“But the fact remains that there’s no evidence to the contrary,” Sousuke continued. “And I can understand the residents’ feelings of insecurity. Unless she can prove her innocence, the management agency’s response is understandable.”
“How can you be so cold?”
“My temperature is irrelevant. I’m merely evaluating the facts of the matter,” Sousuke said, grating the daikon radish.
“But you can’t be okay with it, right?” Kaname insisted. “You know that old lady too, don’t you?”
“Affirmative.”
“And you don’t feel bad for her?”
“I can express my sympathy and concern, but it won’t improve the situation.”
“Still, I can’t stand it. If this were a detective manga, we’d find the true culprit and end everything happily, but...”
“Yes, but that likely won’t happen here,” Sousuke told her.
Everything he’d said was on target. Kaname was a total outsider, and she didn’t have any useful proof or leads. If the old woman wasn’t behind the burglary, then who was? It wasn’t as if Kaname knew everyone who lived in the apartment complex. It could even be a completely unrelated team of thieves.
A long silence fell. The only sounds were the grill burner and Sousuke grating radish.
“Still,” she said, “it gets on my nerves.”
“Just let it go. There’s nothing you can do. It’s finished,” Sousuke said at last, holding out a small bowl of grated daikon.
“I’ll handle the rest, then. You can go watch TV or something.”
“Understood.”
That was the end of their talk about the burglaries.
In addition to the fried saury, the meal ended up consisting of hot daikon miso soup, freshly steamed rice, okara, and reheated Japanese yam stew. Sousuke had seconds of both rice and miso, and they watched a nature documentary on TV together while drinking their after-dinner tea. When the show was over, he thanked her and returned to his nearby apartment.
Suddenly, Kaname’s apartment was empty again. She’d be on her own until morning. If her mother were alive and with her right now, they’d probably talk about Sousuke. “Boys really do eat a lot, don’t they?” or “If you keep bossing him around like a big sister, he won’t ever like you.” It sometimes felt unsatisfying to not have someone to laugh about these things with.
No, she told herself. This is enough. Living alone is easy. I’m not lonely at all. She then lay down on the sofa and stared blankly at the TV.
A comedian on the screen said something silly. Kaname laughed her head off for a while. Then she let out a small sigh.
One morning, a few days later...
The weather was bad, raining on and off. Kaname woke up a little earlier than usual and headed for the dump site with a heavy bundle of newspapers. While there, she noticed something was off: the cleaning lady had collapsed. More precisely, she was crouched on the ground, leaning limply against a pillar a few meters from the site.
“Um... A-Are you all right?” Kaname asked nervously.
When the lady didn’t respond, Kaname began to look around in panic. A young woman, seemingly also a resident there, threw out her garbage and was about to head back to the entrance. She didn’t seem to have noticed what had happened.
No... that isn’t it, Kaname realized. She’s pretending not to see so she doesn’t have to get involved. Given how fast she was walking, that had to be it.
Kaname was taken aback, but quickly snapped back to reality and checked the older woman out. “H-Hang on a minute, okay? I’ll call the ambulance!” She pulled her phone from her pocket, but the old lady stopped her.
“Don’t. I’m fine.”
“But—”
“Just a little lightheaded,” she insisted. “Really. I’ll rest a while and feel right as rain.”
Kaname said nothing.
“I’ve made enough trouble already, right? So... I don’t want an ambulance.”
“B-But...”
“Really, just leave me alone!” Despite the bad condition she was in, the old lady remained dauntless. She really was a strong-willed woman.
“Fine,” Kaname agreed after a pause. “But you really shouldn’t be sitting here. Come to my place.”
The woman shook her head. “I don’t need your help. I’m not so far gone as to need pity from a stranger while I’m already being accused of burglary. Just leave me alone!” It seemed the investigation had affected her after all, which was entirely understandable.
But despite all that, the cleaning lady continued to reject Kaname’s offers. She must have hated being pitied. Her pride was honestly kind of stunning. Could it be that this old cleaning lady actually had a greater sense of dignity than those gossipy housewives?
Still, Kaname couldn’t just leave her there. She used the strength of her youth to compel the woman’s obedience. “Just come on,” she insisted. “You can’t stay out in this cold!”
“W-Wait! Hang on...”
“Can you get up?! Take my shoulder!” Kaname held the cleaning lady’s hand, which was covered in a wet rubber glove, and forced it over her shoulder. The old woman was far lighter than she’d expected.
Despite her slightness, moving her to the living room in her apartment had proved to be quite a task. The woman had kept insisting that she let go, not to worry about her, that she had to work—but Kaname had eventually forced her onto the sofa. She’d almost felt tempted to restrain her with the handcuffs she’d confiscated from Sousuke.
The old woman had also been worried about the state she’d left the dump site in, so Kaname had eventually ordered her to lie down, then took her umbrella and left her apartment.
As expected, in just that brief amount of time, the dump had come to overflow with old newspapers, old magazines, and glass bottles. She decided to tidy up the pile. The truck that picked up the recycling only came as far as the road, so she’d have to move the garbage to that spot, eight meters away, before collection time.
That massive pile of garbage, all by herself...
“Ah, dammit,” said Kaname. She started by carrying the newspaper bundles out one at a time, so that she could keep her umbrella in her other hand. She soon realized that doing it that way was going to take forever, though, so she gave up, dropped the umbrella, and began carrying as much as she could in both arms at once.
Some might be inclined to wonder why a girl in a high school uniform would be carrying newspapers from the dump site to the road in the pouring rain. But the residents just kept piling on the trash as if they didn’t even see her there.
Her breathing grew heavy. She began sweating. Her arms and her fingers went numb.
A stack of magazines that hadn’t been bundled properly fell apart and spilled out onto the ground. Who the hell did that? She cursed as she gathered them back up. The newspapers were growing heavy from the rain they’d absorbed. Like the weight of a human life. That little old lady does this every week? she marveled.
One of the residents tossed a bag of combustible waste on the pile and tried to leave. Even though it’s recyclables day!
“Hey, wait a minute!” Kaname shouted at her before she could think, stalking up to the woman.
The young housewife stood there in confusion.
“You can’t do that! It’s recyclables day!” Kaname laid into her. “Combustible waste is another day!”
“Oh? I... er...”
“You can’t fool me, okay? Take it back! Go on!” She shoved the bag back at her with a glare.
The woman took the bag and ran away.
“Darn it!” Kaname said with a snort. There was no way she’d make it in time for homeroom now, but she didn’t have a choice. She still had plenty of time before first period, at least...
“Chidori. What are you doing?” came a voice.
Kaname turned around and saw Sousuke standing there. He was holding an umbrella and carrying a large bag under his arm. “Well... isn’t it obvious? Some stuff happened, and... Darn it...” she said, spitting out the words.
“That looks hard.”
“It sure is. Think you might help me out?” That she was asking for his help was a sign of how exhausted she was.
But Sousuke just looked at his watch, hesitated a moment, then said, “I’m sorry. I have business to take care of. I have to go.”
“Huh? What could you possibly have to take care of before scho—”
“Best of luck.” With that, Sousuke left, expressionless.
“You... unfeeling creep!” she shouted after him.