The cat and the balled-up penguin collided with the girl, and she and the pot she carried went flying. Himari went slack-jawed in surprise, her eyes wide.
The pot tumbled through the air, and the curry inside splashed out across the pavement. The cat ran away, and No. 3 collapsed on the spot, not moving.
Himari finally caught up with No. 3. It stood abruptly up, and leapt up, clinging to Himari. She squeezed it tight, stroking its head.
“U-Um, I’m sorry,” said Himari. She had not been the one to cause the accident, but No. 3 had already become a dear friend to her. Naturally, she assumed responsibility for anything that No. 3 did. Plus, the girl was on the ground and dumbfounded, covered in curry from head to toe.
This was already a huge disaster.
“It’s fine.” The girl’s voice was low and hoarse.
“My name is Takakura Himari. My house is nearby, so you can come by and wash your clothes, if you like!”
Ringo looked up at Himari dazedly as she spoke. Her skin was pure white, and her hair long. What a delicate girl, she thought. She did nothing but running into strange women today. Beautiful ones, at that. As for Ringo, however, her socks were thoroughly dirty from running, and she was covered all over in the curry that woman had made. She was thoroughly miserable.
Unable to hold it back any longer, her face twisted, the tears welling up.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” Himari quickly knelt, looking the girl in the face.
Hiccupping, Ringo shook her head, saying softly, “I’m fine.” Indeed, such a thing as this was not enough to alter fate. “I’m really okay, my butt is just a little sore. I’m Ringo. Oginome Ringo,” she replied tearfully. She let her guard down a bit; Himari’s voice was guileless and kind.
“You want to come to my house? You aren’t even wearing shoes.”
Penguin No. 3 pulled itself away from Himari’s arms and approached Ringo, stroking her head even though the other girl could not see it.
“Um, maybe,” said Ringo, quickly checking the contents of the tote bag she dropped nearby.
This girl’s eyes were strong-willed and beautiful, Himari thought. Her thick bangs only emphasized her eyes all the more. Moreover, she seemed very much like Cinderella, running without any shoes on like that.
“Um, sorry about your curry. We’re having curry tonight, too. So, well…”
Himari wanted Ringo to come back home with her. She wanted to talk with another girl.
“I’m actually not that good at cooking, though.”
For a short while, the pair both looked downward in silence.
“I could teach you? Curry’s my specialty,” said Ringo, as if dusting herself off.
“Really? Then you should definitely eat dinner at our house tonight!” Himari smiled like a blooming flower.
“Are you sure?” asked Ringo.
“Yeah, I mean, when you make curry you always end up with a lot, right? It’s only me and my two brothers at home. It’s bothersome to have leftovers.” No. 3 nodded in agreement—though of course, Ringo could not see this.
“In that case…” That’s not true, Ringo thought. There were only two people in her house, but they still made curry, and had no qualms about eating the leftovers the next day. Himari was being too fussy. “In that case, I guess I’ll take you up on that.”
Ringo’s home that day, as always, was sure to be spotless and deserted. More importantly, this might be fun. Visiting the home of a new friend, made by chance.
Himari held her hand out to Ringo, helping her up. The two smiled bashfully, picked up the pot, and headed towards the Takakura home, introducing themselves properly as they walked.
It was already fully dark when we made it home from Tabuki’s place, exhausted. When Oginome Ringo stopped by Tabuki’s place and encountered someone who looked to be his girlfriend, I was worried that she would do something terrible, but I was relieved to see the situation resolve without incident. And yet, our trials continued.
“Himari’s gonna be mad at us.”
The day that Tabuki contacted our home, Himari hounded us when we returned. Obviously, we could not tell her that we followed some girl around, so instead we lied that Yamashita had been bummed out after a girl rejected him, and so we had spent the day cheering him up. Once again, we had spent today doing something that we could not divulge.
“Probably.” Kanba tried to sound unaffected, but his lips were twitching, his eyes were lowered, and a rather dark expression was on his face. He was weak when it came to our sister.
“Ugh, we lost Oginome Ringo’s trail, and we didn’t get the Penguindrum.” And we’d have to apologize to Himari, who was probably angry or sad. I felt the urge to cross myself.
“I know that that chick went into Tabuki’s place, so how’d she slip out of there?” The perplexed look returned to my brother’s face.
“Aniki,” I said, holding out a loosely balled fist.
“Hm? Ah yeah,” he replied sincerely.
“Throw or else you’re gonna lose! Jan Ken Pon!” we chanted.
I didn’t want to think anymore that night. I was worn out, and starving, and feeling weak.
“We’re home!” Finally, I opened the door. I was always bad at janken.
“You’re late!”
Himari waited for us, arms crossed and feet planted out firmly. Penguin No. 3 stood beside her, mimicking her pose.
“Sorry, Himari!” I bowed my head and rounded my back, eyes shut and hands clasped as I supplicated myself, just like some salaryman who had gone out drinking after work and come home late.
“I won’t forgive you again today!” she said. After a moment, she added, “…Is what I wanted to say, but I’ll make a special exception. We have a guest today. Hey, Ringo-chan! My brothers are home!” she called inside.
I shot up in a reasonable shock. I wondered before what we would do if Oginome Ringo realized that we were following her. What if she started staking out our house? She was already stalking Tabuki, after all. She seemed a bit reckless, but maybe she was far more alert than we realized.
If Himari ended up telling her something, it would be all over.
Oginome Ringo appeared from within, a slightly nervous look upon her face.
Kanba finally entered from the entryway behind me, muttering a soft, “No way.”
“This is Oginome Ringo-chan. We just became friends today!” Himari smiled brightly, deeply pleased.
As far as I could tell, Oginome Ringo did not react particularly to seeing our faces. On the contrary, she gave a reserved nod, saying, “Sorry for the intrusion. I’m Oginome Ringo.”
For some reason, she was wearing my clothing.
We were both too shocked to respond for several seconds.