A peaceful daily life is something that can’t be traded for anything else.
Sota thought that this peaceful daily life was just something natural.
But that doesn’t mean he thought that everywhere on Earth was peaceful.
There was a war happening far away on the continent. Japan, when viewed globally, was a country in a fairly good situation, and for Sota, it was a case of being able to live without too many troubles.
His family’s situation wasn’t exactly ordinary… but still.
Even in this world, that daily life could collapse.
Even without Yōkai or supernatural phenomena, daily life could crumble because of human malice. Sota had already seen such situations before.
And because of that, he could already feel deeply how valuable that peaceful daily life was while living as an ordinary high school student.
In that sense, Sota pondered earnestly whether he could even call this situation a peaceful daily life.
Kurosawa had been slowly improving over the period. Although the kids in the same class hardly interacted with her, Sota was now getting used to having her naturally follow him after school.
At first, Nanami had treated Kurosawa with pity, but she had begun to enjoy playing with her slowly.
Was it perhaps even more fun not to get any particular reaction no matter how she touched her?
Usually, Kurosawa hardly touched her own hair, but when caught by Nanami’s hands, her hair would suddenly end up in twin tails.
Still, her expression hardly changed, and she continued to exude a blunt atmosphere, but Kurosawa’s appearance was objectively cute, so it somehow matched her oddly.
Yuka still kept a subtle distance. It seemed she wasn’t going to stop being cautious since she didn’t know everything about Kurosawa yet.
And there was another person who had attached herself to those three.
Fukuda Harumi.
The girl who had saved Kurosawa during the last attack had followed Sota’s group ever since. Usually, she kept her distance but came over only when Nanami, Yuka, or Sota called her.
Strangely, she reminded him of a cat, but somehow, saying such a thing felt like it would earn Sota a smack, so he held his tongue.
Well, if we’re talking about cats, there was that aspect in all the kids around too.
Anyway, while peace was being maintained in this way—well, to Sota, it felt a bit precarious.
The three people who had been hospitalized due to Fukuda had returned to school. There was no suspension or expulsion.
“…Anyway, it’s true that they got beaten badly,” Yuka said about the incident.
“Besides, it seems Grandpa chose not to get too entangled with them.”
Yuka didn’t go into the details, but judging by Yuka’s not-so-great expression while saying that, Sota couldn’t help but think that Kurosawa’s family situation probably wasn’t improving.
So, while it didn’t show overtly, the root causes that could disrupt their peace were gradually piling up.
Having gone through such experiences multiple times already, Sota couldn’t help but feel anxious.
In that sense, Sota thought that Nanami, who was twirling Kurosawa’s hair into two pigtails and playfully flapping them like wings, looked amazing.
“…….”
What do you think?
As he was about to ask Yuka such a question, Sota decided against it.
Yuka had been through various things too. It’s likely she knew better about the terrible things that could happen to people when something goes wrong.
There’s nothing more meaningless than telling a worried person not to worry.
To be honest, Sota too wasn’t sure if it was okay to say such things when he was worried himself.
And so, while he was at a loss about what to do, time flowed on.
Nothing particularly happened throughout the first semester. Those three don’t seem to have done anything during that time either.
Sota, while relieved at this fact, remained anxious.
*
That’s not to say nothing happened during the first semester.
While hanging out with Kurosawa, he learned that she lived in Saitama.
Not just that, but her picky eating habits were extreme.
Kurosawa generally didn’t like bland foods or foods with lots of vegetables. Not that she liked salty food either. The reason she only poked at the French fries was probably that.
On the other hand, it seemed she was instinctively attracted to sweet things. She loved ice cream and chocolate. Naturally, she really liked chocolate ice cream.
She preferred meat over noodles or rice, and when it came to meat, she favored undercooked meat that still had a bit of red.
Even though she still had a blank expression when eating, her behavior was slowly taking on a more human touch.
When she ate something she thought was delicious, her eating speed would increase.
After finishing, she would stare intently at her companions. Then one of them would order something for Kurosawa again.
It wasn’t like Kurosawa was always being treated.
Attending Hanagawa High School meant that—well, if you put it that way, ‘as a high school student,’ it was only natural she’d be expected to contribute a bit.
But since Sota thought it was a surprise that Kurosawa would take out her own money to pay for her share.
Thinking back, they were robbing Kurosawa of her money. It didn’t seem like she was doing any part-time job, so that money was likely allowance from home.
Sota felt a bit relieved at that fact.
Yuka said Kurosawa’s family was not ordinary, and indeed, there was a tattoo on Kurosawa’s wrist that looked like a symbol of a cult. On the surface, it seemed like she was being abused, but given that she received regular allowances, it looked like they recognized her as their daughter.
Sota knew better than anyone that just giving money didn’t make good parents, but there wasn’t much he could do about it right now.
Thus, from the outside, it looked like Sota and his crew didn’t quite fit together, but somehow they continued to hang out until just before summer vacation.
After midterms and finals were finally over, it was truly the time left until summer vacation.
The school uniforms had already changed to short sleeves.
Sota was worried about how Kurosawa would handle the tattoo, but Fukuda tied a hair tie around Koto Ne’s wrist.
Apparently, they used to do that in their first year. That was before a girl named Mako died.
“Is everyone planning to go home as usual?” Nanami asked.
At that, Sota blinked.
They were just eating at a family restaurant, ordering the menu items they wanted as usual.
Under normal circumstances, everyone would have certainly gone home.
While they had been to other places, honestly, Kurosawa seemed unable to participate in the fun at karaoke or something, and Fukuda sat there with an expression that said he expected that, so he couldn’t think of ‘having fun’ separately.
In fact, Sota also had part-time jobs regularly, so he didn’t have that much free time either.
In the end, the idea of introducing the joy of this world to Kurosawa didn’t quite succeed.
“It’s summer vacation! It’s our last summer vacation!” Nanami exclaimed, sounding exasperated.
“In a year, we’ll be in third year, and then we’ll have to study. Naturally, we need to take some measures, right?”
“Measures… well…”
“There’s so much to do during summer vacation, like what to do, where to go, and which festival to attend! There’s plenty!”
The rest of the four looked on silently at Nanami, who was so aggressive.
“If we’re going out, it’s tough for Sasaki to find time because of her part-time job.”
“It’s enough to just stay a day overnight!”
Nanami raised her finger and declared this at Yuka.
“Sota, you can take it easy today, right? So at least for today, you have to hang out with us.”
Blushing slightly, Nanami said this, and Sota gazed at her with a dumbfounded expression.
Was Nanami usually like this?
Well, she had been proactive in the past too.
“Yeah, I do have a lot of time today. But where?”
At Sota’s question, Nanami’s words momentarily faltered.
“Er… uh…”
Nanami looked around nervously before swallowing hard and saying,
“Can I come over to your house today? I mean, it’d be nice to casually talk, right?”
At Nanami’s words, Yuka’s eyes widened. Sota thought it was the first time in a while that they were seeing such an expression since the beginning of the first semester.
Fukuda alternated glances between the two, smiling in disbelief, while Kurosawa remained blank-faced.
Looking back at Nanami, it seemed she had no intention of withdrawing her statement.
In the end, Sota could only shrug and nod.
When he saw Nanami’s face light up with a wide smile and clenching her fist, Sota couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
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