When I Saved a Lost Plushie, I Got Close to a Young Lady From a Yakuza Family
“Welcome back, young lady. You’re back later than usual today.”
“Shut up.”
“Hiii, ……?
The day I went to a cafe after school with Sagara-kun.
I was very angry with Matsuda who greeted me when I returned home.
“ You were in such a good mood yesterday, what’s wrong with you today? I’m worried.”
“The young lady has her own reasons, we’ll leave her alone.”
Right now, I can’t do anything to repay the kindness I hear from behind me.
I can tell that I’m causing trouble for Sagara-kun and that he’s upset.
I go back to my room and slump down on the spot.
I love this house.
My grandfather who loves me, the gang members who took care of me, they are all my precious family.
But in the eyes of the world, I am a gangster, a gangster’s gangster, and someone to be feared.
I knew that, but Sagara-kun treated me so normally that I closed my eyes.
“Banira-chan……”
I took out the stuffed animal “Banira-chan” that I had tucked away in the pocket of my school uniform and looked at it.
–Today was fun.
I went to a fashionable cafe with Sagara-kun and ate trendy food.
I can’t go with him to such places because the gang members look tough and many restaurants have a “no gang members allowed” sign.
When I went to drink tapioca alone before, I was envious of the sight of my friends happily taking pictures with each other.
[It is nice to be able to share the fun right away]
Today I took a picture with Banira-chan, and Sagara-kun took a picture of us together, and it was really fun to be able to do the activity I had envisioned.
I ruined that.
I will never forget Sagara-kun’s puzzled expression.
I didn’t have an appetite, so I didn’t eat and took a shower as if to wash away the gloomy air that clung to me.
I went to bed, feeling not the least bit refreshed.
I realized that it was midnight. My phone trembled and the display showed an Insta push notification.
He was the only one who knew about my account.
[We had a good time today, didn’t we?]
My chest tightened.
I wondered how much effort he had put in to send me this one word.
Sagara-kun must have felt the same way I did.
The warmth of my happy feelings was slowly being eroded by the coldness of my heart.
I can’t believe that we share the same feelings, but we can’t share them in the same way.
The friends I used to play with when I was a child without worrying about names, but was close to me, are suddenly gone.
I don’t mean that they moved away or disappeared.
one day, they started talking to me in a way that made me look at them.
Whenever I said anything to her, she would affirm it, and whenever I called out to her, she would look at me with fear in her eyes.
That girl I was close to was no longer that girl.
The reason for this was because I was the daughter of a Yakuza family.
One day, I heard her crying and telling another girl that her parents told her not to misbehave and be in good shape.
I stopped getting involved so as not to cause her any more trouble.
Then she started smiling and talking to the other girls.
Her smile was no longer directed at me, but I was fine with that.
It wasn’t that I was ignored or that the bullying had begun.
Everyone thinks they are in danger if they do that.
It was a miracle that I was able to play like a normal high school student, I thought, and went to sleep with the precious memories I had received today.
The next day, I went to school and noticed Sagara-kun in the shoe box.
But it was better not to get involved anymore.
“… G-good morning.”
He greeted me falteringly.
It was cute that he turned his head a little and I wanted to greet him right back, but I didn’t want to look at him because it would shake my resolve.
I really wanted to jump up and down and be happy, because I had never had someone say hello to me before.
I forgot my textbook in fourth period.
This doesn’t usually happen to me, but it’s because I was thinking yesterday.
Even though I pretended to be asleep during break, I could see Sagara-kun’s expression light up as he glanced at me as if he was asking me a question. He’s so cute.
Oh, I shouldn’t do that.
“Do you want to join me?”
My heart almost skipped a beat.
I had never experienced such a thrilling situation before.
I want to depend on him so much, I want to press our desks together and, taking advantage of the confusion, press my shoulders up to his, and feel his body heat, forgetting about class.
But I never took him up on his offer.
During lunch break, I quickly slipped out of the classroom.
It was hard for everyone in the classroom to eat when I was there, so I always used the back of the gymnasium, even though I really wanted to eat on the roof or in the classroom.
It was a place where not many people usually came, but after rumors started spreading that I was using it, no one came anymore.
I heard someone step into this place, which is off-limits during lunch break, and I ducked into the bushes.
I could see Sagara-kun looking around the area with a furtive glance.
I found myself inappropriately happy to see him.
After a while, he slumped his shoulders and left.
After school, when I thought I was safe, he chased after me.
It was too much to think that he was just in a hurry to get home, since his house was close to mine.
“Uruwashi san!”
If he called my name out loud in the street, he might think I was related to the gang and get me in trouble.
So I turned around and crowded him. To make it look like he was threatened by me
“Why are you coming after me?”
Then he didn’t step back, no matter how much I threatened him.
No matter how hard I tried, he wouldn’t back down.
“Ten chan.”
“Eh?”
At first I wondered what he was talking about.
It took me a while to realize that it was my name.
“Then I’ll call Uruwashi ‘Ten-chan’ outside of school from now on. That way, people won’t notice, right?”
What is this person talking about? He looks so confident that changing the way he calls me is a good idea, even though it would cause trouble for him to get involved with me.
But strangely enough, I didn’t dislike it. In fact, I would rather he call me more …….
This wish may have been heard and he called me many times, but I covered his mouth as quickly as I could because I felt like I would go crazy with excitement if he called me any more.
At that time, his lips were very soft to the touch.
◇
“Welcome back, young lady, you’re early today~”
“I’m sorry about yesterday.”
I apologized to Matsuda, who greeted me at the door with the same attitude as yesterday
“Eh!? It’s fine. More importantly, I’m glad you’re in a better mood.”
Matsuda smiled a friendly smile as if nothing had happened.
“Thank you.”
“Dinner is ready, young lady. Today’s dish is your favorite, boiled flatfish.”
Iwahashi appears in an apron with a ladle in one hand.
I always laugh a little at his unproportionate attire.
“Oh, Iwahashi-san, I like your flatfish too. You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday, young lady. Come on, let’s eat.”
Uruwashi clan members often serve rice to the lower-ranking members, and the higher the rank, the better the cooking tends to be. I learned a lot of my cooking from everyone.
My grandfather used to say that the clan is a family and we are the parents to the younger members, and that parents have to feed their children because a hungry child is a hungry child.
Many of the gang members had various family backgrounds and entered the world of Yakuza. Among them, being able to eat a full meal is a blessing and should be a priority.
Family is nice, I think and realize.
-Yes, we should be a family.
This is how I can stay close and together with Sagara-kun for a long time to come.
“What’s wrong with you, young lady…?”
“Eh?”
“You’re always a beautiful young lady, but today I’d say you’re horrifyingly beautiful. ……”
I look at my face in the mirror at the entrance.
There I saw myself smiling with an ecstasy that I had never seen even in myself.