Ch.128Chapter 20. Request (3)

Only about a month remains in this year.

Actually, it feels a bit strange to say that, since I haven’t even been in this world for a full year yet.

I came in April, so it’s been about 8 months now.

That means I haven’t even known my friends for a full year yet.

It’s quite strange.

After leaving the framework of being a student, making truly close friends felt incredibly difficult.

Even if I met new people, they were usually work-related, and no matter how much we laughed and chatted, work always stood between us, making it somewhat awkward to become completely close.

Maybe it’s because I never even considered joining hobby clubs.

The few friends I occasionally met after growing up were all friends I’d made as a student.

Well, even those relationships practically disappeared after I lost my entire family.

…Here too, I felt the same way.

Even though I’ve known these kids for less than a year, it’s incredibly enjoyable when we all meet and talk. That’s true even when we’re having pointless conversations about nothing in particular.

Well, I don’t expect to be able to meet all of them for the rest of my life.

As we slowly grow older, I’ll lose contact with some, and naturally grow apart from others.

“…Hah.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at those thoughts.

Without realizing it, I’d been assuming I’d still be around until then.

…

Hmm, that doesn’t sound so bad.

I’ve been having too many gloomy thoughts lately, so maybe it would be good to look further ahead as a change of pace?

What if the person I trust doesn’t kill me for another 20 years?

“Kotone?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing.”

It must have been because we were on the subway.

Even in this era, there were things people could hold to pass the time. Things like handheld game consoles. There were also MP3 players and CD players.

However, unlike smartphones—which can do all those things simultaneously and are considered essential by practically everyone—those electronic devices in this era were more like luxury items that were nice to have but not necessary.

And until now, I’d been living without such luxury items.

The only ways to pass time in here were either talking with someone or getting lost in your own thoughts.

Unfortunately, most people in here were uncomfortable-looking office workers squeezed tightly together, and since I have some social awareness, I had no intention of making noise.

I naturally chose the latter option, but it seems to have been a somewhat concerning element for Koko, who was standing right next to me.

“I was just thinking to myself.”

“What about?”

Koko asked.

I blinked at her question.

Koko’s vocabulary had improved significantly since we first met. But her basic speech habits hadn’t changed much, so I still sometimes confused the Koko from back then with the current Koko.

“…”

It’s a good thing when she asks follow-up questions to what I say. It means Koko is learning how to communicate with others.

But when suddenly asked such a question, it’s inevitable to struggle with an answer.

“…I was thinking about buying some tangerines on the way back.”

“Tangerines!”

Ah, come to think of it, Koko hasn’t actually eaten tangerines yet.

No, if I think about her previous form, she might have stolen some from the man next door. But at least she wasn’t in her current form then.

This is Koko’s first winter in this form.

…Perhaps everything she’s experienced outside the house this year consists entirely of firsts for her.

Even so, the reason she’s so happy at the mention of tangerines is because, although she hasn’t eaten real tangerines, she has tried tangerine juice.

Koko likes almost all food, from bad-tasting to delicious, but if forced to choose between the two, she’d pick the latter. That’s only natural.

At Koko’s innocent reaction, the office workers around us turned their heads away.

Were they trying not to laugh?

Well, I’m also among those who couldn’t hold back their laughter.

*

December 6th. Monday.

December itself had already started last week, but today was the first Monday of December.

When I was working, I hadn’t really noticed, but looking around slowly now, the atmosphere was already that of “year-end.”

Although Tokyo rarely gets snow, stores everywhere had decorations made of cotton-like material to simulate fake snow, and they placed Santa dolls dressed in red clothes by windows or put up Christmas trees.

…Yes, I enjoyed Christmas when I was young too.

When the year-end approached, I would feel excited for no particular reason, and want to go out somewhere—

Ah, come to think of it, was it because December meant winter break was coming?

Adults don’t have winter breaks. Especially in my case, where even my days off weren’t consistent, I think I only recognized the changing seasons by whether it was getting colder or hotter.

Winter break, huh.

“Kotone.”

As I was leisurely walking from the station to school, Koko spoke to me.

“Yes?”

“Do you want a present?”

“A present?”

“Santa Claus.”

“…”

Oh.

“He gives presents to good children. Kotone is a good child.”

“…”

Is that so?

If I counted the number of lies I’ve told this year, it would far exceed all the lies I’ve told in my entire life.

Though in my previous life, I tended to talk less with others, which might have contributed to that.

But anyway.

Could it be that Koko believes in Santa Claus?

Well, she might actually believe it.

“…I want one.”

I answered.

I didn’t really have any particular thoughts about it. I just didn’t want to break Koko’s innocence or ruin the Christmas atmosphere.

I don’t know what will happen in the future, but at least while we’re together, I want to create the best memories possible.

This is Koko’s first Christmas, after all.

And it will be her first New Year too.

“What about you, Koko?”

I asked.

“Do you want a present?”

“Yes!”

At her response, I smiled slightly and said,

“You’ll probably get one. Because Koko is a good child.”

“Koko is good?”

“Yes.”

“Wow!”

Koko raised both arms and shouted excitedly at my answer.

What should I buy her? What would Koko want?

I think she’d be happy with anything I give her. Maybe a big stuffed animal?

When I exhaled, I could see white breath in my field of vision.

My clothes were warm. The coat I wore over my sailor uniform was given to me by Kagami when she brought the kotatsu.

Koko was very happy to wear the same blue coat as me.

“Let’s buy something else on the way back.”

“Huh?”

At my words, Koko looked at me curiously, tilting her head, but I just smiled back.

Yes.

Since things have turned out this way, it might not be a bad idea to decorate the house with a Christmas atmosphere.

Together with Koko.

*

December is the final exam period. Of course, the exams are almost right before the winter break, and even during the exam period, unless you’re someone who really studies hard, you tend to look forward to the upcoming break.

I was one of those who looked forward to the break more.

Well, since coming to this world, I’ve never really studied hard for exams. I was satisfied with my middle-to-lower rank grades. Isn’t it enough to just maintain grades good enough not to be held back?

But there were people around me who weren’t like that.

Flip, flip.

I could hear the sound of paper turning from the seat next to me.

And the sound of writing something down. Click, click. The sound of pressing a mechanical pencil button.

“…”

Normally, I’m not someone who reacts sensitively to such subtle noises. To begin with, our house doesn’t have great soundproofing, so I could easily hear the sounds of people making noise in their homes, or cars and motorcycles passing by.

Naturally, I had to adapt to such noises to sleep at night.

However…

“…Yuka, you’re working hard.”

Kaoru said, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

That’s right.

This place is the Literature Club room.

Among the five members of the Literature Club, only two were seriously studying.

Kaoru had also opened her books at her seat, saying she would study, but there was an occult magazine on top of them. Anyone could see that the textbooks were just for show.

As for me and Koko, we hadn’t even bothered to open our books.

By the way, Izumi was also studying with a rather scary expression. Did she get motivated by Yuka?

“It’s the last exam of the year, right? I should finish strong.”

“Finish strong…?”

That’s not really a phrase high school students would use these days. Well, it’s not a completely unused phrase, but at least among the high school students I know, there’s no one who would use the phrase “finish strong” so seriously.

“That’s right, Kaoru.”

Izumi smirked smugly and said,

“If you don’t study at all like that, you’ll completely lose to me this time.”

…Didn’t she say that her grades were almost the same as Kaoru’s?

Ah, but come to think of it, maybe neither of them usually studies this passionately. Since they’re always together and almost always in the same place at school, they can clearly see how much the other studies.

And neither of them seems like the type to go home and study hard.

Yet it’s quite impressive that both of them rank higher than me.

“Studying because you’re motivated by your junior.”

“What about you who doesn’t even do that much?”

“Kuh…!”

After a very long time, Izumi landed a hit on Kaoru.

Kaoru glared at Izumi as she roughly closed her magazine and pushed it aside.

Then she bent her head over her books with a fierce determination and began studying hard.

…The study faction has become three people…

But very fortunately, the kind Yuka didn’t pressure me to study. That’s not her personality to begin with. Of course, if my grades dropped too low and I was in danger of being held back, she might intervene.

“…”

Flip, flip.

Scribble, scribble.

“…Koko, shall we study together?”

“Wow?”

When I suddenly asked that, Koko, who was eating a dorayaki, blinked her eyes.

Yes. There was no direct pressure.

There wasn’t, but…

No matter what, when the atmosphere becomes like a study hall, it’s impossible to resist not studying…

As I sighed deeply and took out my textbooks from my bag, Yuka glanced at me.

Her eyes were smiling.

I felt like I’d been tricked, but what could I do?

It’s not like I could say it was a bad thing.

…Yuka will also get a nice present from Santa Claus this year.

*

“Does Yuka celebrate Christmas too?”

“Huh? Of course I do.”

By the way, Christmas is not a public holiday in Japan. Horrifyingly, even Buddha’s Birthday isn’t a public holiday.

Well, from a religious perspective, this might be more neutral. However, from my perspective as someone who lived in another country, it was somewhat surprising that Buddha’s Birthday wasn’t a public holiday in Japan, given the strong Buddhist influence in Japanese culture.

Anyway.

“Why, is it strange that someone living in a shrine celebrates Christmas?”

“Umm…”

I struggled to answer that.

Thinking about it again, I’m also an entity related to a religion that Christians would openly consider heretical. Koko even more so.

Yet it’s funny that we’re celebrating Christmas.

“My grandfather and father, every Christmas, they take out a tree and put it up at home. And presents—”

“Ah, wait.”

I quickly cut off Yuka’s words before she could say more.

Fortunately, displaying her usual perceptiveness, Yuka stopped talking, but she didn’t seem to understand why I had interrupted her.

I glanced at Koko, and Yuka also glanced at her.

“Presents!”

Before Yuka, who didn’t understand my action, could speak again, fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Koko spoke first.

“Does Yuka meet Santa Claus too?”

“…”

At those words, Yuka’s mouth fell open.

By the way, several passersby also had their mouths open, but I decided not to pay attention to that.

“Uh, ah— yes.”

Yuka answered after a brief stutter.

“You must have been good too!”

At Koko’s words, Yuka covered her mouth with her hand.

Gulp.

If I had to describe Yuka’s expression, that word would be most accurate.

*

But I didn’t expect Yuka to follow us all the way home.

It was a day off anyway, and we had plenty of time. We went to Yuka’s place together, had dinner, packed the things Yuka needed, and then came back to our house.

It’s not even a weekend but a weekday, and during exam period at that, yet she’s planning to stay overnight. Ah, maybe she’s done with today’s studying after studying earlier?

Well, I don’t mind. Honestly, I like having friends over.

Maybe it’s because I was alone for so long before coming here.

I think what was most decisive was when I tried to explain Koko’s situation as indirectly as possible and mentioned that “we’re going to decorate the house today.”

In this respect, it seems somewhat convenient that Kagami doesn’t live with us. When I was in high school, it was almost impossible to have friends stay over because of my family’s presence.

“Wow!”

Koko raised both arms and shouted, so Yuka and I also raised our arms together.

We didn’t join in the cheering, but it was still fun.

Several Santa dolls were placed on top of the TV. We had wrapped the walls with those sparkling strings used around Christmas trees, and decorated them with large bells that sparkled in red, gold, and silver.

We also bought Christmas stockings, but hadn’t hung them yet. These are for “putting presents in,” so naturally we plan to hang them on Christmas Eve.

After finishing the decorations, we put the tangerines we bought in a basket on the kotatsu, and put our bodies inside it.

“Ahh… this is nice. This is how winter should be.”

Yuka said, sounding a bit like an old man.

“Mmm…”

Koko also pressed her cheek against the kotatsu with a melting expression.

It was still colder than a house with the heater on full blast, but it was a heating appliance in what was essentially a house without any. Honestly, being inside it felt incredibly good.

The tangerines were delicious too.

A drama with an unknown title was playing on the TV with the volume turned down.

It doesn’t seem to be very stimulating content.

I reached out to pick up a tangerine and peeled it. The tangerine I put in my mouth was delicious.

When I first started living here, I never thought I could live like this.

We were sitting there not saying anything, blankly watching TV when—

Bzzzz—

“Wow!?”

I was startled by the sudden vibration while my cheek was pressed against the kotatsu.

Koko, Yuka, and I all raised our upper bodies at the same time.

“Ah, sorry.”

Yuka quickly apologized and picked up her phone that was ringing on the kotatsu.

“Hello? Ah, yes, Grandfather.”

At first, Yuka answered the phone leisurely without much thought, but,

“…Yes.”

Soon her expression darkened a bit.

Her eyes were watching me. Could it be a conversation that we shouldn’t hear?

“Yes, yes. I understand. But…”

After hesitating for a moment and biting her lip slightly, Yuka said,

“Yes, I understand. I’ll talk to her about it.”

She then hung up the phone.

I stared at her until she placed the phone on the table.

“…Haah~~”

Yuka sighed deeply and rested her forehead on the table.

“What’s wrong? Did they ask you to come home early?”

“Huh? No, it’s not that.”

Yuka looked around, thinking, and finally sighed deeply again before speaking.

“…They’re asking for help with a job.”

“Now?”

“No, not now.”

Yuka scratched her head and said,

“Do you know about Satori?”

“Thoughts?”

“…It’s written like this in kanji.”

Yuka said as she searched her bag for a notebook and wrote the character. ‘Enlightenment (覚)’. Of course, it’s in Japanese kanji.

“It’s a yokai name. It looks like a monkey.”

It’s a yokai I’ve never seen in novels.

Since I liked Japanese subculture but didn’t know a great deal about their traditional culture, I quietly listened to Yuka’s explanation.

“Simply put, it’s a monkey that reads thoughts. It usually hides in its nest…”

Yuka sighed again.

“It seems some important people ‘need’ it.”

“…”

That’s… quite arbitrary.

“So, they need my help to find it?”

“Yes, that’s right, but…”

Yuka tilted her head left and right, as if something was strange.

“They said it’s not that urgent, so I should just think about it slowly.”

“…”

So, they want to reserve my help?

“Has it ever harmed civilians?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure.”

Yuka put her hands back inside the kotatsu and said,

“It’s not a creature that would cause harm by itself. It doesn’t attack or eat people, and it just looks like a regular monkey. Of course, being a yokai, it moves around in its nest.”

But that wasn’t the end of the explanation.

“Besides, it usually avoids people. I told you it reads thoughts, right? Being such a useful creature, naturally many humans try to capture it, so it’s very sensitive to such malicious intent.”

“Ah.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Yuka scratched her head.

“…If it weren’t for you, it would be extremely difficult to catch. The important people probably know that too, which is why they’ve set a long timeframe. If we fail, that’s the end of it. If we catch it, that’s good. Probably something like that.”

“Do they know it exists?”

“I don’t remember exactly… but I’ve heard about it from my grandfather. It was reported about 10 years ago. They failed to capture it alive then.”

So they just left it alone since it wasn’t dangerous?

But then, is there really a need to catch it deliberately? I don’t particularly want to shed blood unnecessarily.

Besides, considering its extremely uncomfortable ability to read thoughts, it’s obvious that where they plan to use it would be extremely uncomfortable too.

“Want to hear my personal opinion?”

“…Yes.”

“I hope you don’t do it. You’ll definitely… end up like that again, won’t you?”

“…”

I stared at Yuka’s guilty expression for a while, then nodded.

“Alright. I won’t do it.”

“Good decision.”

Yuka replied, seeming somewhat relieved.

“I told you about this because I thought someone might come looking for you separately later. …I think Grandfather probably thought the same and that’s why he told me in advance.”

That’s certainly the case. They are “important people” after all.

I shrugged and picked up another tangerine.