Chapter 10: My Future Current【Part 5】
【言語に関するご注意 / Language Notice】本作はすべて、英語と英語の表現で書かれています。翻訳作品ではなく、オリジナルの英語ライトノベルです。あらかじめご了承の上、作品をお楽しみください。
See chapter one for the main author's note.
Sayoko
Click
It opens up as I move toward the wall to face it, angling the fabric over my shoulder to act as a sound barrier.
Dropping my voice into a gravelly, panicked octave, I throw the words into the room: “F-Fire! Run!”
My expression immediately morphs into total innocence.
Click.
I quickly turn to blend back into the crowd.
“Fire?” a girl besides me asks, blinking in confusion at me.
I offer her nothing but a sweet, pleasant smile.
“Fire?!” a boy further down the line calls out, his voice sharp.
“Fire? Where?” someone else asks, turning around.
“Did someone say there’s a fire?” another voice calls from further down.
The word ripples through the queues, a quiet murmur transforming into a collective hiss of anxiety. Shifting eyes search the ceiling.
“We need to evacuate! Move, move!” a girl yells, her arms flailing as she herds the people nearest to her.
The tipping point hits.
The anxiety converts into adrenaline. The sea of bodies surges toward the exit all at once, jammed in a desperate squeeze through the glass doors.
Within seconds, the lobby empties out. The sudden silence leaves nothing behind but the soft rustle of a stray paper drifting across the polished floor.
I bounce over to the front desk, ramming the service bell until a clerk emerges from the back office.
“Yes, yes, I have your docu—” He stops dead, staring at the empty lobby. “W-where did everyone go?”
“A late lunch break, from what I heard. Some people just don’t have the patience to wait.”
“R-right…” He drops his paperwork onto the corner in front of the desk. A smile forms on his face, then freezes. His head tilts slightly upward as he stares over me—though I am not sure why—before the customer-service grin snaps back into place.
“Welcome to Oros Bank!” He clasps his hands together and rubs them. “Can I help you with anything today? Are you here to check an account perhaps, a loan, or maybe switch banks?” His suggestions have no end.
“Remind me, what is that thing called again?” I tilt my head, asking with an innocent tone. “The one that where the bank gets the most use from a single customer?”
“Do you mean a super loa—”
“—Loan, of course! Now I remember!” I chime in, my voice bursting with a sudden joy. “I came here to get... that.”
“Wonderful!” A spark lights up his eyes. “Are you already a customer with us, or do you still need to switch banks? I presume you are a first-year?”
“Yes. I am here to switch sides.”
Masaki
“Daiki, I—” My voice hitches.
A firm shove hits the center of my back, kick-starting me forward. Sora.
“I’m sorry about earlier today. I really showed my bad side. We know you’re already having a hard time adjusting to this place, I should have considered you more.”
Daiki places a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks. I appreciate it. From both of you.” He drops his other hand onto Shin’s shoulder. The knot of tension in my chest uncoils. Shin and I exchange a brief sigh.
“I guess I got a bit carried away too,” he admits, scratching the back of his neck.
His eyes slowly track to Sora behind me. “But why hasn’t she said anything yet? She was the craziest one out of all of us to—”
“Haaai!” she screams from behind me.
A sneaker collides with the right side of Daiki his jaw. The force drives him straight into the dirt before her leg even snaps back down from the soaring high kick.
Shin drops to his knees, eyes shut as he presses his palms together. “May the angels now care for him,” he whispers in a solemn prayer.
I crouch beside the collapsed body. “Daiki? Are you okay?”
Jiro
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you,” I say, adjusting my collar to hide my bruises.
“That’s good to hear,” he says carefully.
“Your name... it’s Shun, right?”
“The one and only!” He points a thumb back at his chest. “And you are Jiro, right?”
I nod.
“Do you think you could help me out with filing a report?” I point a thumb toward the front desk ahead.
His hand drops. A confident smile breaks across his face as his eyes close. “Of course! Follow me!”
He struts straight forward, arms swinging wide, breezing past the service desk without even glancing at it. “And how is your beautiful day going, Miles?”
He flings a loose wave toward the young clerk behind the counter. The clerk stares deadpan back at him. “Shun... you were only outside for five min—”
“Love to talk, Miles! But duty calls. Busy, busy, busy. Catch up later, okay?”
The clerk just rolls his eyes.
Shun taps a card against the reader next to the door, steps through the barrier, and holds the door open for me at the threshold. “Come inside.”
Anza
This massive festival tent almost makes me feel like I am indoors. But the crisp breeze rolling off the lake betrays the illusion.
Music booms from all sides as I wedge three drink cups into a tight triangle against my chest.
“Thank you!” I yell to the bar over the thumping bass.
I navigate the dense, dancing crowd, lifting the drinks high to keep from spilling a single drop until I reach our table.
Toma slouches over it, deflated and face-down. I set the cups down. “Here, chin up! These iced cranberry sodas will cheer you up in no time!”
“Urrgh,” he grumbles, blindly reaching out to wrap his fingers around a cup.
I glance around the tent. “Where is Asuka?”
His free hand rises, pointing limply toward the center of the floor.
Through the shifting gaps in the crowd, Asuka appears right in the middle of an open circle.
I push closer to get a better look.
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Discover what happens next in: Chapter 10: My Future Current【Part 6】
Written by Limited_Infinity. Extras, official publishing platforms and updates are publicly available only on the Patreon page “_Limited_Infinity_”
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