The Smoke Signal of War

The Smoke Signal of War

We went into a family restaurant near the station and were shown to a four-person table by the window.

Taking the aisle seat, I gave Riko-senpai, sitting across from me, a reproachful look.

"...Isn't dragging her along by force a bad idea after all?"

"Nope! My gyaru soul roared that this was the moment to get involved, even if I had to force it!"

Next to the self-proclaimed gyaru, whose eyes were bulging wide, the strong yet fragile creature who had been shoved into the window seat was turning her face away with all her might.

"Um... are you okay, Rosso-san?"

"Wh-I am no demon-world noble named 'Rosso Vendetta.' I am Ishiyama Iwako, daughter of a chirimen wholesaler from Niigata."

"You came all the way from Niigata just to go to a convenience store in a tracksuit...?"

Actually, she had more composure than I expected.

"Wait, your family deals in chirimen jako, Rosson?"

"No. We deal in neither chirimen jako nor chirimen crepe."

"You confessed pretty fast there."

"The moment you say things like 'Rosso Vendetta' or demon-world noble in the first place, it's already way too late for a lot of things."

As Takanashi-san and I both put on straight faces, Rosso-san squeezed her eyes shut and forced the words out.

"Because...! Going to a family restaurant with friends at night...! I always wanted to try it...!"

"I get it..."

"Huh. I mean, the night part aside, isn't going to a family restaurant with friends totally normal?"

Shut up, extrovert. Don't say gyaru-ish things.

For a moment I thought, 'Actually, don't introverts also hang out at family restaurants with their own crowd pretty often?' but to avert my eyes from how miserable my high school life had been, I decided to fling that thought away with all my strength.

Hup!

"I feel like Otaku-kun just threw something into the void, but let's put that aside. So, Rosson, is your house around here?"

"I am not the demon-world noble 'Rosso Vendetta.' I am Ishiyama Iwako. Indeed. My house is close to here."

Oh, so you're just going with that way of talking now.

...No, if you've gone that far, why not just admit to everything?

"Seriously? That's awesome. Close to the station and everything."

"Close to the station it may be, but this is the countryside, you know? A city would be one thing."

"Huh? Is that a declaration of war on my family, who runs a shop near a shopping street that's turned into a row of shuttered stores, man?"

"There is no 'man' here. And besides, I was not going that far..."

"And it's also a declaration of war on me, whose house has no stores within a ten-minute walk and nothing but fields and rice paddies in every direction besides other houses. I understand."

"It is not!? Why is even the young oni joining in!?"

"...Nothing in particular comes to mind, but for now, you're an enemy."

"Hostility without reason!?"

Unlike usual, Rosso-san had her bangs pulled up with a hair tie, so her expressions were easy to read. Her mismatched eyes were open so wide they looked like they might pop out.

It was a little funny. Funny enough that even Takanashi-san, unusually, cracked a joke.

"In any case, why are you all here? It should be fairly far from 'Alf.'"

"Ah, about that."

I explained, keeping the test run of 'Kenning' vague. Meanwhile, the food we'd ordered arrived, and we fetched drinks from the drink bar.

Incidentally, on the way, Riko-senpai, cup in hand, tried to teach Takanashi-san something stupid and got a karate chop from Rosso-san. I'd like to leave the straight-man role to her from now on.

"Hmm. In other words."

Rosso-san folded her arms beneath her ample chest and gave a small nod, and then—

"You went to the dungeon and left me out... I see..."

For some reason, she suddenly got depressed.

"No, it's not like that."

"It's fine... If you round it off, I'm pushing thirty, right? It's weirder for me to be in a group of high schoolers, if anything? I guess it wasn't a true-companions kind of thing after all?"

Sulkily, the chuuni in her twenties poked at her meat sauce spaghetti with her fork.

Also, I think rounding off ages is a bad idea. For some reason I had a vision of a cat-eared nun sharpening a sword. What on earth is happening to my magic eye...?

"It's nothing to worry about, Rosson. I mean, I've been to the dungeon with every clan member besides you guys, and I still go sometimes. And Otaku-kun and Miyucchi go to the dungeon just the two of them too."

"I... I have no one else..."

"Then I'll set you up with the other members soon! Kinucchi... is a guaranteed set with Meiyan, so, like, Tatsumin or somebody."

"Huh, no, hazardous substances are a bit..."

"Hazardous substances, geez."

I got what she meant, though. Were those people at the level where you needed a license to handle them?

...I couldn't deny it.

"No need to be that scared, right? Kinucchi's a little high-maintenance so Meiyan's a must as her caretaker, and if you don't let Meiyan serve people in moderation to blow off steam she goes haywire, and Tatsumin suddenly starts preaching about mascot costumes. That's about it."

"You do need a license."

"I'd like a manual later."

"I am scared."

"Ehh, is it that bad?"

Riko-senpai tilted her head, puzzled.

I guess for her, an extroverted otaku and a socially functional pervert, it was nothing.

"Hey, did you just diss me in your head? Did you just suddenly and unreasonably diss me, Otaku-kun?"

"You're imagining it."

"Hmm, such clear, untroubled eyes. But I won't miss the fact that they're doing the butterfly stroke☆ You'd better remember this later."

Crap, my eyes had entered a swimming competition...!

"Well, if you're nervous, I'll tag along too, Rosson."

"Ehh..."

"Whoa, you look super reluctant."

"Riko-senpai. That's basically a 'went out to hang with a friend and the friend's friend was there too' situation, which is honestly a bit much..."

"Wut? You make more friends. It's fun."

"Never again presume you can be kind to every otaku. Extrovert."

"Otaku-kun's talking like Rosson!? And wait, a sudden total denial of my identity!?"

"So that is where your identity lies. But I agree as well, Inoue Riko."

"Seriously!? Wait, why!?"

"I don't understand either. Why is that, Yahiro-san?"

"It's just... not about logic. It's about the heart..."

"I... see...?"

Eating a kids' meal, Takanashi-san tilted her head.

I'd let it slide until now, but this was the first time I'd ever seen a fifteen-year-old order a kids' meal. Then again, I'd heard on TV once that they're surprisingly popular with adults, so maybe it's... normal?

"...Is it good?"

"Yes. Very."

"...Good for you."

"Yes. I'm happy."

Takanashi-san answered with a straight face, and I wasn't quite sure how to react.

Thinking about her circumstances, I felt like sweat was about to come out of my eyes.

"Welp, it's a given that I'll someday become a gyaru who's kind to every otaku in the whole world, but anyway."

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Reflect upon yourself, extrovert."

"Shut up. Shut up. Anyway, finding out roughly where Rosson's house is was a stroke of luck."

Resting her slender chin between her thumb and index finger, Riko-senpai grinned.

"I will pinpoint your house for sure, and hold an all-night gaming party there with drinking and singing...!"

"That would seriously be a nuisance, so stop."

"Truly, stop. Please stop, I beg you."

"Ehh, come on. It's not like we'll be loud enough to actually bother the neighbors, and I'll get your family's permission first."

"...No. You should not meet my mother in the first place. I beg you."

Rosso-san said it with a straight face.

"Huh, why? Is there some kind of reason?"

"...did not say."

"Pardon?"

"I did not tell her... that my friends are all fifteen...!"

Sweating buckets, she went on.

"Mother was overjoyed from the bottom of her heart that I had made friends...! If she found out they are all ten years younger than me...!"

"Hmm... she'd suspect a crime! On both sides!"

"I absolutely cannot tell her!"

Grabbing a fry from the big plate in the middle of the table, I tried imagining myself in her place.

...Yeah. I definitely couldn't tell her either.

"Why? An age gap of about ten years is normal within a unit, I believe."

"Miyucchi. This is seriously just 'one of those things,' so it's kinda hard to explain. Understand it by feel."

"...? Understood."

On this one, Riko-senpai was right. It really was hard to explain.

"...I have caused Mother a great deal of trouble. So I do not want to burden her any further."

"...Well. If your daughter's in her twenties and in full chuuni mode, sending gothic lolita outfits to the dry cleaner every so often..."

"Not that! She has accepted that part with warm eyes!"

Could that really be called accepting it?

No, let's not. It's not nice to go imagining other people's family lives.

I'd been thinking such stupid things, but from Rosso-san's expression I realized the reason was serious.

"...It is about my race."

"Ahh..."

At her words, I lowered my eyes too without meaning to.

Yeah, that would be...

"Your race?"

Rosso-san slowly explained to the puzzled Takanashi-san.

At a pace that let her keep herself from getting more worked up than necessary.

"Dhampir. That is said to be a half-vampire."

"Yes. That's what I've heard."

"And so... rumors went around the neighborhood. That my mother had been unfaithful with a monster, or that my late father had been a monster, and so on."

At my house too, there had been rumors that my grandparents might not have been human.

My mom had it especially bad. Apparently people at her previous part-time job had spread nonsense as if it were the truth.

Oni. They were beings that had actually appeared in the modern world as monsters along with the dungeons, and had caused real harm. People had apparently equated Mom and me with things like that.

"That makes no sense. For ability users, that kind of mixed blood comes from the 'nature of their mana.' Especially for the ability users considered the 'first generation.' The race is inherited, but not for biological reasons. Changes in constitution have been observed, but it has also been confirmed that their DNA and so on is entirely human."

"Indeed. At present, that is considered the most credible theory."

"It's not just credible, it's certain."

"But it's a fact that nasty rumors spread more easily, Miyucchi."

Riko-senpai cut off Takanashi-san just as she was about to let slip knowledge from the future.

"The best thing is to ignore people like that, but every now and then, the ones who get heated go out of control..."

"Indeed... Someone once scribbled graffiti on our front door. Perhaps because we became well known in this area, people from 'Valhalla' even came to see us."

"'Valhalla'? ...Ah, that so-called protection group for ability users."

"That's the one. Although, in reality, it seems to be less about protection and more a mutual aid society."

At some point she had finished her spaghetti; Rosso-san set her fork down on the empty plate and rested her cheek on her hand.

"They seemed shady, so I turned down their invitation, but I still haven't thrown away their business card. It is a house that still holds memories of my father. We have kept living there, even renovating it. I would rather not move, but..."

"That's..."

An indescribable atmosphere settled over the table.

After a few seconds of silence, Takanashi-san spoke up.

"Understood. Let's silence the people who harassed you."

"Huh, um, how...?"

In answer to my question, she replied with a cold, clever gleam in her eyes.

"With force."

"Absolutely not, okay?"

Takanashi-san clenched her fist with a straight face, and I shook my head with all my might.

This is bad. Her eyes are dead serious.

"Heh. I am grateful you would say so, even as a joke. My friend."

Rosso-san, please notice. This is no time to be blushing and bashful. Takanashi-san is seriously thinking up an attack plan.

No doubt about it. She had the same face as when she'd first suspected Rosso-san of being an enemy and was planning to ambush her.

She's definitely thinking that with magic, the perfect crime would be possible. I'd bet on it.

"Scroll... Psychokinesis... make it look like suicide..."

I knew iiiit!

Nasty sweat poured out of me. This is bad. This is really bad.

"Welp! If it comes down to it, rely on my family... or rather, my grandma. She'll introduce you to a good lawyer!"

Riko-senpai laughed, a faint trickle of sweat running down her cheek.

She seemed to have picked up on what was going on inside Takanashi-san's head too. I immediately jumped on the topic.

"Master, you know a lawyer too?"

"Yep. Apparently, back when he was a struggling student, Grandpa and Grandma used to treat him to meals at our café all the time. Even now that hardly anyone comes around anymore, he still stops by now and then."

"I see..."

"So beating the other side to a pulp, legally, is a piece of cake! Oh, but you do have to pay the fees."

"Heh... When that time comes, I shall rely on it."

Thank goodness. The awkward air that had hung over us was gone.

Takanashi-san seemed to be convinced too, as her gaze had moved to her dessert pudding.

"Oh, then can you introduce me to that lawyer too?"

"You got it! Wait, so your family's got... all kinds of stuff going on too, huh, Otaku-kun?"

"There's that too, but it's for dealing with Kinue-san."

"Yeah. About that, please talk to my grandma first, okay?"

To Riko-senpai's straight face, I returned a customer-service smile. Well, I was half joking.

...What scares me is the possibility that I might open a new door myself.

I don't want to end up gleefully stripping like some narcissist.

"Ah...!? I just had an idea. What if we commissioned Kinue-san to draw Yahiro-san in a special outfit...!"

"Please don't, okay? If that happens I'll fight you legally over portrait rights and all that. Seriously."

Forgetting the dark conversation, we had completely slipped back into our usual mood.

We finished eating, and I started to get up, thinking it was about time to pay. Riko-senpai tried to stop me with, "Let's hang out and chat more~."

With a wry smile, I replied that we'd be a bother to the restaurant.

And then I heard a roar.

It was already completely dark outside, and there weren't many people left in the restaurant. Even so, you could hear some chatter, and outside the window people were passing by as usual.

But the sound that reached my eardrums drowned out every one of those sounds.

Everyone's eyes turned outside. The other customers, the staff member carrying dishes, the people walking on the sidewalk.

Through the glass, a full moon shone beyond the buildings.

And beside it────black smoke was swaying.

Normally, I would think an accident had happened. That's what I should have thought.

And yet, to me.

That smoke could only look like a smoke signal announcing the start of a war.