I was startled. “This— hey, Kousuke?”
“Those are uniforms, aren’t they?” Kousuke asked in a deadpan voice, and it was just as he pointed out. The clothes that I randomly picked up were uniforms from my school. All of them are the same— all the clothes, neatly folded up here were uniforms, for both men and women. They even had shoes and the associated bags.
And all of them were old and worn. Although it was still better than the set I was wearing now, which was full of soot... It felt like I was about to wear someone’s hand-me-downs, and that made me hesitate to put my arm through the sleeve.
“For some reason, all the clothes here are uniforms.” Kousuke said. “I’ve also changed several times. Aren’t Kagamimori and Torii-san the same? You didn’t know, did you?”
Even if you talk about it like it’s common sense, there’s no way I would’ve known, I thought pointedly. But, well, I had finally received an answer for one of the questions I had earlier; this was the reason why those two were wearing uniforms, without it even being a school day.
The clothes in this amusement park were all school uniforms. Utena must have had similar circumstances as well, dirtying her clothes and complaining about it before actually finding a gift shop and changing into a uniform.
I have no way to confirm this, and it’s relatively trivial information. Why my school’s uniform is stocked in this amusement park’s gift shop is a mystery; that place is neither famous nor popular. I’m starting to not even question why these things happen.
My senses are being dulled. I have a feeling that there’s some important implication folded into this, though. “Kousuke, go change,” I told him. “I’ll do the same— Oh, this one seems good.” Picking up a random uniform, I check its size: as if I had it custom ordered, it fits me perfectly. Well, it’s not like uniforms have that many size differences in the first place.
On a whim, I picked up a pair of men’s uniform trousers and compared it to my own waist. Wow, men’s uniforms are really big! But I’m not really into crossdressing, and it’s so baggy on me that I wouldn’t be able to move well, anyway.
“I’m gonna change, so don’t look this way,” I ordered. “I’ll throw you a change of clothes, too— here.” I picked out a set of clothes that would fit Kousuke, and threw it to him.
Kousuke was focused on his smartbug and paying attention to what was going on outside, so basically, he didn’t react at all. He just wordlessly picked up the clothes I threw at him and started changing, right then and there. Hastily, I averted my eyes and started changing, myself.
“H-hey. Let’s go back to where Utena-san is, at least for now,” I suggested. “Actually, let’s just go link back up with them.” The rustling of our clothes would just sound unbearably loud if we stayed silent, so I tried holding a conversation. “Originally, I meant to just come with you for a bit and then go back... But there was so much to do, and it became late,” I admitted. “There was a fire where we were, so they might be worried.” I had my back turned to Kousuke so I wouldn’t look at him while we were changing, and I ended up kind of talking awkwardly to a wall. There was no reply, so after a while I got anxious, and turned around nervously.
Kousuke had already finished changing, and was back to staring outside; I thought he might have been looking at my reflection in the display window, but Kousuke was clearly looking towards the entrance we’d left open. The fact that he had no interest in me at all was vexing, in and of itself.
Well, fine, there seems to be something strange going on with him, anyway. Back then, I didn’t care about such things— we even got in the bath together. Then I became a woman, and Kousuke has become a man. We have more to keep private, and thus have grown apart.
“Sure, go do that,” he agreed. “Actually, hurry up and get out of this amusement park— this alternate dimension. I’ll still stay behind and look around a bit, though. On the way there, take Kagamimori and the others with you.”
“Just come with us, Kousuke,” I told him. “Well, we still have no idea if going out of one of these exits will even get us back out— or even if it’s possible to escape this dimension at all.”
“That’s true,” he agreed. “We still haven’t made sure of that. I haven’t tried anything, either. Because if it is true and we end up outside, I might not be able to get back in to keep exploring.”
“Well I want to hurry up and go back home...” I disagreed. “You’re real weird, you know that, Kousuke?” Or maybe, he has a reason he doesn’t want to go back? I guess that he just finds it more fun to investigate this amusement park of mysteries more than to return to reality, where he’s worked to the bone as Utena’s servant. I get that feeling; he liked to play adventures when we were young, too.
But I want to hurry up and go home, although I don’t really have a pressing reason why I want to go back to the days spent just being bored while watching the store, and going to school. At the very least, it was safe. I won’t be constantly put in situations where my life is on the line— just that fact alone made daily life feel like heaven. There isn’t anything really stimulating or fun about it, though...I just want to return to ordinary living, where I can go my entire life and not be involved in a single fire. I’m already really sick of it.
I finished changing. My old uniform took up too much space, so I threw it behind the register. Out of habit, though, I still had my apron on, and my bandana, too. Like this, the usual Denkiya Hitomi is complete. No matter how much my surroundings change, I’m still me.
Feeling somewhat relieved, I walked up to Kousuke. “Alright, I’m done. Um, so... Let’s go back to where Utena-san is, yeah?” I suggested.
“Go straight, and then left after you go around the coffee cups,” he instructed.
“You sound like a car GPS,” I told him. “Uhh, coffee cups...oh, you mean the name of the ride. Left there, right? Got it. Okay, let’s go, Kousuke.”
“I told you I’m not going,” he disagreed. “After that fire burns itself out I’m gonna go inspect it. At the very least, I want to find out why there was a fire in the first place. I’d like to avoid getting covered in soot from now on.” It was like Kousuke put down roots while he was sitting. Thinking he was hurt somewhere, I became worried. Or rather, I was a little lonely.
Utena and Torii were wearing the same uniform, but now that I think about it, they were basically complete strangers that I hadn’t had any contact with, up until now. Kousuke and I might have been estranged, but he was still my childhood friend, and I knew what he was like. I felt like there wasn’t much reason to part from Kousuke and go back to Utena and the others.
“What are you doing, Snail?” he asked. “If you’re going, then hurry up and go. Although we should have a way to contact each other, just in case— there’s no telling what might happen, after all. I’ll want to be able to respond if you ever get into a pinch.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine if you just stayed together with us...? If you want to...explore? We can just do it together,” I suggested. “And just send Utena-san and the others back first.” I said it rather unenthusiastically, but inside I was just a little excited. That being said, I wasn’t really that serious about it— Kousuke just made a curious face at me.
“For now, just take this smartbug with you,” he told me. “This thing’s learned my smell or something, so even if it goes somewhere far away it’ll still come back.” Saying that, Kousuke casually forced the creepy thing onto me. I’d rather not touch it, if possible.
“If something happens before you’re able to escape, just let this thing fly,” Kousuke told me one-sidedly. He picked up a nearby notebook, which had a full art cover from an anime nobody knew, along with an overly decorated pen, and handed them to me.
“It’ll be like a carrier pigeon, although it’s a bug,” he admitted. “But with this, we can communicate. If you need me for something, just write it down and tie it to the smartbug. There’ll be a bit of a time lag compared to just using actual smartphones, but it’s better than walking around trying to find you every time. Here, put it in your pocket or something.” He forced the smartbug and the other stuff down my pockets. While letting him do what he wanted, I meaninglessly patted his head a bit hard, like I was grinding it down.
“What the heck are you doing?” he demanded. “It’s annoying, stop touching me so much.”
“...nothing,” I said innocently. “But isn’t this smartbug, or whatever it is, important to you? You said it’s got a lot of functions— is it really okay to be giving it to me?”
“It’s not fine,” he sighed, “but there’s no other way around it, so just take it and go. Kagamimori doesn’t know the meaning of patience, so they might have moved already. Meet up with them properly and go back home.”
“Kousuke, you’ll come back too, won’t you?” I asked, and after enjoying the feel of his hair for a while, I let go of his head. We’re not children anymore, so let’s respect his will, I decided. If he wants to stay behind, let him, as long as he’ll actually come back. Kousuke’s ‘place to return to’ doesn’t even have to be me.