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yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon · 3 months

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Thursday

“Hey, Taro. Do you ever have, like…recurring nightmares?” Osana asks, tapping her fingers onto her bag, which hung onto her shoulder.

“Recurring?” Taro hums in thought, looking ahead of them for a moment.

Ayano walked behind them, her phone in hand and earphones in. She wasn’t too close, but close enough to hear the conversation in full. If either of them thought she was too close, she’d likely look too distracted to hear their conversation.

“Uh, well..” He looks back to Osana. “Lately I’ve been having this dream where I’m under this sakura tree. Sort of just… standing idle.” He shrugs. “The only weird thing is that..I can’t move at all. Like.. I’m just sitting there doing nothing but waiting. I get it's not really a nightmare or anything, but in the dream I’m pretty sure I’m…exhausted. Like I’ve been there in that same spot over and over again. Which I guess is normal for me since it’s recurring. Honestly, even when I wake up I feel like my supposed ‘resting’ was stretched out because of that dream.”

Osana scoffs. “So is that your excuse for waking up so late?” She asks, a smug grin on her face.

Rolling his eyes with a smirk, Taro asked. “So what about you, then? I’m guessing you brought up the whole nightmare thing with something in mind?”

“..yes.” Osana exhales, pulling her hands together nervously. “It’s just that.. I keep having this scary nightmare. Like.. I’m swimming or… on a boat or something? Someone grabs my hair and ties it around something heavy, and then shoves it into the water. So. I..y’know. Drown?”

“Jeez.” Taro grimaces. “And you have that dream regularly? Freaky.”

“Right?!” Osana agrees, raising her hands and flopping them back down with a huff. “It’s such a bad nightmare. I swear I’ve been having it almost every night now!”

Taro hums. “You know…” He smiles at her wryly, expecting an eye roll from her as he brings up a book he read, “..I read a book..”

Osana groans, but Taro only laughs.

“Oh, come on! I read a book that speculated that our dreams are reflections of our subconscious feelings. You know… like the ‘a drunk man’s words is a sober man’s thoughts’ thing?” Taro explained, “Maybe you’re subconsciously worried that your hair might be a hazard?”

“I hope you’re not telling me to cut my hair.” Osana huffs, putting her hands on her hips.

Taro shrugs, “I’m just saying, maybe that would help? It’s not like you can have nightmares about hair that you don’t have.” He says.

Osana rolls her eyes. “It sounds like you’re telling me to shave my head.” She scoffs, “But anyway, not a single hair on my head is being cut until–” Osana pauses, her cheeks going pink, “Uh… until I reach a specific milestone in my life! It’s going to be very important, and it’s going to be very life-changing, so I’ll decide then! And don’t ask- because I’m not telling you!”

“Boo.” Taro chuckles, “Fine, but you definitely have to tell me after you cut it. If it’s not too noticeable to me, that is.”

After that conversation, Taro and Osana began talking about some other uninteresting subject. As per usual, Osana would say something, Taro would reply with some form of compliment, and Osana would hiss back with some stupid unnecessary retort.

Ayano looked down to her phone as Info-Chan texted her.

Info-Chan: Did you hear that?

Yan-Chan: I heard everything. What’s your point?

Info-Chan: You’re really bad at this, aren’t you?

Info-Chan: The nightmare.

Yan-Chan: About drowning?

Yan-Chan: What good does that do me?

Info-Chan: It’s entirely possible. That’s the good.

Yan-Chan: What do you mean?

Info-Chan: Every Thursday, Osana and Raibaru go to the pool to sunbathe.

Info-Chan: By the pool.

Yan-Chan: With Raibaru.

Yan-Chan: And that bunch of bullies, too.

Info-Chan: It’s completely possible to distract them.

Yan-Chan: All of them?

Info-Chan: Sure.

Yan-Chan: Then tell me about Raibaru.

Info-Chan: I will if you provide more payment.

Yan-Chan: Give me a price in exchange for a plan to eliminate Raibaru in full.

Info-Chan: In full?

Info-Chan: Maybe. But it's really up to how you execute the plan I give you. :)

Info-Chan: Anyway...

Info-Chan: I heard something about that Horuda girl..

“Hey, girls.” Ayano smiles, walking up to the infamous gyaru girls.

Musume stops, raising an eyebrow. “Hey. Uh, which one are you..?” She hums in faux thought, clearly inviting her friends to take a couple of jabs at Ayano. And jab they did.

“I honestly thought she was Horuda for a second.” Hoshiko hummed, tapping away at her phone. “You know. Pale skin, dark hair. If it weren’t in a ponytail they could totes be sisters.” She remarks in an almost bored manner.

“A little thin, aren’t you? What are you? Sick?” Hana giggles as Kashiko suddenly claps her hands together.

“Oh yeaaaah, you’re Yan-Chan!” The purple-themed girl says in realization. “No wonder they call you that! Doesn’t “yan” mean like…sick somewhere?”

Kokoro holds a finger up to her lips in thought. “Yeah, like… some weird anime trope or something? Wait, does that mean you’re contagious?” She asks, covering her mouth with her hand in shock.

Ayano continues smiling, her eye twitching once in irritation. “..anyway. I wanted to ask you about Gema Taku.”

“Gema Taku.” Kashiko repeats, nodding. “Yeah, I know him. He’s like that hunchback, right?” She laughs. “A whole troll this man!”

“No! The one with those big-ass glasses?!” Hana cackles. “I get regular glasses I guess, but he must think he’s a whole ah-nime character with those stupid things!”

Hoshiko gives Hana a judgy look. “It’s anime, Hana. Not ah-nime.” She says.

Hana looks away with a huff. “Whatever. Same thing.”

“One of those bandana boys, right?” Hoshiko asks, tapping her phone against her lip. “Like, with those big, red, goofy bandanas. What the Hell is up with that?”

“And it doesn’t even help that bird’s nest of a hairstyle!” Musume laughs, turning on her phone. “Oh, my God, Hoshiko put that on your blog.”

Hoshiko rolls her eyes. “Meh. I might the next time he approaches me.”

Kokoro fiddled with the pink jacket tied around her waist. “Okay, but… that stubble must be hella annoying, too. Like, I’ll see him scratch his face and it’s just… like… where the Hell is his razor?! His face has to be dirty as Hell. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never washed his face.”

Kashiko grimaces. “My GAWD, that man is gross. I don’t even think Shinto could save his gross-ass.”

Hoshiko giggles. “Imagine he prays to Shinto like ‘Why am I still single?’ and Shinto just gives him a fucking mirror!” She says, causing a wave of laughter to arise from she and her friends.

Ayano sighs, walking away from their laughter. Honestly, she was exhausted just listening to them. Previously, Gema asked her if she knew why the group of bullies avoided him so intensely. It seemed obvious enough to Ayano, but maybe his parents just never bothered being honest with him.

Truthfully, Ayano didn’t know why exactly Gema would want to be around those girls anyway. He certainly had strange taste, Ayano thought, casting one last glance at the cackling group.

Before Ayano could get back to the Gaming Club, Bea called out to her. “Hey, Aya.” She called, waving to her laxly.

Ayano raised an eyebrow at her, but approached her regardless. “Aya” was something that her upperclassmen called her, likely because it was cute- something an older person would call you, even if it was just by a year. But Bea was a first year. Maybe it was some form of an insult? Honestly, no one could ever tell when it came from Bea.

“Heard you were asking the girls about Gema.” Bea said, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.

Ayano nods. “That’s right. What of it?”

Bea smiles, “I take it he specifically asked for their opinion, then?” She guesses, and Ayano nods again. “Thought so. Well, I’m not sure if you’re doing this favor for him for your own good or his, but if it’s the latter, do tell him to watch his tongue.”

“Why do you say that?” Ayano asks, folding her hands behind her back. She didn’t know how exactly to approach Bea or how to appear when it came to her. From what she saw, no type of person seemed to appeal to her.

“Obviously because his attitude is atrocious.” Bea laughs. “It’s to be expected for any game-obsessed incel-in-the-making like him, especially when your parents give up on you. At that point you have no one to correct you. Just people to judge you, and who knows how he’ll take that?” She shrugs. “But anyway, don’t tell him I said that. I’m one of the ones who judge him, so he won’t take it seriously if he hears it was from me.”

“If you say so.” Ayano nods, walking towards the gaming club again. As per usual, she couldn’t place Bea’s intentions. It was a good thing that she was too lazy to be of any harm, or else Ayano might have to stress over that as well.

Gema frowned. “A bunch of superficial stuff like that?” He asks, folding his arms in thought. “I guess I… I guess I am kind of quick to anger, though. I’m flattered that they thought of how I could better myself! Uh..” He hesitates, blushing a bit, “Can you… tell me which one of them exactly said that?” He asks.

“...Musume.” Ayano says, recalling that Gema had a crush on her specifically, although he would likely go for any of them if possible.

“Wow… That’s, like… really cool of her. I didn’t think she paid attention to stuff like that.” Gema said bashfully before clearing his throat. “Right, but… I’m really glad you helped me with this, Ayano! I know I’ve got some things to work out, but it was really amazing of you to help me out despite it.” He thanks her honestly, bowing deeply.

Gema puts his game down on the table. “Okay. I’m gonna go change up my appearance right now! The sooner the better, you know? See you!” He says, quickly walking out of the club room.

Ayano immediately looks down to her phone.

Yan-Chan: So that will distract the bullies?

Info-Chan: It should.

Yan-Chan: Should.

Info-Chan: “Should” is the closest you’re getting, Yan-Chan. ^^

Info-Chan: There’s only so much I as your informant can do.

Info-Chan: Perhaps if you were a little more knowledgeable on the situation, you would give yourself a more certain answer.

Yan-Chan: You can’t just throw me into a situation and expect me to know what I’m doing.

Info-Chan: Oh? I thought that was your idea, Yan-Chan.

Info-Chan: If it weren’t for me, your stab and run plans would probably result in you getting caught way earlier than any mistake I may make could.

Ayano shoves her phone into her pocket angrily, which was a usual response when it came to Info-Chan harassing her with her nonsense. Deciding to calm down, she decided to move onto the next step, which was to distract Raibaru for the day.

Dropping something in front of her wouldn’t work, as she’d either quickly go put it back or ignore it entirely if the location was too far from Osana. Couldn’t she part from her for five minutes? That’s all it really takes to kill a girl.

Since that wasn’t going to come that easy to Ayano, she came to terms with the fact that she was going to have to do something a bit more complicated. That, of course, is getting in contact with her old student.

It was about thirty minutes to class time. Plenty of time, Ayano hoped.

“Aya-Chan! Ayano! Hey!” Budo smiled at her, happy to see her return. “You wouldn’t be here to join, would ya?” He asks in a quieter voice, folding his arms as he looked down to her.

Ayano shakes her head. “Uh, no. I’m… I’m here to ask you if there’s anything you needed?”

Budo tilts his head to the side, a bit confused but still smiling. “Are you asking for some reason in particular? That’s a pretty strange question, Aya.”

“...um, well.” Ayano could tell that this idea of hers was falling apart, which would be a jab to her pride considering this was an idea she thought of without Info-Chan’s help. “...I just heard that Raibaru used to be your mentor. But… I also heard that you and her weren’t on the best terms?” She folds her hands in front of her, avoiding Budo’s gaze. “I have… a decent amount of respect for you two, so I thought maybe this could be my chance to help you two out?”

“Hm..” Budo smiles, raising a hand to his mouth in thought. “Well, as flattered as I am… really, I am. I wouldn’t want to ask you for something so personal.” He claims.

Ayano visibly deflates, although she can’t decide if she was actually getting depressed about failing or if she wanted to appear that way to him.

Budo laughs, “Of course, this doesn’t mean that you can’t earn that favor.” He pats her back, pointing to the rest of his club. “If my students could vouch for you I’d definitely be open to letting you help.”

Frowning, Ayano turns to his clubmates and counts heads. Four tasks. Four hopefully not too over-the-top tasks. And then there comes the problem with asking them for help without getting the homework treatment again.

“Right. I understand.” Ayano nods briefly, stiffening when Budo ruffles her hair.

“Good stuff, Ayano.” He pats her back again. “Go get ‘em!” Budo’s enthusiasm doesn’t seem to properly convey itself to Ayano. If anything, the discomfort of being touched so much just slows her down.

With that drawback, Ayano awkwardly shuffles over to Shima. “Hello, Shima.” She says, kneeling down with her. “I wanted to ask if you needed a, uh… favor. Or maybe if there was just something you needed me to do?”

Shima tilts her head, but ultimately goes with Ayano’s offer and raises a hand to her chin in thought. “Hm…” She hums loudly, looking up to the ceiling, before whispering. “I’m just humming loudly to make it look like I’m thinking by the way.” She says, still looking at the ceiling. “Look to your left but don’t stare.” She says.

Ayano glances to the left, then back to Shima, but doesn’t understand what she was supposed to be looking at. She shrugs, an eyebrow furrowed in confusion.

“It’s–” Shima smacks her teeth as Budo tells the club to head out. As the others leave she exhales. “--the training dummy over there. You see how limp it is? Well, it’s not supposed to be like that. I’m sure Budo’s noticed already, but I’m honestly dreading when he scolds me about it.”

Ayano looks to her right again, noticing that before the dummy was standing up straight. “What’d you do to it?” She asks, turning back to Shima.

The short-haired girl puckers her lips, leaning back a bit sheepishly. “...suplexed it.” She mumbles, picking at the floor. “It wasn’t supposed to break. It never broke before..” Her eyes widened and she points a finger to Ayano. “You’d better not tell Budo that I mess with the dummy often. I’ll suplex you, too!”

Ayano furrows her eyebrows doubtfully, but does raise her hands in surrender and nods. “Got it. So, do you want me to fix it?” She asks, Shima nodding with a hopeful smile. “How should I go about doing that?”

“Uh, you could probably use a wrench or something. I heard there’s a pipe wrench stored somewhere on campus.” Shima says, shrugging. “The gardening club..? No, no one gardens with pipe wrenches. What do people do with pipe wrenches again..? Oh, yeah, fix pipes..”

Ayano pulls her phone out of her pocket, tempted to just ask Info-Chan, when Shima suddenly claps loudly. “Oh, yeah! The pipe room! I mean pump room! Duh. Wow, I am so lame for not realizing that sooner.” She claims, but overall seems very lax about the whole ordeal. “Yeah, but if you can fix the dummy I’ll give you, like…uh..” She fishes around in her robe before pulling out a dollar. “Look! Money.”

Tilting her head to the side, Ayano hesitantly takes the money. “..why do you have a dollar in–”

“--you got this, Yano-Chan!” Shima says, standing up abruptly and speed walking out of the club room. She peeks her head in again. “Oh, but, tell me if you’re not going to do it so I can skip school until Budo forgets. And take my dollar back.”

Ayano furrows her eyebrows as Shima leaves quickly. She certainly was straightforward. That complimented Ayano’s strange and straightforward question, at the very least.

The pump room, huh? She’ll need something to carry it in so she isn’t pulled aside by the council or something.

Thankfully, Miyuji was fine with Ayano using an instrument bag for a minute. And thankfully once more it didn’t take long for her to fix the dummy. The same went for cleaning the house in the zen garden. The only problem was that Ayano was spotted twice by a student council member.

Akane walked in on her fixing the dummy, and almost seemed disappointed to learn that Ayano wasn’t doing anything suspicious with it. In the end, she offered to take it back for her, which was another trip off of her shoulders.

And while Ayano was getting the mop ready, Kuroko walked in on her. She actually apologized for assuming she was doing something strange, and allowed her to carry on after Ayano explained what she was doing. Thank God she didn’t run into Aoi. Lord knows she would have gotten a very unnecessary earful.

Currently, she was carrying a couple of dumbbells inside of a small tub. Juku recommended doing so because it would be suspicious if she carried just the dumbbells. Unfortunately, carrying the bucket seemed to be just as suspicious.

“Hold it, Aya-Chan.” Shiromi called from behind her. She laxly walks up to the taller girl as Ayano stops. “Whatcha got there?” She asks, peeking into the bucket. “Ya gonna smash someone’s head in with these?”

“Why would I need multiple to do that?” Ayano asks mistakingly, instead of acting as innocent as she was supposed to be.

Shiromi laughs. “Fair point. Carry on.” She says, walking past Ayano with her hands behind her head as per usual.

Ayano pauses. “W-Wait. I’m taking this to Ju–”

“--yikes, I can’t hear you over the meeting I’m having with the student council after cleaning time!” Shiromi calls back loudly, walking off with a childish grin. “Gee, I sure hope I don’t remember Ayano Aishi suspiciously carrying a tub of dumbbells!”

Ayano 100% couldn’t tell if Shiromi was joking or just bragging about Ayano eventually getting in trouble, but Info-Chan didn’t bother texting to tell her anything, so she assumed she…might be fine? It's not like she would get in trouble for being suspicious, especially when said suspicious thing had an alibi in Juku, right?

Maybe. Ayano shakes her head with a sigh. Hopefully, that was the case.

“I appreciate you helping me out with this, Ayano.” Sho Kunin claims, smiling at her with the blue weapon in hand. “I don’t recall hearing about you being too experienced in combat, though.” He comments.

Ayano shakes her head. “I know enough.” She says, preparing herself to counter Sho. Her mother had taught her a lot about self-defense, and she’s even sparred with her before. On several other occasions, her mother has asked favors from people she knew to train Ayano. She never did learn who exactly those friends of her mother were.

Sho nods and starts with raising his weapon up to strike her. A direct strike is easy to block when it comes to those who focus more on strength than speed. That was something her mother taught her. Ayano raises her hand and swiftly grabs the weapon, raising her other hand to strike. Unfortunately, Sho was able to shove her back before she could. Ayano furrows her eyebrows, noting that Sho was unfortunately very strong and fast. This was to be expected, considering he was just second to Budo.

Both Ayano and Sho get back into their starting position. Once again, Sho swings the weapon. This time, Ayano blocks with one hand, and uses the other to knock the weapon out of his hand. Sho attempts to strike her again, but Ayano is able to dodge and pull him closer. Now with much less space between them, Ayano’s able to land a solid knee kick into his stomach.

This causes Sho to recoil in pain and step back. “Ah, God…” He chuckles, standing up as straight as he can but still smiling. “..I think ‘knowing enough’ is a complete understatement, haha..” He sighs, rubbing his stomach, “Good hit, Ayano. Consider me humbled.”

“Indeed! I’m impressed with how quickly you adapted to that!” Budo says, smacking his hand on her back once again. Despite how tough Ayano was to have beaten Sho, she clearly fumbled when Budo patted her. He was certainly strong if that much force was put into a casual gesture.

Budo puts his hands on his hips as he and Ayano move out of the way, Ayano leaning against the wall to catch her breath. Mina stood up, making sure Sho was alright before the two continued their own sparring. Regardless of how badly Ayano had hurt Sho, he was still fine enough to fight one of the best in their club just fine. Sho was second to Budo but still so much weaker. Ayano wondered how much exactly it would take to defeat him if Budo did become an enemy to her.

“You know, you’d really make such a good addition to the club.” Budo insists, smiling down at Ayano. “I know, you probably expect me to say that as a leader. Gotta get other people in and all that, but you show honest potential.” He says, folding his arms. “Where’d you learn to fight like that anyway?”

Ayano hummed in thought, turning to look at the window in the club room. “My mother trained me. She has a lot of friends that were experienced in self-defense, weapon use, and..” Ayano blinks, almost going into her lessons of hiding blood and whatnot, “...a lot. About the body, its limits, and so on.”

Budo smiles. “I guess that’s why you have such a good balance in your body, right?” He asks. As Ayano lifts an eyebrow his way, he holds a hand up to her. “A smaller, thinner but still very strong body. It’s not too common, you know. And you seem to wield it exceptionally well.”

“Yes, probably.” Ayano says simply. Now that her body had slowed back down, she began thinking of what else she needed to do.

“That reminds me!” Budo starts loudly, making Ayano flinch. He immediately quiets back down and continued, “You wanted to help Raibaru and I, right? Since you’ve finished my club’s… uh, tasks, I guess I can give you the gist, right?” He says, leading her outside of the clubroom.

The martial artist closes the door and exhales, his voice exceptionally quieter than before. “You see, my students say they appreciate my training, but I feel like there’s… more that I could do for them. I know I’ve pushed them farther than they’re used to and the majority of them have excelled because of that, but I’d… well, I guess I’d like some advice?” Budo says, seeming more awkward than before.

“Advice from Raibaru?” Ayano guesses, tilting her head to the side as she crosses her arms. Budo nods, an awkward smile on his face.

“As you probably know, Raibaru was my old mentor. She founded the club, even, and was amazing at what she did. After I beat her, she quit, saying that she wanted to step away from martial arts anyway, and left the position to me.” Budo explained, frowning, “I guess I’m just worried that my beating her contributed to her leaving. So, I’ve never bothered attempting to ask her for help. Just in case she really did loathe me for taking her place.” He pauses in thought, before raising a hand to the back of his neck and smiling awkwardly. “I guess that’s pretty pathetic, right? She did give me the position, after all.”

“A little.” Ayano comments honestly, causing Budo to laugh. She folds her arms behind her back awkwardly, realizing that she probably shouldn’t say anything rude, even if in her mind it was the absolute truth. “I’m sorry. What would you like me to do?” She asks.

Budo smiles once more. “You’re a funny one, Ayano.” He comments, “But all in all, if you could go to Raibaru and ask her to give me and the club some tips, I would appreciate it a lot. Whenever you can.” He claims, folding his arms in his usual manner.

Ayano nods. “I understand. I’ll see what I can do.” She bows her head briefly. “Thank you for having me.”

“Anytime!” Budo says happily. “You’re welcome here whenever you so please, Aya!” He calls as Ayano leaves to plan her next move.

“Huh..? A-Are you sure?” Ayano asks, feigning a timid persona. Hopefully, this helped to mask her absolute rage from Osana and Raibaru.

Raibaru nods as Osana enters the girl’s changing rooms. “It’s lunch time right now, so they’re probably eating. I’ll definitely make sure to visit after cleaning time, though.” She smiles, “I’ll be happy to start talking to him again. I admit, after he beat me I was feeling a bit discouraged, hehe…”

Ayano’s eyes widen in anger, but she turns her head in an attempt to mask it. “Right… Budo said that he was worried that you might be upset with him. I think it’s really eating away at him. Surely you can go and have a word with him?” She insisted quietly.

“Budo’s tough, as far as I’m concerned.” Raibaru giggles, referring again to her defeat by his hand. “I’m sure he can wait a couple more hours. If you’re so worried about it, then you can go tell Budo to meet me after cleaning time.” She offers.

Osana walks back out, now in a swimsuit that resembled the pattern of her hair ties, “I’ll see you out at the pool Raibaru.” She says, patting her friends back, “Strange that Musume and her friends didn’t come, though…” She hums nonchalantly, heading towards the pool.

Raibaru waves to Osana cheerily before smiling at Ayano and heading inside of the changing room. God, Raibaru was alone. If only Ayano was strong enough to take her, this whole process would be so much easier! For now, Ayano balled her fists and followed Raibaru in. Maybe she would have a chance if she was there with them? Maybe Raibaru would spontaneously decide to drown in the pool and leave Osana alone with Ayano.

The only thing Ayano could do was take Osana’s phone, which she had left in her locker. Osana had planned on taking a nap during cleaning time before leaving with Taro for whatever blasted “date” they had planned. Maybe if she trashed her phone, she wouldn’t have any way of keeping track of the time while she was sleeping? Info-Chan had told Ayano that Raibaru often kept her phone silent, and on most occasions simply didn’t bring her phone to school, devoting her full attention to Osana whenever possible.

Ayano sighs as she approaches her locker, before getting a notification on her phone. As she dreaded, it was Info-Chan.

Info-Chan: Ha ha.

Yan-Chan: Info, you are being absolutely useless right now.

Info-Chan: At least my plans were properly thought out.

Info-Chan: In the end, as per usual, it was your own incompetence that led to you failing once again.

Yan-Chan: What sort of informant are you if you don’t give me the information I need? All of it? I provided you payment.

Info-Chan: You’re the one who chose to execute this at lunch.

Info-Chan: If you had distracted Raibaru beforehand and gained Osana’s trust, you could have killed her by this morning and had her body set ablaze in the incinerator.

Info-Chan: And yet :(

If Info-Chan weren’t reliable in any way shape or form, Ayano would storm that damned info club of hers.

As Info-Chan had teased, Ayano got no opportunity to eliminate Osana. All she got in the end was a light tan and an imprint of her hand on her wrist due to her pent up rage.

After school, as Taro waited for Osana, Ayano waited with him. She knew that she wouldn’t come, of course, unless Raibaru decided that Osana’s beauty sleep was less important than their date.

In the end, Ayano was only disappointed once again as Taro went inside the school to go check on her. Following him proved that he indeed found her asleep, and as any wonderful bunch of friends, they rescheduled for the weekend. Another failure, even with Ayano sabotaging Osana.

One day remained. One day before Ayano was forced to do something drastic.

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wrecking-man · 9 months

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Komi-san Can't Adventure Chapter 46 - New Years

Click here to read the full chapter on AO3.

Winding back time, ever so little.

Still January 1st, just a few minutes past midnight.

The Tadano family had spent their New Years Eve at the Tadano ancestral home.

...Najimi went too as a matter of course.

The air was brisk and lively as the Tadano siblings and Najimi strolled through the sparsely-crowded Jinja Shrine that was located nearby. They were all bundled up in various warm outfits, and they were generally having a good time partaking in various New Years activities.

Tadano’s butt was somewhat sore at the moment, however... They had been playing one of Najimi’s strange, made up games—a twist on the classic ‘you laugh, you lose’ style of games... only this one involved a ‘butt bat’, with which you were spanked any time you dared laugh. Whomever laughed the least, would be rewarded with the largest bonus to their New Years allowance.

Despite Hitomi and Najimi still being so light on their feet, and seemingly not suffering at all from the bat’s aftereffects, Tadano was well in the lead with there being no chance at all of his win being usurped. Najimi’s laugh count was well into the triple digits already, whereas Tadano had only laughed a mere 9 times so far.

He was not at all focused on the game, however. None of them really were... At least not outside of Najimi and Hitomi eagerly smacking each other any time so much as a single chuckle was uttered.

At best, Tadano was only able to offer up half of his attention to the antics his sister and Najimi were engaged in. He was too preoccupied with another matter that was of much higher precedence to him... Deciding what he should say in his New Years message to Komi.

It was supposed to be nothing more than a simple message ringing in the new year, so why was it that he was getting so nervous...?

He tried to rationalize it in his head as he repeatedly tried to compose an acceptable message. Erasing and retyping; adding, and later removing emojis...

Yes, the message was too boring... Perhaps it just needed some color to be festive...? She could also be asleep! It was never anything but a reason like this or that which prevented him from sending the message and being done with it.

It was freezing outside, but he was sweating bullets as he stared at his latest draft... His hands trembled with embarrassment as he quickly erased yet another potential message.

He gulped and nearly had a heart attack as he envisioned Komi’s uncomfortable reaction to that last one... It was absolutely littered with emojis—one was, daringly enough, a kissing emoji... (I-it was a misinput!)

He cringed, and felt a part of him die inside just thinking about it.

Why was it so hard to hit send...?! It was just a silly New Years message! He screamed in his heart.

“We scored a major haul!” Najimi laughed loudly while holding up bags of mochi, “Whatcha doing, Tadano-kun...?” Najimi was immediately spanked with the butt bat in Hitomi’s hands.

“Oh, nothing,” Tadano said as he quickly hid his phone behind his back in the most conspicuous way.

“Onii-chan, they’re handing out sweet sake over there. It’s cold, so let’s get some!” Hitomi suggested with a laugh. The sound of a butt bat smack reverberated throughout the shine grounds.

Giving up on writing his message, Tadano put his phone away for the time being. He would just have to try again later.

“Sure. After we pray,” he answered Hitomi with a warm smile. Lately he had been completely absorbed in his adventurer training, and had been staying at the Slumbering Colossus Inn in Itan full time rather than at home in Mura Village, so it was nice spending time with his sister like this. It was a refreshing change of pace after having not seen her for some time...

The three of them slowly made their way towards the center of the shrine, and came to a giant gateway called a torii that acted as a boundary between the human world and sacred ground. It was constructed out of cypress wood, and was painted a beautiful orange-red.

Tadano and Hitomi kept to the side as they went through it, as all mortals with any sense did, but Najimi brazenly walked through the center of it—as was Najimi’s right as a god.

Next, they ascended a long set of stairs and cleansed their hands and mouth at the temizuya at the top to purify themselves. It was a small pavilion housing a stone basin. Clean water flowed into the basin from the mouth of a small dragon-shaped fountain, and drained out into gods know where...

Continuing along the straight, stone-bricked path laid out in front of them, they passed several stone lanterns, and statues of ‘lion dogs’ called komainu that were evenly spaced along their left and right. They kept going, stopping only once they had finally made it to the offertory box near the heart of the shrine.

The main worship hall of the shrine was beautiful, as was the main sanctuary behind it. Just like the torii, they were largely constructed out of cypress wood, and painted the same rich and distinct bright orange-red. Their gently-sloped roofs were black.

Tadano made a slight bow towards the offertory box, then pulled out a gold coin and tossed it in.

It was perhaps a bit rich for his blood, but over the last few months he had received so much... Experienced so much... In doing this, he felt as though he was giving back at least something somehow.

He bowed deeply twice, then clapped twice slowly and prayed with his eyes closed, just as he had done in previous years...

He was saddled with many doubts and concerns about his responsibilities as Najimi’s apostle, but they were more or less all at the back of his mind until now.

He occasionally wondered if how things were going was good enough... He wouldn’t dare ask, of course, even if given the opportunity. He was too afraid of what the answer might be... He was dealing with gods, after all. They surely had a higher set of standards than a mere mortal like him could possibly live up to...

When Tadano opened his eyes, he suddenly found that he had been transported elsewhere...

One moment he was at the shrine, and the next he was standing in front of a booth inside a dimly-lit diner.

The diner was wholly unfamiliar... He had certainly never been there before. In fact, it looked nothing at all like any kind of restaurant he was accustomed to.

The table of each booth was made of wood, and rectangular in shape. They were just a bit wider than they were long, and they all had a bottle of ketchup and mustard on them, as well as a metal pitcher.

The seats were teal, and they were cushioned. Just not overly soft...

Much of the rest of the room was bathed in gentle greens and browns, although the yellow lighting from the sole source of light in the diner had made it difficult to discern the true colors of Tadano’s new environment.

Along the far wall in front of him was a massive painting of a forest and mountain landscape—the very same mountain range and sacred forest that surrounded the Jinja Shrine, though there was a lone cabin in the midst of it all that he could not recognize.

The diner was incredibly warm compared to the cold winter air he had just come in from, so he quickly stored his coat and scarf away to reveal the casual orange shirt with long sleeves he was wearing underneath. On his shirt was a small white logo with three curved lines in the top left corner, and the words ‘THE NORMAL FACE’ were written next to it in all caps.

Sitting at the booth in front of him was a person... The term ‘person’ is used loosely here, however. Other than being vaguely man-shaped, the entity in question had no discernible features whatsoever—oh, aside from the radiant light that seemed to make up the entirety of its being...

Tadano had tried not to look directly at him, as that could be considered rude under the circumstances... But the entity was eye-catching to say the least, and he was the first thing Tadano saw when he first opened his eyes.

In other words, it was an exercise in futility from the very beginning.

Unexpectedly, Tadano felt at ease as he stood in the presence of the glowing man... He would have thought that a somewhat unknown being such as this would instill in him at least some level of fear, if not outright terror, but instead there was a strange feeling of familiarity as the entity politely gestured for him to sit.

Tadano breathed a calm, but uncertain breath as he cautiously sat across what he could only conclude was a god...

Tadano smiled, and then greeted him in the tone of a question... “Todd-sama?”

He almost let out a small, incredulous laugh, but he had been conditioned not to do so in the past few hours.

It was only a guess, of course, but what other gods besides Todd and Najimi would have any interest in talking to someone like him?

He could rule out Najimi to some degree, so Todd was the only one that made any level of sense.

The glow of the man dimmed, and his facade eventually gave way to reveal his identity as the ceiling lights above them came on.

He smirked and said, “Yeah, it’s me...”

Todd was wearing a black shirt and khaki blazer combo with light blue jeans. His hair was as majestic as ever, as his luscious curls fluttered about in the nonexistent wind.

“Have you been well?” Todd asked, casually leaning back into his seat.

Small talk... “I-I can’t really complain,” Tadano answered.

“That’s good. That’s good...” Todd nodded.

“What can I get you two?” asked another man as he approached their table. He leaned down and rested both of his hands on the outer corners of the table, then flashed them a charming smile.

He was wearing a white button up shirt and dark blue jeans... He looked exactly the same as Todd, except his hair naturally curled in the opposite direction.

“H-Howard-sama?” Tadano asked with an anxious smile.

“Yeah, that’s me,” answered the god of adventure as he handed Tadano a menu.

“O-oh... Uhhh...” Tadano said nervously, suddenly feeling put under pressure. He quickly looked over the options on the menu...

There was a wide variety of breakfast dishes to choose from. They were all from Omorika, however, and he had never tried Omorikan cuisine before, so he wasn’t really sure what to order.

“I’ll just have the... bacon and eggs, sunny side up...” He repeated the words from the menu verbatim... It was the most familiar choice. There were prices listed beside each option, but he just assumed that this meal was on the house... He was technically there against his will, after all.

“I’ll have my usual,” Todd said to his twin. He then placed a god coin on the table.

The coin seemed to be made of compressed light, just as Todd did moments before, only the coin was bright white with the smallest hint of blue instead of yellow. It was almost like staring at a miniature sun, though it did not hurt Tadano’s eyes... Its material composition aside, the coin still appeared to maintain the other typical characteristics of a coin.

“Don’t worry,” Todd assured Tadano, “It’s on me.”

“...Just what kind of bacon and eggs am I about to eat?” Tadano asked... The words just sort of fell out of his mouth.

“The normal kind,” Todd answered with a smirk.

(They were the normal kind.)

...

The two ate, and made more small talk.

Over the course of several minutes, it became fairly obvious to Tadano that he was being stalled for time. He was curious as to why, but he figured there had to be some kind of reason behind it, so he did not press for immediate answers.

Eventually, the door of the diner opened and a small bell attached at the top jingled.

A middle-aged man stumbled inside... immediately followed by his wife, who entered normally.

Pretending not to notice him, his wife looked up at the bell and tilted her head to inspect it. She was trying to keep a straight face, but still ended up smiling.

As the man stumbled forward, he dropped three bizarre-looking fruits onto the floor.

...They were pineapples.

Tadano had never seen this particular variety of pineapple before, but everyone knows what a pineapple looks like, right...? The main difference that stood out about these was the leaves growing out from the crown. They were long and thin like needles—and every bit as sharp, so watch out!

These needle-like leaves were originally tightly woven around the beautiful, golden-yellow rind as a natural defense against various insects and other beastie-boys that might be looking for a snack. They were held in place by small hook-like outgrowths along the rind.

When the pineapples had hit the floor, the leaves all shook loose, and as a result they ended up somewhat resembling porcupines.

“Oh, my poor key pines!” the middle-aged man cried as he squatted down, frantically sweeping them up into his left arm.

Tadano was just about to ask the man (god?) if he was alright... But then the man grinned directly at him, winked, and flashed a peace sign by his right eye as he posed with his hairy-looking pineapples as if he were taking a photo.

“Sorry, I’ve been waiting all year to make that pun,” the man said as he stood straight up without further delay.

His wife shook her head, but she was still smiling.

Oh. So it was a joke...

The married couple strode over to the table neighboring Tadano’s on his right, but they had no intention of sitting—not just yet, anyways. They were merely leaving Tadano plenty of room to get to his feet.

“Come. Let us have a good look at you,” the woman pleaded as she motioned for Tadano to stand.

Blue jeans seemed to be especially popular among the gods, because she was wearing a pair of light ones too. Hers were ever so slightly torn in a few places, however—on purpose, mind you. It was stylish, she thought... They were held in place by a brown belt, though she didn’t truly need it given how snugly they hugged her still-youthful figure. (It was stylish, she thought...)

She was also wearing a ribbed black t-shirt, with a pair of sunglasses folded over the neck line. She didn’t often wear the sunglasses, but... It was stylish, she thought...

Tadano looked up at the married couple for a brief moment, and then reluctantly got up.

It’s not so much that he didn’t want to. It’s just that he had no idea what was going on at this point... He almost felt as if he were being considered for adoption.

That was certainly not the case, but that is what this little assessment felt like...

There was a peculiar, yet comforting warmth that radiated from the woman as she lightly squeezed at his biceps and gave him a little shake while looking him over... She was all smiles, hardly able to contain her glee. “I’m Misa, by the way,” she introduced herself in a sweet, silky-smooth voice as she tidied up his hair a bit.

If not for her long, wavy black hair that was beginning to grey, and her barely-noticeable wrinkles, he would have no reason to assume that she was any older than 17... She wasn’t old at heart in the slightest. In that regard, she reminded him of Komi’s mother.

He couldn’t help but blush as Misa gave him a warm hug as her final act of ‘inspection’.

...He did not hate it.

Tadano had no idea who these gods were. Or if they were even gods at all, to be perfectly frank. He was assuming yes, however, based on the ease with which they were mingling amongst the two reigning gods, Todd and Howard.

“I hope you’re not trading me in for a newer model...” her husband joked.

He was leaning back, with his butt resting against his table. His hands were in the pockets of his brown military pants. He was wearing a light grey shirt with two buttons at the top, and on top of that, a brown leather jacket.

He was in a constant state of shifting from one photogenic pose to another whenever he moved or did anything, as if he was always prepared to have his picture taken.

His porcu’pineapples were resting on the table behind him.

His greying black hair was short, but not too short, and it was in the style of a loose pompadour.

“He is quite handsome,” Misa joked back, then made room for her husband to introduce himself.

“Sorry about all this,” the man said with a genial smile as he stepped forward and put out his hand to shake Tadano’s. “I’m sure you must be quite confused.”

Tadano reluctantly shook his hand and smiled back. “Maybe just a little...” he answered.

“I’m Keys Tonin...” he introduced himself, “Our Sara has told us a great deal about you and your friends. We just wanted to meet you, and thank you for everything you’ve done for her.”

A light came on in Tadano’s head, and suddenly things made a lot more sense. “You’re Sara’s parents?” he asked.

“Yes... Well, sort of,” Misa answered. “I’m sure she must have told you something of her circumstances...”

“W-well, I never asked her for the details,” Tadano said, “...It didn’t feel right to pry. I just remember her telling us that you found her and took her in about 10 years ago after she’d lost her memory... and then it only just recently returned...”

“Yes...” Misa said, “My poor baby girl. She’s been through so much... But we can rest easy knowing that she’s found such good disciples like you.” She beamed a wide smile at him, making him blush again.

She made playful poking motions with one of her hands as if she were going to tickle him or something. He could feel his stomach tense up out of reflex whenever her hand drew near.

“We’re looking forward to meeting your other friends as well,” Keys added, “but that will have to wait until later... We were only able to meet you like this now because you happened to be praying at a shrine.”

“I-I see...” Tadano replied sheepishly. So that’s why... “I don’t really think I’ve done anything to warrant praise, but Sara is a good friend of ours... She’s like family.”

He wanted to tell them that Sara was in good hands and that they didn’t have anything to worry about... just to put them at ease in case they had any remaining concerns about how she was doing... but then he thought the better of it. Him saying something like that would no doubt give them the wrong idea, and he dared not allow something like that to happen.

To begin with, he wouldn’t have been referring to just himself with that kind of statement, but to Komi and Najimi as well. Not to mention Sara’s countless other friends...

He also didn’t believe there was a single thing he, personally, could do for her that she couldn’t simply do for herself and with far greater ease—so it was best to avoid giving them the impression that he thought of himself as anything more than her disciple...

Though I did just call her family. I guess that’s a bit presumptuous of me, isn’t it...?

“Don’t sell yourself short, kid,” Keys said with an air of confidence, almost as though he could read Tadano’s mind, “For her to adore you like she does, that speaks volumes about your character.” He bumped his fist on Tadano’s heart.

On an instinctive level, Tadano wanted to argue against that. He really couldn’t see anything that great about himself that would make someone as amazing as Sara ‘adore’ him in the first place... In fact, what he really wanted to do was deny that she even adored him at all.

That was not something that could be denied, however. Not by anyone of sane mind, anyways... Even Tadano himself was forced to acknowledge it to an extent after some reflection...

Still, those deep-seated insecurities of his were not going to be resolved by a few honeyed words—especially not when those honeyed words were coming from someone he had only just met minutes ago... It didn’t matter that they were backed by some degree of evidence.

Tadano knew he was at a disadvantage here and completely unable to argue back, so he just smiled in response—it was the path of least resistance... He really had nothing to say for himself. And even if he did have something witty to say in self-offense, it would only make the gods think less of him.

...He had to wonder if that was truly what he wanted. And if so, why.

With the mood having turned into this weird, uncomfortable and awkward mess, he quickly decided to try changing the subject. Anything at all was better than continuing to discuss whatever merits his character had or did not have... Being the center of attention like this was making him a little sick to his stomach, truth be told.

“Err... So what’s going on ‘down there’ while I’m here, anyway?” he asked, “Am I still standing there praying, or was I teleported?”

Todd raised his hand for a moment and said, “I can answer that.”

On the table in front of him was a stack of seven empty plates that had absolutely no bearing on the plot... He had just eaten a lot.

Everyone slowly turned to listen to his explanation. Keys and Misa took this opportunity to take their seats.

“Within the shrine grounds, time has been dilated, or stretched to the point it may as well have stopped entirely,” Todd continued, “You’re still there. But you are also here.”

“I don’t quite get it, but I think I’m following you,” Tadano said.

“...I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of a toy called a ‘sticky hand’?” Todd asked as a red one materialized in his right hand. It was made of a certain type of resin, and it was somewhat translucent. It was also considerably stretchy.

He dangled it from one end of its ‘arm’ that was several centimeters in length. On the other end was a proportionally-large hand, and it was sticky—thus the name.

“I haven’t...” Tadano answered. What does that have to do with his explanation?

Todd looked at him for a moment in silence before continuing, “Anyways...”

He swung his arm downward in the direction of the table Keys and Misa were now sitting at, and the ‘hand’ of his sticky hand slapped against it with a satisfying smack. It stayed firmly in place where it made contact.

“Hey, watch out for my key pines,” Keys joked.

“Don’t worry. I’m not aiming for your poor key pines,” Todd shot back with a smirk... “Tadano-kun, this sticky hand represents your connection with this place... In this scenario, you, yourself, are the table... firmly rooted in place—does that make any sense?”

“...I guess so,” Tadano said, though he could not help but hesitate when answering, “I just don’t understand how I’m in two places at once.”

“It just works,” Todd asserted with a smile. “Think of the ‘you’ standing here as just a bundled up mass of memories... or your soul given a temporary physical form... You could call it a spiritual body if you like... Your true body remains at the shrine, but your mind and heart are here with us for the time being.”

Todd’s explanation, while amusing, was good enough for Tadano to get the gist of what they did to bring him there. He didn’t exactly understand how it worked, however, and he probably never would... It’s probably something that only a god can comprehend, right...?

Like Todd said though, ‘it just works’... That was good enough for him.

“I see. So you grabbed my soul with a sticky hand...” Tadano joked as if he were saying something profound. He had his hand to his chin and everything. Or maybe calling it a ‘god hand’ would be more precise...? He squinted his eyes slightly in thought.

“Sure...” Todd joked back. “It is about time we send you back though, I suppose... Spacetime shouldn’t be messed with for long or you can end up with all kinds of unforeseen consequences...”

“Oh! Tadano-kun, before you go,” Keys immediately spoke up, “I want you to have these...” He gestured to the key pines sitting on his table with both hands. “Give one each to Najimi and Komi-san in my place, would you?”

“...Sure,” Tadano said with a humble smile. It would probably do no good to reject the small gift of fruit, so he didn’t bother trying... It was the path of least resistance.

He stored the three pineapples into his storage dimension with a slow sideways swipe of his hand.

“And keep it a surprise from Sara that we’re coming to visit later, won’t you?” Misa asked sweetly as she grabbed Tadano’s hand and started petting it, “Though chances are she’ll know we’re coming regardless.”

Tadano blushed. “A-alright. I will...”

“And get back to work,” Howard joked with his arms crossed. He was leaning against the side of his brother’s booth.

“...Right,” Tadano smiled back.

Todd let go of his end of the sticky hand, and as it snapped back into itself on Keys’ table, so too did Tadano snap back to reality.

Click here to read the full chapter on AO3.

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