A Cheeky Junior Denied Me My Entire Life, so I Tested What Would Happen if I Jumped off a Rooftop to Vent My Anger
“Tomorrow, huh ……”
When I sent a message to Akanezaka-san’s account, which Yasaka-sensei had told me about, I received a message back saying: ‘If you come to my house tomorrow, we can meet’ and her home address.
“What a vulnerable girl. ……”
Tomorrow is my day off and I don’t have any other plans, but the idea of suddenly visiting the home of a girl I don’t know very well is a bit daunting. If …… the other party might be an immortal, it’s even more so.
“But I’m also curious about what Yasaka-sensei said.”
The ugliness that beauty contains. The flaw in a picture that is only beautiful. I too know that there are many paintings that have both beauty and ugliness, and it’s not that I can’t appreciate the beauty of such paintings.
But that’s not the direction I’m going in.
…… I think so, but the word ‘ugliness’ that beauty contains is strangely troubling to me. I don’t intend to be escaping reality, but even so, there may be something that I am unconsciously looking away from.
While lying on the sofa in the living room, thinking about such things in a daze, the door to the room opens and Asama-san appears.
“I’m home, Aoi-kun. Here, a souvenir.”
“Welcome home, it’s rare to get a souvenir.”
The contents of the paper bag handed to her by Asama-san is …… bell sponge cakes. ……Why a bell sponge cake?
“Or rather, Asama-san, you were late today too, weren’t you? you’ve been going out at night a lot for a while now, but what are you doing there?”
“Are you worried? Don’t worry, I’m not having an affair.”
“No, I’m not worried about that, but I was wondering if it might have something to do with …… Asama-san’s mother.”
“…… Aoi-kun, you’re so kind.”
Asama-san sits next to me and opens her mouth wide with an ‘ah’. For a moment, I wondered what she was doing. But soon realised what she wanted me to do and put a bell sponge cake in her pretty mouth.
“…… ngu, yummy. Here, Aoi-kun, ah.”
“…… thanks.”
After a somewhat embarrassing exchange, Asama-san continues her words.
“In this town, you know, there are a lot of immortals. So, naturally, the number of those who aim to hunt them down also increases. Some sort of trouble is happening somewhere in the city every day.”
“Is that because Asama-san’s mother is there, after all?”
“…… That’s what I don’t understand.
I think that person is behind it, but I can’t seem to get a tail on her. I know she’s in town, but I can’t see her moving. That’s why I go to the area and do all sorts of research whenever there’s a suspicious rumour going around.”
There, Asama-san turns to me again and opens her pretty mouth. I take out a bell sponge cake from a paper bag and throw it into her little mouth. ….. I feel like I’m feeding a pet.
I let out a small breath and say.
“I’m free at night anyway, do you want me to help?”
“You don’t have to. Most of the time I strike out, and I don’t really want Aoi-kun to meet the avenger.”
“…… I don’t really care about that.”
“I’m worried about it. There are a lot of strange people in this town. Shiga-san…that puppet master had a pretty strange personality too, right? There are a lot of people like that. ”
“When I hear that, I certainly don’t want to meet them too much. ……”
It’s depressing just to imagine how many people like that puppeteer there are.
“I’m special, so if I run into one of those, I usually get through, and if I do get into a fight, I don’t lose. So I don’t have a problem with being alone. …… Now I have someone like this to greet me.”
Asama-san laughs. After all, that is a very cute smile.
“Ah, but I heard some interesting rumors today.”
“Interesting rumour?”
“Yeah,
Apparently, there is a fortune teller who can make your dormant talent bloom. It makes you laugh, right?”
“…… Another scandalous story. That’s …… no, but maybe that otherworldly concept or other ability can do that too?”
If so, I really thought anything was possible, but Asama san shook her head.
“Unfortunately, such a convenient thing is not possible. The Otherworldly Concept is basically the ability to rewrite yourself and the world around you that constitutes you. It’s almost impossible to rewrite other people with other worlds, and even if you could, the effect would wear off immediately.”
“But that birdman Luka before, I think he controlled crows at will, can’t he control humans like that?”
“It’s not impossible, but …… it’s not a dexterous way of drawing out talent.
Luka had taken the crows into his world. In the same way, you can take someone into your world and make them do what you say. I mean, there were actually guys like that. Even if it’s …… no different from manipulating a corpse.”
Asama-san flutters her beautiful white hair with cold eyes. I throw a bell sponge cake into my mouth and then say.
“So it’s still bullshit then? All that talk about developing your talent?”
“It’s bullshit, but there are always a certain number of people who believe in that sort of thing.
And then there are those who gather these idiots together and try to do something weird, you know.”
“That’s why you’re doing so much research.”
“Yeah,
It’s a pain, but I can’t leave it alone. …And it’s not all bad things.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Today, I found a delicious bell sponge cake stall like this, didn’t I?”
“Ah,” Asama-san opens her mouth, and I feed her gain. Asama-san smiles happily and rests her head on my shoulder.
“Ah, yes. Actually, I heard something that’s been bothering me too …….”
“Something that’s bothering you ……?”
Asama san tilts her head, so I tell her about Akanesaka san, which I heard from Yasaka sensei. After listening to me, Asama san gave a small nod with a serious face.
“It’s fine, isn’t it? If you’re curious, you should go there. If something happens, I’ll go to help you, and Aoi-kun is strong to begin with. I don’t think it’s likely that you’ll lose to a newly-formed immortal.”
“…… It may be impossible to recreate Asama-san’s world like the last time, though.”
“You don’t have to do that, Aoi-kun, you’ll be fine. …… Besides, if that Akanezaka girl is really a newly formed immortal, she surely needs someone’s help.”
“………right. After all, I’ll go and try it out. I’m also curious about what kind of pictures Akanezaka-san will draw.”
It’s not like I was on good terms with Akanesaka-san, but it still feels bad to leave her alone.
If I hadn’t met Asama-san and had become an immortal by myself, I wonder what would have happened by now… Without knowing anything, I had either been killed by that puppet master or some other avenger, or had I become desperate and gone on a rampage.
In any case, it wouldn’t have been a good thing.
“Well, I’ll go over there tomorrow for a bit.”
“Yes. …… Whether it’s beautiful or ugly, I’m looking forward to the pictures you draw, Aoi-kun.”
Asama-san smiled happily as she chewed on her bell sponge cake.
◇
Toyama Rengo is irritated.
“…… I don’t approve of those pictures.”
A few days before Susumu asked his advisor Yasaka about Akanezaka. Rengo was alone, aimlessly wandering the streets at night. He had run away from home, as rumoured in the art club.
Rengo had been wandering around the city at night since just after the test was over, in order to relieve his gloom. This was unusual behaviour for him. Rengo has a rough attitude, but he is not a nightlife kind of person.
His flamboyant auburn hair and wild attitude were only a bulwark to protect him, and he detested those who played around aimlessly.
“Damn.”
Still, the reason he wanders around the city at night like this is because staying at home reminds him of that red night sky Susumu drew.
Until the test was over, all he had to think about was the test. As long as he was studying, he wouldn’t have to think about anything else. But when he went home after the test……, he couldn’t help thinking about it.
He can’t run away now, after he has gone around saying that he is going to compete with Susumu himself. But no matter how much he racked his brains, he couldn’t paint that red night away. He can’t imagine …… winning.
The beauty is so overwhelming that it silences all those who see it.
White flowers that you can’t imagine withering away, and the red night that will never dawn.
Even if he continued to paint for the next 10 years, …… or even 100 years, he would never be able to reach this extreme. The difference in talent is overwhelming. The qualities they were born with are just too different.
If it wasn’t for painting, he would have been unbeatable. Rengo was better than Susumu in both studies and athletics. If they had played the same sport, it would have been Susumu who would have felt inferior.
But Rengo chose …… chose painting.
“Why not me, ……?”
Rengo was frustrated. He was suffering. He was devastated. .But now that he has been putting on a false front, he has no friends or lovers to whom he can show his weakness. he couldn’t show his weakness, even to his family.
“But Ririka would …… no, no. I can’t show her such a lousy thing.”
Rengo shakes his head, looking like he’s about to cry. More than anything, Rengo was afraid of showing weakness in front of Ririka. …And even if he was to tell Ririka how he was feeling right now, she would just say, “Aren’t you an idiot?” with a cold face, and she wouldn’t encourage him or help him.
That’s why Rengo wanders around the city at night without any purpose. That’s all he can do now. …A boy with such a weak heart might have been the perfect prey
“You look like you’re having a hard time, don’t you?”
One young man calls out to such a Rengo.
“…… who are you?”
The young man says to Rengo, who furrows his eyebrows in disbelief, with a gentle expression that seems to relax people’s guard. ……
“I am a humble fortune teller. If you would like, could you let me tell your fortune? …… Of course, no charge is necessary.”
The young man,…… with the same beautiful white hair as Ion, laughed with a very kind expression on his face.