Volume 4 Chapter 1 (1/2)
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March 24, 5:00 AM
I was napping and not sure if I was experiencing a dream or reality
My mind had fallen to an odd level not quite awake and not quite asleep In that state, I suddenly felt a sensation seeping out froroeak
So
From the top oflike thin, thin wires passing through the center of my body
They were not sturdy or strong In fact, they felt like they would break like dry pasta if I twisted ue chill of unease as if letting those sharp fragh my body would be a fatal mistake
At that time, it came clearly to my mind
Ahh I'm definitely not a normal Zashi+ki Warashi+
National Registry ID 36110054Ra2
xxxXX Prototype Ver 39 xxx
Traditional Species Designator: Zashi+ki Warashi+
Personal Name within the Jinnai Family: Yukari
There were a lot of terms that could refer to me, but not even I knehich one truly indicated ”me” Even if there was a ”me” I wanted to be, the truth of the world would not necessarily take my side so conveniently
As I thought onrong travelled down my back
The thin wire-like sensation see on which I could rely to identify who I really was
Even sighing seemed like too much trouble, so I closed my eyes once more within the thick futon blanket
This was a thought pattern that only existed in this vague level of consciousness
It was a fluctuation
An error
Once I clearly woke or clearly fell asleep, this unease would vanish And I hated putting in any kind of effort, so going back to sleep was always the way to go
Or so I thought
Another action interfered with er plan
So around next to me in the futon
”Yukari”
I heard a small child's voice and a boy's head popped out from under the blanket
He was about six and had short, black hair
His face was as red as a boiled octopus as he spoke
”It's hot and hard to breath”
”That's what you get for pulling such a thick blanket over your head”
He ell-known for tossing and turning in his sleep, so his pillow had been thrown to the other end of the bedroom And it was not the work of a Makura-Gaeshi+
If he had woken up, going back to sleep would be difficult
I rolled over to check the digital clock and found ten minutes had passed since I had last checked
The rectangular clock was not my taste
In fact, the futon itself was not mine
Sneaking into the faht is a trait of the Zashi+ki Warashi+, isn't it?
I rubbed ave a quick yawn, and spoke to the actual owner of the futon
”Good e, so could you scoot back just a bit?”
”Bust: 98 cm Waist: 54 cm Hip: 85 cm Isn't it a bit of a curveball to call this a Zashi+ki 'Warashi+'?[1] In fact, it's downright cheating”
I was inside a large thatch-roof house
When I lazily made my way to the altar roo for e our ages once we passed our growth period, but it was true I would likely be categorized as a ”young wife” using their standards
Also, there was only one thing I could say to the words thrown at me the instant I opened the door
”I'm not sure what you want me to do about it”
”I suppose you're right”
”And another thing The Zashi+ki Warashi+ species also contains young saeda kimono”
”Sure, sure No's shi+nobu doing?”
”He insisted he could change on his own, so I' he has his head stuck in the neck hole while he flails around like a giant stuffed amoeba”
”Did he wet the bed?”
”If he had, I would look a lot ht now”
”It's my mother-in-laould be upset since she uses you as a dress-up doll There aren't many people ear kimonos”
”Then why don't you wear them?”
By the way, she was in the altar roo me my breakfast
In the Jinnai house, the hu room and the Youkai ate in the altar room It was a fairly lax rule, so there was no restriction on switching location after the an
After setting down the food and placing a bowl of rice in front of the Buddhist altar, shi+nobu's mother waved at me
”Okay, enjoy yourself Andfortune and prosperity to our house like a Zashi+ki Warashi+ is supposed to☆”
Aftersure she had left the roo to sleep but finding I couldn't, I knew I had to wake up but found doing so was too much trouble
I decided to switch on the flat-screen TV in a corner of the rooh the channels while I waited for e role as a mental support
”Here is the number one for today, March 24! If you're an Aries, listen up! Your perfect o! And your lucky color is…”
”Here is today's selected best seller 'The Nail that Sticks Out is Hammered Down ~How to Create a Society where only Idiots can Survive~' This is the latest novel from the author of 'The Idiots whose Names Deserve to Go Down in History'! It far outdoes its predecessor which was fa such extrehts”
”Beauty! This will be the three- If you want to smile below the summer sun, you have to put in the effort now! This is the perfect exercise for you piglets who are afraid to look in the mirror”
” 'People are Killed for Such Stupid Reasons ~Selfish Motives Straight from the Murderer's Mouth~' This week's special drama is the ninth entry in the series of true stories that reveal the mysteries behind brutal criht at nine!”
Just as I thought I would remember that my stomach was empty after another fifteen minutes, I heard a sound
It sounded like dishes clinking together
I quickly realized it did not just ”sound like” that
”Yukari, Yukari You can't eat alone”
”shi+nobu?”
The six-year-old child carried a tray with unsteady hands that pushed the danger meter up to 130 It seemed he had taken it all the way to the altar room
”They said on TV that food tastes better when everyone's together”
”shi+nobu, you're kind ofrate”
”Yukari! Don't eat alone”
I was forced to grab a rag and put in the ht only a tatami mat craftsman
He see a shut-in, but that was just how Zashi+ki Warashi+ were It was just as pointless to urge a bat or mole to sunbathe
At any rate, I left the TV on while eating breakfast with shi+nobu whoseremained
”Grandood, but it's all so brown”
”Well, she prefers japanese food while your oes more for the Western food”
”Grandma should just make omurice too That would add a bunch of yellow and red! And if she added parsley, it'd have green too!!”
He pouted his lips as he co to note that he finished his vegetables randmother made the food
Making a six-year-old child eat his vegetables seeood indicator of skill to me
”I can eat bell peppers”
”Oh, can you?”
”I can eat celery too”
”Personally, I'd much rather not”
I refused to eat celery on principle, so I turned down his persistent sales talk about adding mayonnaise His small hands then made an odd movement
He pulled out several ht colors
”Um…shi+nobu? What are those?”
”You don't know? Beauty!!”
I had a feeling I had heard that word on TV earlier and he stuck the colored skewers into his boiled eggplant and taro
”You can go on a diet by stabbing these into the food before eating it!”
”Um, a diet?”
A six year old on a diet?
”This one's for et one or the other of those, though This is for green vegetables, this is for red vegetables, and this is for yellow vegetables!!”
”Oh, I get it It has a lot etables, so if you use theetables you need”
”Beauty said it Beauty said it on TV, so it has to be true!”
I then recalled that effeht color
He was known as a fashi+on leader and the one who started the latest diet boom, but for some reason no one actually wanted to be just like him It seemed like an odd position to me
”If you diet, you'll get big and strong Big and strong!”
”shi+nobu, you have the entire concept wrong and I'et the skewer stuck in your throat, so stop sticking it in your mouth to eat from it Bite the food off the side instead”
So are these colorful skewers an official product?
I doubted there was a specialized shop in the rural area, so soht theest suspect was shi+nobu's s on a whi them once The porcelain bibimbap dish set and the home-made southern rice cracker set were two of the latest ones
”Yukari, did you know that ikra is Russian for roe?”
”You sure are knowledgeable”
”Priozhki!”
”Although e if we didn't have all those cable channels”
No major incidents would happen
There were no real ups or downs
The job of a Zashi+ki Warashi+ was to laze around a large rural house, so I only had to find a spot that wouldn't get in the way of the vacuu and lie on the tatami mats I was in a carefreeianization named Hyakki Yakou
Or so I had hoped Unfortunately, I heard a commotion out front
As usual, it was shi+nobu's voice
I circled around to the front entrance, put ona sreement on the road in front of the house
His opponent was…so the size of a s across the road to block the way
”I ah”
”Why!? Why won't you!?”
”If you are going somewhere, you must have an adult with you Go call someone”
”You stupid Youkai I bet you're called a Roadblock or so!”
”I ao call for an adult”
shi+nobu grabbed the thick fur on the gigantic dog's side and tugged, but it did not seem to bother the Nurikabe
The Youkai was as har a serious effect on the dohway or railroad Youkai like us wouldn't be har a dump truck run into us or a tanker truck explode on us, so there was not much the humans could do
However, I had thought a Nurikabe looked like a large hunk of konjac with short ars
Letting this continue forever would help nothing, so I decided to call out to shi+nobu
”shi+nobu, what are you doing?”
”School! I'o to school!”
He swung his arms around to try to persuade me
”I', so I need to make sure I know the way!”
Meanwhile, the Nurikabe glanced over atinto the air
”Ah, the Roadblock went away! Okay, let's go!!”
”shi+nobu”
He looked like he was about to run off and not stop until he was on the rabbed onto the nape of his neck to stop him
”Do you even knohere your school is?”
”I'll let you join my exploration party You should be thankful”
If I refused, he would probably get lost on his own and o along
It was thelate March
The weather was in a bizarre state where the tee quite a bit each day, but it was fairly warm on this day It was also sunny and there were even butterflies flying around after waking up too early
”The trees are wearing scarves”
”Those are made of straw”
”They must really not like the cold It's so warm today”
I decided to keep it a secret that they were put up to allow bugs to nest in theathered inside
Meanwhile, shi+nobu was looking around in confusion
”This is tricky,” he said while forcing a knowledgeable look ”Finding your ithout landmarks is tricky”
Spreading out before us was the stereotypical scenery of paddy fields one would see on a postcard for foreign tourists The landscape contained water-filled paddies, thatch-roof houses, and narrow roads and ays connecting it all together
However, this was not just some old rural area
On pillars set up at set intervals along the roads were solar panels that changed angle like sunflowers, the ays contained seneration, and the paddies without water were being plowed by unmanned drone tractors I'd also heard that the scarecrows contained sensors to precisely fire a spear-like sound wave at any aniaphone-shaped directional speakers
To coetables, this special village created an ultra-high quality brand out of the limited domestic crops
A new idea of the rural had been created to battle those other nations It created a fusion of tradition and cutting-edge technology that used the words ”safe” and ”delicacy” as weapons to sell a bunch of grapes for 30,000 yen and a liter of the water in its rivers for 300 yen
This was an Intellectual Village
japan had suffered a critical defeat in the precisionthe great change of focus intended to help the economy recover
That was the sort of village we lived in
And at the same time…
”Look, Yukari There's an Umbrella Obake and a Lantern Obake”
”Looks that way But I think they're in a hurry, so let's leave them alone”
shi+nobu was pointing at a road beyond a paddy field A paper ule co(?)
”Hurry! Mrs Yonesaki's labor pains have already begun!!”
”Oh, dear We need to hurry back to the house!!”
The perfectly recreated rural scenery had invited Youkai back to hu the rise oftrouble at one of the village's houses just like I was
”shi+nobu, I don't think you need to search for landht road”
”Y-you're right! I'll write on the map that this part is okay!”
”shi+nobu”
He began writing apaper
Once we arrived at a critical fork in the road, he spoke up with a troubled look
”I'e of the paper, so I can't draw the rest of the map”
”This was nothing but an e on your map?”
Of course, he would be travelling in a group for a while after beginning school, so there was no need for him to draw a map and remember the way
In the end, he flipped the paper over, said ”I'll keep going froHe was so focused on the paper that I wasn't sure he had even seen the fork in the road
Soon, so the narrow road
It was a girl of about shi+nobu's age who held a large dog on a leash
She et of an overprotective parent because every single article of clothing was homemade She looked a lot like a storybook illustration of Red Riding Hood
”Oh, it's Nagisa! Beauty!!”
”B-beauty”
…If she understands that greeting, that effeminate TV personality must be popular with more than just shi+nobu I wonder if that's been nominated as a fad phrase
It seeisa's parents had misread the harsh ups and downs of the late March te Hood look
shi+nobu would sometimes throw fried chicken bones to play fetch with it, so the Saint Bernard that protected the nervous-looking girl wagged its tail and welcoh a legitiram and it was trained to immediately rip out the windpipe of anyone suspicious who approached the girl, but I had to wonder if it was true
At the iant stuffed animal
”shi+nobu-chan, are you with that Youkai again? A-aren't you afraid?”
Oh, how troublesome
The existence of Youkai had been generally accepted in the Intellectual Village, so it wasn't often you saw someone afraid of us like this
Of course, the nation had no laws to judge Youkai the a falling rock or a lightning strike, so I couldn't really complain if people were afraid of us
shi+nobu on the other hand was coree
”Hm? Afraid of Yukari? You don't have to worry about her She doesn't bite”
Now, then
”Roar!! Grrrrr!!!!”
”Don't do that, Yukari! Nagisa won't get it's a joke! Look, she fell down!!”
By the way, even though Nagisa had stiffly collapsed like a cicada skin, the Saint Bernard did nothingout Then again, it could probably tell at a glance that I didn't mean any real harm
”Sh-shi+nobu-chan, you're mean If you lie, you have to s a thousand needles”
”No, Nagisa Liars have to s a porcupinefish”
In just a few seconds, their conversation took a zigzagging turn toward the roots of old words[2] Their conversations were quite peculiar They were logical, but they would take sudden bypasses based on instinct or eht of the flow of conversation for even an instant, you would never find the link
And if you could not follow the thread of conversation, you could not join in
With nothing to do, I looked the well-behaved Saint Bernard in its small, round eyes
No, I can't start e to sit and wait like that My position has to be soher
”Bye, shi+nobu-chan I need to finish my errand”
As I thought about nity and respect as a Youkai, their conversation finally caed by the leashtoward the small post office all the same
We corrected our course toward our destination Or rather, I corrected shi+nobu's course
The village had a single eleh school and they were all located near each other To ensure a safe walk to school, it was probably best to have them all use the same path
”I'm thirsty”
”Well, we did walk about two kilometers”
After traveling a little e area surrounded by a chain-link fence and a large rectangular building inside
”Is that my school?”
”No, that's not where you'll be going I think it's the high school Y'know, the one Hayabusa goes to”
It was late March, so I was pretty sure all the schools were out for spring break, but there were still quite a few students in the schoolyard Sports tea
For soainst the fence
”What is it, shi+nobu? If you're thirsty, how about we go in and borrow their water fountain?”
”No, I could never go in the high school! I don't have the right!!”
It wasn't some consulate, so I didn't see why he would have to worry about that However, it seee or school year that kids seemed to have issues with
Having heard the co track suits approached from beyond the fence
”H brother or sister? If so, go to the main entrance on the other side”
”Ee!? N-no, I do not have a lunch! And I do not have a big brother who plays sports!!”
”Ah ha ha Why's he speaking so politely all of a sudden?”
shi+nobu had started to panic, but his confusion faded as tio as he looked at the schoolyard through the fence
”That's a big horizontal bar!”
”Yeah, I don't think I could do a back hip circle on that,” replied one of the girls
”There's a sandbox there but no slide or swings It looks boring”
”Well, that is for the long jump”
At that point, shi+nobu finally seeh the fence
”By the ho are all of you?” he asked with a confused look
”We're the tennis team”
”If you lie, you have to s a porcupinefish”
”Why are you calling irl who see
shi+nobu proudly puffed out his chest and gave a snort as he made an announcement to her
”Girls who play tennis wear clothes that flutter around”
”That's only in official ga all the time”
So their lips and protesting while swinging their rackets around
”C' outfits! Half the reason we started playing tennis was to see those, so why are you wearing those horrible track suits year-round!?”
”Because lowlives like you have eyes, you dao away!!”
Having heard all the noise, a fe balls over at the around in confusion
The teacher walked over to shi+nobu as the flustered source of the commotion
”Are you interested in tennis?” she asked while perfectly expressionless
”I don't know the rules!! I only know you hit so back and forth like in badminton!”
”I see Then let ive you a chance This is an old ball If you're interested, learn how to use it”
She forced the yellow ball through a hole in the chain-link fence and handed it to him
One of the track suit girls running along the schoolyard opened her eyes wide
”No fair! Are you luring hi! No matter what you say, you're the kindest one when it comes to little kids!!”
”Shut up!! I'll have you know I actually wanted to teach ele with you deceptive mini-adults and your dead eyes!!”
However, shi+nobu had not heard that exchange because he was too focused on the ball in his hand
”It's yellow, round, and fluffy I've never seen a ball like this It's like a baby duck”
”Ahhh, shi+nobu This isn't good”
”Wow! It bounces really good This baby duck bounces more than a baseball!!”
He shouted in delight as he threw the tennis ball against the road again and again, but I groaned as I watched
He had reacted in otten a s a hole in every sliding door and screen in the house, he had broken the glass in the wall clock and helped revive the intangible cultural asset of the crying child locked in the storage shed as punishment However, it seemed all of that had vanished from his mind
I earnestly hoped that a sht
”shi+nobu, the elementary school is this way”
”Sure With this baby duck ball, I'!!”
With the legendary Baby Duck Shooter in hand, he grew too bold and tried to walk down the center of the road, so I grabbed the nape of his neck and pulled him to the side of the road
The elein to attend coh school The e planners had probably vaguely decided ”the schools go here”
Speaking of which, the village did not have a university
A tidy place of learning ically e
To use shi+nobu's checklist fros, slides, and other playground equiphts for the lower grades and the higher grades Also, the soccer goal and basketball goal were sh school
However, a Youkai likeelse first
”Why are high schoolers kicking a ball around outside the elementary school?”
For one, it was spring break Elementary school had no concept of sports teams or clubs, so there would not have been any elementary school students here in the first place But when you found larger h school students there instead, it looked a lot like they had chased out the younger kids to have the place to themselves
And that may not have been far from the truth
The children at the high school had been the passionate athletes It would have been difficult to dislodge them if you just wanted to play around And if they then wanted to play somewhere else, it was only natural ould happen next
They er children who should have been there
However, would eleather in a place filled with clearly older and bigger children? Just as shi+nobu had been oddly unwilling to enter the high school, the ele actively threatened by anyone
Froh school to middle school and from middle school to elementary school
As the people were left out, they would move down to the next school in line It was certainly a twisted social structure
Whether he had caught on to the situation or not, shi+nobu tugged on my kimono and asked me a question
”Is this my school?”
”Looks like it You'll be going here every day come April”
Before I had finished speaking, a soccer ball crashed loudly against the chain-link fence
It rolled along the ground in front of shi+nobu whose eyes were opened wide
I assumed someone had accidentally kicked the ball this way, but I was quickly proven wrong
”What are you doing here?”
I heard a scratchy voice ether
It seeh school boy had kicked the ball our way on purpose
”We already told you the rules, reot peronna deal with little brats like you If not having your schoolyard is such a probleo tell on us, but don't blame me for what happens then!”
”Hm? Hm???”
shi+nobu was not used to being the target of that kind of hostility, so he was more confused than scared
The boy seemed to have mistaken him for an elementary school kid who had come to play
A glance through the fence showed that there were no s an eleh school student
”Da and we're only second string They're just splitting us up based on who they like and using up all the equipment and practice space for the you can ith guts or a fighting spirit is corow ram”
shi+nobu tilted his head and looked up at me
”Yukari, what is he talking about?”
”He's saying it's tough not being a winner because he can't live up to his parents' expectations or get the cute girls in his class”
I gave an arbitrary corin and received obvious verbal abuse for my trouble
”Shut the hell up, you dahts, so how about I beat the shi+t out of you right here!?”
”We all know you can't do that☆”
The boy I decided to call Grumpy-kun kicked the fence and then left
Um, what am I supposed to do at times like this?
Oh, right Raise er
”Yukari, as all that?”
”Don't worry Guys like that have probably never even held hands with a girl You have hiin, so you don't have to worry about anything”
There was nothing more for shi+nobu to see Or rather, the schoolyard had more or less become a post-apocalyptic land where everyone had aaround was unlikely to be an enjoyable experience for him
Today's the that to an end and going home was the best option
”Things can look different on the way back, so let's try that too”
”What are you talking about? It's the saet lost”
”shi+nobu, you're already taking a wrong turn at the first fork in the road”
I grabbed the nape of his neck and corrected his path
He flailed his arave a low energy co house plant
”I' so much”
”Sorry, but I' to carry you Why? Because it sounds like a lot of work”
When we returned to the house that had a full security system and solar panels on its thatch roof, it seemed to be lunchtime
The day's lunch was oyakodon
Meals were always prepared by shi+nobu's randrandmother made it
After lunch, I had nothing to do and just lazed around until I heard so on the phone