As far as the people of the Chikami Inn are concerned, we bid a very normal farewell to them. Although I am plenty aware that Yuzuri Kamichi and Ichika Mitsumi will also be leaving soon for work. For a moment, I was feeling bad about Kyohei-san being left on the inn by himself and his crew. I however do wish him a good track on his business.
Kyohei-san aside, the two women of Anew is expected to be enrolled in Blue Ink as second years for what is apparently an observation period for their recent subject in the name of Marcel Rodriguez. It however turned out that he is the twin brother of Marcus Rodriguez—who had been expelled from the school due to an extremely untoward incident pertaining to the death of Akaji Mashido. Although Yuzuri-san is also going to attend as a high school student, Mitsumi-san once said that she will do mostly deskwork, and assuming that she will probably be a ghost employee inside the school premises. Thus, the only active Anew staff on the observation is Mitsumi-san, and Kaizo, being the head of this current period.
But with all that said, I am worried about Yugare-san and Yuzuri-san. I've said it myself long ago—Yuzuri-san is no doubt blessed with astounding beauty that even Rin was blinded by her light. And to think that she will attend school… I guess the reason that she will be stuck with office work is because the company expected her to be very popular to high schoolers, therefore being unable to maintain a low profile.
And if she indeed plans to work at Giotto's, I can already imagine what's going to happen with Sis and Hiro. May this serve as a test to him as a husband.
▪ ▪ ▪
It was not long after I parked up the van on the school grounds. We've had the others sent to their homes prior apart from those who live nearby the school. I said that, but Yuuga actually asked to be dropped off somewhere in between Sector T1 and 392 on the way to the current sector which is just below T1.
It was very relieving that we arrived at the school at its empty hours where all of the students are having classes, and so the grounds are quiet.
With Mato and Akira going to the office, Tenth sent us off, including G and Haku, who just live practically as neighbors.
"See you later, Rin."
"Hmm… Goodnight?" she jested with a smile.
"Ahahahaha. Yeah. You have a good rest too."
This is indeed the 10th of July, which is Wednesday. We arrived at the school at around eleven in the morning and immediately went off. We are still excused for this day and tomorrow in our classes, but we have already finished our academic tasks in the remaining empty days of our stay in the inn. As to why Tenth did not make our leave last until Friday, it is better not to complain about it.
I however missed the feeling of once again twisting my own key to the door of my house.
"We're home…"
"Oh, Nii? Welcome back. I brewed some coffee if you want some."
I immediately dropped my luggage on the foyer and walked sluggishly.
"Oh, thanks, Anna. But I'd go upstairs first…
There really is no place like home…"
"Meow… (There really is no place like home…)"
The two of us stared at each other and bumped our hand/paw.
"Great minds."
I saw Anna's reaction in the corner of my vision back in the living room while I slowly climb the stairs. If I were to guess with this lousy and exhausted brain, it was probably just because of my somewhat extreme interaction with Haku in which he effectively interacted with. My younger sister still does not know of the cat's intelligence, more so his ability to somewhat speak.
While my head finally clears out, being home finally sunk in to me. And even if Anna is currently freeloading in my house, I still asked someone from family to look after this place, and so she did. It would be quite rude of me to just send her back from here. So as a test, I would like to know her own decision-making.
In the middle of changing to house clothes, I remembered that I did remove my bed sheet before leaving, and the only thing left on it is the cover for the foam.
Without second thought, I immediately unrolled the futon from my cabinet and landed down on it. I immediately fell asleep.
▪ ▪ ▪
Solar noon, fourteen minutes past 1.
Yuuga came out of someone's house in Sector 392. Unable to bear the still blazing heat, he called out a passing tricycle, went in with his bags, and said his destination.
In no time, he arrived on the lot of the apartment building in charge of him. His family house was just a crossroad from where their apartment business is at, but he did not have the energy to greet them anymore. But to make up for it, he contacted his mother over a call with a certain discussion on the line.
Sluggishly walking towards his room, his keys dangled and sounded even before placing it in the doorknob. Yet somehow, he heard a loud stomping towards the other side of the door which immediately opened, revealing an abrupt smiling face of a certain girl, as though it was a flash of fireworks on the silent night sky.
"Welcome back, Yuu…!" the girl, Minase, loudly greeted in front of him.
Upon the opening of the door, Yuuga had felt the pleasant sensation while not yet stepping in to the apartment room. He figured that Minase turned on his air conditioning.
"Hey, you sure look happy," he spoke with a subtle smile as he went inside and closed his door.
He looked around the room, and nothing has changed, he noticed. It was the very same sight when he left three weeks ago. With that in mind, he asked a question.
"Has no one ever gone in here…?"
"What do you mean? I regularly checkup this place and I even counted the amount of papers for manuscript that you had left."
"Geez. You don't have to do that, you know."
"Ehehehe," Minase stepped closer, and Yuuga noticed her arms extending, yet it retracted as it looked like her joints snapped back down. He thought, perhaps it was unconscious in Minase's side but he figured out the possible intention.
"Uhh, Mina?"
"What?"
He scratched his cheek and spoke on a weak, but deep voice with his head showing no sign of fluster.
"Do you mind if I give you hug?"
She jolted out of surprise and turned her whole body to her left, in an excuse of looking to the bookshelf. Nevertheless, she answered without even looking back.
"S-Sure.
…!"
She flinched again, as Yuuga's arms inched closer and wrapped around her. There was something wrong with Yuuga, she thought. Her presumption of him drinking was utterly bizarre, and he did not even reek of anything apart from the slightly burnt smell from his clothes. It was the scent of clothes and laundry when exposed to direct sunlight. It may however waft like that, but it was not heat that Minase felt, but warmth, instead.
"Sorry," Yuuga apologized in a mildly joyful tone, contrary to how he usually said so with guilt.
Even without realizing the meaning of his apology, she reciprocated back the embrace.
"You see, Mina…" Yuuga released and gestured Mina to sit on the couch while he sat on the floor. "Just before coming back here, I followed an advice I got long ago, and so I went to your parents' house."
"…! You did what?!"
"I mean what I just said. Then things went quite peacefully… And now I'm pretty much just making you wait."
His hand, from at rest to rising slightly from the table, he opened it up while facing towards the girl. With her looking at it, he suddenly asked.
"Will you take my hand as your lover?"
Minase felt a chill throughout her body as her heart throbbed hard upon hearing those words. Her fingers trembled as she tried to raise her left hand, while breaking into cold sweat. Feeling that a fingertip touched Yuuga's palm, her hand eased up and took in his hand around the curvature of her fingers that is trying to grip on Yuuga's.
"Yes…" she responded. "I accomplished your challenge, then?"
He heard the question but ignored it and did not respond. Instead, he simply spoke with a refreshed smile.
"I'm home."
▪ ▪ ▪
July 12, Friday.
‹Rin›
I actually missed wearing this summer uniform.
Indeed, this time, we are now going back to school for good. It was not my usual routine, but I had dressed up to my uniform quite early for the day. As a lazy bum every single time in the morning upon waking up, it was a rare sight. Even now that I am truly enjoying my life in school, it is still hard to remove the habit of saying in my mind, "I don't wanna go to school…" whenever I open my still dry eyes that still want to sleep.
But on the contrary, I actually woke up rather early today. No, it was not because I'm excited for school; my old conviction still runs through my mind as I'm not a very diligent student myself. And I'm not even taking Gin's influential listlessness into consideration. It's just that I overslept leaps and bounds, in which his listlessness affected me like a virus. I don't remember most of my time from Wednesday to yesterday apart from dinner. All I did for the entirety of two days was sleep my life off. I've been sleeping on a futon for so long that I missed my own bed so much. Even just after a few weeks, the sensation felt so nostalgic, and I had felt Potato's concern in the time that I once again got to embrace the bolster pillow that he gave me back in November. That pillow was so motivating—knowing that Gin himself embroidered a quote saying "Do your best in oversleeping," and gave it to me with a hand cover with band-aids.
But that enveloping thought abruptly disappeared because of a sound from the neighboring window. I saw Gin rummaging on the nooks and crannies of his room sweating all over his house clothes.
Time check: 7:34am.
He looked at me with a troubled face from the window and cried out, "I can't find my pin…!"
I stared at him silently while he still ran around the room until my eyebrows frowned and a hum slowly amplified from my throat.
"Oh, silly young man," I thought while pulling out my phone.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Let's see… was it 19-20-114…? Sweet. That got in. So then… 'give me… a… beep…' And done." I mumbled as I snubbed the fussy, worried Gin noises of panic from the other side. But immediately, a high-pitched sound bleeped in duration of seconds, which was enough for Gin to catch where it was coming from.
He docked as if diving straight in to all the things he misplaced, and appeared with a silver pin between the tip of his index finger and thumb.
"My savior…!" out of desperation, he jumped inwards my window while extending his arms to perhaps do an embrace which I undemandingly evaded. His face however slid first on my room as his landing.
"Go take a shower!"
"Meow. (Thanks for the help, Ringo-ojou. I helped Aruji look for it and kinda gave up midway.
Oh… I forgot that I'm not interpreted.)"
"Typical Haku…" Gin responded to what I was unable to understand. "I'll treat you something for this later, Rin."
~ ~ ~
In the end, I joined Gin in his tardiness while standing dumbfounded in front of my house staring to nowhere for three minutes.
"At least properly fold you collar," and so I did what I said.
"Thanks, Mom… Ah."
"Wrong! Call me wifey!" thought Gin without Rin's awareness.
"You had a thought in your head, didn't you?"
"No use changing the topic. Let's just go to school."
"You sure you ate, Potato?"
"Hmm? Yep, I sure did."
"Then here's a popsicle."
"Ohhh. Thanks, wifey."
"You shut up that mouth."
~ ~ ~
Not exactly sure if my brain cells are actually ready for full on studying, we still attended our classes on both departments. Then we briefly met with friends who had different schedules, and we kind of forgot to greet each other. We're not in Chikami Inn anymore.
At lunch break, I went to the HE Room to take out the ingredients I stored in for this day's lunch from the fridge, while Potato suddenly up and made his way to the administrative office with a thick envelope on his hand.
…
‹Gin›
"Here's my unwanted report," Gin slammed an inch thick brown envelope on the principal's desk.
Tenth's eyes twitched while looking at the stack of paper that peeked out from the opening of the envelope. While he sat by his desk, dumbfounded, I excused myself around the office and poured a decaffeinated coffee on a mug, and took a look on what Akira is doing.
"Hey…! I'm sorting the school's annual schedule, so don't look but look forward to it."
"Heehhh…" I then obediently sat down after picking a paperback from the bookshelf at random. And to my surprise, the book is Flower of the Unknown in its 3rd volume, for crying out loud.
"You know, Gin… I see how formal this report that I didn't even ask you to do; but it still looks like a diary if you read this five times over and over.
That's not it. Even I can't finish a report like this in two or three days."
He asked, now that I see him reading through six of its leaves.
"Well, my journals are much worse than that. Anyway, I had so much time after snoring for a long time so I wrote that straight for three hours."
"All that… you can write a complete book in two weeks just like that," Akira sarcastically expressed.
"Ah. You can go back to class after you finish that cup. You're much more of a help than Martin that didn't send regular reports to me.
And don't bring that volume out of my office. I haven't finished reading that part. Seriously though, Yuki—she knows what she's writing."
"She…?"
"Bfft… Ahahahaha…! Good luck with that, Tenth!"
I was utterly surprised to hear those from the sharpest man I know. Having a plentiful laugh, I stepped out of the office with that in mind.
"What's the guy giggling about…" Tenth then looked at his son.
"Nothing~?" Akira forced a joking smile.
~ ~ ~
‹Rin›
I also missed the feeling of tirelessly waiting for the dismissal. It's not that I got lazy. I am originally a lazy person if I'm not on my greatest of moods, but that does not encompass the things I do in the house.
But then, even I sometimes get lazy in art. I am also not immune to art block. But as if Potato and I are thinking mutually, we thought that we might have had too much art on those three weeks. And so, we're not really feeling doing anything since commissions for the club are still not open. Nonetheless, we made our way to the club for the sole purpose of chilling out.
The door was open, and the first and only person we saw inside the Art Room is G. He is sitting inside silently in front of what looks to be a pastry box. Seeing us, he ever so slightly lifted it at the handle and spoke.
"Yui gave this to me."
Gin suddenly pointed out his two fingers for-and-backwards constantly at G. "Ey, can't hide that happiness when you're here."
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh…!" he began stomping from his chair while he planted his forehead on the table.
A blank, nark expression showed up on my face, and then I asked, "Is this guy still not really in love with Yui?"
"I'm just sweeping away my frustrations from yesterday, Ringo. But I'm so happy to bits right now.
…
You miss sleeping on the floor, Gin?"
"Before Rin thinks that it is a stupid question, you're pertaining to when I haven't moved, right?"
"Yeah. My bed broke down on me yesterday so I had to place my foam cushion on the floor again."
"Man, that really brings me back. I miss sleeping at almost floor level."
Somehow, that nostalgia slightly annoyed me for no reason.
"How about Anna?"
"She got her own bed right after she moved back two years ago. Well, she's still staying in my house."
"If you have more snacks, kindly place it here." G tapped on the table twice. "First come, first serve. Go grab yourselves cupcakes before everyone gets here. Though Yui and I already ate two.
With a look closer, the white pastry box houses six cupcake containers in which two are already gone. Anyway, I can run the calories away so why the flying apples not?
"Oh. Red velvet," Potato mumbled.
I'll have to brush my teeth once I go home.
▪ ▪ ▪
‹Ginji›
Diary entry no. cat ears are fluffy. July 9.
So even if one can't attain Ultra Inst*nct, you can achieve Ultra Exhaustion.
It doesn't make sense, but it does make sense.
From what I can recall last night, it was so hot that we decided to turn on the air conditioner. The house only have one of it, but it is situated on our dining room which is the center of the house, because why not? At the very least, it can regulate the temperature of the whole house since we live on a bungalow. But coincidentally, if I open the door of my room, the cold wind will immediately hit my face since the AC is facing towards my door.
Suddenly it rained. Although I suspected that it rained because of the excessive heat. It was around 9pm when I vigorously flinched because of thunderclap. While I was reading a digital manga online, the images suddenly stopped loading, and the Wi-Fi icon of my phone got an exclamation point.
I suddenly remembered. A new model of modem was installed to our internet a few days ago. But I didn't think it would be vulnerable compared to the old one we had. But I have to say that the lightning was quite close that it broke the modem, but not our connection.
The rain had stopped, and I finished my school works since I have nothing to do after that lightning strike. I was a little tired and so I just tossed my bag away from my bed and it landed in front of my drawers. And out of habit, I set up an alarm for school tomorrow and just placed my phone somewhere on my bed.
Enjoying the cold, I immediately fell asleep while wrapped on my blanket.
So the ninth of July came. Well… it's just been two hours when the day changed.
"…ji… Ginji…! Wake up already…!" somehow, my mother sounded desperate and panicking.
"Still early…"
"Oh, come on…!"
I was sleeping on my left arm side down, and Mom rotated me to lie on my back. My right arm then flung out from my bed, and my fingertips felt something cold… or rather, wet.
I opened my eyes, seeing that the light of my room is still off. Yet, I was half-asleep, but I clearly see water on the floor of my room.
Immediately, I got up and my foot splashed on a two-inch deep water. I realized—all of us in the house slept through the rising flood. I immediately grabbed everything that I can, especially my extension cord, the phone that nearly fell off, and the school bag that got soaking wet. I came out to the living room and dropped off those things.
"Agh…! The flood gate…!"
Every time it is the rainy season, we sealed off the back door of our house to prevent the flood to enter from there. But as we did not anticipate the flood at around 2am, we weren't able to seal off our front door. I clearly saw the floodwater relentlessly flowing in after the door was opened.
Walking as fast as I can on the flooded living room, I immediately took a two by three feet pane of steel which by no means can one person carry it so easily yet I did. I stepped out of the house, and went down from the elevation. The water outside is already up to the half of my leg, but if I step down another elevation, it will be up to my knees.
With the floodgate shut on the door, I twisted four leveraged screws that tightened the pane to angle bars sealed in silicone that kept the gate in one place.
I jumped back inside the house and seeing that the chairs were used to save things from being wet, I sat on the table as there is literally nowhere for me to sit.
My heart was beating so hard that it was as if going to break my rib cage. My breathing was very shallow and the sweat poured endlessly. It was no longer stress that I felt in that three minutes of agony.
It was fear without reason. It was only fear, but with the absence of logic, it felt like a bottomless pit.
My body shivered from the fear and the mysterious coldness, so much that the muscles of my entire body felt like bursting. Even so, I stood with my trembling knees and wrinkled feet, walking towards my room and turning on the light. As I thought, there's no helping it. My foam cushion that still has its sheets is already floating freely on the brownish floodwater.
There was no way I can sleep anymore.
…
I didn't feel like drinking coffee at that miserable dusk so I waited for sunrise while taking out floodwater in the house with a bucket. The floodgates may let out very minimal and clear water, but once the outlet of our bathroom overflows, there's nothing we can do.
The water outside hasn't subsided at all, and you would think that it's pointless to take out the water when it will just come back in. Well, the water got up to the point that it is just an inch closer to reaching our electrical outlets. And so, I did that for four hours and the water started going down. But as expected, it was painstakingly slow.
At around 10, when the flood is just on the road, the technicians of our ISP came in our house with rubber boots, stepping under a muddy tiled floor, and replaced our modem. They said that it was indeed vulnerable to lightning, and once a bolt strikes, we have to unplug it. But it wasn't only our household that had the same issue, apparently.
Around the afternoon, the sun rose and so we took the opportunity to at least dry my cushion a bit, and dry my textbooks and notes while I'm at it.
While we have been cleaning the house ever since six in the morning with meals as our only break, we still finished at nigh sundown. So we decided in the house even if our floor is still not dry, that we will get a submersible pump since our flooring is uneven.
Still, the only way for me to sleep is to spread an old comforter on my room. It was still so hot that we had to turn our AC on. I immediately landed down to bed sometime in the night, and felt gutted that the classes are only suspended today.
So I realized again—the reason that we did not wake up from the torrential rain is because we were enjoying the coolness from the AC. Thankfully, I still got to sleep even with the paranoia that it will flood again.
▪ ▪ ▪
Diary entry no. I want to pet Haku even if he's not a pet. July 12, Friday.
It is around 11 in the morning, and I lost all of my motivation to finish my lunch.
It is still raining lions and wolves again, and I haven't even recovered from my trauma from Tuesday. I was extremely anxious as the downpour hasn't let up for 30 minutes. As I expected, it is going to flood again.
At around 1pm, Sir Tenth finally decided to suspend classes, and let us students to come home without our guardians. But even if we were with our parents to come home, our safety would still be compromised. It's a hopeless situation either way.
…
Meanwhile…
"Potato, are your shoes also made out of AMM?"
"You noticed? I did that as a side work when I was making my solar cells. My soles can basically hit a steel ball home run."
"So you're basically saying that your feet won't get hurt."
Any guesses on the situation they are at?
…
Currently, Gin is walking on leg height floodwater with his pants folded up, while carrying Rin on a piggyback ride as she holds the umbrella for them. They are on their way home.
"Rin, I know that this isn't the time to say this in the middle of the flood, but make sure that your skirt isn't going to get compromised…"
"You don't have to say that…! I'm being very careful already."
"Also… I know that I don't catch a cold, but I don't have a doctor to consult if my immunity can also defeat mouse urine…"
"Can you just say leptospirosis, Gin?
Anyway, so he's also barred from talking about medical things in his suspension. What should I call him now, anyways?"
"Well, I'll just call him Kagetora-san for now."
At the same time…
‹Ginji›
I wonder how are Gin and Ringo doing, walking the distance in flood… There's also Yui to consider. I wonder if she got home already.
That were the things that came to mind while riding in an overloaded tricycle, as five of my classmates and I are transporting down to a flooded highway. Indeed, the flood got inside the tricycle.
And for crying out loud, the other vehicles don't know how to hold back. The waves were so strong that it even reached as high as my seat. I thought that my feet will be the only place where I'll get wet, and now my flipping pants are! But well, my classmates are so surprised with my nonchalance, and they are shouting with their buttocks getting wet. The only thing I said to them is, "Hah! Get used to this now!"
I was however getting frustrated, honestly.
I came home jumping over the once again erected floodgate. Thankfully, the water inside was nowhere near as bad as last time, and it quickly subsided…
Only for it to rise up again late at night, but I am awake this time.
▪ ▪ ▪
Diary entry no. Haku's ears are fluffy even if I have never had a chance to touch them. July 13, Saturday.
Upon waking up, I made my coffee and started cleaning the house immediately. This time, the sun didn't show up and it even rained on the afternoon, although lightly. Still though, I still managed to watch the latest episode of Fru*ts Basket.
▪ ▪ ▪
Dairy entry no. I'm making typos because I'm craving for something buttery. July 14, Sunday.
In the morning, the sun slightly shone with our flooring all dried. Thus, I managed to watch my daily dose of anime without fail. I also don't smell bad anymore as I had taken a long shower.
But as per Ginga's usual nature, it rained again and the Ginga River overflowed. Nice, we had to clean the house again at night.
▪ ▪ ▪
Diary entry no. heck, I want to have a cat now. July 15, Monday.
Classes are once again suspended, but I woke up to another downpour. But amidst of the impending flood, mom had to go to the laundry shop early to get our clothes washed and get them in a dryer. By the time she came back and put down eight kilos of clothes, I'm already folding them while standing with water on my feet.
▪ ▪ ▪
And yes, this is pretty much the scene if you're going to live in the low-lying areas of Ginga in the rainy season. It's just July right now, and we are expecting more flooding until September of this year.
But Aka-san… Why are you giving us this much stress?!
A/N: Just so you know, I was folding my clothes in the middle of flood in July 1, and I even managed to watch the last episode of the 3rd season of Attack on Ti*an in that situation.
Eh. Way to end the chapter there, but good for you, Aka-san. It was a nice episode, I'd say.