“Well then, that’s all for today. For your homework for next time…”
The teacher wrote some textbook page numbers on the blackboard. Hirono made a note of them and sighed.
This cram school sure does give a lot of homework…, she thought.
She closed her textbook and notebook and, letting her glasses slide down a little, pinched between her eyebrows. She could already feel a headache forming. All around her, the other students were getting up and leaving, but she didn’t feel like moving quite yet.
The only thing waiting for me at home is homework from school, plus more homework and prep work from here… Urgh. I wish I could just sit here and rest awhile.
Hirono’s junior high entrance exams were coming up soon. She’d been studying all day every day, until she’d begun to hate the whole thing. But when she wasn’t studying, she always felt uneasy, worried that she was wasting her precious time.
Working hard without needing to rest is a wonderful achievement—that was what Hirono had been raised to believe. It was the same for a lot of other kids, especially the ones in her school and at the cram school. Seeing everyone around her doing their best and studying hard, she felt she’d get left behind if she didn’t do the same. It wasn’t fair if she was the only one sitting back and relaxing.
Taking breaks means wasting time you could be using to study. It’s a bad thing.
That was how she thought of it, anyway.
Even so… It feels like I’ll be reaching my limit soon.
If she kept working without stopping for much longer, she was going to fall apart. Wouldn’t it be better to take a nice, long rest to ensure that didn’t happen? Just some time for herself to eat the food she liked, sit back and soak in the bath, and sleep in for as long as she liked. Time to listen to music…and finally read that book she’d been meaning to get around to…
I-it’s not like I want to blow off studying. Not at all! I just want to make sure I’m properly managing my fatigue. If you get too tired, it can have a negative effect on your studies… So really, I’d be doing the responsible thing by taking a break…!
Nobody could hear her silent thoughts, but she still felt the need to justify them to herself.
Just then…
“Good work today!”
…somebody tapped her on the shoulder from behind.
Hirono flinched and slowly turned around. When she saw who had spoken, she was in for another surprise. It was a silver-haired girl in a neon-pink hoodie. The girl was also wearing an eye patch the same vibrant shade of pink, with a design that showed a heart with a cross through it.
What a flashy sense of style. Was there really a girl like that attending this cram school? Hirono felt sure she would have noticed her before. But this girl looked a little older than her—junior high school age, maybe—so maybe she was there for the next set of classes held in this room.
“D-did you need something from me…?” Hirono asked.
The girl flashed her a bright smile. A perfectly friendly smile with no hint of animosity or ulterior motive.
“No, nothing really. I just thought you looked kind of tired. I wanted to make sure you were okay, that’s all,” the girl said, shrugging.
Her considerate words put Hirono at ease a bit. But at the same time…
Hirono’s face scrunched up into a scowl, and she turned away.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I don’t need you to worry about me. Besides, at a strict cram school like this, it’s normal for everyone to look a little bit tired.”
“Oh, r-really? Sorry about that…”
Out of the corner of her eye, Hirono could see the girl looking down at the ground in disappointment. Hirono couldn’t help feeling like she’d been too harsh on her.
And yet, that was just the way things were. Studying day after day left her feeling worn-out and irritable. Even kind words from nice people got on her nerves when she was like this.
Hirono began putting away her textbooks and pencil case into her bag. Things had gotten awkward, and she didn’t want to stick around any longer than she had to. She stood up from her desk.
“You’re right, it is pretty strict here, huh? But I always manage my fatigue really well, so it’s no problem for me!” the girl in pink added.
That made Hirono stop and turn around. Their eyes met, and the girl flashed another of her bright smiles.
“So…,” she said, grasping Hirono’s hand, “…you just need to handle your fatigue, too! I’ll show you a really good way to do it!”
“H-huh?”
The girl began pulling on Hirono’s arm, leading her outside.
✦ ✦ ✦
“W-wait a minute! Where are you taking me? I need to go home…”
“It’s fine, don’t worry. This won’t take long; it’s just around the corner.”
The silver-haired girl led her to a dim, abandoned alley. The cram school’s classes finished late in the day, so it was already dark out.
“I don’t think this is the kind of place two kids should be going to alone at night…”
“No, no, it’s fine! Look—it’s right there!”
The girl pointed toward the back of the alley. There, under the flickering light of an old streetlamp, was…something. Hirono couldn’t make it out very well, but there was definitely something there.
Straining her eyes, she could see one shadow that was deeper than the others, and it was shaped like a person. A person in a hat with a wide brim, sitting up against a large bag, at the end of a dark alley…
This looks…really sketchy…
She really wanted to turn back now, but the girl in pink dragged her toward the back of the alley.
“Mr. Merchant! I brought you a new customer!” the girl announced.
“…Ah, how kind. Welcome.”
The person—probably a man, by the sound of his voice—whom the girl called a “merchant” raised his head. Even then, Hirono couldn’t tell very much about him. He wasn’t just wearing a hat but a thick scarf, too. Between those two items, his face was almost completely concealed by shadows.
“H-hey, wait a minute! What do you mean, a customer?!” Hirono said a bit louder than she’d meant to once she came back to her senses.
What kind of joke was this? She had no idea what this person was selling, but she’d never buy anything from a weird-looking guy like him.
“I’ve had enough. I’m going home and—”
“No, c’mon, wait a sec,” the girl in pink insisted. “He’s got something really good. You’ll definitely find it super useful!”
Hirono paused. Come to think of it, this girl had said something interesting back at the cram school. “You just need to handle your fatigue, too,” wasn’t it?
“…What exactly are you selling?” Hirono asked the merchant in spite of herself, turning back to him.
The strange faceless man reached for his bag, and there was a metallic click as he undid the clasps. He brought it forward under the streetlight, revealing what was inside.
“Nets and…bug cages?” Hirono said, tilting her head in confusion.
Inside the case were several clear plastic cages, the type people usually used to store bugs they’d caught. And next to them were butterfly nets, just like the ones for catching flying insects.
But the nets were awfully small; they were only about a foot long.
“I, uh… I’m not really into bug catching…,” Hirono said.
Seeing her troubled expression, the merchant shook his head with a waggle of his hat and took out one of the nets.
“Oh, no, young lady. This net is not for bugs. This is a Fatigue Catching Net.”
“Fatigue…catching…?”
“Indeed. Just as the name suggests, this net allows you to simply pluck out any fatigue that has built up in your body. It’s a very convenient product, if I do say so myself.”
In one smooth motion, the merchant got to his feet. Before Hirono knew what was happening, he’d said “Pardon me,” pushed her glasses up onto her forehead, and swung the net at her face.
“Eep!” She gave a cry of surprise and flinched back. “Wh-wh-what do you think you’re—?”
“Behold. Doesn’t that spot between your eyes feel nice and refreshed now?”
“Huh…?”
Hirono slid her glasses back down and blinked several times.
The man was right. That heavy little knot of pressure in the middle of her eyebrows was completely gone. She turned to the merchant for an explanation.
“This is the Fatigue that I just took from you,” he said, holding up the net and emptying it into one of the cages with a fwump.
Hirono leaned in close to the cage, and her eyes went wide with shock. Inside it was a strange, doll-like figure. It was human-shaped but with exaggerated features, like some kind of cartoon character, and it was completely gray. It was almost like a plume of smoke had taken a solid form. The gray figure had no face, but it was pinching the front of its head—probably right where the middle of its eyebrows would have been.
“This…is my fatigue?”
“Yes, from between your eyes. Depending on where you use the net, fatigue can be extracted from other places, too.”