COTE : Parasite in Love.

Chapter 5 : Mistake

A week passed after he met Hiyori.

Usually, the intercom would sound, and she would open the door to come in immediately after, but today was different. Even once the intercom’s echo faded, the door hadn’t budged. Ayanokouji concluded that this visitor was not her.

He went to open the door, and found it was indeed Tsukishiro. Once again, he wore a drab Chester coat over a worn suit. As usual, his hair was oily, and he had a beard resulting from neglecting shaving for two days or so.

Ayanokouji silently let Tsukishiro inside and closed the door. Then he carefully passed by so as not to touch him, and turned away from the living room to face him.

“Seems you really hit it off with Shina Hiyori,” Tsukishiro commended with folded arms. “I didn’t have any hope for you at all, but you’ve done pretty good, huh?”

“Thanks,” Ayanokouji said bluntly. He figured it was wise to stay quiet about bribing her.

“I’d like to know for reference, just how did you approach her? I figure just making her feel comfortable must have been an ordeal.”

“I just asked her to be my friend,”
Ayanokouji said, yawning. Due to days without sleep, his eyes were fogged over and his head was numb.

“And?”

“The end.”

He furrowed his brow. “Hey now, you’re kidding, right? Just that got Shina Hiyori to keep coming to your house?”

“What reason would I have to lie?” Ayanokouji feigned ignorance, and Tsukishiro snorted.

“I dunno what trick you pulled, but it’s a big deal. You may be a jobless criminal good-for-nothing, but you’ve got a knack for kidnapping young girls.” He clapped mockingly for Ayanokouji.

“Well then, let’s move on to your next mission.”

Ayanokouji stared blankly, at a loss for words. Next mission? Was becoming friends with Hiyori not the end? Don’t tell me that after this was done, there’d be another mission, and once that was done… on and on like that?

Tsukishiro informed him.

“Find out Shina Hiyori’s worries. Of course, I don’t want you to force it out of her, but naturally get her to tell you.”

“Worries?”, Ayanokouji repeated to confirm.

“Does she have such a thing?”

“Sure she does. Nobody’s without worry. All the more true for a girl around her age. Worrying’s like your job then.”

“That may be true in a general sense, but…”

“That said, I don’t want you to find out if her skin’s been bad lately, or her lunulae are a little bigger than normal people’s, or the creases on her left and right eyes are in different places - any trivial worries like that, there’s no point. What you need to find out is the reason for her lack of attendance.”

Ayanokouji thought for a moment, then asked. “Is it not simply that she finds school annoying, for instance?”

Tsukishiro grinned, but it was a somehow aggressive-feeling grin.

“As I thought. You’re so sensitive to your own pain, but have such dull senses for the pain of others. That’s the kind of guy you are,” he said with a cynical look at Ayanokouji. “So I’m gonna emphasize for you here, Shina Hiyori’s more of a normal girl than you think. And if a normal girl’s dressing in a way that’s not normal and doing things that aren’t normal, that means something non-normal is happening to her.”