Chapter 17: 17

Under The Cold Weather

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

The next day at lunchtime, Tsugumi was eating his lunch on the rooftop. It’s the so-called “loneliest meal”.

The rooftop was open to other students, but in this mid-December cold, no one would come to the roof.

Usually, he bought bread and ate it in the classroom, but today he couldn’t stay there.

–Because today Chidori had made a lunch box for him. Since she didn’t have morning practice for club activities, she made one for Tsugumi as well as for herself.

The kendo club that Chidori belonged to was a regular at national tournaments, so practice was tough. As the head and the ace of the club, Chidori was also very busy.

It would make sense for him to make the lunches, but to be honest, it was hard for him to get up early in the morning. This might be the reason why he was called the “no-good brother”.

“…It’s cold”

The hand holding the chopsticks trembled. The weather wasn’t looking good, and he felt like it was going to snow.

Even Tsugumi really wanted to be in a heated classroom. But if he showed his classmates his lunch box, there wouldn’t be a grain of rice left in it. They’d be fighting over it.

And if Chidori found out that the food she had made was not in Tsugumi’s mouth, she would be saddened. That’s why he forced himself to come to the rooftop.

But to be honest, he couldn’t really taste anything because of the cold. If this was the case, he should have told Suzune-sensei and rented an empty classroom.

“…Thanks for the food.”

With that, Tsugumi clasped his hands together. He exhaled a white breath, and felt that action alone was robbing him of his body heat. It felt really cold and he wanted to get back to class as soon as possible.

Thinking so, Tsugumi tried to stand up after closing the lunch box. –But he couldn’t do that.

“What are you doing out here all alone in this cold weather?”

–The owner of the voice hugged him from behind, as if riding on his back. A soft, warm feeling spread across his back.

“Whoa, careful. –What are you doing all of a sudden, Mebuki-senpai?”

He stepped on the tatara and managed to stay in place without falling. He could only imagine the terrible consequences of falling with one person on board. Mainly for Tsugumi, though.

“Heh heh. I saw Tsugumi-kun looking lonely on the rooftop, so I just had to!”

“I’m not really lonely… Can you please not talk about people like that?”

While replying, he politely tried to get her off his back, but Mebuki didn’t want to come down at all. Tsugumi gave up and just sat down on the floor. It was tough to carry her all the way down, no matter how light she was.

“All right, all right, it’s important for young people to give up, right? By the way, Tsugumi-kun’s body is cold, isn’t it? I’ll keep it warm for a while!”

“Um, thank you?”

“What’s with that reaction? You should be more than happy to be hugged by a young girl.”

He was at a loss to respond to such a statement. He knew she was just playing with him, but honestly, he was very nervous, and he wanted her to stop as soon as possible.

“I see, so it’s Chidori’s lunch today. No wonder you evacuated from the classroom.”

“You understand everything even though I haven’t explained it… As expected of a genius.”

Mebuki was able to perfectly guess the current situation just by looking at the lunch box in Tsugumi’s hand. As always, she was like a great detective.

She was a regular in the single digits rank of the national mock examinations. She must be more quick-witted than others.

When Tsugumi said so and sighed, Mebuki stood up and turned to face him. She looked warm in her red coat, he was a little jealous.

“Because it’s me! Praise me more!”

Her long blonde hair was softly spread by the wind. Her cheerful smile against the sun made her look like an angel. She wore gray glasses with tinted glass in them as a cape, and her bangs were pulled up in the air. Perhaps because of that, he could see her eyes so well.

Deep green, beautifully luminous. Her face was somewhat exotic, and you can tell that she had foreign blood just by looking at her.

–She was a British quarter. Her grandmother on her mother’s side was English. Her mother had an Asian complexion, but she was the only one who was born with this coloring due to parthenogenetic inheritance.

He didn’t know how it was in the past, but in today’s Japan, it’s a little difficult for someone with her kind of appearance to live. Thirty years had passed since the country was closed off from the rest of the world, but bad feelings toward foreign countries still persisted.

The Mebuki-senpai that Tsugumi knew was always seen smiling in this way, almost as if she was eating people up, but he was sure that she had also gone through quite a lot of hardship in places he didn’t know.

Older people avoided her appearance, but to Tsugumi she looked like a stunning doll, and was very beautiful. Well, not in a romantic sense, but more in an artistic sense.

“I heard she’s becoming quite popular. A Magical Girl who looks just like you.”

“…Is it spreading to the senior grades? It’s a nuisance for me.”

Tsugumi slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh. Yesterday, a stranger asked, “Are you by any chance Hagakure’s brother?” It had clearly caused real damage.

“There’s quite a bit of information on the Internet forums and such. I sometimes look at it myself, but that girl is nice. I can understand why she’s so popular.”

“I have some very mixed feelings about this…”

Internet message boards. It’s a little depressing to think that all sorts of things were probably being written in various ways. However, it was human nature to be curious. He decided to secretly take a peek when he got home.

As Tsugumi was thinking about this with a rugged face, Mebuki smiled and said.

“From the looks of it, you really are unrelated. But when you look so much alike, it’s natural to suspect a blood relationship. In fact, you don’t even know where your and Chidori’s relatives are, do you? Why don’t you try contacting her through the government?”

Mebuki told Tsugumi admonishingly. Perhaps she said this because she was worried about Tsugumi and Chidori.

Anyone close to them knew that they had no relatives. If there was even the slightest chance that they might be related, it’s understandable that they would want to meddle. After all, Mebuki knew both Tsugumi and Chidori very well.

–And, to begin with, the relationship between Mebuki and Tsugumi was created through Chidori.

The former head of the kendo club and her junior colleague, Chidori. As she asked him to help her with her packing and other chores, he somehow took a liking to her.

Although they had such a relationship, he was very grateful for their concern. But, this was a different story.

…Contact or not, Hagakure Sakura was Tsugumi himself. It was bound to be a match failure.

Tsugumi shook his head apologetically.

“If you try to contact them anyway, they’ll just mistake you for a scam. I heard that if you become famous, you will have random people who claim to be your relatives. …Besides, having Chidori is enough for me.”

The latter half was also true for Tsugumi. Even if Hagakure Sakura was real, Tsugumi wouldn’t want to contact them. What good would it do to have a blood relative now that he couldn’t even remember the past?

“Hmmm. I’ve been told something similar by Chidori. But she said it in a way that made me afraid to confirm it. Well, if that’s fine with you guys, it’s fine with me.”

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Mebuki said this and sat down next to Tsugumi. Then she looked down into his face and smiled.

“I’ve decided on a career path, and now I can afford the time to take care of my lovely juniors.”

“Oh, you already got a recommendation? Congratulations!”

“Yes. It seems that the paper I submitted six months ago was highly evaluated, and I received an enthusiastic offer to come to their company. In fact, they have already set up a laboratory for me. Isn’t that great?”

Mebuki proudly puffed out her chest. Isn’t it a pretty good deal to have a laboratory prepared for you even before you enter school?

But still, it came with a thesis. The scale of what she was doing was so different that he couldn’t help but feel jealous.

“What did you write your thesis about? It seems to be a science field, if you’re going to have a lab.”

When Tsugumi asked, Mebuki opened her mouth.

“That’s right. It’s about the operation of the [Magic Tool Artifact]. A few years ago, I obtained a small magic nucleus through a family friend. I spent a lot of time testing it, and I finally found a theory that I could put to practical use. I haven’t announced the whole thing because there are some interest issues, but once this is implemented, the Magical Girls’ battles should become dramatically easier!”

Mebuki spoke so proudly. Tsugumi just stared at her, stunned.

-Isn’t that ridiculous?

“If a Magical Girl uses it, does that mean that it can be brought inside the barrier? That’s great. They’ve only been able to bring in one blade or so, but if it becomes possible, it will change the common sense. With an achievement like that, even the National Medal of Honor would be awarded in a heartbeat.”

He didn’t know what kind of tools they would be able to bring in, but one of those shotguns would be enough to fight an E-class Demonic Beast. The death rate for Magical Girls who were not used to the [Skill] would also be much lower.

“I know, I know! I look like this, but I love this country. I want to be useful somehow, with my wasted good brain. Well, when I applied to be a Magical Girl candidate for the government before, I was rejected for not having the aptitude, and I despaired, but I’m glad I persevered and did my best.”

Laughing happily, Mebuki scratched her cheeks in embarrassment.

–She looked so dazzling to Tsugumi.

Tsugumi knew nothing about it. She was always so easygoing, but she had such passion in her heart.

His heart ached and he felt a flood of emotions that he couldn’t put into words.

“…Senpai is cool, isn’t she? So different from me.”

“What is it, all of a sudden? It’s not like you.”

Mebuki gave a curious look to the self-mocking Tsugumi. Certainly, this isn’t like the usual Tsugumi. It seemed he got caught up in the heat of the moment.

“Do you think I can become useful to someone like Mebuki-senpai someday?”

He’d been mistaken because he became a Magical Girl by chance, but he wasn’t a good person who would do his best for someone whose face he didn’t even know.

Until now, Tsugumi had lived his life without much interest in other people. He only cared about the few acquaintances he knew. Other than that, he’d always pretended not to see others’ misfortune.

–But, recently, I’ve been feeling that I can’t go on like this.

Tsugumi couldn’t be a self-sacrificing heroic hero. But at the very least, he wanted to be a person that the people he cared about could be proud of.

“–You can. I guarantee it.”

At the sound of her voice, he looked up in surprise. She was looking at Tsugumi with very kind eyes. It was as if she was affirming her words without questioning them, and it made his heart itch.

Tsugumi was going to say something, but then he thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. He felt like it would sound cheap no matter what he said.

So he gently extended his hands to Mebuki.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

Ruffling her soft golden hair like petting a gruff dog. He didn’t want her to see his face just yet. –He was pretty sure his cheeks were red.

“–Oh, my hair is so shaggy now.”

“It’s the same as usual.”

“It changes! This is why you’re no good, Tsugumi-kun. You need to be more sensitive to women’s subtleties or you won’t be popular!”

“Ugh.”

It was a gut-wrenching statement. That verbal attack worked on him, so please stop.

Perhaps satisfied seeing him depressed, Mebuki snorted.

“I’ll let you off the hook for today. I have a big heart. –Oh, and about next week’s trip, I heard Tsugumi-kun got us the tickets, right? I’m glad Chidori invited me to go, but is it okay if you both don’t both go, sister and brother?”

Then, Mebuki cocked her head.

“…Hmm?”

Tsugumi pondered, not understanding the meaning of what was being said.

–Could she be talking about the tour tickets given to him by Yukitaka?

A cold sweat broke out. Did Chidori really invite Mebuki on a trip without explaining anything?

No, it was fine to invite her. Mebuki and Chidori were good friends outside of club activities, and now that she had become the head of the club, she probably had a lot of things she wanted to discuss.

…He didn’t expect her to not mention Yukitaka, though. It’s true that Mebuki and Yukitaka got along like cats and dogs. If she knew that the ticket was a gift from Yukitaka, Mebuki wouldn’t have come on the trip. That said, he didn’t think she would keep quiet about it…

And so, Tsugumi weighed his conscience against Chidori’s feelings and chose to remain silent. There is a saying, “What goes unsaid is the flower that blooms.”

I’m sorry Yukitaka, but I hope you’ll let me off the hook this time.

“Don’t worry about me. Well, have fun.”

“Oh! Expect some souvenirs!”

Mebuki returned a radiant smile to Tsugumi, who laughed vaguely.

“–Is it late already? I should get back to the classroom.”

Tsugumi said as he looked at the clock on the wall. He ended up staying on the roof until the end of the day, so his body was cold to the core. He might as well get some hot tea from the vending machine on the way home.

“That’s right. Tsugumi-kun, works hard to study properly. See you!”

With that, Mebuki left the rooftop. She really was an energetic person.

–He wondered if next week was already the trip. Hakone looked very cold this time of year. Chidori said they were going to visit hot springs and shrines, but he was worried that she might catch a cold.

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