I don’t have too much hope for you, the man said as he left.
Can’t really blame him, Ayanokouji thought.
Because this job really was a heavy burden for him. He disliked interacting with other people as it was, but he was especially bad with children and old people. The reason, of course, being “they seemed dirty.”
But that said, he couldn’t just give up from the get-go. If he couldn’t fulfill this request, Ayanokouji wouldn’t just be unemployed, he’d be unemployed with a criminal record.
Apparently, the kid’s name was Shina Hiyori.
Kiyotaka wasn’t given any information beyond that.
His blackmailer also gave his own name: Tsukeshiro. Tsukeshiro’s instructions were simple.
“At 5 PM tomorrow, go to Mizushina Park. Near the park, there’ll be a kid feeding swans. That’s shina Hiyori.”
Ayanokouji didn’t quite understand the situation, but nodded for the time being.
“Your first duty is to become Hiyori Shina’s friend.”
Then Tsukishiro appended a brief explanation of what the payment for success would be. The amount he specified was pretty big money to Ayanokouji at the moment.
Once Tsukishiro left, Ayanokouji went around his room cleaning like mad. Just thinking about the possibility that someone had been intruding in there while he was out made him feel like he was losing his mind. But as much antiseptic as he used, the thick sense of an “other” wouldn’t seem to go away.
The next night, Ayanokouji wore a coat, donned latex gloves on both hands, put on a disposable face mask, and placed disinfecting sheets and spray in his bag. Carefully checking the lock, he opened the door with a feeling of hopelessness.
It had been a long time since he’d left his holy ground past sunset. The air outside was piercingly cold, and his face and ears stung.
He chose to wear a suit so as not to make Shina hiyori wary. Most people would be, if a stranger talked to them out of the blue. Even moreso at night. At times like these, a suit could give people a sense of relief.
Ayanokouji was given this thought by taking into account his own experience last night.
He came to a stop on a sidewalk outside the train station. A small crowd had formed on the side of the road.
Peeking over their shoulders, he saw the onlookers were circled around a street performer. The performer was a man in his thirties, with a suitcase in front of him serving as a pedestal, on which marionettes danced. The man was making full use of all his fingers to control two marionettes at once. He’s dexterous, Ayanokouji admired. A nearby cassette player played background music, “The Lonely Goatherd.”
He watched the performance for a while. The marionettes had highly deformed designs, their facial features all different sizes, which took it past comical to grotesque. It seemed the male marionette chased the female marionette, or maybe the female marionette chased the male marionette, and as the two awkwardly kissed at the end, the music ended, and there was a round of applause.
With the audience feeling good, the puppeteer began to skillfully ask for payment. Once the other viewers left, Ayanokouji put a 1000-yen bill in the suitcase. The performer grinned, and said in a whisper:
May you have the puppets’ protection.
He resumed walking. Luckily, the designated park was only a 30-minute walk from his apartment, so there was no need to use public transportation.
He had imagined, albeit faintly, that Shina hiyori was a boy around ten years old. Just the look of the name, “Hiyori” - and this was purely from Ayanokouji’s assumption of how the name was written in kanji - seemed more masculine than not, and “shina” was the word for “chrysalis,” which in his mind had more of an association with boys.
So it wasn’t unreasonable that when he arrived at Mizushina Park and found the person in question, he was confused.
He first noticed the hair, dyed silver. It was short, platinum-blonde hair that could look ash-gray depending on the lighting, and her eyebrows were also slightly bleached. In addition, her skin was unhealthily pale, and her eyes were a stark black that sucked you in.
His gaze next went to the long legs coming out of her skirt. Despite the temperature being enough for breaths to turn white, she wore a short skirt that left her thighs exposed. She wore no tights or stockings, either. If he remembered correctly, she was wearing the girls’ uniform from a high school in the area. She had a tartan scarf and an off-white cardigan on, but one couldn’t imagine that these covered for how cold her legs must have been.
She was wearing thick monitor headphones like would be used in a studio. With their bland design, there was not even a chance of them being meant as a fashion statement. From the sound that seeped out, he supposed she was listening to old rock music.
His gaze finally landed on the cigarette between her thin lips. At first, he couldn’t tell whether or not they were frigid white breaths, but closer inspection revealed it was indeed smoke coming out of her mouth.
Shina hiyori was a girl around seventeen years old. And not just any girl, but a type of girl Ayanokouji really couldn’t deal with.
Sheesh, what was that Tsukishiro expecting from me? He twisted his neck. What could have led him to the conclusion that I’d be suitable for this? He didn’t even have a clue.
He just wanted to run, but that wouldn’t fly. If he gave up his task already, Tsukishiro might turn him in to the police any moment. While he did feel that wouldn’t be entirely undeserved, he could at least try and fail first, and it wouldn’t be too late to give up then.
No need to get nervous. It’s not like I was told to seduce her and make her my lover. Just being friends will be enough.
He took off his face mask and put it in his pocket. Determined, he approached Hiyori.
Like Tsukishiro said, Hiyori was standing near the lake and feeding swans. She took bread crusts out of a paper bag and threw them into the air, and the swans swarmed them all at once. She watched contentedly. She didn’t seem to notice Ayanokouji beside her.
Not wanting to surprise her, he slowly entered her field of view and spoke.
“Um…”
After a few seconds, Hiyori looked toward him.
Facing her head-on, he couldn’t help but admire her appearance. Her figure made him imagine a female android created according to some clear design. Said design, however, wasn’t meant to relax or soothe people, but to disturb and tense up anyone nearby.
“…What?”, she asked, taking off her headphones and looking at him suspiciously.
He inadvertently looked away. It seemed his suit wasn’t doing its job of easing her wariness. That figured. A schoolgirl in uniform being approached in the park at night by a young man in a suit was unnatural, no question. To put it lightly, it felt dangerous. Exercise clothes might have seemed more natural, at this rate.
“Can we talk for a second?”, he asked, putting all his energy into a friendly smile.
“Do you have time right now?”
“No,” she replied lazily, cigarette in mouth.
“I’m busy.”
The natural response. She put her headphones back on and returned to her own world.
At this point, there was nothing he could do. The problem was something even more fundamental than the age gap or gender difference: he had never once endeavored to be friendly to another person.
Ayanokouji was at a loss. He couldn’t think of his next move, so he followed her example and watched the swans chase food from a fair distance away.
He disliked the majority of wild animals, but swans were one of few exceptions. Their bodies were all white, for one, but most importantly, they only appeared in winter. The way they always soaked in chilly water had a clean feeling to it. It was strictly his imagination, however, as this was actually because of pathogens in their bodies.
He took another look around the park. The lamps illuminating the snow-covered park made it seem like the whole place had a faint pale glow. Listening closely, he heard not only swans, but snow falling from branches to the ground. He closed his eyes and focused on such sounds.
He heard a sigh. Hiyori took her headphones off again and looked his way. His eyes wandered from the piercingly sharp gaze. For a moment, he saw a blue earring glinting on Hiyori’s ear.
“Hey, what do you want with me?”
This was no time to carefully consider words. I have to say something and make her less wary, he thought, and so he opened his mouth.
“I want to be friends with you.”
It struck him as shady once he’d said it. Just the kind of line someone approaching with impure motives would say. Wasn’t there some better way of expressing it? He could hardly make a case if she went running to the police to say “a suspicious man called out to me.”
Hiyori looked at Ayanokouji with emotionless eyes. There was a long silence. She sucked on her cigarette and dropped the ash with an experienced motion. Then she kept staring at Ayanokouji as if appraising him.
Just say something already, anything, Ayanokouji pleaded silently. The cold sweat under his arms was unpleasant. He wanted to give up on this idiocy, go back to the apartment, and take a shower. He longed for his sacred grounds full of air purifiers and antiseptic.
After a while, Hiyori discarded her now-short cigarette by her feet. The flame went out immediately as it touched the ground wet from the snow.
“I guess Tsukishiro asked you, right?”, Hiyori asked listlessly, letting out a final puff of smoke. “You’re the seventh one so far.”
The smoke hiyori let out was carried on the wind, and Ayanokouji covered his mouth at once.
Then a moment later, he guessed the meaning of “the seventh one.”
“…You mean there have been others before me he’s asked to be friendly with you?”, he asked.
“Huh, Tsukishiro didn’t tell you anything?”
Ayanokouji revealed everything with resignation. “He just told me to "look after a kid.” I assumed you were like a ten-year-old boy, so I was confused when I saw you.“
"Then we’re in the same boat. I never imagined he’d send a guy as old as you over. Wonder what he’s thinking?” Hiyori scratched her chin with annoyance. “What’s your name?”
“Kiyotaka Ayanokouji.”
“Tsukishiro threatened you into doing what he says too, didn’t he? Hey, what weakness is he exploiting from you?”
He hesitated briefly, but decided to answer honestly. Even if he kept his silence here, Hiyori would just get it out of Tsukishiro.
“He’s letting some criminal behavior of mine slide.”
Hiyori showed great interest in those two words. “Criminal behavior?”
“Cybercrime. I made a computer virus and spread it.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“Because I like to. It’s a hobby.”
“Hmph. A hobby.” Hiyori furrowed her brow, finding it hard to understand.
“By the way, what’s your relation with that man?”
“I dunno. Parent and child?”
“Parent and child,” Ayanokouji repeated. “I don’t mean to stick my nose in someone’s family matters, but were you ever taught to show respect to your parents at your house?”
“It might be parent-in-law and child.”
“…Well, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”
He turned around, putting his back to a fence, and looked up at the night sky. Just then, he discovered what looked like a bird’s nest in the branches up above him. But it was too well-formed for a bird’s nest, and a little too big. Maybe it’s mistletoe, he concluded. He’d heard there were parasitic organisms that inhabited cherry trees and the like and stole nutrients.
She seemed to remember something and spoke up.
“Oh yeah, did Tsukishiro say he’d pay you?”
Ayanokouji nodded. “If this job went well, sure.”
“How much?”
Ayanokouji quietly informed her of the amount.
“That’s quite a bit.”
“Yeah. It’s a small fortune to me right now.”
Then Hiyori extended a hand toward Ayanokouji.
The sight of her throwing bread crumbs barehanded crossed his mind, and he stepped back without thinking.
However, she wasn’t seeking a handshake.
“Give me half,” Hiyori casually demanded.
“Then I’ll be your friend.”
“…Is that what friends say?”
“A man like you and a girl like me becoming friends needs that kind of value. Common sense, right?”
“Is that how it is…?”
“That it is,” Hiyori stated confidently. “If you don’t want to, I don’t mind. I don’t care what you do.”
“Got it. I’ll pay.” Ayanokouji readily accepted the demands of the girl years younger than him. Then he asked, taking a look around: “…By the way, you won’t let Tsukishiro hear about this part, will you?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“How can you say that for sure?”
“By having years of experience,” she answered. “Now, hand over the money quick.”
“…Can’t it wait until after I get my payment?”
“No. If you can’t pay upfront, I can’t trust you.”
“I don’t have much on hand. Can you wait until next time we meet?”
“Sure, but don’t try to fool me. If you offend me, I’ll go to the police and tell them everything that did and didn’t happen.”
“I’m not lying. I’ll have it ready by next time.”
“Then I’ll come see you tomorrow. Tell me your address.”
Ayanokouji winced. What a forceful girl. He told Hiyori the apartment address, and she entered it into her smartphone. It seemed she was checking the location with a map application.
“It’s in walking distance from here,” Hiyori said to herself. “When do you get home?”
“Anytime.”
“Anytime… so, what’s your job?”
“None.”
“Then why are you wearing a suit?”
He didn’t care to explain, so Ayanokouji just replied “For show.”
Hiyori had an expression of deep shock, but immediately muttered “Well, I guess I can’t speak ill of others” and glanced toward her own outfit. Ayanokouji waited for further words, but she’d already wrapped things up for herself.
“You know, I was wanting somewhere to kill time all day. Loitering around outside on weekdays would get me escorted home.”
“You don’t go to school?”
Hiyori ignored that question. Ayanokouji figured it was a pointless question, too. A proper student who attended class wouldn’t have hair dyed this color or earrings.
“I’ll come visit at whatever time tomorrow. Bye-bye.”
With that, Hiyori put her headphones back on, turned her back to Ayanokouji , and began to walk. He hastily cried “Hold on,” but his voice was overpowered by the music.
This has gotten worrying, Ayanokouji thought.
His holy ground was in danger.