Chapter 189: Evil Female Executive ~For the First Time~ (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 189: Evil Female Executive ~For the First Time~ (1)
Entering a new environment was always nerve-wracking; no matter how many times she experienced it, she never grew used to it. While she had developed many ways to adapt to new surroundings, a young child could not easily handle the fatigue brought on by frequent change.
Such was the case for the young girl. Even before starting elementary school, her parents' frequent business trips to the provinces forced her to move often, and each time, she had to change kindergartens. The situation didn't improve much after she entered elementary school.
At some point, realizing that any friends she made would soon be left behind, the girl stopped believing her parents when they said this move would be the last. The word "last" was never truly the last.
"This is Seira, who will be studying with us starting today."
Seira bowed her head at the homeroom teacher’s words and greeted her new classmates, but she had no particular desire to become close to them. It was obvious she would be leaving this place in a few months anyway.
Following the teacher's guidance, Seira sat in an empty seat. She sat there blankly for a moment before glancing at the seat next to her, which was also empty. There were signs that someone had been using it until recently, but even though the morning assembly had begun, the seat remained vacant, as if the student hadn't arrived yet.
She stared at the empty seat with a pouty expression before turning her gaze back to the front.
No one sat in that seat until the end of the school day. It almost felt as if they had intentionally sat her next to a seat no one used, and not a single person mentioned the vacancy.
Seira didn't ask about it either. She would be moving again soon, so there was no reason to get friendly just because someone sat next to her.
When she returned home, she was greeted by an empty house. Her parents were at work, and being alone when she got home from school was a familiar situation for Seira.
She tossed her bag into her room on the second floor and sat by the window, looking outside. In the streets lined with numerous houses, she could see children who had finished school.
She watched the children running around in a wide yard, but she felt no envy or desire to play with them.
"Huh?"
As she scanned the scenery outside the window, something rather peculiar caught Seira's eye. It was a boy standing in the middle of the street.
Behind the other children running around in practical play clothes, his attire went beyond "practical" and could only be described as "free."
He was wearing shorts, which wasn't strange given the sweltering weather, but that was it. The boy was wearing nothing but those shorts, and his hair was sticking out in every direction like a bird's nest.
At a glance, he looked like a homeless person, but the boy wasn't dirty, nor did he look like someone wandering without a home.
As she watched the mysterious boy intently through the window, their eyes met. The boy, who had been moving around and looking here and there, discovered Seira watching him through the glass and waved his arm.
"Me?"
When she pointed to herself and asked, the boy saw the shape of her lips and nodded.
Flustered but curious, Seira left her room and went down to the first floor.
As she reached for the door, the thought occurred to her: What if he’s a weird kid? A boy wandering around shirtless in nothing but shorts was already strange enough.
However, in this unfamiliar environment, the boy—who looked even more out of place than she felt—piqued Seira's curiosity. She slowly opened the door.
But there was no one outside. Had he disappeared in that short moment, or had she seen wrong? The boy who had been in the street outside the yard just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
"Whoa!"
"Kyaak!"
Just as she was about to close the door, someone appeared from behind it and grabbed the handle. Startled, Seira instinctively swung her fist and clocked the boy right in the jaw.
"Guh-urk!"
Hearing the sound of the boy tumbling backward after being hit, Seira belatedly realized his identity. It was the shirtless boy who had been outside the yard.
"I'm sorry! Are you okay?"
"No. I don't think I'm okay."
She rushed to check on the fallen boy. He stood up, rubbing the cheek where she had punched him.
Facing the strange boy, Seira took a step back, eyeing the mysterious figure.
"You're the kid who moved in yesterday, right?"
"Yeah."
The boy grinned widely, showing interest in Seira.
"I live over there."
The boy pointed toward a house in the distance. It was a house located one block away. Seira looked at the house he pointed to, then looked back at the boy and gave a silent nod.
"Okay. But why did you say hi to me?"
"If a new kid moves into the neighborhood, you've gotta get to know them."
From Seira's perspective, this was an incomprehensible idea. She had seen many children while moving around, but no one had ever gone out of their way to befriend a kid who didn't even come outside after moving in.
"But how did you get in? The yard gate is locked."
"I climbed the wall."
Seira was speechless at the boy's casual admission of scaling the fence. Climbing over a wall meant he had trespassed, yet the boy seemed to think his feat was something impressive.
"It's a secret from my mom and dad, though. I already got kicked out, and if they hear I climbed another wall, they might strip me buck naked and kick me out for real this time."
"Kicked out?"
"Yeah. I just got kicked out of the house a little while ago."
She scanned the boy from head to toe. He was wearing shorts over a pair of roughly shoved-on sneakers, with no shirt. Above his bright, clear eyes, his hair was unkempt and sticking out like a bird's nest.
"Since I was kicked out anyway, I was going to play with my friends, but I decided to stop by since you moved in yesterday."
"But why were you kicked out?"
"I was playing at the hideout and forgot to go to school."
Watching the boy calmly explain that he had played so much he forgot to attend school, Seira instinctively felt that he was someone she shouldn't get close to.
"You want to play too?"
"No, I'm fine."
She tried to head back inside before getting involved any further, but the boy didn't seem to care about her answer.
"Let's go."
"Huh?!"
He grabbed Seira's arm and immediately started running toward the street. Flustered by the boy's sudden action, Seira didn't even think to pull her arm away.
"I'm A. What's your name?"
"Seira."
The first meeting between A and Seira was sudden and bewildering. It was a situation that could have felt invasive, but Seira found herself unable to shake off A's hand as he ran, gripping her arm with a bright smile.
A, still holding Seira's hand, arrived at a park located on one side of the neighborhood. It wasn't far—she could even see it from her house—and children were gathered there, playing.
"Hey!"
When A shouted loudly from the park entrance while holding Seira's hand, all the children's eyes focused on them. Seira gulped nervously as she felt their gazes on her as well as A.
"What? A, did you get kicked out again today?"
"What do you mean 'again'? I only got kicked out three times last week."
It seemed A getting kicked out was a frequent occurrence, as the children weren't surprised. Already well-accustomed to it, they didn't even mind that A wasn't wearing a shirt. They approached A and then looked at Seira.
"Who's she?"
"The kid who just moved in."
"The house from yesterday?"
"Yeah. Her name is Seira. Her age is... how old are you?"
A, who had been introducing Seira on her behalf, couldn't continue because he didn't know anything other than her name. He turned to Seira and asked.
Seira, who had no intention of getting along with the local kids, was simply bewildered by the situation. She broke into a cold sweat, tense under the curious gazes of the children.
"Seira?"
"Huh? What?"
"How old are you?"
"Me? I'm nine."
"Nine? You're the same age as me!"
Whether he noticed her discomfort or not, A raised his voice in delight at the fact that they were the same age. And upon realizing the new kid was a girl, the girls in the park began to creep closer, showing interest.
"We're going to play hide-and-seek now. Who's in?"
As A shouted to the gathering crowd, the children, eager for something to do, raised their hands and said they would join.
"Then A is 'it'! Count to a hundred and find us!"
"Why am I 'it'?!"
One child made the first move, and the others began to scatter simultaneously. A shouted that it was unfair for him to be 'it' so suddenly, but the excited children had no intention of listening to him.
"You're all dead meat."
A, watching the scattering children with a determined look as if he would catch every single one, looked at Seira, who was standing still beside him.
"You hide too, Seira."
"Uh..."
He finally let go of her hand and covered his eyes with his palms.
"One. Two..."
He began to count slowly. Seira, glancing around, ran off to find a place to hide.
Having finished counting in no time, A shouted, "Ready or not, here I come!"
Soon, shouts of "Found you!" and groans of "Aw, man!" could be heard from various spots. Seira, tucked away in a corner, stayed still, filled with the tension of not knowing when she might be discovered.
Because so many children were participating, it took A quite a while to find everyone. Feeling that she would be found soon, Seira suddenly wondered why she was even doing this.
Everything had happened so fast that she hadn't had time to think. By the time she regained her senses, she was part of a group of playing children. But Seira, who had resolved not to make friends, faced a dilemma.
It wasn't that Seira didn't want to make friends. Like any other child her age, she wanted to play outside and make connections, but the knowledge that she might move at any moment held her back.
To Seira, who had already experienced parting with friends several times, making a new friend was synonymous with preparing for a looming farewell.
I should just go home.
She reached the conclusion that it was better not to get close if they were just going to part anyway. But the moment she tried to stand up to head home—
"Found you."
Startled by the voice right next to her, she whipped her head around. The shirtless A was grinning, looking accomplished at having found her.
"I found everyone!"
With Seira being the last one, A had found all the hidden children, and Seira had missed her chance to escape.
"Um... I..."
The moment Seira tried to say something, A grabbed her hand.
"Let's go."
And then he ran back toward where the other children were.
The rest of the afternoon was just as chaotic. A tirelessly found new things to do and called the children together, introducing Seira to every new child who arrived.
Whenever she thought about going home after a game, A would find her with uncanny precision. It was only when the sun began to set that playtime finally ended. Exhausted, Seira walked out of the park side-by-side with A toward their homes.
"How was it? Was it fun?"
"Yeah."
In the end, she was still just a young child who loved to run and play. Although she had thought about going home throughout the day, she had genuinely enjoyed herself.
However, she felt that if she played with him any more, they would become closer, and it would only make things harder later.
"Let's play together tomorrow too."
Looking at A as he spoke with a beaming smile, she couldn't find it in her to refuse. But since she couldn't bring herself to say yes either, Seira simply gave a silent nod.
A watched Seira enter her yard through the gate, waved goodbye, and then headed toward his own house. Seira stood still for a moment, watching A run off under the sky stained by the setting sun.
*
The next day at school.
Seira worried about what to do today. The seat next to her was still empty.
The children arrived one by one, and even when the homeroom teacher entered and the morning assembly began, the seat remained vacant.
"Hello!"
"...A!"
In the middle of the assembly, someone burst through the door. As soon as the homeroom teacher saw the boy—A—she shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Why weren't you here yesterday?"
"I was playing and forgot about school!"
The teacher looked aghast at A's bold declaration, while the rest of the class burst into laughter, filling the room with noise.
"Just go to your seat for now. Come to the office after assembly."
"No way! I'll get in trouble if I go to the office."
"Then you should have come to school!"
A bounded over to his seat like a bouncing rubber ball and smiled at Seira, who was staring at him from the next desk.
"Hi."
In that moment, Seira realized something. As long as she lived in this neighborhood, escaping A's orbit was going to be impossible.