Volume 2 - Epilogue

Nanaougi tried to feed me with Kurumi snapping at her, whereas Koguma-sensei kept on ordering drinks from the drink bar. It felt like I was looking after a bunch of children. Well, there were some ups and downs, but it was fun overall.

“Okay, thanks for today everyone. That’ll be all!”

Around 9 pm in the evening, Kurumi gave a few final words and declared our welcome party to be over.

“Alright, I’m gonna be heading home with my bike. You be careful on your way back, too, okay?”

There was a parking lot right next to the family restaurant where Koguma-sensei had her bike parked. Hopping on it, she revved the engine and blasted off. So she’s moving around with a motorbike, huh? That’s more than unexpected. I couldn’t see a woman as small as her riding a big bike like that. Rather than riding it, it’s more like she’s being ridden. And the silhouette even looked like she was riding on her dad’s lap.

“Anyway, I think we should head home ourselves?”

We couldn’t be watching after her forever, so Kurumi, Nanaougi, and I stepped out of the family restaurant. Beneath the starry sky, we walked down the dark path at night, onward to the nearest train station. We passed through the ticket gate with our IC cards and entered the bright train station.

“Senpai, the platform for line 1 is over…Ah.”

Kurumi looked up the train connections on her phone when she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

“My bad, I gotta take line 3 to get home.”

“That’s…right. We have to take different trains from today…Haha, I completely forgot. I’m sorry.”

Well, I don’t blame her. It’s been incredibly long since we had to take different trains to get home. After all, since summer break ended yesterday, we also stopped living together. And I…really don’t like the sound of it. Of course, we didn’t decide on that because we got in a fight, but now that the cafe Kurumi stayed at went back into making business, I had to return to my real home.

“Rather than you grabbing your belongings yesterday, this very moment right now makes me realize the Senpai Loss even more…Aw, man. I might just cry.”

“You are actually crying, aren’t you? Are you okay?”

“If I said I wasn’t okay, would you do something about it?” Kurumi asked with a saddened smile.

Her voice was quivering ever so slightly. I wiped away her tears and grinned.

“When you’re living by yourself again, feel free to call me over. I’ll grab my bags and stay over.”

“Don’t just stay over…Live together with me.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll live with you. I’ll stay with you, so just bear with it for a while.”

“For a while? Um…Well…Oh, fine. I understand. But, that’s a promise.”

We shared a pinky promise, our pinkies intertwined. Our eyes met, as a seductive air filled the mood between us, just like it happened whenever we headed to bed together. Going with the flow, I was about to kiss Kurumi once more, but—

“Ah, Ren-kun. I also have to take line 3. The train’s coming soon, so let’s go?”

But the one to rip apart this sweet mood was none other than Nanaougi, as she broke between us. In response, Kurumi’s expression tensed up.

“…Tsk. This is exactly what I can’t stand about you, Nana-senpai.”

“Huh? What? What’s the big issue? Whoa, Kurumi-chan, what’s that face about?”

“Nana-senpai, I’m going to get my revenge on you once we’re done with school, so you best be ready.” Kurumi’s shoulders quivered in rage as she headed for the platform.

“What’s Kurumi-chan so angry about? Oh, well. Our train is coming, so let’s go, Ren-kun.”

“…Yeah, sounds good.”

I’m not going to get an earful from her later, right? I’ll be fine, yeah? The two of us used the stairs to head to our platform. Just as Nanaougi said, the train was waiting there for us. We waited for the people to get off and then hopped on the train ourselves. There were some open seats scattered here and there, but we eventually just decided to keep standing near the door.

“Man, today was a lot of fun. It felt so lively, right?”

I leaned against the door and watched the scenery change outside, as Nanaougi said that.

“That’s right. Makes all the time Kurumi and I spent together feel like a lie.”

“Do you regret it?”

“…A bit, I guess?”

Hearing my response, Nanaougi grinned and gave me a teasing “My bad.” She then looked outside the train window.

“So we’re going to do our terrorisms from now on, huh? Can’t wait.”

“…”

I felt something from Nanaougi’s expression. She said she was looking forward to it and that she had fun and whatever…but she never once smiled. Now that we’re finally comrades, I guess it might be fine to ask. With a casual tone, I threw her a pass.

“For starters, should we mess up the student council real bad?”

The moment I finished my words, I could feel the air around me freeze up. It was as if time had stopped and only Nanaougi and I existed on the train. A moment passed and Nanaougi turned around, looking at me in shock. She blinked a few times and then said—

“Ren-kun…how much do you know?”

…Who knows? I just made an assumption and a wild guess. Seeing that I didn’t respond, Nanaougi’s expression softened up.

“Good. Very good. I might just fall in love with you.”

“…”

Okay. Since you’re so cool and handsome, I’ll let a few things slip this once.” she said and spoke like none of it had anything to do with me.

“I was born with countless talents and affinities for whatever could come to your mind, but there is one thing that even I have no connection to. Do you know what that is?”

She asked but didn’t give me a chance to respond as she gave me the answer immediately.

“The correct answer—is alcohol.”

“No affinity…for alcohol?”

“That’s right. Alcohol is the one thing I cannot handle.”

Is she talking about the talent of mixing cocktails or something? That’s what I thought, but I quickly realized that what she was speaking of was much simpler than that.

“I’ve always been weak when it comes to alcohol. If I did the patch test, it’d turn out red, and all of my family have the same condition as me.”

I see. Well, I know that you’re born like that, and there’s no way to get better at handling your liquor, so I guess having resistance toward alcohol is just another talent in itself. But, what does she want to tell me through that?

“Alcohol is poison. And it’s the cheapest poison in this world. It makes you throw up, sleepy, dizzy—and unable to solve the easiest exam questions. That’s the kind of poison it is…To me, at least.”

“…”

“You remember the girls we met at the graveyard, right? The ones who are handling Saigou High’s student council. They attended the same cram school, part of the same selected class…and they also applied for the same famous and prestigious high school—With me at the exam site for the entrance exams.

Ahhh…I see where this is going.

“They were always jealous of me…And telling you this much, you can surely piece together the rest, right?” Nanaougi looked at me and spoke with a calm voice, mismatched with the burning fire in her eyes. “I want to get my revenge on them. On those bitches who dragged me into this pig slaughterhouse of a school.”