We strode into the building’s interior, attempting to look as casual as possible. As I tried not to act overly aware of the security cameras in the corners of the ceiling, I suddenly became unsure of where I should be directing my gaze. Furthermore, even though I knew no one else could see them, I could not fathom breaking into someone’s home with two penguins in tow.
Unlike the automatic doors, the interior of the building had a simple design, and we quickly found the residence number indicated on the dossier that Kanba brought with him.
Earlier, we waited at East Kouenji station and watched as Oginome Ringo boarded the train. Her hair hung neatly around her chin. Her eyes peeked out from beneath thick bangs. This girl, dressed in the tidy uniform of Oukagyoen Girls’ High School, looked nothing like someone who would crawl through an airduct underneath Tabuki’s apartment and eavesdrop on him. Then again, the pair of us surely looked nothing like people who would break into the home of a high school girl we did not know.
Kanba pressed the button of the intercom with a surprising lack of hesitation. We waited, but there was no reply. Things might have been at least momentarily simpler for me if anyone, like the girl’s mother, was at home, but I knew we could only postpone this for so long.
“Alright, looks like they’re out.”
Kanba took a pair of gloves out of his uniform jacket pocket and donned them, then pulled out a ring of what looked like metal earpicks.
“Uh, Aniki, those are…” I looked nervously up and down the hallway. Someone might emerge from the next apartment, or the next, or a different one and come this way at any moment. There might be hidden cameras in this passageway.
He slid some of the picks into the keyhole and began rattling them around.
“Unfortunately, for now, we need to do as that hat says. No matter how terrible it is, if it’s for the sake of saving Himari’s life, we have no choice but to accept it. The question is just how far we’re prepared to go.”
He switched to a different metal rod and tried again.
“Damn it, this really ain’t easy for a novice.”
Be prepared. That was one thing I did not need to be told. It should have been simple. I did not wish to do anything bad. But I couldn’t bear the thought of Himari dying. Thus, I was troubled, at my wit’s end.
There was a ka-chk in response. Kanba pulled, and the door quietly opened.
“It’s for Himari,” he said, pulling a second pair of gloves from his pocket and handing them to me.
I felt as if I was watching my own hands from a great distance as I accepted the gloves. My hands moved slowly, hesitantly. Gripping them was an act of final resolve that there would be no turning back.
“It’s for Himari,” I agreed.
I put on the gloves. When I looked at the penguins, they were staring idly, and I had no idea what they were thinking.
The Oginome home was a tidy little place, in line with the building’s modern appearance.
The door to the living room was open as we entered from the spacious entryway and proceeded down the hall, so we quickly got a sense of its size.
“Whoa, this place is huge! Wonder how many tatami this is. This kitchen is super nice.” The sink in the kitchen island was wide, much nicer than the narrow one we had at home, where Himari and I bumped elbows whenever we worked side by side. My eyes sparkled at the beautiful appliances, thinking how easy they looked to clean. Beside me, No. 1 and No. 2 were running around excitedly.
“C’mon, this ain’t a home show on TV, let’s get this over with,” Kanba sighed deeply, sweeping his gaze across the room, obviously wondering where to start searching.
“This really does feel like burglary,” I whispered.
There were two other doors, aside from the bathroom, before we reached the living room. That room seemed to continue on to another as well.
“If the Penguindrum is here, then I guess it will be.”
“That’s true.”
We had come to take the Penguindrum from Oginome Ringo. No matter how you put it, we were stealing, weren’t we? I set aside my desire to run away from this place. This was all a matter of resolve.
My eyes suddenly fell upon a calendar, where a red circle marked one particular date. It was today. Written in the same red ink were the words “Curry Day.” Just what exactly did that mean?
“Yo, here’s her room.”
Kanba stood before a door.
“This is bad.”
A plate in the shape of an apple hung on the door, decorated with small embellishments, and the words: “Ringo’s Room.”
“If the Penguindrum is something that belongs to that chick, then it’s most likely to be in here.” Kanba reached right out for the doorknob. Almost reflexively, I held his hand back.
“But it’s cruel to intrude on a girl’s room, isn’t it?” It was an odd thing to say, but I couldn’t help thinking of our sister. Just how would Himari react if two strange boys let themselves into her room?
“Cruel? Oi, Shoma. This chick’s stalking our homeroom teacher.”
It was true. There had been something strange about her that night.
“I mean, she’s tunneling under Tabuki’s floor and eavesdropping on him. She’s a total pervert, just some stalker chick with her head screwed on the wrong way. She can screw off for all I care!”
“But…” But those were totally separate issues. The fact that she stalked Tabuki wasn’t justification for us to be snooping through her room. But what about Himari? I resolved to do anything to save her.
I was truly between a rock and a hard place—caught between the weight of my conscience and the pressure of my resolve.
“If you can’t do it, I will.” Kanba ignored my hand and opened the door.
I reflexively averted my eyes. For a moment, I was overwhelmed by a wave of guilt. Was I not trying to maintain my integrity as a good person? Was I not trying to preserve, for myself at least, the love of a God that I was uncertain even existed? In doing so, had I just placed more of a burden on my brother, renewing my resolve again and again like some spell, complaining even though I expected this the moment I entered Oginome Ringo’s home in search of the Penguindrum?
Who was I trying to save? And what did I hope to accomplish?