Chapter 46: A Gentle World
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 46: A Gentle World
Afterward, Sasha approached her father, who had been knocked unconscious by the blow to his jaw, and told me she would handle the rest, so I should go.
I offered her my phone number, telling her to call if anything happened, but Sasha was the one to refuse.
She said she would contact me herself if she needed to.
With nothing more I could do, I told her I understood. After bidding farewell to Fuma-senpai, who had helped me, at the subway station, I headed home.
And the next day.
The moment I opened my eyes in the morning, I clutched my head, agonizing over what had happened yesterday.
What was I thinking, saying those things...?
It was as if I’d been possessed.
Even if this was the world of a manga, I thought I had at least some common sense. I couldn't believe I had lost control to that extent.
Most of it was self-defense, but if I had gotten into a fight like that in my original world, I would have been thrown in jail, no questions asked.
Just in case, I searched the internet using keywords related to yesterday's events.
‘Akihabara’, ‘Ueno Park’, ‘Russians’, ‘brawl’
But not a single one of them yielded any results on the search portals.
The fight between me and the Russians, which had happened in broad daylight, had been thoroughly covered up as if it had never occurred.
That fact sent a slight chill down my spine.
It seemed Sasha was right—the nation of Japan itself had taken the lead in suppressing the information.
It was also a testament to the immense power of the multinational corporation, the Easter Egg Company.
Besides the major portals, I scoured relatively smaller community forums, but it was the same story there.
On a whim, I checked the inner pocket of my hoodie.
Thankfully, the 2 million yen Sasha had given me was still there.
So it wasn't a fucking dream, then.
In any case, I had no way of contacting her myself. For now, all I could do was wait endlessly for her to call.
Lying on the floor and staring blankly at the ceiling, I noticed my body felt incredibly stiff and sore.
This must be the aftereffect Fuma-senpai had mentioned.
I definitely felt more drained than usual.
The lethargy I felt from the morning might also be a lingering side effect of that red pill.
Fortunately, there were still four days of Golden Week left, so I had plenty of time before I had to go back to school. Still, just in case, I decided I should avoid any intense exercise for the time being.
Having made up my mind, I remembered I had been too exhausted to even wash up before bed last night. I grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom.
*
Friday, May 5, 2017.
Golden Week, a nine-day holiday, was slowly coming to an end.
After this weekend, it was back to school again.
Today was Children's Day, and families with boys would hang carp-shaped streamers called koinobori from their balconies.
Well, it was something I only knew about from general knowledge; I’d never actually done it myself.
"Seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine…"
While doing some light bodyweight exercises, I kept glancing at my smartphone screen, but there was still no word from Sasha, who had disappeared with her father two days ago.
Maybe she had gone back to her hometown in Russia for her father's treatment.
"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!"
I wiped the light sheen of sweat from my torso with a towel.
It seemed a single day of rest wasn't enough for my body to fully recover. I still felt completely drained of strength.
If my usual condition was a 10, right now I was probably at a 2 or 3.
And by my standards, that was a generous estimate.
After helping my parents at the store and having lunch, I decided I couldn't just leave the money I got from Sasha lying around in a corner of my room. I put on a baseball cap and went out to deposit it in my bank account.
Perhaps because it was Children's Day, the flower-lined streets were bustling with families.
May 5th was probably the day family restaurants sold the most kids' meals, wasn't it?
The bank I usually used was inside an arcade shopping street about a fifteen-minute walk from the store, so I had a bit of a walk ahead of me.
As I strolled along with my hands in my tracksuit pockets, I could easily spot the colorful koinobori tied to the balconies of houses, fluttering in the wind.
After that short walk, I entered the bank's ATM corner.
Insert the passbook, enter the PIN, and place the bundle of bills into the deposit slot. That was it.
After confirming the "2,000,000 yen" printed in my passbook, I decided to buy some snacks to eat at home and stopped by a convenience store near my house.
"Welcome!"
I entered the store while fiddling with my smartphone, but I looked up when I heard a familiar voice.
Standing behind the convenience store counter with a smile was Fuma-senpai, recognizable by her long, dark purple hair.
"Ah."
"Kim, Kim Yoo-Sung?!"
*
Fortunately, it was a slow time with no other customers, so I was able to chat for a bit with Fuma-senpai, who was in the middle of his part-time shift.
"Thanks for the other day."
I said, holding out the canned coffee I had just paid for at the counter. Fuma-senpai took the can and shook her head slightly.
"No, it was the right thing to do. It's wrong to simply stand by and watch an innocent person get hurt."
I watched her profile for a moment before I managed to speak.
"Um… you're a ninja, right, senpai?"
Even if this was a manga world, I honestly never thought I'd say such a thing with my own mouth.
Hearing my question, Fuma-senpai took a sip of her coffee and nodded.
"That's right. To be precise, I belong to the Fuma ninja clan."
"Then why are you attending school, disguised as a normal person?"
At that, Fuma-senpai gave a wry smile and said.
"It's not a disguise. In this day and age, even ninjas receive a basic education."
Ah… so that's how it was.
Realizing my thinking had been too narrow-minded, I nodded and asked another question.
"Honestly, there's a lot I want to ask you, senpai. And about the 'underworld,' too."
For a story with a rom-com setting, Scramble Love seemed to have an incredible amount of hidden lore.
Otherwise, an incident like the one two days ago couldn't possibly have happened.
I was especially curious about the thing I had used, the 'Ki' (氣).
If I took the red pill again, could I use that same power?
But hearing these questions, Fuma-senpai shook his head with a troubled expression.
"I can't tell you right now. I need some time to prepare. And I also need to get permission from the elders in my village, so I'd appreciate it if you could give me some time."
"…I understand."
It wasn't something I needed to know right this instant, anyway.
No matter how much it seemed like the original Scramble Love had drifted from a rom-com to a battle series, I doubted an incident of this scale would happen again so soon.
When all was said and done, if this world was based on a romantic comedy, there were still plenty of staple school-life events left to see.
A smart author wouldn't just skip over them.
"I'll come find you when I'm ready to explain. So please, just wait a few weeks."
"Got it."
With that, our conversation seemed to be more or less concluded. I stood up with my empty can, ready to head home.
"Well, I'll see you at school."
"Take care."
After her blunt farewell, Fuma-senpai went back behind the convenience store counter. Watching her, something suddenly occurred to me.
"By the way, Fuma-senpai, why are you working a part-time job here?"
As if I had hit a sore spot, Fuma-senpai's face turned slightly red as he answered.
"I live on my own, and I'm a little short on living expenses…"
Ah, if that's the case, fair enough.
"Keep up the good work."
"…Yeah."
I left the convenience store and headed home, my hands full of plastic bags.
*
The first day of school after the long, long Golden Week.
Returning to the classroom of 2-B after ten days felt somewhat awkward.
I arrived at a time that was neither too early nor too late, greeted Satoru, whom I hadn't seen in a while, and asked him what he did during Golden Week.
Satoru, his skin practically glowing, puffed out his chest proudly and said.
"My family and I went on a hot spring trip to Hakata."
Fukuoka, huh? He went pretty far.
"You must have taken a plane for that distance."
"Of course! I even had an in-flight meal!"
Being proud of eating an in-flight meal… in that respect, he was very much a high schooler.
A moment later, Rika, now slightly tanned, walked into the classroom, waving her hand.
"Heyyy, Ryu-chan! Were you lonely without me?"
"…A little?"
To be honest, I hadn't really felt her absence, but it was probably best to offer some lip service.
She'd pout later if I didn't.
"Hee hee, you big baby~"
Rika teased, poking my chest with her index finger.
Soon, it was time for Monday's first homeroom. The homeroom teacher for 2-B and history teacher, Matsuda-sensei, nicknamed 'Gorilla,' entered the classroom holding a black attendance book.
"Quiet! Quiet!"
At his command, the noisy classroom fell silent. Matsuda-sensei stood before the lectern, cleared his throat with a "Ahem, ahem," and spoke in a serious tone.
"We have a new transfer student in our class today. To be precise, she's an exchange student from our sister school in Vladivostok, Russia. It's her first time in Japan, so I expect you all to treat her well."
Then, he called out loudly to the student waiting outside the classroom.
"Transfer student, come in!"
Screech!
The front door of the classroom slid open, and as the foreign transfer student revealed herself, the room instantly fell silent.
The beautiful Slavic girl with long, silvery-blue hair strode into the classroom, a gentle smile on her lips as she introduced herself.
"Alexandra Ivanovna Romanova. If that's too long, feel free to call me Sasha."
As she spoke, she gracefully lifted the hem of her skirt with her fingertips and curtsied, then said with a perfectly straight face.
"My hobbies are shooting, horseback riding, watching anime, and reading. And the thing I've recently grown to like is…"
Point!
"That boy over there, Kim Yoo-Sung."
Thanks to the bombshell she dropped on her very first day, my peaceful school life began to get complicated.