Missing Children (7 page)

“It is decided. From today onward, I will stay here.”

Come to think of it, I had never settled anywhere since attaining this body.

Well, because I had been wandering aimlessly here and there, it was only obvious.

Still, I wanted a house. If I was to continue to stay here, even if I were sacrifice luxury, I would need a roof, at the very least.

Whenever I was wet from the rain, my body would become cold, and I would shiver. I disliked that sensation immensely.

“A roof, hm? ……I won’t be able to build a house entirely on my own, but if it only a roof….”

Just then, I spotted a nearby rock that seemed comfortable enough to sit on, and doing so, I started to think about my next course of action.

Since I was to live on my own, it would not need to be particularly large, but I would need something that could defend against the wind, rain, and also sunlight.

The first priority would have to be defense against the sunlight. No matter how many times I struggled against heat, it was a formidable adversary. A succession of defeats.

In that case, I would need a considerable amount of material. Would I carry it? No, impossible. It would be too much work. However, I hated both the heat and the cold.

As I considered one thing after another, I suddenly noticed that the temperature had dropped considerably.

It had become fully night without my notice.

Whenever I did any kind of thinking, I would lose track of time.

A habit that I was unable to break since long ago.

I would become so focused on something that several days would pass before I came back to my senses.

The way in which time passed for everyone besides me, made me feel as if I was the only one that was set apart from the world, a feeling that I did not like very much at all.

But, at least the world wouldn’t change completely once I finished thinking, as it once did.

Still, worrying about a house forever would get me nowhere.

It was something I wanted to avoid, if possible, but in the end, nothing would happen if I didn’t take action.

“Does this mean that I have no choice but to do it?”

“‘Do’? Do what?”

Build a house, obviously.

Even if it wasn’t anything very elegant, if it was at least somewhat comfortable……

That was as far as I went with my thoughts, when I suddenly fell off the rock.

Looking up in a panic, I saw that a white-haired boy was suddenly standing right beside the rock that I had been sitting on. He looked to be as old as a sixteen-year-old human boy.

Although they appeared slightly soiled, his clothes looked to be personally made. A soldier or something of the sort?

However, none of that mattered.

More than anything right now, I was furious that this boy had stomped into my new place, and as a result, startled me, and on top of it all, seen me make a complete fool out of myself. My blood was boiling with anger.

“You….. I hope you’ve prepared yourself.”

I stood up and faced the boy, threatening him as I cracked my knuckles.

Naturally, I had absolutely no intention of actually acting on it. I was physically defenseless even when up against human infants.

“Ah, did I startle you? Sorry, sorry. You seemed so deep in thought, but then you suddenly started talking to yourself, so I was just so amused……”

My clenched fists shook at the careless boy’s attitude. Of course, I had no intention of using these fists, either.

“And what is so amusing!? Don’t mess with me! I am in the middle of making my place right now! Hurry and go somewhere else!”

I shouted in such an angered voice, but still, the boy’s smile did not falter.

“I see, I see. Your place, huh? Is there anything I could help with? If you don’t mind, I can lend you a hand!”

What in the world was he saying?

Hadn’t I hold him to go somewhere else?

No, I had told him, without a doubt. I had meant to sound as hostile as possible.

But despite that, what was with this frivolous behavior of his? I couldn’t understand it.

“Don’t say something so ridiculous. At any rate, you’re probably only plotting something sinister. Enough. Disappear already.”

There had been thousands before who had similarly offered to help me until now, but in the end, they had all only tried to use me.

He was sure to be the same. Who could possibly trust people like them?

“What!? No, that isn’t true at all! I did think how nice it’d be if I could stare at you from up close, but something so shameful, and so sudden……”

Saying this, the boy scratched his head in embarrassment.

What was wrong with him? Had he finally lost his mind?

His words were much too clumsy to fool me. Or was this how he intended to lower my guard?

Also, what did he mean by wanting to stare at me?

Well, no matter what it meant, he was most likely the same as all the other humans I had encountered until now, always with their dubious speech.

“I can’t trust you. I have been deceived like this too many times in the past. It would be more foolish if I were to believe you.”

“Oh…… Then how can I get you to trust me? If I can be of any use to you, I’ll do anything. I won’t ask for anything in return. From this moment on, I’m willing to listen to anything you say.”

The boy said this and breathed a puff of air from his nose.

I considered telling him, “Then disappear right now,” but seeing the opportunity, a good idea came to me.

It was rather wicked way of thinking, but if this went well, I could get rid of him quickly.

“…‘Anything,’ you said?” I muttered quietly.

“Huh!? O-of course! Have you decided to trust me!?”

I moved past the smiling boy, and after walking to a specific spot, I pointed at the ground.

“What is it? Why are you pointing at the ground……?”

“Build a house here.”

The boy had gone stiff at hearing my words, still smiling. And remaining in that pose, he began to tremble and break out in cold sweat.

“Did you not hear me? Build a house here.”

I was certain that he had heard me, but I repeated myself anyway.

“I’ll do it!”

“And immediately after building it, disappear. If you cannot, then……”

“I said I’ll do it!”

Well, it was clear that it wasn’t something that one person could do. As soon as he disappeared, I could steadily……

“……Hm?”

“You didn’t hear me? I’ll build a house for you! If it’s for you, something like this is nothing at all!”

The boy said this and grinned.

Although his expression was a smiling one, I could see that he was still trembling and sweaty, making it clear that he was straining himself.

It would seem that he really was insane.

Building a house with only one person? How much material and effort did he think that required?

Did he even realize this? And even if he did, I still could not make sense of his conduct.

……No, perhaps he was still plotting something despite what he was saying?

Suspicious, I stared intently at the boy, and he suddenly became embarrassed, cheeks reddening as he scratched his head.

Whenever he became embarrassed, he would scratch his head with his right hand. Once again, more useless information.

“……Fine then. If you think you can do it, then do so. I will be monitoring you the entire time.”

I said sarcastically. If he tried to pull anything, it would be difficult to do so with me keeping watch.

He was sure to give up halfway, and it would be amusing to see him run away with his tail between his legs.

“W-will you really watch……?”

The boy said this with an incredibly happy face.

Frankly, I was growing sick of his frequent, nonsense behavior.

I couldn’t understand it. I considered peering into his mind, but I didn’t feel like looking into the mind of such a creepy person.

“Alright, then I’ll do my best starting tomorrow! ……Umm, hey, what’s your name?”

“Name? I have no such thing.”

“Names”

It was something like a sign, which humans used to refer to each other.

When a human child is born, its parents give it a meaningful name, and they are called that for the rest of their life.

However, this was something used among humans, and had nothing to do with me.

“I see, so you have no name…… Just me then, I guess. I’m Tsukihiko. Nice to meet you!”

Tsukihiko, hm?

What a genuine fool. Even with a name, to me, humans were simply humans.

Nothing more and nothing less. What did he expect to gain from telling me his name?

As I thought this, it didn’t appear that this boy before me expecting anything from me.

He truly was a creepy one.

However, to leave my impression of him at “creepy” and “difficult to understand” would be an annoyance.

Very well. I would attempt to grasp what meanings lay inside his heart.

“You had better not run away, 
human
.”

As I said this, Tsukihiko’s eyes shone brightly, and he replied, “Of course!”

CHILDREN RECORD PART FOUR

(translated by Miss-Simplicity
)

It was Hell.

There were several reasons why, but that was the only way that I could describe this journey.

“Shintaro, how long are you going to keep lying there like that?”

While drinking the sports drink that she had bought on the way, Kido said this to me, who had collapsed right underfoot.

“Give me a break…… I’m dying”

The fresh, summer fragrance of the grass carpet I was lying on reached to the very back of my nostrils.

The shade from the trees also helped attribute to the charm that I felt.

“The smell of grass is terrible……”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who stinks of puke. In the first place, it’s because you drank way too much soda to ‘prevent heat stroke’ that it’s turned out like this.”

The fresh wound in my heart throbbed painfully at Kido’s sharp comeback.

Despite being told this, for someone that loved soda, it was a necessity in my life. It was obvious that I relied on it being my main water supply.

Although, I had thrown all of it up in some random bush earlier.

“D-don’t say that! Be a little more sensitive!”

“Hmph, my bad. Anyway, I’ve been off guard since I’d come here before, but it seems like we’ve used up a lot of time.”

It had taken us about an hour to get here by a train from the hideout’s nearest station.

After that, we’d waked for two and a half hours. It’d been a tremendously harsh journey, enough to kill a NEET.

So of course I would throw up one or two times.

There was nothing wrong with me or my soda. It was summer’s fault.

Well, even if it was summer’s fault……

“Hey, Kido. I know that these are borrowed, but weren’t there any hiking clothes that were a little more attractive than this?”

I said while pointing to the hiking clothes that I was wearing.

“You’re the one that said you didn’t want to get your jersey dirty. I don’t know any clothes that would be more appropriate for hiking than those.”

Kido replied, and sat down next to my outstretched right hand.

But even so, how could you wear something this thick in the middle of summer?

At the very least, some thinner clothing would’ve been……

As I thought of this however, I remembered that these clothes were the choice of someone that was still wearing a long-sleeved parka as usual, so it’d be useless no matter I said.

“…… Anyway, Mary sure lived in a crazy place. There’s practically nothing here. What did she do about food?”

“I thought the same thing, and tried asking her about it, but…… No, it can’t be.”

Kido said this, and held her head in her hand. I could easily guess that she had received some unbelievable answer in response.

“Then, do you mean that……”

“Yeah, it seems like she didn’t eat. She did drink, though. But when we first brought her back to the hideout, I remember her being surprised at the most common foods……”

Mary had at last become a complete mystery. She hadn’t eaten anything in a place like this, and had lived for over a hundred years. She was just full of mysteries.

“I can’t but think that maybe Mary’s an immortal witch or something. Living in the mountains and all.”

“Yeah, I thought that too, just now. Well, I guess it can’t be helped with this heat.”

We were in the middle of an overgrown forest.

Well, Mary’s house was at the end of a path so complex and winding that I really had no idea if it was really the middle or not, but Kido and I chattered in front of it while shielding our heads from the sun.

“So, what’re we going to do? We can’t do anything until we get inside.”

“Mary told us to wait while she cleaned up the place, so it can’t be helped, right?”

In this very unusual circumstance, how could I so simply feel like I’d been invited to hang out at a girl’s house?

Normally, it might even be nice that my heart would start beating faster, but frankly speaking, I didn’t have the mood for it at all right now.

Just when I thought I’d take a nap while waiting, Konoha’s face came into view as he peered down at me.

“What is it?”

“Ah, um……”

When we’d left the hideout, we had made Konoha carry a huge rucksack in case we found something we’d want to take back, but since Mary had packed various drinks and other things along the way, he had completely fallen into the role of a carrying mule.

Although, considering the amount of movement that this guy had pulled off yesterday and something like this was probably nothing to him, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad.

“Um, well, here……”

Konoha took out a drink from the bag and held it out to me.

“You didn’t look like you were feeling too well earlier, so I was wondering if you were okay.”

I was slow to react, due to his sudden kindness, but realizing that this was Konoha’s way of showing goodwill, I gladly accepted it from him.

“Hey, thanks. Feel free to have something to drink, too.”

After I said this, Kido pointed at me and added, “If you drink too much, you’ll wind up like him, so be careful.”

“Aaaaahh! Give me a break! I told you, I’m sensitive about that!”

“Oh, are you? Sorry, my bad.”

Kido said nonchalantly and patted my shoulder.

What terrible treatment. NEETs were fragile creatures, so their health declines at the slightest things. Couldn’t she treat me a little more gently?

Just as we started making a bunch of noise like this, the front door of Mary’s house suddenly opened.

“I-I’m sorry if took so long. You can come in now!”

Mary had only stuck her face out the door, and with a clink of the key that she always wore about her neck as a pendant, she ducked inside again.

“Alright, let’s get going.”

Saying this, I stood up, along with Kido, and stretched once.

“It’ll be nice if we can find something new.”

The objective this time was to find out about the mystery of eye abilities, as well as Mary’s family. We’d also mentioned how it’d be ideal if we could find some information about the “other world,” as well.

At the very least, if we could learn more about Mary’s family, it would shed some light on things.

“I wonder if we’ll be able to find out where Hiyori is.”

The moment I placed my hand on the door to enter the house, Konoha murmured this quietly beside me.

“Hm~ We don’t have enough information about that, so it’s hard to say…… We’ll keep an eye out for some kind of hint, at least. Well, let’s just try looking first.”

Saying this, I patted Konoha on the back, and he nodded in response.

“Pardon the intrusion~ …… Oh, woah……”

When I finally opened the front door, the inside was like a life-sized dollhouse.

The room was surrounded by bookshelves filled with old books.

“This is a really nice room.”

I said as I looked around, and whether because she was happy or embarrassed, Mary stared bashfully at the floor.

“Grandfather made this house. That’s what Mother told me.”

“Your grandpa, all by himself!? There’s no way. Right, Kido?”

I looked over at Kido, who had come in after me, but Kido was looking around the room with an amazed expression, as if she had never seen anything like it before.

“…… Didn’t you say you came here before?”

“No, I didn’t actually come in last time! Anyway, this is a really nice room, Mary…… I’m jealous ……”

After Kido had reacted in the best way possible, Mary replied shyly with “Ehehe, thank you.”

She then went to sit in a chair by the window, and said, “It’s sure been a while…” while staring outside.

“Shintaro, I honestly want to live here.”

Kido turned towards me and declared this matter-of-factly.

“W-won’t it be kind of tough living here?”

As I said this, Kido started muttering things like, “Yeah, but……” and “What about food……”

On the other hand, Konoha had a serious face on, and seemed to be searching for something in particular from the bookshelf.

It looked that this guy was actually taking this seriously, unlike our leader.

As I watched him, Konoha unexpectedly reached his hand out towards one of the books. Had he discovered something?

Suddenly, Konoha turned towards Mary and called out to her.

“C-can I take a look at this book?”

“Huh? Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you!”

As soon as he said this, Konoha took the book out and started flipping through the pages. His serious face was completely different from his usual one.

“H-hey. Did you find something?”

Even when I asked him, Konoha seemed to be completed engrossed in the book, and was still flipping through the pages.

Curious about what was in it, I walked up next to him. The moment I saw the page that Konoha had it opened to, I understand why he was so serious.

“H-hey, isn’t this a……”

“Yeah, I was surprised.”

On the open page was a drawing of a huge dragon. There was an English comment written in cursive beside it, but Konoha was more focused on the drawing of the dragon.

“…… It’s so cool.”

My shoulders dropped heavily. I was an idiot to have expected anything from him.

Well, in the first place, it wouldn’t be so easy to just find something. I felt really stupid for getting so excited in spite of this fact.

As I slumped down with my mood, this time it was Kido that tapped my shoulder.

“Shintaro, I found something crazy.”

Wondering what it could possibly be this time, I turned around and saw that Kido was holding something that looked like a sketchbook.

On the cover, the word “Secret” was written in thick, black letters.

“Hey now, this is…”

“Yeah, it seems like they were up to something dangerous……”

Kido said, and slowly began to open the cover of the book.

On the page was a rather original drawing of a girl who I supposed was Mary, running around with a sword in hand.

Was she the heroine of some kingdom? But judging by the crown she was wearing, she could royalty of some sort, too.

We turned the page.

This time, there was a drawing of Mary riding a thick-legged creature that looked like a dragon or a lizard.

Was she trying to stab the dragon-thing?

Mary had a sword in her hand, but maybe she under some kind of spell. Although she should be in the middle of battle, Mary looked impressive with a huge smile on her face.

We turned the page.

On the next page, there was a picture of Mary dancing intensely.

Some kind of celebration for defeating the dragon-thing?

But looking at it closely, the dragon was dancing, too. Even though he’d been stabbed with a sword already, what kind of negotiations skills did she use for them to have reconciled already?

Since a while ago, Kido had been snorting every time she turned the page, and already seemed to be having difficulty breathing. In the end, this sketchbook hadn’t helped us at all.

“Kyaaaaah! Don’t look at that—!”

The moment that Mary, who had been staring out of the window, realized we were reading this book, her face went bright red and she jumped up from her seat.

“Sorry…… Mary…… Heh, hehe……”

Kido seemed greatly amused by the illustrated adventure, and was on the verge of collapse as she held her stomach in laughter.

“Th-these are just doodles! So, so…… Aaahh! So embarrassing!”

Mary screamed while holding her face with both hands. It was probably my imagination that her hair was quivering ever so slightly.

“That’s pretty amazing to have yourself as the protagonist, though.”

I commented offhandedly, which only made Kido laugh harder.

Mary screamed again in embarrassment.

To think that we’d uncovered this dark past so magnificent.

I was sure that it was tough for Mary right now, but at the same time, I strongly hoped that she’d grow from this.

Kido sat down in a chair, and had started to steady her breathing again.

However, she continued to snicker whenever she thought back on it, making Mary cry out, “No moreee,” each time.

“Hey, Mary. Is there anything like a diary lying around?”

Thinking that we’d better start searching seriously, I asked Mary this, and she turned towards me with a glare.

“I don’t have anything else weirder than this……!”

“Ahhh, no, not yours! I mean maybe a diary that belonged to your mother or something—I was just thinking, she might have written down something important.”