nhp | (Sutamai) Character Main Story - Arakida Sosei, Vol 0 Ch 2

CHAPTER INDEX

2.1.

-CIU First Division-

Arakida: (It’s easier to breathe this way…)

(… I was right. I’m better off being alone.)

I leafed through the thick file and went over the summary for the investigation.

“Concerning the murder case that occurred in the residential block of District S…

At present, a number of testimonies and evidence have been put forth.

Although it has been identified that these murders are the work of several criminals…

The decisive blow connecting it to the perpetrators cannot be found.”

Hattori: …………

Sosei.

You-san leaned in and peered at me with a meaningful look as I was reading over the file.

Hattori: What do you think of Matori-chan?

Arakida: H-Huh…?

… You mean with the investigation?

Hattori: Nope. I mean as a personal interest.

I didn’t understand the purpose of the question, and for a moment, my hand stopped moving.

Arakida: (By “Matori-chan”, he’s talking about… Izumi Rei, right?)

(He was making a curious face…)

(So I was wondering what sort of unreasonable demand he was going to throw my way, but…)

Ever since “STAND” was established, I’ve crossed paths with her—Izumi Rei—many times.

And we have technically worked together.

I’ve also often spotted her coming in and out of our office when being summoned by You-san.

Arakida: It’s not like I think anything in particular…

If we’re talking about whether or not she’s qualified for STAND, then it’s not my place to say.

Hattori: How proper of you.

Or rather, is that it?

Arakida: … How am I meant to answer it correctly?

Hattori: Well now, who knows, I wonder?

It seems unusual for you to somewhat let her in your territory.

So I felt like asking, is all.

Arakida: (What territory… Not that I was planning on letting her in though.)

If it weren’t for STAND, we wouldn’t have had anything to do with each other.

… Aside from being aware that she’s from the NCD, that’s it.

Hattori: Goodness.

Say, for two dogs of a kind…

Do you think it’s possible to break them both in collectively if tossed into the same cage?

Arakida: … Excuse me?

What are we talking about this time?

Hattori: A study into beasts and peculiar animals.

Well then, all the best with that now.

Arakida: … *Sigh*

You-san waved his hand nonchalantly and moved away from my desk.

What he left behind were words resembling a riddle.

Arakida: (It’s a bit late to say this, but…)

(This place sure is full of weirdos.)

I gave a small sigh, and evened out the bundle of documents.

When the edges have been perfectly lined up, I carefully stapled it together.

Arakida: (Still, once you get used to it, it’s not so bad.)

(… Although when I was asked to join this division, at the time, I had thought whatever.)

Back then when I had lost where I was supposed to belong.

Was it out of sympathy or just simple curiosity?

In any case, at this stage, I really was grateful to You-san for reaching out to me.

Before I knew it, this place had surprisingly become one that I felt comfortable with.

But even then, whenever I happened to glance back on the path that I took coming here…

Arakida: …………

My mind went blank.

Arakida: (No, this isn’t the time to be thinking about unnecessary things.)

(… Right now, I need to focus on the investigation.)

I shook my head lightly and brushed away any distractions.

When I redirected my gaze to the thick file…

I was instantly again sucked into the reality in front of me.

2.2.

-Boarding House: Outside-

I got off the subway station and walked for several minutes.

Arakida: (Maybe I should go around once more tomorrow to the people involved.)

(Seeing as I did find something that was slightly bothering me…)

… Ugh, god.

While I was busy wracking my head over the investigation…

Without realising it, I had already arrived outside my house.

In a corner of a quiet residential area stood a rather large mansion.

I had moved in not too long ago, and was boarding in one of those rooms.

* * *

-Arakida’s Room-

When I got back to my room, I sat down onto the folding chair beside the window.

My room wasn’t any big to say the least, and it was just stacked with books.

Arakida: (Besides my books, I practically own nothing personal.)

(This is all I need to just live anyway.)

I casually grabbed one of the books close to me.

Arakida: This female protag is nuts…

She’s like a wild boar…

There was an odd sense of deja vu about the heroine.

As I flipped through the pages, out of nowhere, I remembered the words from this afternoon.

* * *

{Flashback}

-Divination House-

Fortune-teller: The person who’s going to make you be the protagonist will be appearing shortly.

Whether you change something when that time comes, or continue to stay the way you are right now…

Will, of course, all depend on what you decide.

{End flashback}

* * *

-Arakida’s Room-

Arakida: … As if that’s gonna happen.

I was no protagonist.

I didn’t have any power that would seemingly change something.

Arakida: (Secondary characters simply work, and only eat to survive.)

(… They try not to get caught up in the huge flow of things as best as they can.)

They lived out their lives hoping to not stuff up somewhere. Later down the road, they’d quietly grow old and rot away, having been forgotten.

That was the sort of existence they were.

Arakida: Oh… I’ve got it.

The protag of this novel is similar to her, huh…

Suddenly, I had hit upon the cause of the deja vu.

That NCD woman with the so-called “narcotics tolerance”.

This heroine was the spitting image of Izumi Rei.

Arakida: …………

W-Wait, why the heck am I recalling Izumi…

(… I may have answered it in that way to You-san before, but…)

Truthfully speaking, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t interested in her.

Arakida: (… She’s an odd one, alright.)

(When she was recruiting me for STAND… She insisted on taking me out for coffee or whatnot.)

(She came onto me pretty strongly right from the get-go.)

Ever since that matter, there have been moments where I’ve unwittingly ended up thinking about Izumi.

… But surely, there was no deep meaning to that.

The reason why she would sometimes appear before my eyes…

Was because she was disrupting my uneventful storyline.

Arakida: (We’ve worked together a number of times in investigations and such, but…)

(… It’s not like anything happened between us.)

In the midst of being swamped with work, even those memories started to fade and become obscure.

Anyhow, I bet she was no more than one passing encounter…

Out of the many that continued to slip by me.

Arakida: (Izumi’s probably the complete opposite to me.)

(… If anyone’s gonna be a protagonist…)

(Then I reckon it’d be someone like her.)

Huh…?

Just then, it began to get noisy around the front door.

It was rather lively for just the landlord—Aunt Saeko—coming home.

Arakida: (… Did she call over her friends or something? She does know a lot of people, after all…)

There were footsteps rushing back and forth between the first and second floor.

The sound of it echoed immensely throughout the usually quiet mansion.

Arakida: (… So loud.)

* * *

-Boarding House: Hallway-

Arakida: (What the heck are they doing…?)

Not being able to concentrate on my book at all, I went outside to the hallway.

When I peeked into the stairway leading up to the second floor, out came an enthusiastic voice.

Rei: What’s there left to bring in, Aunty Saeko?

Arakida: … What the?

Was I hallucinating?

Rei: Eh? H-Huuuh!? Why—

… Was I seeing things?

Rei: —U-UWAAAAAH!?

Arakida: !!?

WATCH OUT—!!

Izumi Rei came falling down.