by Takehaya
Embraced by the early spring’s calm atmosphere and warm sunshine, time drifted by in the club room after school. Right now, school was the only place where Koutarou could rest. At home were three girls trying to steal his room. Compared to that, the time spent at school, especially in the club room, felt like heaven.
“I just wish it was always like this. Huaaahh...”
Relaxing, Koutarou let out a yawn as he knitted. After multiple all-nighters, he was exhausted. What little sleep he got during class was far from enough.
“Not good. Gotta keep knitting...”
“Are you okay, Satomi-kun?”
Sitting next to Koutarou, Harumi didn’t miss the signs of fatigue on Koutarou’s face. She gave him a worried look. Being seriously concerned, her words sounded a little more assertive than usual.
“I’m fine, Sakuraba-senpai.”
“But you don’t look that way... You haven’t gotten enough sleep, have you?”
Koutarou tried to play it off, but it didn’t work on Harumi. Instead, her apprehensive look grew even more serious and she leaned forward slightly. Because of her weak constitution, she took matters of health quite seriously.
“Hahaha, I just moved out on my own and I haven’t quite gotten used to it yet. I’ll be back to normal soon, Sakuraba-senpai.”
“...I hope so...”
“That aside, Senpai, please show me that knitting technique one more time.”
Koutarou smiled at Harumi, who still looked worried.
With Harumi’s lesson, Koutarou was getting into the depths of knitting. Using the technique from yesterday as the foundation, he was now learning the basic garter stitch. Compared to the garter stitch, the stockinette stitch often used for sweaters was quite a bit harder. It would require a different motion. So rather than getting started on two motions, Harumi decided to have him master one at a time.
“All right. I’ll do it once more slowly, so get a good look.”
“Thank you.”
Harumi still looked worried, but she began moving her hands again at Koutarou’s request.
Satomi-kun, it’s fine to be enthusiastic, but are you really okay...?
Harumi demonstrated the technique as she tried to think of a way to allow Koutarou to rest. After showing Koutarou an example a couple of times, she finally came up with an idea.
That’s right, maybe if I leave him alone...
Harumi decided to put her plan into action right away.
“So you do it like this. Do you understand, Satomi-kun?”
“Yes, that’s a big help. I’ll give it a try.”
Koutarou began moving his knitting needles. Although awkward, he showed his determination.
It’s because you’re working so hard...
Harumi set her needles and yarn down on the desk and stood up.
“Satomi-kun, can I ask you to keep an eye on the club room for a while?”
“S-Sure... I don’t mind. But what are you going to do?”
Koutarou stopped knitting and looked up at Harumi.
“I forgot that the school committee asked to see me. I’ll be back soon.”
“I see. Okay, I’ll keep watch while you’re away.”
“Please do. Sorry about this.”
Harumi lightly bowed and headed towards the door.
“I just hope you’ll be able to get some rest this way, Satomi-kun...”
“Did you say something, Senpai?”
“Not at all. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay, see you then.”
Harumi left the room with a small smile.
Hm...? Huh?
When Koutarou came to, the club room was dyed red by the evening sun.
“Oh crap, I feel asleep...”
The knitting needles that were in his hands had been put on top of the desk, and the jacket to a girl’s uniform had been laid over him.
“Were you able to sleep well?”
When Koutarou lifted his head to look in the direction of the voice, he saw Harumi smiling gently at him. She had taken off her jacket and was knitting in her blouse.
“Senpai, I...”
“I was just thinking about waking you up. It’s almost 6 PM.”
Harumi stopped knitting and pointed to the clock. It was now 5:45 PM—almost time for the school to close for the day.
“I’m sorry for falling asleep in the middle of club activities...”
To Koutarou who had been raised to respect others, this was a big problem. He looked apologetic and bowed deeply.
“It’s fine, Satomi-kun. I-It’s, um... Th-This society belongs to just the two of us, after all...”
Harumi’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment, but he was bowed so low that he couldn’t see it.
“That’s why, Senpai.”
“No, that’s not quite right. It belongs to just the two of us, so it’s fine as long as we agree.”
“Senpai...”
“Satomi-kun, please take care of your body...”
Oh, I see, Senpai is...
When Koutarou saw how seriously she was looking at him, he finally remembered her weak constitution.
That’s why she was so worried...
Koutarou was grateful for her concern, but he also felt bad for making her worry.
“I understand. I’ll be more careful.”
“Good... Thank you, Satomi-kun.”
Satisfied with Koutarou’s answer, Harumi happily thanked him.
I should be the one worrying about her. I gotta keep it together...
Thanks to the appearance of three strange people, Koutarou’s life had been non-stop trouble the past few days. Even so, he was able to take heart from Harumi’s kindness.
“I’m home.”
As Koutarou opened the front door, he found that it was still dark inside. And Sanae, who had welcomed him back right away yesterday, was nowhere to be found.
“Huh?”
Just as Koutarou began wondering why, Sanae poked her head out from the inner room.
“Koutarou, over here! Come quick!”
“What is it?”
“It’ll be faster to see for yourself. Come this way, Koutarou.”
“Something’s wrong!”
After Sanae, both Kiriha and Yurika called out to him. As they all sounded serious, Koutarou tossed off his shoes by the entrance and hurried to the inner room.
“What’s wrong, you three? The light’s still... Whoa!”
As he dashed into the room, Koutarou’s eyes shot open wide.
“Wh-What is that?!”
Something strange was happening. For some reason, the wall the farthest away from the hallway was glowing dimly. The strangely glowing spot was almost two meters tall and one meter wide.
“This was just a wall, right? What happened?!”
“That’s what we want to know.”
While responding to Koutarou’s question, Kiriha turned the lights on. With the room normally lit, the glowing wall became slightly less noticeable.
“Sanae, did you do this?”
“How rude! It wasn’t me! Don’t make everything out to be my fault. Besides, what’s the point in making the wall glow?”
“Fair enough.”
Koutarou first suspected Sanae after having seen some of the psychic phenomena she was capable of causing, but he relented after she made her case. Like she had said, she had nothing to gain from making the wall glow.
“You’re always looking for a reason not to trust me! Jeez!”
With a frown, Sanae puffed up her cheeks and sat with her legs crossed in mid-air.
“It can’t be helped. You’re a ghost after all.”
“Hmph! I don’t care about you either!”
The sulking Sanae turned away from Koutarou.
“Come on, don’t start pouting because I doubted you for a moment.”
As Koutarou forced a smile for Sanae, someone tugged on the sleeve of his uniform.
“Um, Satomi-san...”
�
��Hmm? What? Oh, it’s just you, Yurika?”
Yurika was the one that had pulled on his sleeve. Once she’d gotten his attention, she began speaking in a reserved tone.
“The wall is glowing, isn’t it?”
“So it is.”
“Something strange is happening, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Haven’t you considered that it might be my magic?”
“...Maybe.”
After nodding for the third time, Koutarou turned to Kiriha.
“So Kiriha-san, how long has the wall been like this?”
He had already lost interest in Yurika.
“Wh-Why?! Can’t you at least consider it? This is a supernatural phenomenon, you know! It’s a complete mystery! It might just be my magic!”
“Not very long. It started about ten minutes before you returned.”
“Ten minutes ago, huh?”
“It’s not fair! Believing in ghosts but not magic is unfair! I demand a correction and an apology!”
“Karama, Korama. Tell Koutarou about the results of your measurements as well.”
“Got it! Ho!”
“Leave it to us, Ane-san! Ho!”
Responding to Kiriha’s request, the two haniwas ran up to Koutarou.
“There is no sign of radiation, electromagnetic waves, heat, vibration, or spiritual energy, ho! We can only detect a trace amount of light! Ho!”
“But we can’t measure the other side of the glow, ho! It’s almost as if there’s an invisible wall, ho! Where the light is coming from is still unknown! Ho!”
The haniwas explained everything in detail while gesturing wildly, but it made no sense to Koutarou.
“I don’t really get it. So what does this mean?”
“Koutarou, it means that apart from not being able to see through to the other side of the glow, it’s a completely normal wall... However, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility of technology we don’t understand being involved.”
“In other words, it’s a mysterious glowing wall?”
Koutarou slowly approached the wall.
“Aaaah, if only you’d just give me a fraction of that consideration...” Yurika started breaking into tears behind Koutarou. “Can’t you even consider it might be the doing of a girl with suspicious powers?! I’m trying so hard!”
But Yurika’s pleading fell on deaf ears as Koutarou focused on the wall.
“Koutarou, you shouldn’t carelessly touch it.”
“...That’s actually pretty persuasive when you say it.”
What did reach Koutarou’s ears was Sanae’s voice. She floated next to him and approached the wall with him.
“What? Don’t treat me like I’m some sort of floating danger!”
“That’s exactly what you are.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?! I’ve had it! And here I was thinking of protecting you if something happened, but you just trample all over my kindness! You have a terrible personality!”
Sanae began sulking again and returned to where Kiriha and Yurika were.
“...Koutarou definitely won’t die a pretty death.”
“He won’t even believe in magic either.”
“It’s a common thing for people of our age. If you’re a fine woman, you’ll be able to overlook something like this.”
“I’m just a kid, so I don’t care.”
There’s no tension here whatsoever...
Koutarou could feel his spirits droop as he listened to the voices from behind him.
Standing about thirty centimeters away from it, Koutarou was still observing the glowing wall.
“Apart from the glow, it looks just like a normal wall, but...”
The glow was weak, so it wasn’t dazzling. It was brighter than fluorescent paint, but not to the degree of a fluorescent lamp. Because of that, he could still see the wall where it wasn’t glowing just fine. He could even clearly see the patterns of the recently changed wallpaper.
“What is this...?”
Koutarou reached out towards the wall. Even as his hand got close, it didn’t feel hot. It was just as Kiriha said. But he still didn’t know if touching it was safe or not.
“Now then, what to do...?”
While Koutarou was thinking it over, a change took place in the wall.
“Oh?”
At the center of the glowing spot, roughly one meter up from the ground, a blue disk fifteen centimeters in diameter appeared. White light ran through the blue disk, outlining a simple picture of a man in armor fighting against a large reptilian.
“A knight and a dragon... Is it some kind of crest?”
Koutarou brought his face closer to examine it. As he did, he realized that it wasn’t just a picture, but a three-dimensional sculpture. That strengthened his impression that it was indeed a crest.
“But why is there a crest on a glowing wall?”
Not sure what to think, Koutarou brought his face even closer to the crest. But suddenly, his vision was completely obscured.
“H-Huh?! What?!”
Koutarou was caught by surprise as his sight went dark, but he could feel something soft and warm pressed against his face. His body stiffened in response.
“Huwah?!”
A girl’s voice cried out from right in front of Koutarou.
Everyone in the room was surprised. But the most surprised of them all was the girl who had surprised Koutarou and the others.
“H-H-How rude! Burying your face in a princess’s chest is unforgivable even for a clueless Neanderthal!”
“H-Huh? Wha?! What’s going on?!”
As someone practically yelled right into his ear, Koutarou tried to pull his face away from whatever was obscuring his vision by lightly pushing against it with his hands.
“Waaaaah! Y-You dare to touch a princess’s chest?! Grab it?! Fondle it?!?!”
“Huh?!”
Standing before the bewildered Koutarou was a girl with her back towards the glowing wall. She was short, but a little taller than Sanae. With her blonde hair and blue eyes, she was probably a foreigner. She was wearing a beautiful, brilliant white dress, and the ends of her spread skirt filled up a large part of the tiny room. But above all, she was wearing a silver tiara decorated with jewels on top of her golden hair.
“...Who’s this girl?”
“I am no mere ‘girl’! Remove your hands from me this instant, Neanderthal!”
“Hands?”
At the mention of his hands, Koutarou reflexively squeezed.
“Waaaaah! D-Don’t fondle them more, idiot!”
“W-Waaaaaaaah?!”
That was when Koutarou finally realized that he had grabbed ahold of the breasts of the girl in front of him. Where he had put his hands to push away had been just where her chest was.
“S-Sorry!”
“A ‘sorry’ won’t cut it! You buried your face in my chest without warning and even dared to fondle it!” The girl’s face was crimson with anger and embarrassment. She covered her chest with her arms and continued to shout at Koutarou. “This noble chest that you played around with to fulfill your lust is not something the likes of you may touch! You should consider yourself lucky that you were not slain on the spot!”
“Lust?! Th-That’s a misunderstanding! That wasn’t my intention at all! It was just an accident!”
Flustered, Koutarou shook his head.
“All criminals say the same thing!”
“That’s not true! Who would want to fondle such a flat chest?! I have the right to choose which breasts I fondle, too!”
“F-Flat...?”
The girl’s expression froze.
“You think I’d take that kind of risk over that washing board of a chest?! Give me a break!”
“W-Washing board...?”
The stunned girl looked up at Koutarou. Her eyes were wide open and her face was twitching.
“Yeah, that’s right! Koutarou spent all yesterday fondling Kiriha’s breasts, so he doesn’
t need yours!”
That was where Sanae decided to chime in. She was still holding a grudge against Koutarou from before.
“Don’t make it sound like I’m some sort of pervert!”
“There’s no need to deny it. You know you wanted to fondle them. You pervert!”
“Koutarou, do you want to touch my breasts?”
After what Sanae suggested, Kiriha turned to Koutarou and thrust her chest forward a little, making her breasts jiggle.
“No! I’m not fondling anyone’s breasts!”
“You don’t have to hold back.”
“Like hell I’d be chased out of this room over something like that!”
Yurika, who was silently watching on, pumped her fist into the air in a victorious pose.
“You got a high rank! Good job, Yurika! Fight!”
Sizing up the girls in the room, the order from largest breasts to smallest went: Kiriha, Yurika, Sanae, and lastly the mysterious girl. Yurika was glad that she was second.
“...Anyways, you wouldn’t want to fondle those.” Sanae looked pityingly at the blonde girl’s chest.
“Like I said, it was an accident! Who would go out of their way to touch those things?!”
“Th-Things...? You called them flat, a washing board... and now ‘things’...”
The girl looked down at the floor.
“You don’t have to put it like that. She’s still young. She has plenty of time to grow.”
“Uwaah, that’s a mean way to put it, Kiriha. The well-endowed sure have it easy...”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“But she’s even losing to Sanae-chan, so they can’t possibly grow that much...”
As Yurika spoke with pity in her voice, the girl’s shoulders began to tremble. Koutarou thought she was about to cry, but what he heard wasn’t a sob.
“Heh... Heh heh... Hahaha... Ahahahahaha!”
It was sad, dry laughter.
“So you’d pity me? I see. You pity me, a princess!”
It was then that Koutarou thought he could hear the sound of the girl’s patience snapping.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all right now! I’ll make sure none of you will ever be able to speak again!”
The girl screamed, swung her hands around, and stomped the ground with her feet.
She had completely lost it.
“...It looks like you made her angry, Koutarou. You should apologize.”