Chapter 36

On the following

i

night. Translator: MadHatter

In

i

the rear wheel of my motorcycle, I put rubber gloves, a shovel, newspaper, a

i

tiny tin of cat food I had bought at the supermarket, and a cut and flattened piece of cardboard I had at home, and attached it tothe bike with cords.

All

i

of these things were prepared for mourning the

i

cat.

After

i

all, touching

i

the cat with my bare hands

i

was out of the question, so I had to wear

i

gloves and carry the cat in the

i

cardboard box.

I left home early, contemplating

i

the cat’s burial. That cat… I wondered

i

what happened to it.

Today’s weather

i

was bright and beautiful

i

as if yesterday’s day

i

of incessant rain had been

i

a lie. After being

i

drenched by precipitation and exposed to the sunlight, the

i

cat’s carcass must

i

be devastated once

i

more, now that I

i

thought about it. A shudder crept through me as I imagined

i

it. I should hurry up and bury the cat in the

i

soil.

As I

i

approached the exit of the tunnel, I slowed down and parked my

i

bike where it would

i

not disturb others. Nonetheless―

What

i

was happening?643fd

Nowhere

i

on the tunnel’s exit road could a cat’s carcass be discovered.

Odd. It

i

was certainly around here… I searched and

i

searched, yet

i

could not find anything that

i

resembled the remains

i

of a cat anywhere.

Apparently, it

i

had been disposed

i

of before I

i

arrived. Or

i

perhaps someone thoughtfully buried

i

it. Whichever the

i

case, that

i

was for the best. It would be better that way than

i

to have it exposed

i

here.

Although

i

it was true that

i

what I had brought

i

with me had

i

ended up in

i

vain, I

i

quietly clasped

i

my hands together

i

on the spot for the moment and set off on

i

my motorcycle to head for the convenience store.

“Yoo-hoo! Hakamada…! Long time

i

no see!”

Oh

i

yeah, I forgot to

i

mention that my

i

partner for today’s night shift

i

was this Hirai.

Indeed, it had

i

been a long time since I had

i

seen Hirai. For over a week, I hadn’t seen Hirai as the

i

schedule of our shifts was not always the same.

Seeing her

i

smile was somehow a little nostalgic.

Yeah, the

i

bust of her uniform was

i

still as bulging as ever, too. Well, that

i

wasn’t the point.

“Long

i

time no

i

see, Hirai.”

“Yeah, how

i

have you been?”

Hirai

i

and I exchanged

i

a light greeting after she left the back

i

room.

“I

i

am fine, well, a lot of things have been going on…”

“Hmm?”Not shared on aggregator websites

“Oh, no, no, no, I am talking about my

i

side of the story. Did

i

anything unusual happen to you, Hirai?”

“Me? I am in high spirits all the time! All year

i

round! But recently I

i

have been diligently working on the thin book!!”

“Hahaha… you’re

i

making the thin book.”

“Yeah! The festival is

i

around the corner! I have been putting

i

a lot of effort into

i

this one! I am

i

not slacking! When

i

it is finished, I will show it to

i

you!”

Huh, I would

i

pass…!!

“What? Why? I

i

want you to

i

have a look

i

at it especially, Hakamada.”

“What’s with

i

that?”

“You

i

will understand it once you

i

see it.”

I thought, unfortunately, that I had become accustomed to

i

this unusual string

i

of words as soon

i

as I was able to follow up

i

with her discourse.

…Right, I had

i

already learned the identity of Hirai, which

i

had been unknown to me

i

until recently.

“No… After all, I don’t want

i

to touch that kind

i

of genre.”

Until recently, I

i

had no idea

i

what this kind

i

of discourse entailed, nor

i

did I have a

i

clue what

i

Hirai was

i

getting excited

i

about, but with the help

i

of my sister, I

i

checked it out on

i

an Internet search

i

site the other day. I learned

i

that this behavior—what the general public referred to as “girls like Hirai and the others who concentrated on one thing to heighten their

i

excitement”—was a pathology.

“Hakamada, why

i

don’t you get hooked on ‘yaoi’ and become a fudanshi!!”

“As if!! How

i

could you say that with a broad smile on your face…!!”

I

i

involuntarily launched a clean counterattack.

“Hirai, please

i

don’t talk about this stuff at work, it’s awkward for me.”

“Huh? I enjoy it, though, particularly

i

when you get confused.”

“…Hah.”gr4

“Sorry… but when I look at

i

you, Hakamada, it’s apparent that you reek

i

of playing the

bottom

role… or bullying.”

“Hiraiiiiii?!”

“I

i

mean, I am a fujoshi! Even

i

when I am working, I am

i

a living creature that looks for moe, you know? I

i

can accept anything from prepubescent boy to uncles, intense or soft, oh, and I

i

am not opposed to humanoid creatures, though lately, I have been able to accept inorganic things as

i

well…”

“Inorganic?!”Not shared on aggregator websites

Right. Now, this person herself had candidly unveiled herself without a

i

shred of embarrassment.

What

i

was hidden was that Hirai Kaname, a.k.a. Lolita Big Tits Hirai, was a

i

splendid fujoshi who loved “yaoi,” which

i

meant “no plot, no punchlines, and no meaning,”[i] in short. Among

i

them, she was a fearless expert. She was an

i

open fujoshi. Furthermore, she loved

i

these things, recommended them, and even produced them on behalf of yaoi fans all over the country.

For

i

those of you who were not familiar with this, please

i

try typing those words into the search bar. If you

i

had the courage and determination to take it all in, you

i

could do so by going to… (this was important).

The

i

details beyond this were too much for me to explain… since it was quite

i

shocking.

I mean, girls had

i

such horrifying thoughts; they

i

were so introspective. What

i

did she mean by humanoid and inorganic things?

Why

i

did you produce and sell so many

i

books of such nature during

i

the summer and winter?

“These

i

books are very profitable. And

i

above all, it’s enjoyable! When everyone

i

gathers together, the

i

topics of conversation broaden!”

Don’t mention it

i

with those sparkling eyes

i

of yours…!

T/N:

[i] It’s the term for “yaoi” when the word “yaoi” itself did not exist yet in the past