I’ll be updating multiple times today.
This is the first chapter.
“Sousuke, hey. Do you remember what got us started talking?”
On the way back from the beach.
Suzu says this while riding on Mashiro’s back.
I dig through my memories to answer.
”……Yeah, right after we became second years. It was when the exchange event was being planned.”
“Right, right.”
“Well, we ended up not participating in the end.”
The venue was a karaoke parlor, and Chiyu wasn’t even planning to attend to begin with.
Our childhood friend doesn’t really like singing.
It’s not my forte either, but thinking it would be rude to turn down an invitation, I had considered joining in for the first part, at least.
“Yeah. Good thing that kid found her keys.”
On our way to the karaoke parlor hosting the exchange event, we found a crying elementary school boy crouching by the shrubs.
Seeing as he was in trouble, we called out to him, and it turned out he had lost his house key on his way home.
His parents were working, so he was frantically searching for his key, terrified he’d be locked out of his home. But he couldn’t find it, and it seemed he was on the verge of despair.
So, I offered to help him search for it.
That’s when Soko jumped in to help as well.
“It ended up taking until evening,” he said.
It’s a common trope with lost items, but if you only look at the ground where you think you dropped it, you’ll never find it. Often, when you suddenly raise your head, the item is hooked on something high up, like a fence.
I suspect a passerby who found it did that out of kindness, feeling uncomfortable simply leaving it there, but the owner usually has a hard time noticing such a detail.
“Ever since then… I always thought Sounosuke was… a really nice guy.”
“I thought the same about you, Soko. Felt like a pretty sweet gal,” I replied.
Soko laughed softly at that, saying “What’s that?” before continuing.
“Do you remember what the other kids in our class were saying back then?”
“Huh? No, I don’t really remember.”
“Some girls reacted with things like ‘Poor thing’ or ‘I lost mine when I was a kid too,’ but most of them didn’t even look. And for those who did react, the topic switched instantly to stuff like ‘How much longer until karaoke?’ or ‘What are we going to sing?’”
“In this day and age, maybe that’s the normal reaction. Sometimes people who offer help with good intentions end up being treated as suspicious individuals.”
It’s difficult to imagine that generation, raised on the adage ‘ignore strangers,’ would feel comfortable speaking to a distressed child when they grew up and found one.
From their perspective, they themselves were the ‘stranger’ back then, a lesson firmly embedded in their memory from the past.
“That’s not it, Soujiro. Everyone just found it too much of a hassle. The social mixer was important because it might determine your standing in class and which group you’d end up joining.”
”…”
“But you didn’t hesitate to help. You encouraged the child by saying, ‘They’ll definitely be found,’ and without worrying about getting your uniform dirty, you dropped to your knees on the ground to start searching.”
”…I’m not exactly planning on becoming a hero, but I’d still want to lend a hand if someone was struggling right in front of me. Besides, Mune helped out too, didn’t she?”
As I mentioned earlier, this incident was actually what started our conversations.
“Don’t you remember? I was a bit late getting there. I said earlier that it felt like I was blaming the other kids in the class, but honestly, I’m not that different either. I hesitated for a split second.”
“Hesitated?”
“Yeah. I probably read the room on instinct. Trying not to ruin the ‘everyone have fun’ vibe. But if helping the child ruined the mood, it wasn’t like we needed to worry about preserving it in the first place.”
“Hmm… it depends on the person, doesn’t it? Some people go all out for their youth. I don’t expect anything special from it, so I just do what I feel like doing…”
More than defending my classmates, I felt a certain discomfort at being praised for doing what was obviously right, so I said:
“Youth where you can naturally be kind to others—that’s definitely the better way to have it.”
Hearing that, I hesitated to deny any further.
”…So, did you keep talking to me after that?”
Mio wasn’t a ‘gal who’s nice to otaku,’ nor was she a ‘gal who’s nice to everyone.’
She was just one girl who had taken a liking to me over that incident.
“Yeah. I didn’t think Sou-suke would be this… perverted.”
“Uh…”
Laughing at my choked-up reaction, Mio continued in a gentle voice.
“But you were just as kind as I expected.”
“Mio…”
“Ah, and also. You have a handkerchief, right?”
“A handkerchief… The one you used to find me?”
Initial equipment upon teleportation is presumed to be whatever clothing one was wearing when they went home the previous day.
The evidence lies in what came with them: the women’s underwear, my own undergarments, and the handkerchief Mio had borrowed from me that day.
By combining “my handkerchief” with “Fenrir’s sense of smell,” she was able to locate me on the very first day.
“That’s not it. I didn’t forget to wash them… I actually did it on purpose.” “Huh? What do you mean?”
“I, um, just really liked that Sou-suke lent me a handkerchief, and… well, I figured I’d have something to talk about with him for like, a day or two.”
She probably intended to start a conversation like, “Sorry, I forgot to bring the handkerchief you lent me,” and he’d respond, “Ah, that. No worries, anytime.”
“Even you think of things like that, Mero?”
“It’s so hard finding an excuse to talk to someone you’re into…!?”
Hearing Mero speak in a sulky tone, I hurriedly apologized.
“No, yeah, I get it. I know how it feels.”
“Do you really?”
It’s stressful to approach people you aren’t close to, and the differences in groups or social ranking within the class are barriers that are hard to bridge.
Thinking back on it, Mero had ignored all those barriers time and again to strike up conversations with me.
Remembering her courage brought a lump to my throat.
“Seriously. Once we’re back on Earth, I’ll make the first move and talk to you.”
”…Promise?”
Her voice was high-pitched with anticipation. “For sure. Totally. Absolutely.”
I tried to imitate the thing Shouko occasionally says.
“Pfft. Ahahahaha. Nice, let’s make it a trend…”
I had my doubts about it, but whatever, it was fine as long as Shouko was laughing.
Mashiro slowed down, and eventually our house came into view.
“Thanks, Mashiro.
Hey, I’m going to build a Fenrir’s hut when we get home,” Mashiro barked happily.
And with a leap over the stone wall, we arrived at our base.
Timing it so he could sit down properly, I got off together with Shouko.
Now then, had the other three come back yet?
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