by Takehaya
“...”
“What?”
Sanae stared at Yurika. She was holding stock still, but her eyes were open wide.
“Ah, aah, auuugh...”
Yurika blinked twice.
“Hey, are you okay?”
As Koutarou approached her with a worried look, Yurika suddenly began moving again.
“Kyaaaaaaaah! Noooooooo! A gh-ghost! I can’t handle ghooooosts!”
Yurika abruptly sprang up, grabbed ahold of her broom, and took a quick look around the room before making a mad dash for the wardrobe.
“Wh-What?!”
“H-Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Please don’t possess me! I’m scared of ghosts! Possess him instead, pleeeeease!”
Yurika jumped straight into the wardrobe and slammed the sliding door shut.
“Don’t come near me! Don’t possess me! Nothing good will come from killing me! So please suck the life force out of that energetic boy over there instead!”
The pitiful pleas continued from the wardrobe.
“What’s up with that...?”
“Wh-Who knows? She’s probably just scared of you.”
Koutarou and Sanae just stood there staring at the wardrobe.
“R-Right. That’s how people normally react when they meet a ghost. I had forgotten about that because of you.”
“The previous tenants were like that too?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Sanae looked at Koutarou and nodded.
“But is it really okay for the magical girl of love and courage to run away like that? She even tried to sacrifice you instead.”
“Well, she is just a cosplayer after all. We can’t expect too much from her.”
“Fair enough.”
The two continued coldly staring at the wardrobe.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! You don’t have to believe in magic anymore! Please just don’t possess meeeee!”
Unaware of how Koutarou and Sanae felt, Yurika desperately pleaded for her life.
“What are we going to do about it?”
“What else? We’ll just have to get her to come out.”
“...Yeah.”
Koutarou and Sanae both looked at each other and sighed heavily.
Commence Invasion ♡
Tuesday, April 7th
Tuesday, April 7th. The clock ticked passed 7:30 AM.
“In the end, she never came out...”
“Well, I doubt she’ll come out if you leave her alone with me.”
Koutarou looked up from putting on his shoes, pausing to glance back at the inner room. Yurika hadn’t come out of the wardrobe once, despite repeated attempts to persuade her. She was scared and stubborn, and had flat out refused to budge. As the sun rose, Koutarou was willing to put his strange home problems on hold so he could go to school.
“She’ll probably come out when she gets hungry.”
“I hope so. But we’re not getting anywhere at this rate.”
“You’re right about that.”
Having finished putting on his shoes, Koutarou smiled and stood up. Sanae, who had been looking down at him, now had to look up.
“Try to come home as fast as you can, okay?”
“Yeah. I don’t have work today, so I’ll be home earlier than yesterday.”
“Okay. Bye-bye.”
I’m being seen off...
“Yeah, see you later.”
And saying goodbye...
The two exchanged farewells despite fighting over control of the room. However, for some reason, it didn’t feel unnatural to either one of them. As Koutarou left the apartment, he spotted Kenji leaving his bike at the bike stall.
“Sup, Mackenzie?”
“Good morning, Kou.”
After locking up his bike, Kenji walked over to Koutarou, who was in the middle of a yawn.
“Huaaahh...!”
“What? Not get enough sleep last night either?”
“Something like that. It was just hard to sleep.”
“The ghost again?”
“That was part of it.”
That was when Koutarou felt a minor shake.
“Huh?”
At first he thought it was because he was moving, but even after he stopped walking, he could still feel the shaking.
“What’s wrong?”
“Isn’t the ground shaking?”
“Hmm? Oh, you’re right. It is shaking a little.”
“An earthquake?”
“Most likely. It’s probably not construction at this hour.”
The boys looked down as they talked, but the shaking stopped after a few seconds.
“Looks like it’s over.”
“Well, that’s all there was to that, I guess.”
“Good morning, Satomi-kun, Mackenzie-kun!” Shizuka’s voice joined in from above them.
The boys looked up from the ground to see Shizuka. She was on the second floor of Corona House, in the middle of locking up her apartment.
“Good morning, Landlord-san.”
“Good morning, Kasagi-san.”
“Lovely weather today, isn’t it?”
Shizuka came down the stairs as they greeted her.
“I’m sorry. Did I keep you waiting?”
“Not at all, Landlord-san.”
“I just got here too.”
Today would be their first full day of classes at school. The three of them just happened to end up in the same class, so they decided to all walk to school together.
“Oh good, then let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
“You got it. Still, Kou, you’re being awfully formal with Kasagi-san.”
“You’re right, Mackenzie-kun. He insisted that I call him Satomi-kun, but he’s still calling me Landlord-san and speaking in such a stiff tone.”
“It’s normal to hold your landlord in high regards.”
“He was raised like that, so he’s always like this with anyone in authority.”
“Oh my... Teehee!”
And so the three of them headed to school together.
Including the entrance ceremony, it was only the second day of school, so the classroom was still rather quiet. There was some talking here and there, but it was mostly students who had come from the same middle school. Overall, the class was practically silent. It would take a few more days before the new classmates got to know one another.
“Satomi-kun!”
But Shizuka’s voice rang out clearly in the quiet classroom. She was holding a small box and ran up to Koutarou and Kenji.
“What’s the matter, Landlord-san?”
“Teehee, please don’t call me Landlord-san at school, Satomi-kun. Oh, right! Here, this is for you.”
“What is this?”
Koutarou took the small box Shizuka handed him.
“In middle school, I had a classmate who knew a lot about this kind of stuff. After I explained the situation to her, she gave me these.”
Koutarou peeked inside the box to see notes, ropes, decorated sticks, and the like.
“Tools for exorcism, huh?”
Kenji, whose desk happened to be in front of Koutarou’s, snuck a peek too and piped up before Shizuka could.
“Tools for exorcism?”
Koutarou didn’t quite follow.
“Yeah. Look at this. It has ‘evil spirits begone’ written on it, right?”
“You’re right.”
“Still, there’re tools from all kinds of religions here. Shinto, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic... Wow, there’s even voodoo stuff in here. It’s stuff from all over the world.”
“Why would you give this to me, Landlord-san?”
“Because you said the ghost appeared in your room. I thought this might help.”
“Ah...”
That was when Koutarou finally remembered that he was fighting with Sanae for control of the room.
That’s right, we’re fighting over the apartment.
With Yurika showing up, there hadn’t be
en any time to fight yesterday.
“By the way, Kasagi-san, wouldn’t all of this be expensive?”
“Well, Mackenzie-kun, these were close to their expiration dates, so I got them for free.”
“Expiration dates? On exorcism tools?!”
Hearing those bewildering words from Shizuka’s mouth, Kenji’s eyes opened wide in surprise.
“Apparently. But since these are so close to expiring, I was told they should be used as soon as possible.”
“To think the progress of civilization would even affect these kinds of things...”
Kenji picked up a suspicious looking charm decorated with a dried reptile, and stared at the label attached to it. It read, “Expiration date: six months from the date of manufacture. For date of manufacture, please consult the packaging.”
“We’re all done for...”
That was Kenji’s honest impression.
“This’ll help a lot, Landlord-san.”
“I do hope it’ll be useful.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll put it all to good use.”
“Good luck, Kou. I’m rooting for you.”
“You should help me out.”
“No way. You know I hate that kind of stuff.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Kenji hated all things occult. Despite being knowledgeable, he was more scared of it than Koutarou. According to Kenji, he said his knowledge on the subject was what made him hate it so much.
“All right, with this, I’ll...”
That was when Koutarou realized it wasn’t just a ghost he needed to chase out of his room. There was also the self-proclaimed princess of love and courage, Magical Girl Rainbow Yurika—the girl who was way too into her cosplay hobby.
“Hey, Mackenzie.”
“I won’t help you no matter how many times you ask.”
“No, not that. There’s something I want you to tell me.”
“Hmm? What?”
Seeing Kenji nod, Koutarou held up the box.
“You’re supposed to exorcise ghosts with this stuff, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So what do you use to exorcise a cosplayer?”
Koutarou was dead serious.
“Are you stupid?! There’s nothing for that!”
“Don’t say that. I’m being serious here.”
Yesterday morning, his only problem had been a ghost. But today, there was a cosplayer added into the mix. This was an important question to Koutarou.
“Good grief, cosplayers are just normal people. Don’t be stupid!”
“Then you can just use force?”
“Do whatever you want!”
Kenji looked perturbed as he pushed up his glasses.
“Hmm...”
As Koutarou crossed his arms and began thinking, Shizuka, who had been watching them, started laughing.
“Heeheehee! You two really do get along well.”
“Only because we’ve known each other for so long.”
“Don’t sound so disgusted by it, Mackenzie!”
“Teehee. But the truth is that you don’t hate it at all, right, Mackenzie-kun?”
“No, I definitely hate it.”
“Oh, you’re not being honest, Mackenzie-kun!”
“Landlord-san, this guy’s always trying to act tough.”
“Kou! Are you picking a fight with me?!”
“Ahahahahaha!”
Shizuka’s happy laughter filled the classroom. But even while listening to it, Koutarou was thinking about something completely different.
Do I really want to drive away Sanae?
It was a sudden and completely unexpected hesitation.
Once school was over and he finished up with classroom cleaning duty, Koutarou headed for the club building. There was a club or society assigned to each and every room. In fact, you could say it was an apartment building for the school’s clubs.
“Well, it’s technically treated as a society, so...”
The room Koutarou was headed for was in the south wing of the second floor. That was where the societies had been gathered.
The area around the entrance to the building was busy since all of the sports clubs had their rooms there. However, as he walked further inside, there was little traffic and barely any noise. Koutarou’s footsteps could be heard from down the hallway.
“Here it is.”
Koutarou stopped in front of the room at the very back of the building. The knitting society. This was the society Koutarou had decided to join on the day the exam results were announced.
Koutarou knocked on the door.
“Hello?”
The door was made from resin with an aluminum frame, so the sound carried through the entire hallway.
“...C-Coming!” A slightly panicked voice replied.
Shortly after that, the lock was undone and a girl popped her face out.
“Who is— Oh!”
The girl looked skeptical at first, but she relaxed after seeing Koutarou.
“Hello, Senpai.”
“Welcome, Satomi-kun.”
It was Sakuraba Harumi, the president of the knitting society and the only member apart from Koutarou.
To a complete beginner like Koutarou, even the most basic knitting technique was hard work. It involved using your fingers to wind yarn around the knitting needle in order to make loose knots. It was easy once you got the hang of it, but it was rather troublesome for Koutarou who was clumsy and bad at remembering things like this.
“Senpai, what do I do here again?”
“You pull to the right, and then loop it around here.”
“Oh, right.”
Koutarou would stop from time to time to look at how Harumi was doing before continuing. Despite his shaky technique and almost stabbing himself with the oversize needle a couple of times, Koutarou was actually knitting.
“There’s no need to rush, Satomi-kun. You can do it slowly. Let’s just focus on practice for today.”
“Y-Yes. I’m sorry I’m clumsy.”
“Everyone’s like that at first. I don’t mind.”
Harumi looked happy as she watched over Koutarou. She was normally shy and withdrawn, but she was able to come out of her shell a little while doing something she liked.
“Was it the same for you too, Senpai?”
“Yes. I’ve even stabbed my finger with the knitting needle before.”
Harumi’s eyes partially closed as she reveled in nostalgia, but Koutarou wasn’t looking at her in that moment. If he had been, he probably wouldn’t have been able to get her smile out of his head for the rest of the day.
“Do this like this, and... Haha, I feel more motivated after hearing that even you’ve failed, Senpai.”
“Putting it like that sounds kind of mean. Heehee, but still, you haven’t stabbed your finger yet, so you might be better than I was back then.”
“Ahaha, I’ll do my best.”
Even while laughing, Koutarou was diligently moving the knitting needles without looking away from his hands.
It sure is strange to think that someone like Satomi-kun would be this motivated to knit...
Harumi, who was sitting next to Koutarou and watching over his progress, couldn’t help but feel it was odd. While Harumi herself enjoyed knitting, she knew that most people didn’t. She was under the impression that athletic types like Koutarou wouldn’t have any interest in it whatsoever.
That’s why she thought Koutarou had only joined the knitting society to keep it from being disbanded, or worse. Although she scorned the thought, it was possible he had the same ulterior motives as the boy on recruitment day.
“Senpai, when I pull the loops, is it all right to put some force into it?”
“Oh, y-yes, that’s fine. But don’t pull it so hard that the sides become uneven. It’ll turn out poorly.”
“I see. Got it.”
“Good.”
Why does he work so hard...?
However, the reality
was far from what she feared. Koutarou was earnestly toiling away, seriously trying to learn knitting. It was all just a bit mysterious to Harumi.
“Um, Satomi-kun.”
“Yes, what is it?”
As Harumi said his name, Koutarou stopped moving his knitting needles and looked up at her. Meeting his gaze, Harumi’s normally shy and withdrawn personality started to show itself ever so slightly.
“Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Of course not. Ask me anything.”
“I-In that case...” Harumi steeled herself, took a deep gulp, and threw her question at Koutarou. “Satomi-kun, why did you decide to pick up knitting?”
“Why?” Koutarou wasn’t sure what to say at first, so he just flashed an embarrassed smile and put his hand on his head. “It doesn’t suit me at all, right? Hahaha...”
Koutarou was fully aware of how he must look to others.
“Th-That’s not true! I was just wondering if this was boring for a boy...”
Hearing Koutarou’s laughter, Harumi’s face turned red and she looked down. Looking at her like that, Koutarou decided to tell her a little bit about his circumstances. Harumi would surely understand. He also felt that it was only fair that she should know since she was teaching him.
“I’ll tell you because you don’t look like the gossiping type.”
“Satomi-kun...?”
Harumi looked back up to see Koutarou with a much more serious expression than she had expected.
“The truth is that I have a half-knit sweater at home.”
“A sweater? I see...”
When Koutarou said that, Harumi recalled what he had said when they first met.
“Would it be possible for even a complete amateur to knit a sweater?”
That was what Koutarou had asked her that day.
“I want to finish it with my own hands one day. Hahaha, but who knows how long it’ll take before someone as clumsy as I am can do it?”
That sweater must hold memories of someone important to him.
That’s what Harumi felt as she looked at Koutarou’s smile. His embarrassed smile was oddly gentle.
That’s why he’s working so hard. He wants to finish that sweater. I see, so that’s what it was...
Upon learning his reason, Harumi was both relieved and truly happy.