Campione 05

by Miko of the Sword

  "Then let us lay out everything on the table. Who is at fault from the start? You? Or me? My mood is terrible, so please give me a swift and correct answer."

  "S-should be me... right?"

  "Remove the 'should' and the 'right?', there is no one else but you."

  Erica's words were sharp and incisive, and Godou shrank back as he realized his error.

  "But you are fortunate, for I, Erica Blandelli, possess the virtue of generosity and forgiveness. As long as you show contrition, I will not hesitate to present my love as a gift to you, how's that?"

  "T-Then—what should I do now—"

  As he tried hard to turn his head, he found Erica glaring at him.

  Godou panicked. If this was baseball—no, no matter what kind of competition, or even a battle against a god or a devil king, he will always find a way!

  Unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, Rui tried to lighten the situation.

  "Ok, you don't have to mind us any longer, Kusanagi. Why don't you and Erica-san go for lunch now, just the two of you!"

  "Eh, how can we let Kusanagi be alone with his girlfriend! I will not allow it!"

  "Nakayama, I leave Miura in your care."

  "Yes, just do your part and don't mess things up."

  Following Rui's directions, Nakayama immediately reached out his hands and covered Miura's mouth from behind. Unable to form words, Miura could only roar. Satisfied, the former second baseman happily said:

  "Quick, leave while the coast is clear. Goodbye, Kusanagi-san."

  "Ah, yes. Sorry... then let's go, Erica."

  As his three old friends watched them go, Godou left the sports ground with Erica.

  Part 2

  Finally, Godou had a chance to be alone with Erica for the first time that day.

  In any case, he decided to walk towards the main streets with lots of shops.

  "Godou, my love for you has never changed, but that is simply not enough to suppress the vortex of anger swirling in my heart, please take a little care in the activities from here on, okay?"

  "Has what I've done really been so terrible...?"

  "If you have something to say, then speak out clearly. If you want to know exactly where you have messed up, I can grade each of your actions starting from yesterday."

  "Spare me. It's all my fault, okay. But please don't take out your anger on my friends."

  "If this were the second or the third date, then no matter how displeased I felt, I would still treat them as guests with utmost politeness. However today is an exception and I will not tolerate it."

  Angrily finishing her words, Erica shifted her gaze away from Godou.

  "A first date is a rare event, and clearly a day to commemorate. You truly are dense and completely failed to understand how I feel!"

  Godou surrendered. To think Erica would express her feelings with such forthright honesty.

  Her face that had turned away in anger perhaps carried a bit of shyness.

  "Yes, yes it's my fault. I will try to improve in the future. Please don't be angry, be happy."

  "It's fine, you don't have to apologize. Actually, I expected nothing from you from the very beginning!"

  Erica's tone was still very critical, and Godou tried very hard to emphasize he was reflecting on his actions. He spent over twenty minutes trying to placate her.

  Her anger finally subsided, they decided to find a place to eat.

  "Arianna originally said she could prepare lunchboxes for us—"

  Erica mentioned the name of her live-in assistant and maid.

  "But since we often eat her lunches at school, I told her not to, as it is rare enough for us to go out on a date."

  "Yes, and I would feel bad asking her to make lunch on a holiday."

  "Perhaps it would be better if I made something for you personally?"

  To Erica's suggestion, Godou immediately shook his head.

  "That thought has never crossed my mind."

  It is rumored that Erica's only cooking experience was boiling water for instant noodles.

  This wise, capable, and universally talented girl was in essence, an even more sheltered high-class young lady than Yuri was. Uh, probably best to just call her a princess or a queen.

  To imagine Erica toiling in the kitchen with her unpolished cooking skills, perhaps such a scene might make one smile, but it definitely did not suit this girl.

  Rather than watch Erica suffer doing something she was not good at, Godou preferred seeing her surrounded by glory and prestige like a princess.

  "Is that so? But being described that way does not make me happy."

  "Everyone is different, isn't that for the best? Anyway, what do you want to eat?"

  Since they have arrived in an area with many different restaurants, Godou sought her opinion.

  A Tokyo native and a Milanese, there was probably no commonality in their eating preferences, but fortunately neither of them were picky eaters, and any choice would have satisfied them both.

  "Let's go to that Chinese restaurant first? A safe bet."

  Right in front of their eyes, was a tiny Chinese restaurant.

  Ethnic Chinese were present in every country of the world, and, of course, Italy was no exception. While staying there, the two of them had often visited Chinese restaurants.

  "I don't really want to. I visited a similar shop a few days ago."

  "In that case, which one should we pick..."

  "Trying something Japanese occasionally would be nice, how about sushi and tempura?"

  In truth, Erica's understanding of Japanese culture was nowhere as advanced as her mastery of the Japanese language.

  Once you realize that she has merely spent three months in this country, too much cannot be expected from her. However, her unfamiliarity with Japanese culture seemed rather odd in light of her ability to converse with others in perfect Japanese.

  But to pick those two things out of everything else, Godou could only laugh awkwardly as he surveyed the surroundings.

  "It's actually a bit unsuitable for high school students to be eating those types of food. I don't know where you want to go, but I'm kind of against it... However, if it's that kind of shop, I can still accept..."

  Discovering a rotary sushi franchise, Godou made a suggestion but Erica refused.

  "Though I have no idea how well that shop is rated, I don't want to eat there. How should I put it? The server uniform looks smelly and the shop gives an impression of zero individuality. In my opinion, wasting time in that kind of shop would be even worse than having to endure poor cuisine. Let's not go there."

  Without even checking out the decor inside the shop, she had already made up her mind with a single glance from the outside.

  Erica's value system was rather peculiar. Compared to fast food or family restaurants that were small and clean, but lacking in distinctive style, she preferred eating at roadside stalls or messy and dirty little shops.

  Caring neither for taste, appearance nor comfort, but deciding where she went based on 'level of interest.'

  The fact that she depended heavily on the slightly problematic Arianna, was probably due to the same reason. Godou was once again reminded of her unique tastes.

  "Let's go there then, it is Japanese and should probably have what you like to eat."

  "I see, it feels okay, but I can't tell what this shop is selling."

  It was an Osaka-style okonomiyaki[29] shop with a quiet atmosphere.

  Opened since the middle of the Shouwa period in the twentieth century, the shop gave off a sense of cleanliness. Godou and Erica passed through the curtains and entered the door.

  Out from the kitchen came a middle-aged woman, who led them to their seats in the hall. There were no other customers.

  "...Iron plate?"[30]

  It goes without saying that Erica was not kneeling on the tatami, but sitting slanted.

  Seeing the large iron plate unique to this kind of restaurant, Erica tilted her head incredulously.<
br />
  "Using this metal plate, you fry things to eat yourself."

  "Ah, it's a self-served restaurant. Then let's hurry and start."

  "The fire was just lit, and the iron plate hasn't heated up yet, you can't start even if you wanted to."

  The two first chatted as they waited for the food to arrive.

  Their orders were the two specialties innovated by this restaurant—the assorted pancake and the pork pancake.

  Of course, Godou was not some kind of optimist, and he never expected Erica to start frying the pancakes herself, so he placed the ingredients on the iron plate, adjusted the shape, then repeated frying until it was done, and finally added the condiments.

  "Ah, I never knew you could cook so well, this gives me a bit of a surprise."

  Erica praised Godou as she ate the assorted pancake that had been divided into several slices.

  "Simply spreading out ingredients to fry can't really be considered cooking. At most, it's just imitating how others do it."

  "Really? ...Then let me try."

  "If you are serious, I won't stop you... But you sure you're fine?"

  The results proved that Godou's worries were redundant.

  Though all she did was watch from the side, Erica's frying skills were actually not bad at all.

  Furthermore, she made delicious fried noodles just by following Godou's verbal instructions, and she even successfully fried the monjayaki[31], a supposedly difficult task for novices.

  "Godou, you are truly fortunate. To this day, there has been no one else who has eaten cuisine I personally prepared... not even grandfather. You must savor this from the bottom of your heart."

  "I am truly thankful for this meal you have prepared... But really, when you put your mind to it, you really can do it quite well..."

  Godou marveled at Erica's talent as he used his chopsticks to pick up the food.

  But then again, for such a small task as frying a pancake, one could hardly feel her earnest effort. Truly, it was very much in her style.

  Just like a queen bestowing rewards upon a subject, or a princess allowing a knight to kiss her hand, Erica watched with such an expression as Godou ate.

  "However, cooking once in a while feels quite nice. If you don't mind, I will do it again. Just for Godou, I will personally cook."

  "Uh, sure if another chance comes along, thank you for your efforts..."

  "Ah, that tone of voice doesn't sound too confident. You've already witnessed my talent just now, right?"

  "I know you are very capable, but if you suddenly have the impulse to make something 'that seems very interesting' and end up creating something like Anna's cooking, then my stomach is in peril."

  "The way you put it, really sounds interesting..."

  "Which is exactly what I'm saying, don't go making those strange creations!"

  Anna was, in other words, Arianna. In the field of cooking, she was a woman who could reach world-class levels of innovation. The two of them finished their meal with Anna as the topic of conversation.

  Erica mentioned that she had something to do at Ueno, so the two of them set forth.

  Due to Godou's strong protests against taking a taxi, they took the streetcar to their destination instead.

  "What you meant by something to do, couldn't be shopping, right?"

  "Correct, I want to buy a few articles of western clothing."

  Having the experience of being dragged off by his sister to accompany her shopping, Godou began to review his options for killing boredom, but he was greatly surprised when they reached their destination.

  "T-This is not a clothing store! I-It's an underwear store!?"

  "Broadly speaking, this also falls under western clothing. Godou, don't be so hung up on these minor details."

  Located in one of the high-class department stores in Ueno was an underwear store on the floor specializing in female fashion.

  All sorts of different mini articles of clothing (cannot describe them in too much detail) laid out in rows, or swirling like a vortex into a small hill, or forming their own universe like a mandala.[32]

  Erica smiled at Godou who was just about to get up and bolt for the door.

  "I need your preference as a basis for judgment. So why don't you start, tell me which style you'd like me to try?"

  "Any style will do, after all there's no difference!"

  "To say something like that, you are really hopeless. One day I will have you strip them off personally, isn't that right? I believe they have to be chosen with care."

  "S-Strip off—!?"

  Godou was silent, for her to say something so bold in such a place.

  And while they were conversing, the saleslady (looks about twenty-something, and quite pretty too) must have heard!

  The saleslady returned a polite smile when he stole a glance at her.

  Unlike the so-called professional smile, this was the kind of smile that seemed to say 'ah, these kids are so young.'

  "Anyway, why do you have to come to this kind of store, they must sell underwear near where you live?"

  "You won't be able to buy imports unless you come to this part of town. Though the ones made in Japan have great quality and the designs are rather cute, they don't really match my image. What do you think of this one?"

  Erica pointed at a pair of white panties sewn with plenty of lace.

  A cutting applied to the nonessential portions of the fabric created a light fluttery feeling. It exuded an air of regal, extraordinarily upper class taste and achieved a fully glamorous effect.

  It really did suit Erica very well... no no.

  Godou forcefully shook his head and dispelled this frivolous thought.

  "That piece was imported from France, truly excellent."

  The saleslady from just now chose a perfect opportunity to chime in.

  "If you like it, why don't you try it out?"

  "I see. Then I will. So Godou, I want your opinion, accompany me to the changing room and let me listen to your thoughts."

  "W-Who would agree to such a thing?"

  Erica ended up trying a whole stack, and decided to buy them all.

  She settled the bill by credit card and arranged for the merchandise to be delivered to her home.

  Despite seeing her shop frequently, Godou still could not get used to Erica squandering money like this. Leaving the store helped lighten his mood a lot.

  "Your mission has not ended. Can you go over there with me?"

  Erica spoke to Godou whose mood had turned for the better.

  The two of them left the department store and entered the crowd.

  As expected of the Ueno area on a holiday, it was very lively.

  Leaving behind the JR train station and the Ameyoko market street, Erica made her way towards nearby Yushima with Godou trailing after her.

  Choosing her path without a shred of hesitation, it seemed like she has fully accustomed herself to the geography of Tokyo.

  That was Erica. Even though she was not well-versed in traditional Japanese culture or the customs and habits of ordinary people, she had mastered the geography around Tokyo and all other places related to either her organization or her own personal activities.

  Entering a residential neighborhood near Ueno and following an uphill slope, Godou was apparently taken to the outskirts of a cluster of shady-looking love motels.

  Part 3

  Godou fell silent, what on earth were Erica's intentions!?

  "Erica, wait a moment first. What are you planning next?"

  "Hmm, what am I doing... Preparing to resolve the conflict that arose recently."

  Godou felt greatly shaken.

  Speaking of conflict resolution, did she mean clarifying their ambiguous relationship in a decisive manner?

  —How do you truly feel about me? Today you must give a straight answer.

  —This time I will not allow you to dodge the issue like usual, please show some manliness now, and demonstrate clearly with your words a
nd attitude.

  Godou feared that Erica would catch him unaware with such lines, and wracked his brain preparing responses.

  Was he truly cornered this time...?

  "What is it, Godou? Your face looks like you have a stomach ache, are you unwell?"

  Erica noticed his odd behavior and questioned.

  This woman had the attractive exterior of a devil, the strong will to materialize her wishes, the overwhelming charisma that was impossible to resist, and, in this kind of situation, an unbelievable power that exceeded normal parameters.

  However, in reality she was just looking at Godou with an incredulous expression.

  "You ask me why? Think about it, this place, how should I put it..."

  "This place? Is there a problem with this place? However, I did notice a number of strange buildings."

  "Eh...?"

  "Come to think of it, the map did indicate motels here, but I don't see any reason to run such businesses in this dismal neighborhood, right? And the buildings are so unfashionable, though they are quite interesting in their own way."

  Erica responded in casual tones.

  Could it be that Erica... she didn't know that motels had that kind of connotation...?

  That's right, she is completely unaware. Truly the young mistress of the Blandelli family! Having reached this conclusion, Godou felt as if a heavy load had been lifted off his back. Great, there was still plenty of buffer time until the ultimate situation will be reached.

  "You don't look too well? If you don't mind, perhaps we could rent a room around here to take a rest?"

  "No no, I'm fine. Continue onwards! Anyway, where are you going?"

  Godou responded loudly, and Erica suspiciously stared at Godou as she pointed to the shrine in front of them.

  "That's the place, let's enter."

  Before the row of motels was a little shrine.

  A quiet place completely different from the nearby Yushima Seidou or Kanda Shrine.

  A plaque with the name Tamaura Shrine hung on the entrance torii.

  The kannushi[33] was not there and no one seemed to be there. After surveying the surroundings, Erica pushed open the door of the front hall with her hand. Apparently the door was not locked.

  "How careless. But even if they forgot to lock the door, we can't go in so casually."

  "Originally I was just planning on surveying the outside, but it turns out no one is here... No problem, after all this is a public shrine anyway."