Translated: Sei, MTL-sensei-tachi
Edited: Sei, Grammarly no Danna

Support us on Ko-Fi to make this translation and the translators keep alive. Thank you

Chapter 2 | I'm Worried | Remake our Life!


Part 7

I called a taxi and we got in. When we got to the share house anyway, I looked at the time and saw that it was around 8 pm. It was around six o'clock when we were talking about whether we should go to the restaurant or not, so I was surprised to see that two hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

Not long after, a taxi arrived at the share house. Nanako was waiting for us at the entrance and welcomed Saikawa.

"I'm sorry, Nanako. It was sudden."

"No, not at all. Minori-chan, can you walk?"

"I-I'm fine. I can walk."

She said stiffly, but she was wobbly on her feet. Nanako lends her a shoulder and leads her into the house.

"Here, have a seat"

We made her sit down on a cushion in the living room and gave her a cup of tea that we had prepared.

After a while, she finally took a breath,

"Haa... I was surprised."

Feeling relieved, Saikawa relaxed her entire body and leaned against the wall.

"That must have been terrifying, pity you."

Shinoaki was at her side, patting Saikawa on the head. Last year at the school festival, Shinoaki was also surrounded by some kind of thugs, so she must know how it feels.

In the taxi, Saikawa gave me a brief talk about the situation earlier.

The man was a customer of the store and had apparently approached her several times before. After refusing gently and avoiding him, she started to feel his eyes on her at various places. In addition, it seemed that he was a student of the Department of Visual Arts. After that, she started to feel uncomfortable on campus and avoided places with few people as much as possible.

I had told the store owner about it and put him on the watch list,

"During a break, you went outside alone to buy some juice, and that's when he made his move..."

"That's right, that's right."

Saikawa nodded several times.

"Such a weird guy, he's at our university, seriously."

Hikawa tilted his head curiously.

Indeed, this was the first time I had heard such a story since I entered the school. However, with so many departments and students, there are always people with extraordinary personalities and vice versa.

"First of all, I don't think you should be alone for a while. Just go back home and get the bare minimum and stay here."

When I said that, Nanako seemed to notice,

"I see, Tsurayuki's room... is vacant."

Yes, even after he was gone, I had paid the rent for the room and cleaned it so it was ready to live in.

"But is it okay, having you do that much for me."

To Saikawa said fearfully,

"It's okay, rely on your seniors here, okay?"

Nanako reassured her.

"Understood, please take care of me."

Saikawa stood up and bowed.

"I couldn't talk to anyone about it... I'm very happy."

She did not have any friends at her part-time job or in her department. On top of that, she was shy and lacking in self-confidence, which led her to become increasingly isolated.

(She came to Osaka from the countryside, and now she's living alone)

With no idea about right and left, being followed by an unknown man at her part-time job, it was an event that was suddenly in hard mode.

"Can I ask you something?"

Yes, actually, this was one mystery that remained to be solved.

"Why ...... did you work at that kind of store?"

To be honest, it was not really a part-time job for a shy girl. There was a high risk in customer service, and even though it was located in a rural area of Osaka, the pay was not very high.

In short, it seemed like a part-time job with little worth for Saikawa to do,

"T-That's, that."

She seemed embarrassed, her face reddening,

"I liked cosplay... Also, I thought that working in a store like that would help me with my lack of self-confidence, so"

"Ah... I see."

Many things were connected. Saikawa's love of cosplay was nurtured around this time on.

But although I was convinced, it was a very clumsy story.

If that's the case, why didn't she get a part-time job at a maid cosplay store that didn't serve alcohol and was more decent? If the cosplay was that revealing and close to the drinking business, it would be more dangerous.

As expected, she realized that "this was something different",

"I just started, and there didn't seem to be enough people, so I couldn't say I wanted to quit."

She continued to do so for three months, and this was the result.

Incidentally, the contents of the paper bag that she was carrying when they ran into each other at the entrance of the university were an outfit that she had borrowed from another student in the department whom she had met through cosplay. If the contents of the bag had been found out at that moment, she would not have been able to show her face at the club anymore.

(It's very different from the future... No, her firmness is the same)

But Saikawa has a part of her that she can show more.

"Saikawa, you're that good at drawing, why don't you focus on that to gain more confidence."

"Eh……"

When I said that, Saikawa shook his head vigorously.

"S-Someone like me someone like me, I'm just a person who's been doing nothing but drawing because that's the only thing I can do, and I'm not good at it, and it's not something I can show to people, and I'm embarrassed about it, and I don't think I've ever had confidence in it."

It was powerful, or rather, it was a lack of confidence that filled the air with self-assurance. It would be a long way from here until she could be confident in what she had drawn.

"I don't think so. Minori-chan, you're good and you draw attractive illustrations."

"Ah, even Aki-san... That's a waste."

She still didn't seem to be nodding her head at Shinoaki's words.

"So, little by little, why don't you release it in the future?"

"Uuh……"

Apparently, it was still a high hurdle for Saikawa. However, I would like her to draw more illustrations in the future.

There was still a lot to discuss with her, including whether or not she was going to move in for real, as she was leaving her dangerous part-time job as quickly as possible.

After that, we quickly moved the minimum amount of luggage from Saikawa's house, and the evacuation operation was successfully completed. Perhaps moving to a new place of residence helped her to get her mind in order, but Saikawa packed up her belongings so quickly that we were surprised at how smoothly she was able to do so.

After laying out the futon, Saikawa's tension seemed to have loosened, and she bowed her head, saying, "Thank you very much," and fell asleep as if she had been sucked into a deep sleep.

We all looked at each other, relieved, and then,

"What should we do, about this matter"

Me, Hikawa, Nanako, and Shinoaki decided to have a meeting to decide how to deal with the situation.

"Talk to the school for now, but what about the police?"

Nanako asks with a worried look on her face.

"It seems it's not that serious. But we better be careful, so I'll talk to Saikawa again."

It seems that she was not violated or endangered, but she is in danger of being so in the future.

"I hope this gets resolved soon."

Shinoaki's expression also darkened.

"I don't feel good about this. If we could at least find out who's doing it and give them a kick in the pants, Saikawa would be relieved."

Hikawa said with both fists clenched tightly together.

"...I see. Indeed, if we know that, we can deal with it."

It may cause a bit of a physical language ruckus, but it should be a deterrent.

"But you don't know who it is, do you? Does Kyoya have any guesses?"

In response to Nanako's question, I said,

"Not at the moment, but I'll look for him. And it's not a complete no-hint."

I don't want to think about it too much, but since we have information that he is in the same class as me in the Department of Visual Arts, I think we can explore that line of thinking.

However, if I move too boldly, there is a possibility that he will be temporarily alarmed and go into hiding. Even if I were to imitate a detective, I would have to do it carefully because Saikawa's safety was at stake.

"For now, I and Hikawa will ask someone we trust, and can Nanako and Shinoaki take care of Saikawa. And that would be better done by girls than boys."

"Roger, leave it to me"

"She seems to know a lot about drawing, so I can talk to her a lot ~"

That's what I want, and that's helpful.

Thus, a counter-measures unit for the incident was quietly set up.