Chapter 140: 140

Troublesome Request

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

It had already been a week since the Demonic Flower Irregular incident. At this delicate time, with only a few days left before Bell was released from house arrest, Tsugumi was summoned by Higoromo – Mebuki’s senior – and went to Teito University, where his laboratory was located.

The university was less crowded than he had expected, perhaps because it was summer vacation. But the buildings and facilities were very impressive, as expected of a university that claimed to be the best in Japan.

The university was not for Tsugumi who had an average grade, but Chidori and some of his classmates seemed to have this university as their first choice. In that case, there might be an opportunity to come back to the university sometimes for the school festival.

While thinking about such a trivial matter, Tsugumi remembered his business this time.

–The text of the email from Higoromo barely stated the reason for the call, but there might have been some progress regarding [Sakura-oneechan].

After Tsugumi regained some of his memories, he told Higoromo everything, except for Chidori-related matters, just in case, but there were still many things he didn’t understand about the incident.

…Originally, he should have been more motivated to try to regain his memories, but he just couldn’t find the energy to do so. It had to do with the change in his feelings for Sakura-oneechan.

Recalling the past that should have been lost, Tsugumii’s impression of Sakura-oneechan was drastically reversed.

Sakura-oneechan was certainly kind to him, but he never understood what she was thinking when she caused such a thing.

It was definitely his sister who had caused the great fire, kidnapped Chidori, and tried to summon a God with some kind of power. Whatever her intentions were, it was clear that she was insane.

–I want to know the truth, but I don’t want to know. Such contradictory feelings were swirling in Tsugumi’s mind. …If he knew the truth, he would probably end up hating his beloved Sakura-oneechan.

With such gloomy thoughts in his mind, he arrived at the designated room, relying on the map of the campus attached to the e-mail. He knocked lightly on the door labeled as “Higoromo’s private reference room” and after a few moments, a pale hand emerged from the door, beckoning him to come in.

…What in the world is going on? It was too suspicious. Even though Tsugumi felt suspicious, he called out, “Excuse me,” and peeked into the room.

The owner of the pale hands – Higoromo – answered bluntly, “Come on in,” with a dark face, and turned to the desk by the wall. And just like that, he started working on something on his computer. …Tsugumi was completely abandoned.

Tsugumi, troubled by Higoromo’s attitude, called out, “Um, Higoromo-san?”

“Please sit down for a while. I’m sorry to call you here, but I still haven’t finished putting together the analysis survey that I was suddenly forced to do.”

“Um, even if you tell me to sit down and wait… where can I sit here?”

Saying that, he looked around the room. The room was about 15 tatami mats and was littered with documents, technical books, and other equipment that he didn’t understand. There was no place to step, let alone sit.

When Tsugumi intentionally said that, Higoromo clicked his tongue and said, “Then clean up the room and wait for me.”

–While thinking that this person suddenly said something outrageous, Tsugumi stared at Higoromo in surprise.

“Put the papers in piles, separated by date, heading, and page order. Books should be placed in the corner. …You can put the equipment anywhere as long as you don’t destroy it. The equipment in this room isn’t worth much.”

When Higoromo said so, Tsugumi hurriedly opened his mouth.

“No, umm, I don’t mind cleaning it up, but is it okay for someone who isn’t a student here to look at Higoromo-san’s papers without permission?”

“There’s no problem. You won’t understand the content even if you see them anyway.”

When he was told such a thing so casually, Tsugumi groaned a little and held his chest. –That’s true, but isn’t that too harsh?

Even though he was plainly hurt, he was unable to say anything back, so Tsugumi just quietly nodded his head.

“Do we have enough time? I’ve got to finish this case in two hours.”

“…Ah, yes. Well, start cleaning up then.”

Higoromo bluntly said so, and Tsugumi began to move his hands to clean up the room while asking himself, “Why am I in this situation…?” The fact that he didn’t storm out showed how serious he was.

After spending an hour cleaning up the room, Tsugumi finally found a chair and sat down in it, waiting for Higoromo to free up his hands, then Higoromo let out a loud, tired sigh and muttered “I’m done…” .Apparently, the job was finally done.

Seeing him completely slumped and weak in his chair, it seemed he was quite tired. …It would probably be better to come out and talk about this at a later date.

As Tsugumi stared at Higoromo’s back while thinking about such things, Higoromo spun around in his chair and bowed his head with an embarrassed look.

“I’m sorry about all this. I don’t want to make excuses, but I’ve been up all night on an urgent matter and I’ve been a bit preoccupied. I’m sorry I took it out on you.

Saying this, Higoromo scratched his head tiredly. Perhaps because he didn’t have time to adjust his appearance, his slightly pigmented brown hair was losing its luster. …With such a pitiful appearance, Tsugumi couldn’t blame him even if he wanted to.

“No, I don’t really mind. Besides, as Higoromo-san said, I really didn’t understand any of the documents…”

Hahaha, Tsugumi replied with a powerless smile.

…While he was putting together the document, he rebelliously looked at the contents for a bit, but he couldn’t make sense of it to the point where he couldn’t tell if they were really using the same language. He didn’t mean to compete, but this was beyond frustrating.

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As Tsugumi was devastated, Higoromo stood up and walked toward the sink in the room. He took something like a cup from the cabinet, rinsed it lightly with water, and filled it with some kind of liquid from a pot. When he returned, he quietly held it out in front of Tsugumi.

A small beaker filled with a dark green liquid. Yes, it was a beaker with a memory label attached. Tsugumi looked at it intently and fell silent for a moment, unable to grasp what was happening.

–Is this tea? He’d seen it in manga, but did people really serve drinks in beakers? As he accepted the beaker while remembering his strange impression, Higoromo said with a wry smile.

“I’m sorry I only have this. I don’t usually have guests in this room, so I don’t have any cups. Oh, don’t worry, those are almost unused.”

Tsugumi thought, “What do you mean by almost?” but swallowed his words. There were some things in this world that he didn’t need to know.

“I don’t have a phobia of germs or anything like that, so I’m fine with this. Thank you for your concern.”

Still feeling a little uneasy, he gently put his mouth on the beaker. Then, a strange bitterness spread in his mouth. …To be frank, it tasted really bad.

“It-it has a very unique taste. What kind of tea is it?”

When Tsugumi asked this question while holding back a puke, Higoromo answered quietly, sipping his tea with dead eyes.

“It’s a gift, so I don’t really know. I think it’s probably weeds picked from the nearby forest or something.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s been approved by a great doctor for its efficacy. There is nothing bad in it.”

Seeing Higoromo gulping down the disgusting tea while saying so nonchalantly, Tsugumi became worried, “Is this person really okay…?” Perhaps he had been up all night too long and his thoughts had gone haywire.

Taking a closer look, he could see that his body was swaying drowsily, and his eyes were not focused properly. It was nice to come here to talk, but Tsugumi didn’t think this person was in the right condition to have a serious conversation.

“Um, if you don’t mind, would you like to change the date? You don’t seem well, Higoromo-san.”

When Tsugumi spoke worriedly, Higoromo lowered his eyes slightly and shook his head.

“No, it’s better to talk now. –In this situation, If I slip up a little, it will spill all over.”

Saying this, Higoromo rested his chin.

“The case I was involved in this time was the analysis of the Demonic Flower. In other words, it was a request from the government. The details were left to other research institutes, but in the end, I had to put them all together. It’s too much trouble.”

“Um, that’s hard, isn’t it…?”

When Tsugumi tilted his head at the sudden complaint, Higoromo continued talking without paying attention to him.

“To be honest, I have a lot of work to do besides this. I don’t have time to look into the great fire.”

“…Does that mean the investigation is discontinued?”

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions. –I’ve already done a rough outline of the great fire. However, I still don’t have the information that the person who asked me to investigate wants to know. So, I can’t get out of this investigation until I get this issue cleared up. Tricky, isn’t it?”

“I understand your reason, but why are you telling me this?”

When Tsugumi asked him curiously, Higoromo smiled at him with a beautiful smile. The smile on his face reminded him of Mebuki when she asked him to do something crazy, and he couldn’t help but shudder. …He had a bad feeling about this.

Then Higoromo looked at him meaningfully, and suddenly pulled a silver card out of his jacket pocket and held it out in front of Tsugumi.

“This is a security card for access to government documents. You should be able to use it once you’ve registered with the administrator. Use it as you wish.”

“Hmm? I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.”

When Tsugumi said that in confusion, Higoromo spoke slowly.

“Nanase Tsugumi-kun. You will investigate the truth behind the great fire.”

“… Huh?”

“For some reason, the investigation of the great fire has been entrusted to me. You may not be up to the task, but I think you are better suited for this matter.”

“Hey, wait a minute. When we first met, Higoromo-san said, ‘Things related to the great fire are confidential and can’t be told to ordinary people.’ There’s no way an ordinary person like me could do that!”

No matter how much the person in charge–Higoromo–allowed it, there was no way an ordinary person could take over the matters that even had to be written into a contract for information management. When Tsugumi raised his voice, Higoromo narrowed his eyes and quietly opened his mouth.

“Yeah. If you are an ordinary person who has nothing to do with the government, it would be impossible for you to take over the job. But if it’s Jukka, then it’s a different story. Isn’t that right, Nanase Tsugumi–no, Hagakure Sakura-san?”

Saying that, Higoromo said beautifully.

LyraDhani's notes:

I said before that I would translate the side story but there's a problem with the site so unfortunately, I have to delete it. It had happened before and I also deleted it then. I can't even ask the guy in charge about it because he's been busy. I am sorry. Next, the schedule for Hagakure Sakura changed from 09.30 am to 21.00 pm due to irl stuff. Now, enjoy the beginning of Volume 6 ♪(^∇^*)

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