CHAPTER NINTHEEN – You don’t say…

"... I`m tired..." And I also lost sight of the pig.

"This isn`t... good..." I`m not talking about whether or not I`m getting a free lunch. It`s small but it`s quite fast... It probably went home on its own... at least let me hope that he got there in one piece...

"Well... I can`t do anything about this though." I don`t think I`ll find him even if I search. Anyway... I guess I`ll go back and waste my time inside the school. Fourth period is over, and so is homeroom, and the only students left are those who have club activities. For now, if at all possible, I don`t want to meet Kyou...

"Ah..." Kyou here.

"Geh..."

"Welcome back, did you take him home properly?"

"Of... of course."

"I see, thanks. Then as promised, I`ll treat you to lunch."

"Ah... but like I told you, only within the school cafeteria."

"No, it`s fine."

"Eh? Why?"

"I`ve bought some food on the way here, so it`s all right."

"I won`t treat you anymore if it`s not today."

"Well... that`s too bad then..."

"You look somewhat... suspicious..."

"A... Anyway... I said it`s fine."

"Ah..." I turn around and run at the hallway as if trying to escape from Kyou. When I came back inside the room to retrieve my bag, Sunohara was there alone, waiting.

"At last you`ve returned, Okazaki."

"Oh, you`ve been revived. That`s impressive."

"Nothing bad happened to me that requires reviving. I, got, away."

"If you say so that clearly then I`ll also want to try it too... What should I do..."

"Why don`t you say, `Please, I beg you`?"

"Please, I beg you."

"All right. You got away. That`s amazing."

"Kind of. So, what are you going to do now? Why don`t we go to some fever?"

"I said it`s going to rain."

"Hey, Sunohara!"Our homeroom teacher is calling.

"I`m taking you to the staff room today." He`s coming close to our desk.

"Woah! Not good!"

"Leave this to me, you go jump out the window!"

"Yeah! Wait, I`ll die then!"

"All right then, go get me a melon breadand a juice while I buy some time!"

"Yeah! Wait, am I your servant?!"

"I got you." Our homeroom teacher`s hand has seized Sunohara`s shoulder.

"Guah! I got caught because I was fooling around with you!"

"You two sure get along well so why don`t you come as well..."

"I`m going home..." I was already in the corridor. I heard Sunohara roar, "Are you leaving me behind?!" as I leave that place.

Well... I don`t have any plans this afternoon,and also, Sunohara`s not here...I wonder what will I do... It started raining when I arrived at the shopping district. And the sky was covered by a grayish cloud. The roadside trees and even the show windows lining up looked depressing, due to the moisture of the rain.

"I should have brought an umbrella with me... " Though I realized it as I left the house, I was quite a fool for not bringing one. As I was thinking of a suitable place to enter so I wouldn`t get wet...

"Huh...?"I see a person walking on the other side of the road. She`s a staff member of the library... she`s Ichinose Kotomi. This might be my first time seeing her outside other than the school.This might be my first time seeing her outside other than the school.She didn`t notice me and went She didn`t notice me and went inside a bookstore. I follow her.

I was greeted by nice music as the automatic door opens. It`s been a while since I entered a bookstore. I have some free time after all. And also, I followed her a little bit since I`m worried about something.... whatever it may be, it`s probably nothing. I look around inside the crowded store searching for her. There she is. Standing in front of a shelf where hard to understand books are lined up. Without delay, she took a book and started reading. She`s reading strangely fast as always. Her hand stops as she flips a page. She`s thinking of something. She then took out a pair of scissors. Just as I expected... 

"... hey! Is she serious!? Idiot! Stop...!" I didn`t have time to choose what to do. Catching her shoulder, I forced her to turn towards me.

"...???" She looks at me.

"......" Nope, she didn`t... Even though she has returned from the world of books, it seems there`s still some delay. I wait, since it can`t be helped. 

"...Ah..." It seems she`s finally noticed me.

"Tomoya-kun, good afternoon." A very, very normal greeting. It seems she didn`t understand the situation.

"Not good afternoon..."

"???" She looks at the clock inside the store. She tilts her head.And then, without so much confidence, she said.

"... good evening?" 

"It`s still too early for that. Anyway...that`s not the problem...What the hell is that?" I asked her while pointing at the scissors she was holding.

"?" She looks down at her own hand which is holding something.

"Scissors. It`s a tool used for cutting something like paper or cloth."

"I know that..."

"It`s made of stainless steel but the handle is covered by plastic."

"I also know that just by looking."

"In English it`s `scissors`, in Frenchit is `ciseaux`, in Italian it is `forbici`..."

"English, French, Italian... who cares about that?"

"In Latin, it`s forfex."

"... even if you say it in Latin, what merit will I get from that?"

"Well... It will improve your knowledge a little bit."

"As if!"

"It`d be an advantage if you`re planning to have a scissors shop in the future."

"That definitely won`t happen." Moreover, is there such a shop that only sells scissors?

"......"

"Don`t look at me with such a sad face."

"What should I do then..."

"How in the world would I know?!"

"...... Is Tomoya-kun... a bully?"

"Don`t say things that denotes having a bad reputation." Our silly conversation continues .Anyway... can I even consider this a conversation? Will the only thing I`ll do here is act as the tsukkomi? I can feel the portion of my head that doesn`t care to have a normal conversation being melted against my will .I`ll try to restore the topic from before.

"Anyway... listen very carefully to me." I lowered my voice and I stand in front of her.

"It`s fine cutting books at the library, but in here... it`s a complete crime. At least take a note or just picture it..." I continue preaching her, even though I think it would be fruitless.... snip, snip.

"I said don`t cut it------!"

"I was just pretending to cut it." She said that as the scissors move.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Hon no Joudan." She said so with all her heart.

"......"

"... eh?" She tilts her head and looks at my non-reaction...

"The pre-noun adjective `hon no` (mere) right now is a connected `hon no`, a noun + particle... It`s very clever..." For some reason... she`s so eager to explain.

"Sigh..." My mind, my soul, my tsukkomi... all pooped out... So this is the so-called prodigy that`s in the top ten list of the national exams. In short... she`ll be an elite who`s going to carry the burden of this country. I don`t know what to believe anymore in this world. Then, I realized that there`s a customer looking at us nearby. 

"Anyway... just put away your scissors for a while." Nod. She nods obediently as I said that.

"Hey... do you always talk like that with other people?"

"I don`t talk that much with other people." Just as I thought... she is frank.

"I see. I guessed as much, though." I think of how many times I`ve been in contact with her.The reason as to why we`re having this odd conversation might also be because she has extremely little experience in talking to other people. In a way, her attitude is entirely different from those student who can do studies or from those other students that are being treated specially by the school. And originally, it appears that she`s the type that doesn`t open up to people if she doesn`t know them quite long enough. Even still... what about this sudden interaction with me?

"But you know... I`m also a stranger to you, right?" She looks at me blankly.

"Tomoya-kun is...Tomoya-kun is Tomoya-kun."

"That`s not really the answer."

"???"She looks really surprised.

"Tomoya-kun is not Tomoya-kun?"

"......"Not again... Well... just forget about it..."

"It`s not good..." I`m unusually hanging on...

"It`s all right. I`m 100% genuine." I don`t really understand it myself but I`ll give it my approval.

"Yup.... that`s good." She said that as she looks at me. I`m quite puzzled here, and she`s smiling happily as if relieved. This is absolutely messed up.

"Anyway... I`m going to change the topic."

"Okay."Although I said that. I can`t think of any common topic. I look around. It seems that we`re at the section where you can find science and physics book. If you compare this section with the section where you can find manga and other magazines, this section is obviously not that popular. I also go to this bookstore, but this is my first time knowing this section.

"Hey, are these the only books you read?"

"No. Today, I came here to buy a cook book. So this is just a detour."

"Is that so..." I wasn`t expecting to hear her say cook book though. Well, it`s news to me she loves something besides studying.

"Before you came here, where were you? At school?"

"No. I was in a different bookstore."

"And before that?"

"I was in a different bookstore."

"And before that?"

"I was in a different bookstore."

"And before that?"

"I was in a different..."

"Enough... I get it already..." I end it before it goes into an infinite loop.

"Are you planning on going to every bookstore in town..."

"Okay." She replies normally. 

"What time did you start going from bookstore to bookstore?"

"Well... Around one o`clock." 

"Huh? That early?" She nods.

"This will be the last one, though."

"This one is the largest, so I save it for last." She says it as if she`s a kid in front of a cake for dessert. One wouldn`t even think that there was a bookstore in this town. This is probably a luxury just for her.

"I must go now."

"Going home?"

"I want to look at the other shelves."

"... that`s nice." Eventually...I ended up accompanying her for a while. She walks around the shelves as she decides where she wants to look. And following behind her is me.

"Today, I can buy as many books as I want. Although I say `as many as I want`, it`s only as many as I can afford."

"Well of course..."If it was really `as many as you want`, you would buy the entire store."

"And this is only once in a month. This is a very, very joyous day."

"I see. That`s good then."

"Yup..." Eventually... she ended up picking ten volumes of books. Novels, technical books, and some magazines too. She had a hard time choosing the best `How to make a delicious boxed lunch` book. There`s a lot of them and they all look the same... even then, she`s carefully choosing the best one. And she looked really delighted at that time. I remembered my promise. That promise about eating together with her.

"Hey... could it be..."

"?"

"... I guess it`s all right." She`s probably really looking forward to it. For some reason... her mysterious facial expression is fun to watch. We went to the cashier and it took us almost an hour inside. We were greeted by the sound of rain falling hard on the road as the automatic door opens.

It became a regular rainfall. The droplets fall one by one from the dark sky. Every passer by is carrying an umbrella.

"Do you have an umbrella?"

"?" For some reason, she returned my question with a question mark. If you look closely, all you can see are the books piling up inside her bag.

"I`ll be sad if the books get wet." She`s more worried about the books than herself. She finally took out an umbrella from the pocket of her bag after making sure everything is fine. I look at her baggage one more time.There are also some books from other bookstores. It might be too much for her alone to be holding an umbrella when she`s already loaded.I`m not carrying an umbrella so I don`t really mind if I get wet. I wonder what she`s thinking.

"What are you going to do from now on? If you live nearby, I can give you a send off."

"Well... It`s near so it`d be a waste of money, and it wouldn`t arrive until tomorrow..."

"... who told you it`d be an express home delivery?"

"It would be more expensive if it`s a mail order service. But if it`s just a book parcel..."

"Not the book... I`m talking about you." 

"Eh... ah... But... But they might get angry if you send a living being..."

"So, there won`t be a problem if it`s dead?"

"I don`t think that`s the problem."

"But you would have to chop me into little pieces and pack me properly..."

"In that case... how will you write it down on the form?"

"Corpse in pieces."

"......" Will someone please inform the police?

"Sigh... I`m talking about sending you back home." I explain it to her one by one while pointing at the umbrella.

"Of course, we`re not using express homed elivery or mail order... I`m not even going to cut you to pieces. It means I`ll be walking with you and escorting you to your home. Furthermore, since I`m not carrying an umbrella, we`re going to have to share an umbrella." I was kind of beat up after saying such an embarrassing line in front of her.

"Your house, is it near enough to just walk?"

"Ah..."It looks like she finally got it. Her cheeks blushed bright red like a fire. Remembering her girly reaction and my surreal conversation gap with her makes me dizzy. 

"Well... I..." She paused for a while as she talks.

"I`m... going to the library..." It`s an indirect decline. 

"Is that so... Huh?! Library you say?! Even though you`ve bought lots of books, you`re still not content?" She nods.

"Do you live by eating books?"

"??? ... do you eat paper after all?" She timidly returned the question.

"No, I guess my joke was too much."

"??"

"Well... Can you explain, please..."

"What I`m talking about is, you like books so much that it doesn`t look like you`ll survive if they are gone, kind of like food..." I feel like an idiot explaining all this.

"Sorry, just forget about it." But she didn`t ignore it, and continued to analyze it.

"Ah... I see... That`s very interesting."

"Say it with a really amused face, will you..."

"??"

"Sigh..." I sighed... But I don`t think I feel bad. It might be that she`s just not yet familiar with these things. The rain doesn`t seem to be stopping. There are people walking fast along the street. The raindrops that has avoided the store`s eaves were falling from her forelocks.

"Are you all right with your baggage? Can`t you leave the library just for today?"

"I have books that I have to return today..."I don`t understand how she willingly obeys the `return date` when she cuts up pages without a bit of concern. Well, that kind of a mismatch might be just like her. 

"Is that so... See you then, take care."

"Okay." Her worried face changed to a tender smile.

"And also... don`t pull scissors out in a bookstore anymore. Today was fine since it was me. It wouldn`t have been funny if someone else saw you."

"Yup, it`s all right. Today, I wasn`t even aware of what I was doing." I think that`s even more dangerous... I didn`t dare do a tsukkomi though. 

"And also... There isn`t much need to cut anymore..." She looks somewhat sad. But she smiled immediately after that.

"See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is Sunday, that`s why we won`t see each other."

"But even still, see you tomorrow." It seems as though she won`t feel satisfied unless she says that.

"See you then."

"Okay." After waving her hands at me, she opens her umbrella precariously. She advances through the gloomy rain. As she blended in with the other umbrellas, Iimmediately lost sight of her. It gave me a feeling that she`s used to going home alone.

"......" I shrug my shoulders for some reason and started walking too. It`s already evening, yet it`s still raining.