Chapter 80: Isn’t the World Only Moving Forward Inside Onii-chan’s Head?
For the time being, I decided to leave the matter of the mysterious voice echoing inside Taketsuru’s head alone.
More accurately, after I had asked, “If it comes down to it, would you like me to ask my hallucinations if they can help?” he had grimaced as though he’d bitten into something bitter and replied, “Just… give me a little time to think.”
Which meant I had no idea what conclusion he would eventually reach.
Though, honestly, even if I gave him time to think, the outcome from my side wasn’t going to change. As his best friend, I had every intention of helping him solve whatever was bothering him.
All that had really happened was that the problem had been postponed.
One way or another, I intended to settle it before this trip was over.
That said…
My guiding principles remained exactly the same.
See nothing.
Hear nothing.
Get involved in nothing.
Using information supplied by my hallucinations would be my absolute last resort.
Incidentally, the current hallucination’s assessment read:
──────
“Taketsuru Yuu”
Voice in his head: Appears to be a different event from the watermelon…
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For some reason, it sounded unbearably smug.
Which only strengthened my resolve to solve this without relying on hallucinations if at all possible.
Of course…
If refusing to use them ended up ruining the entire summer, that would be another matter entirely.
“Well then… that leaves one last thing.”
Now that Taketsuru’s issue had been temporarily shelved, there was only one loose end left before lunch.
I walked farther down the hallway and stopped outside the room next to Kei’s—my younger sister Aya’s room, currently occupied by Meiko.
I knocked.
“Meiko. It’s me. I’m coming in.”
“Huh? G-Gouto-kun!? W-Wait a second, could you give me just a moment!?”
“I refuse.”
Although Meiko asked me to wait, I ignored her plea and opened the door anyway.
As an aside, every room in the villa could be locked, but as the acting manager of the property, I possessed the master key.
When I barged inside, Meiko wasn’t changing clothes or in any kind of compromising situation.
She was simply sitting at the desk, busily scratching away at a sheet of paper with a pen.
“Gouto-kun… bursting into a maiden’s room without permission isn’t even a matter of ordinary manners anymore.”
She shot me an exaggeratedly reproachful look over her shoulder, her eyes half-lidded in theatrical annoyance.
I answered with complete seriousness.
“There was something bothering me. I came to confirm it.”
“…What’s that?”
“Do you already know the caretakers?”
I asked the question bluntly.
If the answer was yes, there was no issue.
But if the answer was no…
Then something deserved closer examination.
“The answer’s no.”
“I see.”
I fell silent, thinking.
At the same time, my gaze briefly drifted toward the document Meiko had been feverishly writing.
It looked like…
Some sort of code.
Even I wasn’t capable of deciphering the secret ciphers of an ancient ninja clan with a single glance.
I couldn’t read it.
However—
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Nekoyanagi Cipher Manual [Ho-Type]
Contents: Urgent confirmation requested. Possible leak of escort-related information. Urgent confirmation requested. (Details follow.)
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So that’s how modern-day ninjas handled secure communication.
They handwrote encrypted messages…
Then photographed them and sent the images digitally.
Technology truly was convenient.
The reason I’d come here stemmed from something the caretaker had said earlier.
When Meiko had spoken, he’d casually referred to her as “the escort.“
Naturally, the fact that Meiko belonged to the considerably darker end of the “modern ninja” spectrum wasn’t exactly public knowledge.
Even within the Kirishiro Group, very few people knew.
I myself had only learned the truth recently.
There were situations where it benefited an escort for everyone to know they existed.
There were also situations where anonymity was infinitely more valuable.
If the goal was deterrence, public awareness helped.
Otherwise…
Remaining unseen made the job much easier.
Given Meiko’s role, operating unnoticed was likely preferable in most circumstances.
Which made it rather strange that an ordinary caretaker knew exactly what she was.
Mother certainly knew plenty about the Nekoyanagi family.
Perhaps she’d shared certain information with the rest of our family.
That much wasn’t impossible.
But for a caretaker managing a villa far removed from our everyday lives to take one look at Meiko and immediately identify her as an escort…
That didn’t add up.
After all…
Even I hadn’t figured it out for quite some time.
Unless the caretaker possessed observational abilities superior to my own…
Calling Meiko an escort should have been impossible.
Which meant that, if I wanted to give the inconsistency a logical explanation…
Then someone must have informed him beforehand about who Meiko really was.
“…Assuming my family already knew Meiko’s true identity, then the most likely source of that information would be my family itself.”
“And considering Aya-chan seems to have taken a particular interest in me?”
“Then another possibility appears. Aya may have visited this villa ahead of us for some unrelated reason… and while she was here, informed the caretaker about you.”
Naturally…
This was merely a hypothesis.
Not a certainty.
In fact, it was probably one of the more harmless explanations available.
Among my family members, Aya was the only one who had said anything particularly insistent regarding this villa.
Granted…
The thing she’d insisted on was that Meiko should stay in her bedroom.
Without wasting another second, I pulled out my phone and called Aya.
Despite the sudden call, she answered almost immediately.
“O-Onii-chan? What’s wrong? Wait… don’t tell me you decided to spend your vacation with the family after all!?”
“Aya. Do you dislike Meiko?”
“…Huh? No? Not at all… Actually, if anything…”
“Then what exactly are you trying to accomplish?”
“W-Wait, what are you talking about? Did your brain skip several chapters again without telling the rest of the world? What’s going on? Did Meiko do something?”
“…I see. It was a misunderstanding.”
Then I hung up.
From her reaction…
She genuinely seemed to have no idea what I was talking about.
That effectively eliminated the possibility that Aya had secretly visited the villa ahead of us and arranged something behind the scenes.
If anything, it seemed more likely Mother had barely told Aya anything about Meiko at all.
“I suppose we’ll have to ask the caretaker directly. There might simply be some misunderstanding.”
“Yeah… though could you wait until I hear back from my people first? And if we’re gonna question him… I’m coming too.”
“Of course.”
The most peaceful explanation would be that Mother had happened to mention Meiko in passing.
Yet…
Something about all this carried an unpleasant smell.
That was precisely what I was thinking when Meiko and I were just about to wrap up our conversation.
Without warning—
Meiko suddenly lunged directly in front of me.
More specifically…
She placed herself squarely along the line connecting me to the window.
The next instant—
Thunk!
Something rod-like slammed into the wooden window frame with a muffled impact.
After embedding itself for only a heartbeat, it lost momentum and dropped outside with a soft clatter.
Meiko remained perfectly still, every muscle tense.
Her razor-sharp eyes scanned the woods beyond the window for several long seconds before she finally clicked her tongue in frustration.
“About four hundred meters away… Yeah… chasing them now would be impossible.”
“An attack?”
“Nah.”
She shook her head.
“If they’d actually intended to attack, I’d have noticed from five thousand meters away.”
She continued saying utterly absurd things with complete seriousness.
She was simply…
Far too much of a ninja.
I wished she’d at least tone it down enough that an ordinary citizen could vaguely understand what she was talking about.
Opening Aya’s window—fitted with bulletproof glass—Meiko reached outside and retrieved the object.
It was an arrow.
Or rather…
An arrow with its tip deliberately blunted.
A folded letter had been tied securely beneath the head.
An arrow message.
“At least it doesn’t seem to be cursed.”
Remaining visibly cautious, Meiko untied the letter and slowly unfolded it.
The instant she read its contents…
Her eyebrows knitted together so tightly that a deep crease formed between them.
“What’s it say?”
“…I-I don’t think this is something Gouto-kun should read…”
“That doesn’t matter. Show me.”
Looking thoroughly reluctant, Meiko handed it over.
Unable to disobey me, she surrendered the letter with a defeated sigh.
As my eyes scanned the contents…
A smile spread across my face before I even realized it.
‘To the Princess of the Nekoyanagi Clan,
Word has reached us regarding the unfortunate collapse of your proposed marriage with the Inugashi family.
In other words… The kunoichi celebrated as the greatest talent of the Nekoyanagi Clan now stands unattached.
Therefore… We, of the Kikkōryū Clan, humbly submit a marriage proposal on behalf of our young master. Should our young master emerge victorious in an honorable duel against you… The marriage shall be concluded.
Mikado Kikkōryū
Representative of the Kikkōryū Clan.’
My policy this summer was still…
See nothing.
Hear nothing.
Get involved in nothing.
And yet…
This…
“You’re quite popular, Meiko. However, since you’re my childhood friend, and therefore someone who belongs to me, remaining uninvolved would be rather difficult, wouldn’t it? To think there exists someone so discourteous that they’d propose directly to you without first going through me.”
“Give me a break alreadyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”
Good grief.
What in the world was happening this summer?
I wasn’t doing anything at all.
Yet one event after another kept practically throwing itself into my lap.
First, the spiritually empowered watermelon.
Then a mysterious plea for help apparently intended for a hero.
Now…
A ninja marriage duel.
Was a single week really going to be enough to get through all this?
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Me @ Apparently Appraisal Skill ★
Possible diagnosis: Calamity magnet.
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Then again…
Perhaps that was simply another trait shared by perfectly ordinary university students.
Even so…
I couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility that the real calamity magnet was, in fact…
My hallucinations.