Daily Lives of High School Boys: Sanada North Scramble - A literary girl's fantasy novel and the vanished diary

After school in the second-year Class A classroom. Outside the window it was still bright, and the distant shouts of club activities drifted in from the grounds. Tadakuni, his black hair swept lightly to one side, spun a pen between his fingers on his desk and watched his friend with the spiky blond hair out of the corner of his eye. "So like, that ending—didn't it make, like, zero sense? The universe was actually all just curry ingredients the whole time." Yoshitake spread both arms theatrically. His lanky, six-foot frame looked absurdly large in the sunset light. Tadakuni set his pen down on the desk and heaved a deep sigh. "You didn't even watch it, did you. Don't talk about it based on a spoiler site synopsis." "No, I watched it! I rented it and everything! ...Just the first thirty minutes." "See, you didn't watch it." Hidenori, brown-haired and wearing glasses, leaned against the window frame and cut in with a smirk. His eyesight was supposedly perfect, yet for some reason he always wore glasses. "Yoshitake, that just means your conclusion is that the synopsis site was more interesting." "Well, that movie just explains way too much. A universe made of curry ingredients? Makes no sense." "That's because you were asleep. The movie's theme is that everything in the universe is connected." "Curry ingredients are connected?" "Exactly. The carrots, the potatoes—originally they're all part of the same cosmic curry." "The way you're nodding like you actually understood that—impressive." "More like, I've stopped caring." "Then there was no point in watching it." Yoshitake suddenly clapped his hands as if remembering something. "Oh yeah, Hidenori—you got used as novel fodder by the Literature Girl again." For a moment, the air in the room shifted. Hidenori's smile froze, just barely. Tadakuni didn't miss it. Behind the glasses, those bright brown eyes—for just an instant—weren't smiling. "Ahh, the Rubber Shooter thing." Hidenori laughed right away, back to his usual tone. But Tadakuni could tell. Just now, this guy's eyes hadn't been smiling. "What's a Rubber Shooter?" "You don't know? It's the protagonist of the novel the Literature Girl writes. A hero who defeats evil with a rubber-band gun." "Defeats evil with a rubber-band gun? Isn't that evil way too weak?" "Well, you see, the rubber-band gun has special powers." "What kind of powers?" "The power to make the rubber bands he fires get sucked into beautiful girls' skirts for some reason." "Why would that happen." "Don't ask me. I didn't write it." "But you're the model, right? For the Rubber Shooter." "I'm telling you, I'm not the Rubber Shooter." Hidenori said it with a laugh. But there was just a hint of a barb in his voice. Tadakuni flicked his pen with his finger. (Rubber Shooter, huh.) Tadakuni was remembering something from childhood. A boy in a hero's mask and scarf, firing rubber bands from a finger-gun. Humming Pachelbel's Canon while saving Hidenori—who was being bullied back then. That was me. But Hidenori doesn't remember that anymore. No—he's pretending not to remember. "Hey, Tadakuni. You've got a weird look on your face." "Nothing. Still better than your face." "Rude! Is my face really that weird?!" "Weird isn't the word. Surreal." "You just did my impression! You said surreal!" "I didn't. You're imagining things." "You did! You definitely did! Hidenori, you heard him, right?!" "I heard, I heard. Tadakuni definitely said surreal just now." "Don't you start lying too." "It's not a lie. Tadakuni saying 'surreal'—guess it'll snow tomorrow." "Snow in Sanada City? With global warming and all." "Does global warming have anything to do with snow?" "Beats me. Ask a weather forecaster." The three of them kept up their pointless banter. Outside the window, the baseball team was running laps around the grounds. Their voices carried faintly from far away. "By the way, are you going to the student council room again today?" "No, not today." "Did your little sister say anything?" "Nothing. Last night she just asked me in front of her door, 'Did you look at my diary?'" "Her diary?" "Yeah. When I said I hadn't, she said 'never mind' and shut herself in her room." "Tadakuni, you should really talk to your sister properly. I've said this before—people with drive tend to bottle things up alone." Behind Hidenori's glasses, his eyes were serious. Tadakuni gave a small nod. "...Yeah, you're right." "What's this, being all honest? Creepy." "Shut up. You've been running your mouth about everyone else—worry about yourself." "Me? Why?" "You failed yesterday's quiz, didn't you." "How do you know that?!" The homeroom teacher was yelling about it in the hallway. 'Yoshitake, did you seriously just write your name and fall asleep?!'" "No way! Yoshitake, you just wrote your name and went to sleep?!" "I was sleepy, okay? Can't help it." "Yes you can. Don't sleep during tests." "But that question made no sense. 'Read the following passage and state the author's argument'—just ask the author, right?" "It's a Japanese language test. 'Ask the author'—what kind of logic is that?" "Well, the author knows the right answer best, so asking them is fastest." "You're a genius. I'm actually kind of moved right now." "Right? I have my sharp moments." "You don't. Your head is the same as always." "Rude! But you just called me a genius!" "Sarcasm. That was sarcasm." "Isn't sarcasm a compliment?" "Yoshitake, you wrote your name and fell asleep on a Japanese test, and now you're asking what sarcasm means?" "Shut up! I know what it means—I was just confirming!" "Don't confirm it. It's embarrassing." Just then, the classroom door opened. "Hidenori. Found you." They turned toward the voice. Standing there was a petite high school girl with her long black hair in a braid. She wore the Sanada West High uniform. In her arms she clutched a thick stack of manuscript paper. "Ugh." Hidenori let out a small sound. Tadakuni and Yoshitake exchanged glances. "'Ugh' isn't a greeting. We're having a reading of my new work today, so come." "Wait, hold on. I have plans today—" "You don't. I know. You always wander around after school." "I don't wander. I lead a fulfilling after-school life." "Oh really? You spent a thousand yen on the crane game at the arcade and won nothing." "How do you know that?!" "I saw you yesterday. Did you want that plushie?" "No! That was—my sister wanted it." "You don't have a sister." "...How do you know that." "I know everything about you. You're my novel material." The Literature Girl smiled sweetly. Looking at that smile, Tadakuni felt a chill run down his spine. "Hey, Tadakuni. Isn't that girl kind of scary?" "You're just noticing? She's always been scary." "No, I feel like she's gotten scarier." "You're imagining it. ...Probably." The Literature Girl turned toward Tadakuni and Yoshitake. "You two coming? Tadakuni's little sister has a pretty good role this time." "Huh? My sister?" Tadakuni's voice came out louder than he meant it to. "That's right. The super-strong little sister. She plays an important part—she saves the Rubber Shooter." "Why is my sister in your novel?" "Because it's funny, isn't it? A little sister who stuffs her big brother's underwear into a vending machine—best character ever." "Worst, you mean. Don't bring that up again." "I'm not bringing it up. I'm just using it as material for my new work." "That's even worse." "So, what'll it be? Coming? Not coming?" "I'm not going. Absolutely not." "Oh, what a shame. I wanted you to see your little sister in action." "Don't need to. Keep my sister out of your delusions." "They're not delusions. They're literature." "What part of that is literature? A rubber-band gun shooting into beautiful girls' skirts—" Tadakuni started to say more, then stopped. Getting any further onto this girl's wavelength was dangerous. "Hidenori, we're going. Today's special reading is on the second floor of Café Poem." "Wait. I haven't said I'm going yet." "You ran off halfway through the last reading. I'm not letting you escape this time." The Literature Girl grabbed Hidenori's arm. "H-hey, stop, let go! I'm not mentally prepared to hear the continuation of that story—" "You don't need preparation. Stories won't wait for you." "What's with that quote-worthy line! Aren't you embarrassed saying that yourself?!" "Not at all. Because it's literature." "I'm asking what part of it is literature!" Hidenori was dragged away by the Literature Girl. Tadakuni and Yoshitake could only watch them go. "Surreal." "You just said it yourself this time." "Well, it is surreal. Are those two going out?" "Beats me. But Hidenori acts like he's annoyed, when really he doesn't totally mind it." "Huh? Really?" "Who knows. I don't get it either. But that Literature Girl really pays attention to Hidenori. Even the crane game thing—we didn't know about that." "True. That was a little scary." "Well, Hidenori's flags will go up and get broken down as usual." "True. That guy raises a dozen flags and then snaps them himself." "Yeah. This time too, it probably won't end well." Tadakuni looked out the window. The setting sun stretched the school building's shadow long across the ground. (Still, why does my sister show up in that Literature Girl's novels?) Tadakuni muttered it in his head. ── Café Poem. A traditional coffee shop tucked a little ways in from the entrance to Sanada Central Shopping Street. The first floor was a café, and the second floor was a rental space. The Literature Girl used that second floor as her reading venue. "Now then, I shall begin the reading of my new work: 'The Rubber Shooter and the Beautiful Girl's Love, and the Super-Strong Little Sister'!" The Literature Girl raised her manuscript paper high and declared it grandly. Hidenori had been made to sit in a chair, and to keep him from escaping, the Literature Girl's bag was placed near the entrance. "The title alone is already wrong on so many levels." "It's not wrong. This is a story of love, courage, and superhuman strength." "Superhuman strength is in there too." "Just listen. I'm starting." The Literature Girl took a deep breath and began to read. "'The darkness of night wraps around the city. Through it, a single shadow races. His name: the Rubber Shooter. A mysterious hero who fires rubber bands from his finger-gun.'" "Hey, Tadakuni. Are we really listening to this?" Yoshitake whispered in Tadakuni's ear. In the end, Tadakuni and the others had come to the second floor of Café Poem. Because Yoshitake had said he wanted to see something surreal. "You're the one who said you wanted to come." "Well, I did say I wanted to come, but I didn't think it'd be this surreal." "Just listen quietly. If you interrupt that woman, she'll start over and it'll be twice as long." "Seriously? Scary." The Literature Girl's reading continued. "'The Rubber Shooter was fighting the evil organization again today. But the enemy was strong, and the Rubber Shooter found himself in a desperate pinch. At that moment—'" "'Sorry to keep you waiting! The super-strong little sister is here!'" Tadakuni buried his head in his hands. (My sister is out there saving the Rubber Shooter...) "Hey, why is my sister saying 'Sorry to keep you waiting!'?" "Because that's the super-strong little sister's character." "You decided that character! My sister would never say that!" "But a little sister who stuffs her big brother's underwear into a vending machine would say something like that, wouldn't she?" "She wouldn't! In her mind, that was a righteous act!" "A righteous act? Stuffing her big brother's underwear into a vending machine?" "...That was my bad. Forget I said that." "I won't forget. I'll use

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Episode 4

Name: Daily Lives of High School Boys: Sanada North Scramble
Author: Novelia

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