Cradle of Stars

by Reki Kawahara

  “But all the more reason to ask, why me?” Haruyuki inquired, baffled, pointing at himself with his hand.

  If it had been just Takumu, he could understand that. He’d become the hope of the kendo team not long after he transferred there, and he was thought to be the front-runner for the position of captain. His grades were also always at the top of the class. And with his personality and appearance, even as a friend, Haruyuki could give him a big stamp of approval that there was no better person to run for election with.

  And at the same time, Haruyuki Arita, a lump of negative elements, would most certainly erase all these positive things that Takumu Mayuzumi would bring to a campaign.

  If she said something like it was because he was Takumu’s friend, Haruyuki was going to bow out in no uncertain terms. But Ikuzawa’s response was entirely unexpected.

  “Well, that’s because I think I could run the student council with you, of course.”

  “…Wh-why?” Once again, all he could do was ask a question in reply.

  “It’s not as mysterious as all that.” This time, she giggled. “You’ve been doing great work as the president of the Animal Care Club. And officers from special clubs often stand for student council positions. I mean, the current student council president used to be the vice president of the AV club.”

  “…R-really…?” Haruyuki belatedly realized that he was indeed the president of something. But he’d been ordered to be president of the Animal Care Club, and it had just been a month. Plus, his only job was to care for the northern white-faced owl Hoo in the animal hutch in the rear courtyard. Could that really be called getting results in his club?

  But Ikuzawa continued, as if trying to block his path to retreat. “And at the school festival, you went the extra mile for our class exhibit and upgraded it all by yourself. That really made me think. I realized that even though I’m the Class C representative, somewhere in my mind, I was thinking the class exhibit didn’t really matter as long as we finished in time.”

  “I-it wasn’t that much work at all, though. And I mean, I just went and modified it the way I wanted without actually discussing it with everyone…”

  “Nah, I really loved that ‘Koenji Thirty Years Ago’ exhibit,” Takumu said with an entirely straight face.

  You saying that has the opposite effect! Haruyuki screamed in his heart and tried to kick his best friend again.

  But Takumu easily dodged the attack outside his view and continued, “The idea of doing AR mapping on the classroom walls and ceiling was a good one, and the skill to make it happen in just one night is a major deal. And the visitors loved it, too, right?”

  “Ah, but compared with the student council’s ‘Time’ exhibit, you know…”

  “True, that was amazing, but the exhibit you made, Arita, I like how time flowed at the same speed.” Turning her gaze upward as if remembering, Ikuzawa opened her mouth once again. “Looking at the condo where my family used to live, it made me think about all sorts of things. I’m fourteen right now, so I always thought that being a grown-up was a long way off, but it’s more like I’m already fourteen, you know? So like, a small part of the reason I decided to run for office was because of that exhibit.”

  “Wh-what?” Haruyuki stared at her.

  “Of course, I’m not confident I’ll get elected, but rather than regretting something I didn’t do, I figure it’d be better to lose and be disappointed.”

  Haruyuki felt his heart tremble just the tiniest bit. It definitely wasn’t that he was curious about standing as a candidate, but before he knew it, a question was slipping out of his mouth. “Um, Ikuzawa, why do you want to be student council president? I’m pretty sure you’re doing great work in the calligraphy club?”

  “Well…the thing is…” Ikuzawa hung her head for some reason, turning a little red in the face, and neatly folded up the now-empty recyclable container. “So, like, you might laugh at me, but…I really look up to Kuroyukihime in ninth grade, the current student council vice president. I wanted to get even a little closer to her…And not like I want to be her best friend or something. I’m talking about the way she lives. Kuroyukihime’s always so cool, always standing perfectly straight; she has this relaxed grown-up air about her. I really love that.”

  That same Kuroyukihime is glaring really hard in this direction ten meters behind you.

  Naturally, this thought did not leave his mouth. Instead, he nodded sharply. “You do? I get that…And I think that’s a seriously valid motive for running for office.”

  Haruyuki really did think so, but Ikuzawa lowered her face for some reason. He panicked that he had maybe said something wrong, but a few seconds later, she spoke again, her voice quiet.

  “So like, I’ll tell you the truth, okay? I explained the reason I asked you to run before, Arita, but that’s not the whole story. The truth is, I also had an ulterior motive.”

  “Huh? U-ulterior motive?”

  “Yeah. Arita, you’re pretty close with Kuroyukihime, right? So I figured if you ran with me, Kuroyukihime might help out with the campaign stuff…It’s not fair of me to put that on you, though, to be so petty like this.”

  “Huh?! …Um…” At a loss for words, Haruyuki looked to Takumu for assistance. But his childhood friend’s expression told him he was on his own. “Um, Ikuzawa, I think maybe if you don’t want it at least that much, then you can’t win an election. And I think if you talked to her, Kuroyukihime would tell you to use what you can use.”

  “…You think?” Ikuzawa lifted her face.

  “Of course.” Haruyuki nodded deeply. “Although trusting your comrades is the most important thing. And, Ikuzawa, you just shared your true feelings with me, right? I think if you’re that kind of person, you can be trusted as a leader.”

  “…Thanks, Arita.” Her side ponytail bobbing, Mayu Ikuzawa bowed her head. When she straightened up again after about two seconds, she said in her usual voice, “I’m convinced all over again that the three of us could make a really wonderful executive group. We’ll have to talk about which positions you’ll run for, but I feel safe leaving any of the posts to you two. Thanks…Let’s fight together!”

  “Y-yeah!” Haruyuki replied with force before belatedly wondering, Huh? What just happened?

  6

  The sky stayed fixed in the same slightly overcast pattern until after lunch, but by sixth period, the clouds had gradually woken up, and by the time homeroom was over, those clouds were shedding tiny water droplets.

  The hourly weather report said it would continue to rain until evening, but for Chiyuri’s sake, Haruyuki prayed it would keep drizzling like this for the time being as he headed for work behind the old school building, given that she was likely on the track prepping for her meet. And naturally, rain or shine, he didn’t get a day off from his Animal Care Club duties.

  When he arrived in front of the animal hutch, he said hello to his small coworker on the other side of the chicken wire. “’Sup, Hoo?”

  The northern white-faced owl had recently, and finally, started to acknowledge Haruyuki as his caretaker, and he flapped his wings a couple times to return the greeting.

  Haruyuki figured he’d better take care of Hoo’s health check while he was sitting on his usual perch, so he tapped on the Animal Care Club icon on his virtual desktop. When he pushed the weight measurement button in the management app, the weight sensors built into the perch connected wirelessly so he could record Hoo’s weight. Compared with when he’d first moved here, he’d come pretty close to his ideal weight.

  “Yup, looking good,” Haruyuki commented. “But it’s gonna get hotter out. Make sure you don’t get heatstroke.”

  Hoo whirled his head around and complained about his empty stomach. But no one except the “super president,” aka Utai Shinomiya, could feed him.

  “Shinomiya will be here soon. Just hang on a bit longer.”

  It wasn’t as if the owl could understand Haruyuki, but still, hopes dashed, Hoo lowered his e
ar feathers and turned away.

  What would Metatron say if she saw this guy? His thoughts roaming, Haruyuki opened the door to the hutch and stepped inside, picked up the bathtub and waterproof paper on the ground, and stepped back out. He blasted the dirty paper clean with water and filled the tub—which was properly called a birdbath—with fresh water before returning to the hutch.

  He stepped outside once more, and as he brought out a bamboo broom and dustpan with the deck brush of the toolshed in the courtyard, he heard footsteps coming from the direction of the front gate.

  “Prez, ’ssssup!” Animal Care Club member Reina Izeki walked toward him, her wavy long hair billowing behind her. She was in her gym clothes that day. Plus, she had a colorful sports towel around her neck.

  “’S-sup. You’re all fired up, huh?” Haruyuki remarked.

  “I had gym sixth period, so I came from there.” Reina pursed her lips slightly, as if embarrassed. “I don’t care about getting these dirty, so I can clean, no probs. So like, I’ll do the sweeping up.”

  “Th-thanks.”

  Is this the same Izeki who was all “Seriously?!” and “I don’t even get this!” from the first day in the Animal Care Club?! Inwardly impressed, Haruyuki handed over the broom and dustpan. He took the deck brush himself and scrubbed the dust away from the hutch’s exterior, finishing it off with a spray of water from the hose. He was mostly finished when he heard the light trot of footsteps.

  Before he could look up, a request for an ad hoc connection popped up in his field of view. He had no sooner pushed the OK button than letters began to scroll across the chat window.

  UI> I’M SORRY I’M LATE!

  Approaching at a brisk pace from the front courtyard was Utai Shinomiya, in the white dress that was her school uniform, reddish-brown backpack, large tote bag hanging from one hand. She’d apparently run over from Matsunogi Academy without an umbrella; her bangs were stuck to her forehead, and her uniform had also absorbed a fair bit of water.

  “Super Pres, no need to rush like that!” Reina called out in a hurry. “Hoo’s being a good boy; he’s waiting nicely! And like, you’re soaked!” She dropped her broom to run over to Utai. Pulling the younger girl under the eave of the school building, she took the towel from her neck and wrapped it around Utai’s wet head, rubbing it to collect the moisture with a practiced hand.

  Utai looked surprised but let Reina have her way, and once she was freed from the older girl’s hands, her left hand flashed UI> THANK YOU VERY MUCH, IZEKI. SOMEHOW

  The last part of the chat sentence was erased.

  “Somehow what? Go on and say it,” Reina urged her with a smile, and this time, Utai’s fingers moved hesitantly.

  UI> SOMEHOW, YOU ARE LIKE A MOTHER.

  “Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Reina laughed brightly—perhaps it was the first time she’d been told that—and wiped down Utai’s back. “I’m sorry for treating you like a kid when you’re the super prez. I got a little sister in kindergarten, y’know? So it’s like I just instinctively wanna dry you off when you’re wet?”

  Huh. But isn’t that a pretty big age difference?

  It wasn’t as though she could actually read Haruyuki’s mind, but Reina shrugged and turned around as she hung the towel around her neck again. “I mean, she’s my kid sister, but we only have the same dad. She’s got toooons of energy; she always runs around naked when she gets out of the bath…Why am I talking about this? Like, Hoo’s belly’s rumbling. Prez, get ready for feeding time!”

  “R-roger!”

  At this order from his subordinate, Haruyuki ran over to Utai and took the big bag from her. The three moved inside the animal hutch, and he got ready to help Utai put on the falconry glove that was more like a leather gauntlet. Meanwhile, Reina took the cooler out of the bag and opened the lid.

  As soon as Utai raised her hand up high, Hoo flew down from the perch like he’d been waiting impatiently for this very moment and did a circle around the inside of the hutch before settling on Utai’s wrist. Utai took a slice of dark-red meat from the container Reina was holding and gave it to Hoo. The white-faced owl caught the meat in his pointed beak and lifted his face up to swallow it with relish.

  The feeding was a repeat of essentially every one of the twenty days since they’d taken Hoo in, but even now, when he watched Hoo eating, all kinds of thoughts popped up in his mind. Something about being alive, about being made to live, that he couldn’t really put into words welled up from the bottom of his heart.

  Abruptly, his lunchtime conversation with Mayu Ikuzawa came back to life in his memory: “…Rather than regretting something I didn’t do…it’d be better to lose and be disappointed.”

  He thought Ikuzawa’s way of thinking was pretty great, but to be honest, even the thought of running for student council made him hyperventilate. Although he’d gotten carried away at lunch and basically agreed to do it, he had absolutely no interest in campaign speeches or public debates or any of that.

  To begin with, he couldn’t help but feel that he was not qualified to run given how freaked out he was by the very idea of it. The student council was for people who were passionate about trying to make the lives of all the students better. And no matter how deeply he dug into his heart, he couldn’t find an inkling of desire for such a lofty mission. He’d always had more than he could handle with his own self, and that probably wouldn’t change going forward…

  Utai was about to take the final piece of meat out of the container, but her hand froze in place. Cocking her head to the side, she tapped at her holo keyboard with one hand. UI> ARITA, WOULD YOU LIKE TO GIVE HOO DINNER?

  “Wh-whaaat?! But I thought Hoo wouldn’t eat unless it came from your hand, Shinomiya?”

  UI> THAT’S HOW IT’S BEEN SO FAR, BUT I HAVE A FEELING THAT IT WILL BE OKAY.

  “Y-you have a feeling…?”

  UI> MY HUNCHES ARE ALWAYS RIGHT!

  Even as they were talking, Hoo was clacking his beak as if to say, “Hurry up and give it to me.” Reina could also see Utai’s chat window and jabbed Haruyuki in the side.

  “Go on and try! If you’re not gonna, I’ll do it.”

  “G-got it,” he replied in a small voice, and firming his resolve, he took the piece of meat. It was more elastic than he’d expected, and he ever so timidly offered it to Hoo on Utai’s wrist.

  The owl first bobbed his head and looked at Haruyuki. Then he looked at the piece of meat, brought his face in closer, pulled it back, and came in again. And then, almost anticlimatically, he grabbed hold of the meat in Haruyuki’s hand and swallowed it.

  “Ah…He ate it…”

  UI> HOO SAYS IT’S DELICIOUS! Utai smiled as she raised her hand up high, and Hoo lightly lifted off. After taking three turns around the hutch, he returned to his perch. The three looked up at him, smiling; the instant his stomach was full, Hoo immediately switched to nap mode.

  On the owl’s left leg, there was a clearly defined scar from when his former owner had violently dug out the individual identification microchip embedded there and then abandoned Hoo. Bleeding to death, he had flown to Matsunogi Academy, where Utai had taken him into her care after finding him lying on the ground.

  Since then, Hoo had been fiercely on guard against anyone who wasn’t Utai, but today, for the first time, he had eaten food from Haruyuki’s hand. That said, Haruyuki doubted that Hoo now trusted him implicitly. But it was true that he was gradually changing. Hoo and Haruyuki and probably Reina, too. And maybe even Utai.

  Would he be able to change even more? Enough so he could speak his own thoughts in front of a large group of people?

  If Metatron were here, she’d probably yell something like “Why do you quail in the face of something so insignificant?!”

  Haruyuki looked up at the dozing bird, this thought wandering through his mind.

  “’Kay, see ya tomorroooow!” Reina Izeki waved after changing back into her uniform and heading back to the classroom. Now alone, Utai and Haruyuki both exchanged a gl
ance.

  Utai stared firmly at Haruyuki, her large eyes shining, a hint of scarlet running through the irises, and inclined her head slightly as if to encourage him. Apparently, she’d seen right through to the troubles in his heart.

  “Um. Do you have a minute, Shinomiya?”

  UI> OF COURSE.

  The response scrolled through the window immediately, so Haruyuki glanced up at the sky. The rain was still a drizzle, and it didn’t look like the weather would get any worse for the time being.

  “How about we sit over there?” He pointed to a bench under a large camphor tree, and Utai nodded with a smile. She pulled a pack of hand wipes from her bag and cleaned a place for each of them before sitting down.

  “Oh! Thanks. Sorry.” Haruyuki sat next to her, apologetic.

  Utai might have had the biggest heart while being the youngest member of Nega Nebulus, and the chance to talk with her alone was surprisingly precious. They saw each other pretty much every day, taking care of Hoo, but Reina always seemed to want to take care of Utai for some reason—although the reason for that had become clear that day—and often walked part of the way home with them. So they hadn’t really been able to have a private conversation lately.

  For a second, he had the thought If only Izeki were a Burst Linker, but then he remembered the glittering Neurolinker decorated with rhinestones and shook his head. And anyway, what he wanted to talk to Utai about had nothing to do with the Accelerated World.

  After clearing his throat, he explained the gist of the whole student council thing and asked Utai how to get Ikuzawa to give up on the idea.

  The girl, four years his junior, cocked her head adorably before typing rapidly on her holo keyboard. UI> I THINK THERE’S SOMEONE BETTER SUITED TO DISCUSS THIS MATTER.

  “Huh? Wh-who?”

  UI> PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT. Utai operated her virtual desktop, invisible to Haruyuki, for a while before nodding firmly. UI>