Chapter 9.3

Summer vacation, as usual after Bon, was an excess of spare time. Murasako Masao idly strolled out of the shop. His aging father made eyes at him as if about to say why don't you help out in the store once in a while but he didn't give him the chance to open his mouth, easing out of the store succesfully.

That said, he by no means had any place in particular he was going to. In this heat, going through the trouble of getting on the bus to go hang out somewhere was too much work. Matsuo didn't have any particular lessons, nor did he go to cram school. If there was something to leave the village for, he could find somebody to hang out with and somewhere to go but if he was making due with what was in the village, his options were limited to the Mutous. There weren't that many in the village his age. Amongst then half of them were girls, and about half of the boys were flying off to clubs or cram school. They fell into their own groups based on that, and they didn't have much interaction with those like Masao cloistered up in the vllage whose only ability was gossip.

Reluctantly he started towards the Mutou house. It wasn't that he particularly disliked Mutou Taomotsu or Tamotsu's family by any means but the feeling that if he went there he'd meet someone he did hate was heavy. That said there was no place else to go, and being in his own house would end up even less fun, so there was no choice.

When he went to the Mutou house, Tamotsu's lightly welcomed him. THey're upstairs, she said and so he went up to Tamotsu's room where, even though it was Friday, there was Tohru there and Natsuno, too.

Clicking his tongue in his mind, he turned his gaze to Tohru.

"Tohru-chan, you're off today?"

"Yup. Post-bon vacation."

"What's this post stuff?"

"We didn't take a proper vacation during Bon itself. A different bunch claimed the break before us. So, vacations got split up into Bon and After Bon."

"That sounds sucky."

What does, Tohru laughed. "I wouldn't have dared take it. This's what you call consideration. I didn't really have anywhere to go on a trip to anyway, so I was fine without taking the extended break. Since I worked it for them now they owe me. That's an adult's secret to success in life."

That's kind of... He laughed, taking a glance towards Natsuno, who looked disinterested rolling about on Tamotsu's bed looking at a magazine.

"Oi, Natsuno." Being called out to, Natsuno glowered at Masao. Probably because he didn't like being called by his name. He fought down the feel of a sour stomach, continuing on. "I heard you refused Megumi's mometo?"

"And?"

"That's cold, isn't it. Like, do you have some kind of emotional deficiency? Normally, who'd talk about the articles of a dead young girl like they're unclean? You don't have any sense of consideration for anyone else's feelings at all, do you?"

"What're you saying about her dying young? We could die as soon as tomorrow, too."

"That's why I'm saying, don't you feel sorry for someone who died around their first year in high school?"

"That's retarded. Humans never know when or how they're gonna die, it's all a matter of probability. Probabilities aren't concerned with personal feelings or individual traits either."

"Even if you know that, isn't it human not to think a first year high schooler would die? We'd have a lot of regrets, if we were in Shimizu's shoes."

"Being worried over something as extraneous as that's proof you're just worried about your own self. This isn't about someone else's death. I'd worry more about living your life in a way that'd leave you with regrets."

"So you think it's fine to turn down someone's old unfulfilled emotions? You're fine if you get treated like that?"

"Fine with what, if I'm dead I won't even know. Afterwards you become fields and mountains, don't they say?"

"Shimizu is crying down in her grave right now."

"You think the dead cry?"

"She might come after you with a grudge."

"Oni come for bad little children? You're too old for that kind of naivety."

Tohru smiled. "It's an old country thing. Try sharing the info. Your old man at your place'll weep tears of joy."

"....Honestly." Natsuno sighed and closed the magazine. "Then I guess I'll go home to make my old man happy."

"Sure. Later."

Raising his hand, Tohru and Tamotsu raised their hands in response, and Natsuno stepped out of the room. They could hear the light sounds of him going downstairs.

"...What a cheeky punk," Masao muttered, though Tohru nor Tamotsu gave a response. They must have heard, but instead they attentively watched what looked like an uninteresting TV program on the TV. "That's jerk, he's really cold, isn't he? Hey, Tamotsu, don't you think so?"

Tamotsu lightly taised a shoulder. "Well, it's true he comes off cool."

"He doesn't just come off that way, that's how he really is isn't it? I can't believe it, how do you guys put up with him, Tamotsu, Tohru-chan?"

"What Natsuno says has a ring of truth to it, I guess."

"Tamotsu's on his side, too?"

"That's not the problem. Even I feel sorry for Shimizu. I don't think I could take dying at that age but to tell the truth it's not really my problem. I mean, our dads know each other well and when I was younger I'd played with her, but, like. We're not at an age to play together anymore, and if we didn't go to and come home from school the same way I'd never see her. I was surprised and I felt sorry for her but it's the same kind of sorry I'd feel about something I saw in the paper, it's not like it's hard on me in any kinda way. Ah, that's too bad, is about as much as I think of it. Aren't you the same? I mean you didn't have any connection to Shimizu at all."

"That's, true, but."

"But even still, it's hard on the family and her friends, so when you meet with them, you at least make like it's hard on you, that's just being cooperative. Making Natsuno accept that's a lost cause, though."

"That's the problem, isn't it?"

"It's basically fine, ain't it? In Natsuno's case, he's consistent about it. If it was his own parent or friend who died, like, even if other people acted like it wasn't there problem, he probably wouldn't care. That's consistent in its own way."

"Isn't that just more of a problem? If your parents die and you go to distribute their goods and someone refuses, anyone who doesn't get mad at that's not even human!"

Tohru gave a strained smile. "Natsuno might seem indifferent, but on the other hand he's rational and fair. For example, like, even if you accuse him like that, he won't try to get us on his side. He probably wouldn't tell us to get mad with him."

Told as much by Tohru, Masao's mouth warped sullenly. He had the feeling that was meant as a criticism of himself.

"Using this case as an example, if we took Natsuno's side and criticized your behavior instead, he probably wouldn't get high handed about it. The most he'd do is say leave it alone, probably. It's a problem between him and you so the rest of Sotoba can stay out of it, he'd say. When it comes to that, Natsuno's thorough."

"So that's how it's going."

"It's just an example. ---Well, since that's how he is, it's fine as it is. You, too, if Natsuno's attitude get you so mad, you don't have to get mad at every little thing. If you just don't like him, you can just ignore him, right?"

"I have to face him at all because you guys are always taking care of him. Don't pin this on me!" Masao said standing up.

"--Masao?"

"I'm leaving," he said shortly, heading down the stairs. It was like he was the one being blamed. Masao didn't have any particular interest in Natsuno. He never wanted to hang out with him, but since Tohru and the others were always looking after him he kept having run ins with him. To start with, wasn't Natsuno the one cutting in? Normally, if you didn't get along with somebody in a group, wouldn't you keep from entering into that group, but Natsuno was irritatingly shameless, and knowing that they didn't get along, Tohru and the others tacitly letting Natsuno in were irritating, too.

(Even though he's an outsider...)