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.
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