“Let’s see… I’m one thing, but you’d stand out, Ononoki…”
“True, my cuteness attracts a lot of attention, wherever I go.”
“…”
No, I was saying that a tween girl couldn’t avoid standing out at a high school… If she was joking, it wasn’t really her brand of humor─there was somewhat of a deviation between this Ononoki and the one I knew after all.
Berating me earlier felt like another variant of that, but just as I was thinking about what to do─
“That’s it. Why don’t we split up?” she proposed. “If there’s no risk of the Rainy Devil coming into the picture, which is to say, of a battle erupting, I don’t need to be with you. I’ll try a different route while you head to Naoetsu High.”
“A different route? Like?”
“Well, I only thought of it just now… Searching for a good excuse not to go there, because I really don’t want to do as Miss Gaen’s sister says, I had an idea.”
“Are you being cautious, or do you just hate her? How unwilling can you be to visit Naoetsu High?”
“Let me try checking with Black Hanekawa─checking with her, or maybe finding her… Why she decided to save you is still a big question for me. I’m going to clear that up.”
“Any idea where she might be?”
“No, but it’d be negligence if I used that as an excuse and didn’t even try. Nothing wrong with looking for a lost cat now and then. I feel like a P.I.”
“Well…”
It did seem like a good enough reason to reject Ms. Toé’s hint─while I didn’t know what I might find at Naoetsu High, contacting Black Hanekawa would undoubtedly represent significant progress.
Even if Ononoki located her, it’d be no walk in the park getting anything out of Black Hanekawa. Still, I wanted to know who had asked her to save me.
“Also,” said Ononoki, “I probably won’t get anywhere with it, but I’d like to see Shinobu again first.”
“What? That’s kind of worrisome… Will you be okay?”
“Heh. Never thought you’d worry yourself over the likes of me.”
“There you go again, like we’re in some buddy-cop movie… It’s either that or a grade school romance, huh? Your repertoire’s way too narrow.”
“Don’t worry, you saw for yourself how Shinobu’s aura doesn’t really work on me. I’m not saying it doesn’t affect me at all, but it’s still better than you going. I might get to hear the final bit of a conversation that got cut short… Of course, that selfish princess is more stubborn than you’d expect, and she might not talk unless it’s directly to you, which is why I woke you up in the middle of the night, but I’ll figure something out. I’ll try reverse-prostrating myself and asking her.”
“Okay. Thanks for begging on my behalf─hold on, reverse-prostrating?”
“The esoteric technique known as a back bridge. Primarily, bending your body backwards.”
“Who do you think you are to assume such a cocky pose before milady… But how well do you think that’ll all go? You said you have no idea where Black Hanekawa is, and you might not get anywhere with Shinobu, but if it’s more promising than going to Naoetsu High, I could also─”
“Keep in mind that I only came up with these ideas because I don’t want to go to Naoetsu High… If you came with me, I’d have to accompany you to Naoetsu High as a show of thanks.”
She was telling me this to my face─did she hate Ms. Toé that much?
“Hence a plan you’d specifically have trouble coming along on. Your lack of mobility would only get in the way of chasing after Black Hanekawa, and you’d shrivel up and wither if you visited Shinobu─so. Give up yet?”
“I give up.”
Well argued on her part.
It was educational, the way she weaved logical reasons for not doing something she didn’t want to do. I hadn’t been making excuses, but in contrast, how nonsensical my account of seeing nothing on the bathwater surface, meeting Kanbaru’s mom instead, taking a soak with her, and receiving a message on my back must have sounded to Ononoki.
“In that case,” she said, “let’s meet back here in about three hours and then head to Kita-Shirahebi Shrine. We’ll squeeze the most out of our time if we join up at the last second and jump over with my Unlimited Rulebook, instead of meeting up there. You go gather firewood at Naoetsu High, and I’ll wash our laundry with Black Hanekawa and Shinobu.”
“Did you just try to broaden your analogy repertoire and fail miserably? Your folktale reference even managed to muddy your point… Well, I don’t think I’ll be in any danger, but you be careful. Shinobu’s one thing, but Black Hanekawa seems plenty dangerous in this world, too. I mean, she can drain your energy.”
“Her energy drain doesn’t mean much to me. I’m a corpse, okay?”
“Oh yeah? I didn’t know.”
“If we’re talking about danger, I think you’ll be in more of it, monstieur. You may not get in any battles, but doing exactly as Miss Gaen’s sister says? It’s bound to be costly─I think something is going to happen.”
“…”
To be honest, I wasn’t sensing any danger. What about Ms. Toé was making Ononoki this wary?
Of course, depending on how you looked at it, her intense caution was an expression of high esteem─if there wouldn’t be any battles, it seemed worth going there just on my own.
“Should I drop by my house first and change into my school uniform, in that case?” I asked Ononoki. “Would it be better if I pretended to be a high schooler?”
I hadn’t thought I’d ever wear my uniform again, but it looked like I had to one last time… Oikura should be out with my little sisters, so there was no risk of running into her even if I went back to my room.
“I think so. I’ll escort you. I feel bad about abandoning you, it’s the least I can do.”
“Maybe don’t abandon me and don’t feel bad in the first place?”
That said, her relationship with Miss Gaen was probably at play here. To begin with, Ononoki didn’t need to be helping me at all.
“Fine, please just take me home then. But you be careful too and don’t try anything reckless,” I warned her, knowing just how terrifying Black Hanekawa could be, and concluded our briefing…giving the matter no further thought.
But I ought to have given far more weight to Ononoki’s misgivings─I’d yet to see just how terrifying Toé Gaen could be.
At her guidance, I was heading to Naoetsu High─and while I’d lived to tell numerous tales of aberrations, just barely making it through, I’d be coming face to face with a hair-raising, supreme terror like none other.