“Hmph...”
Tokiwa puffed out her cheeks in a pout. When she behaved so cutely, it almost made me buckle...
“Why don’t you just carry her, kid? It’s not like it’d be the first time, right?” the school nurse said irresponsibly.
“No, it wouldn’t be the first time, but that’s not the problem...”
“What? You don’t want to give a piggyback ride to your big-busted upperclassman?”
“It’s because she’s big-busted!”
I realized the error of my ways as soon as the words left my mouth, but Tokiwa only lazily cocked her head to the side. The nurse, however, got a good hearty laugh out of it. When she finally pulled herself together...
“Go on, take her with you already. I’ll be the one who catches hell if I just let her live in that bed.”
“...”
With a resigned sigh, I turned around for her. I immediately felt a soft sensation squish against my shoulder blades as Tokiwa—who was surprisingly light for how heavy her, um, assets looked—climbed onto my back.
“Have fun now, kids! Thanks for taking care of her!” the nurse chortled as she waved us off.
“Oh, shouldn’t you take out your hair ornament?”
The ornament Tokiwa wore was big and flashy enough that it was forbidden by the school dress code. That was why she normally took it off while walking around in the hall.
“Mm, it’s probably fine.”
“But if a teacher sees you...”
“Then you should flee in a wild dash.”
“...Am I a horse to you?”
“Just my darling underclassman.”
She shook her head and nudged her forehead against me. Fighting off the ticklish sensation on the back of my neck, I made my way to the club room in the old school building for the second time today.
“All right. We’re here.”
“Mm...”
After lowering Tokiwa into the chair in front of the computer, I finally took a breather. Fortunately, no one had seen us on the way here. My heart was still pounding, though... I was worried Tokiwa could hear it with how closely she’d been clinging to me.
As for Tokiwa, she combed her hair over her shoulder as the computer slowly booted up. The light literature club consisted of just the two of us, but Tokiwa was the only one who ever did any real work. I’d only joined as a ghost member to keep it from being shut down, so I didn’t really have a whole lot to offer the club. When we had meetings, mostly I’d read the books in the club room or manga I brought from home. Sometimes I’d just nap, and sometimes I’d even do my homework when the mood struck me—which was rare, I’ll admit. And as I whittled away my time, Tokiwa was always typing away at the computer next to me.
Clackity clack clack...
This was the daily life of the light literature club and how I spent my time after school. I honestly didn’t hate it. If anything, I enjoyed it.
It was because I had these pleasant afternoons that I didn’t hate school altogether. There were also the infinite favors and errands President Momone asked of me. I’d hate to admit that I actually enjoyed any part of that, but it was always at least a good way to kill time.
“Now then...”
What should I do besides babysit Tokiwa today?
▽
Once we’re done with club activities for the day, I always walk home with Tokiwa. She was in danger of collapsing at a moment’s notice, after all... Sometimes we’d meet up with President Momone if she was done with her student council affairs for the day too, but usually it fell on me to make sure Tokiwa got home safely.
“All right then, Tokiwa. See you tomorrow.”
“Do you want to come inside?”
“No, it’s already pretty late.”
“My mom and dad aren’t coming home tonight.”
“...That’s all the more reason not to.”
Every now and then, Tokiwa will say or do something that leaves me wondering if she really appreciates the fact that I’m a man or not. I wish she was a little less oblivious about how charming she could be to the opposite sex. Maybe I should ask President Momone to educate her a little...
“Well, I’m headed off now, Tokiwa. See you tomorrow.”
“Mm... See you.”
Tokiwa waved from the door, and I waved back as I walked off. With winter almost upon us, the sun was setting earlier and earlier. The walk home was dark, illuminated only by the streetlights. It was also quiet, and honestly a little lonely...
“Hahh...”
Soon it would be cold enough for me to see my breath when I sighed like that. For now, the road was still lined with dry leaves. And the sound of my lonesome footsteps... Somehow, the whole scene was just so melancholy. What was that about? I don’t remember feeling this way when I walked home yesterday. I just couldn’t escape the feeling that my commute wasn’t always this solitary...
“...”
Just my imagination, I guess. There were moments like this that I thought it would be nice to have someone that was always around. Someone like a childhood friend, I guess... But I didn’t have anyone like that. My imagination had really been running wild lately.
“Rekka?”
“!”
The moment someone called my name, I whipped around to see who it was. I almost thought my delusions had come to life, but I’d gotten my hopes up a little high.
“Wh-What’s the matter, Rekka?”
“Oh... Hey, Yulia.”
My shoulders slumped as I gave a modest wave to the surprised girl. Apparently, I’d wandered by the church without realizing it. Yulia, you see, was the nun who’d recently moved to town to take care of it.
Really, there was a considerably large nonhuman population around here, possibly drawn to the town by me and my bloodline. And Yulia, while a nun, moonlit as an exorcist. That had initially put her at odds with the local supernatural authority, President Momone, but the two of them had reached a compromise, and Yulia was beginning to explore other ways to work out her aggression for nonhumans.
“Um... So, what’s up? Did you need something?”
“No, not at all. I just happened to spot you, so I called out to say hello,” Yulia said before clearing her throat. “You seem to be rather flustered, though. Were you having more strange hallucinations about the opposite sex?”
“No! Nothing of the sort!” I denied in a much louder voice than necessary (since I had actually been daydreaming about a childhood friend and whatnot).
But Yulia wasn’t convinced.
“You’re surrounded by enough temptation as it is, so you must always remain vigilant. To begin with, you...”
There, she launched into a sermon. I was stuck on the spot, hesitant to remain but unable to leave. To someone raised under the holy roof of the church, I must have seemed like the very personification of frivolity. And while I couldn’t deny that, Yulia seemed to have mistaken my frivolity for carelessness when it came to women. She saw that as an immoral flaw, and would try her best to correct it whenever we crossed paths like this.
“Hey, are you listening to me?”
“Hweh?!”
She suddenly leaned in close, making me squeak in surprise. She was trying to rebuke me for not paying attention to what she was saying, but...
“S-Say, uh, do you think you could let me off for today?”
“I’m not done talking yet.”
“Um, that’s...”
Yulia didn’t seem to realize it, but she was standing so close now that she was practically right up against me with her shapely body. She was wearing her habit, which didn’t do much to disguise her curves when I could feel them... I knew it would only enrage her if I pointed that out, however, so I tried to skirt the issue and chose my words carefully.
“Yeah, okay... But could you step back a little first, though?”
“Are you planning on running? I won’t let you get away.”
I’d dug my own grave. Yulia grabbed my tie with an iron g
rip to make sure I wouldn’t be going anywhere, which, unfortunately for me, only brought us closer together.
“Close! Too close!”
“Is that inconvenient for you?”
“I-I wouldn’t say that. It’s just...”
If I said anything about her breasts, I was sure she’d probably reply with her battleaxe. I needed another way to phrase it... I know!
“How am I supposed to stay calm with someone so beautiful standing so close to me?”
“...!”
At my unbearably cringeworthy line, Yulia recoiled in surprise. She then smote me directly in the forehead with an admirable karate chop.
“It’s the temptation around you that leads you to say such things without a care in the world!”
“Th-That’s not exactly the problem...”
While I was freed from Yulia’s grasp, she was even angrier than before. There was no way I could tell her now that the only temptation in front of me was her. Yeah, it was safer just to stay quiet on the matter.
“Good grief. Both you and that Momone... Just watching the two of you worries me. If you don’t put any effort into changing your ways now, you’ll never make it into heaven.”
“R-Really?”
“That’s right. Ever since I met you, you two have been...”
Crap. Another sermon was starting.
To someone of the cloth, President Momone and I probably did seem rather lax about a lot of things. Yulia, meanwhile, was absolutely unyielding, and she’d been that way ever since I met her. She was faithful to the church’s teachings, a devoted exorcist, and probably lived a very wholesome life herself. Actually, now that I think about it, it was kind of a miracle that President Momone and I had managed to talk her out of killing the local yokai in the first place. Hm? Wait a minute...
“Hey, Yulia.”
“That’s why I’m saying you... What?” Yulia asked back, pausing her sermon.
“This might sound weird, but... When you first met me and President Momone, was there someone else with us?”
“Someone else? Do you mean that nekomata girl?”
“No, someone other than Ai...”
Someone who would’ve been able to persuade Yulia. It was just too hard to believe President Momone and I had done it ourselves... But what made me think that? Even though I’d been the one to ask, I wasn’t quite sure why. But Yulia couldn’t seem to think of anything, either.
“...Sorry, I don’t recall.”
“I see. Thanks. I just had the feeling there was another girl there with us for some reason.”
At that comment, Yulia raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Another girl, you say?”
“What? No!”
“It seems I need to thoroughly retrain your mind. Come to the church anytime. I’d be happy to provide you penance.”
“Give me a break!” I yelled, fleeing from her like a startled hare.
Yulia yelled after me, but I pretended not to hear her as I kept running. Being too laid-back like President Momone and Tokiwa was a problem, but being too rigid like Yulia was equally problematic. That said, she definitely had her soft spots... Heh.
“Wait, what am I thinking?”
Whenever I had stupid thoughts like that, she would normally make a witty remark... Huh? Wait, who?
“Hngh...”
I was so close to remembering, it was on the tip of my tongue... Something important...
“It’s no use. I can’t remember.”
Was my memory always this terrible? Well, I guess so... I’d always been bad at subjects that required memorization. It was a miracle I’d even made it into high school. I barely ever studied, either. And over summer vacation, I didn’t even do my homework until just before the annual festival... Huh? Why did I even do it before the festival? Had I promised to go with someone? Going to the festival with someone, hmm...
Bzz... Bzzzz...
“...”
What a strange day.
Bzzzzz... Bzz...
Misunderstandings, forgetfulness, my imagination... Too many little things kept bothering me.
Bzzzzzzzz...
But there was no need to be worried by it. I’d stop worrying soon anyway.
“Oh, Rekka.”
“Hm?”
Hearing my name, I suddenly snapped back to my senses. For a second there, it was almost like my head was filled with static.
“What are you doing looking so dazed?” asked the girl who’d called out to me.
It was Yorun, casually dressed and peering at my face quizzically.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” I said, shaking my head and waving my hand to reassure her.
“If you say so,” she replied with a smile.
Yorun was another of my acquaintances, though we’d met under extraordinary circumstances. President Momone brought me a cursed video game that had sucked us into the game world, which was where we’d found Yorun. Thinking back on it, it was a pretty incredible experience. I’d thought she was a game character at first, but as it turns out, she was just stuck in the game like we were. In the end, we brought her back to the real world with us when we escaped, and she’d been living at Kibi Shrine ever since.
“What are you doing out at this hour, Yorun?”
I knew there were families that preferred to eat earlier or later, but it was pretty universally dinnertime. It seemed strange to find Yorun out and about right now considering she was depending on the Kibi family. Surely she wasn’t out to have dinner by herself.
“We ran out of soy sauce, so I’m headed to the shopping street to get more.”
“Oh, so you’re in the middle of an errand.”
“Yep. The president’s family has been looking after me, so this is the least I can do.”
Now that I took a closer look, she was carrying an empty shopping bag on her arm. It made perfect sense that she was on her way to the supermarket.
“Come to think of it, my fridge is pretty bare.”
With my parents out of town, I had to take care of feeding myself.
“Do you want to go together then?”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
With no reason to refuse, I headed to the shopping street with Yorun. It was just a little past 6:00 P.M. now, so the supermarket wasn’t particularly empty or crowded. It was pretty average traffic as we walked around, but we both knew exactly what we’d come for. Yorun grabbed some soy sauce, and then we went to the to-go counter so I could grab a premade meal.
“Do you always get these?”
“Nah. Sometimes I go over to the Otomos’ next door to eat. They’re good family friends, so they look out for me.”
“Hmm... Do you cook yourself?”
“Sometimes.”
It would have been more accurate to say “rarely,” but there was a valid question about whether or not heating up instant noodles in the microwave actually counted as cooking or not.
“Let’s see...”
While I was contemplating which dinner to choose, Yorun picked up a random rice ball.
“If you like, I can come over and cook for you sometime,” she then murmured.
I couldn’t help looking at her in surprise.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m just surprised.”
“Did I say something that weird?”
“Not weird, but...”
I honestly didn’t think Yorun was much the type to cook, either. But when I told her that, she pegged me in the face with the rice ball she’d picked up.
“You can be kind of rude sometimes, Rekka.”
“I get that a lot...” I replied as I peeled the rice ball off my face.
I then placed the now-crushed rice ball into my basket and glanced over the ready-made side dishes at the counter, picking up some potato salad and fried chicken. That should be enough for tonight.
“So, how about it?” she asked.
“Mm... Well, I’d appreciate it if you did, but what brought on the offer?” I
asked back.
She scratched her cheek and said, “Truth is, we may have found my family.”
“WHAT?!” I yelled without thinking before quickly covering my mouth.
The people around us looked at me strangely, but my surprise took priority as I stared at Yorun’s face fixedly.
“You’ve seriously found your family?”
“Yeah. The president and her grandfather were investigating the previous owners of that game... and they think they found a family that fits the bill.”
“Ooh!”
As expected of President Momone. She really was reliable. No, she was just plain incredible. She’d found Yorun’s family in practically no time at all with hardly any clues to go off of.
“Since I was in the game for so long, my memories of reality are pretty fuzzy. It’s all a little scary. I mean, what do I do if I don’t recognize my parents when I see them? They might not recognize me, either...”
“Yorun...”
Though she was mumbling with a forlorn look on her face, it quickly perked up into a smile.
“Well, I guess I’ll find out when I meet them! But that’s why I thought we should have a meal together. To celebrate finding them, I mean. I haven’t properly thanked you for saving me yet either, so it’ll double for that too.”
“In that case, then I suppose it’s all right.”
“Hmph. That reply sounds so forced.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I waved my hands in denial at her sulking protest. It really was happy news. If anything, I was the one who should be congratulating her.
“I know! Since it’s a celebration, let’s invite everyone over. Like President Momone and Tokiwa.”
I was thinking we could turn it into a party, but Yorun let out a heavy, despondent sigh.
“Hahh, Rekka, sometimes you’re just so... No, you’re just downright thickheaded.”
“Wuh...?”
Did she not want a party?
“Well, fine. In that case, you have to be the one to contact Touko, okay? I don’t have her info.”
“Got it.”
We then set a tentative date and agreed to get together at whatever time everyone could manage. From there, we parted ways when we left the supermarket. Groceries in hand, I walked past Nozomiya as I left the shopping street, and I made it home without running into anyone else in particular.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 14 Page 2