Volume 4 | Chapter 12: November (Down) – Part 1
I managed to meet up with Maria-jou, but the situation doesn’t look good.
A suspicious person broke into her home, so the police were doing an on-site inspection in a hurry. Maria-jou didn’t have a guardian nearby, so her homeroom teacher, Kazu-nii, was contacted instead. Kazu-nii has been speaking with the police this whole time.
It’ll be careless of her to keep living in her apartment after someone broke in. It’s been decided that Maria-jou will live with someone temporary. As for with whom, the candidates were Kyouko-jou and my home.
Kyouko-jou and Maria-jou get along very well, but I’m just a classmate that wanders around nearby once in a while.
“……It’s no good,” Maria-jou mumbled with disappointment. She had been trying to contact Kyouko-jou since a while ago.
“Since she’s not answering your messages or calling back, she might be doing things for her reporting club,” I said.
Maria-jou stared at her cellphone for a while before sighing. Her said cellphone now had a strap, which I just returned to her. Eventually, Maria-jou returned her cellphone into her bag like she gave up.
“……It must have been tough. So, umm, would you like to come to my home?” I asked.
However, Maria-jou replied with this back.
“No, if that’s the case… I’ll stay at the hotel near the hospital my grandma’s at. Recently, it seems like it’s almost time…… I’m also thinking of taking time from school.”
Ugh. I was dumped… What is this sense of defeat I’m feeling. Well, it’s fine with me though? I mean, if I take Maria-jou to my home, there’s a high possibility she’ll find out I’m related to Kazu-nii.
And I have to say, Maria-jou is rich, huh. I mean, she decided to stay at a hotel without hesitation… I can’t do that at all.
As for Maria-jou, she seems to be concerned about her bag for quite some time.
“If you plan on resting then I don’t think you need to carry your school bag around with you? Ah, I guess you’ll feel anxious leaving it at home now, huh?” I questioned.
“…To tell you the truth, something went missing in my home. ……What should I do……” Maria-jou answered.
Wait, wait, isn’t this robbery then!? It’s not a suspicious person but a thief who broke in!?
Come to think of it, Kazu-nii said this earlier to me.
“Still, there’s a possibility that the culprit was after something in Aikawa’s room, am I right?”
I decided to ask nonchalantly what went missing.
“……It’s a small accessory,” Maria-jou mumbled out quietly even though she didn’t look like she wanted to answer.
Her next words made me stiff though.
“I got it from Yuuki-kun.”
…….In other words, Tsukishima Yuuki-kun’s [stone] was stolen by someone.
I planned on pretending to know nothing, but it looks like we don’t have any time for that anymore. I shook my head before I fixed my eyes on Maria-jou. Next I grabbed her shoulders firmly with the intention of not letting her escape.
“Aikawa-san, let’s stop hiding things.”
“……Eh?”
“Do you understand the current situation? Someone other than you is trying to collect those stones you need for the True Harem Ending. On top of that, they are going as far as committing a reckless act of theft. Don’t you think that’s the reason why Mizusaki-senpai and Kaneshiro-senpai suddenly changed their attitude towards you before you even captured them? I think the same culprit tried stealing things in the academy.”
“H-Hey… wait…” Maria-jou started to panic. I think it’s because I started talking about the otome game even though there were lots of people around, shocking her.
Still, I continued to look hard at her and questioned, “Is there anyone else besides you who knows about the stones?”
Maria-jou’s eyes widened like she suffered a shock. “F-Father Michel…”
It is you, Father Michel!
Anger started to boil up inside me. That man, I underestimated him because he was good-looking— Except I actually didn’t but I have to say this: You’re a priest yet you went and stole things!? You should suffer God’s rage!
“Do you know what his goal is?” I asked next.
“I-I don’t know. Just that Father Michel said with every stone I insert in the hollow dents, I will obtain a [heart]… And then everything will go as I wish. He also said that as proof of this happening, he will give me his stone… and he inserted it inside the hollow dent. But, wait, why do you know about this!?”
“Did you touch Father Michel’s stone?”
“I… didn’t… touch it.”
Those words made me feel like something struck my head hard. “Damn it, so you can go around it this way!” I couldn’t help but shout.
If you insert your stone in the church, it can’t be moved again. Iinchou was the one who told me this.
Now, if you insert the stone yourself, it will become a safe zone. That being said, the church is kind of like the headquarters of Father Michel. I can’t really say if it’s really a safe zone or not.
“……That’s right, Iinchou. I need to message Iinchou…..”
I have to gather more allies. We don’t have enough information right now and are missing pieces.
Actually, Iinchou should have given us all the information to start with. If he did, it wouldn’t have gotten so complicated like this!
“The two of you, come with me!”
Someone shouted from the side when I was about to take my cell phone out.
It was Kazu-nii inside his Ferrari. He stopped the car on the side, hanging out. The moment he opened the passenger seat’s door, he grabbed both me and Maria-jou’s arm.
“We’re getting out of here!” He shouted.
“Eh!?”
Kazu-nii’s eyes were trained on the police. Maria-jou was pressed against the seat and couldn’t look up as she was forced into the passenger’s seat with me.
This is too much of a tight fit!!
“W-What is that……!”
I could smell a sweet scent drifting by.
The police who were approaching our way had blank, dull eyes. Yet they stared at us with those unfocused pupils. They moved slowly but they were certainly walking towards us.
Step, step, step……. Those slow movements made me think of a puppet controlled by strings. It was eerie.
…C… Creepy! It’s scary too! Way too scary! Stop! What are you all!? Zombies!? Ah, wait, please be alive. I would hate it so much if they were actually zombies.
“They became like that suddenly while I was talking with them… Anyways, we need to get out of here. I think it’ll be better if we leave the city!” Kazu-nii said as he was about to step on the pedal.
I couldn’t help but be startled. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if he drives fast while Maria-jou and I haven’t even worn the seat belt properly!
“H-Hey, wait…!”
Maria-jou and I bumped our heads against the seat.
“Hibiya-sensei! Where can we even go!?” Maria-jou shouted.
“I’m thinking right now!” Kazu-nii said bluntly with force.
Maria-jou was quite confused but she sat down obediently after hearing Kazu-nii’s words.
Will it really be okay like this? Hell no!
Calm down, someone shouted inside of me.
My stone was throbbing and felt cool. I found myself frowning at this sudden cooling.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic on the street, so we couldn’t make our way to the main street.
Actually, we have three people in a two-person car, so won’t we be arrested by the police? I feel like it’ll be better to stop, get off, and escape with another method.
“……Aikawa-san, is there a way to forcibly end the game?” I asked.
“Eh……!?” Maria-jou’s eyes widened to circles.
I fixed my gaze at her and asked again, “Is there a way to reach an ending right now without waiting for the deadline at the end of December?”
“…….!!” She was shocked silent.
“There is,” Kazu-nii replied instead with a bitter voice. “I don’t know in detail about Tsukishima and the other capture targets… However, there’s one Hibiya event that can definitely end the game without waiting until the end of December.”
“What kind of event is it?”
“…An elope event. It’s one of the bad endings for Hibiya. It’s an ending where he gets a bad reputation at school and will quit his job as a teacher. You won’t get this ending unless you purposely aim for it… At the very end, you’ll get choices. If you choose [I’ll go with you] then you’ll get the elope ending with him. If you choose [I won’t go with you], Hibiya will be removed as a capture target and won’t appear in the playthrough anymore.”
“Is there anything else?” I asked.
“Maybe but I don’t know them,” Kazu-nii said, unable to hide his anger. His way too sharp eyes are scaring me.
Maria-jou wasn’t able to say a thing and could only open and close her mouth repeatedly.
Ah, geez, you really aren’t suited for capturing multiple targets at the same time. If you want to make all the guys yours then you should be more defiant.
……From the very beginning, I wasn’t able to hate Maria-jou. If she was a villainess gleefully trying to capture everyone at the same time, I would have viewed her as an enemy for sure.
“Hibiya-sensei… Niimi-san, too… Why do you know all this!?”
Her question hit the core of the problem, making me swallow down my saliva.
Let’s stop hiding things — I’m the one who said this.
“Me and Kazu-nii are cousins,” I confessed while glaring at the scenery outside the window. I then stole a glance at Maria-jou. “That’s the reason why I know this world is an otome game.”
I turned my eyes to the back mirror next. From what I can tell, no patrol cars were following us. “Kazu-nii, drop me at a train station, whichever one works. I’ll head to the academy by taxi.”
“What…!?”
“If the two of you ride the car like this, isn’t there a possibility of fulfilling the requirements for the elope ending? If you do get a bad reputation in the school, I wonder if someone will report you anonymously to the chairman? Ah, that’s right. Kazu-nii, if you really do lose your job, you can join Candle again.”
Candle is a band that has already made their major debut. Kazu-nii was their vocalist back in their indies days.
“Don’t joke me. Actually, I doubt Masaki will let a teacher who got fired after causing problems with a student join,” Kazu-nii replied back, sounding genuinely pissed off.
Maria-jou was surprised by the tone of his voice and flinced.
“I was joking. ……More importantly, I thought of something. Even though the stones have been inserted in the hollow dents, not a single capture target has been acting the way that Maria-jou wants. I wonder if this means that they haven’t been captured yet.”
“What do you mean?” Kazu-nii asked.
“In any case, I think the key is the church. Even if we can’t take out the stones, we might be able to break the candle stand instead. If we do, maybe something will change,” I said.
If we can forcibly reach an ending and terminate the game then… Such thoughts bubbled up inside me. However, there’s no meaning if the method means Kazu-nii losing his job. Also, there’s no way I could let him do something stupid like eloping. That would be a bad ending for Kazu-nii and Maria-jou’s futures, and will affect me as I’m his relative.
“If you plan on going alone, I’m not dropping you off,” Kazu-nii said as he checked the traffic light and the back mirror. “Every time you run into danger, I feel like dying will be easier for me. Let me protect you, even just a bit, alright? Try to remember once in a while that you’re a feeble game. ……I really just want to lock you up at home.”
Kazu-nii was about to say more with a solemn expression—
Maria-jou interrupted like she experienced some huge shock. “Niimi-san, you address Hibiya-sensei with a nickname?”
“……What about it?” I questioned.
“How can I say this… Umm… Could it be… you two are lovers?”
“HUH!?”
Is your head made out of pink colours!?
I couldn’t help but glare at her with a force enough to hit her.
Maria-jou flinched in response and trembled before continuing, “I-I’m sorry! I-I didn’t know… I’m really sorry for making passes at someone else’s lover so rudely! I thought that as a capture target, he has to be single…… Right! This is reality! It makes sense if he actually has a girlfriend or something like that already!”
She was really desperate. I have no idea what exactly shocked her heart like this.
However, I could see that Maria-jou was apologizing from the bottom of her heart.
“W-When I heard you were obstructing me the other day, I thought that maybe you were actually trying to capture them too…… Ahhh! Just what exactly have I been doing!? If they already have girlfriends then I’m bothering them if I keep loitering around! I didn’t think of this possibility at all! Uwaaaah!! I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!!!”
…….Ugh. What should I do? The feeling of urgency disappeared!
Kazu-nii and I exchanged tired looks.
We have been approaching her with a sense of nervousness since April. We had been brainstorming how to escape from the evil clutches of an otome game heroine trying to capture everyone at once.
Yet she isn’t even an enemy now.
Kazu-nii looks like he reached the same conclusion as me. He drove into a random parking lot and quickly parked.
“Niimi-san, I’m going too. If you are going to fight Father Michel, then there’s something I want to ask him,” Maria-jou said as she grabbed my arm. “Father Michel claimed everything was for my sake…… But if that’s a lie, then he should have a different goal right? Basically he said those words instead of plainly rejecting me cause me liking him is bothersome, right?”
Ah, geez. It’s really unfair.
Maria-jou is a truly beautiful girl. Let me confess further and say that I really like her face and it’s my type. If she becomes a star and her posters sell, I would go as far as buying them and sticking them against my wall.
And this said face I really like is currently desperately clinging on to me. My heart is being squeezed by this cuteness.
I feel like I’m about to be captured. No, no, no, I won’t give my stone to her, okay? But there’s no effect if I give it to the same gender. Doesn’t this actually make it a safe zone for me?
“……Kazu-nii!”
“Roger. …We are behind a station right now. Let’s head to the academy like this.”
“Kazu-nii, you don’t have to come too, you know?” I said.
“I’m telling you, there’s no way I can let you two go by yourselves,” Kazu-nii declared.
I feel like I saw hearts appearing in Maria-jou’s eyes.
We’re near the station closest to Maria-jou’s home right now. What’s troubling is that it’s already quite late.
We swung by Maria-jou’s place after school, so it’ll be 6 PM by the time we reach the academy again if we depart now. When that happens, we’ll have about an hour before the last warning bell rings.
I took a quick glance around the area but the people walking by the station didn’t seem odd. There were only some people with blank eyes mixed in the crowd once in a while. It should be fine as long as we don’t make eye contact with them.
Kazu-nii also mentioned this but that sweet scent has started to drift inside the city before anyone noticed.
I was hit with the idea that if we throw water at them with full force, they might return back to normal. As such, I temporarily said goodbye to Kazu-nii and Maria-jou to visit the nearby convenience store in the station premises.
I asked the two to keep an eye on the ticket gate. If the police come chasing after us, we won’t have the leisure to buy things like this.
Just like that, I purchased six bottles of water. Each bottle has 500 mL, so 3L in total with six bottles. It’s a bit heavy for one person to carry it all. Well, it isn’t just for one person though.
This is a weapon. There’s no way we can obtain something like a stun gun right away. As such, we will splash water to return the other person to sanity if it comes to that. We should be able to carry two bottles each.
‘Fufufu, this is an ingenious idea,’ I thought as I left the convenience store with a pleased smile.
This was also when an arm reached out at my side suddenly.
“…!?” A large hand covered my mouth.
“Shh……” A low voice whispered to me. It was to the point it sent an electric shock through my body. I could tell my ears were starting to burn.
Next I heard the sound of my bottles of water dropping onto the ground. Owwwww! One just dropped directly on top of my foot just now!?
“Sorry for surprising you. …….Don’t shout out.”
Why am I hearing this person’s voice right now?
I nervously looked behind me. And like I expected, I saw Katsuragi-kun there. …To be honest, I’m terrified but it seems like his eyes are normal as usual.
I let out a silent sigh of relief. If he had blank eyes, I would escape no matter what I had to do.
Katsuragi-kun removed his hand from my mouth.
“K-K-Katsuragi-kun?” Didn’t you go home? I planned to say next, but I noticed he was picking up the bottles I dropped. I quickly bowed my head down. “Ah, s-sorry and thanks!”
“It’s heavy. I’ll carry it.”
No, you don’t have to be that considerate since it’s really not that heavy.
Katsuragi-kun’s eyes were trained on me, making me feel awkward, so I looked away. Why was he staring at me so much?
“T-Thank you…” I said again as Katsuragi-kun easily carried the six bottles in his arms. “M-More importantly, why are you here?” I asked nervously. I mean, he should have gone home already.
Katsuragi-kun softened his eyes as he looked down at me. “……You were acting weird, so I felt uneasy. I thought you’ll return to the station when you’re done……. So I waited.”
What does he mean? And, on top of that, he waited… this whole time!?
Questions ran through my mind as Katsuragi-kun continued with slight hesitation.
“…I’ve spoken to you about it before. About how I had a stone since I was born.”
Of course I remember. Actually, I feel like that’s the only thing on my mind lately. When I nodded, Katsuragi-kun opened his mouth once more.
“A thief almost broke into my home in the beginning of November. But my home is a dojo and disciplines are around, so anyone will be chased away after they climb the fence unless they are very skilled. But I felt anxious since then and carried my stone with me instead.”
Hmm, I didn’t know this. Then I guess Katsuragi-kun also had his stone with him when he was down at the infirmary.
“That stone is… how should I say this…” Katsuragi-kun shifted his eyes slightly and mumbled under his breath. “I feel like… it’s saying Niimi is in danger…”
No, I don’t think it’s saying anything. It’s a stone.
Or maybe stones connect with each other? If you have a stone, it could tell other stones that it’s in danger and vice versa? Still, I don’t feel like anyone has said or suggested that it was possible to me.
“Are you worried about me?” I asked dazedly.
Katsuragi-kun went silent with a mixed expression on his face. “……Of course.”
Ah, I feel kind of happy. It’s not bad to have a friend worried about it. I couldn’t help but smile happily.
“Thank you,” I told him.
Katsuragi-kun gulped for some reason. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but how about letting me lend a hand? I won’t get in the way,” he said.
There’s no way you’ll get in the way. There isn’t anyone more dependable than Katsuragi-kun as long as he doesn’t get affected by the scent.
And then—
“What are you doing……”
I realized that Kazu-nii was looking at us like he bit something really bitter. I guess he came to check on me since I was slow.
I looked up at Katsuragi-kun and replied, “He’s coming to help us.”
Katsuragi-kun nodded strongly in agreement.
Father Michel is collecting the stones. With this assumption, we have a pressing need to recruit the remaining capture target, Designer-kun, as an ally. However, we’re running out of time. We might not be able to locate him easily.
Still, there shouldn’t be many people remaining at the school at this time.
To be honest, I feel pretty reluctant to deal with the mysterious smell, brainwashed students, and challenge Father Michel at the same time. I mean, I would hate it if he took someone hostage.
In my case, Yumi-chan will be my weakness. In the worst case where she is affected by the smell, I can’t hurt her no matter what.
I took out my cell phone and sent a message to Yumi-chan.
[Are you home right now?]
[Yeah, I am. What’s wrong, Shiori-chan?]
Her reply came right away. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when I read it.
[There’s something I wanted to talk to you about next weekend. Could you hang out with me?]
[Ohohoho~ Is this about the first love?]
Wait, wait, Yumi-chan, you’re still misunderstanding this situation. ……Well, I guess it’s fine this way.
[Yeah.] Ahahaha, I found myself laughing even though I typed those letters myself.
Still, my first love, huh. What should I talk about? This is hard.
“Hey…” Kazu-nii complained with a bitter face as he peeked at my message to Yumi-chan. “That’s what you call a death flag, you know. …….Give me a break.”
With that, the four of us headed to the academy by the train. I tried messaging Iinchou multiple times on the train, but he didn’t respond back.
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TL note: Maria-jou and Katsuragi-kun has joined your party!