Shiinamachi-senpai’s Safe Day Episode 3 Part A (1)
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Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist Editor: Weasalopes
【Episode 3】Life and Mind: Part A (1)
■ Search Results for 『Date』:
• a particular day on the calendar.
• originally the day of the month, changed with time to a meeting at an appointed time between male and a female.
• a man and a woman making a promise to meet up to engage in a fun or pleasurable activities.
And just like that, Shiinamachi-senpai and I were on a date, taking a relaxing walk along the beach shore.
And before you ask, no, I don’t understand how it happened either, but apparently it was a result of a quite a simple process, namely Shiinamachi-senpai’s wish.
「Is everything all right, Jiro-kun? You look a bit pale, are you sure you’re feeling well?」
The answer to that question was both yes and no. For you see, there was nothing wrong with my body per se, but to put it bluntly, senpai’s current attire was dealing damage to my mental health bar.
Her current outfit consisted of a pure white shoulderless one piece dress with frilly designs, which, coupled with her ample chest, made her look like a literal angel in my eyes. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, and my only hope was that blood won’t start suddenly gushing from my nose.
Overall, I think you can probably guess that I was overjoyed to have some quality alone time with her.
「Everything is fine and great, really. I’m just so happy to be on a date with you, senpai, that’s all.」
I said that everything was fine, but in reality it was not. I mean how am I supposed to keep my wits about me when there is a beauty of a highest grade right next to me, and she’s exposing so much of her silky skin?! Of course, treating her like I always did was a viable option here, but to be frank, right now, in this moment, I forgot how did I usually treated senpai.
「Ufufufu, that’ great to hear, but it makes me a little bit nervous too.」
Senpai looked like she was flustered by our current situation, to the point where her cheeks were dyed with a light shade of pink… this is not fair, senpai! The cuteness is too strong for me to handle!
「Well then, that makes two of us.」
「You don’t have to tell me that, I can see it perfectly thanks to your fogged glasses.」
「Say what?!」
I tore my glasses of my face and cleaned them up as fast as I could.
「There, all set!」
「Ufufu, that was a joke just now, Jiro-kun…」
She played me like a damn fiddle now … goes to show that my nervousness got the better of me.
「But I’m glad that I had the chance to see how’s your face looks without your glasses, Jiro-kun. That’s quite a refreshing sight.」
「Is that… something really that interesting?」
Senpai gave me a cheerful look. My body was getting so hot that I thought that its temperature was going to make my glasses all foggy again. Just what is this feeling that’s squeezing down on my chest so hard? This feeling like there was a second sun right next to me, shining even more brilliantly?
「I do wonder, should we really be out in the open like that, senpai? After all, the killer is probably still out there, and if he/she knows that you are still alive, he/she is probably going to attempt another murder.」
「About that…」
Senpai continued after a brief period of hesitation.
「Our being targeted might actually be a good thing. And something is definitely bound to happen today, because my story described today as a 「dangerous day」.」
「Something is going to happen? That’s problematically unspecific, don’t you think?」
「The majority of the Nightkin’s stories are like that. And the explanations are no better. At best, they’re going to be cryptic lines like「the future will be uncertain if…」or「someday, somewhere, something is going to happen」, things like that.」
「And what about the stories endings?」
「Pretty much the same.」
So the Nightkin really loved their riddles. Since they had『stories』detailing the future events of their lives, I thought they were going to include every little detail and guidelines to achieving the best possible ending, but I guess I was wrong.
「My story in particular seems to be possessing a great deal of parts that are labeled as 「dangerous」, Shiki insisted that I should surround myself with many strong Vassals who are capable of protecting me, but due to my shyness around boys… you can probably imagine how it went.」
So that’s probably why Shiki recommended me as a candidate for senpai’s Vassal. A natural-born killer and raised only to kill would have indeed been a powerful asset to have at one’s side. And let’s not forget that I was harboring feelings for senpai, and would do anything to protect that smile of hers.
「But, what might be the reason you don’t have any difficulties interacting with me?」
「…I’m not sure. I might be just imagining things, but whenever I look at you, Jiro-kun, there’s this nostalgic feeling filling up my chest, but not in a bad way. It’s more of a warm and fuzzy filling.」
I could only raise my eyebrows at that statement.
「Fufu, there’s just that kind of atmosphere about you. The one that makes you think 「as long as I’m going to be with that person, everything is going to be fine.」 .」
「I-I’m glad that you feel that way about me then.」
「Me too!」
If that mysterious aura of mine was the reason senpai was able to remain happy, then I had absolutely no problems with emitting it.
「Do you have any other information regarding the things that might happen today? Anything to give us even a slightest hint of what to expect?」
「Let me think… The story is written in Nightkin’s language so I can only try to interpret the meaning in a way that you can understand, but in regards to today, it goes more or less like this:「The story’s real beginning is a thorny path that traverses the unbeaten path between life and death…」.」
…I see. That really was unspecific beyond measure. It was even worse than that one time when I tried to read a book that was written in English, and I was only able to understand every third word correctly.
「My story’s important parts are all composed of poetic verses like this one. That is why I said that being targeted might be a good thing. Since the verse mentions the「real beginning」, then I think we can assume that something’s definitely going to happen today.」
「This whole sentence really does have that kind of doomsday feeling to it.」
Since even the person who was the subject of the story had no way of knowing what his story was about, it was more of a guessing game rather than guidelines.
「In that case, how was the day of your death described? Was anything about me there?」
「Oh, hmm, umm… something like…「The arrival of death, the joy of rebirth, the connection of bond」.」
Even after the the fact, it was still as mysterious as ever.
「The arrival of death」 was most likely a hint that senpai was going to die. 「The joy of rebirth」 could possibly be standing for her rebirth. 「The connection of bond」 must have referred to me becoming her Vassal.
「A Nightkin’s story is rather difficult to wrap your head around it. Is every detail of your story as enigmatic as that one?」
「No. The poetic format is only present whenever special or important events are being described.」
So that meant that the content written in this poetic fashion was unavoidable no matter how hard the story’s protagonist tried to go against it?
「I decided we should go on a date exactly because today was listed as one of those special days. If possible, I’d like to discover what does 「unbeaten path between life and death」 refers to.」
It was quite unusual to see senpai taking such a strong interest in something, but I quite liked that kind of approach. Even when her life was in danger, she still chose to confront it head on, instead of just waiting for it to come around.
Our enemy was by no means a pushover. It was someone who has killed both me and senpai, and likely possessed a Gift of his/her own. My immortality, or 「not dying even if killed」, was quite a straightforward power, but if applied correctly, it could be used in a variety of different situations, depending on how I chose to approach things. Should the need arise, the least I could do was to act like senpai’s shield and protect her from any physical harm.
With that resolve, I continued to survey my surroundings cautiously.
Next to the beach we were currently at was an express route. It was the middle of summer now, so quite a lot of cars were casually passing us by. I even thought that I saw a traffic jam up ahead in the distance. The beach itself also had a lot of inhabitants, and the restaurant was filled with the noise and cheerful shouts of the people who were ordering shaved ice and yakisoba. The other side of the sea had no tall buildings on it, so we didn’t have to worry about being sniped from afar, but there was still a possibility that someone could attempt an attack, and then blend in with the crowd to avoid detection.
It took me a while to realize that Shiinamachi-senpai was staring at me for quite a while.
「Is something wrong?」
「No, but you suddenly had this serious look on your face, so I wandered what you are thinking about.」
「Oh…」
Crap. I was so gung-ho on detecting potential threats that I allowed my worries to show on my face. How careless and thoughtless of me, doing something like that when I finally had the chance to spend some quality time with senpai.
「Sorry, did my face scared you?」
「No, I found it very manly and dependable, actually.」
What!?
This made me feel that 「all’s good with the world」. But for someone as cute as her, senpai sure knew how to tease people! So, my face looked manly to her? I-I mean yeah, of course it did, that was what I was aiming for, after all. But wait, so does that mean that when I’m not in serious mode I’m not looking all cool?! If only I possessed a natural charm of a pretty boy…
「Fufu, Jiro-kun, you really are overly serious when it comes to even the smallest things, are you?」
「Because I don’t like to do anything halfway. I do everything wholeheartedly…」
I used to be an emotionless machine in the past. And now that I was finally given the freedom to lead a normal life, I was at a loss what to do in pretty much every situation that involved any kind of social interaction. My sister trained me well in that regard, but even her 「Normie Training」 could not prepare me for meeting exceptional people like senpai or weirdos like Shiki, or situations like that whole murder thing. 「My current self」 is quite young, that’s why I always tried to be on my best behavior when interacting with people, and I wanted to approach all of them with honesty and sincerity. All so that I could have no regrets and act like a normal member of society.
「Anyway, let’s put the depressing subjects away for now, and focus on what’s truly important!」
「Meaning?」
「Isn’t it obvious, Jiro-kun? Let’s enjoy our date to the fullest, all right?」
Senpai said exactly the same thing as last night. This innocent yet exciting suggestion made my heart pound with anticipation, but at the same time, I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that something bad might happen if I let myself to just go with the flow.
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