Leave a comment

“Why did we meet here?”

It was Friday. For some reason, I was suddenly called here for lunch. This was a combined school, so if we wanted, we could eat lunch in the middle school portion, but why did both Kanata and Shuu call me here?

“Lately, some creep keeps followin’ us.”
“Yes. Though it hasn’t caused any issues, yet.”
“What!?”

That’s bad! Sakura, and Rir are cute enough, it wouldn’t be unnatural for someone to stalk them… It happened to Mika and me in the past. Well, we somehow managed with the help of Shuu and his father.

Oh, if you’re wondering, the people stalking me were obviously men.

“Don’t tell me there’s a stalker greedy enough to go after both Rir and Sakura at the same time…!?”
“Doesn’t feel that way…”
“But we can’t exclude the possibility.”

Scary. When men get like that (stalkers, molesters, and such…) things turn truly frightening. If what they say is true, then this is a grave matter.

“Moreover, what if they target you and Mika-nee too, Bro? I mean, you’re the one who lets his mind wander¹ the most among us. It just feels off that you’re the only one who didn’t notice anything.”
“Hey, that’s mean! Hmph!”
“That don’t change the fact you gotta watch out. I also told Pops, just in case.”

If Shuu’s father was keeping an eye out, then there was no safer place on Earth. He was a policeman, after all. But Kanata still looked as gloomy as before.

“If it’s a normal person, then relying on Shuu’s father should be enough. Even supposing it isn’t, I could ask the research institute to lend us some bodyguards, which would likely solve the issue…”
“True… But you’re worried ’bout somethin’ else, ain’t you, Kanata. Same goes for me.”
“Yes. If this is connected to Anazumu, then it won’t be that easy.”

Huh, looks like it’s just the two of them discussing things now. I feel a bit left out… Hang on? To begin with, why do they give off this vibe of working together on this case?

“Come to think of it, when have the two of you discussed this?”
“Well, Kanata contacted me, sayin’ it felt like someone was stalkin’ him and wantin’ do consult with me before it got bad.”
“And when I did… I learned that it was the same for Shuu. We both thought that it felt suspicious. That was yesterday.”

I see, they both felt something was off, so they got in contact, and now they called me here to warn me. I’m grateful for that. I am, but…

“Kanata, why didn’t you come to me, your older brother, first? You should rely on me more! Hmph!”
“Well, that’s because you look like a girl, Bro. A. Girl. You’d just become another victim…”
“Then why didn’t you tell Mom and Dad?”
“I’m pretty sure Shuu and his father are more reliable than our parents when it comes to stalkers.”

If he put it like that, I had no room to argue. Our countermeasures when dealing with stalkers had always been to rely on the Hinos.

“Bah. In any case, we need to watch out.”
“I’ll protect Sakura in case anything happens, so we’ll be fine.”
“Same for Rir and me.”

People are stronger when they have someone to protect… usually.
As for Kanata and me… he’s got his smart, but I’m not sure what I have going for me. I’m not strong, at least on this side.

“How are we going to deal with it? You’ll be at the intra scholastic tournament on the weekend, Shuu, and you’ll be on a date with Sakura in the Zoo this Sunday, right, Kanata? I also promised Mika² to go grape picking with her.”

Won’t it be dangerous if someone assaults us while we we’re so spread out? But they can’t just call off the tournament and date.

“I’m sure we’ll manage somehow.”
“We all have a packed schedule… At any rate, grape picking sounds like a nice idea. I might give that a try with Sakura, too.”

So, the two of them think they’ll be fine for now? Well, if my brother says so, he must be certain. Hm~, we should still come up with some countermeasures.

“When we’re back in Anazumu, let’s all train in self-defense techniques.”
“True, that should work.”

With Secret Martial Techniques, we should be able to move on the level of the best professional martial artists³ (or even better).

“That was all we wanted to tell you,” Kanata declared, as if to bring our talk to a close.

Shuu nodded in agreement.

“There’s only 15 minutes left of our lunch break, so let’s disperse… Oh, by the way, Shuu, when should we come to the tournament to cheer you on?”
“Ah, thanks ’bout that.” Shuu looked happy as he scratched his head.

I always came to cheer him on at some point. I mean, we were best friends.

“Durin’ the regional tournament you’ll be on your dates, and we’ll win that one anyway, so no need to root for us. You can wait with that until we get to the prefectural part.”
“What do you mean, you’ll win anyway… is that a given? Still, thanks.”

After talking for a bit longer, we split up.

A stalker, huh…? I need to watch out. Those guys are scary.

1. The original is 気が抜ける (“to lose interest”, “to lose flavor”) and context makes it sound like it was meant to be 気を抜く (“to lose focus”, “to let one’s mind wander”), though the first might also work.
2. Sakura in the original. An obvious error.
3. Only if they also train with the skills on Earth. Otherwise, the stat difference would surely throw them off too much.

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.