novelI and Me / From the Cradle to the Grave
| ← Ch.129 | Ch.131 → |
Translator: Reflet
This was a two-fold crisis.
Youran as Director of the New Moon and Youran as a female were being targeted at the same time. If it were only one of the two, she could endure it, but if it came down to both of them, she definitely wasn't having it.
This was a situation in which both the public and private versions of her; everything was liable to be stolen.
Youran was not the type of girl to sit and wait for death, and in this situation she had neither the experience nor the quarreling nature to remain calm.
Dodging, she aimed for the door she had come through and broke out into a run.
The only thought occupying her mind was that she must run away.
「You're no fuuun」
Instantly, Saekusa Tsukumo's smile was right in front of her.
His steps had revolved around her in a circle.
Her shoulders shivered again. Though his face was in order, it looked to Youran's eyes like a disgusting smile.
「There are a lot of things that I want to discuss with and tell New Moon-sama, and there are also things I want to ask. 」
「I-I have nothing to do with this! I have nothing to talk with you about. 」
「Has New Moon-sama eaten parent-child bowl soba before? It's soba with chicken meat and egg-bound soup on top. It was being sold earlier at a major convenience store, but it's a commodity that disappears in a ridiculously short time. 」
「W-What are you......」
Tsukumo had suddenly spoke up, and his meaningless words further fanned Youran's fear.
「I really liked that. They were not placed on rice, but soba. Putting the parent-child style in a field that's generally different; reminds me of an attractive mother and daughter dropped suddenly from happy everyday life into debt hell, presented to the yakuza. 」
「Prese――」
「And then, it disappeared from the storefront, so I thought to make it myself and had Chan Suu bake it, but as it was it had no art, and I thought to set things up on a shabby stage of an even newer element. You know, isn't there the type of person who shines when they're being tormented? So not rice or even noodles; I thought to put them on bread. So what do you think happened afterwards? That's right; it became a sandwich, and when I coated it with ketchup and margarine and put it on top of the roasted bread it was super delicious. Incidentally, is New Moon-sama still a virgin?」
「W-Why are you asking that question?」
「See, I can emit the white part, but I was thinking of having New Moon-sama emit the red part. Ah, well, maybe I'll have New Moon-sama's okaa-sama emit the white part. It wouldn't be half bad to scatter New Moon-sama's virginity after she becomes able to lactate. 」
「――」
She cowered, feeling madness from the man in front of her.
Whether that was an act or his true nature was no longer clear. Not only his words, but his pupils were gradually gathering madness and replacing the once-rational person.
He had pupils that could not be anything other than that of a madman.
「――っ」
Swinging her right arm, she released a backhand.
Her wrist was grabbed, and this time she brandished her left hand.
But that was grabbed too.
Youran was constricted like a vicegrip.
「Sorry New Moon-sama, I can't afford to be slapped right now. I decided to only be okay with getting slapped for breaking a substitute promise. 」
「Please let go――Let go. 」
「Yeah, using those words is also good, New Moon-sama. Gives me shivers. I wonder if New Moon-sama's okaa-sama speaks the same way. 」
「――You little」
Both her hands grabbed, Youran kicked her legs up. That just met Tsukumo's groin area from the front.
Tsukumo reeled in agony. Youran took that opportunity to fling her hands to free herself, dashing out from the room.
Moving along the windowless corridor, she ran into the staircase.
Descending one floor down, she sprinted along another long hallway.
「Haa, haa, haa......」
Her breath became heavier in the smallest amount of time. She desperately tried to escape, disheveling her long twintails.
Fifth floor corridor, staircase.
Fourth floor corridor, staircase.
Third floor corridor, staircase.
The spiral staircase that took up the whole building made not only invasion, but escape difficult as well.
「Kyaa!」
Suddenly, she stumbled and fell, the impact causing her to begin to slide along the floor.
The twintails became undone, spreading across her shoulders.
On all fours, she rose up, furtively looking behind.
Had not chased after her, he still hadn't.
「Gotta run away......」
A strained voice leaked out of her mouth.
That was no longer Director of the New Moon or Youran.
It was not the noble woman, nor was it the lighthearted girl.
It was like a guiltless girl being chased down by a masked man with a chainsaw.
Panicking, Youran had nothing on her mind but running. Desperately raising her body up, she again aimed for the staircase and began to run.
Second floor corridor, staircase.
Having escaped three stages and racing down in one go, she simply focused on running away.
Reaching the first floor, as if waiting for her, the thick shutter slowly rose.
For a moment, she felt she had seen a light there, and embraced hope.
Normally......The hope that she would never have.
Even so, she dashed into it.
Like a lemming dashing off a cliff.
「New Moon Sama」
「――Ngh!」
Startled, she quickly braked.
Somehow, Tsukumo had appeared beyond the entrance.
Not able to stop, she crashed into her opponent. She rebounded away and fell on her backside.
Tsukumo leisurely entered the building. The shutter went down, letting out an electrical "gigigi" sound.
The falling shutter, and the disappearing light.
She desperately tried to escape, crawling toward the entrance.
「Can't let you do thaaat」
「Kyaa!」
Her hair grabbed, her neck was jerked back.
During that time, the shutter completely closed.
Despair attacked Youran, and the bit of the outside she had seen――the difference between the hope seen and the despair tightened her heart.
「Let's go back. Okaa-sama's going to arrive soon, after all. 」
Tsukumo said, dragging Youran by her hair.
The path that she had desperately tried to reach was taken back, and hope became far.
Passing through the long corridors and coming out of the decorative elevator, he had her stand before the staircase.
Staircase.
To Youran now, that looked like a straight path to despair.
If they went all the way up here then they would not return again. That seemed like the sickle of hell opening its mouth widely.
「......Let go. 」
Youran softly opened her mouth. Tsukumo reacted to the voice that was squeezed out of the bottom of her stomach.
「Oh, did you ready yourself, New Moon-sama?」
「Let go. 」
She said the same words with a different tone.
As if he were overpowered or had an opinion about that, Tsukumo released her hair that he had been grabbing.
Falling to the floor, Youran who had been dragged silently stood up.
Looking at the staircase, then the shutter, then at Tsukumo.
Roughened hair and a quiet gaze.
「I can't escape, huh」
「Nah, of course not. I have no intention of letting you. 」
「I see, I get it. 」
「Ohhh, so that means――」
「Indeed, I have readied myself. It seems that there is no point struggling any further. 」
She said, quietly closing her eyes.
Behind her eyelids, various scenery came and went.
Her life thus far, like a revolving lantern, flowed through there in a moment.
Lastly, the form of one boy floated.
Seeing that face lastly, Youran opened her eyes.
「......Give me my hairclip. 」
She said quietly, and Tsukumo picked it up handing it to her. She accepted it, slowly tying it back into pretty twintails like some sort of ritual.
「That hairstyle is also good, New Moon-sama, just like――」
It seemed that Tsukumo was saying something, but it didn't enter her ears. Her eardrums were picking up sound, but her mind did not recognize it.
Raising her hands, she fastened the twintails.
A smile rose; one of self-depreciation.
「New Moon-sama?」
As if realizing something at last, Tsukumo said with a puzzled voice.
Amongst the faintly opened teeth of the mouth, the tongue was softly added in.
If she would be humiliated like this, then she might as well――
「Just――」
Tsukumo frantically tried to halt. He aimed a cold smile at her.
(Once more......I wonder if you wanted to be pulled tight. )
Thinking that in the heart, closing their eyes, and putting power into the jaw.
「You must not!」
「――ngh」
That moment, her voice dissolving her resolve sounded out. Not heeding any physical obstacles, the fairy had slipped past the wall and appeared.
「That's bad; you must not do that sort of thing!」
「You......」
「Taiyou-chan! They're here!」
Perplexed at the suddenly appearing fairy, she who had been able to stop Youran went in the direction of the day after next, letting out a loud voice.
Dogohhn!
The building violently shook, the next moment.
Through the floor where Youran and Tsukumo stood, concrete telephone poles had pierced through the wall like spears.
| ← Ch. 129 | Ch. 131 → |