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q-talations · 1 year

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How to Eat Life LN Chapter 1-1 Translation

#1 / Horizontal Falling Down

Oh, I kill so many beetles and insects every night. And now I’m to be killed by the hawk. So this is what it feels like. Oh, I can’t stand this. I’ll stop eating insects, and starve to death. No, Hawk will kill me before that happens. ── Miyazawa Kenji, "The Nighthawk’s Star"

#1-1_otogiri_tobi / Why do flowers bloom?

“Otogiri...” The teacher with black glasses called him out in front of the gate. Otogiri Tobi only gave him a glare and passed by. The teacher groaned “Otogiri...” again.

“That teacher sure is stubborn.” The backpack giggles.

“Well, that’s his job.” Tobi whispers in reply.

That teacher has given Tobi countless counsellings since the start of the school year. He’s not a homeroom teacher in Tobi’s classes nor does he teach in any of his classes, and Tobi has no idea of his name.

“You can’t use this bag! Why are you wearing these boots? Your bangs are covering your eyebrows!” Baku mocks. “What are schools really for.. Are they trying to fit humans in the same containers?” Tobi walks into the school building, ignoring Baku. He changed his boots in the locker.

“Tobi, do you still remember? That teacher was always trying to get on your case about your hair every morning, so he... Well, it’s been over a year since-”

“I forgot.”

Tobi walked inside Class 3 of the 2nd year. He sits on the 3rd row beside the window. He placed Baku on the desk and sat down. Tobi then laid on Baku.

“Gonna sleep through classes? You sure are free, since you’ve got no one to talk to. Why not make a friend or two?

“Baku, shut up...”

“Hey watch yourself, Tobi, you’re gonna get recognized as a freak that always talks to himself.”

“I-” Tobi continues the sentence with the slightest voice he can possibly make. “......am not talking in a volume others will notice.”

“It’s not so bad letting them hear you, maybe that’ll make them wanna talk to you!”

“It’s just annoying.”

“Huuuh. You’re the type of person that thinks being antisocial and having no friends is cool?

“...No.”

“Yes. You definitely do. Tobi, you know what they call these types of people? Narcissists.”

“Sure sure, go on.”

“Consider it done, I get bored when zipped anyways.”

“.............”

“Just a heads up, If you think I’ll eventually shut up if you keep yourself silent, then you’re in the wrong!”

Baku continues to giggle.

“Never forget. I will never shut up as long as you’re alive. We’re in the same boat. We are one together.”

I won’t. Tobi counters in his mind. I will never forget it.

“...... Well, sometimes I do think about ‘What will happen if you get burned into ashes?’”

“Oi, I can hear you!”

“...You’re mishearing.”

“Well, I guess this is what happens without ears.”

“Huh...”

“So what exactly happened to my hearing?”

“I don’t know...”

“So cold. Such a coldhearted person you are. My heart is reaching subzero. I’m freezing.”

Then just freeze. Tobi whispered in his mind. It’d be adding fuel to the fire if I say it out loud. It’s best to ignore Baku’s jokes. I understand this the most. But I can’t resist reacting. I need more training.

“......Training for what?!”

○

Tobi is a fast eater. He empties the lunch plate in seconds....well, minutes. But he munches down everything but bread like he’s teleporting food into his stomach, then leaves the classroom in an instant with the bread. When there's no bread, he just leaves empty-handed.

“Tobi, w-wait a moment!” The homeroom teacher tried to call after Tobi in the beginning, but now it seems like he’s used to being ignored.

There’s bread today. And they’re butter rolls at that.

Tobi carried Baku up and ran down the halls.

“Tobi, you sure do like butter rolls, don’t you?”

“What? I don’t-”

“Liar. You walked too briskly, it’s obvious.”

“It’s not like I dislike them, but I don’t really have many preferences...”

There’s no one in the halls. Everyone else is still having their meal. Knowing that, Tobi keeps his voice down.

“Tobiiii. You’ve always liked bread over rice right”

“It’s whatever...”

“You like fish over meat!”

“Seriously, whatever...”

“What about Kinako* and An*?” *Kinako is soybean flour and An is sweet bean paste. They’re often put in sweets in Asian/Japanese culture.

“An.”

“...Well, that was a rapid answer.

“I’m not good with powders.”

“I feel you. Wait, how could I possibly relate? What do you think I am? I am a backpack! I haven’t had any of them before!"

“I don’t know.......”

“You don’t have to say it like that. We’re partners right. right? .......What kind of partners are we?”

“That I genuinely don’t know.......”

“Bad company, we are. A rotten relationship we are in. Yup.”

“That might be correct.”

“Why is our bond rotten? There must be a better way to call it!”

“You said it yourself.”

“Then correct me! Tell me I’m wrong! I’m lonely!”

”So you’re lonely......”

“Just a tiny bit.”

Tobi walked towards the courtyard. The sun is shining today. There’s a lawn, benches, and a garden and such, so it’s quite popular during recess. But no one else is here yet. Emptiness overflows in the yard.

“You’re gonna do it again, right?” Baku asks in a tone of dismay.

Tobi grabbed onto the exposed pipe on the school building walls. Or the pipe fittings, to be clear.

Stepping on pipes and grabbing on the grooves on the wall, Tobi climbed up to the roof.

“Jeez, You know what they say... Fools and smoke* like uhm... yeah.” *Fools and smoke rise to high places is a Japanese idiom to ridicule fools.

Tobi doesn’t pay any mind to the teasing from Baku at all. He reached the roof of the 3-story building in a blink of an eye, “not bad” he feels. Today, he didn't miss a single step or lose his grip; it might have been his best run yet. Perfect even.

You can also reach the roof from the inside of the building, but the gates are locked. It’s probably locked to prevent danger and crimes.

Climbing is the only other way if you don’t have the keys.

There’s no one else than Tobi who'd go this far just to get on the roof. Tobi is the only one.

The rooftop is flat. It’s just concrete. There’s a low-rising wall around the edges. Pretty sure they’re called parapets.

Tobi placed the bag beside him and leaned on the parapets. He takes out the butter rolls from the plastic packaging. He took a bite with his eyes closed.

“How is it?”

“......It’s alright, just like every ordinary bread”

“Just say it’s delicious already. Stop lying to yourself.”

“Aahh, it's so yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy... simply delicious!”

“The way I say it makes it weird... probably shouldn’t repeat it so many times.”

“As I said, It’s just alright...”

“Hot dog buns or butter rolls?”

“Butter rolls-”

“See. Told’ya.”

“What, what are you gloating for...?

“Do I really need to explain?”

Tobi glanced at the sky after taking a few bites of the bun. He started looking at the schoolyard right after as he got bored immediately.

Tobi's school is U-shaped, and the courtyard sits in the hollow part. Tobi is sitting on the roof of the special classroom building, facing the homeroom building. The 3rd year's classrooms are on the 1st floor, the 2nd year on the 2nd floor, and so on and so forth.

Lunchtime ends with the chime ringing. Students begin to leave the classrooms as recess starts.

About a tenth or less of the students have weird creatures perched on their heads or shoulders from time to time.

Tobi doesn’t react to their existence when he sees them.

For instance, take a look at the group of 3 girls walking in the halls on the 2nd floor. Tobi can’t remember their name, but he’s pretty sure they’re in the same class.

One of them, the girl in the middle, has a little bat, or a flying squirrel-like creature grabbing onto her back.

There is a possibility that she is a fan of the weird creature so much she brings it to school,

but it’s not the first time Tobi witnessed the creature. He also saw it in the classroom. Or rather, that creature is on her back at all times.

But somehow, no one talks about it. Not the teacher nor the classmates.

The girl doesn’t seem like she acknowledges the existence of that living thing on her back even.

“Weird.” Tobi murmured.

“Wha?” Baku replies in an instant. “What exactly is weird?”

“It’s nothing really”

“It sure was something. You said something is weird. I HEARD it loud and clear. So. WHAT is weird?

“....... Well if you wanna know so badly, it’s you.”

“How am I weird?!”

“Are you not aware?”

“Hey, you!”

“eeeh-?”

Tobi looks down on the courtyard. It wasn’t Baku that shouted at him.

He spots a man in a jumpsuit. It’s the janitor of the school.

“.......Me?”

Tobi pointed at himself and the janitor shouted “Yeah you!”.

“Why would I shout at anyone else? You’re the only one up there!”

“Uhh...... well, I guess.”

“You won't guess......!”

He looks younger than most teachers here. It may just be how he looks, but he is always smiling and looks needlessly affectionate. He always greets Tobi when he sees him, and Tobi always ignores him but he’s yet to stop.

“Hey, Otogiri, you do know that the rooftop is off-limits, right!? Actually, I've seen you up there a lot recently. How on Earth did you get up there!? The door is supposed to be locked! Just to be safe, I want to know if you happen to own a pair of spare keys?”

“I don’t know about any spare keys”

“Right! You’re in big trouble if you copied a key or something on your own! Anyways, just get down here right this moment!”

“Shall I jump down?”

“W-WHAT!? N-NO! DEFINITELY NO! Ugh, I’ll come up there, you just wait for me! I have thousands of questions to ask you too, so just stay there!”

The janitor ran towards the building. He’s probably going to borrow a key from the office and get up here through the stairs.

“Whatcha gonna do now Tobi?” Baku asks while trying his best not to laugh.

“What am I gonna do?” Tobi picks up Baku. “I’m not waiting. It’s a hassle anyways.”

“Yeah right.”

“I kinda like it here.......”

Tobi walked across the parapets with a big sigh. It takes him just about a few seconds to climb down from the roof. Tobi is long gone by the time the janitor reaches the rooftop.

Tobi was called into the office after class by his homeroom teacher, Harimoto, who chewed him out. Tobi ignored practically everything Harimoto said, going in one ear and out the other, and understanding none of it. He didn't pay attention to the lecture.

“Otogiri, are you still listening?” Harimoto confirms with him every few minutes. Tobi only replied with “Yes”, and “I am” when he asks.

Harimoto usually wears a red tracksuit when there are no formal events. His short hair is set back and fixed with hair wax, just like a hedgehog*, with his name being Harimoto, so he gets called a hedgehog, or a friendlier nickname, “Harry” behind his back. *hedgehogs in Japanese are called Harinezumi.

“I don’t really want to be an annoying teacher, but you know, Otogiri, there are rules in society you have to obey. At least, at least──”

It was already half past four when they left the office.

“Tsk!” Baku blurted annoyingly. “That Harry bastard talks way too much. I got tired of being shut!”

“Don’t call him Harry...”

Tobi quickly walked out of the school. There’s nothing for Tobi to rush for, but he has a habit of not walking leisurely. He either walks with big steps or he walks fast.

“Are you racewalking?”

Tobi slows down right before the gates after Baku’s roast.

“......this is mildly infuriating.”

“You’re always so impatient, how about you try and live a more relaxing life?”

“.......this is annoying.”

Tobi glanced at his watch. Takes about 15 minutes to reach the facility on foot. It closes in less than an hour. There are only about 40 minutes of free time thanks to Harimoto. Takes about 20 minutes by bus to get near where Tobi used to live.

“Tsk. Can’t make it today.”

Tobi, in a fit of pique, sees the school gate.

It’s a little less than two meters tall. It’s a cakewalk for Tobi to claw up, but he doesn’t feel like using his hands today. Tobi kicks the tiled gate and jumps on it.

“──yes!”

Tobi cheered for a bit subconsciously. He successfully climbed up the gates without hands as planned. He did it.

“Tobi... There are rules in society you have to obey~!” Baku quotes Harimoto mockingly. Tobi tried to talk back but forgot what he wanted to say.

There’s a girl on the other side of the gate. She stared at Tobi.

“Ah......”

She has a well-groomed face, shortens her long hair up with double buns, and is someone Tobi recognizes.

Rather, she’s in the same grade as Tobi.

Surprisingly for Tobi, he remembers her name. It’s quite a distinctive name, so it stayed in his mind after seeing it once.

Her last name is Shiratama.

Her first name is also somewhat unique. “Dragon’s descendant”, read Ryuuko.

Ryuuko seemed surprised as she blinked rapidly.

Even Tobi is surprised. What is Shiratama doing here? There’s no one else near the gates. Tobi assumed everyone had already left. Didn’t expect to see someone. And it’s a girl from the same class, of all people.

Tobi took a deep breath, with his lip pursed.

What should I do?

Baku zipped himself. Tobi felt deeply from his heart: This is the time you should say something like you always do...! A tease, boring chatters, unfunny jokes, please, anything. It’s not like Tobi is the only one that can hear Baku!

Why is Shiratama also keeping her mouth shut...

This is awkward.

It’s also the first time Tobi took a good look at her. Her clear facial features were always under his impression of her, but her facial features weren’t oddly huge. They weren’t strangely small either. It’s just amazingly well-shaped. Not a single snore. I feel like I can look at it all day without getting bored. Really goes to show how perfectly shaped she is.

Not necessarily because of that, but they stared at each other.

Tobi couldn’t look away, as she looked back at him.

He felt very embarrassed. Somehow he just couldn’t turn away.

What is this?

Why are we wasting time on this?

“Hey......!”

It was at this moment someone else shouted at them. It’s that janitor.

“Get off the gates! Wait, it’s you again Otogiri......!”

The anger of the janitor makes him look like a demon unleashed. Tobi looks at him. The janitor is swinging a broom.

“S-sorry.”

The janitor bursts into anger as Tobi apologizes.

“Didn’t Harimoto just scold you?! Yet you don’t seem sorry at all!"

“I did apologize...”

Tobi jumped down from the gates. The janitor seemed ready to chase him, so he ran away immediately.

There wasn’t anyone on their tail when he looked back again, so he stopped running.

“That janitor sure is annoying......”

“You’re definitely on his watchlist now, heh.” Baku continues to giggle. Tobi gave him a stare. “Give me a break...”

“How about you tell him to give you a break?”

“How do I word that...”

“Right. For instance: Please forgive this pathetic, forsaken middle schooler, who is trying his best to become normal...! Not bad right?”

“I don’t think I’m pathetic...”

“Well, I do think a lone wolf is pretty pathetic, heh, it’s just a way of saying anyways~”

“But, I’m not alone, at all.”

“Huh?”

“I have a brother.”

When Tobi brings up his brother, Baku usually keeps his mouth shut. Baku never met his brother before. He met Tobi when they were already separated.

Tobi looks at his watch, it’s a quarter to five. As long as he gets back to the facility before 5:30, it should be fine, so he decided to take a little detour.

A detour for Tobi is nothing too fancy: he simply walks a little longer and a little further than he needs to. He tries his best not to spend money at all. He doesn’t have that much money to spend anyways.

The facility Tobi is in gives a middle schooler 3000¥ every month. He’s not sure if it’s a big amount or not. But it takes him 440¥ just to take a round-trip bus.

Money disappears in an instant. Tobi wants to save it for the right moment, so he is trying his best not to waste a single yen.

Because of this, Tobi has never been to a donut or fast food restaurant. He even avoids convenience stores because he fears being roped into wasting his money on useless items.

He likes to walk.

Baku is there to talk to when there are no people around them.

At the very least, he’s not bored.

“Well, I’m the one bored.”

Sometimes Baku says something as if he can read Tobi’s heart.

“I just get carried around by you anyways”

“Shall I throw you?”

“Do not throw me, even if it’s an accident.”

“It’ll be fun to fly.”

“Wait a second. Getting thrown is not flying at all. Your name means to fly* for god's sake! Look up a dictionary next time. Actually, look it up right now. It doesn’t say anything about getting thrown when you look up to fly!” *Tobi's name in Japanese literally means "to fly"

Tobi crossed from street to road. He ventures into streets he thinks he’s never been to before. But it seems like it was just another road he knew. Tobi has been all over the places near the school. There isn’t a street Tobi has yet been to.

The middle school Tobi is in is located in a town called Ourai, and the facility Tobi lives in is in the Asakawa town right beside it.

There’s a river called Asakawa in the town, as the name suggests. The river is wide and shallow except when it’s raining.

“For real though, Tobi... Don’t you think it’s a lazy name? They named this place Asakawa because there’s a ‘shallow river*’...” *Asakawa in Japanese means shallow river.

“It’s easy to recognize that way though.”

“You know... there’s something called ambiance...”

Tobi walked on the Asakawa river banks, carrying the backpack that wouldn’t shut up about the atmosphere.

There’s a “village” of tents on the lower path of the river bank. But there are not many camping tents, more like little huts made of recycled material. The Asakawa Den, as people call it. Den, hive, whatever suits the gathering.

The kids in Asakawa are taught to not go near this tent village.

Teachers from grade school, middle school, and even workers from the facility tell them it’s dangerous. Tobi has not been to The Asakawa Den before. He simply takes a view from above at best.

It doesn’t seem like a scary place anyways.

The people in The Asakawa Den are mostly made up of the lower class. Some aren’t even well-dressed. But there are still decent people.

Tobi once walked past this place at night, and he saw people in the den gathered upon a fireplace they set up. He isn’t sure how they live their lives, but he heard people talking happily. It seems like they were preparing meals together, and enjoyed their conversation as they ate.

Tobi isn’t very good at dealing with people having a good time.

He likes to watch them from a distance, he just dislikes hanging out with them.

“Tobi, you sure are an introvert. Wouldn’t it be nice if you fix that?”

“It’s not like that...”

“Really?”

“I just get really tired when hanging out with people.”

“Humans are social animals, no matter if you get tired or whatever. It’s not possible to live all alone. You gotta learn to have a little patience.”

“Baku is being really serious...”

“I sure am a great backpack that can give proper advice when I feel like it!”

“Whatever you say...”

Asakawa River flows south. Tobi turned his back on the setting sun and walked across the bridge.

The sidewalk is empty compared to the crowded driveway. He climbed up the bridge walls in a heap.

“Not again, Tobi...”

Baku says in dismay. Tobi continues to walk on the walls.

He can feel the wind better up here. When Tobi sways around, Baku always exaggerates by making “uoooh...!” noises.

“I won’t fall over!”

“Sure. Don’t be as cocky as the King of Spades! Wait, do you even know the idiom?”

“I’m not that stupid... And I’m not being cocky at all...”

“You know? You’re taking it high as you get used to the height. It’s dangerous to get used to something. People that think they’re alright are exactly the people that always get into problems.”

“Why is Baku being this cautious...”

“Being cautious has been a part of me since I was born.”

“Since you were born...”

“What?”

“No, It’s nothing. I’m just wondering how you were born...”

“Huhh? Isn’t that y──……” Baku growled as he thought about it.

Tobi vividly remembers the man. The one-eyed man with a top hat. That man placed the bag in front of Tobi. But Baku doesn't seem to understand what happened before he started talking.

Tobi stops and faces toward the river. As Tobi sat down on the parapet, he was struck by the feeling that both shoes were about to come off, having lost their place to step on.

“Hey, Tobi. You look like someone that’s about to jump.”

“I’m not gonna jump. It’s just a river down there, and I can swim anyways. “

“But, as the name Asakawa suggests, It’s a shallow river.”

“It’s fine.”

“Just be careful.”

“Yeah.”

Tobi shakes his body while he replies to Baku. Baku screams.

“Oooooooooii!!!” “I JUST said to be CAREFUL......!!!”

“Trust me, I’m not gonna fall.”

“Who knows?! That's exactly the kind of thing that catches you off guard!!!”

“I’m not being careless. I did it on purpose.”

“Oh. Purpose. On... purpose. Don’t do it on purpose. Don’t. Do. Not. Ever.”

“Didn’t expect you to use those words......”

“I ain’t faking it. That’s enough. Just stop being a jerk and let’s go home.”

“ehh......”

“Time’s almost up anyway.”

“You’re not wrong...”

“You don’t wanna go back there?”

Tobi avoided the question by pretending he didn’t hear Baku.

Baku giggles again.

“I understand it’s impossible to like that kind of facility.”

“I don’t feel anything about it...”

“Other people there call the facility "home" eventually for whatever reason, but you’ve never said that once. You never viewed the facility as your home, right, it’s impossible for you to think that way.”

Tobi shakes his legs. He was looking down with his back rounded when he knew it. He doesn't feel like stretching his back, and he can’t look forward or up even.

“It’s not the facility’s problem... It just──”

“Just?”

“It just doesn’t fit me at all.”

“Huh. What exactly doesn’t fit you?”

“People.”

“So, you don’t like people.”

“It’s not like I hate them...They just don’t fit me. As I said earlier.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass”

“Shut up”

“By the way,”

“Hm?”

“Did you notice?”

“Notice...?”

“Look.”

“Huh? What?”

“Look at that place”

“Where?”

Tobi looked up.

Peeked left and right.

There’s someone within a meter of Tobi, of course, not on the walls, but there’s a girl standing right on the sidewalk.

The girl is in the same uniform as Tobi’s school. She has a well-groomed face and shortens her long hair up with double buns.

“.......Uh──”

Strange things happen.

Something like this happened before. ‘Before’, more like, an hour ago.

Shiratama Ryuuko stares at Tobi. She doesn’t mean to be wide-eyed, but her eyes look as if she’s trying to clutch Tobi firmly.

Tobi was once scolded by the teacher in the facility to look others in the eye when talking. He did exactly as the teacher said. But somehow the teacher stopped looking him in the eyes. The teacher started looking at his nose and mouth.

It's kinda awkward to look someone directly in the eye.

Tobi has read about cats disliking eye contact with humans from a book in the facility. An unkind stare is a sign of hostility, most of the time.

But Shiratama Ryuuko is only observing Tobi. Is the one called "Tobi" so unusual? She’s trying to find out more about what Tobi looks like, and what kind of ecology it has. It’s obvious from her gaze.

What is up with this person?

She was there back in school.

She’s here again.

Is it just a coincidence? Can't say it's totally impossible, but it sure is strange. Bizarre.

To be honest, it’s rather scary.

Tobi wants to run away. If he had not been sitting on the walls, he might’ve already started running without looking aside. That’s right. Let’s run. Just stand up and run, on the walls or not, just run. He can immediately escape if he wanted to. Why is Tobi not running away? He doesn’t get it either. Just like what happened back at the school gate. He somehow can’t move away from her eyes when Shiratama stares at him.

“Uh” As Tobi speaks, “Otogiri-kun” Shiratama also called his name.

“Y-yeah.”

Tobi unconsciously nodded.

“.......Eh? What?”

“Do you, know about me?”

Shiratama asks Tobi while staring at him. She hasn’t blinked. Won’t her eyes get dry or hurt at all...He was irresistibly curious about such things.

“I... Kno──w about...... you.”You’re Shiratama-san, right? We’re in the same class...Shiratama, Ryuuko.”

“So you’re awake. The existence of mine.”

Shiratama finally blinked once or two.

Then she lifted her chin a bit, squinted both eyes, and raised both ends of her lips slightly.

“Whew, I thought you don’t have any interest in others.”

“Well, you’re not exactly wrong.”

“Sooo... you don’t?

She rolled her eyes and pursed her mouth this time. When her expression changed, it was like Shiratama became a whole other person, yet she was still herself.

“Then how did you know my name?”

“You see...... Your name is pretty special...”

“Yeah... Thanks to the name combination of Shiratama and Ryuuko, I get that a lot.” “But, Otogiri-kun has a name just as rare as mine, if not, rarer”

“I guess......Well──”

“Tobiiii”

Baku giggles yet again.

“And by rare, I mean, you talking to your friends at school is pretty rare, too, isn't it? heheheh.”

We’re not friends. Tobi was about to retort in a flash. But he knows Baku is purposely teasing him. And he can’t be angry at a backpack in front of Shiratama.

“Yeah, I know my name isn’t that common aswe──”

Tobi suddenly noticed something strange.

Shiratama isn’t looking at him. Tobi is looking at her, but Shiratama’s eyes are not on him. What is she looking at?

She’s staring at the backpack on Tobi’s left shoulder. Shiratama is staring at Baku.

“......Tobi, what now?”

Baku questioned in suspicion.

Tobi didn't reply, but instead repositioned Baku on his back, pulled him closer to his body, and held him close.

“It's, not a... common... name... I mean... uh...? hmm......? What's... what's wrong?”

Shiratama isn’t responding at all. She’s simply staring at Baku.

“Wha──”

Baku also began to fret.

“W-what is with this woman? It can’t be that......”

“You know?”

Shiratama started talking again, but she was still staring at Baku.

“I wanted to talk to Otogiri-kun so bad, so I waited for you”

“You...... waited”

Tobi failed to understand what she was talking about for a moment. Recalling it all over again, he understands now.

“Ah...... You’re talking about what happened back at the gates?”

“Yes!”

Shiratama nods without looking at Tobi.

“But, I just followed you after seeing Haizaki-san being angry and chasing after you.”

“.......Haizaki?”

“The Janitor of our school”

“So that’s his name. Haizaki......”

Haizaki-san never misses a chance to greet everyone, and is always available for a chat. He’s a very friendly guy.”

“Huh......”

It’s whatever to Tobi. His name, his personality. Whatever.

He’s more interested in why she waited for him. Why did she go all the way to follow Tobi? What is it that she wants to talk about? And she is still staring at Baku. He’s starting to care more about that.

“──So...... Shiratama-san, do you need something from me, or......?

It’s impossible to wait or follow me all the way here without wanting anything.”

Shiratama finally looked at Tobi instead of Baku and smiled.

Tobi fell flat on his face. He just couldn't help but look down. There’s nothing to look down on. Tobi glanced upwards and took a peek at Shiratama.

“Um,”

Shiratama raised her hand and pointed at something.

“So about that back-”

“.......eh──Baku......?”

“Ba ku”

Shiratama shook her head in reply.

“Back? Baku? It’s a duffle bag so...... B-A-G? Sooo, Bag is correct?”

“Uh...... ah, I’m not that good at, English.......”

Tobi started calling Baku his current name, all because Baku said he’s a Backpack.

It’s been a good while, and he can’t remember much detail. Pretty sure Tobi asked him ‘What are you’ and Baku replied ‘I’m Backpack’. Or it might’ve been, ‘I’m the great Backpack-sama’. Anyways, the word ‘Backpack’ is a bit too long and hard to pronounce, so Tobi just nicknamed him Baku in short.

“......It’s my Baku, no, uh──backpack......It’s my bag. So, uh.... is anything wrong with my backp- well, no, Baku....... ugh. Is anything wrong with my duffle bag......?”

“Otogiri-kun often talks with that bag right?”

“With my bag──”

Tobi almost fell down the bridge.

“W-w-with my bag? Me? T-t-talk-talks, huh? What? Why? I... don’t talk with him... that much.......?”

“Are you good at ventriloquy?”

Shiratama posed an odd question nonchalantly.

“Ventrilo...quy...”

Tobi tried out ventriloquism in spite.

Wait. It’s impossible. To be honest, this is crazy. Why is Tobi suddenly trying ventriloquism, which it’s something he’s never done before? He can’t do it anyways. It’s not something he needed to try doing right now.

“.......No, not at all. I’ve never done ventriloquism before.”

“So in that case, where is that voice talking to Otogiri-kun from ?”

“The...... voice──”

“Oi, Tobi...”

Baku whispers to him.

“Seems like she can hear me clearly. ...... She knows I'm talking to you.”

“THAT voice”

Shiratama nodded her head.

“Correct! I know you’re talking to him!”

Seriously? Tobi didn’t just think so.

“.......Seriously?”

He muttered out loud.