Chapter 35: I Missed The Part Where That's My ProblemAuthor: Geraint
A/N: I don't respond too much, but I'll answer some questions if I can.
(MC's POV)
A day later, I decided to meet them during their patrol in the city, and I brought some homemade lunch that I prepared this morning.
We were currently in a park under the shade of a tree, watching people playing with their children and pets.
I opened the lunch and showed it to them.
"Looks good! Did you make this?" Ryukyu curiously asked.
"Yeah, I borrowed the kitchen of the hotel I'm staying at."
"Borrowed a hotel's kitchen? Is that even allowed?"
"I'm an exception since a friend of mine manages that place and I'm staying there for free."
I noticed Rumi took out a carrot and was about to bite it raw; I immediately snatched it from her hands.
"Hey!"
"We're in public, Rumi!" I scolded her.
I took out a knife and peeled the carrot, then cut it into small batons and wrapped it with a tissue.
"Here."
I passed it to her, and she took it.
"Oh, thanks."
She could now eat the carrots easily.
I tried to remember my conversation with Ryukyu.
"Now, where am I? Oh, that's right. The name of the hotel I'm staying at is Yamagi Hotel and Resort, which is newly built here in this city."
"…"
I noticed Ryukyu was silent while eating tempura and staring at me and Rumi.
"Mhmm! It's good."
After eating lunch together, it was already time for them to continue patrolling.
"You're supposed to be at school today, not stalking us. Go back home already, Ichika!" Rumi tried to scold me while I was cleaning up the lunchboxes.
"Don't call it 'stalking', Rumi. It's called 'Pursuit of Love'."
When I smiled and winked at her, she gave me an unpleasant look.
"Ugh... Disgusting..."
"Pfffffft! Buhahahahaha!"
I burst out laughing because I already expected her reaction. Her abrasive personality is too much for these kinds of things.
"Not funny, Ichika... You're giving me the creeps."
"Well, you're one to talk for someone who chased after me from Osaka to here."
"Hey! That was... I was just interested in fighting you at that time. I'm not really—"
Rumi looked embarrassed, her face red and frustrated.
"Then will you tell me how you feel about me right now? Don't you love me? Or... Do you hate me? Regardless, you have to give a farewell hug before I go."
"Shut up! Go away!"
She wasn't used to me being the one doing the chasing. Instead, she got angry and launched a powerful kick, which I easily evaded.
Waving my index finger at her,
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Too slow, Rumi. It will take several more years before you can hit me in this form."
"D*mn it!"
She became more furious and sent me a rapid-fire of kicks.
They were hitting me, but only my afterimages. All of them missed the target.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
"Ugh! This is frustrating! He's much faster in his adult form!"
"Hahaha! It's futile! You'll never hit me!"
"These two..."
Ryukyu was watching us from the sideline.
I noticed that Rumi's kicks were getting better.
She might be able to hit me in my child form, which only has Captain Falcon's abilities.
Jumping backward several times, I noticed there was dog sh*t I was about to step on.
(Oh, sh*t!)
I immediately stopped midair and floated, but Rumi's kick hit me in the face.
"Ugh!"
I dropped to the ground and decided not to stand up out of laziness.
Her kick had more power in this form, and I felt it.
Rumi covered her nose.
"This sh*t smells! I'm surprised you evaded it, Ichika."
"I'm sorry!"
The owner of the pet dog apologized and immediately scooped up her pet's feces.
I evaded an unfortunate event—but at what cost?
"Such misfortune..."
Rumi went toward me and squatted down, poking my cheek with her index finger.
"Still alive, ain'tcha? Get up!"
"Kiss me... And I might revive."
Rumi frowned as she pinched and shook my nose.
"You didn't learn, don'tcha?"
She let go of me and stood up, turning around.
"You have to get back soon, or they might notice."
I stood up, then brushed the dirt off my clothes.
"Okay, okay..."
She halted and turned toward me with a serious expression.
"Ichika, I have a feeling you're up to something big. I'm telling you this... If you ever turn into a villain, I'll be the one who kicks your ass and captures you!" she pointed at me.
Hearing her words of warning, I smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't become one if you give me enough attention... Now, where's my farewell hug?"
"Stop it! You're freaking me out!" she retorted.
She walked away and went toward Ryukyu.
"I prefer your younger form more than that creepy adult form, you stupid..."
"Huh?"
My eyes widened hearing her mumbling.
As I turned toward her for a moment,
(Don't tell me...)
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing!"
"Are you some kind of shotacon?"
"I'm not! The way you act flirty around me in that adult form makes me feel sick and uncomfortable. Just go back home!"
She continued patrolling with Ryukyu.
...
After separating from Rumi and Ryukyu, I decided to visit the orphanage where I came from.
Walking through the alleyway, I transformed back to my child form.
"Shazam!"
Lightning struck me from above, and I returned to a child.
"I should call the orphanage caretaker first so she can welcome me."
Picking up my phone from my pocket, I couldn't feel it.
"Ugh!"
I left all my things in my adult form's pocket, including my ATM card and smartphone. This is one of the problems I have with my transformation. I have to take all of my things off before transforming.
As I sighed,
"Shazam!"
Lightning struck me again.
I went to a mall and bought some souvenirs for all the children in the orphanage. I even hired a delivery service truck to bring the goods and snacks to the orphanage.
After signing the receipt before they sent my things off, I decided to go by foot to the orphanage.
I walked through the alleyway again and transformed into my child form.
"Shazam!"
Lightning hit me from above.
As I walked out of the alleyway onto another path,
"Huh?"
In front of a Family Mart, I saw a petite, fair-skinned girl with a slender build. She had triangular, lazy-looking onyx eyes with notably long lower eyelashes and rather small eyebrows.
Her hair was short, around chin length, and dark purple in color with an asymmetrical fringe and two reflections shaped like heartbeat monitor waves on either side of her head. Her ears had flexible, plug-like earphone jacks hanging from each earlobe at the end of two thin cords.
She was wearing some kind of elementary school uniform.
I could see that she was staring at a poster on the transparent glass wall of the store.
"Isn't she... Ummm... What's her name again? I think it was... Umm..."
I tried to remember the information from my past life.
"Was it... Kamaboko Gonpachiro or Shakariki Gengoro? I'm not sure..."
Not being sure, I tried to approach her from behind.
(Let's see what she is looking at...)
I glanced at the poster, and it was an announcement of different top musicians playing at some kind of event.
"Are you interested too?"
Gonpachiro looked at me.
"Not really, I just got curious about what you were looking at. Is that some kind of performance event?"
"Yeah, most of the popular singers and composers in Japan will be at this event, including my parents."
"I see... so your parents are musicians too."
"Yeah, I was looking forward to it but..."
She looked down, and I saw a little bit of sadness in her expression.
"What's wrong?"
"That man won't be performing at this event either."
"Who?"
"He was a musician who just appeared two months ago, and he already became popular not only in Japan but also around the world. In just a small span of time, he already released a lot of songs like 'Never Give You Up' and 'Can You Feel My Heart', and he immediately captured the top spots as one of the best musicians in Japan. He was such an amazing musician, and I really look up to him, but unfortunately... he never performed at any live events and always refuses to appear in public."
Hearing that, I was silent, knowing whom she was talking about.
"So... you're a fan of him."
She became excited as she looked at me with twinkling eyes.
"Yeah, of course! I love all his songs! Each song gives a different kind of feeling that it feels like it was made by a lot of people! That makes him really talented! He's also a pianist and a composer, and most of his music pieces have already captured a lot of people's hearts and they love it! All of his music is a masterpiece, which made him the most popular musician in Japan!"
"Okay..."
My eyes rolled, and I looked away from her out of cringe.
"I was looking forward to him showing up at this event, but no luck. I wish he would show up someday and perform live for his fans."
"I see... then good luck."
She gave me a disappointed look.
"For someone famous and well known, you don't know anything about him? You should at least have heard about his songs on television or listened to people around you talking about his masterpieces. He's the current trend right now, even more on the internet!"
I felt annoyed.
"I missed the part where that's my problem."
...
"I guess you're not a fan of music."
She looked a bit down hearing what I said.
"Well... you can say it like that." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well, you should at least listen to his songs once. His artist name is Fujiwara Ichika, and you can find a lot of his songs on the internet. You can check them out if you have time."
"Ugh."
"Okay, nice talking with you, but I have to go. I hope you will like his songs just like me!"
She walked away in a hurry.
...
Holding my head in pain, feeling the nausea of remembering the suffering of practicing singing all those songs and editing them myself while doing my projects in my workshop every night.
The song played itself in my head like some flashbacks.
(Play: Rickroll but make it Anime)
(To be continued.)
(A/N: I thought a lot before writing this chapter so that it wouldn't be bad, but I don't know. I'll fix my mistakes later.)