She's a stressed and struggling student in Osaka, living alone and barely managing to pay off her debts to keep herself off the streets. But an encounter with her used-to-be favourite utaite, Mafumafu, might change all of that!
By the time we've arrived at where ###'s house is according to Mafu, it's dark. Stepping out of the car and feeling the cold air on my face, I look up.
Could you even call this a house? I think to myself. It's run down, wallpaper fading and there's even mould growing on the side. Although some of it might just be trees that grew too close and their shadows. Still.
"So?" Luz enquires, rolling down the backseat window. He raises an eyebrow at ###'s house. Even utaites like us don't have that poor living conditions. She must've had it really bad before we met.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Just clear off already!"
"Go away, get out. You're not welcome at this house anymore. Stay away from me and Mafu-kun, and if I see you again..."
"I'll kill you."
Remembering back to that night, my heart twists inside my body with regret. I shouldn't have said those words to her, I think to myself bitterly.
It's too late to undo what I did, but the best I can do for ### and Mafu is to just leave her alone. If she doesn't want to be found, she doesn't want to be found. So be it, it's for the both of them.
Gathering my thoughts, I stand up straight.
"Mafu-kun, Luz-san, we should just leave. The condition this house is in is practically unliveable, unsanitary and falling apart too. It's the least likely place she'd be. We should just go home and-"
But before I can finish my sentence, Mafu opens the passenger car and gets out, walking past me and into the house, a determined look in his eyes.
"Soraru-san, if you aren't going in, I am." He snaps coldly, walking into the house with his hands in fists. Luz gets out of the car as well, following suit. Sighing, I go after them. I guess I have no choice.
"Eww"
Luz's nose crinkles at the musty smell, and even Mafu seems a bit repelled. As a beetle skitters by, I try not to think of the possibility that there might be a whole nest somewhere in this house too.
At the sight of the insect, Mafu flinches, but at least he isn't acting like he usually does when he sees one. The last time a bug was in his house, he had pulled out a kitchen knife and observed it safely from a chair, watching its every move while shaking.
Allowing myself a small smile, me and Luz follow him down the hallway, dodging any stray or stocked piles of rubbish as we do so.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Finally reaching a room at the end of the hallway, I carefully turn the knob of the door. But as soon as we step inside, the only things we see are a holey mattress, a moth-eaten pillow, a thin, overturned blanket and a large box marked with the words "FRAGILE" under the whole thing that serves as a homemade bedframe.
Change of thought - she really was here, but not anymore. She went somewhere, but where...?
Damn it, I think to myself. I was so sure we'd find ### here. I bite my lip in frustration. But I can't give up yet, I tell myself. I have to find her! Racking my brain for clues, I suddenly remember. She goes to Osaka University, doesn't she? What if...?
