AGMCFP 43

Chapter 43

I’m waiting for someone at a cafe near the Explorer School’s nearest station.

The person I’m waiting for is my brother, Kenichiro’s, ex-girlfriend, Mari-chan Sasaki.

I got her contact information from her mother, and we arranged to meet here today, Saturday.

“I have to talk to her properly and hear her out.”

The incident with Mari-chan was the trigger that made my family, starting with my brother, go strange.

My father barely comes home because of work, and my mother is always traveling, claiming she’s “researching cooking.”

Do they think they’re free of their parental duties? My brother is still a high school student.

It’s true that I also felt some relief when my brother left the house. When my brother, who caused the scandal, was there, the house was dark and my parents were on edge, which was somehow frightening.

I, who pretended not to see my brother shutting himself in at home, probably have no right to criticize my parents now.

But if I do nothing, my family will fall apart.

I check the time on my phone.
It’s about ten minutes past our meeting time.
If she were a friend, I’d casually text her, but…

“Ah, Rinnon-san. Long time no see.”

For a moment, I didn’t recognize the person who called out to me.

Bleached blonde hair.
Red piercings on her earlobes.
And flashy makeup with a trendy, bold outfit.

“Mari-chan…? Is that you?”

“That’s right. You’re the one who called me out here, Rinnon-san.”

Seeing how much Mari-chan had changed, I remembered Toudou-senpai’s words.
…….
‘If she lied and set up your brother, she’d probably be dressed flashily, and her personality would be warped, don’t you think?’
…….

“You… you’ve changed quite a bit. You look more mature.”

“Thanks, I guess. So, Rinnon-san. What did you want to ask me?”

“Before that, why don’t you order something? I called you out, so let me treat you.”

“Then, I won’t hold back. I’ll have the same as you.”

After placing our order with the staff and making a bit of small talk…

The Explorer School Mari-chan attends is different from a regular high school; martial arts are a required subject, and it seems Mari-chan is specializing in spearmanship.

“Starting in our second year, we have dungeon fieldwork. Since you have to get close to enemies to defeat monsters with a sword, I specialized in spearmanship. Having a longer reach is more advantageous, even just a little.”

“I see. My friend said she wanted to be an Explorer without joining a university club. I told her to stop because it’s dangerous, though.”

“The general course ends in two days, but you start from the lowest rank and can’t earn much. Since the course is so short, many people don’t understand the dangers and end up dying. On that point, if you go to an Explorer School, you study properly, and if you graduate, you start from D-Rank, so you can delve deeper and earn more money.”

I don’t know much about Explorers, but somehow, the way she ties everything back to money bothers me.

It’s about time to get to the main point…

“Mari-chan, what I wanted to ask you about today is Kenichiro. Could you tell me about that time again?”

When I asked that, Mari-chan grimaced for a moment.

“I heard from a friend that Kenichiro is attending a high school in the countryside, right?”

“He’s living at our mother’s family home. It’s a place he often went to during summer vacations and such.”

“Ah—, now that you mention it, he did go to that countryside during summer break, didn’t he? I hate the countryside; there are too many bugs.”

I don’t like bugs either, so I didn’t go as often as my brother.

But that’s not what I want to ask about.

“So, that time… did Kenichiro really attack you?”

“Haa~, I already explained it before, right? And it’s all in the past now. I don’t think there’s any point in bringing it up again now.”

“I think I understand what you’re saying, but I’m Kenichiro’s sister, so I need to face this properly.”

“Is that so? But there’s nothing more than what I said before. It seems Kenichiro has started going to school again too, so isn’t it fine now?”

It seems it’s already become an unimportant story from the past for Mari-chan.

And why did I believe this Mari-chan back then?

Because she was crying?

But meeting her this time, I finally understood.

My brother was set up by Mari-chan and that senpai.

But I have no proof.
I also don’t have the skill to make Mari-chan talk.

But my woman’s intuition is telling me.
This girl is lying.

“That’s right, it seems my brother is doing his best now too.”

“That’s right. It would be a bother to everyone if he stayed shut-in forever.”

Why did my brother fall for such a devilish girl?

Why did I also…?

The words that followed wouldn’t come out.

What I understood is that it’s already too late.

I’m truly foolish.
To only realize now…

My brother is clever and has sensitivity far stronger than most, so he probably understood everything back then.

That our family had already broken down long ago.

And that my parents, who thought they had gotten rid of the nuisance that was my brother, and even I, had actually been the ones discarded by him.

What should I do?

◇

…….
I’m going to become an Explorer, eventually reach S-Rank, and stand at the summit of all Explorers!
…….

That message arrived just when everyone had settled down and started studying.

(Wait, weren’t you going to reach the summit of the world in boxing’s middleweight division?)

“Ken-kun, what’s up? An important message?”

“Nah. Look, Miichan. It’s from someone I met through my part-time job. He said he was going to make it big in boxing, but it seems he’s become an Explorer instead.”

The sender was Seto Umishou Kouhei-san. A trendy, outgoing guy.
It seems he took the Explorer course, and the message included a selfie of him grinning and flashing his F-Rank Explorer license.

“Let me see too.”

My phone was taken by Chiichan, made a round to all the members here, and came back to me.

“This is a dazzling photograph. This one could not see it well due to the radiant light.”

“Brother, you’re saying things like that again. Look, you were shining too, weren’t you?”

The photo Aika-chan showed was of a chubby boy wearing a mawashi and holding a certificate and a trophy.

“Ah, it’s Shinkai-kun from elementary school. You can see the resemblance—”

“Shinkai-kun, you did sumo? I didn’t know.”

“Is this from when you won the prefectural tournament? It says so on the certificate.”

‘It seems he wasn’t just fat for no reason, after all.’

(Aishis-san, sorry, but don’t appear right now, I can’t make a retort.)

‘Understood, Master. However, I have a question regarding genetics. Why is his younger sister so slender? I am still astonished by the image of her still crawling on the seabed.’

(That’s about the water pressure thing, right? Please don’t make me want to retort!)

Pell, who’s being quiet, is better than Aishis, who keeps butting in.

(I didn’t call, so don’t appear now!)

Pell poked her head out from subspace, but everyone was looking at Shinkai-kun’s childhood photo and didn’t notice.

Except for one person…

“This one seems to have had his eyes affected by the dazzling photograph of Gomon-dono from earlier. I saw a white eel where there is nothing.”

This time it was just telepathy, but Pell is saying something terrifying.

(He’ll get moldy, so please stop. I’ll give you sweets later, so please bear with it for now.)

<Fine, then. But next time he calls me an eel, I won’t forgive him!>

Pell’s fixation on being called an eel probably means she’s been mistaken for one in the past.

“I see—. So everyone in Shinkai-kun’s family is a sumo fan—.”

Chiichan and Aika-chan were talking about that.