I could get to Mayuki-kun’s house in less than an hour by taxi, but it would take a considerable amount of time by bus and train. For that reason, I decided to ask the professor if she could give me a ride, not expecting much.
However, the professor seemed busy, and I felt hesitant to just ask her without any explanation.
The basis of negotiation is presenting a merit to the other party as well.
And so, I was devising various strategies, but…
“Give you a ride? Very well. We won’t be leaving until the evening, though.”
It came true in an instant.
I was taken aback by how easily she granted my request.
“Uh, um… Are you sure, Professor?”
“We will be entering the home of ‘Kamimura Mayu,’ will we not? As a subject of investigation, it is more than adequate.”
“Is that so…”
I was planning to persuade her by bringing up Mayuki-kun’s streaming setup and living environment, but it seemed she had already encompassed all of that and was convinced.
“Besides— there is something that piques my interest.”
“Something that piques your interest?”
The question that arose in my mind in response to the professor’s murmur dissipated into thin air.
And so, around the time the professor’s work came to a stopping point.
The daytime heat finally began to fade, and a sleekly-formed Aston Martin pushed forward through the evening sun. However, its driving was that of a wild animal; we were violently swayed left and right along the way, and after somehow enduring the overly rough driving, I arrived at Mayuki-kun’s house, barely escaping with my life.
I’m gonna die.
I had ridden in the professor’s passenger seat several times before, and I knew that a strange switch flipped for her on open public roads without traffic lights or on highways. But it seems my thinking was far too naive. I never imagined she would floor it in the middle of the city…
Parking in the same spot as before, the professor leaped out of the car and stretched with all her might. As I shakily followed her, a voice filled with a sense of liberation reached my ears.
“Hmm, driving a course where I’ve memorized the terrain feels exceptionally good! The traffic was light today, so it was perfect! I managed to drive a route that previously took over 40 minutes in just the 30-minute range today!”
This isn’t a matter of it being a familiar road or anything like that.
“…Excuse me for a moment… ugh, urp.”
I headed towards the gutter to calm my swimming vision and churning stomach.
As I thought, the professor has a screw loose. Apparently, there are cases where people with brilliant intellects don’t know basic things, but perhaps the professor doesn’t even know the concept of a legal speed limit. You’d normally get caught for that. Is this really okay for someone with her social standing?
“Oh, what’s wrong, Himari? Did you eat something bad for lunch? Or perhaps you’re tired from an unhealthy lifestyle? Or is it that time of the month?”
The cheerful professor showered me with one question after another.
She’s so talkative…
“It’s none of those…”
Also, I wish she wouldn’t use such a blunt word like “period” right now.
Although I gagged a little, I calmed my breathing without throwing anything up from my empty stomach.
“The most popular roller coaster in Japan reaches a speed of 170 kilometers per hour. Compared to that, speeding on a public road is nothing, is it not?”
”…”
The comparison is too extreme! I didn’t even have the energy left to retort.
This isn’t the first time I’ve talked with the professor when her excitement has gone off the charts. After she finishes writing a paper or after a conference presentation. She’s also like this when she wins big on a horse racing ticket (incidentally, the reason the professor drives an Aston Martin is apparently because she liked a racehorse with a similar name).
There’s only one way to deal with her when she gets like this. Wait for her to burn out naturally. It’s the same way you deal with a forest fire.
“Damn it.”
While I was squatting down, I heard a click of the tongue. Wondering what was wrong, I looked up to see the professor with her hands thrust into her jeans pockets, her shoulders slumped.
“I left my IQOS in the lab.”
“…Didn’t you put your laptop, cigarettes, and everything else together in your bag earlier?”
“I forgot the entire bag.”
“Then why are you searching your pockets…”
“I buy a new kit every time I lose the device. Perhaps one of the ones I lost before might be in here.”
“As if something that convenient would happen!” I thought, but then I figured that was probably a sense that only the professor could possess. She’s an amazing person who climbed to the position of professor at a young age, but in reality, she loses things easily, can’t clean her room, and can’t hear her surroundings when she’s concentrating. She also sometimes loses things that make you think, “How could you forget something so important?” like today. Last year, during a conference presentation, she even forgot her laptop in the lab, and I had to chase after her on the Shinkansen. tlnote The way she comes up with an alternative plan without batting an eye even after making such a blunder makes me feel that the professor is truly a big shot.
“It can’t be helped, I’ll stop by a convenience store. Himari, you should head to Mayuki-kun’s house first.”
“Eh, wait a—”
Without waiting for me to finish, the professor, whose excitement hadn’t yet cooled, had already dashed off at full speed, her legs spinning like a character from an American comic. I think if other undergraduate students saw the professor like this, they would definitely suspect they were hallucinating. Is she having the time of her life?
When I opened a map app, it seemed the nearest convenience store was at an intersection connecting the residential area and the main street. However, since the professor had dashed off on impulse, I figured it would probably take her a little longer. In fact, she had also forgotten to take the car keys. I sighed and stood up, and with the relief supplies for Mayuki-kun from the trunk in hand, I headed towards the house with the blue walls.
The entrance light wasn’t on, but the second-floor window facing the road was bright.
When I rang the doorbell, there was a rattling sound from the other side of the entrance, and the door opened.
“Good morning…”
“No, no, it’s already evening, but…”
At the sight of Mayuki-kun, who greeted me with a weak voice, I was momentarily at a loss for words.
He was wearing makeup.
Because of that, I couldn’t tell how pale his complexion was. But his voice was hoarse. I couldn’t help but voice my question.
“Why are you in your streaming outfit? Are you feeling better already?”
“Aha… No, I’m still a little feverish… But, since you were coming, Himari-san…”
“You don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. May I come in?”
And so I put down my bags in the entryway and crouched down on the tataki floor.
Suddenly, I thought I heard Mayuki-kun mutter something in a faint voice.
“…I can’t help but mind.”
“Hm? Did you say something?”
But he evaded with, “No, nothing…” Was it just my imagination?
“…I’m sorry, for having you come all this way.”
“Don’t worry about that either. Living alone is tough in many ways, isn’t it? Have you taken any medicine?”
“It was a hassle to go out to the pharmacy… I was just sleeping in my room the whole time…”
“For someone who was just sleeping, there are a lot of trash bags out in the hallway, though?”
”…”
Mayuki-kun kept his mouth shut, forcing a smile with his stiff facial muscles. From his expression, I could guess what he had been doing during the day.
“I’m happy that you’re being considerate of your Onee-chan, but I’m here to take care of you today, Mayuki-kun, so you can just let me pamper you without worrying about a thing, okay?”
“…Because, it was messy.”
“I’m used to messy rooms, so I don’t mind, you know?”
“…That’s not what I meant.”
Again, Mayuki-kun muttered something in a voice too low for me to hear, but I didn’t probe any further and asked him where the refrigerator was. When I opened the household-sized fridge, there were only a few two-liter bottles of green tea and about a dozen cans of energy drinks inside. There were no ingredients, let alone any seasonings.
“Mayuki-kun, did you eat anything today?”
“…I haven’t eaten anything.”
“Figured as much.”
I took the relief supplies—ingredients I had gathered at the university store—and, except for what I needed now, placed them one by one into the refrigerator. Then, I opened the over-the-counter herbal medicine I bought at the pharmacy nearest to the university. I opened the bottle of mineral water I had also bought and took a mug from the cupboard.
“Can I use the sink?”
“Ah… I’m sorry, was it dirty?”
“Less dirty and more… covered in dust… Do you perhaps not use dishes normally?”
“That’s right, I always get delivery for my meals, and I almost always drink directly from plastic bottles, so…”
Come to think of it, I feel like most of the trash bags in the hallway were filled with plastic containers.
Convincing myself that’s just how it is when you live alone, I washed the cup in the sink that probably hadn’t been used in a while.
“I’m borrowing your kitchen. Mayuki-kun, you should hurry and take off your makeup, and go lie down in your room.”
“I’m sorry…”
I sent the apologetic Mayuki-kun off with a “Don’t worry, don’t worry,” and after the sound of running water echoed from the washroom, the sound of footsteps slowly climbing the stairs followed.
I threw the pre-packaged white rice into a pot and soaked it in plenty of mineral water. In the meantime, just like the mug, I thoroughly washed all the dust-covered cooking utensils one by one with detergent. For now, I was relieved that the kitchen knife wasn’t rusted.
Just as I put the pot on the stove, I heard the clack of the front door opening.
When I went out into the hallway to check, the professor was taking off her shoes on the tataki floor while locking the door.
“You’re entering like it’s your own home!”
“Oh, it’s just you, Himari.”
“You say that as if I’m the one who lives in this house! Ah, honestly, at least line up your shoes prope—”
I crouched down in the entryway—and noticed a faint sense of wrongness that I had overlooked earlier.
“Did you notice it too, Himari?”
Apparently, the professor had also found it questionable.
As if to check my answer, I confirmed with the professor.
“There’s clearly too many pairs of shoes, aren’t there… And the sizes are all different.”
“And for all that, they’re all dirty. As if they were left behind because they weren’t needed.”
“Mayuki-kun’s parents are divorced, right? This amount of shoes for one person is abnormal… which means…”
“There are cases where the belongings of the deceased are left untouched because they can’t be sorted through, but—hmm.”
The professor looked as if she had understood something.
“This is purely hypothetical, but this might be the roots of ‘Kamimura Mayu’.”
“Roots…?”
“Why the existence known as ‘Kamimura Mayu’ was born.”
The professor muttered as she skillfully and briskly walked down the hallway, which was narrowed by trash bags.
“I’m sure the other rooms are in a similar state—where is Mayuki-kun?”
“He’s sleeping in the room upstairs. I’m borrowing the kitchen to make some rice porridge. He apparently hasn’t eaten anything, so I thought I’d make something easy on his stomach.”
“Hmm. That is convenient.”
“Convenient? What are you planning to start?”
When I returned to the kitchen, the professor followed. As I watched her actions while being careful not to let the pot boil over, she quietly inspected every corner of the room.
First the refrigerator, then she started opening the cupboards.
“So it’s not just shoes, this house has a lot of dishes too.”
Then, the dining table, which had three chairs.
Before long, the professor left the kitchen.
When I followed, I saw her figure just disappearing beyond a door on the side of the hallway.
“W-Wait, Professor! It’s not right to search the house without Mayuki-kun’s permission!”
“Is there something here he wouldn’t want others to see?”
“Normally, there would be!”
In this case, the professor is not categorized under “normal.”
“Hmm. Is that how it is.”
I heard her say that, but it seemed she had no intention of stopping her search.
Beyond the door was the bathroom. Next to the mirror of the separate washstand, several types of products were lined up: lotion, milky lotion, liquid foundation, and the all-purpose cosmetic that was popular a while ago, BB cream.
Cords for a hairdryer and a hair iron extended from the two-outlet socket of the washstand, their main units placed carelessly to the side. On top of the drum-type washing machine nearby, laundry was piled up. Among it were several articles of clothing I recognized. They were probably things he used for his streams.
“This is the washstand of an office lady exhausted from corporate life…”
My true thoughts slipped out uncontrollably.
“Hmm. So there are this many types of cosmetics.”
“…I think you should learn more about cosmetics, Professor.”
“I’m fine. My life cycle is unstable, and I sometimes fall asleep at my desk while reading literature or writing. It would be endless if I removed my makeup each time. What’s wrong, Himari, you’re making a face like a demon.”
“Ugh… N-No… It’s just that I offered a light complaint and got a powerful counter back…”
What’s with her. It’s so frustrating.
Even though she continues to live a life indifferent to beauty, what’s with the firmness of her skin!
As I was lamenting the cruelty of reality, the professor placed a hand on her chin, thinking about something,
“Hmm. I see.”
she muttered as if she had come to an understanding.
“…What is it that you ‘see’?”
“About the unnaturalness of his living environment.”
“What do you mean—oops, this is bad, this is bad.”
From the kitchen, I heard the shuuu sound of the pot boiling. I hurried back, adjusted the stove to a low heat, and started mincing green onions and ginger on the cutting board.
The professor, who was watching me from behind, said this.
“You’re quite used to this.”
“Because I was the only one at home who could cook properly.”
“Himari, you’ll make a good mother.”
I almost cut my finger. That was close.
I never thought the professor would say such a thing. For a normal person, this was probably just a scene from a casual conversation. But the Shirasagi Reika I know is a person who is aloof, lacks any sense of domesticity, and looks down on the various matters of the world from a bird’s-eye view.
“Make a good mother… you think…?”
I put the chopped ingredients into the pot and take out one of the eggs I just put away in the refrigerator.
“…I wonder. I don’t know any role models for a ‘good mother,’ so I’m not confident. I’ve told you this before, Professor, but my father and mother never got along… a lot of things piled up, and I ended up being the one in charge of the housework, little by little.”
“That’s what you’d call a caretaker. When parents can’t fulfill their parental duties, there are cases where the child tries to look after the parents. Children who grow up like that tend to fall into altruistic ways of thinking.”
“In fact, while I might complain about it, I do end up taking care of you, Professor, so I think it’s probably true. Maybe even coming over to Mayuki-kun’s house like this was a result of that caretaker mindset kicking in. Probably, unconsciously.”
“You’re fine just the way you are, Himari.”
“Eh?”
I freeze, still in the posture of getting ready to crack an egg. The Professor continues in the same unchanging tone. As if she’s simply stating facts. As if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Whether you’re a caretaker or whatever, you can act for the sake of others. That alone is a virtue. You came to me two years ago. I heard the reason was because you ‘wanted to know how you could have saved the best friend you couldn’t help.’ I’m not good with other people’s emotions. I can’t know what you’re thinking on the inside. But that was, without a doubt, an action Himari herself chose. Today is the same, isn’t it? Wanting to help Mayuki-kun—that too is a clear intention based on your code of conduct.”
“I’m fine just the way I am, you say…”
The Professor has taught me many things up until now. Despite not being that different in age from me, she has already established a social standing. She has pursued her interest in worldly matters, pushing forward solely to satisfy her own thirst for knowledge, and has achieved results. To be praised by such a person made my face grow a little hot. The stove is off. So this is my own emotion.
“I thought for sure you valued me as a convenient woman who takes care of things for you.”
I tried to make a lighthearted comment as I transferred the contents of the pot to a bowl.
“That’s not true. I can tidy up my own lab.”
“There you go again. I remember, when I first entered the lab as your assistant, it was so messy I couldn’t tell what was where, you know?”
“I can.”
“That’s what people who can’t tidy up say.”
Searching the cupboard again, I found a wooden meal tray. There’s meaning in tidying up. It’s so that others can intuitively understand where things are in a room. Just like now.
Someone like the Professor, who forges their own path alone, probably just doesn’t feel the need for it. But I think that’s a virtue in its own way, too.
“Professor, you’re kind to me, aren’t you?”
“I intend to treat all my students equally.”
“I don’t think that’s true. Your attitude is different when you deal with other students, isn’t it?”
“Of course, I don’t intend to be kind to just anyone. Unnecessary familiarity significantly dulls an individual’s proactivity. People’s reasons for attending university are infinitely varied. It’s fine if there are people who want the status of a university student to enjoy their moratorium. It’s fine if there are people who prioritize building new relationships. However, I believe that those who proactively seek to absorb knowledge should be especially respected. Of course, I won’t hesitate to cooperate with them, either. That is all.”
“And… why is that?”
“Because I am a university professor.”
“…I guess a professor is a professor after all, huh.”
“I don’t understand the meaning. Is that another metaphor?”
“No, that was just my own intuitive feeling.”
I place the medicine, the bowl of rice porridge, and a glass on the meal tray, and hold a bottle of mineral water with my elbow. Having more or less finished my work, all that’s left is to deliver this to Mayuki-kun’s room.
Before that, there was something I wanted to confirm.
“So, Professor.”
“What is it?”
“What did you mean by that ‘sense of unease regarding Mayuki-kun’s living environment’?”
I ask again about the words I’d missed the chance to ask about earlier.
The Professor lets out her usual “Hmph” before taking a breath.
“To give you the conclusion first—”