Chapter 6
Part 1
---Year 201X, 5th of May. At the front door of CANARIA foster home.
A few days after receiving the news of Canaria leaving a will.
Sakamaki Izayoi came to the children welfare agency [CANARIA foster home].
Standing before the building that was blindingly white against its surroundings, Izayoi stood with arms akimbo as he looked up at it.
“CANARIA foster home……It’s been a long time since I last returned to this place.”
Izayoi gave a throaty laugh as he looked at the entrance. Constructed to be a five storey[60] building, the pure white appearance would probably give the wrong impression of being a research organization to people who see it for the first time.
But a closer look would refute that impression for the walls were covered with the graffiti of little children scribbles.
Even so, Canaria had been adamant about the color of the wall paint to be a pure white. And the reason was---
“Because that would allow the kids to play however they want to.”
……In other words, it was to make it easier to vandalize that they chose the color of the paint to be white.
If any other children welfare organizations that were lacking in funds happen to hear of this, they would be quite infuriated.
Izayoi had also had a hand in vandalizing it in the past, but he had soon grown tired of it.
“It’s been some time since I last saw them. Might be a good idea to see those rascals……oh?”
Izayoi’s hand was on the door when at that very moment, the doors were pulled open by itself from the inside before his hand could do the job.
And at the same time, two teens, a boy and a girl came out to welcome him.
“Hey, Iza-nii! Homura and I have waited for a long time!”
“I’ve not been waiting……Welcome back, Iza-nii.”
“Nn. Thanks for the welcome Suzuka, Homura.”
Izayoi spread his arms wide to warmly reward them. Similar to Izayoi, they had been taken in by CANARIA foster home when they were just kids.
The girl with a healthy tan on her skin and a pineapple shaped hairstyle[61] was Ayazato Suzuka.
While the bespectacled boy with messy hair was Saigou Homura.
When Suzuka was working hard to climb onto Izayoi’s back, Homura tilted his head and asked:
“How’s the headphones I made?”
“Still working fine.”
“Really? Okay.”
“Iza-nii, there’s something more important. That weird lawyer keeps hanging around here. He’s really scary~ quickly make a short work out of him and chase him off”
Suzuka wildly gesticulated as she sat on Izayoi’s shoulders.
“Oi! Oi! That’s the visitor for me, right? Visitors staying for two to three days without leaving shouldn’t be a new thing to you guys.”
“That’s not wrong……but the Uncle this time is... how should I say…Really Very Freaky to the point where he would make someone feel that it is a horror of a [Perverted] nature.”
“Pervert?”
“Yea. Though he could be counted as quite handsome with the black suit that fits him, but he said this to me: ‘Miss, would you like to have tea with me? With marriage as the topic.’ That was really scary. And it seems like he has also said the same stuff to the others.”
“……Oh? Then I guess it’s really my bad.”
Izayoi grabbed the heels of Suzuka who was sitting astride on his shoulders and lifted it up forcefully.
Suzuka who had lost her balance gave off a scream of *Kya~* as she fell off Izayoi’s shoulders only after turning 3 times.
Leaving her behind, Izayoi entered the CANARIA foster home.
The middle aged woman who was manning the counter spotted him and immediately put on a look of disgust.
“……It’s been some time, Izayoi-san.”
“There’s no need to put on that look of disgust. I will leave immediately after getting the last will and testament.”
“It would be for the best if you could do that. And I’ve already helped to settle your withdrawal procedures from school.”
“Oh really, sorry to trouble you about that. And my visitor?”
“That mister said that he’s going for a stroll in the compounds. I will tell you when he gets back. So just sit and wait at the reception area for now.”
“Oh really?” Izayoi waved to the woman at the counter before sitting down promptly.
Just when he got seated, a pair of petite hands reached from his back and hugged Izayoi’s neck.
“Hey Hey Iza-nii, what about that perverted lawyer?”
“I heard that he’s taking a stroll in the compound. I guess he must be trying to pick up the other rascals?”
“Huh?! Really?! Then everyone’s in danger!”
Suzuka ran off quickly with her hair bobbing up and down[62] as she did.
After sending her off with his gaze, Izayoi laid back on the chair to relax his whole body into it.
However, the peace was immediately broken by a messy haired Homura who leapt into the chair beside his.
“This is my new piece of work.”
“Ah?”
“Completed work Headphone Number 2, [Crescent Moon No.2]. For you.”
Though the headphone was created by Homura who had just hit ten this year, its appearance was quite exquisite and the ear muffler portion had the registered trademark pasted upon it---a symbol of flame
Though Homura was quite a laconic person, but when it came to the creation of daily necessities or equipment, he would give it a passion that shouldn’t have been found in a child.
Twirling the headphones, Izayoi gave Homura a wry smile.
“Even if you say it’s for me,….Since you wanted to give something, shouldn’t it be something else other than a set of headphones? Why’s there a need to give the same type of item again?”
“But Iza-nii has no use for items like clocks and such.”
“That’s true. But the Celestial globe[63] that you made the other time was quite good too. It’s still placed in my room until now.”
“……That was only completed with the help of Canaria-sensei. I wouldn’t have been able to do it by myself.”
Homura lightly bowed his head.
Izayoi turned his head away as a “Tch!” escaped his lips.
“Canaria-sensei ……really passed away didn’t she? I thought that she wouldn’t die no matter what happened.”
“She died due to an illness and that wasn’t much of a choice was it? Moreover, the illness was one that had an unknown cause. Even if it were Canaria that stupid Mum, she wouldn’t have any way to escape that.”
“……Nn.”
Homura bent his head further, depressed.
Izayoi showed a very troubled look as if it were a drudgery as he lifted his head to look up at the ceiling before placing the new headphones on his head.
“Huh? Oi, Homura. Isn’t this thing’s head strap portion a bit too long? The whole thing is swaying on my head, you know?”
“No problem. You just need to hold the ear cushions close to your ear and press the adjustment control button beside it and it will automatically adjust it to the shape of your head. You can say that it’s the most consumer friendly product with the comfort of the user in mind.”
“Hmm? The part that you focus on sure is quite interesting.”
*KaChing!* As the head band portion was folded, the ear cushions tightly pressed against Izayoi’s ears.
“Oh, I see…… But this is a little too tight for me. It might even cause the sounds to be muffled and not as clear as it would have been.”
“Wu……Then I will adjust it for you. Here, pass it over for a while.”
Izayoi took it off and was about to pass it to Homura----but his hand froze.
Because the headphones that he just took off his head was of a different appearance than before.
“……Oi, Homura. What’s up with this headphone’s appearance?”
“It’s the result of the adjustments in the head band. The folding of the headstraps for the adjustments will always end up like this no matter how I tinkered with it and hence it’s appearance.”
“No. That’s not the point. Have a good look at it yourself. No matter how you look at it, this toy seems to be nekomimi[64].”
“Nn. [Crescent moon No.2] will use the excess adjusted headband to form cat ears. That will definitely be a hit amongst the girls.”
“Oh? So you mean that I look like a girl?”
“Iza-nii is my walking advertisement. You must always wear my headphones and help advertise my [Crescent moon] series.”
“Oi Oi, to use me as your model will cost you quite a bit you know?”
“Then I will repay that sum on the day that I become famous.”
Homura got up from the chair of the reception area after giving his simple reply. Probably going off to modify the nekomimi headphones.
Having gotten up and walked a bit with his back facing Izayoi, he suddenly stopped and looked back.
“……I’m going back to my room. Do you need me to carry your bags up too?”
“Huh? Oh, yea sounds good. I will drop by later for them and the headphones.”
“Got it. I will wait for you to drop by then.”
Homura carried the bags and left for real this time.
Alone once more, Izayoi let himself sink into the chair again.
[……Nothing has changed even though I’ve been gone for a year.]
Izayoi looked up at the stains on the ceiling and gave a wry smile.
---CANARIA foster home was operating with the pretext of taking in children that were orphaned and with the goal of finding foster parents for them. But the reality was quite different.
This was the place where the children who are labelled as problem children due to normal people being unable to cope with their special needs gather ---Even with that kind of explanation, it might still sound similar to a normal children welfare organization.
But the word special held a much different meaning for them.
It wasn’t a word that described their family background but it meant that each and every boy or girl here was gifted with an extraordinary talent or ability. And that was what Canaria had decided to accomplish when she decided to take Izayoi under her wing.
Though it may be so, there wasn’t any other boy or girl that possessed the same incredible power that Izayoi harbored within him. When compared to him, theirs would definitely be seen as trivial abilities.
Take for example, Saigou Homura. As long as it’s something that he has taken apart with his own two hands, he would be able to analyze the interior structure and components of the equipment. And given enough time, he should be able to assemble a computer from various spare parts.
That youth had a massive ability in his [understanding], [reassembling] and [creativity] and that was so scary for normal people that they sent him off to CANARIA foster home.
[……But the one who would accept these special children, Canaria wasn’t around anymore. And this CANARIA foster home would probably end with Homura and Suzuka’s generation.]
Izayoi caught himself sinking into woes that were so not his usual way of doing things and that just made his wry smile much deeper.
Looking at his digital watch to confirm the time, he realized that fifteen minutes had passed. Thinking that it wasn’t much of a plan to continue waiting, Izayoi stood up from the chair.
Just then, he felt a presence behind him.
“---You are Sakamaki Izayoi-chan, right?”
“……”
Izayoi was surprised inside.
He didn’t know how far apart they stood from each other because he hadn’t turned his head yet, but the distance should be around five meters. Even if he were deep in his thoughts just now, this was still the first time ever that a person managed to get this close to Izayoi without him sensing their presence.
[Oh?......Looks like he’s more interesting than described in the rumors.]
Thinking about it in more detail, he realized that there wasn’t anything to be surprised about.
If the other party was a lawyer employed by Canaria to pass her will, there would be no doubt that he was no ordinary person.
Izayoi who was starting to feel interested in this man who stood behind him, happily turned to face him.
“……”
But he was stumped for words once more.
Suzuka had said that this person was a [Black Suit Strange Uncle]. And he saw that she was right about that.
But that wasn’t the main problem. It was his dressing that didn’t fit in with the normal daily dress of others in the country of Japan: A swallow-tailed tailcoat with a black round topped bowler hat with a single round monocle.
That man who looked about twenty-five years old with a dressing that could be described as a [Fake English Gentleman 3 Piece Getup] was looking at Izayoi while smiling.
“……Ah, right. You seem to have a good taste for that black round topped bowler hat.”
“Nn? Oh, Thank you. But before the praises, I would like you to answer my question. Are you Sakamaki Izayoi-chan?”
“That’s right.”
While replying to the question of the other party, Izayoi was also scrutinizing the man in the tailcoat.
Though he appeared to be around the age of twenty-five years old, but the demeanor that he showed seemed much older than that age and well-practiced. The facial appearance that seemed to fit well with his physique seemed to make him feel pleasant.
But the impression that people will not be able to miss should still be the eye that had this intense fiery gaze behind the monocle.
Izayoi had initially thought that the other party was measuring him up but it didn’t seem like it. For Izayoi could tell having had the judging glares of adults from a very young age, he immediately realized that he did not feel that particular unpleasant feeling that would have been elicited from him from such a gaze.
That steady and intense gaze from the eye behind that monocle caused Izayoi to feel as if he was being read like an open book.
“……what an unpleasant gaze.”
“Haha, I’ve been told that many times. Canaria had also said that when she first met me.”
“I guess so. So, where’s the will?”
“I’ve borrowed a room to pass it to you there. After all with that quantity, it’s too heavy to carry it around on me.”
The man in a tailcoat strode towards the interior of the compound.
Izayoi solemnly followed behind him
The Sun in May was less intense due to the cloud cover in the sky and that made the sunlight feel warm and comfortable. The wind was also slightly cool on the skin.
The diurnal temperatures were wide ranging as the crossover to the next season had arrived. As the wind blew through the corridors, the moisture in it was a sign typical to the precursor of rain.
Izayoi lifted his gaze to the darkening summer skies as he continued his way down the corridors. Finally reaching the room that was the destination, Izayoi who had followed the man in a tailcoat into the room was met with a large pile of papers in the centre of the room. And that immediately elicited an impatient response from him.
“Oi! Is that some kind of novel?”
“I guess it is her own autobiography? Anyways, you being her foster son should have the obligation to surrender to your fate and read it like a good child.”
Shifting a chair nearer to the window, the man in a tailcoat pulled down his bowler hat lower as he sat in it without saying anything further.
……He actually threw away his duties to take an afternoon nap? Even Izayoi was stumped by this sight and just looked blankly for a while. But the reason today wasn’t for this man and Izayoi gave in by sitting down at the table.
Dutifully, he untied the strings that tied the paper wrapped parcel of over 10 meters in depth and prepared himself to begin reading Canaria’s autobiography ---slowly---
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