Record of Lodged Calamity - Departure: Chapter 1, Episode 5

Just as Nakamori had said, Kuon was not in the room when they returned. Instead, a strange girl greeted Mikage.

“Welcome back! I’m Kusabi. Nice to meet you.”

The voice, which sounded like a strong-willed elementary school student, echoed in the entryway. Mikage lowered her gaze to confirm the owner of the voice.

The girl who called herself Kusabi was small and delicate. Her skin was white. The arms extending from her sleeveless top were thin and frail. Her smooth, jet-black hair was parted in the middle of her forehead, passing over her shoulders and reaching down to her chest. Large eyes set in a small face. A large mouth with upturned corners. She looked like the protagonist of a shojo manga with exaggerated features. That was the impression she gave.

“You know, Kusabi is written with the character for those clinking chains, and the character for fire. A hot, hot fire. Pretty cool, right?”
“Um, uh, I’m Mikage Yamamori. It’s nice to meet you.”

Mikage brushed off the name-boasting and bowed her head. Kusabi’s right hand gripped her right hand. The body temperature was strangely chilly. Even if it had been cooled by an air conditioner, it was too cold. As Mikage stiffened her expression, Kusabi showed her an innocent smile.

“It’s a surprise, isn’t it? Being brought to a place you don’t know, with nothing but faces you don’t know.”

Kusabi herself was unaware of her extremely low body temperature. Realizing this, Mikage returned as natural a smile as she could.

The handshake of their meeting ended. A chill ran through her entire body from the released right hand. She wrapped her left hand around her right hand, which had been cooled, to warm it up.


It feels the same as Touma.
This child.


Ignoring Mikage’s racing heart, Kusabi finished her self-introduction and followed Nakamori, skipping down the hallway. Mikage remained standing in the entryway.

Something touched Mikage’s leg as she stood there, unable to decide how to move. Her gaze shifted reflexively. Near her left thigh. It was a white, slender finger pinching and pulling at her jeans.

Her heart gave a jolt. The girl looking up at Mikage was right beside her.

The girl was small and delicate, just like Kusabi. Her bangs were cut straight across. Her jet-black hair was cut at shoulder length. Her eyes were large and cool. Her features were somewhat similar to Kusabi’s, but the atmosphere surrounding her seemed much calmer.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Suirin. Pleased to meet you, Mikage Yamamori.”
“Oh... yes, nice to meet you, too.”

The girl who called herself Suirin extended her right hand with an elegant smile. Mikage hesitantly took the hand that remained suspended in the air. As expected, it was extremely cold.

Suirin immediately released Mikage’s hand and headed toward the back of the hallway. She looked back halfway and fixed her gaze on Mikage.

“Do you intend to stay there forever? Kuon won’t be back for a while.”
“...What time will that person be back?”
“Probably in the evening. Do you have urgent business?”

She was in a hurry. She wanted to know the truth as soon as possible.

Mikage stood frozen in the hallway. Nakamori, who had come out of the room with the kitchen, approached as if he had just remembered something. Kusabi was with him.

“Yamamori-san, would you like to take a bath?”
“Oh, no, I’ll do that when I get home.”
“Ah... well, actually.”

Nakamori hesitated. Suirin’s voice flew in from down the hall.

“Shinichi... you haven’t told her, have you?”

Nakamori nodded at the question. Kusabi’s eyes widened beside him.

“Eh, eh, ehhh? You haven’t told her, really?”
“Sorry! But you know, there’s a lot going on, you understand, right? Kuon-kun is the way he is, so the conversation just isn’t moving forward.”
“That’s exactly why Shinichi is here.”
“That’s right. There’s no way Kuon could talk properly. What’s this about taking a bath? Don’t tell me you were planning to get it over with while she was in the bath without telling her?”


Mikage was completely left out of the loop.


――What is this... please, don’t add any more mysteries.


“...Excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but could you explain? What is actually going on?”

Suirin, Kusabi, and Nakamori—six eyes focused on Mikage. Keeping all three faces in her field of vision, Mikage waited for the moment to see whose mouth would start moving.

Before anyone’s voice could shake the air, a light sound traveled through the space. The sound of the doorbell rang twice in succession. Nakamori reacted quickly. He hurried to the entryway. Suirin’s voice overlapped with his fading footsteps.

“Now it’ll be easier to explain.”

The entryway became noisy. Suirin and Kusabi also headed to the entryway. Unable to understand the situation, Mikage followed their two small backs.

“Where should we carry the luggage?”

Men wearing blue caps and sweating on their foreheads. While receiving instructions from Nakamori, they were busily carrying cardboard boxes.

The destination for the cardboard boxes was the room where Mikage had woken up. The men carried the boxes in and came out empty-handed. In other words, this was...

“...Moving?”
“That’s right.”

To Mikage’s question, which was close to a whisper, Kusabi answered cheerfully.

“Whose?”
“Um, a person named Mikage Yamamori.”

Before Kusabi could finish, Mikage entered the room, following the cardboard boxes being carried in. Nakamori was in the room surrounded by white walls. He noticed Mikage and gave a bitter smile. Then, he pressed his palms together in front of his face.

“I’m really sorry. I should have told you sooner. This is something I really should have told you.”
“Is this what that person meant when he said to stay together? But this amount of boxes... don’t tell me, my apartment...”
“Yes, as you guessed. I cleared out your apartment, I’m sorry!”

With his hands at his sides, Nakamori bowed deeply. The men in blue caps stopped for a split second, looking confused.


――You’ve got to be kidding me, don’t mess with me!


Mikage swallowed the harsh words that were about to spill out with all her might. She suppressed the trembling of her body and took a deep breath. Then, she moved to the corner of the room so as not to hinder the men’s work.

Three large cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other. Once they were neatly lined up in four rows, the men in blue caps left.

It wasn’t the owner, Mikage, who approached the lined-up boxes, but Kusabi. Swaying her body happily, she pointed to the letters written on the boxes with her thin fingers.

“This one... and this one and this one. I packed this one into the box too. Which one should we open first?”

Kusabi pulled on the hem of Mikage’s T-shirt. Mikage couldn’t respond with any action.


――What should I do to be convinced? What should I do...


“What... should I do?”

The self-questioning she repeated in her head spilled out from Mikage’s lips. At the same time, overflowing droplets traced her cheeks.

“You should take a bath. I’ve already drawn the water.”

It was Suirin who answered.

“...At a time like this?”

“Because it’s a time like this, right?”

Suirin traced her own eyes with her finger. As if to say, tears.

“If there’s something else you want to do, please go ahead. I’ll help you unpack if you want.”
Mikage exchanged glances with Suirin for a moment, and without saying a word or nodding, she stepped toward the cardboard box labeled [Bathroom] in black marker.

Holding a towel and a change of clothes to her chest, she followed Suirin’s back. There was not a hint of lightness in Mikage’s footsteps. As if acknowledging this, Suirin walked slowly. She stopped in front of the bathroom, turned around quietly, and looked up at Mikage.

“It’s natural for you to be angry. I’m sorry... but there is a reason. We brought you here to watch over you closely. It is necessary to draw out the power that dwells within you. We think of you as one of us. So please, rest easy... take your time.”

Suirin turned on her heel. Mikage was left alone in front of the bathroom. Before she could even ruminate on Suirin’s words, Mikage entered the dressing room and stripped off her clothes.

She let the hot shower hit her face. Even after taking off her sweat-smelling clothes and washing her whole body thoroughly, the fog in her head did not clear. The scattered mysteries would not come together. Thinking this, Mikage sank deep into the bathtub. The comfort she felt throughout her body only highlighted the unreasonableness of what had happened to her.

“There’s no way I can rest easy.”

Her own voice shook her eardrums, and Mikage let out a big sigh. The source of the sigh was irritation. Irritation toward them.

No. She was the one who invited this reality. This situation was her own fault. It was her own fault for not being able to get the truth out, for just being swept along, and for even taking a bath. Everything was a result she had invited herself. She couldn’t run away, she was just being swept along.


The stone hanging from her neck. She gripped it tightly and closed her eyes.


“Is this encounter also good fortune? Tell me... Grandma.”


There was no answer to her question. That fact intensely stimulated Mikage’s tear ducts.