She wrote stories herself, and published them on an online fiction website, where they were apparently becoming fairly popular. The way she spoke suggested she was getting inspiration as a writer.
“Big Brother, there’s a detective out there who once handled over 600 murder cases in a year,” Yoriko suggested.
“I thought that was a manga.”
“If we meet a boy detective where we’re going, you’ll protect me, won’t you?” Yoriko, who had been clinging to Yuichi’s arm this whole time, seemed to perceive a boy detective as a harbinger of death.
Natsuki said nothing.
The entire time they had been on the bus, Natsuki Takeuchi had been silently staring out the window. Others called her one of the most beautiful girls in the first-year class, and Yuichi found it plausible. Above her head hung the label “Love Interest II.” It had previously been “Serial Killer.”
An isolated island, huh? he thought.
What if Mutsuko was right about something happening there? His anxiety grew as he thought back to something Tomomi Hamasaki had told him.
✽✽✽✽✽
“Where are you going for your training camp?” Tomomi had asked him as he’d been finishing his Nihao the China fried rice lunch.
Yuichi explained about Madono Island. He wasn’t quite sure where it was, geographically, so Tomomi brought out an old map to check.
“Ah, it’s that kind of place...” Tomomi said gravely.
“Is it a problem?” Yuichi checked the map, as well. It was a town on the western edge of Honshu, jutting out into the Sea of Japan. It wasn’t physically very large — small enough you could cover it with a finger — so it was hard to read the specifics on the map.
“Well, see...” she hedged. “Closed-off places like this often end up forging a very specific worldview. A worldview is influenced by the number of people who believe in it, so they get stronger when you have a lot of people who believe the same thing clustered together in a small place. If another Holder went to a place like this, their own worldview could weaken as a result. In other words, Aiko might have trouble using her vampire powers in a place like this.”
“What do you mean?” Yuichi asked.
“I mean... a secluded country village that holds some gruesome ritual festival might have its own bizarre worldview, and might reject the concept of Western-style vampires. The god, or whatever, that their worldview venerates would have much more powerful influence. I mean, I guess I might be worrying too much. It could just be an ordinary harbor town.”
“Hmm...” Yuichi said. “But Noro’s family has a villa there, you know? It should be okay, given that.”
“So if anything happens, you can probably just retreat into the villa,” Tomomi agreed. “Aiko’s powers should activate there.”
“You keep talking like I’ll be relying on Noro, but I don’t intend to do that,” he said.
“Right. So no matter what happens, keep Aiko safe, okay? I think you can do it. My dad thinks so, too. He says you have potential.”
“Potential? Nihao the China said that?” Yuichi was a little happy to hear that. He had only seen him in action briefly, but Nihao the China had appeared to be a master of a serious martial art. It seemed like an acknowledgment worth feeling pleased by.
“Hey, you want to be his heir?” Tomomi asked, leaning over the table. “You can succeed the Nihao the China name! I’d be okay with you, Sakaki. You’re attractive, you’re decisive, you’re nice...”
“Not a chance.”
“...you’re forthright with your opinions... wait, hey! Are you saying I’m not good enough for you? Shouldn’t you think about it a little more? With a beautiful girl like me hitting on you?”
“You were hitting on me?” Yuichi asked. “Well, I won’t debate the beautiful girl part... because I’m nice, right?”
✽✽✽✽✽
“Sakaki?” Aiko asked.
“Huh?” Yuichi said, startled. Aiko was looking at him in concern. The fact that he’d been thinking about Tomomi made him feel a little bit awkward.
“We’re here,” she said.
The bus pulled to a stop, and everyone got off together.
It was the kind of place that made a citizen of the 21st century nervous. An unpaved road through the forest stretched out straight ahead. The bus stop was the only man-made structure around.
Aiko checked the map on her smartphone. “Apparently we have to walk a little ways from here. Though I don’t know all the details myself...”
It seemed they still got a cell phone signal, at least. That reduced the chance of ending up in a closed circle mystery. Yuichi felt relieved.
They took a side path, and, after a little walking, arrived at a Western-style mansion.
Of course, it was only a summer house, so it wasn’t as big as the Noros’ main residence. But it was still large enough that the label “mansion” applied. It had apparently been imported from overseas, and thus, it seemed heavy with the weight of history.
As they approached the front door, it opened on its own. Yuichi felt a sense of deja vu; the doors at Aiko’s house had opened by themselves, too.
“Welcome back, my lady.” The person who appeared at the door produced another sense of deja vu.
“Huh? Akiko?” Aiko watched in vague disbelief.
The woman in the classical maid outfit bowed deeply.
Above the woman’s head was the label “Vampire III.” When he had met her at Aiko’s house for the first time, Aiko had stressed to Yuichi that despite her youthful appearance, she was really quite old.
Incidentally, he didn’t know what the number over her head meant. When he met people with the same classification, numbers seemed to correspond to the order in which Yuichi met them. But even then, not everyone had numbers.
“You guys are freaking late! What took you so long?” A blond-haired boy appeared from behind Akiko and started addressing Yuichi flippantly. “And hey, Yuichi, why’d you go on a summer training trip without telling me? I should get invitations to this stuff, y’know?”
His name was Kyoshiro Ibaraki, and today he was dressed casually in a T-shirt and messenger shorts. The label above his head was “Ibaraki-doji,” and as the label implied, he was an honest-to-goodness oni. They had fought once before. Ever since, he seemed to be constantly poking his nose into Yuichi’s business.
“Ha ha ha! Well met, traitors, and welcome to the Noro family villa! Tonight, we host the blood-soaked banquet of frenzied madness!” Another figure appeared from behind Ibaraki. It was Kyoya Noro. He was a third-year at Seishin High School and Aiko Noro’s older brother. He was a vampire like Aiko and Akiko, and the label over his head read “Vampire II.”
He had long hair and deep-set features. Normally he would be considered a very attractive man, but his outfit put that into doubt. It was a white straightjacket, strewn here and there with black leather belts that would seem to serve as binders for it. On top of that, he wore a black cape with red lining. Perhaps he was going for a “sealed vampire” theme.
A trio of unexpected housemates.
Yuichi hesitated for a minute, then punched Ibaraki.
Ibaraki went flying from the force of the blow, but immediately sprang up and marched back into his personal space. “Lay off the violence, would you?!”
Yuichi knew he had been holding back, but he was still surprised by how quickly Ibaraki recovered. He must have been expecting it.
“I didn’t invite you,” Yuichi retorted. “Thus, you’re an uninvited guest. Thus, an enemy.”
“That’s a pretty big leap in logic!” Ibaraki yelled.
“Weren’t you the one who said you weren’t going to hang around?” Yuichi shot back. “Quit acting buddy-buddy every time we meet. You’re not going to win me over!”
Ibaraki was an oni who ate people. Yuichi couldn’t really be friends with him. Natsuki had killed people too, of course. But cannibalism was where Yuichi really drew the line.
“I ha
ven’t done anything to humans lately, you know. I’ve been eating normal food, like humans eat. I’m experimenting, get it?” Ibaraki said theatrically. “If an oni can live without killing humans, it solves our problem, right?”
“I read a line like that in a manga called Parasyte, and that guy was lying,” Yuichi said.
Ibaraki averted his eyes.
With nothing further to say to Ibaraki, Yuichi looked at Kyoya. “So your house arrest is over... I suppose?”
He had been about to say “over, huh?” then revised his language. Kyoya was his elder, after all, and Aiko’s brother. He deserved a little respect.
He had heard that Kyoya had been sent into the family dungeon to reflect.
Kyoya shrank away as Yuichi addressed him. “Y-Yeah. That’s, ah...”
His behavior seemed rather timid, but to appear before Yuichi again after all that had happened suggested a rather bold personality deep down.
He’s acting pretty different, though... Yuichi thought.
Then again, maybe it was the last time they’d met that had been the exception. The stories Aiko had told about her brother before suggested a more frivolous sort of person. Maybe this was closer to the real him.
“Hey, no big deal!” Mutsuko proclaimed. “Yesterday’s enemy is today’s ally! Oh, but listen up, Yu. Even if he only fights in human form from now on, no pressing him to turn into a wolf or sprout bat wings like before. That’s like reminding Hiei of the time he was covered in eyeballs. It’s cruel!”
“Lady Mutsuko, would not a Great Ape metaphor be more apt?” Akiko suggested. “Master Kyoya is someone who seemed to appear in the story for the sole purpose of getting redeemed and then losing to make villains seem stronger, but turned out to be a sensitive and easily wounded person.”
Akiko’s words weren’t helping at all.
“You really don’t hold grudges at all, do you, Sis?” Yuichi asked. He looked over at Kanako and Yoriko, wondering if it was okay to talk about this bizarre stuff in front of them. They hadn’t been part of that incident at all, and it seemed like it might lead to trouble if they learned about it. Fortunately, they didn’t actually seem to care at all.
They probably just think it’s more of Sis’s usual careless chattering... It was natural that they wouldn’t take it seriously.
“Now, let’s not stand around talking in the doorway,” Akiko said. “I shall show you to your rooms.” Perhaps realizing they might stand there chatting away forever, Akiko led them all away from there and to their rooms.
They had decided they would go to play on the beach after they dropped off their luggage, so they all quickly got changed and met up behind the house. They walked through the line of trees planted to prevent sand erosion and came out on the beach.
“Huh? I thought your house would have a private beach, Noro!” Mutsuko exclaimed, acting exaggeratedly shocked by the sight of the beach full of visitors.
Mutsuko was wearing a swimsuit of the competitive racing sort. She didn’t have much of a chest, but her proportions were perfectly balanced, like a model’s. The suit’s silhouette was evocative of a tokusatsu hero, and apparently Mutsuko had had it specially made, though Yuichi didn’t know all the details. Annoyingly, she couldn’t put it on by herself, so he had had to help her.
“No, of course not,” Aiko said. “Apparently all Japanese beaches are owned by the state, so you can’t just keep them to yourself. Lots of people with summer homes in the area come here to play, so I guess it gets a lot of traffic.”
Aiko was dressed in a frilly bikini, walking side by side with Yuichi. Yuichi’s group was getting attention for a number of reasons, but one of them was definitely Aiko.
Perhaps embarrassed by being openly stared at, Aiko was keeping her own eyes fixed on the ground.
It is hard to keep your eyes off her, though... Yuichi thought. Aiko had a round, childish face, but when she wore a swimsuit, it became clear just how busty she was.
“Boy, it feels great to have all eyes on you, huh? You’re sucking in their attention like a black hole!” Ibaraki said. He was wearing a red speedo and absolutely nothing else. Due to his foreign appearance, perhaps, he was getting a lot of attention from the women himself.
“Hahaha! Of course she is!” Kyoya let out a piercing laugh. “She is my little sister, after all!”
“Indeed. All must bow before the sight of the mistress in a swimsuit,” Akiko chimed in.
Neither of them were wearing swimsuits; they were still in their straightjacket and maid outfit.
Aiko’s eyes remained on the ground.
“So, uh, what are you guys here for, anyway? Well, with Ibaraki I can probably guess...” Yuichi asked curiously. He couldn’t understand what the other two would be doing attending their training camp.
“I-I just came to enjoy our summer house! And while I’m at it, I will of course protect my lovely little sister from the boorish ruffians running wild out here beneath the summer sun!”
“Master Yuichi, it is only natural that I should be here. Who else would take care of you during your stay?” Yuichi had heard that the house had a caretaker, who would see to the bare minimum of their needs. She had probably just come to enjoy herself, then.
“Are you okay, Big Brother?” Yoriko asked, clinging to Yuichi’s right arm. She was wearing a daring black lace bikini, which she pulled off so well, it was hard to believe she was in middle school. All the girls present were beautiful, but Yoriko was the only one among them who was aware of it. She knew how to be looked at, and how to show off to others.
“No, actually, so could you stop clinging to me?” Yuichi asked. He was wearing long surfer shorts and a soft parka. He also had a strange, long rod mounted over his shoulder. It was apparently a beach umbrella that Mutsuko had prepared.
The real reason Ibaraki had come to the beach house before them was to bring the various tools Mutsuko had readied for the trip. It seemed that Natsuki’s stalker, Sakiyama, had helped with the driving, although he himself was nowhere to be seen.
The umbrella was extremely heavy, and Yuichi was walking on sand, which made keeping his balance hard. Having someone clinging to his arm made it even harder, so he really did wish she would stop.
“That reminds me... you really are a man, Ibaraki!” Mutsuko announced as she scrutinized Ibaraki in his swimsuit. It was a bizarre thing to say.
“Huh? Yeah, I am. Why?” Ibaraki responded, uncertainly.
“You don’t know about the Ibaraki-doji female theory?” Mutsuko asked. “There’s even one that she’s the lover of Shuten-doji!”
“What the hell? That’s nuts! Shuten’s my brother! Gross!” Ibaraki ran off ahead, apparently offended by the suggestion. Yuichi couldn’t help but sympathize.
“This looks like a good spot!” Mutsuko announced, pointing as they came to the water’s edge.
Yuichi unfurled the pole he had brought. It looked like a large, Japanese-style umbrella. He stuck it into the sand and affixed it in place.
It was heavy, naturally, so the framework was made of metal. The pole was a total of four meters in length, with one meter of that stuck into the ground. The total diameter of the umbrella was five meters.
The umbrella shook periodically, as if not quite able to withstand its own weight. Yuichi didn’t know what it was made of, but it seemed sufficiently pliant so that it wouldn’t just break. It did stand out, though — both the umbrella and the people beneath it.
The big, blue ocean spread out before their eyes, and the weather was perfect for beachgoing. Yuichi cast a glance at Mutsuko, assuming she must be feeling satisfied.
Mutsuko looked distinctly unsatisfied. “I worked really hard to get everything ready, but I just don’t get the appeal of beachgoing!”
“Hey!” Yuichi couldn’t find it in him to work up a more rational objection.
It had been a lot of work, hauling that huge umbrella all the way to the water’s edge. It had been long and cumbersome; the sun made the metal scorc
hing to the touch, and he’d had to walk it all along the shifting sands of the beach. And with just one line, Mutsuko had rendered it all pointless.
“Well, it’s true! What are we even supposed to do here?!” she complained.
Yuichi wasn’t sure what she was mad at, but the brunt of her anger seemed to be directed at Yuichi. She grabbed the pole of the vibrating umbrella in a daunting pose and glared directly at him.
Yuichi just looked at her, losing the nerve to say anything more.
“Um... We could swim?” Aiko suggested.
“Noro!” Mutsuko exclaimed. “What exactly is fun about swimming in the ocean? First, you have to walk through it until your whole body is pruney, and then you’re stuck in that slimy salt water! There’s nothing good about it! If you want to swim, why not do it in a pool?”
“You just shot down the whole point of beachgoing!” Yuichi shouted, wondering why they had even come if that was how she felt.
“The dictionary definition of beachgoing seems to include both swimming and sunbathing,” Kanako said nonchalantly. She was wearing a green pareo to hide her swimsuit, and had plunked herself down at the base of the umbrella. She seemed sensitive about the size of her chest, but her efforts to conceal it had just made it stand out more.
She had carried a small notebook PC even here, perhaps in case she wanted to do some writing for fun. She had used that to look up the definition of beachgoing.
“Sunbathing?! Heatstroke, sunburn, skin cancer, freckles! What’s the point of it?” Mutsuko exclaimed.
“What about watermelon-splitting?” Yoriko asked.
“Yu would never miss, so it’s boring!” she complained.
It was true that blindfolding him and spinning him around would not have been enough to cause Yuichi to lose track of a watermelon.
“I enjoy the people-watching,” Natsuki said. “That’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? The beach is the only legal venue in which one can scrutinize people walking around mostly naked. Perhaps that’s the real fun of beachgoing.”
Humanity’s Extinction Happens During Summer Vacation?! Page 4
