Side Story 1: Part 3

After saying their greetings, the two immediately noticed the box placed on the counter. It would be hard for them not to, since both of their names were obviously printed on the card on it.

"It's a gift from the boss. He said it's for doing a good job."

"The boss stopped by!?"

"Just for a bit. You guys just missed him; he's on his way to the Maldives right now. He's a busy person, you know."

Touka, who was looking around the room for him, was disappointed upon hearing that he had already left. Both of them actually interact with the boss almost everyday, but they still believe they haven't met him yet.

When Shouta saw the red ribbon wrapped around the cylindrical box, he was disgusted.

"The boss did such cute wrapping? Are they a girl?"

"I put the ribbon on it."

"Oh."

"⋯⋯⋯."

In the awkward silence that followed his muttered confession, Sago made latte art depicting a stickman attacking with a ball of fire. Shouta smiled and made a small laugh, then thanked the bar-master for his clumsy way of showing support. Both Shouta and Touka then opened the present right then and there. Shouta's present was a lantern lit from the fires of an Olympic flame. Touka's was thousand-year-old sacred lotus seeds that were discovered inside a Buddha statue at Horyuji Temple1 last year. Both were very pleased with their gifts. The rare seeds attracted Ig's attention, as she was curious about how they would taste, but when she tried to take some, Touka got incredibly angry at her, causing her to cower and retreat to Sago's shoulder. She didn't understand why Touka was so upset over some seeds.

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The four of them then gathered around Kaburagi's laptop, looking at the latest rumors about them on the net and enjoying cookies and lattes. They begin chatting, though Sago doesn't join the conversation.

"The code names are catching on. Is the reason they're all in English because it's a more popular topic of discussion in the West than in Japan?"

"I think that's because news of the 600m one in Ireland broke before the news of the 50m one in Japan. The boss is 'Titian (IT)'. Kaburagi-san is 'Time Lady (TL)', and 'Burning Girl (BG)' is Touka."

"And Shouta is 'Freezing Knight (FK)'."

"Ig doesn't have a codename though. Oh, wait, didn't they call her 'Healer' or something? Does that count as a codename? The fact that the prevalent theory is that she's a small robot makes me laugh."

"It is kinda funny… well, at least it's better than all the posts flaming at us."

Of course, since it's the internet, there are many angry/mean-spirited posts as well. Things like: "Why don't you show yourselves and explain?"; "Don't you feel responsible for this?"; "They only went on a rampage then ran away"; "So irresponsible"; "These guys are so fucking gay"; "This is the result of human waste destroying Earth's natural wonders"; and etc., etc. It seems that the general public doesn't understand that they prevented the destruction of urban areas by stopping the Super Water-Balls while they were still offshore. Certainly, there are a lot of comments that praise them and admire their good intentions, but being praised one-hundred times still can't eliminate the pain caused by one insult.

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The media seems to vigorously chase after things like escaped rare animals and criminals; it's also not uncommon for affiliated news companies to offer a reward for information that leads to their capture. It was obvious that the two students were disappointed that, even though they worked so hard, no one really seemed interested in learning more about them. Though Kaburagi had clearly previously warned them that revealing their true identities would mean that their privacy would be thoroughly uprooted and they would become the media's toys.

Kaburagi admonished them for their lack of understanding.

"Listen, instead of everyone closing their mouths as if the incident was concealed and nothing happened, or it being nothing but flowery words of praise for the great heroes, don't you think it's far more natural for there to be a mix of abuse and praise right now? It's a sign of how peaceful this world is."

"…That may be true, but even so, that's based on an adult's point of view. I'm still not convinced."

"I agree. It's not very virtuous."

Kaburagi doesn't deny their indignant words. Instead, she just smiles and changes the subject. The two immediately follow Kaburagi in talking about the world's darkness.

Since the Super Water-Ball incident, the number of appearances of the world's darkness has greatly decreased. This was due to the fact that the whole world now knew about its overwhelmingly violent existence, and was afraid of it. Because the image of it had become ingrained in their subconscious, it had put a stop on outbreaks of violence. But on the other hand, proof of humans who have superpowers being able to defeat the water monster may awaken a desire for further violence sometime in the near future. Once it's past your throat, you forget the heat2. This also applies to fear. After all, because the Super Water-Ball didn't cause any actual damage, the fear won't last long. Proof about the existence of superpowers will undoubtedly affect human psychology and cause them to seek a new type of violence, which will in turn affect the world's darkness.

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Ig was growing bored of just sitting and listening to their long discussion. Since she only spoke monkey, she didn't even understand what they were saying, and Sago was so distracted by the conversation that she could freely pull on his hair and ears without him even noticing. Ordinarily, she would just take a nap, but she had just taken one and wasn't at all sleepy.

Then, as Ig was climbing down from Sago's body to the floor, she suddenly realized that the front door of Amaniwato was slightly open. Shouta hadn't fully closed it. Due to Ig's body being rejuvenated and her growing accustomed to her surroundings, her natural curiosity had also been revived. Ig had never gone outside by herself. The habit of taking a walk in the morning with Sago was suspended for the week, and Ig missed the outside air. Thus, with her interest captivated, Ig exited the bar through the crack in the door without the others noticing, and went on an adventure in the outside world.

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Igu jumped over the stairs leading from the street to the underground Amanoiwato, and ventured through the neighborhood, following the line of trees planted by the street. She sucked nectar out of the flowers on the trees, ate bugs that she killed by hitting with a stick, and dropped the unappetizing wings on to the heads of random passers-by.

Ig didn't bother to hide, so she was noticed multiple times, but each time a suspicious person reached out their hand to touch her, she would screech, "kya-kya", while slapping away the hand and manage to escape. She allowed those who didn't seem like bad people and had kind eyes to gently pet her, but even these people didn't feel right to her, so she ended up shaking them off and running away as well.

The early afternoon sunlight was dazzling, and the traffic was noisy. Ig, who had only gone outside in the early morning when there are fewer cars on the road, was overwhelmed, so in order to avoid the loud sounds and the "bad guy smell" that seemed to be everywhere, she went into a side street. The afternoon sunlight was blocked by the high-rise apartment complexes, and it felt pleasantly cool and refreshing on top of the cinderblock wall.

Ig was walking comfortably along the wall, when suddenly, she became hungry. There was a sweet smell wafting on the breeze; it smelled like honey. Ig stopped, turned so that her nose faced upwind, and tracked down the source of the smell. She jumped from the top of the wall to a telephone pole, then from there to a rain gutter, and then scaled the wall of a high-rise apartment complex by using vines hanging down from potted plants left on balconies.

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Eventually, Ig entered a room in one of the apartments through an open window. A young man sitting upright in bed stared at her with wide eyes. This was a sportsman's bedroom. On one shelf, there was a worn-out basketball next to a brand-new one. There were a number of golden trophies lined up on the desk, and uniforms and certificates decorated the walls. The bookshelf held mainly sports magazines. However, the high school student who's the owner of the room had a bad complexion, and his right arm was in a sturdy white cast and attached to his neck with a sling.

"What? A monkey…?"

Ig ignored the young man who was gazing astonishedly at the visitor coming through the window; instead, her gaze was locked onto the toast that was sitting on his lap. She jumped at it. She licked at it like crazy, then noticed that there was more honey in the jar nearby. She tried to get it out by hitting the jar and rolling it, but it didn't work. With a wry smile, the young man put the honey on the toast for her, which by now was covered in hair and dirt.

"Ow!"

The action of spreading the honey on the toast caused the young man to hold his right arm and wince in pain. He stayed like this for a short while, then breathed out a heavy sigh.

"Look, monkey, I don't know where your home is, but once your done licking that up, go there and stay there. I'm not in the mood for 'small animal therapy' right now."

"ChiChiChi."

"What, are you stupid or something? That's right, I'm a shitty, stupid idiot who got cut from the team because I broke my arm during a stupid test of courage! Shit! Shut up – I know that even without you telling me, okay! What 'you're making your father sad'? The saddest one here is me, you idiot! Damn it…"

The agitated young man let out a groan of pain. Ig – whose mouth was covered in sticky honey – as a result of her conditional reflex training, healed his broken arm upon hearing his painful groan. A miraculous light illuminated the dark room.

"!?"

The young man received the warm while light while sitting as still as a statue and completely speechless. After a few seconds of healing him, Ig lost interest, so she stopped and returned to licking up honey. The young man snapped out of his daze and looked at his right arm. To his surprise, he could now lift, move, and swing around his arm without any pain. He stared at the miraculous monkey in amazement. This was undoubtedly the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"You… you must be that from the news, right? They did say that it could be a small animal that belongs to the secret organization. So it was a monkey."

"ChiChi!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's probably better that way anyway. But still, thanks. I thought this world was nothing but shit, but you showed me that miracles can happen. Wait here, I'll go get you a banana, ok? That's better than honey, right?"

The young man gently got out of bed so as to not disturb the monkey, and left the room humming happily. As soon as the young man disappeared, Ig started floating in mid-air. Ig was caught off-guard, but because she was familiar with this phenomenon, she didn't panic. She knew that this mysterious power would never harm her. Ig flew across the air, then suddenly fell, eventually landing on the chest of Touka's cardigan, who was calling her name while searching the trees for her.

"Hey?! What's going on?!"

"ChiChiChiChiChi!"

"Wha… Ig-chan? Huh? Why did you fall from the sky? Eh, why are you sticky, it that honey? It definitely smells like it. We've been looking for you, you know. Ah, hey, don't crawl underneath my shirt, get out of there!"

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Once Ig was taken back to Amanoiwato by Touka and both students left, she received a severe scolding from Sago. But even though Sago was angry at her, he didn't beat her or pull out her hair, which Ig was grateful for. Ig deeply reflected on her actions, and decided that, the next time she went outside, she would try to do it in a way that wouldn't anger him.

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After Kaburagi went home for the evening, Sago took a bath, changed clothes and entered his futon. Ig went into her nestbox and closed her eyes. Due to her moderate fatigue and full stomach, sleep comes quickly. It was only after being rescued by Sago that she was no longer afraid of tomorrow. With Sago's slow, gentle breathing as background music, Ig peacefully falls asleep.

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