CH 43

Chapter 43: Two People Who Can't Get Out Of The Carriage

TL: Akabane

TL: It's getting harder to translate XD.

***

Igarashi and I were walking to the station. I couldn't leave Igarashi, who was about to be drugged, at the party venue.

"Ugh. I haven't had enough to drink yet."

"No. I told you. Blue liquor is no joke. I can't leave you there."

"Then, why don't we just drink somewhere else? I don't care where it is! Hey, hey!"

"No, you can't. Give it up."

It's my job to get Igarashi home. Well, it's a simple job of dropping her off at the station and watching her get on the train. But we arrived at Shinjuku station, Igarashi was still fidgeting.

"Mwah! Hey, Tokiwa, do you really hate drinking with me that much?"

"That's not the point."

"That's what it's about, isn't it!! Then, let's do this!"

Igarashi pointed to a lottery ticket shop in front of the station.

"If I don't win, I'm leaving! If I win, I'll use the money to go out for a drink! You can at least calculate the expected value!"

That's right. She almost never win the lottery. It wouldn't be so bad if I could shut up Igarashi's grumbling.

"That's fine. If you're satisfied with that."

"You said it! A man's got two words! You know that!"

Igarashi, happily striking a small gut-punch, took out a small amulet from his bag. She then opened the amulet and took out a 500 yen coin from inside.

"What's that? Why is there a 500-yen coin inside?"

"This 500 yen coin! It's the one I won in a raffle the other day! It's a very lucky 500-yen coin that I won in a raffle for the first time in my life!"

It seems she saved that 500 yen coin instead of using it for lunch. For some reason, she stuck it to my forehead. What kind of curse is this?

"What? What kind of ritual?"

"Agetin prayer! This is how we suck the energy out of Agetin Tokiwa to store up power! Haaaaah!"

Smiling, Igarashi explained it to me, but I had no idea what she was talking about. You really should quit science. And also, stop saying an agetin!

"Okay! I'll go buy one then!"

Igarashi then went to a lottery ticket booth and bought two scratch-off lottery tickets. She holds them out to me.

"You can draw whichever one you like."

"...It's the opposite of the other day. Well, that's okay."

I draw the one on the right. And then...

"Then, we'll exchange. Yes."

"So, we're exchanging after all..."

And we exchange our lots. Then they shave the silver paper.

"What? It's off? What? Agethin sucked my luck? That's terrible! Tokiwa's man! Akuma! Baldy!"

That kind of person is probably disrespectful. But on the other hand, in a sense, I also ended up being an outlier.

"No way..."

"Hmm? What? Missed...! What? Really?! Yeeeeehhhooooo!!!!"

Igarashi raises her hands high in the air and lets out a yell. I had won the lottery. The amount was a whopping 10,000 yen.

"Yeah! Yeee! Yeeeaay!! Yeeeeeaaaaayyyy!! Hey! My curse is super effective! Oh no! You're really agetin! And I'm a ageman! Hoooo!"

The oddly rhyming rap superlatives are annoying. Igarashi, who won the raffle, is really hyped up. The people around us are looking at her like crazy.

"I told you to look up the meaning of that word...! Oh...it hit me...seriously..."

"A man's gotta say two words! No! Hahaha! Hahaha!"

Igarashi hummed as zhe walked toward Kabukicho.

"Come on! Hurry up, Tokiwa! Hahaha! Ha-hahaha!"

"Haa. ...Well, I guess, it can't be helped... right?"

But I find myself somewhat looking forward to it. I quickly catch up with Igarashi and walk to her right.

We were walking through Kabukicho again, but of course we had no plan, so we wandered around.

"Where do you want to drink? I mean, with 10,000 yen, we can play quite a bit! I'm excited!"

"Hmmm. Darts would be nice."

"Eh, I've played darts with Chusho before."

She seems doesn't like darts. But it's annoying that Hagiri's name comes up naturally.

"Then bowling."

"I've played that with Chusho too!"

"Simulation golf..."

"I've played with Chusho!"

"Model gun shooting."

"I've played around with Chusho!"

"Stop it! Don't mention his name!"

All of the suggestions had already been done with Hagiri. I'm so f*cking pissed off. No matter what I do, I'm always number second behind Hagiri. What is this humiliation?!

"Ah! I want to go plant flowers in the bathroom!"

"I don't know what you mean, but I'm going to use the bathroom anyway."

"While, I'm planting all these flowers, think of something I've never done before! I'm here for my first drink with Tokiwa! I want to do something we're both doing for the first time!"

With that said, Igarashi had entered a nearby convenience store. I was in front of the convenience store, playing with my phone, looking for anything interesting around here.

"I don't think I have any experience with shisha or anything like that, but I don't think this is a quirk."

Ayashiro and the like would look really good with shisha. It was while I was having such an unimportant fantasy. I saw another expensive-looking limousine parked in front of a high-end club on the other side of the street. Then I saw a woman in a dress that looked like a hostess coming out of the club, holding onto the arm of an elderly, rich-looking man.

"Wow. That's decadent. Is that what you call a superior citizen?"

The hostess was a beautiful woman. She had black hair as shiny as obsidian, snow-white skin, and a doll-like face, as if she were a Japanese nadeshiko. The weeping blackhead under her left eye gave her a sexy look. Despite her purely Japanese beauty, only her eyes were a pale green color. This gives the woman a somewhat charming impression.

"She's soooo beautiful. But where have I seen her before...? !"

I remembered. That was in the previous world. I don't remember her name. At that time, I was indifferent to my surroundings, so I just got her business card and left it at that. The lawyer woman Hagiri sent to me when the affair surfaced in the previous world! In other words, she's one of Hagiri's close associates in the future! That's probably why. From the club, came Hagiri in a suit and Mashiba, both of them talking something with an elderly man. If only I could have listened to their conversation! Instead I took a video of the scene with my phone. The elderly man was holding Hagiri's outstretched hand with both hands and bowing his head. He appears to be in tears. It's as if he is deeply grateful.

"What in the world...? But isn't this supposed to be a clue?"

The first man is definitely some kind of bigwig. The fact that it is grateful to Hagiri seems to be a big clue. Maybe it's a hint to get to the business stuff for that guy's future venture. And then the elderly man got into his limousine and left. The dark-haired woman bowed gracefully to Hagiri and the others. Hagiri and Mashiba then picked up a cab on the spot and left somewhere. When the cab was out of sight, the dark-haired woman looked up. Somehow she seemed to be looking contemptuously in the direction the cab had gone. Then she walked back into the club.

"...I wouldn't have been able to see this if Igarashi hadn't goofed. Is that guy really an upstart?"

In the previous world, he would have definitely been a sageman, though, since all the men involved were unhappy no matter how you look at it.

"Yes, yes! I'm sure I'm an ageman!"

Igarashi came out of the convenience store.

"Oh, oh. But don't say that yourself. And for goodness sake, look up the meaning of words before you use them."

"Sorry for making you wait. I'll buy you a drink! Here you go!"

Igarashi ignored my advice and handed me a clear cup. It's the kind that old men often drink out of.

"What's this? What? Of all things, this?"

"Yes! A can of Strong's! It's so cost-effective!"

"No! This is not a can! It's a cup of sake that's even stronger than a can of Strong!

I don't think Igarashi's figure is that of a capricious college girl as she gulps down the cup of sake like it's delicious.

"Phew. It's great! After going to the bathroom, this is what you should do, after all!"

"That's not the right thing for a girl to say!"

"Have you decided where you want to go? Where is my first time?"

To be honest, I was so caught up in photographing Hagiri and the others that I wasn't thinking about anything else. But there was one thing that neither of us seemed to have experienced.

"There is one thing that neither you nor I have ever done or experienced."

"What? Exciting!"

"...... Don't get mad at me, okay?"

"I won't be mad, just say it!"

Igarashi is jumping up and down, looking very happy.

"Strip."

"...Eh? What? What did you say, Tokiwa? I didn't hear you."

"Strip."

"Strip...what? The kind where the girl blows her top? ...Yeah...yeah...yeah...oh my god..."

Igarashi looks at me and dons a smile. Nice! How grumpy she looks! She's mentioned Hagiri's name in front of me so much, I want her to be a little grumpy.

"Come to think of it. You've been to most of the places you go for drinks at the college level, haven't you? But it's still fun even if the group changes. That's why. You don't have to stick to something you've never done before, so let's try our hand at darts or something..."

"Okay, fine. Let's go strip."

"Eh? What? Igarashi. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's stripping, right?"

"Because that's the only thing we're going to do for the first time with each other, right? Then let's go. Stripping. I've never seen it, and you've never seen it either, right? Then, let's go."

"Do you really care that much about your first time?"

"Yes. I want to be particular. That's how I feel today. So, yeah, I'm fine with it. Even if it's stripping."

Igarashi had a serious, determined gaze. This was a trend that could not be denied in reverse.

"...Okay. Shall we go?"

"Yeah. Let's go. Um...but I'm a little scared...you know..."

I take Igarashi's right hand. Her right hand and my left hand intertwine at the elbow.

"This doesn't scare you?"

"...Yeah! I'm not scared! Yeah!!! I'm fine with this!"

Igarashi leans her weight on me. I hadn't felt the weight of her body in a long time. It was as heavy as my lost memories. And then we set out for the strip joint with all our hearts.

***The first time I saw a strip, I thought, "Oh, this is amazing."***

After seeing the strip, we sat on the guardrail near the station and sipped a toast.

"That was a good one..."

"Yeah. That was a good one..."

"The girls, they were so sparkly and pretty..."

"Oh, they were so sparkly..."

"I was so impressed. Even the shells of girls are so beautiful! I'm a woman and I didn't know that!"

"Yes, you did. Yes, I was impressed. Not just pornographic. It made me realize how beautiful a woman's body really is!"

We shared a deep impression. At first, we were both a little intimidated by what we were about to see, but strip dancing is so emo! It's sparkling, it's exciting, it's kind of badass! It wasn't just me, a guy, but even Igarashi, a woman, agreed. We had really enjoyed the strip show.

"Tokiwa. Let's go again! Strip!"

"Yeah, let's go see another one! Strip!"

We promise each other like idiots. Huh? That's funny. Why are we having so much fun?

"Oh no! It's almost the last train! Come on! Get up, get up!"

I pull Igarashi's hand. We jump on the last train together.

"I've got extra money from the lottery, so take a cab from Kichijoji and go home with it."

On the train, I hand Igarashi the cab fare.

"Eh? That's okay! I'll call your father or mother! It's okay! It's not like I can't walk home!"

"No, it's okay! It's an after-party, including the way home."

"But oh. I'm sorry about that. Besides...I don't want to spend that money on just me..."

Igarashi did not want to accept the money. We were having a bit of a pushing match on the train with each other.

--- "Next stop is Shimokitazawa."

As my nearest station was approaching, I pushed the money to her and tried to move away. But.

"...No, don't go."

She stuck to my back and put her hands in front of me. I could have shaken them off if I wanted to. But I couldn't. The train continued on past Shimokitazawa.

"It's gone!"

"Oh, I'm sorry...ahaha...I can't go home now, Tokiwa..."

Igarashi pulled her body away from me. She apologized to me with a bitter smile on her face.

"Oh, um. How about it? Would you like to go with me to Kichijoji anyway?"

"Well, yeah. I guess I'll have to do that."

It might be a good idea to see her get in a cab anyway, or to see her family come to pick her up. The train then pulled into Kichijoji and we both got out of the station.