V5C2 Part7

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Part 7

I called a

taxi and we got in. When we got to the share house anyway, I looked at the time

and saw that it was around 8 pm. It was around six o'clock when we were talking

about whether we should go to the restaurant or not, so I was surprised to see

that two hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

Not long

after, a taxi arrived at the share house. Nanako was waiting for us at the

entrance and welcomed Saikawa.

"I'm

sorry, Nanako. It was sudden."

"No,

not at all. Minori-chan, can you walk?"

"I-I'm

fine. I can walk."

She said

stiffly, but she was wobbly on her feet. Nanako lends her a shoulder and leads

her into the house.

"Here,

have a seat"

We made

her sit down on a cushion in the living room and gave her a cup of tea that we

had prepared.

After a

while, she finally took a breath,

"Haa...

I was surprised."

Feeling

relieved, Saikawa relaxed her entire body and leaned against the wall.

"That

must have been terrifying, pity you."

Shinoaki

was at her side, patting Saikawa on the head. Last year at the school festival,

Shinoaki was also surrounded by some kind of thugs, so she must know how it

feels.

In the

taxi, Saikawa gave me a brief talk about the situation earlier.

The man

was a customer of the store and had apparently approached her several times

before. After refusing gently and avoiding him, she started to feel his eyes on

her at various places. In addition, it seemed that he was a student of the

Department of Visual Arts. After that, she started to feel uncomfortable on

campus and avoided places with few people as much as possible.

I had told

the store owner about it and put him on the watch list,

"During

a break, you went outside alone to buy some juice, and that's when he made his

move..."

"That's

right, that's right."

Saikawa

nodded several times.

"Such

a weird guy, he's at our university, seriously."

Hikawa

tilted his head curiously.

Indeed,

this was the first time I had heard such a story since I entered the school.

However, with so many departments and students, there are always people with

extraordinary personalities and vice versa.

"First

of all, I don't think you should be alone for a while. Just go back home and

get the bare minimum and stay here."

When I

said that, Nanako seemed to notice,

"I

see, Tsurayuki's room... is vacant."

Yes, even

after he was gone, I had paid the rent for the room and cleaned it so it was

ready to live in.

"But

is it okay, having you do that much for me."

To Saikawa

said fearfully,

"It's

okay, rely on your seniors here, okay?"

Nanako

reassured her.

"Understood,

please take care of me."

Saikawa

stood up and bowed.

"I

couldn't talk to anyone about it... I'm very happy."

She did

not have any friends at her part-time job or in her department. On top of that,

she was shy and lacking in self-confidence, which led her to become

increasingly isolated.

(She came

to Osaka from the countryside, and now she's living alone)

With no

idea about right and left, being followed by an unknown man at her part-time

job, it was an event that was suddenly in hard mode.

"Can

I ask you something?"

Yes,

actually, this was one mystery that remained to be solved.

"Why

...... did you work at that kind of store?"

To be

honest, it was not really a part-time job for a shy girl. There was a high risk

in customer service, and even though it was located in a rural area of Osaka,

the pay was not very high.

In short,

it seemed like a part-time job with little worth for Saikawa to do,

"T-That's,

that."

She seemed

embarrassed, her face reddening,

"I

liked cosplay... Also, I thought that working in a store like that would help

me with my lack of self-confidence, so"

"Ah...

I see."

Many

things were connected. Saikawa's love of cosplay was nurtured around this time

on.

But

although I was convinced, it was a very clumsy story.

If that's

the case, why didn't she get a part-time job at a maid cosplay store that

didn't serve alcohol and was more decent? If the cosplay was that revealing and

close to the drinking business, it would be more dangerous.

As

expected, she realized that "this was something different",

"I

just started, and there didn't seem to be enough people, so I couldn't say I

wanted to quit."

She

continued to do so for three months, and this was the result.

Incidentally,

the contents of the paper bag that she was carrying when they ran into each

other at the entrance of the university were an outfit that she had borrowed

from another student in the department whom she had met through cosplay. If the

contents of the bag had been found out at that moment, she would not have been

able to show her face at the club anymore.

(It's very

different from the future... No, her firmness is the same)

But

Saikawa has a part of her that she can show more.

"Saikawa,

you're that good at drawing, why don't you focus on that to gain more

confidence."

"Eh……"

When I

said that, Saikawa shook his head vigorously.

"S-Someone

like me someone like me, I'm just a person who's been doing nothing but drawing

because that's the only thing I can do, and I'm not good at it, and it's not

something I can show to people, and I'm embarrassed about it, and I don't think

I've ever had confidence in it."

It was

powerful, or rather, it was a lack of confidence that filled the air with

self-assurance. It would be a long way from here until she could be confident

in what she had drawn.

"I

don't think so. Minori-chan, you're good and you draw attractive

illustrations."

"Ah,

even Aki-san... That's a waste."

She still

didn't seem to be nodding her head at Shinoaki's words.

"So,

little by little, why don't you release it in the future?"

"Uuh……"

Apparently,

it was still a high hurdle for Saikawa. However, I would like her to draw more

illustrations in the future.

There was

still a lot to discuss with her, including whether or not she was going to move

in for real, as she was leaving her dangerous part-time job as quickly as

possible.

After

that, we quickly moved the minimum amount of luggage from Saikawa's house, and

the evacuation operation was successfully completed. Perhaps moving to a new

place of residence helped her to get her mind in order, but Saikawa packed up

her belongings so quickly that we were surprised at how smoothly she was able

to do so.

After laying

out the futon, Saikawa's tension seemed to have loosened, and she bowed her

head, saying, "Thank you very much," and fell asleep as if she had

been sucked into a deep sleep.

We all

looked at each other, relieved, and then,

"What

should we do, about this matter"

Me,

Hikawa, Nanako, and Shinoaki decided to have a meeting to decide how to deal

with the situation.

"Talk

to the school for now, but what about the police?"

Nanako

asks with a worried look on her face.

"It

seems it's not that serious. But we better be careful, so I'll talk to Saikawa

again."

It seems

that she was not violated or endangered, but she is in danger of being so in

the future.

"I

hope this gets resolved soon."

Shinoaki's

expression also darkened.

"I

don't feel good about this. If we could at least find out who's doing it and

give them a kick in the pants, Saikawa would be relieved."

Hikawa

said with both fists clenched tightly together.

"...I

see. Indeed, if we know that, we can deal with it."

It may

cause a bit of a physical language ruckus, but it should be a deterrent.

"But

you don't know who it is, do you? Does Kyoya have any guesses?"

In

response to Nanako's question, I said,

"Not

at the moment, but I'll look for him. And it's not a complete no-hint."

I don't

want to think about it too much, but since we have information that he is in

the same class as me in the Department of Visual Arts, I think we can explore

that line of thinking.

However,

if I move too boldly, there is a possibility that he will be temporarily

alarmed and go into hiding. Even if I were to imitate a detective, I would have

to do it carefully because Saikawa's safety was at stake.

"For

now, I and Hikawa will ask someone we trust, and can Nanako and Shinoaki take

care of Saikawa. And that would be better done by girls than boys."

"Roger,

leave it to me"

"She

seems to know a lot about drawing, so I can talk to her a lot ~"

That's

what I want, and that's helpful.

Thus, a

counter-measures unit for the incident was quietly set up.