The Aftermath: The Pheasant, the Yakuza Wife, and Me in 4th Grade

Last time, despite the content being about pheasant-patterned fishnet stockings and something that could hardly be called sane, there were people—like fierce warriors of flexible thinking—who read it and even left comments. I felt beyond grateful, almost apologetic, but I simply cannot suppress the urge to write the continuation...
Please, read it.

Since that day the pheasant went wild in the classroom, days passed peacefully...

The days went by in peace...

My summer vacation homework, which I had submitted as a 'masterpiece'—
a turtle made of five-yen coins and a tanka poem—was exposed as being the work of my grandmother,

I wrote New Year's cards using invisible ink made from mandarin orange juice,

and after fainting from anemia at the farewell party for the sixth graders,

I became a fifth grader.

That spring,
M-chan, the only daughter of a certain yakuza boss,
invited me to her birthday party.

It seemed it was going to be held at her home.

I had never been to M-chan's house.

But I knew where it was.

Because at M-chan's house, separate from the nameplate,
there was a huge sign with the name 'XX Syndicate' written in Kanteiryu font.

Clutching the invitation written on Little Twin Stars stationery, I, Abika in 5th grade, thought.

After all, it's a house that keeps a pheasant.

It must be a lavish party.

Maybe the Gorengers or Hello Kitty will show up. Heck, maybe even a celebrity will come.

On the day of the birthday party, my heart pounding with anticipation,

I arrived at the large mansion and was first shown into the main hall.

There, rows of kaiseki meal trays were lined up,
and golden cushions were laid out.

I couldn't seem to settle down even while sitting, and as I was twirling the fringe on the edge of the cushion, it came off.

Oh no, I'm going to have to pay the price...

I hurriedly looked up and made eye contact with M-chan, who was sitting on the dais in front with her parents, beaming with a full smile, and I returned it with a full, charming smile of my own.

We were served Bireley's and Fanta by companion ladies wearing matching purple bodycon suits with excessively padded shoulders, and the meal began with a toast of 'Cheers!'

However, for us 5th graders,

we had no way of appreciating the taste of lily bulbs, nor were we going to get excited about how the simmered bowl and the appetizer platter showed off the chef's skills,

so everyone just ate silently and listlessly.

Once we finished eating,

and the solid fuel for the individual rice pots had gone out, someone who looked like the kimono-clad master Keiko Utsumi appeared from nowhere, started strumming a shamisen with an expressionless face, and M-chan's father began his shigin poetry recitation.

We listened with furrowed brows to the man who was groaning with furrowed brows.

We listened to the long, long shigin.

The shigin that just kept going on and on...

The long, long shigin, which I thought would last for eternity, finally ended, and just when I thought it would be time for Gorenger, we were told the birthday party was over.

It was a gathering that felt like a power lunch, with a kind of luxury that was different from the luxury I had expected.

Receiving a souvenir

As I was guided to the entrance and lined up for the Sukeroku sushi souvenir, I felt a piercing gaze from behind and turned around.

There, there was a tiger skin rug, and a suit of armor and a helmet were placed there.

...

Was it just my imagination?

Just as I tried to look ahead,

Huh!!!

Looking back once more, Abika was glued to the
ornament next to the suit of armor.

Oh, that, that pheasant has been stuffed...

Oh, you...

To end up in a state like this...

Even though it had been flying around the classroom so energetically...


I, completely disheartened,

feeling a sense of indescribable sadness,

"Please give me one for my grandmother too,"
I said, and headed home with two Sukeroku sushi sets.

That was the spring of my 5th-grade year.