“Yuka?”
Sota felt something from Yuka’s gaze.
It was some kind of emotion.
While he couldn’t precisely tell what she was thinking, that gaze was very much like the one he had seen when Yuka protected him.
“……Did you figure something out?”
“……”
Yuka paused for a moment before opening her mouth.
“I looked into the name Kurosawa. My grandfather knows about it. It’s a family that serves some… god.”
“What god?”
“We don’t really know. Even the gods don’t know.”
“Don’t know?”
“……You know about Christianity, right? They serve an omnipotent one true god.”
Hagiwara-senpai was into that kind of stuff. Sota wasn’t well-versed in it, but he wasn’t entirely ignorant of the concept either. He had heard about related events in history textbooks multiple times.
“It’s not easy to describe that god in any ‘specific’ way. The Bible says that god created humans in their own image, but we can’t really know if that god actually resembles humans. That’s more… a conceptual discussion. The existence that the Kurosawa family believes in is like that.”
Yuka took a breath, then exhaled softly as she spoke.
“The cultists we met; they said they were part of that. You remember, right?”
Yuka moved a little closer to Sota and said, “So, this time, absolutely don’t go near them. Don’t think about your sense of justice or anything like that. Just leave that kid alone.”
“……”
With Yuka’s attitude, Sota felt a strangely overwhelming sensation.
It was an emotion he had never felt before. At the same time, he realized that Yuka’s demeanor towards him until now had been somewhat restrained.
“I promise. I won’t get close to that kid.”
Yuka spoke as if to pressure Sota.
“……Got it.”
With Yuka’s words, Sota had no choice but to nod.
For some reason, he trusted Yuka.
However, it didn’t seem like Yuka had a strong expectation in her gaze while considering Sota.
*
In fact, Yuka’s request to “stay away from that kid” wasn’t that hard to keep.
It was just a matter of not going near the classroom. In reality, that kid rarely came outside anyway.
Did she even eat during lunch, or did she get dragged away by those three?
To be honest, he was curious. But—
“……”
It was as if Yuka was monitoring him to prevent him from approaching that kid, as her gaze followed him everywhere.
And seeing Yuka like that, Nanami didn’t seem too happy either. Fortunately, Hagiwara-senpai, being a third-year, looked quite busy with various things, so it didn’t seem like she was interested in interfering in the relationship of the three of them.
Sota knew that other kids would likely envy this situation. He also knew that all three of these girls were beauties that would leave a lasting memory. It was a good thing that girls like that could easily get physically close while acting normal.
That’s why he was making an effort to stay within the bounds.
Still, he couldn’t help but think about that girl. It almost felt like meeting Shii again.
But even so, he had no intention of ignoring Yuka’s words. If he had been unaware of how desperately Yuka fought to protect people, he wouldn’t have understood the meaning of those words. But already having witnessed Yuka fighting several times, he—
…Was going to avoid her.
*
Yuka and Sota couldn’t always stick together.
At school, it was possible for Yuka to mark Sota, but on the days he worked part-time, that wasn’t possible.
Moreover, it seemed Yuka had many things to deal with at home. Probably because of that Kurosawa Koto Ne girl.
He felt a bit anxious. While he had never seen Yuka hurt someone, like Nanami said, if it was necessary somehow—
“……”
Let’s not worry about that.
Sota shook his head and focused on his task.
His job was mostly at a convenience store.
The part-time job he landed around school was busier than he expected. It was in a crowded area, and it seemed that ever since he started working, the number of customers increased for some reason.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a late-night shift, but still, working right after school was exhausting. Since the hours weren’t that long, the pay wasn’t high either.
Fortunately, it was enough to supplement his living expenses.
“Whew.”
After finishing all his work, he stepped outside.
It was around the time when if he lingered too much, the police would start to approach. Luckily, it wasn’t a location where it would take too long to reach by train.
As Sota walked under the dark sky with the sun completely set, he happened to run into four classmates.
“Why, are you going home?”
That voice reached him first. It wasn’t too strange; there could be kids outside at a late hour.
Sota didn’t have a stellar memory, but he remembered that voice because for some reason, it was easy to recall due to its tone and the situation.
So it wasn’t a coincidence that Sota turned around upon hearing it.
“Hey, you were having fun, weren’t you? We can let you sleep over, you know? No need to worry.”
“Right, right. Uncle is waiting for you, isn’t he? No need to worry. He’ll show up right when you need him and save you.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re friends, right? You don’t trust us?”
“……”
The place they were trying to enter was a rather secluded alley.
In that moment, Yuka’s words echoed in his mind. About not getting involved with that kid.
The Kurosawa family was dangerous—and that danger had to do with something not human. Yuka had worried about Sota like that.
But even so, just because that kid had a name like that, did it mean she had to be bullied to this extent?
All he could see was the almost waist-length black hair of the girl, yet something about her looked like she had given up completely on everything in the world.
If she was the kind of girl who would think someone would help her, would she be following them so obediently?—
At that moment, Sota’s feet were already moving.
“……Hey there.”
Thud.
As Sota suddenly grasped the wrist, the girl who had her hand on Kurosawa Koto Ne’s shoulder was startled.
He raised the wrist. The girl seemed to try to resist, but she wasn’t strong enough, and her arm followed Sota’s hand.
“Hey, you……!”
Sota remembered their faces. Conversely, it seemed the girls remembered Sota too.
Even in the dim alley, Sota could clearly see their faces turning pale.
“What are you doing right now?”
Sota asked quietly.
The two girls not holding a wrist stepped back, seemingly unsure of what to do. Their faces were also turning pale.
“What are you doing?”
The girl whose wrist was held quickly regained her composure.
It was as if she knew Sota wouldn’t hit her, so she raised her arm but stood firmly again. Though her face was still somewhat pale, a smirk appeared on her lips.
“Do you know what would happen if you touch a girl’s body in a place like this? If we scream….”
“Sound.”
Sota mumbled.
“Are you thinking of screaming?”
Sota himself didn’t even know why he said that. If Nanami had seen him, she would have been shocked. He might have turned even paler than the girl whose wrist was held.
What would Yuka have done in this situation?
Yuka would probably have sighed deeply and warned Sota before it got to this point.
And Shii—
……
Sota decided not to think about Shii. That was… somewhat frightening.
When Sota, whose expression was different from school, asked back without emotion, the girl seemed a bit anxious again.
“In this situation—”
Sota reached out with his other hand.
The girl flinched as if she had been struck, but his hand was aimed at Kurosawa Koto Ne.
And Sota’s hand grasped one of Kurosawa Koto Ne’s arms.
The somewhat oversized sleeves of the sailor uniform slid down slightly over her thin wrist.
And on that white wrist, a distinct blue mark was left.
“Did you do this?”
“W-we were…….”
“Yeah, it might be possible for you to scream and cause a scene.”
Sota said, trying to imitate Yuka’s tone as much as possible.
“But I accidentally overheard you saying something about a certain… man coming, right?”
“……”
The girl’s face turned pale again.
“After barely getting into a good high school, if you bully a classmate and try to make someone do something weird, what kind of punishment do you think you’d face?”
“D-do you have proof?”
“If this goes all the way, I might be able to create some evidence.”
Sota said in as flat a tone as possible.
“Isn’t it enough for you to talk like that? And if you catch that man, you can stall for time somehow.”
He wondered if he had gone too far. To be honest, he was just saying whatever came to mind to dominate the atmosphere.
However, strangely enough, his words seemed to be effective.
The two girls were already casually trying to back away.
Sota released the hand he was holding.
The girl fled in a hurry. The other two followed suit.
…… Was it lucky that it worked, or was it scary to think of what might happen behind them?
To be honest, he felt a bit regretful, but—
Still, he could say that the objective had been achieved.
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