What’s going to happen to me from now on… How am I going to keep on living… I can’t go on… Oh yeah, I haven’t done my homework yet… There’s hardly anything in my wallet… I can’t eat green peas… It’s useless… It just feels like there’s no point in doing anything anymore…
Wait, I’m getting all depressed again… This seems to happen to me a lot… But today is especially bad… I don’t feel like seeing anyone… There’s no way I could stand being anywhere with a bunch of people… Ugh… The sun is too bright… I feel like I’m going to melt…
I drew the curtains closed.
I wanted to cut off the clear blue sky that was the complete opposite of the state of my heart.
I then curled back into bed.
I should just sleep all day today. Yeah, that sounds good.
“Morning, Mana! Today’s morning feels great, huh?”
I could hear a bright carefree voice coming from past my door.
It sort of annoys me when I hear it when I’m in this kind of mood.
“Hurry up and come down. I feel really good about the breakfast I’ve made for us this time.”
I poked my sluggish face out from under the covers and responded with an unenergetic voice.
“Morning, Shouichi… I’m honestly not feeling that good today… Do you think you could call the school and tell them I won’t be coming in?”
“Oh, did you catch a cold? Hopefully it’s not the influenza. I heard that’s been passing around lately.”
“It’s not that… You don’t have to worry.”
“I’ll make some porridge for you later, so stay in bed and keep warm.”
I heard the sound of fast footsteps going down the stairs.
Maybe I made him worry a little too much…?
As I thought about that, I reached out to the bundle of origami paper laying next to my pillow. I randomly pulled out a light blue sheet and began folding it while still in bed.
Moving my fingers like this put me more at ease.
Doing origami was kind of like a tranquilizer for me.
It didn’t matter what I made. It could be a crane, a frog, whatever.
I just had to fold something up on depressing days like this.
For some reason I made a box.
There wasn’t any special meaning to the box. You might think that it would mean something, but it really doesn’t.
There were already about 30 of them on my bed by now.
I wonder what people would think of a girl doing nothing but silently making origami.
If someone were to see me doing this they’d definitely think it’d be off-putting.
They’d probably call me something weird like “The Origami Box Girl”.
I couldn’t tell anyone about this habit(?) of mine, nor did I want anyone to know.
But there was that time when I was in 4th grade when my dad came in with some taiyaki and saw me making origami boxes in my room…
That was the most awkward moment of my life…
Looking around the boxes scattered across the room, he said, “You’re like a box making genius.” He was probably complimenting me, but I shooed him out of my room.
After that, I told him to never enter my room again.
Ever since then, he’s never entered my room even once.
I wonder if I should feel bad about that…
I definitely need to avoid having my uncle see any of this.
I’d hate it if he tried to psychoanalyze it or something…
I suddenly noticed that I’ve been making way too many boxes while I was thinking about that.
There’s got to be at least 100 of them now…
I’ll just burn them like I usually do.
I, the Origami Box Girl, Mana Kazaya, continued to make those boxes.
It was then that Shouichi called from past the door again.
It seemed that he had brought my porridge. Much appreciated.
After I hid all those boxes under my bed in a hurry, I told him to come in.
“Porridge-etit!”
And there it is, another one of his weird puns.
He was probably putting together “porridge” and “bon appetit” or something.
Really awful, if I’d say. The only thing they had in common was the letter “o”.
He looks pretty proud of it, though… He was looking at me with a huge grin.
Oh, well. Out of appreciation for the meal he’s brought me, I decided to give him a break.
“Not bad.”
I said.
Shouichi kneeled down next to my bed.
He scooped up some of the porridge with a soup spoon and blew on it to cool it down before going “Open up!”
…He’s completely treating me like a sick person.
His face is kind of close, too…
His smile is as sloppy as always…
But for some reason I can’t help but let things slide whenever I see that smile.
Oh, shoot… my face is going to start to look sloppy too if I keep staring at him like this…
I put the spoon in my mouth and immediately turned my face to the side.
“…It’s good.”
“I put my love into it, after all.”
He was the second person to move into this house. His cooking was practically on a pro’s level, and he was a really honest and hard-working person. He has that weird quirk with his love of puns, but other than that, he’s a pretty great guy.
He’s also great at housework. I was the first person to move in, and even I don’t do any of that.
To be honest, when my uncle told me that another person was going to move in, I thought that things really wouldn’t work out.
I thought there’d be no way I could live under the same roof as a stranger.
Not only was he close to my age, he also had amnesia… What is this, some kind of shoujo manga?
Basically, I was freaking out like crazy over it.
Even so, I thought about how I would interact with him.
But I since I really didn’t think I could handle it, in the end, my room just filled up with boxes.
But things worked out in the end.
It was because Shouichi was as kind as he was right now when he first came.
I had also skipped school that day.
When he first came to the house, I was tearing my hair out over what I should talk to him about, and it was then that he made lunch using the leftovers in the fridge.
It was the best fried rice I ever had.
“It’s good.”
Those were the first words I spoke to Shouichi.
After that, I had an easier time talking to him, and he taught me how to make it, as well…
Now that I think about it, ever since I met Shouichi, I haven’t been making boxes as much.
I feel more at ease whenever I’m around Shouichi.
“Thanks for the meal.”
I spoke feeling satisfied.
The bowl was still about half full.
I felt bad about not eating it all since he went out of his way to make it for me, but I was really full.
It’s because of this that I’m still so small. That I’m so skinny like a stick.
Shouichi knew that I didn’t eat much, so he didn’t show a single hint of discomfort as he put away the bowl. For some reason, he came back with a towel.
“You’re sweating, right? I’ll wipe your body for you.”
“Huh?”
He suddenly said something ridiculous.
“Go on, take off your clothes.”
“I-I’ll be fine…”
Does he not realize I’m a girl?
Could it be that he’s treating me like a child?
I’m in high school, you know? High school! I’m 16 years old!
I’d like to think I’ve matured a lot!
…I’m not that proud of my chest, though…
“What’s wrong? Hurry up and take off your clothes.”
If you want to see it that badly, then I’ll let you see it…
Watch as you start having dirty thoughts once you see my bare skin!
“Okay… I’ll take them off, so look away.”
Shouichi nodded with an “All right” as he turned his body to the window.
I unfastened the buttons on my pajamas one by one.
…My heart started racing…
“I’m done… You can look now…”
Shouichi turned to me.
I faced my back towards him.
I covered my chest with my arms had my pajama top hung over my shoulder.
“Take my pajamas…”
“All right.”
Shouichi neatly folded the pajamas and set it to the side. He then folded the towel 3 times and gently touched it against my back.
Having been wrung with hot water, it felt really warm.
Shouichi didn’t say a word as he wiped my back with the perfect amount of strength. Not too strong, not too weak.
It feels good…
Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’ve ever had someone wipe my back other than my dad.
I wonder what Shouichi’s thinking about right now?
Is he having any dirty thoughts?
“Mana.”
“Hmm?”
“Your back is pretty hard.”
Huh…?
Is that something you should say to a girl…?
“W-Well excuse me for being so bony…”
“You need to eat more.”
“I know…”
After finishing wiping my back, Shouichi told me to rest like something a doctor would say, and left the room.
I wasn’t in the mood to make boxes anymore, so I got out of bed and opened the laptop on my desk.
I got onto the internet and just casually scanned the topics on the front page.
There was one header that caught my attention.
Corpse Found In Stratum From Jomon Period.
That might be that one incident that’s been garnering attention lately…
I clicked on it with that in mind and began reading the article.
Yeah, this was definitely it.
During an excavation at some ruins, they discovered a male corpse that was only a few days old within a stratum from the Jomon period that had no signs of ever being dug into.
They were able to identify his identity, so it wasn’t as if some guy had been living underground since the Jomon period and happened to die a few days ago.
Then could it be a time paradox?
Well, to be honest I don’t even know what that is…
Anyway, it was an impossible incident.
It must be one of those recent “Unsolvable Crimes”.
Ahh… I’m getting depressed again…
I slipped back into bed and began making boxes.
I wanted to put my depressing feelings inside the boxes and push them deep, deep underground.
Preferably along with my secrets.
Kamen Rider Novel Translations 