Yayoi’s Work

The next day, after I worked alone with Kinoshita-san.

“Good morning, Fukase-kun. Thank you for helping me out yesterday.”

When I arrived at school, I passed by my homeroom teacher, Shinoda-sensei, at the shoe box. 

The teacher looked very fresh in the morning, and I, with my low blood pressure, forced myself to smile and say, “Good morning” in return.

“Don’t forget to ask me for any help again.”

Shinoda-sensei entered the staff room in a good mood after that. I’d be in trouble if he thought I was a handy student due to that. 

It’s because of that work, I had once again trespassed on Kinoshita-san’s family secret.

That is, the existence of her younger sister, Uzuki, and the fact that the Kinoshita family is in a family of agents… Just thinking about it makes me giddy with mystery.

I leave Shinoda-sensei and take the escalator up to the classroom. (EDN: They have escalators in a school??)

As I held my hand up to block the sunlight streaming in from the roof, I saw a girl riding the escalator downwards from the floor above me.

When I squinted my eyes in the dazzling light, there was no mistaking the figure. 

It was Kinoshita-san.

I wondered if she was pursuing the vice principal again today, but she didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry. I wondered if she didn’t notice me or was just ignoring me, but she was just looking straight ahead and not doing anything else at all.

I wondered if it would be a nuisance for Kinoshita-san, the agent, to call out to me in such traffic. But after what happened yesterday, I think it’s good manners for people to at least say hello to one another…

However, the escalator would not wait for me whilst I thought about what to do, and the distance between us two was getting closer at a constant speed. 

It was the moment we passed each other on the escalator, me going from the bottom to the top, and her going from the top to the bottom.

“Good morning.“

I heard a small voice that only I could hear clearly.

“…Eh? Oh, good morning.”

Reflexively, I returned the greeting and turned around to see Kinoshita-san’s back slowly moving away from me.

I can’t believe that Kinoshita-san greeted me like that. Could it be the effect of doing that work together with her yesterday?

My left hand was sweating in my pocket, probably because I was up on the fourth floor and a little closer to the sun than before.

Today is going to be a bit of a good day.

I was expecting a new development when Kinoshita-san greeted me unexpectedly in the morning, but today was no different at all.

Kinoshita-san was still reading a book all by herself, and I could only sneak a glance at her back. Was the morning greeting a blur?

As you can imagine, I’m not so flirtatious as to talk to her in front of everyone else, and I’m trying to be reasonable. If Kinoshita-san wants to act alone as an agent, I can’t get in the way of that. It was my own way of showing concern now that I knew her secret.

In the end, we greeted each other in the morning, and nothing else happened after school.

“See ya, Satsuki.”

“See you tomorrow.”

After leaving the school gate, Mayama and I started walking in opposite directions from each other.

Since Otomachi High School is located in the middle of the city, there were plenty of ways to get there. There was a monorail right next to the school, and JR and streetcar stations also within walking distance. (TLN: JR means Japanese Railway for those who don’t know)

The students also used different stations, and the moment they stepped out of the school gate, they would say “bye-bye” to each other and scatter in different directions toward their nearest station.

I headed for Johoku station on the monorail.

As I walked out of the school, the cherry blossoms around Hiroshima Castle in front of me had completely fallen and were now in bloom. The changing scenery made me realize the change of the seasons.

As I mingled with the waves of students returning home and wondering what flowers would bloom in the summer, I suddenly spotted a familiar figure in front of me.

The profile I glimpsed at was not affected by the season at all, but she had the same sullen, expressionless face as usual. Her long black hair was blowing in the spring breeze, and her supple legs were quietly kicking the ground as she was moving around.

It was Kinoshita-san.

As I gazed at her back in a daze, she turned a little too quickly in the opposite direction from the station.

Where was she going? Is her home that way?

At the same time, a certain suspicion emerges within me.

Is she doing her agent job now?

No one but me, who knows her secret, would have thought of this when I saw her hurrying about. After all, she’s an agent in the family. Maybe she’s after the vice principal again…?

Once I got curious, I couldn’t stop myself.

I wanted to see with my own eyes what an agent does, and before I knew it, I was running after her.

“Haaa, haaa“

It was no easy task to chase after Kinoshita-san, who was basically gliding across the ground. As expected of an agent, her physical strength was not half bad.

Kinoshita-san seemed to be heading towards the center of town, passing Hiroshima Castle and entering an underground passageway.

I also rushed into the dimly lit underground passage at full speed, hiding behind a wall as I chased after her. I was so excited to be following someone for the first time in my life. I felt like the hero of a spy movie.

Kinoshita-san walked through the green arena and went up the ramp to the ground again.

I hurried to follow her so as not to lose sight of her.

“Huh?”

However, Kinoshita-san disappeared.

It was the former site of the Municipal Baseball Stadium. It had been torn down and cleared several years ago, and only a portion of the outfield stands remained, a monumental and quiet place.

I looked around, but could not see any girls in a school uniform anywhere.

Walking to where the pitcher’s mound would have been, I could see the A-bomb Dome on the other side of the road. The view was good, and there was nowhere to hide here.

I was about to go back to the mound, wondering if I had looked at the wrong place, when–

“Fukase-kun!”

“!”

My heart almost stopped when I heard my name get called out from behind me.

“What are you doing here?”

A cold sweat runs down my body, and I feel a sudden chill.

“Why are you behind me? When did you pass me? Where were you hiding?”

“Ki-Kinoshita-san…”

I slowly turned around to see Kinoshita-san standing behind me with her arms crossed.

Her gaze was stern, as if she didn’t want me to escape from her, and it was several times scarier than when she glared at me at school.

“You look like you’re looking for something?”

Kinoshita-san’s voice was about two octaves lower than usual.

I was completely exposed.

The other party was a professional agent. How could an amateur like me attempt to follow and find her?

“No, I was on my way back home….”

Of course, there was no way I could say I was following her, so I frantically racked my brains to come up with an excuse, but I couldn’t come up with anything.

“Really? Where do you live? Do you walk to school?”

“I, uh, well, I usually take the monorail, but I had some errands to run…”

“What’s your business? Where were you going? Are you alone? Did someone ask you to do this?”

It was like an interrogation.

It was as if Kinoshita-san’s switch as an agent had been flipped. At this rate, this could go all the way up to torture, you know?

Kinoshita-san stares at me closely with her arms crossed as I squirm around. Her face didn’t turn red today, did it? She’s a serious person at her job, isn’t she?

“…what the hell are you doing here, Kinoshita-san?”

“It’s not about me here.”

I tried to shrug it off, but it was dismissed in just a second.

It’s only natural. This was a game we could not lose, a game of mutual secrecy.

Kinoshita-san would never tell me about her agent work.

There was no way I could say that I was following Kinoshita-san to watch her work as an agent.

“Hey, Fukase-kun. How can I know what you’re thinking about if you don’t tell me anything?”

Kinoshita-san was still in her agent mode, trying to spot anything suspicious in my every move. The pressure was already too much. If I don’t do something, I might be forced to confess to everything.

Is there any way to cover it up…?

“I was on my way to buy some CDs!”

As soon as I had a brilliant idea to save the day, I screamed like an idiot.

 “…CD? What’s a CD?” (TLN: CDeez Nuts hah! gotteem) (EDN: …)

Kinoshita-san was surprised, but quickly narrowed her eyes sharply.

“It’s called a compact disc, and it’s a software that contains music. It’s seventy-four minutes long, and there is a theory that it was made to match the length of Beethoven’s Ninth…”

“That’s not what I’m asking you here.”

“I-It’s not?”

I timidly explained about the CD, and Kinoshita-san calmly shushed me.

Calm down, me! If she suspects anything, she will torture you into oblivion!

“There’s a new CD out today, I was going to go buy that now!”

I succeeded in forcing myself to make up an errand.

I remembered that Sanae had told me that the new album of her favorite band, Northern Brand, would be released this week. I knew there was a CD store down the street, and today was Tuesday, the day of the new release’s premiere.

“So that’s that, bye. See you tomorrow!”

Let’s have Kinoshita-san give up on me here and continue her work quietly.

I slipped past Kinoshita-san and tried to head for the CD store alone.

I’m going to head out and run away, and somehow avoid the torture!

“Wait a minute, I’ll come with you.”

“What?” Kinoshita-san?”

Kinoshita-san’s expression seemed as if she was still suspicious of me, and she wouldn’t let me go so easily.

Wouldn’t it be better for you to continue your work as an agent rather than go with me? You were chasing someone, weren’t you?

“What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing…”

And somehow I ended up going to buy a CD with Kinoshita-san.

Is this an after-school date…? How can that be? It’s just surveillance, right?

While we were heading to the CD store a little further down the street, Kinoshita-san was silently following behind me. Is this a sting operation?

By the time I arrived at Power Records, a.k.a. Powerreco, the largest CD store in the area, located on the ninth floor of a large commercial building, I was mentally exhausted.

“Do you listen to music often, Kinoshita-san?”

As I was carried down the long escalator, I threw in some small talk in an attempt to clear my suspicions from Kinoshita-san, who still had a pouty look on her face.

“No, I don’t listen to much…”

“I don’t buy many CDs myself. My sister asked me to do this, so I had no choice.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yes, that’s right. She’s in the third grade, and I’m in trouble because she acts so sassy.”

“She’s cheeky just like Uzuki.”

“I’m such a loser. The other day she called me a creep…”

I try to cover up a lot of things and become too prolific in my speech.

Kinoshita makes a serious face with angry eyebrows , but surprisingly, the conversation connects with her.

“Kinoshita-san doesn’t have any hobbies or interests?”

“Hobbies…”

It was supposed to be an unrelated question intended to lighten the air, but Kinoshita-san thought more of it than I expected.

“No, I just wondered if there was anything you liked?”

“Things I like…”

Kinoshita-san glanced at me thoughtfully. She still seems to be suspicious of me.

“No, I wish I did.”

I am sure that for someone in Kinoshita-san’s class, being an agent is like a hobby in itself. This was a wild question.

As we entered the store whilst engaged in a meaningless conversation, we noticed that many high school students, like us, were also there on their way home from school.

I thought about how much better it would have been if this had been a date, but there was no such crush factor present within this whatsoever. It was like a punishment game.

Kinoshita-san followed me around the store, looking around with a wry smile. She seemed to be interested in the cheering goods in the idol section.

“I’ll just look around as I see fit, Kinoshita-san?”

I tried to scatter, but Kinoshita-san followed me at a trot. She didn’t seem to let me off the hook easily at all…

“There it is!”

When I get to the new releases section, I am relieved to see that the Northern Brand CDs I’m looking for are on display in a big rack. I was not particularly requested by Sanae to get her this, but I have to buy it to give myself an alibi. I’ll have to charge her for it when I get home.

“Huh?”

When I took one of the no-bra CDs, Kinoshita-san, who had been watching me earlier, was gone.(TLN: Why are we still using that damn acronym) (EDN: are we even allowed to say that)

I looked for her, and before I knew it, she was in the classical music section.

“What’s wrong?”

“Fukase-kun, you listen to classical music and stuff, right?”

Kinoshita-san asked me a question, which was rare.

As I wondered why she would suddenly suggest such a thing, Kinoshita-san was staring at the classical music shelf.

“…why do you ask that?”

Kinoshita-san suddenly picked up a CD. It was a collection of songs by an Italian opera composer Stefano Donaudy.

Ba-dump!

When I saw the name, my heart jumped.

“Haa……”

At the same time, a deep sigh replayed in my head.

It was a memory of the past that I should have covered up a long time ago.

“Fukase-kun?”

“…Eh?”

Kinoshita-san called my name and I looked up at her.

The blood had suddenly drained from my head, and before I knew it, I was clutching my left hand tightly in my pocket.

“What’s wrong?”

Kinoshita-san, perhaps noticing my unusual behavior, tilted her head.

“Kinoshita-san, this! Here, my recommendation!”

I quickly picked up the CD Kinoshita-san was holding and showed her the Northern Brand CD I had just found.

“Do you know this? My sister asked me to get this for her. It’s a five-piece band, and they just made their major label debut this year.”

I tried my best to speak quickly, as if I was trying to divert the conversation away from that topic.

“Oh, really?”

While I was describing a band I had little interest in, my mind was racing with thoughts of the past that I wanted to forget. I never thought I would be reminded of it here, and in front of Kinoshita-san of all people.

It was like a picture-story show, a vivid flashback of my memory.

Last year’s festival.

A packed gymnasium.

The piano keys.

Motionless hands. (TLN: Your Lie In April vibes, someone boutta die 🙂 )

And that sigh.

“I’ll be back in a minute!”

I put the Donaudi CD I took from Kinoshita-san back on the shelf as if to hide it, and headed for the cash register.

While I was paying at the cash register, I was desperately trying to forget the memory. It was none of Kinoshita-san’s business, and it would only be awkward if she got the wrong idea.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Well, let’s go home.”

“Are you done?”

I try to leave the store as calmly as possible, as if I were trying to escape from this place.

While going down the escalator, unlike before, I remain silent.

Kinoshita-san looked at me awkwardly.

While going down the escalator, unlike before, I remain silent.

Kinoshita-san looked at me awkwardly.

I was so embarrassed that Kinoshita-san looked at me awkwardly. “I’ll leave you here then.”

“…Yeah, bye.”

I left the restaurant and parted from Kinoshita-san once and for all. I feel Kinoshita-san’s eyes on my back, but I cannot look back.

I saw a CD that Kinoshita-san happened to pick up and it reminded me of the events of last year’s school festival. 

That made me a little upset.

It was the morning of the festival, in the gymnasium. I accompanied a soprano singer, a graduate of the school, on the piano at her triumphant return concert.

The piece we played was Donaudi, the one which Kinoshita-san had just held in her hand.

I made a huge mistake in that performance.

Kinoshita-san could not have seen that performance. The first time I saw her was that afternoon at the stall at the Piloti. 

She said she had been tending to the stall all morning that day.

I’m living my life pretending that it was nothing, but I’m still haunted by that failure. Even now, six months later.

That’s right. Just like Kinoshita-san, I had something that I didn’t want anyone else to know about.

TL: “”

ED: Spynine01