Encounter (3K)

Soujuurou Shizuki was an ordinary boy from the mountains.

He remembered his grandfather telling him before he died that if he could not find a way forward in the mountains someday, he should come down. In the end, people did not belong in the mountains.

When he first arrived in the city, Soujuurou had been deeply uneasy. It was not the fear one felt when facing some wild beast. Rather, in the boy's eyes, the city had evolved into a kind of demonic realm, one that could swallow young people like him whole if they let their guard down.

After tremendous effort, the country boy Soujuurou finally found a suitable rental room. The owner of the restaurant where he worked had only rented him the attic cheaply because he pitied him. The conditions were not great, but Soujuurou was grateful, so he worked very hard.

The owner ran a Chinese restaurant, and customers came in an endless stream every day until late at night. Soujuurou, who had grown up in the silent mountains, had been at a loss at first, but he gradually got used to the noise. After all, human clamor was always more reassuring than the roars of beasts in the night.

The word "school" felt unfamiliar to Soujuurou. But because of his grandfather's instructions before he left, he still decided to enroll in high school.

Kazuki Yamashiro, one of the school's teachers, was a very friendly person. He could not help reminding Soujuurou of the restaurant owner where he worked.

Of course, he could not tell Mr. Yamashiro that he was secretly working part-time. After all, Misaki High School did not allow students to work outside school.

"This is a real headache," Mr. Yamashiro said, rubbing his hair. "I originally wanted to have Aozaki from the student council show you around campus, but unfortunately, she didn't come to school today."

"Aozaki?" Soujuurou was a little confused. It was his first day at school, so he hardly knew anyone.

"She's the student council president, Aoko Aozaki," Mr. Yamashiro explained. "She's an outstanding person, though you often can't find her anywhere in school."

Armed with this new information, Kazuki Yamashiro led Soujuurou Shizuki to the student council office.

There, Soujuurou Shizuki met student council vice president Tobimaru Tsukiji and treasurer Kanika Kuma. In the boy's eyes, both student council members were highly distinctive people, and kind people who eagerly helped him.

"Hey, Soujuurou, want to join the student council?" Tobimaru Tsukiji asked several days later. "We're seriously short on people. If you become a general affairs officer, you'll get bonus points for your grades, you know?"

"I'm already doing everything I can just to scrape together my tuition," Soujuurou Shizuki said with a sigh. "Sorry, Tsukiji. To be honest, I'm working two jobs, and it's getting to be more than I can handle."

"Oh, and please don't tell anyone," Soujuurou quickly added. "Our school doesn't allow students to work part-time, after all."

"...You've got it rough too." Tobimaru Tsukiji patted Soujuurou on the back and sighed.

Soujuurou felt a little puzzled. Tsukiji's family circumstances should have been quite good, so why did he think things were hard? But Soujuurou's beast-like instincts kept him from voicing that doubt.

Maybe it was because of that student council president, Aozaki, whom he had yet to meet, the boy guessed. But none of it had anything to do with him.

During one lunch break, Soujuurou sat on a bench somewhere on campus with the cheap boxed lunch the restaurant owner had given him, wondering whether he should find a third part-time job. He had run short of money again recently.

Soujuurou's grades had never been very good since enrolling. For someone who had come out of the mountains, Misaki's classes were simply too difficult. The knowledge he had never encountered before and could barely understand forced Soujuurou to copy every word into his notes, then mull it over repeatedly after returning to his rented room.

Just as he began to let his thoughts wander, a figure passed in front of him.

Soujuurou looked up. It was a strange female high school student holding a motorcycle helmet in one hand, wearing a jacket on top and her school uniform below.

She had long, lustrous black hair and a tall, upright figure, with an indescribable aura surrounding her.

Soujuurou Shizuki had never seen anyone so beautiful. She reminded him of the beautiful birds perched atop the trees in the mountains, proud and distant.

Just as Soujuurou was about to lower his head and continue eating, the girl spoke. Her voice was feminine and slightly husky, yet did not sound mature.

"I didn't expect to find you here."

Soujuurou Shizuki was somewhat confused. He did not know this girl, but judging from her words, she clearly knew him.

The boy looked into the strange girl's eyes and felt as though he had fallen into a whirlpool, gradually becoming drowsy.

When he woke again, the bell marking the end of lunch break had already rung. Soujuurou had no choice but to quickly stuff the remaining food from his boxed lunch into his mouth and run toward the school building, completely failing to notice that he seemed to have lost a portion of his memories.

After finishing his cleaning duties for the day, Soujuurou tiredly pounded his back and prepared to return the cleaning tools to the second floor.

"Soujuurou, there's a customer at machine forty on the second floor. Go take a look," the owner instructed. "Something about her doesn't seem right."

Soujuurou nodded and carried the tools upstairs.

This typical two-story layout was common for pachinko parlors. This shop was located in a bustling part of the shopping district and did fairly good business, so the owner paid generously. That was also an important reason why Soujuurou had come all the way here for his third part-time job.

Pachinko parlor customers came in all kinds. Aside from professional gamblers who made a living from gambling, most people only came to play occasionally and relax. But there were also some bad sorts who wanted to make a fortune through dishonest means.

When he reached the second floor, the machines and noisy music blended into a piercing wall of sound. Compared to the first floor, things here were even more chaotic.

Yet amidst that chaos, a figure who was obviously out of place with the surrounding atmosphere caught his eye.

She was a young woman who looked a few years older than Soujuurou.

A fitted green trench coat perfectly traced her graceful figure. Her slender legs were elegantly crossed, and her black thigh-high stockings made her look even more refined than a model in a photo book.

Normally, someone like her should never have appeared in a place like this, Soujuurou thought.

He noticed that this woman's win rate seemed a little too high. In just the brief time he had watched, she had already won several times.

Four black cases of unknown contents sat beside her, each of them looking large and heavy.

This charming woman seemed dissatisfied about something as she brought a cigarette to her lips.

Suddenly, as if she had sensed something, she turned to look at Soujuurou. Her wine-red eyes swept over the boy from head to toe, then fixed firmly on his eyes, as though she had seen something within them.

A chill ran through Soujuurou Shizuki. It felt just like encountering some dangerous beast in the mountains.

Soujuurou could never get used to this kind of fear. He had not expected to encounter such a predicament even in a city far from the deep mountains.

He reflexively wanted to flee at once, but the woman's left eye seemed to faintly glow blue. By the time Soujuurou noticed it, he could not even move his little finger.

Before he knew it, there was not a single customer left on the second floor of the pachinko parlor.

"I see. So it was her doing." The woman muttered to herself. Soujuurou knew very clearly that she was not speaking to him; she had merely confirmed something.

"Are you a student at Misaki High School?" the woman suddenly asked.

"Yes..." Soujuurou's body answered on its own. "...I'm a freshman who only enrolled recently."

"I see..." The woman considered this. "Do you know Aoko Aozaki?"

Before Soujuurou could decide how to answer, his throat slipped out of his control and began speaking in an unfamiliar voice.

"Long time no see, Sister." Soujuurou's mouth moved, but the voice that emerged belonged to a young woman. The boy found the voice strangely familiar.

"...Aoko." The expression of the woman before Soujuurou darkened slightly.

"Have you been short on money lately?" Soujuurou's mouth moved on its own, speaking in some girl's voice. "Has the famous Grand Puppeteer really fallen so low that she has to raise funds in a pachinko parlor?"

At those words, the woman before him looked as sickened as if she had swallowed a fly. Soujuurou could keenly feel the oppressive weight of her anger, and it made him shudder. Unfortunately, he still could not move.

"This is none of your business!" the woman in green replied. "I only came to take back what I deserve!"

"Come back, Touko," Soujuurou said gently in a woman's voice. "As long as you're willing to admit defeat, I can support you from now on."

"Hmph." The woman in green spoke disdainfully. "No matter what you say, I will defeat you. When that happens, everything will belong to me."

"Ah, you're so stubborn." The voice from Soujuurou's mouth said, "But it doesn't matter. No matter what you've prepared, Sister, you can't defeat me as I am now. We'll meet again then."

After saying that, Soujuurou felt the pressure lighten. He immediately dropped to his knees, clutching his throat and coughing.

In a daze, he saw the beautiful woman in green stand up and look down at him from above, as though making one final confirmation.

But after only a short while, the woman in the green trench coat lost interest and turned away with her belongings.

Soujuurou Shizuki struggled to lift his head and see the person before him clearly. But his consciousness grew increasingly hazy. Intense exhaustion and drowsiness swept through his whole body, and he easily lost consciousness, collapsing onto the floor in a faint.