Chapter 12: Returnee

Shimokita is one of the places in Tokyo to visit if you are looking for anything music-related. Just by looking from my position, I could already see more than six stores that sold instruments.

I continued my stroll as I looked at every store. If I could not find a good one after going through every single one, I could just go back to the one that I decided to be decent enough.

"Oh?"

In front of a shop, I saw a guitar hanging in the display case. It piqued my interest because it is a vintage guitar–one that is very rare.

"They have something like that here?"

The guitar has a unique design. Its body is made to be a v-shape and is designed to be more "futuristic". In fact, the animated "rockstar" guitars in cartoons and some anime are based on it, the Gibson Flying V.

Less than 100 exist around the world as it was phased out after an unsuccessful sale. This made it more expensive than it usually is.

"Interesting."

Stepping inside, I saw their huge array of instruments. From accessories to the actual instruments themselves, they have it all. I understand why Shimokita is a paradise for bands and musicians.

Well… I should snag myself another guitar, I guess. I formed my collection back in our house, all of which are stored in my room. Sometimes, I bring them to my experiment station and play some songs if I am starting to get frustrated. Truly, the irony. Others chose drums as their stress relief, but mine's a guitar. Who made it such an enjoyable instrument to play with?

Anyways, I started picking my gift. I skipped some guitars that are not compatible with beginners as their strings tend to give more calluses.

"Something beginner-friendly and expensive…"

I was just joking back when I thought of buying her an expensive guitar thoughtlessly. Of course, I would choose what is suitable for her the most!

Unfortunately, I could not find a suitable one after looking through all of them. While there are a few, they weren't up to my standards. This leaves me with my final resort.

"I will make that myself."

Instead of starting from scratch, I am planning to buy the ones below my standards and disassemble them. It is painful to do as a guitarist myself, but only by combining their strong points could I make a guitar deserving of Bocchi's hands!

I took the ones that I have chosen from their stands. In total, I chose five guitars. I could see the surprised look that the staff around has, but I am sure that it is not that I chose five guitars in one go.

My sight was directed toward the girl who is eerily similar to Yamada-san. Currently, she is waiting for her seven basses to be checked by the counter.

'She looks similar to Yamada-san… I wonder if she is related to him.'

I kept my thoughts and stood behind her. This formed a strange scene of two people buying a bunch of instruments. I could manage to carry these thanks to my current strength. With my 160cm height, who would think that I am just twelve years old?

After the girl began packing up her seven basses, I gently placed mine on top of the counter.

Since they could not fit in there, I carried the remaining two with me.

"Another one like Yamada-san, huh."

When I heard the cashier mumble, I called out to the girl just as she was about to leave with what I presume to be her father. He carried half of those basses alone. Tough job.

"Excuse me!"

The girl continued to leave so I hurriedly asked:

"Do you know Yamada Toshio?"

"..?"

She turned around to face me. The usual lazy look. The stoic expression. That blue hair. It feels as if I am facing him myself right now. After training with him for three years, I am very familiar with Yamada-san.

"Toshio jii-san? You know him?"

"Yes. I thought that you two are related since you look just like him."

–both of you look like a deadbeat.

"Good."

The blue-haired girl approached me in the blink of an eye.

"Good. Tell him that I am still waiting for his presents. With the interest, it should be…" She began counting on her fingers. "Ten presents. It's better if they are cash."

"Eh?"

I could not follow her words. My mind had seemingly paused in the face of her unpredictable words.

"I am counting on you." She said with an "encouraging" look.

After that, she left.

"What did just… happen?"

It took me a while to process what happened.

"Sir, your order comes to a total of 558,900 Yen."

"Um. Here is my card."

I placed the account that tou-san had specially made for me. A few hundred million yen is placed in it, which is enough for most of my daily stuff. With more than ten billion dollars from four years ago, we entered new fields. I even recruited some successful entrepreneurs who made their mark on history and made them my co-workers. With their brilliance, each of our investments came back.

We also lost some of them, but it is due to the unpredictability of the world. Still, our earnings can allow us to take two of the spots in Forbes' billionaire list. Only tou-san's name is listed there, however. My name continued to remain "John Doe", making me an enigma of the world.

Beep-!

Soon, I left the store while carrying five guitars. I know that I look weird, but–

"Keep your passion burning, young man."

An old man with a wooden cane said to me. He is wearing a traditional yukata often used by the old men.

He… I recognized him.

"I will…" I answered calmly.

The old man nodded with appreciation before walking away. Come to think of it, he has a guitar case on his back, doesn't he? He carried an unusual feeling around him, too.

'A Sorcerer. The Kyoto High Principal.'

A jujutsushi (sorcerer).

Those people are the one that makes use of energy called "Cursed Energy". That old man is a prominent figure in the supernatural world as the Principal of the Jujutsu High Kyoto Branch. He's someone who fought in that war, too…

'A jujutsushi walking in broad daylight… It reminds me of why I am being cautious in this world.'

Anyways, this also reminded me of the load that I am carrying. It's better to call in a taxi at this point.

*****

"You are… moving?"

"U-um!"

I met with Bocchi at our usual hang-out place–the playground. Today is her birthday and I am acting oblivious to it. I thought that her previous reactions, her signs of internal panic, were caused by me not remembering them. Turns out, she was deliberating on how she was supposed to tell this to me.

"Where are you going, then?"

"K-Kanagawa."

"Oh~? Are you planning to study in Tokyo or somethin'?"

"I-I do."

"Ah?"

Kanagawa is much closer to Tokyo, so I merely said it as a joke. After all, the concentration of better schools is usually in Tokyo. While Kanagawa is quite far from Tokyo, Kyoto is much farther than it.

"I p-plan to transfer schools."

"...Is it because of your bad history in that place?"

I recalled that day from four years ago. She told me that she was not noticed by anyone else and was called a "ghost" when she did get noticed. That thing continued to happen to the point that I nearly stormed her school back then. Only, she stopped me from doing so. Since it will also be embarrassing for her, I did not continue to pursue it.

"I will be going to a school that specializes in music. I-it's not an art school though!"

"Let me guess… Shimokita?"

"H-huh?! You guessed it correctly, Nobu-kun."

I blame my sharp intuition on those years of combat. All of the things that I said jokingly are starting to turn into facts.

"Kanagawa, huh…" I mumbled blankly. Judging from how far she will be, I would need around 10~11 hours just to arrive there. Meaning, our daily meetings would be cut short into rare ones. It is simply inefficient for me to visit her daily.

Sigh…

"I see. I… will make this day memorable."

"N-nobu-kun?"

"It's nothing. I'm just sad that you might forget about me~" I teased her.

"No! I… I won't forget about you."

For the first time, I saw a new side of hers. She got rid of her stuttering mess, and in turn, has a resolute look in her eyes.

*****

'I won't forget about Nobu-kun! He's my ONLY friend!'

If Nobu knew what he was thinking, he would probably laugh out loud. Ever since he is her best friend for four years, she had a lot of fun. In the first place, she did not expect to have a friend like Nobu. Her socializing skills are a mess and her habit to overthink made her an antisocial monster.

Of course, her aspirations are different from theirs. She aims to be noticed by a lot of people and gain their recognition by playing the guitar.

'But…'

When she heard her parents' decision to move, she was shocked before feeling sad. Moving away means that she won't be able to frequently see him, after all. She would be back to her loner self who does not have anyone to talk with. She would not be able to tell most of her inner feelings to someone whom she trusted aside from her family.

"That's a promise, right?" Nobu said as he made a hook with his pinky finger. "This is a bit cliche, don't you agree?"

"Um."

Hitori agreed fervently. Most of the anime that she watched had scenes such as this. What's painful, however, is that most of them do not fulfill this promise of theirs.

'Awawawawawawawawawawa…'

She started her usual inner panic while falling into the first dimension.

"Hey. Do I look like those scumbags who never fulfill their promise?"

"N-no!"

"Then, there's no need to worry about it. We can also chat through LINE, right?"

With her worries addressed, she slowly hooked her pinky finger to his.

This day, a promise was made.

*****

Bocchi should be far enough…

"Is it polite to stalk a child in that manner?" I asked out loud to the ones hiding via Light Magic.

Their spell was one that I have never seen before. Light belongs to the same elemental category as fire, wind, water, and earth. However, their spell composition is different.

"You still don't want to come out?" I shouted.

Swiftly, I opened the magic circle inside my pocket. My normal pants have a 'barely okay' magic tool that expands the pocket's inner space. It is mostly 1x4, which is enough for my emergency items.

What I pulled out is a blue katana. Several magic circles are engraved from its handle up to its blade. It is a magic tool that is designed purely for combat. With my decades learning of Kaballah and the hundred years of studying science with magic, the precision of this blade's creation is extremely high.

I pointed out the blade to the slides in the playground.

"If you–"

"Sorry! Ow! Ow!"

What greeted my sight are two familiar people. One is the black-haired man from that crack while the other is a pink-haired girl pinching the man's ears.

"I told you not to reveal us!"

"But this is disrespectful enough!"

Seeing this sight, I am thankful that my pink-haired friend isn't someone like her.

"Phew."

"Why do I oddly feel that you are insulting me?"

Her "aggressive" eyes were now locked on me.

"Now, now. We didn't come here to fight." The man said.

"I know! We are supposed to meet your parents, but who expected that magic exists in your world? We need to know more about this!"

'Your world?'

This… I have a presumptuous guess.

Lowering my blade, I asked:

"You two… Are you from another world?"

"Ah?!"

"Saito..! Your reaction gave it away!"

"I-I'm sorry… I was caught off guard by his question."

In this situation, my question is the last thing they would expect, which is why my information reconnaissance succeeded.

The pink-haired girl crossed her arms while vigilance is still present in her.

"That's right! We came from another world!"

Another world… Things just became more ridiculous.