Ch.275If Side Story. Tokyo Slayers: Final Chapter (13)

It might be a bit much to call it ‘positive,’ but after that incident, Yuka’s attitude toward Kurosawa softened somewhat.

It’s strange to rank different types of bullying and say which is better or worse. Following someone around and harassing them is something that shouldn’t be done anywhere.

Publicly humiliating someone with roundabout insults and stealing their belongings were also things that shouldn’t be done, but perhaps because direct violence was more visible, both Yuka and Nanami spoke more gently to Kurosawa afterward. Though Yuka still seemed somewhat uncomfortable around Kurosawa.

Thinking about it again, there must have been a reason they chose direct violence over that insidious harassment toward Kurosawa.

Perhaps it was because Kurosawa’s reactions weren’t entertaining?

Besides, if they were seriously trying to bully someone but the target completely ignored them, they might have felt looked down upon. Of course, that doesn’t mean it was justified.

After that incident, Kurosawa kept seeking out Souta. She still seemed to spend break times quietly sitting at her desk in the classroom, but during lunch periods and after school—whenever others might have the opportunity to freely bully her—Kurosawa consistently sought out Souta.

In the process, kids from Souta’s class began talking to Kurosawa. Both boys and girls showed interest in the girl that Souta and Yuka brought along every day.

The interest wasn’t particularly intense. Kurosawa wasn’t the type to verbally respond to everyone who spoke to her.

But that didn’t mean the classmates viewed Kurosawa negatively.

Souta, who played with Kurosawa, was well-regarded in the class. Moreover, perhaps because rumors about the previous incident had spread, the overall impression of Kurosawa was that of a ‘pitiful child’ rather than an ‘unpleasant person.’

Some of the girls seemed to genuinely find Kurosawa cute, as she didn’t run away or pull back when they patted her head.

Though Kurosawa’s expression still didn’t change much, Souta decided to consider this a good thing for now.

And then—

“……”

Souta, Yuka, and Nanami, who were walking with Kurosawa, suddenly turned around.

A girl who had been following them from a distance quickly turned away as soon as she made eye contact with the three.

With her still-disheveled hair, and the distinctive yellow dye remaining only at the tips as if she’d given up coloring it long ago, Souta could immediately recognize who she was.

“Um……”

Nanami was the first to speak up.

When Nanami called out, the girl quickly walked away from the group.

“Hey, wait a moment!”

Nanami quickly ran after her, and Fukuda was about to run away—but then stopped in her tracks.

Seeing her arms hanging limply, she seemed to be wondering what she was doing.

“If you’re curious, why don’t you just join us?”

Nanami carefully suggested.

“……”

After remaining silent for a while, Fukuda slowly turned to look at Nanami.

“Are you curious?”

When Nanami asked with a smile on her face, Fukuda finally sighed deeply and silently joined Souta’s group.

“Hello.”

“…Hello.”

When Souta greeted her, perhaps unable to ignore his greeting, Fukuda nodded and returned the greeting.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, but it had always been somewhat awkward when they were with Kurosawa, so it wasn’t a big difference. Souta thought that just as Kurosawa was gradually adapting to them, perhaps Fukuda would do the same.

Nanami, catching Souta’s eye, gave him a thumbs up with a smile.

“Ice cream again today?”

Yuka asked.

“Ice cream?”

Fukuda looked at Yuka and asked back.

“Kurosawa likes chocolate ice cream.”

“You found that out too? Your initiative is impressive.”

Fukuda said, looking at Souta. There didn’t seem to be any deep emotion in her words, but it didn’t sound sarcastic either, which relieved Souta a bit.

Kurosawa quietly observed Fukuda, who had joined the group. Fukuda, seemingly a bit uncomfortable with that gaze, turned her head slightly away.

After that, there wasn’t much conversation. Not even until they entered the family restaurant they always visited.

After sitting down, the conversation continued with Nanami initiating and Yuka responding. Fukuda and Kurosawa mostly just ate.

Could the two be called friends?

At the very least, Souta could somewhat sense that they almost had been.

…Though Souta hadn’t directly witnessed what had happened between them, so he couldn’t say for sure—

But for now, this seemed good enough.

After all, there’s always a first time for everything.

Watching Kurosawa take a spoonful of sweet ice cream and slowly let it melt in her mouth, Souta thought this way.

*

Kotone Kurosawa’s commute to school is long.

Living in Saitama, she herself didn’t know how she ended up commuting to a school in Tokyo.

No, she never even wanted to know in the first place.

She felt the minimal emotion of ‘wanting to do something,’ but Kotone Kurosawa didn’t know exactly ‘what’ it was.

Because no one had ever taught her.

Knowing nothing, she was first ordered to go to school. Without understanding why she had to follow that order, she simply went back and forth to school.

The person who sent Kotone Kurosawa to school generally showed little interest in her situation.

Whether she had made friends, if anyone was bullying her.

How her exams went. If she was studying well. Which club she had joined.

In fact, there seemed to be no reason to know these things. Kotone Kurosawa herself didn’t understand why she needed to know any of it.

An empty vessel with nothing inside.

No, an instrument meant to play something. She thought she might have heard someone describe her that way.

Such a girl had recently begun to understand ‘desire.’

Until then, she hadn’t cared much about what other children at school did to her. Since it was something she had experienced from the moment she was born, from the moment she started school, it was as natural as breathing.

But under certain conditions, there was a way to avoid it.

Kotone Kurosawa used that.

And she no longer had to feel ‘pain.’

“……”

There was still no way for her to understand that this was something pleasant.

Walking slowly back home, the sun was already setting.

Climbing to the second floor of the dim two-story apartment, there was a somewhat damp smell.

The door to her home is always open at this time. Because there were people inside.

“My, Kotone.”

When Kotone Kurosawa opened the door and entered, there was someone to greet her.

The woman with long hair like Kotone Kurosawa had a more sensual body than her.

Looking much more ‘adult,’ she resembled the child called Kotone Kurosawa in some way.

Or rather, the entity called Kotone Kurosawa resembled this woman.

Around her neck was a thick metal collar.

And that collar was attached to a thick chain.

The chain was fixed to the floor of the house.

“You’ve been coming home a bit late lately. Have you perhaps made a friend?”

There was probably no particular meaning behind those words.

Questions that Kotone Kurosawa heard every day when she returned home.

Have you made any friends?

What did you have for lunch today?

Have you joined any clubs?

As if yearning for something, she asked Kotone Kurosawa such questions.

Once, when someone who was said to be her older sister came in, she almost went berserk trying to lunge at her, but that sister just tilted her head and said:

“I wonder if she can’t have any more? I wish there were a few more children like this. I wonder why?”

Muttering from a distance just out of reach, she stared at Kotone Kurosawa for a while before leaving again.

The room was messy.

People had come to clean several times, but with Kotone Kurosawa having no will to tidy up and that woman who was called her mother unable to leave the room, they inevitably left the room in a messy state again.

“…Kotone.”

As usual, Kotone Kurosawa was about to drop her bag carelessly in the corner of the room and lie down on the floor when she suddenly stopped at that voice.

“Kotone?”

The woman, who had just spoken without any expectation as she did every day, seemed a bit surprised by Kotone Kurosawa’s reaction.

Kotone Kurosawa slowly got up from her spot.

And turning around, she looked back at the woman with whom she had shared this room for a long time.

“……”

For a moment, Kotone Kurosawa thought about what to say. It wasn’t easy. She had hardly ever attempted to have a conversation with anyone.

In the first place, this situation itself was unfolding due to Kotone Kurosawa’s impulse.

Just like that day when she used ‘Souta’ or ‘Sasaki’ to avoid pain.

For some reason, that boy and the kids around him seemed to want to protect the entity called Kotone Kurosawa.

Would that be what’s called a ‘friend’?

They hadn’t properly agreed on it yet. That’s just how relationships were supposed to develop, from what she’d heard. At least according to what she’d heard at school.

But still.

What Kotone Kurosawa did with those children was similar to the stories that occasionally reached her ears as she sat quietly in her seat.

“…Yes.”

That’s how she answered.

“…Ah.”

Such a sound escaped from the woman’s lips.

“Aah……”

And tears welled up in her eyes.

She bent over.

Kneeling, pressing her forehead to the floor, with clenched fists, she burst into tears.

Kotone Kurosawa doesn’t know how to respond to someone like this. She had only seen a crying child in the classroom once.

The children around that child had comforted them by rubbing their back.

Should she do the same in this situation?

Kotone Kurosawa spent a long time contemplating, looking down at the woman who was clutching her feet and crying.

In the end, the crying stopped while she was still deliberating, so there was no need for comfort.