On and on and on it went, like she was spitting out blood.
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Shinjirou was bewildered.
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(Wh-what the hell. . .is she saying?)
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He couldn’t comprehend it. . .but deep inside his body something made him shiver, and it wasn’t the cold. Something in him had responded to her Isingle-minded intensity. Something perhaps very similar to what Taniguchi Masaki had felt about her.
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But it was beyond Shinjirou’s capability to understand it.
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“So you’re the one Who’s been following Camille around?
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You got a crush on her. . .or something?” A voice snarled from behind him.
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"......?!" He spun around in shock, but he wasn’t quick enough. The hideously fat man behind him-Spooky E-reached out with both his hands and grabbed ahold of the young stalker.
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Electricity raced through Shinjirou’s body, and he passed out instantly, crumpling to the ground.
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“Huh. . .” Spooky E sneered, picking Shinjirou up in one hand like a shopping bag, and carried him around to the building’s garbage dump.
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Above them, oblivious to their presence, Orihata Aya struggled desperately to crush her feelings for Taniguchi Masaki, shivering in her underwear, whispering over and over, “. . .I have no right to fall in love with him...”
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With each movement, bits of Shinjirou’s body would twitch.
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Once, the ring finger on his left hand curled; another time, his right eyelid opened, then shut.
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“O...o...aahhh...” His mouth opened, meaningless sounds spilling out. “O. . .o. . .rihata. . .Orihata. . .Orihata Aya.
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When the words acquired meaning, Spooky E grinned. He had reached the part of Shinjirou’s brain that knew about her.
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Spooky E briefly removed his hands, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and licked them all over. Once they were covered in saliva, he placed them back on Shinjirou’s head.
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Spooky E’s hands generated a very low power electromagnetic wave. He could use this to shock the cells in someone’s brain, and manipulate their memories and their very psyche. His power was called “Spooky Electric.” It was where his code name was derived from. He was a synthetic human. By licking his fingers, he was able to increase the conductivity of the very electromagnetic wave he was generating.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Okay, Anou Shinj irou. You will no longer pay the slightest attention to that girl or anything to do with her,” Spooky E said. He had
✦ ✦ ✦
discovered the boy’s name from the student ID card in his pocket.
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“I will not.”
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“From now on, you will have no personal desires,” Spooky E whispered, massaging the boy’s frontal lobes.
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“I will not.”
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“From now on, you work for the Towa Organization as one of our living terminals.”
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“I am a terminal.”
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“The sex drive that troubles you no longer exists,” Spooky E’s fingers slid between Shinjirou’s forehead and his eyes. Hunting for the hypothalamus and the limbic system.
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“No sex drive.”
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“You are no longer lonely.”
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“Not lonely.”
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“You don’t want a lover. . .you don’t want friends.”
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“I don’t.”
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These quiet questions and answers continued for another thirty minutes.
✦ ✦ ✦
Eventually, Spooky E whispered in Shinjirou’s ear, “You will enter Shinyo Academy and await instructions.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I will.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Programming complete. Reset all systems, reactivate in ten minutes.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Complete.”
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And with that, Shinjirou’s body toppled over, immobile.
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Hearing the voice from the doorway, Anou Kumiko jumped up from the sofa. She had dozed off.
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Curiously, that was her son Shinjirou’s voice. She hurriedly looked at the clock, but quickly realized that he was home more than an hour earlier than when cram school should have let out.
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She had not overslept.
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“What’s wrong, Shin-Chan?” she asked. “Did something happen at cram school?”
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Her son looked much more relaxed than usual. The closer the test got, the more stressed out he’d become, but that seemed to have vanished.
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“No, I quit,” he said, calmly.
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Kumiko freaked. “EH?! Wh-what’s that supposed to mean?”
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“My scores have been taking a nose dive. I realized I was going to the wrong school,” he answered readily.
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“B-but. . .all on your own? And wasn’t it your idea to go in the first place?”
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“I switched to a different school. The one by the station.” He mentioned the name of a big school that handled college entrance exam students as well.
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Kumiko was taken aback, but when she heard that he’d already done all the paperwork and paid for the course fees, she frowned.
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“With what money?”
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“I had some savings.”
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“How much?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Two hundred thousand yen.”
✦ ✦ ✦
She was staggered. She had known he had that kind of money saved up from New Year’s presents and the like, but for him to use that money on studying was unthinkable.
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“I want to get into a prefectural school, at least,” he continued, composedly.
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“Sh-Shin-chan. . .” Kumiko couldn’t decide if she should be happy at her son’s newfound maturity or to continue freaking out over his rash decisions.
✦ ✦ ✦
“But first, what’s for dinner? I didn’t get anything on the way home. . .”
✦ ✦ ✦
He ate twice as much as usual.
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“Um, Shin-Chan?” Kumiko asked, hesitantly.
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He looked up from his third bowl of rice. “What?”
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“Which school are you thinking about?”
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“Shinyo Academy. I should be able to make that level. . .if I start now.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“You. . .you really want to?”
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“It’s worth a shot. I’ve been dragging my feet way too long, though...” He shook his head.
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Kumiko wasn’t sure why, but she couldn’t stop worrying.
✦ ✦ ✦
When he finished dinner, he went straight to his room and started studying.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kumiko snuck a peek, and found him actually at his desk, without the headphones he always had on, plugging away at his study guides and notes.
✦ ✦ ✦
"........."
✦ ✦ ✦
She held her breath, unable to tear herself away from the crack in the door. Yet her son never moved, continuing to study away" in exactly the same position for hours like he had become some kind of machine.
✦ ✦ ✦
Eventually her husband came home, and Kumiko hurriedly told him what was happening.
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“Mm? Sounds great. Finally found some motivation.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“But there’s something strange about him. Like. . .oh, I can’t put it into words...” She must have looked very high strung at that moment.
✦ ✦ ✦
Her husband frowned in irritation. “Come off it. You’re his mother. He’s the one taking the test. You put too much pressure on him and he won’t be able to concentrate,” he snapped.
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“Yes, I know, but...”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Sounds like you’ve got a case of exam nerves. Just take a deep breath and relax, dear.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Okay...” Kumiko nodded in agreement. It was true that she wanted him to study more, and she couldn’t deny that the current developments were a bit of a relief. And really, it wasn’t that strange...
✦ ✦ ✦
And with that, the intuitive doubt that had arisen inside her was washed away in a flood of sensible analysis.
✦ ✦ ✦
turn not only impressed the teachers, but also softened the views of his classmates. Most of all, everyone kept expressing surprise at his sudden lack of interest in Taniguchi Masaki.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Well, I thought about it, and realized I was just jealous. And you know, that’s really not cool...” Shinjirou said, and since Masaki’s number one enemy had changed his mind, the other guys began to think differently as well, and soon none of them were openly bad mouthing Taniguchi Masaki.
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The first group to come around was the very girls that had treated him like an insect before. “Huh. . .Anou-kun’s not a bad guy after all...”
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“All that conflict between him and Masaki-kun was just some stupid rivalry...” they said, spinning things positively all on their own.
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Taniguchi Masaki himself was probably the only person who didn’t pick up on the sea of change. His head was full of Orihata Aya, and he had no time for anything else.
✦ ✦ ✦
Anou Shinjirou himself cared little for the reaction it provoked.
✦ ✦ ✦
He was simply plugging away at his studies, gradually getting closer to the benchmark for the high school he was aiming for.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Well, Anou, you’re doing very well. You should have no problem at all getting into Shinyo Academy,” his teacher said, during one of their counseling sessions.
✦ ✦ ✦
“But I can’t slack off now,” Shinjirou replied calmly.
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“Hey, that’s my line! Ha ha ’ha! But true, very true. Keep up the good work.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Yes.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“You’re living proof that all you have to do is put your mind to it. Don’t think about anything else; just concentrate and you’ll get there.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I think so too,” Shinjirou nodded quietly.
✦ ✦ ✦
But his teacher frowned at him. “Hey. ..is something wrong?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“What?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“You’re crying.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Huh?” Shinjirou put his hand to his eyes. His cheeks were wet. “I am? But why?” he murmured.
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“You getting enough sleep? I mean, I’m glad you’re working so hard, but maybe you ought to try and take things a little easier now.”
✦ ✦ ✦
"........."
✦ ✦ ✦
But Shinjirou had no answer. He just sat there, tears rolling down his cheeks, staring into space, unable to understand why he was crying.
✦ ✦ ✦
I'm sorry to send you a letter like this so suddenly. l know His is a busy time for everyone, and no one has time to spare, but I have something I need to say to you.