’t. When I asked to meet, she surprisingly accepted quite often.
“Look, we’re meeting today.”
“…What does today have to do with anything?”
“If we can meet today, doesn’t that imply we could meet again?”
With my somewhat forced reasoning, Yuka frowned again.
“No, well, why do you keep trying to do that with me?”
Who knows.
It feels like looking at myself in childhood.
After all, I’m different from others. There’s no way I can mix with them, and they probably wouldn’t understand me either.
The person who reached out to me with a nonchalant face when I was in the corner of kindergarten was Harumi.
And it was thanks to her that I was able to change.
I have Kagami too, but Kagami isn’t a friend; she’s family. It’s only natural that I cherish her. However, Harumi was the first person who reached out to me, someone alien to me, despite not sharing a drop of blood.
I don’t fully understand Yuka… The Yuka I know is the one from the books, and I know nothing of how this real-world Yuka differs from that.
“If we become friends, that would be good, right?”
That’s all I answered.
“We met because of our work, right? You never know when we might not be able to see each other again.”
Yuka said.
“And speaking as someone who has experienced it, when ordinary people can’t see each other, their hearts drift apart. They might even forget we were friends, right? And later, when they meet again, they’ll be confused about where they’ve seen each other.”
“…….”
I smiled slightly.
“Yeah. But still, the fact that we played together back then doesn’t change.”
“What’s the point if it doesn’t change?”
Yuka furrowed her brow even more.
“If we’re not going to meet again, and if we’re going to forget when we bump into each other later, what’s the point of being close?”
That stung a little.
Yuka was speaking about her wounds. She probably thinks that because she has gone through things until now, this time is bound to play out the same way.
She isn’t completely wrong.
In this world too, I have similarly distanced myself from friends at times. Even if it wasn’t intentional.
“But still.”
I can’t fully deny that. Critiquing who is wrong between us holds no meaning.
“But… if we keep building up those experiences, there will definitely be someone who remembers us later.”
I wished for that.
Harumi, Yuuki, Mako.
I hope that when they all meet again, we can smile and chat together.
To say that all of that could be impossible feels just too sad.
I know, because I was the one who cut off every relationship and locked myself in my room. That doing so wouldn’t naturally lead to happiness.
“We’ve attended different schools from the beginning. We live pretty far apart. So, maybe it’s different from transferring schools? If we have means to contact each other, we can keep in touch, right?”
I tried to persuade her, albeit somewhat forcefully.
“…….”
Yuka was silent for a moment, just staring at me.
Then, perhaps realizing that my expression was genuinely earnest, Yuka made a perplexed face again.
A moment of silence hung between us once more.
“Hah.”
Yuka let out a long sigh.
“Well, fine. If I don’t have anything else to do.”
Avoiding my gaze here and there.
“Really?”
When I asked again, Yuka nodded.
I smiled at her.
“Okay then, I’ll look into the festival first. Is there anywhere specific you want to go?”
“…I’ll leave it up to you.”
Yuka, saying that, looked somewhat deflated.
She appeared as if something had sucked all the energy out of her, so I chuckled a bit.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell Yuka that honestly dealing with Shii had been a significant help.
Shii, back then when she first met me, had a wall that was much higher than Yuka’s.
…..
But it would have been perfect if I had been happy right from the start.