Extra 21: At that time in the modern era 6
Several months have passed in Japan since the time Misumi Makoto was transported from the world and disappeared.
The year had changed and it was about to change in month.
There were no actual big incidents occurring and the time passed peacefully.
This town where Misumi Makoto had been born and raised in was like a visual novel’s setting.
It is decently accessible, has a decent assortment of establishments; it was that kind of half-baked town.
The incredibly good looking shopping district at the back of the station also held that trait. It sold food that was popular at that time, had a decent amount of brand fashion, and it even fulfilled certain niche areas.
The making of this shopping district was successful to the point you could say they wrung out all their ideas into it.
This had become one of the general spots for many people to go in their free days.
“It is finally the day to debut this SSD.”
“We were prioritizing the graphic card, so it took a bit of time. We can’t use the work pc for games. Gotta be careful of the watch of our families after all.”
“A second PC, even when it was made with money we earned ourselves, it still is difficult. I want to go to college soon and live alone.”
“Right. It has already been decided which university we are going, so it would be fine to just jump grades.”
“Well, let’s just be satisfied that we can pass our last high school year playing online games.”
“At the Comiket in summer, let’s find a random room in Tokyo. One that can go to Akihabara.”
“That sounds nice. A room for two huh. Even if it is a shared room, one that is plenty wide would be ideal. Our electronic stores and avenues are reasonably good, but as expected, if we can go to Akihabara, it would be better.”
At a part of the shopping district, there’s an area with several PC shops lined up where two young ones were conversing as they walk.
In their hands, there’s already a bag of one of the stores, and even though it is still before noon, the two had already finished their shopping.
“Hey, changing the topic…”
“Yeah?”
“That Makoto, what do you think actually happened to him? No matter how much we investigated, we couldn’t get his location at all. Not only that, even a weird name came out.”
“…I don’t think Makoto has such a dangerous face to him or connections though. We ended up at a name that’s definitely bad news after all.”
The name of Misumi Makoto had appeared at the conversation of the two.
When this happened, the slightly relaxed mood they had, changed into one with slight tension.
“It is the ‘Healer’, you know? That fantastical existence that is say to heal everything as long as you pay the price.”
“Its connections are wide, and at the very least, it is not someone that you can hack. No matter the amount of lives you have, it wouldn’t be enough. I feel like, even if we were to succeed, we would be erased.”
“Why did such a big name show up when we were simply investigating the safety of our classmate?”
“And Makoto’s family as well. That photo was real? That’s definitely a fake family.”
“Do you think Makoto has the photoshopping skills to do that? It is most likely real. There’s no need to hide it.”
“…Misumi Hayato and Misumi Yukiko do exist after all. What an envious guy he is.”
“A writer father and a famous judo practitioner older sister huh. Her little sister was karate, right? How to say it, it also makes me pity him a bit.”
“His little sister, Mari-tan huh… Even now, I still think that is CG. There’s no way someone like that actually exists. It is totally in my strike zone.”
“It is the little sister of Makoto. Don’t try anything. I thought your pedo tastes were only limited to foreigners, but they also apply on japanese people huh. First time I knew of that.”
“Cute is justice. Listen well, Mari-tan has the prospects to become a religious target, you know?”
“Please, don’t say that with a straight face. My ears will rot.”
“…Mari-tan.”
“Oi, give it a break already.”
“No, over there.”
“Eh?”
The conversation of the two classmates of Makoto had been interrupted with the two looking at one place.
They are friends of Makoto and from the same class, their names are Amano Hisayoshi and Koga Mamoru.
Amano’s in-game name is ‘NoonCat’ and Koga’s is ‘NightCat’.
The very culprits that taught Makoto of online gaming.
They are his classmates in high school, and yet, the trigger that served as their encounter as friends was when they met at the vicinity of a Cat Cafe. A strange friendship.
Their number one common point between them and Makoto is that they like cats -they don’t own one though. In other words, they are cat friends and dream of the day when they can raise one.
They all have the issue of having a member of their family being allergic to them, so they understood well that this was hard to achieve.
The two have high computer skills and information gathering, and they do have more connections in their class aside from Makoto, but it looks like they were worried about Makoto who had suddenly disappeared, and were investigating in their own way.
Their investigation arrived at an unimaginable name, so they were having trouble, which could be picked up from the conversation before.
“That’s the little sister of Makoto.” (Amano)
“The live Mari-tan has appeared.” (Koga)
The two didn’t know the faces of Makoto’s family until now, but as they investigated, they learned first that his body was weak in his childhood and many other things. They also arrived at a simple profile of his family.
That’s how they learned that the girl that gives out an unfitting atmosphere in this place where electronic stores were lined up was Misumi Mari -Makoto’s sister.
“What is she doing here? Maybe she wants a computer since she is going to be in high school next year?” (Amano)
“Mari-tan is a pure girl that loves karate and literature, you know? By the way, the one she likes the most is The Red and the Black by Stendhal.” (Koga)
“…That’s a stalker level that would make me want to report you to the police later, Koga. Not only literature, you don’t read anything aside from erotic light novels.” (Amano)
“What did you say? It is a masterpiece where the main character obtained glory yet headed to destruction, and the women that surround him were splendidly written too. The wife was specially good.” (Koga)
“…Don’t tell me…you read it?” (Amano)
“It is the book that Mari-tan likes. Of course I would.” (Koga)
“Don’t lie. At least make your favorite girl be a young high-class lady. A wife being your favorite with those pedophilic likes of yours? It would be exposed immediately that you just gave a glance to a book summary.” (Amano)
“…”
“…”
“How could you tell?” (Koga)
“I read it last year with the recommendation of Makoto. It is true that it is long and it has difficult wording, but it was interesting.” (Amano)
“But the thickness… I could only see it as a weapon.” (Koga)
“If you don’t go for the hard cover and search for it at a library, you can deceive yourself a bit with the looks.” (Amano)
“I will challenge it when I find the chance. Right now it is about Mari-tan, right?” (Koga)
“Looks like she is troubled by something.” (Amano)
“Ah, then, let’s go.” (Koga)
Koga walks brazenly towards Mari.
“O-Oi! What are you going to do by going there?!” (Amano)
“Obviously, to bring it to full light that I am a friend of Makoto and get along with her.” (Koga)
“Since when did you get such decisiveness?” (Amano)
“…Since the moment I saw her.” (Koga)
Pushing out the beer belly he has even though he is a high schooler, his eyes shine and he shows off his resolve.
“Disgusting.” (Amano)
It was as if he didn’t care at all about what was told to him.
There was no hesitation from Koga.
Amano sighs as he follows after him thinking that it would be bad to leave Makoto’s sister alone with Koga.
Amano is calm.
That’s because he loves Milfs.
****
“Eh? Captain. Isn’t that the little sister of Misumi-senpai?”
“Ah, true. That’s Mari-chan. It has already been settled that she will be going to our school, and she apparently has showed herself at the karate club a number of times. The captain Yoriko happily said that she has strength and decisiveness. But why is she at that place?”
“She is at the stores where there’s things like computers. It looks like she is being spoken to by guys. Nuku-min, looks like you will have a rival next year.”
The three girls stop their feet in the shopping district after seeing a familiar face.
The person they saw was the little sister of a close friend of them that they met at a bookstore before.
The one they called as the captain seemed to be the one that knew her the best.
“Ah, now that you mention it, she does karate, right? It looks like she is troubled though. What should we do?”
“Right. We can’t just let it go by.”
“Eh~, isn’t it fine to leave it? If it is those two, Mari-chan would be able to easily defeat them. What are they thinking? Like seriously, look at a mirror and your hobbies first before trying to pick up girls.”
“…Yanase-san, you know those two?”
The senior and junior of the archery club, Azuma Yukari and Hasegawa Nukumi, were thinking of helping her, but the remaining one that is of the same archery club and has a lot of inquisitiveness, Yanase Haruko, didn’t feel like there was the need to.
“If I remember correctly, they are from the same class as Misumi-senpai. Names are Koga and Amano. They are PC otakus and don’t have athletic ability. Or rather, it feels as if I am looking at people that will die as otakus.” (Haruko)
“…Are they students at our school? Hah.. Let’s go, you two.” (Azuma)
“Yes!” (Nukumi)
“E-Eh?! We are going?! Can’t be helped.” (Haruko)
Haruko follows after the two that had walked off as she lets out a feeling of being choiceless.
Even so, she has already taken out her digital camera to record it if anything interesting happens, so it is not as if she is totally against the idea.
“Ah, as I said, I don’t know much about it either…” (Mari)
When Yukari arrives at the place, there was Mari troubled by the two guys that are apparently the classmates of Makoto.
“If that’s the case, the scope would be pretty wide. That’s troubling.”
“Can’t think of anything else? We are the friends of Makoto, so we want to be of hel—”
“Okay, that’s as far as you go.” (Azuma)
The two turn back at the voice and, there, they see three girls the same age as them. Moreover, people they know.
“Azuma-san and the first year, Hasegawa, and there’s also…a paparazzi?”
“No, this girl is the one that created that strange ranking and was going about information and stuff…a paparazzi?”
“I am not! Why do you know all that but don’t know my name?! Amano and Koga. At any rate, get away from Mari-chan!” (Haruko)
“…Why are we being called without honorifics by a first year?” (Amano)
“It is not -chan, it is -tan!” (Koga)
“Mamoru, please tone down the heat. Like, I beg you.” (Amano)
“Picking up a middle school student. I don’t think that’s a nice hobby there. Mari-chan seems to be troubled.” (Azuma)
“That girl is Misumi-senpai’s little sister. Uhm, please spare her.” (Nukumi)
Amano and Koga look at each other’s face.
They felt that they are being incredibly misunderstood here.
And if they were to leave the misunderstanding go, the pictures in the digital camera of the first year girl who was calling them without honorifics will be used for evil.
“W-Wait a bit. We are not trying to pick up anyone. We know that this girl is the little sister of Makoto. We also know that she practices karate. That’s…something we heard from Makoto.” (Amano)
Amano lies about Makoto telling them on the spur of the moment.
The way they got that information isn’t something praiseworthy, and it is not something that they can tell them, so Amano didn’t want to touch that topic.
“T-That’s right. We are not picking up anyone.” (Koga)
“Then why is Mari-chan so troubled? There’s no way she would be troubled by simply being called.” (Azuma)
Azuma goes in between Mari and the two with arms crossed.
Haruko and Nukumi stand at the back of the two as if cutting them off.
“Around this area is where the parts shops are gathered. That’s why, if you are not knowledgeable about computers, you wouldn’t come here -especially girls.” (Amano)
“W-We simply called out to her b-because she looked troubled. Wouldn’t you think of helping the little sister of a friend if they are troubled?” (Koga)
Feeling nervous at this situation where they are surrounded, Amano and Koga explain.
It is not as if they were thinking of anything bad after all. Can’t say the same for ulterior motives, but those words were their true intentions.
But the expression of the three girls were still those of doubt.
“Ah, Senpais! Sorry, it is not like that. Actually…” (Mari)
The words that would save those two boys came from Mari who was silent until now.
It was a situation where it felt as if it would turn sour, so Mari began to explain the situation to dissolve the misunderstanding of her seniors.
She told them about the fact that she was allowed to use the computer of her absent brother since she is soon to enter high school.
But when she turned it on, there was no reaction.
She memoed the name of the parts and the manufacturers and came to ask about it, but with the explanation of the amateur Mari, the shop assistants couldn’t reach a conclusion, and it was in a state of confusion.
When she gave up and left the store, she met Amano and Koga, and heard what they had to say.
The wariness of the girl had loosened after hearing that they are from the same high school and year as her brother, and was relieved that they were, for now, harmless computer lovers.
“My bad, sorry. From far, it only looked like you two were forcefully trying to pick her up and she was troubled by it.” (Azuma)
“Sorry. It looked like an acquaintance of mine was troubled, so I just…” (Nukumi)
Azuma and Nukumi lower their head and apologize.
“I-It is okay. As long as you get it.” (Amano)
“W-We don’t mind.” (Koga)
Maybe because they are not used to speaking with girls, the two were stuttering in a way unusual of them, but they accept the apology.
“What. A misunderstanding huh. Then, take this as a sign of apology.” (Haruko)
Haruko holds something and gives it to the two.
“…****Roll?”
“…White****.”
“Wrong. It is for use as *obligation chocolate in valentine*. You can just return twice as much in white day. I will wait without expectation.” (Haruko)
“W-What a way of putting it.” (Amano)
“Thanks.” (Koga)
Amano had a different reaction, in contrast to Koga who received it sincerely.
“Amano is not sincere. Even though you are happy about it~.” (Haruko)
“Put a -senpai on it, Paparazzi!” (Amano)
“You get a chocolate and that’s what I get?!” (Haruko)
“You pushed it on me, there’s nothing to be happy about!!” (Amano)
“Hah…Hah… Talking all big when you didn’t get any obligation or friend chocolates. Do you think I don’t know at least that much?” (Haruko)
“Hah…Hah… Your made-up articles only bring you viruses in return, so you are now spreading chocolates instead?” (Amano)
“…”
“…”
“T-That virus was your doing?!!! You are the WORST!!!” (Haruko)
“I did get some. You know, one or two at least!!” (Amano)
Amano and Haruko were strangely getting heated up in their discussion, no, they were already jumping right onto bickering.
“U-Uhm…” (Mari)
“Mari-chan, this is the kind of thing that you should just leave alone. There’s probably a sad past or a lot of just-desserts in it, so let’s just let them do as they want.” (Azuma)
“Yuriko-senpai. I see, is that so.” (Mari)
“Anyways, Koga-kun, do you think the computer of Makoto can be repaired?” (Azuma)
“A-Ah. I don’t know unless I actually see it, but I don’t think it is because of external reasons, so I think it will be okay if you give me a bit of time with it.” (Koga)
“Really, Koga-senpai?!” (Mari)
“Senpai…Senpai…Koga-senpai… I didn’t bring a recorder with me. Might as well die…” (Koga)
“Koga-senpai?” (Mari)
“Oh, that’s impressive. I have a slightly better impression of you now. I ask this of you as well for the sake of my cute Kouhai.” (Azuma)
“I-I also ask this of you. Please repair the computer.” (Nukumi)
“Everyone… Thank you very much.” (Mari)
“T-Then, c-can I get your contact information? If you tell me a day that’s convenient for you, I will go and check it out.” (Koga)
“Ah, in that case, if you have some time, can you please come today to check it out? Since it is already this time of the day, how about having lunch in my house?” (Mari)
“?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”
The unexpected -no, the proposal that he has not received in a lifetime had made the thoughts of Koga short-circuit.
“In that case, we should stop that side. It would be better if Amano-kun were to go as well, right?” (Azuma)
“No, he doesn’t have to be there. Or more like, don’t come.” (Koga)
His dark true feelings were overflowing.
It might have been words that came out instinctively.
“Eh?”
“No, it is nothing.” (Koga)
“The heat must have passed its peak already, and if we were to leave them going, it would be an embarrassment to high schoolers. We will bring Yanase-san back, so I leave Amano-kun and Mari-chan in your care, Koga-kun.” (Azuma)
“W-W-What?” (Koga)
Azuma slowly closes in on Koga, making him freeze.
“If you properly repair it, I will thank you. But…if you do anything weird to Mari-chan…I will be thanking you in another way, got it?” (Azuma)
The whisper that Azuma added stealthily after was low, and made Koga tremble.
After stopping the dispute of Amano and Haruko, Azuma and the others bid farewell to Koga and Amano who will now be heading to Mari’s house as they all left the shopping district respectively.
****
Evening.
At the way back from the Misumi household, two boys -Amano and Koga- were walking in a dream-like state.
Leaving aside whether the computer is okay or not, they had checked out the computer of Makoto, received a warm reception, and passed a splendid time that they were sure they would melt if they were to stay longer.
The Misumi household, counting the older sister Yukiko and the parents, were basically the ideal home for those two.
We may be digressing here but, aside from his taste in Milfs, Amano had now awakened to elder sisters.
The father, Hayato, had sent them a good amount of death glares at them, but the two were so in joy that they didn’t notice and were single-mindedly in bliss.
“It is incredible. The Misumi household is incredible.” (Amano)
“Mari-tan. Next year, Mari-tan will be in the same high school…” (Koga)
It was a lost case.
The two of them were a completely lost case.
That’s how it felt until they were hit by a cold wind that would stop one’s breath.
“Hah… At any rate, it was like a dream.” (Amano)
“Yeah, but it worried me a bit.” (Koga)
“You talking about Makoto’s computer?” (Amano)
“I thought that it might be a problem with the parts, but the HDD itself was gone. Is that even possible?” (Koga)
“Wanna try investigating Makoto a bit more?” (Amano)
“Will you help? We have to confirm the safety of my brother-in-law after all.” (Koga)
“?!”
“Have to diet as well. I am graduating from being a pizza fatty.” (Koga)
“…Looks like you are still dreaming. I as well, if only Yukiko-san didn’t have a boyfriend… I would be totally okay with the wife being a widow as well.” (Amano)
“…You are at a worse path than I am. Don’t go dreaming.” (Koga)
“Not on the level of you who gave away the SSD. Is that okay? The 320Gb SSD.” (Amano)
“No regrets.” (Koga)
“Really? What about Raid Zero?” (Amano)
“…I am not regretting anything. Definitely not. Accompany me in running from tomorrow on.” (Koga)
“From tomorrow on, you say. Don’t go on the ‘tomorrow’ excuse right from the get-go.” (Amano)
It was as if they were having a dispute, but it felt as if they were having fun.
The two friends of Makoto continue their conversation within the dusk.
Makoto’s wish of ‘disposing of my computer’ was not possible, but the saving grace was that it was possible to physically take away the hard-disk and, just in case, clean up the whole storage. Tsukuyomi was unexpectedly tech-savvy.
He was being of help to Makoto even in unexpected areas.