Ch.342IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (39)

We traveled for quite a while. Perhaps it was to prevent anyone from following us.

I know boats are slower than cars. But for something like that, we made a lot of stops at various places.

In truth, we were anxious for quite a long time.

We were escaping, but who knew what might happen on this boat?

There were only three unfamiliar men on the boat, and only two women—myself and Kagami.

It feels somewhat wrong to be suspicious of people who are helping us, but staying in the same place for a long time made me feel uneasy.

However, the three men always treated us with respect. Because they knew what relationship Kagami had with Mr. Yamashita, and because I was Kagami’s daughter.

…Or perhaps there was some deeper secret to my birth.

Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, we weren’t just on the boat the whole time.

We stopped at a small island once, where all five of us changed clothes and even got new bags. My randoseru was hidden inside a larger envelope, tied up and concealed, while Kagami applied makeup that made her look older and stood close to one of the men.

That way, we looked just like a family on vacation. Not an exceptionally harmonious family, and with one extra man, but good enough.

On the boat, we ate food we had purchased in advance, and whenever we stopped at coastal areas, the men bought us meals. Sometimes the food was what I liked, and sometimes it seemed more to the men’s taste, but I ate it well enough regardless.

Not only did our bags and clothes change, but the boats did too. In between, we switched to slightly smaller or larger boats, paid someone a few thousand yen to ride in a car, then boarded a large boat again to travel far.

“Was this plan in place from the beginning?”

Kagami once asked that while sitting in the back of a shaking truck, holding me tightly in her arms.

My strength hadn’t fully returned yet. Under normal circumstances, my injury would have required a hospital visit, but unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

Whether I was lucky or my body just healed unusually quickly, I didn’t have a raging fever, but I was still somewhat dazed, as if the blood I’d lost might somehow return.

…I couldn’t tell Kagami, but honestly, I was content just being like this.

I didn’t want to feel that anxiety I had experienced right before boarding the boat. I didn’t want to feel that sensation of being alone, like in that dream.

“There isn’t a detailed plan as such.”

One of the men said while chewing on dried squid. His skin was already somewhat tanned from the sun. He had darker skin to begin with, as if he often spent time in the sun, but now it was even more pronounced.

Kagami’s and my skin had inevitably darkened a bit too. However, the men and Kagami seemed to think this was actually safer.

“But we’ve had to run and hide in various places before. Not just here—we sometimes go abroad to hide too.”

A truly yakuza-like answer.

“The most important thing is to prevent our pursuers from following us. Of course, their influence is much less than if we were being chased by the government, but well, there’s no harm in being careful.”

Kagami nodded while holding me tight.

We sat in the back of the slowly advancing truck for about two more hours.

Very briefly, I thought about my past life. Though the memories were faint now, some parts still came back clearly.

Beyond the military, I must have had a job that involved riding in large vehicles often.

Just as I started nodding off, the car stopped.

I was startled as I got out of the car with Kagami’s support.

The ground we stepped on was a completely unpaved dirt road. The grass hadn’t been maintained, with weeds growing tall everywhere, some reaching up to my waist.

And in the middle of those weeds stood a house.

In this world, video streaming sites don’t exist yet. Even if they did, they probably wouldn’t be as popular as they were in my time.

But if such sites did exist, this would be the kind of place where attention-seekers would come to take verification photos.

Windows were broken here and there, and many roof tiles had fallen off. Most serious was the yard inside the wall—it too was densely overgrown with weeds.

In the distance, I could see some houses. But they were extremely far to reach on foot.

“…It’s been unused for too long.”

The oldest of the men muttered, seemingly embarrassed.

*

Preparations took all day.

It was mid-May now, so the days were starting to get hot. Though not unbearably so, I must have looked too weak to help with the work, especially with my neck injury.

I sat in the passenger seat with the truck’s engine running and the air conditioning on, staring blankly out the window.

Four adults were working hard, trying to make this abandoned house somehow livable.

Would there be proper bedding inside?

“…”

I turned around to look at the back seat.

Our luggage was there. My randoseru, which had been quite expensive when purchased.

I reached out and pulled it toward me. It was heavy, but I was used to the weight by now. I’d been using it for the past few years.

When I opened it…

…

The broken magic wand was still there.

Knowing that I had deliberately kept it, Kagami must have picked it up and put it in there. At least there was no blood on it. It had been thoroughly cleaned.

The tip was still sharp, but to think I had intended to stab my neck with it.

The plastic tip was threatening in its way, but honestly, it couldn’t really be considered a weapon. I must have been desperate enough to injure my neck with it.

I don’t think I can… throw it away.

It was also evidence that I had enjoyed a happy childhood.

I carefully put it back in the bag and returned it to the back seat.

While waiting absently, I hummed a little. A children’s song from the school performance, the instrumental part of a drama OST that Harumi had hummed so much that I memorized it even without knowing the lyrics, and a few pop songs by singers that Yuu had recently started listening to.

I decided to stop singing.

I stared blankly out the window again.

*

Kagami woke me up after I had dozed off, just as the sun was starting to set.

It would be more accurate to say that she woke me up while trying to get me out of the passenger seat where I had fallen asleep.

The house was still messy. The weeds in the yard had mostly been removed, but some remained in corners, and chopped grass pieces were scattered throughout the yard, as if someone had used a weed trimmer.

Still, they seemed to have done their best to clean the inside of the house. The interior was much better than the outside. At least it hadn’t become a target for abandoned house enthusiasts.

The men had apparently anticipated this situation to some extent, as they had already bought clean bedding and brought it in the truck. They laid out the bedding inside the house and had me lie down on it.

Then they sat facing us and told us to listen while I was lying down.

“First, I’ll be staying in this house for a while. During that time, Ms. Kurosawa, you’ll need to pretend to be my wife.”

“I understand.”

Kagami nodded with a serious expression.

It would be too dangerous, common-sensically speaking, for a woman and her daughter to be alone in such a rural area where nobody knew them.

“I’m someone whose face isn’t known to… that family, at least.”

“And the two of us will visit periodically. Of course, we won’t come directly through the Yamashita household. Since we weren’t originally working in the Tokyo area, I think we should be safe.”

Kagami nodded again.

“Don’t worry too much. Despite how we look, we know what consequences await if we do anything unnecessary. And personally, I owe Mr. Fukuda as well.”

I’m not sure why Harumi’s father was being mentioned here.

“…Thank you so much.”

Kagami bowed deeply while kneeling.

“We were able to survive thanks to all of you.”

“We’re indebted too. To the boss and Mr. Fukuda, well, that’s how it is.”

The man said this as if embarrassed by Kagami’s formal gratitude.

“Well… you should rest for now. We’ll go get some more necessary items for the house.”

“…Thank you.”

After receiving Kagami’s thanks, the three men left us alone in the room.

Kagami sat silently for a moment, then lay down beside me without changing her clothes. Well, I was still in my clothes too.

Kagami silently embraced me.

She smelled a bit of sweat.

But I was glad for that smell because it let me know Kagami was right beside me.

Both of us just held each other without saying anything.

When I woke up again, it was dawn the next day.