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Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 6 - Chapter 1.2




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Bonus chapter: "Nagafuji: The Rogue Visitor" 

Wanting to shock Hino since it'd been a while since I last did so, I'd decided to visit her house without booking an appointment first. Wait... Shock her? Startle her? Hmm, those pretty much meant the same thing, right? Yeah, let's go with that. What truly mattered was being able to make her jump a little. 
I could feel the mood in the air change completely as I entered the bamboo thicket leading to her house. The majority of the sunlight was absorbed by their leaves, causing the wind which blew through them to be not scorching hot, but instead nice and cool. The way it softly touched my skin was pleasant to say the least. 
It almost felt like I was swimming in the air as I walked along the stone-paved pathway. 
Sadly, that was only temporary, and I soon reached the end of the bamboo thicket. What now spread before me was the giant yard—so large and green I wouldn't be surprised to find turtles or maybe even cranes roaming around—as well as the mansion itself. Or really, a palace. Even from a distance, I could smell that its walls were built of high-quality wood. Whereas I saw the building as being absolutely massive, Hino apparently didn't. I could only assume that her being so tiny was the reason why. 
My eyes came across an intercom installed by the front door, and wasting no time, I went ahead and pushed it. 
"Yes?" 
The voice which greeted me belonged to Hino's older brother. Koutarou, was it? Something like that. 
"Hello!" 
"Oh... You're Akira's friend from school. Your name is... What was it again?" 
It appeared that he remembered me as well. 
"I am the Meat Girl." 
That wasn't actually my name. Regardless, I felt like it was too late to try and correct it now. 
"Just a second." 
I could hear his voice grow slightly distant as he turned his head towards the hallway. 
"Akira! A friend of yours is at the door." 
"Say what now?" 
This voice belonged to Hino. The impression I got from it was that she wasn't exactly in a good mood. 
"A friend. F—R—I—E—N—D." 
"That's me!" I decided to shout out, as if jumping in the mix. Why? No idea. 
"And who might this friend be?" 
"Me, of course." 
"What did you come here for?" 
"To hang out." 
No sooner had the words left my mouth than Hino rushed out through the door. Unfortunately, she wasn't wearing Japanese clothes today. 
What a bummer. She looked great in a yukata. 
"Dammit with you... Don't tell me that you forgot." 
Her eyes filled with a mix of both shock and amazement, Hino continued staring at me, all the while scratching her cheek. Of course I hadn't forgotten. I never forgot anything. 
"Nope. I made sure no one was following me." 
"Really now? Well, good job." 
"Hahaha!" 
It really did make me happy being praised by Hino. If I had to guess, I'd say that no one else out there could make me feel the same way. 
"Umm... That wasn't a compliment, you know." 
"Wait, what?" 
As we were talking, I could see Hino's mother running through the hallway behind her. The woman wore a kimono at all times, even during family visits at school, making her very easy to recognize. I also got the impression that Hino found that slightly embarrassing. 
"Sure seems busy around here." 
Two large carrying cases had been placed near the shoe rack. Wait, scratch that; the maid just brought in a third one. I shifted my attention from them to Hino, prompting the girl to state the following: 
"That'd be because we're leaving on a trip for Hawaii today." 
"You are? Really?" 
Hawaii, huh? Considering how tanned she was already, there was a real possibility that she might come back fully roasted. 
"Yes. I told you about this a week ago." 
"Don't remember, sorry." 
"Hmm, yeah, I figured you wouldn't." 
Come on now. Even she forgot stuff from time to time. Mostly things that were inconvenient to her. 
"How many days are you staying there?" 
"Six. We also talked about that." 
"Don't remember, sor—." 
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Anyway, there you have it. I can't hang out with you." 
"Hmm." 
It was way too hot here to think about anything. With that in mind, I decided to step in for a second. There, in the entrance, I sat down. 
"Every single year, you and your family travel overseas, huh?" 
"I guess so." 
That was a custom they'd followed ever since I got to know her in grade school. Ah, those were the days. 
She'd done it last year as well, and even then I'd wondered, how did she spend her time away? What sort of stuff did she do? 
As I sat there, Hino turned around to look at me. I met her with a smile before making the following suggestion: 
"How about I take care of the house while you're gone?" 
"Leave." 
And just like that, I was chased away. Hmph. I get it, she was busy and all, but seriously, there was no reason to act rude. 
At the same time, I did feel a bit embarrassed having bothered her when she really didn't have time for it. Accepting my defeat, I decided to do as told and walk away. 
I found myself instinctively imitating a cicada as I travelled down the stone path. I wonder, were there cicadas living in these bamboo trees as well? I turned my gaze upwards, and just then... 
"Hey, Nagafuji." 
...Hino called out to me, now running in my direction. The way the shadows cast by the trees went with her tanned skin really reinforced the idea of it currently being summer. 
"Here", she said before tossing a plastic bottle filled with green tea towards me. I caught it, and instantly, the cool temperature of the liquid inside was transmitted into my fingertips. "I'll call you once I get back. So, yeah, come over right away. Wait, no. Scratch that. I'll come over." 
That last bit was said while she already had her back turned towards me. So, whose house was it in the end? 
Well, as long as Hino was there, I didn't really care. 
"Sure thing. Leave it to Nagafuji." 
"Why do you sound so proud saying that?" 
You could hear her laughing between her long breaths. 
"I'll look forward to my souvenir." 
"Yeah, yeah. I'll make sure to buy you candy or something." 
With that, Hino once again began running towards her house, for good this time. I saw her off the whole distance, and there in the doorway, she turned around and waved me goodbye one last time. I too waved back at her. The only difference was that my hand formed a much greater arc. This apparently wasn't to Hino's liking as immediately after she saw me do so, her lips puckered up. She then waved at me again, going at it in a much more grandiose manner this time. I responded by going even bigger, but sadly, she completely ignored me. Hmph. 
Anyway, I then ran off. There was a problem, however. A big problem. 

"This isn't good..." 
I was just making my way through the bamboo grove when I realised that I had nowhere to go. Should I just be a good girl and head back home? But what then? What would I do there? As much as I enjoyed laying on the floor in front of the fan, could I really do that for six days straight? My head might honestly explode. 
"Oh?" 
Just then, my eyes came across a certain blue individual, her head bouncing from side to side as she made her way forward on the opposite side of the street. I immediately recognized her to be the girl who occasionally visited our store. The way she walked was quite strange, and in a lot of ways, resembled the way I did. Having noticed me back, the girl's eyes were now fixed on me. 
"......" 
"......" 
"Uoooh!" 
"Oooooh!" 
I broke into a sprint, and so did she. Then, a few seconds later, our bodies slammed against one another. 
Unlike what you might have expected based on her height, the girl did not fall on her backside, but instead, took the impact without as much as batting an eyelash. It appeared that she was in quite good shape—at least as far as the lower half of her body was concerned. 
"You are the person who runs the croquette store." 
"Hmm, yeah, something like that." 
"Now that Shou and Shimamura have left, I no longer have a place to go." 
"Funny. I'm pretty bored myself with Hino going on a vacation with her family." 
Two people who shared a fate. She could understand me, and I could understand her. With no words, we embraced each other. 
After a few moments spent crying, we eventually let go. Damn, it sure was getting hot in here. And I don't mean to say that the girl was particularly warm. Rather, I was starting to grow sweaty from all the running around I'd done. 
"So, you have nothing to do, huh?" 
"No." 
As for the girl—now grinning as brightly as a person possibly could—no droplets of sweat could be seen anywhere on her body. No, her hair was perfectly dry, perfectly soft. 
Her hair was so mysteriously blue it appeared both artificial as well as far beyond what humans were able to construct all at the same time. 
"Well, in that case, why don't you come over to our place?" 
"Alright. I shall accept your invitation." 
She didn't give the proposal much thought and instead agreed to it right away. It went without saying, but myself, I'd obviously spent a long time thinking about it first. Obviously. 
The plan I had in mind was to bring her over and make her run the counter in my place. Given the similarities between her appearance and that of our store's mascot, I'd go as far as to say that she was all but made for the role. 
"Wanna drink?" I asked her while popping the bottle open. Immediately, she took it off my hands, almost as if she'd been dying of thirst. 
You could practically see the liquid pass through her pale white throat as she gulped it down. 
Anyway, that's what happened on my way back home. 
"I found us a good shop assistant today." 
Those were the words I said to my mother standing at the storefront as I introduced the blue-haired girl to her. 
"Ah, if it isn't the errand girl", the woman greeted her. Made sense; she was a regular customer here. 
"Good day." 
Yes, yes. How polite. She could definitely be made to interact with the customers. 
"Listen up, Blue Girl. All you need to do is say stuff life 'it's cheap' and 'it's good' and clap your hands a bunch." 
"Okay?" 
"It's super simple." 
"And yet, you somehow manage to mess it up", Dad commented from the back of the store. I decided to pretend like I didn't hear him. Instead, I gave the girl's back a slight push. 
"Go get them." 
Standing by the display case filled with meat, I watched as she slammed her petite hands together. 
"Welcome, welcome." 
"Yeah, that's the way. I like your enthusiasm." 
"It's cheap, it's cheap." 
She just kept on clapping. Just above her head hung a picture of our mascot character Hino had drawn. The more I stared at her, the more closely I felt the two resembled one another. Also, now that I thought about it, the picture really didn't have anything to do with meat, did it? 
"Weren't you saying that you'd be staying over at a friend's place?" Mom asked me. I gave the bag I was carrying a quick shake before answering: 
"Turns out, Hino's going to Hawaii with her family." 
What a disappointment, seriously. 
Not having her around left my summer break feeling partial. Was that the right usage of the word? Who knows. 
Being a child of the modern era, I never really went out of my way to look that kind of stuff up. 
Still clapping her hands, the girl shifted her attention up toward me—her supervisor of sorts. 
"You and Hino are really close, Nagafuji." 
"Hmm, I guess so", I mumbled in response, drawing closer to the display case. When had I told her my name? Or Hino's for that matter. 
"Myself, I'm close with Shou and Shimamura." 
The girl looked extremely proud of herself as she said that. Even here away from the sun, her hair continued to glow. 
It appeared that the only reason she'd brought the topic up in the first place was to boast. 
"Hmm..." 
While I wasn't sure who this Shou person was meant to be, I did know Shimamura. So, she was friends with her? How curious. 
The impression I always got from Shimamura was that, despite appearing quite sociable, once you pulled back that layer, you realised that she was actually quite indifferent to other people. I mean, sure, she tolerated me and Hino, but I would never go as far as to say that she loved or even liked us. 
"Just so you know, I'm Hino's best friend." 
I felt like I should just make that part clear. 
"Hmm..." 
On second thought, saying it like that kinda made it sound like being Hino's best friend was the single most noteworthy thing about me, my strong point if you would. 
In that case, maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if I wound up working as a maid over at her house in the future. 
Would she be willing to hire me just because she knew me? Hmm, maybe not. I kinda got the feeling that she'd be more opposed to it, not less. 
There were times when I didn't quite understand what went on in Hino's head, and this was most definitely one of them. 
Anyway, the girl ended up working for us till sunset. Her bright blue hair was extremely effective when it came to attracting customers; it happened more than once that a group of old ladies would walk by, stop in their tracks as they saw her, and then come visit the store. See? I told you I had an eye for these things. Beyond that, I also made sure to teach her the proper way to greet friends. 
It eventually came time to close shop and have dinner. The girl joined us as well, and after taking a quick bath, she went on her merry way. Where was she heading? I didn't know. I wasn't even sure where she lived. The one thing I did know was that for some time following her leave, particles similar in colour to her hair could be seen floating around the store. 


Today's Adachi 


I sat there in the centre of my room, still wearing my swimsuit. I tried opening my mouth, but all that did was cause lines of cold sweat to drip down my back. 
Holding my head in my hands, there were two things that I felt in my mind: shame and regret. 
What was she going to do with a picture of me wearing a swimsuit? What was she going to do with it!? 
Not just that, look at the face I'd made. It was horrible. Simply horrible! 
Well, in that case, what sort of face should I have made? That was the question. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to answer it. 
Slowly, I continued rubbing my forehead against the floor. 
 





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