Volume 1 - CH 10

Chapter 10 - The Five of Us

Lately, Narushima-san has been skipping extra swimming lessons.

Not only that, when I asked her to play with everyone, she didn't answer her phone.

Even when we talk in the group chat, only Narushima-san ignores it.

When I sent her a private message, she just read it.

I don't know what the reason was, but I'm sure she was trying to avoid us.

This strange thing has been going on for a week.

"Hey, Asagiri-san. Have you really not heard from her?"

"Really, I haven't heard anything from her. You too, you live next door to each other. Don't you know what happened to her?"

"I don't know anything either..."

Today is the last day of the extra swimming class.

The penance was finally completed, and now we were gathering at one of the family restaurants.

But Narushima-san isn't there.

"What could Seiran have done to her?"

Shintarou looked at Seiran with a light-hearted expression as he sipped the soda whose ice had begun to melt.

Actually, I also have a slight suspicion that this has something to do with hearing Seiran.

It's possible that Narushima-san has already expressed her feelings for Seiran, and she's finally started to keep her distance from us.

"No. I don't know anything about that either."

But it doesn't seem that way.

After all, Narushima-san had said from the beginning that she wouldn't reveal her feelings before the plan to see the fireflies.

"What about you guys? Didn't you see her a lot during the extra classes? Did anything strange happen to Narushima-san during that time?"

"I guess so... I don't think anything strange happened."

Shintarou looked at me and I nodded in agreement.

That's true, too. During the swimming lessons, Narushima-san only showed us her bad swimming, and there didn't seem to be any significant changes.

The last time I saw her was about a week ago. If I'm not mistaken, it was the day Shintarou wanted to consult with me, but even on that day, Narushima-san was still her usual self.

"Hey... How is this..."

Asagiri-san looked at us with a worried face.

"Don't-don't, tomorrow Yoru won't come either..."

Tomorrow was the day we were waiting for to carry out our plan.

We will climb the mountain together on bicycles to see the fireflies.

Originally, we were going to gather at the family restaurant today for a final meeting before carrying out the plan.

But since there's no news from Narushima-san, this meeting hasn't made any progress.

"If that's the case, Junya, as her neighbor, should pick her up somehow."

Even without Seiran telling me, I had planned to do that from the beginning.

After saying goodbye to everyone, I went to Narushima-san's apartment.

Since I couldn't contact her, I had no choice but to go to her residence.

Of course, we had already been there together, but she was always out, or maybe she just pretended not to answer the phone.

But today I couldn't let it go.

I'm going to stand outside her apartment door until she comes out.

"Narushima-san, are you inside?"

I knocked once on the door. As expected, there was no answer.

"Oi, if you're inside, come out, you cat costumed bitch."

Second knock. Still no answer.

Is she really not inside?

Maybe I could hear something if I put my ear to the door.

But just then the door opened.

"What is it, Koga-kun the virgin king?"

Narushima-san, who appeared this time after not seeing her for a week, was not wearing ordinary clothes, but a cool outfit for going out.

She was wearing a short-sleeved camisole with a crazy chest print, and tight jeans.

The shape of her thighs could be seen at a glance, and it was very erotic.

Her makeup looks better than what she usually wears, and her perfume smells very good.

I think she looks very mature today, but now I'll tell you something I want to ask you.

"What the hell are you? Who do you think is acting strange these days? Everyone is worried, you know?"

"Is that so? I guess it's the same as usual."

She answered me casually and locked the door again.

"Where from? These days you only read my messages, you're not in your apartment and you always skip extra classes. And your outfit today..."

"Sorry, I'm already late for my part-time job."

Part-time job at this hour?

I looked at the clock on my phone, and it was already 6 p.m.

"The part-time job you just mentioned, you mean working at the bookstore like you said before, right?"

"Yes."

The bookstores around here usually close at 9pm.

There are some bookstores that open a little later, but they are a little far from here. Still, working at this hour sounds a little strange.

When I looked at her suspiciously, Narushima-san said this.

"I've already quit that job. The current one is another part-time job. It's been quite busy, so I haven't been able to reply to your messages. Please convey my apologies to everyone."

She left me and headed for the exit stairs.

"Wait, wait. Aside from that, you're still coming tomorrow, right?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Fireflies! Didn't you promise we'd go see fireflies together?"

She looked back and thought for a moment.

"Oh. Sorry. I have a part-time schedule tomorrow, so I'm not coming."

"Ha?"

"I said I was sorry, so you guys go without me. See you later."

"Oi, oi. Wait a minute!"

I reflexively pulled Narushima-san's hand. For some reason, for a moment, she revealed a smile that looked lonely.

"You... for tomorrow, it's really just a part-time job, right? That's really all it is, isn't it?"

"Sorry, I'm already late."

She neither said nor denied it, but I had no choice but to let her go after she said that.

Without looking back, she walked down the stairs with the rusty handrail.

...Exactly what kind of part-time job was she doing?

That day, I tried to stay awake until Narushima-san came home.

Every time I felt sleepy, I slapped my cheeks to keep from falling asleep.

From behind the thin wall, I heard the sound of the door to the next room opening, a sign that the had left.

Later in the day, we plan to see fireflies.

The four of us without Narushima-san reunited at the family restaurant from yesterday, and it was still noon.

"Yesterday, she worked part-time until 1 a.m..."

Asagiri-san wrinkled her face.

Not only Asagiri-san. The others had the same reaction when I said that.

"If high school students are allowed to work part-time until that late?"

Shintarou said without meaning to ask. He was just talking to herself. You see, we all already knew the answer.

But Seiran answered anyway.

"No, definitely not. This Narushima, is it that difficult financially?"

"The rent is very cheap, and a regular part-time job during the day should be enough to make ends meet."

Maybe Narushima-san has a part-time job...

Maybe the others had the same thought as me. A heavy silence fell in our midst.

However, Asagiri-san was the first to break the silence.

"I know the home of Yoru's parents. Maybe we can find out something from her parents."

That's right. It's possible that her family knows what kind of part-time job she does, and if her family has any information about that, I'd really like to hear it.

The point is, we're very concerned about her... What exactly does she do?

"But if we just do that, won't Narushima-san get angry?"

Shintarou said that out of concern, but I've already made up my mind.

Just in case, I called Narushima-san again.

But since the phone still wouldn't connect, we took the train as Narushima-san had instructed, and finally arrived at Narushima-san's residence.

There was a residential area with houses of the same design lined up. One of them was Narushima-san's residence.

It was a weekday afternoon, and there was probably no one home.

I suppressed a thought, and then I heard the sound of footsteps entering the house. The door opened.

"Who?"

A woman in her twenties wearing a black camisole appeared.

Although she wasn't wearing any makeup, she was very beautiful.

Maybe she was relaxing at home and messed up her long hair.

There was also a strong smell of alcohol. It looks like she's been drinking heavily all afternoon.

With her pretty face and big breasts, she looks a lot like Narushima-san.

Yes, she must be the one. That must be Narushima-san's older sister.

"Anu, we're Narushima Yoru's classmates..."

I simply explained our situation. In order not to seem rude to her, I also told her about our plan to play together and that she had been hard to reach lately.

"Apparently, Narushima-san works part-time until late at night, do you know anything about that?"

I finished with that sentence.

However, her older sister Narushima-san replied,

"I don't know."

With a tone as if she didn't care at all, while trying to close the door.

My hand unconsciously moved to stop her.

"Wait a minute! Any clues are fine! Like what kind of work she might be doing, or where she might be working, or whatever, please let us know!"

"Who are you? Her boyfriend?"

"No-no! I'm just her friend!"

"Even though I'm just a friend, you guys are so confused... Actually, I'm kind of surprised that Yoru has friends like you... I'm a little relieved."

When she said that, I laughed.

"But I'm sorry. I don't know much about Yoru, so I really don't know anything."

Damn it. I've come this far, but there's still no result...

Seeing my disappointment, Narushima-san's older sister sighed and continued his sentence.

"But when she was in middle school, she used to go to live houses and nightclubs, so it's possible that she's been spending her time there lately."

.................................................

We sat on a bench in a children's playground in a residential neighborhood.

"Really, I'm so surprised."

Shintarou had muttered that many times before.

It seems like he was really shocked when he heard that Narushima-san had been going to the Livehouse since he was in middle school.

Well, for someone who only knows the quiet side of Narushima-san, it's not surprising that she was surprised.

"I guess there's no problem if she just goes to the Livehouse often. Seiran-kun also told me that there are places like that that you can enter without any age restrictions, right? Besides, Yoru loves music too."

Even though Asagiri-san said that, Shintarou continued to hold his head as he crouched down.

"That... isn't the world I know."

"Yes. There are places like that where they have events like singing anime songs. Would you like to go there sometime?"

Seiran, who was playing with his phone in the distance, laughed.

"No. It seems scary."

"Hey Seiran, how did you feel when you found out about this?"

Seiran was communicating with his relative's uncle from earlier.

It seemed that this uncle was someone who taught her about music, and almost every night she would go to a livehouse or music cafe.

So he sent his uncle a picture of us together and asked if he had seen Narushima-san anywhere.

"Wait a minute. She just read my message... Ah, here she is, meet her."

It seemed that the uncle had already replied to her message.

"Hmm... It seems that Narushima-san works part-time at a nightclub called "Eden". My uncle went there once and saw Narushima-san. He said that Narushima-san didn't look like a high school student."

I also saw Narushima-san with mature makeup last night.

It's true, no one would have guessed that she was actually a freshman in high school.

"Is a club different from a live house?"

Shintarou asked Seiran.

"Yes. The only difference is the content. One has a live band and the other has a DJ. Other than that, they are almost the same. However, the place called Eden had no age limit to enter. They also had daily events, but they still didn't allow high school students to work there part-time. I was interested, so I looked into it.

For now, I think I can rest a little easier because it doesn't seem like the place is as bad as I imagined.

"But why would Narushima-san work in a place like this?"

I sighed, and Seiran shook his head.

"I don't know. Maybe because the pay is higher than elsewhere?"

"By the way, that place is open today."

Seiran said as he searched on his phone.

"Etto...ah, there's a rock music event today, and it's at seven o'clock."

In that case, if Narushima-san goes to work at that time, will we have to cancel today's fireflies viewing?

"So what? We don't know where Yoru works either, what should we do? Will the fireflies viewing be postponed again?"

Asagiri-san looked at us all, then Seiran answered her.

"But when can we all go out at night? If it takes too long, you might not be able to see the fireflies anymore. The problem is that today is already quite late."

Besides, even if we change the day, I don't think Narushima-san will come. She always makes excuses, and it's obvious that she's avoiding us.

"In that case, how about... It's already 4 o'clock."

Shintarou, who was sitting next to Asagiri-san, angrily checked his hand phone.

"If we want to see fireflies, shouldn't we get ready soon? Besides, I have to go home to get my bike. What about Junya? Are we going without him?"

I still don't understand her reason for taking such a part-time job. I also don't understand why she's avoiding us.

If she really has a job, what can I say?

But I see it.

Yesterday, when she refused my invitation to go see fireflies, she showed her lonely face for a moment.

It was clear that Narushima-san wanted to see fireflies with everyone.

But suddenly, for some reason, she took a part-time job at a club, so she couldn't go.

Even though it's selfish and childish, I still want to take her, even if I have to force her.

That's why I say this without thinking.

"No, we'll go with the five of us."

At that time, I thought I was being very childish by not respecting Narushima-san's wishes.

But,

If she was forced to do a job she shouldn't have done,

And she can't watch the fireworks with us as a result,

Then I'm okay with being a kid.