Die – Part 02
“Yohoo!”
That was Orito, not me. We were in Room 305. After school, we stopped by the hospital to visit Kyouko. Naturally, I came to pick up the Kyoto-style tofu.
“I brought a Masked Burger set. Bet you haven’t had one in a while, huh? Cackling, Orito handed over a plastic bag.
Kyouko took it with a slightly awkward smile.
Can you blame her? Who brings fast food as a get-well gift?
Looking around, I saw a bunch of cake boxes and fruit baskets piled up. Clearly, she was already drowning in food. For my part, I brought a romance novel to help her pass the time.
“Thank you.”
She bowed slightly, extending both hands like in a business card exchange, and gave me a smile straight out of heaven. It was so angelic, I couldn’t help but smile back.
“Ah, here you go.”
She handed me a plastic bag. Inside was exactly what I’d come for. I felt kinda bad about it, honestly.
“What’s that? Food?” Orito asked suspiciously.
Kyouko gave an impish smile. “It’s a secret.”
“Sorry for the trouble,” I said, pulling out my wallet to pay for it.
Kyouko waved a hand. “You don’t need to! I got something from you, too.”
She hugged the romance novel to her chest and smiled sweetly. I found myself smiling again.
“Thanks. I’ll take it, then. There’s someone who really wants it.”
“What? You’re not going to eat it yourself?” She puffed her cheeks and looked down.
“Aikawa’s just gonna eat you, Kyouko.”
Orito threw in an inappropriate remark, and Kyouko turned bright red as an apple.
After that, we just chatted for a while. Then I remembered Eu telling me to come home early, so I muttered, “I have to get going,” and stood up.
“Oh, then I’ll walk you out,” Kyouko said, hopping down from the bed.
“I’m gonna hit the john,” Orito said and left ahead of us.
Mothertrucker. He could’ve at least seen me off first. I walked with Kyouko, who hadn’t stopped smiling, all the way to the hospital entrance.
I glanced down at the tofu in my hands, wondering how I should pass it along. As I waved to Kyouko and said, “Thanks, I’ll come by again,” I pulled out my phone and tried calling Big Teach.
Ring, ring.
“Hello! You’ve reached Matellis Magic School.”
The soft, lazy voice on the other end immediately soothed my ears. That voice alone was enough to know who it was.
“Uh, is this Big Teach? It’s me, Ayumu Aikawa.”
“Oh. Is that how you want to call me too?” She chuckled softly.
Well, Haruna always called her that, so I naturally picked it up too.
“I just got the goods. What should I do with it?”
“Oh? You already got it?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll come pick it up. Let’s seee, I’ll be there at 9 o’clock, your time.”
“Nine, huh? Wait, you’re coming in person?”
“I am. Haruna still can’t transform into a Magiclad Girl, can she?”
“Can’t you just take her back to Villiers or something?”
“I doubt she’d go along with that. That girl’s surprisingly proud, you know? I bet she’d yell something like, Shut up, Ma’am! With all due respect, leave me the hell alone!”
So even when she was mad, she still tried to sound polite.
“Let’s meet somewhere quiet,” she added. “Somewhere without too many people around. I tend to stand out quite a bit.”
I thought back to where I first met Haruna. Yeah, having someone fall out of the sky like a meteor would definitely draw attention.
“Then let’s go with the place where Haruna first arrived,” I suggested.
“And where is that exactly? Can you give me the address?”
Apparently, she had no idea where Haruna had landed. Not surprising, considering she’d thought Haruna was in Kyoto until just recently. I didn’t know the exact address of the cemetery, but I gave her the general area.
“Got it,” she said.
When the call ended, I turned around and saw Kyouko still waving at me. Was she planning to keep waving until I was completely out of sight?
Seriously, Kyouko was such a sweet, lovable girl.
All right, just like Eu told me to, I came home early. Wait, what day was it today again?
Oh. It had been exactly one month since I met Eu. And also, since I became a zombie.
A tapping sound greeted me as soon as I walked in.
“Did anything strange happen?”
“Big brother, did anything happen today?”
When I entered the living room, I saw the message waiting for me. Eu glanced my way, so I shook my head to tell her nothing had happened. She seemed satisfied with that. She said nothing else and turned back to the TV, sipping her tea.
I headed to my room, changed into casual clothes, grabbed my uniform and gym clothes, and carried them down to the laundry basket by the bathroom. Sera handled the laundry, which made things easy. No way I was washing Eu and Haruna’s underwear.
On the way to the kitchen with my lunchbox and the Kyoto-style tofu, I spotted Haruna in the living room.
“Oh, welcome back,” she said. “I’m hungry.”
“Don’t you ever make anything besides lunchboxes?”
“I don’t like cooking for myself. Doesn’t it feel kinda sad?”
Haruna stared at the TV with a far-off look. Come to think of it, she had been alone all the time back in her world. She probably cooked for others and had others cook for her as a way of reminding herself she wasn’t alone.
“Anyway, lunch was great. Thanks.” I gave her my best zombie smile.
Without looking at me, Haruna muttered softly, “Of course it was.”
She probably didn’t meet my eyes because her face was red. And that cowlick of hers was bouncing all over the place. She must’ve been really happy to be thanked.
Grinning at her cute reaction, I headed to the kitchen, where I struggled to keep the corners of my mouth from twitching.
There was food everywhere. Leftovers from that mini Manchu banquet. Had it all really been left out the entire day? You’d think Sera would’ve at least tried to clean it up.
I opened the fridge and saw all the perishables—seafood and such—jammed in like sardines. So, she did try to clean up, huh? I guess even Sera couldn’t fit 150 items in there. And now there was no space for the tofu.
So, dinner tonight was leftovers. With 150 varieties, there was no way to get sick of anything. The problem was, it took a lot of time to prepare.
“Haruna, I’m heading to the cemetery right now to meet Big Teach.”
“Hmm. I’m… not going.”
“All right.”
Since it was past nine, I grabbed the tofu from the fridge and stepped outside. As I walked, Haruna somehow ended up next to me. I didn’t bother pointing out that she’d said she wasn’t coming.
“I-I’m just going to the convenience store, okay?” She made sure to offer an excuse nonetheless.
We split up partway, but I figured she’d show up later anyway.
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