Kuzu to Kinka no Qualidea - Volume 1 - Chapter 8.11

Haruma-6

What on earth…?

The shocking sight of the once alluring Kuriu-sensei caused my eyes to sting. That was not a metaphor; something was flashing before my eyes over and over.

When I finally looked towards the source of the light, it was coming from a smartphone camera held by a person smiling in utter glee: Chigusa Yuu… What on earth?

I wasn’t the only one thinking that. Kuriu-sensei’s expression was also etched with despair.

“Kuriu-sensei, could you please explain yourself in detail?” Chigusa said as she pointed at the floor. Presumably at what was lying in a heap there.

“Er, uh, Chigusa-san. This is, um…”

Kuriu-sensei, who had crawled out of the mountain of underwear, attempted to retort with words that weren’t actually words, but Chigusa went on smiling, not bothering to listen. With a truly delighted expression, she went on snapping photos with her smartphone. What an evil smile…

Kuriu-sensei barked like a seal and obediently took a seat. She was already on the verge of tears.

“Before we begin, may I take those panties off your head?” Chigusa said.

As she wiped tears from her eyes, Kuriu-sensei slowly took the panties off her head and folded them neatly. Once she had examined them with her own eyes, Chigusa simply took out her smartphone once again.

“You understand the situation, don’t you?” Then slowly, she said, “Now then, could you please explain yourself?”

“I haven’t done anything wrong… This is just, um…”

Far from loosening her tongue under the threat of photographic evidence, Kuriu-sensei rather missed the point.

Chigusa sighed and pointed at the floor. “Then what about this mountain of undergarments? They don’t belong to you, do they? Just from sight I can tell that none of them appear to match your size, Sensei.”

“This is, um, a fair transaction. Articles of consideration. Those girls pay quite properly, and um…”

“You mentioned Shia just before, but isn’t Shia-san supposed to be missing? Why mention her name? And also, how do you explain the sheer number of shoes? What is the reason behind the unusual structure of this house? What is the combination of your safe?”

Chigusa’s interrogation was unrelenting. She unleashed a bunch of questions in rapid succession, going on so endlessly that I got the feeling she slipped in a completely unrelated question there!

“If you’re talking about Shia-chan and the others… they’re over there.”

Kuriu-sensei’s shoulders suddenly slumped as if she had gotten the picture, and she pointed to the other side of the wall.

So she finally cracked, huh…? The power of intimidation really was something to be feared. The fact that Chigusa went on pressing her about every tiny detail caused Kuriu-sensei to answer in a subdued tone.

But there was one thing I was not satisfied about.

“…Um, why did you go to these lengths?”

“It’s a simple matter. Kuriu-sensei loves the underwear of cute girls. She’s just the same as you, Haruma-san.”

I’d meant that question for Kuriu-sensei, but Chigusa was the one who answered me. She waggled a finger at her lips as she announced the correct response… I mean, well, I definitely didn’t dislike panties!

Kuriu-sensei was merely nodding weakly like a doll whose string had been cut. Gone was her once calm and cheerful self; she even looked rather pitiful. Chigusa’s attitude might have been the same.

“Why did you never say a word to me…? If only you’d told me how much you were suffering, I would have done anything for you, Sensei!”

Chigusa’s voice as she spoke to Sensei was somehow gentle. Her voice, too, was becoming passionate and affecting.

“It’s embarrassing and I feel very uncomfortable about it, but I might have sold numerous undergarments! Depending on the price, I might have even created an exclusive market of steady supplies in full operation!”

“Er, that’s not what this is about…”

Why did that sound like a proposal for a startup business? She looked in Kuriu-sensei’s direction, hoping to convince her, hoping to give her a pep talk, hoping her words would reach her. Sensei, for her part, was smiling sort of sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, that’s out of the question. You’re not my type, Chigusa-san…”

“Pardon me?!” Chigusa shrieked hysterically.

“Um, Sensei, that really isn’t what this is about…”

“Indeed. That is not what this is about. I have absolutely no understanding of Kuriu’s story or hobbies. The meaning is absent,” Chigusa said, huffing. Wow, so upon realising that Kuriu-sensei didn’t like her looks, Chigusa dropped the honorifics… That’s Johannes for you!

Chigusa spoke lightly in jest, but a shadow came over Kuriu-sensei’s face as she listened silently to those words.

“You’re right. Nobody, and I mean nobody, understands me… I just wanted to do what I love without causing anyone trouble… So I spread the Random Crossroad urban legend and gathered the girls at this paradise… I just wanted to live in happiness with pure and sweet girls…”

She started off muttering her words, but before long she ended up lacing every word with heavy emotion.

“Nobody understands me! Not the things I value! Not my world!”

Her howl of grief echoed across the room.

She had unique tastes and hobbies, or, you might say, a tendency towards sexual deviancy. That sort of thing would not be accepted by everyone. As for me, I barely understood a single thing Sensei was saying. I’ll be blunt. She was strange.

Even if she went to many lengths to keep it to herself, there was no one who would understand an unsolved problem.

The room had returned to silence, but Chigusa took a firm step forward and answered with a clear tone.

“I understand your feelings, Sensei. I understand them all too well.”

Kuriu-sensei glared at Chigusa upon hearing those words. As if you understand! As if you get how I feel! I can’t stand anyone who would say that so lightly! Her gaze was resentful, even murderous.

And yet Chigusa looked her straight in the eyes. Her malicious attitude from before was gone, replaced by genuine earnestness. She chose her words carefully. “The world is narrow-minded. It is arrogant. It is cruel. The world does not acknowledge people who do not act according to its point of view.”

Kuriu-sensei’s expression became perplexed at Chigusa’s roundabout words. Yet after spinning those eloquent words, Chigusa had long since stopped expecting a reply.

“The world is not kind to us. It laughs at us, sneers at us, denies us. It dunks us into the coal tar and the bottom of the sea. In this world, we, who deviate only slightly from the conventions of others, are utterly alone.”

That was the truth of the world as Chigusa saw it.

The world is narrow-minded.

It doesn’t allow the existence of subjectivity and only forces objectivity down one’s throat. Everyone says it: “You should see things more objectively”, “Grow up already” and “Think about the feelings of others.”

It doesn’t acknowledge errors, irregularities and particularisms; it just calls the majority of subjective opinions the objective stance. Those who reject it are excluded, rejected and persecuted, and thus the world preserves the existence of objectivity to this day. The exceptionally talented and the standout beauties are a destructive force. Without any sense of fairness, they make themselves known and crush the existing peace.

That’s why the world rejects them. By revering an existence higher than themselves, they fall outside the circle of humanity. By humiliating and looking down upon a type of evil far inferior to themselves, the world feels gratified. By resigning all hope of mutual understanding, the world accepts others.

And thus, more than anyone else, the heretical Chigusa was a martyr in this world.

“There is not much that we, who have been rejected by the world, can do for you.” Chigusa cut off her words there and looked over her shoulder at me.

For a while, Chigusa and I looked at each other’s faces in silence and nodded. Together, we opened our mouths and spun a story about the future of the world. About the world that I’m sure Chigusa and I had chosen for ourselves from here on out.

We opened our mouths in unison.

“When that’s the way the world is, the only thing you can do is agree to disagree.”

“When that’s the way the world is, the only thing you can do is burn it to the ground.”

That last part went completely off-track.

“What made you reach that conclusion…?” I gave Chigusa a nonplussed look.

“W-Well, you see, I am usually correct. So the world must be wrong…” she explained in a flustered tone.

It was genuinely cute to see her cheeks redden slightly as she waved her hands, but unfortunately, that wasn’t much of an explanation.

As she watched us bantering, Kuriu-sensei cracked a smile for the first time in quite a long while. She burst out laughing so hard that she clutched her stomach, unable to hold it in.

Perhaps in an attempt to hide her embarrassment, Chigusa coughed repeatedly and opened her mouth. “W-Well, it’s true that this is a worthless world, but… it’s not something to cast away. If you can shut your eyes to… well, let’s not go there, someone close by may unexpectedly come to your aid.”

Chigusa was peering at me surreptitiously. I gave a light nod back in her direction.

Geez. Chigusa closed her eyes to the parts of my appearance that were… well, let’s not go there. I, in turn, opened my eyes solely to Chigusa’s surface appearances. There was no need for us to make up for each other’s deficiencies. We just reached out for the things we pined for and pushed our own egocentric buttons.

“You’re right… You might not match, but it really was for the best…” said Kuriu-sensei as she dabbed her eyelids.