A Cheeky Junior Denied Me My Entire Life, so I Tested What Would Happen if I Jumped off a Rooftop to Vent My Anger
Late at night, alone in a large room, staring at my sketchbook, but my hand still won’t move. I thought I was over it, but then I hear the sound of rain, which I thought I couldn’t hear. Sweat beads on my hands. Breathing is erratic.
“I knew it was no good. ……”
I put my pencil and sketchbook down on the table, as if giving up.
“There is still time, but I wonder what’s wrong with it. ……”
There is still more than a month left until the deadline for the internal competition. It wasn’t time to panic yet, but Rengo was about to get the better of me, so I couldn’t pretend to be pathetic.
“But first, I have to take the final exam.”
There is only one week left until the final exam. I haven’t been studying due to various things, so I can’t really relax. …That’s what I thought…
“Immortals come in handy in places like this, don’t they?”
I studied for 24 hours straight, from last Friday night until just now …… Saturday night, but I didn’t feel the least bit tired, nor did I lose concentration. It was the weekend, so I thought I’d give it a try and see how far I could get, but I had to finish the test range first.
“Still, I didn’t feel sleepy at all. I guess I can understand why people are a little bit out of control. ……”
I felt a sense of stagnation, as if it had been a long day all along. The body is not the least bit tired, but the mind is worn out. I can’t paint a good picture if I feel like this …….
Tomorrow is Sunday, so I might as well go out somewhere with Asama-san for a distraction. Just as I was thinking this, the door to my room opened.
“Aoi-kun, may I have a word with you?
Was it after taking a bath? Asama-san, who was lightly dressed, sat down on the sofa nearby, smelling good.
“Wait, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, were you perhaps in the middle of getting something?”
Looking at the sketchbook on the table, Asama-san makes an apologetic face. I shook my head.
“No, I’m fine. I just think it will be a little while before I can show Asama-san my drawings.”
“I see. But you don’t have to hurry, okay? I’ll wait forever.”
Asama-san patted the empty space on the sofa. I let out a small breath and took a seat next to Asama-san. Asama-san rested her head on my shoulder, as if it were natural.
“….. Asama-san, aren’t you a little too hands-on these days?”
“I’m actually a spoiled brat, you know. ……I’m still holding back on this one, you know? The truth is, I’d like to sleep with Aoi-kun as my pillow.”
“….That’s a bit of a hard sell.”
I looked up at the ceiling for no reason. Asama-san laughed again.
“I was wondering if you are free tomorrow, Aoi-kun? If you’re free, I’d like you to deal with my sister, Rio …….”
“Your sister is the girl from last time, right? I don’t mind that, but why me?”
“No, she said that before, didn’t she? She said she wanted me to take her to a ramen shop.
I was going to make an appointment tomorrow, but something came up suddenly. So I was wondering if you could take her instead.”
“I don’t mind, but is the urgent matter dangerous again?”
Due to the incident with the abandoned building the other day, I have refrained from going out late at night. …There was no need to die or fight, so I avoided wandering around the city just because I wanted to see a special world.
However, Asama san seemed to be going out somewhere by chance, so I thought that was the case this time as well, but Asama san laughed and shook her head.
“That’s different this time. It’s not something you should worry about, Aoi-kun.”
Asama-san patted my head gently. I felt like I was being treated like a child and I was embarrassed. I turned away from her as if to run away.
“Well, I understand. Just take your sister… Rio to a ramen shop, okay? I was just thinking of going out somewhere, so it’s no problem.”
“Thanks. You can use the card I gave you to pay for it. Aoi kun, you are being reserved in some weird way, but you don’t have to worry about it, okay? No one will complain about spending 100 or 200 million yen.”
“…..I just don’t know how to spend that kind of money.”
“Fufu, Aoi. That part is childish and cute.”
Asama-san strokes my hair and leaves the room. I exhale again at the pleasant scent that remains in the room.
“I still can’t get used to living together.”
Asama-san is defenseless, so her underwear is usually visible at times, and we often hit each other on various parts of the body through casual skinship, as we did earlier.
“Well, but I’ll get used to it sooner or later.”
I go straight to bed. ….., but I still couldn’t fall asleep, and for some reason it reminded me of the past.
A painting class opened in my neighborhood, and I started going there with Rengo and Usa. That’s what led me to start painting. …But back then, I was so bad that they often laughed at me. There must have been something that made me fall in love with painting, but I just couldn’t remember it.
◇
“Then, the next day. As I was waiting at the place Asama san told me to go, a cute black-haired girl …… Rio came to me.”
“Good morning. Aoi-san,……, isn’t it? Why are you here?”
Rio-san looked at me with a surprised face. I thought for a moment and then opened my mouth.
“It seems you haven’t heard from Asama-san. Asama-san seems to have something to do, so she asked me to come instead. ……”
“………..”
Rio-san is silent with a somewhat complicated expression on her face.
Since she’s around that age, wouldn’t she have hated going out with a man like me? as I was thinking about this.
“Fifteen minutes …… no, just give me half an hour. I’ll be right back …… right away!”
Saying that, Rio-san runs off somewhere at a great speed.
“What do you mean ……? Well, it’s okay to wait for half an hour or so.”
I muttered to myself, playing chess with myself, and in no time at all, 30 minutes had passed.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Rio-san, who had changed into much prettier clothes than before, came back.
“…. did you come all the way to change into that?”
“Yes. I didn’t have enough equipment to go out with a man, so I went to a nearby weapon shop to get some equipment.”
“No, a weapon shop?”
“For girls, clothes and makeup are weapons. What do you think …..? am I pretty?”
“……, yes, I think you look pretty.”
“Fufu. I guess so.”
Rio spins around on the spot. The cute ruffled skirt sways. …Well, I’m glad she doesn’t hate me. I think this girl is a bit strange, too.
“So, do you want to eat ramen? Do you have any particular type of ramen you want to eat?”
“All of them. All”
“…. all of them?”
I nod my head, and Rio nods back
“I eat all kinds of ramen, both family-style and Jiro-style! That’s why I haven’t eaten anything since this morning!”
“…It’s difficult even for me, a man, to differentiate between the family lineage and the Jiro lineage…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Come on, let’s go?”
Rio-san leads me by the hand and we start walking. That kind of forcefulness is very similar to Asama-san.
Then, the two of us went to various ramen restaurants. To be honest, my appetite has decreased since I became an immortal, I was full from just one bowl of ramen, but Rio-san eats surprisingly well, so I ate a lot with her company.
Well, since I’m an immortal, my stomach won’t feel heavy no matter how much I eat. If you think about it that way, immortality is still convenient.
“Well, the ramen was delicious, wasn’t it? Now I can work hard again tomorrow.”
I’m resting on a bench in a nearby park, and Rio-san hands me a cup of oolong tea.
“Thanks……”
I receive the oolong tea and open the lid. …Yeah, it’s cold and delicious. Rio sat down next to me and started eating the soft serve ice cream that she must have bought at a convenience store. …Is this girl still eating? Asama san was also a big eater, so maybe it’s in her blood.
….. No, they are not blood related, I thought she said tah.
Rio looked straight at me and said.
“Thank you very much for today. Thanks to you, I was able to eat a lot of delicious ramen.”
“I don’t mind. I was just eating ramen next to you, and I didn’t do anything that required you to thank me.”
“It was important that you were there next to me! Ramen shops are a bit of a hurdle for me, so I can’t go in alone.”
“I don’t think you need to worry so much about it, though.”
“I care. I’m old enough.”
“You say that yourself. ……”
I laugh a little. Rio says while waving her legs happily.
“Why do you live with my sister, Aoi-san?”
“Eh, uh, I wonder …….'”
When asked again, I am at a loss for an answer. This gril knows things about immortality, so there’s no need to hide it, but once again, Why?'' When asked, I can't think of anything other than
It just happened.”
“Well, I guess it’s fate.”
I paraphrased coolly.
“Ah, fate?”
The girl, at her age, said coldly
“But if my sister chose you, then you must be special. You …… know what it means to be next to my sister, don’t you?”
“Well…”
If I stay next to Asama-san, I will probably be attacked by strange things again in the future. I know I won’t be …… targeted just because I’m away from her, but Asama-san is still …… special.
She protects me. But she attracts anomalies. I have no intention of leaving, but perhaps I’m not ready.
Rio-san stands up and says
“Actually, I’m looking for my sister’s mother, as she asked me to.”
“Mother ……?”
“Yes.
That’s right. Mother is a different person…she is also an immortal.”
The wind is blowing. Rio’s beautiful black hair sways in the wind.
The reason why you are here in this town is to look for…… mother.
“Well, I won’t say it too much because she might get angry, but the reason why my sister is in this town is… to look for her mother.”
“Why is she looking for …… her?”
“To kill her.”
Rio declares this. I can’t say anything back.
After all, I don’t know anything about Asama-san. …I’m sure she’ll answer anything I ask, but somehow… there’s something about Asama-san that I can’t step into carelessly.
“Hmmm, I knew it. I’ve been thinking for a while that I’ve seen Aoi-san’s face somewhere before.”
Rio-san looked into my face. I brought my thoughts back to reality and I opened her mouth.
“Maybe it’s on the news or something. I won an award for a painting once, and it was on TV or something.”
“Ah! That’s right! Susumu Aoi is a genius painter! So Aoi-san is that Susumu Aoi!”
Rio smiles a perky, cute smile, like when you see a celebrity on the street. I’m …… a little embarrassed. It’s been a while since something like this happened. Lately, I’ve been made fun of.
I said, averting my gaze to disguise my embarrassment.
“But that’s already in the past. I haven’t drawn anything for a while.”
“Eh, Is that so? So you’ve already quit? Painting?”
“No, I didn’t quit, but I was in a slump, or I got tired of it. ……”
“I don’t know, but if you don’t like it, why don’t you just quit? You look a little bitter when you talk about painting, don’t you?”
“────”
I could not react quickly to the natural question.
I wanted to show Asama-san my paintings. Rengo challenged me to a game. But it doesn’t matter …… if I don’t want to do it, I’ll quit. I couldn’t quit before because of the scholarship, but now I don’t have to force myself to paint anymore.
No matter how fine an engine you have, if you don’t have gasoline, your car won’t run. It’s a …… natural thing, but I didn’t think about that at all.
I was thinking, “Do I want to paint pictures in the first place?”
Seeing me shut up, Rio-san bowed her head apologetically.
“I’m sorry. I apologize for my outburst. I’m not working hard enough to say anything to anyone. I don’t like studying, so I’m running away from it all.”
“I think you should study though…., .”
“We are rich so it’s okay. You can get into university if you have enough money.”
“Hmm, I can’t say anything when you insist that much.”
After that, the two of us talked about unimportant things. But in my mind, the same question kept repeating over and over again.
“Then, Aoi-san, I’m going home. I’m going home now. Thank you very much for today.”
And then, dusk. Rio-san bowed her head toward me.
“Yes. Be careful.”
I waved my hand lightly at her.
“Yes, let’s go out together again. And …… please stay by my sister’s side for a long time if you can. She is a strong person who will not get hurt no matter what happens, but not getting hurt is …… a very, very sad thing.”
With these words, Rio-san walked away. I felt like going for a walk at night, but I didn’t want to get tangled up in anything strange, so I decided to go home quietly.
The next day. When I showed up at the art club, another problem occurred.
I hope this focuses more on the relationships between mc and his peers that were on the first chapter than the immortals/vampire subplot. I was basically hooked into wanting to see the mc’s ex and friend’s downfall and regret. thx for the chapter and translations.
me too bro, me too