Chapter 36 The Shadows Hidden in the Daily Life
Late at night.
Kawano City.
Illuminated by neon signboards, bustling streets filled with nightlife.
A drunken salaryman stumbled out of a bar, reeking of alcohol and swaying as he walked.
With his blurred consciousness, the man stood at a traffic light at the intersection.
In his hazy vision, he seemed to spot another salaryman standing under a streetlight across the road.
But under the dim light, he couldn’t make out the other’s face, only that the suit he was wearing looked very familiar, something he saw every day.
Just as he was about to take another step forward to get a better look at the face hidden in the shadows.
Suddenly, a pure white feather floated down in front of him, startling him into stumbling backward.
In the next moment.
A roaring truck sped past right in front of him.
The airflow lifted the sparse bangs of the salaryman, causing him to collapse onto the ground.
If he had truly taken that step just now…
Realizing the close call, he broke out in a cold sweat.
When he looked again at the streetlight across the road, it was completely empty.
As if everything that happened just now was merely an illusion.
Feeling increasingly unsettled, he quickly got up and hurried home.
The rain began to fall lightly.
Enveloping all of Kawano City in a shroud of rain.
……
……
“So, did you confess to Nagi yesterday?”
“Huh!? What are you talking about? Why would I confess to little Nagi—”
In the midday.
Bright sunlight shone down on the courtyard of Hoshikage High School.
Not having brought a lunch today, Kanade and Rin had to go together to the school shop to buy bread.
Rin eagerly asked about the progress between Kanade and Nagi after school yesterday.
But from Kanade’s reaction, it seemed he had backed out yesterday.
“Here, this is the juice from Yoko-san and Nagi.”
As Rin spoke, she bought the juice from the vending machine in the courtyard.
“What about mine?”
Kanade asked as he received the juice.
“This is a thank-you for sharing lunch with me yesterday, so of course, you don’t have one.”
“But you shared my lunch yesterday, right?”
“That was Nagi’s mother’s bento, which is Nagi’s bento, so it has nothing to do with you!”
“You ungrateful guy!”
Thus, the two continued their banter.
When they returned to Class 1-A.
They witnessed an unbelievable scene.
Kanade initially thought he was dreaming.
Because standing in front of him was Nagi, sporting twin tails.
Wearing a traditional black-and-white maid outfit with black cat ear accessories.
She exhibited a completely different type of cuteness compared to her usual self.
“W-what’s going on?”
Kanade forced himself to remain calm and asked Nagi and Mana, who were present.
“Actually, it’s because…”
In response to Kanade’s question, Nagi explained: “So it goes like this.”
“I see!”
Rin showed an expression of realization: “I never expected such a thing to happen…”
“Why do you look like you’ve understood everything!? The phrase ‘so it goes like this’ didn’t explain anything!”
“But from what I read in manga or novels, as long as you say ‘so it goes like this,’ others can understand immediately… Don’t look at me with those pitying eyes that say ‘this is a child who can’t tell reality from illusion’!”
Nagi pouted in dissatisfaction.
“I suppose I’ll just start from the very beginning then.”
“I really wish you had done that from the start…”
“This happened on a blue planet that is very similar yet completely different from this world…”
“You’re starting with the worldview!? Can you actually tie this worldview to the current situation!?”
“Kanade-kun, you’re so impatient! I’ll soon get to the part about the rabbit army driving the carrot ships to attack the chocolate castle’s factory, so please be patient.”
“I really don’t understand why things ended up like this! But does this incident actually relate to the present moment!?”
“I can’t believe such a thing happened! So little black rabbit was actually… during that time…”
Rin wore a sad expression and mused.
“So why do you look like you suddenly figured everything out!? I don’t care about the rabbits!”
“In short… it ended up like this.”
“That’s too much omitted! I can’t conclude anything from the conversation above!”
At last, it was Mana who explained to the now frustrated Kanade.
“Because of the voting results, it seems Nagi-chan is going to be the mascot for this year’s sports festival… I mean, the student representative.”
“And this outfit was worn by the previous student representative, so now Nagi-chan has been asked to try it on to see if she’ll wear it this year…”
“Looks like that’s the case, just as I thought.” Rin pondered with her chin resting on her hand.
“For you to deduce such a conclusion from that conversation, Rin must have a rather unusual brain, right?”
However, Kanade still had some things he couldn’t understand.
“So, why a maid outfit? And why cat ears?”
“It seems the previous student representative was a senior from the manga research club, and her appearance in a cat-eared maid outfit received great acclaim from the students at the time, so this year’s seniors are considering whether to replicate that.”
Mana explained.
—Having little Nagi wear this outfit as the student representative at the sports festival?
After gathering his thoughts, Kanade looked over Nagi’s current appearance again.
Nagi’s shiny, waist-length black hair was tied into cute twin tails, and the high-quality traditional black-and-white maid outfit hugged her slender figure, perfectly outlining her feminine curves, drawing a heart-pounding line of bare skin between the hem of the dress and her black stockings, creating an absolute territory.
Even though it was not revealing at all, for some reason, it carried an inexplicable allure on Nagi.
“How is it? Do you think this uniform is cute, Kanade-kun? …Meow~”
Nagi, sitting on a chair, looked up at Kanade with her bright eyes sparkling like stars, adding a sweet “meow” at the end of her question.
At that moment, Kanade felt his brain evolving rapidly, old cells dying off, and new ones growing.
In that instant, Kanade completed the evolution of humanity.
Becoming the brand new Tsukimi Kanade, who when asked whether he was a dog person or a cat person in the future, would immediately reply he was a cat person.
“Very, very cute…”
“Really? Thank you… meow~”
Hearing this, Nagi’s cheeks turned slightly pink as she shyly lowered her head while playing with the ends of her twin tails.
And the other students in the class, watching this scene unfold, couldn’t help but get the goosebumps.
“(What’s going on? Why do I have to witness this pair of foolish childhood friends being lovey-dovey first thing in the morning?)”
“(Why does Hoshikami-san seem so unusually proactive today? Why?)”
“(She must have been stimulated after seeing Tsukimi-kun get close to Alice-san yesterday, right?)”
“(Damn it! I really envy Tsukimi!)”
……
While the students in the class were whispering among themselves.
The front door of the classroom opened.
A downcast boy walked in under the expectant gazes of others.
“This won’t work, the student council rejected this outfit.”
All the boys sighed in unison upon hearing this.
—Yeah, if Renji was here, he definitely wouldn’t let little Nagi wear something like this in front of the entire school…
—Is it a bit of a pity…?
—No, no, no! How can I let others see little Nagi in such a cute pose!? I absolutely won’t allow it!
The innocent boy felt a surge of possessiveness welling up from his heart for the first time at this moment.
……
After the brief commotion.
Nagi, who had borrowed the dressing room to change, was now covering her face with both hands, shyly fidgeting inside.
Beside her stood a small, pure white figure of Karura.
“Master, your cute little girl act is just so natural~”
“I’m not! I didn’t! Waaa—!”
“What’s wrong, Master? Where’s the meow at the end? Please get into character~”
“Damn it! You malevolent tease!”
“I didn’t expect Master to have a day when she becomes a cat-eared maid to be cute, huh?”
“Grr, kill, kill me!!!”
