Magical Girl Tyrant Sylph

Chapter 86

Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–2 — Dependency ⑤

Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV

In a corner of a deserted café on a deserted street, two women are discussing something over a light meal. There are no customers besides the two of them, and the only sounds in the restaurant are quiet conversations, slow classical music, and the occasional flip of the pages of the paperback book the owner is reading.

They looked like college students on summer vacation with too much free time on their hands, and despite it being the middle of the day on a weekday in September, they did not seem pressed for time, one with a serious expression on her face and the other with a look of dismay on hers.

「Ugh… Listen to me, Yae…」

A woman with semi-long, brightly dyed hair, Mizukami Futaba, who had recently visited Tyrant Sylph’s house, puts her hands over her eyes and cries shakily and falsely as she talks to a woman who is eating cake and sipping tea gracefully in front of her.

The woman called Yae by Futaba, with long scarlet-colored hair pulled back around her shoulders and hanging down in front of her right shoulder, lowered her teacup onto the saucer without making a sound as if she was used to it, and let out a sigh as if to say, “Oh dear.”

「Could it be you visited her again? How many times have you done this? Even summer vacation isn’t infinite, so you’d better get a grip. That’s not like you, Futaba.」

This is not the first time Yae, her best friend of ten years, had given advice from Futaba, and although they have mutually supported each other and shared both painful and joyful times until now, Yae was completely dumbfounded by Futaba’s sloppiness, which was the reason why she hadn’t made any progress in the consultation she had been receiving for almost a month now.

Futaba’s counsel was that she had officially stepped down from one of the activities in which she had been engaged, and she wanted to take this opportunity to mend her relationship with her brother, from whom she had grown estranged as a child, after filing a request with the public agency to find out the address, Futaba was reluctant to make a visit to the address.

The restoration of her relationship with her parents went more smoothly than she had expected, as it turned out that their feelings for each other were simply different once they actually had a heart-to-heart talk, however, she seems to have some kind of guilt toward her brother, and the dependability she had shown just a few months ago has become a lie.

「I could have visited him, but I never got to see Onii-chan.」

「Why? Was the address wrong?」

「No, Onii-chan wasn’t home.」

「Then why don’t you go back another day?」

She wouldn’t say that she has run out of energy to visit once and that it won’t be possible for a while. Yae, who has known Futaba for a long time, understands very well that she is a person who does things when she has to. Once she have made up her mind, she could’ve chosen to wait at the front door until the one she’s searching for return.

「You know what… There was a little, elementary school age girl…」

「…Huh?」

「The girl calls Onii-chan “Father”… and says that her Father isn’t there right now…」

「Your brother, is he married?」

「That’s what I’d rather hear from him. I haven’t heard anything from him in eight years, okay? From the looks of it, she’s maybe 8-10 years old. Age wise, that means he had a kid right after he left home or even before he left home, right? He didn’t even show any signs of it…」

Since Futaba and Yae have known each other since they were in first grade, Yae has some knowledge of Futaba’s family relationships.

The person who is Futaba’s older brother is named Mizukami Ryōichi, who has the same birthday as Futaba and is just 10 years older than her. Since Futaba doesn’t know what he does for a living, naturally Yae does not either, but considering that Futaba turned 20 about two months ago, he is now 30 years old.

A 30-year-old man with a daughter around 10 years old wasn’t impossible, although perhaps a little early to think about in today’s world.

「But you got to meet the kid, which means you asked her on Saturday and Sunday, right? If it was a weekday, she would’ve had school, and you wouldn’t have visited her at night, would you? Then you couldn’t have met her mother?」

「I couldn’t see her. I mean, or perhaps she’s not there.」

「…What do you mean?」

「I asked her if she knew when her Father would be back, and she said, as if it were a matter of course, that he would not be back that day. When I asked her to wait with me until her Father came home, she got angry, saying she didn’t know when he would be back.」

The word neglect comes to Yae’s thoughts as she silently listens to Futaba’s story.

It may be a little different from a clear definition, but Futaba, too, was not given enough love from her parents and grew up neglected. Only financially, they were never in need, but their parents were always away from home, and the hired housekeeper only performed clerical chores. Some people might think that the lack of threat to their lives was enough, but by Yae’s standards at least, it was a fine form of abuse.

「I asked her where her mother was, and she said she’d call the police, I told her that she must be just like me and Onii-chan, and that she must’ve been lonely and alone, and she told me that I rejected him…」

「Wait a minute, what does that mean? Did the girl know about you, Futaba?」

「I didn’t seem to notice at first, but she knew that Onii-chan had a sister named Mizukami Futaba. She didn’t mean to say that I rejected him… Maybe it’s about Onii-chan. If that’s the case, it means Onii-chan hates me after all…」

「…At least, he doesn’t seem good enough to blow that kind of stuff up against his daughter.」

Futaba herself did not pay attention to her brother, and she now regrets that she treated him coldly because she felt depressed when he tried to meddle in her life while she was busy with school and her life as a Magical Girl, she had expected to be disliked, but when she was actually hit with such negative feelings, it seemed to be more painful than she had imagined. When she first started to remember, she was a big brother’s girl who was always spoiled by her older brother, and because she was in the sensitive period of adolescence, she didn’t really dislike her brother.

However, as for Yae, she wasn’t so sure that he would’ve been so upset if his sister had been cold to her, even though he was 10 years older than his sibling, and left his younger sister, who had just started middle school, at home without her parents, she have long wondered how childish he is, and hearing what she has just said has strengthened her impression that he isn’t a stipendiary person to inflict such things on his daughter.

「It must be hard to reconcile with your brother, isn’t it? You were able to reconcile with your parents, and I think that’s enough for now. I’m more worried about the girl. I know you had a housekeeper at your house, but was there going to be someone like that?」

A brusque and clerical housekeeper who was always at Futaba’s house until Futaba graduated from middle school. She is a person of little impression, and even if she try to remember what kind of person Yae was, she cannot recall her physiognomy as clearly as if it had been painted black. The only time she had a chance to see her was when she went to Futaba’s house to visit her, and since five years have already passed, it is not so strange.

「…I don’t know. But the fact that no one came out after all that fuss makes me think it’s more likely that they aren’t there. Maybe, just maybe, he’s just giving her money and letting her live on her own.」

「I don’t mean to speak ill of you, Futaba, but I guess a frog’s child is a frog. Is it okay if you don’t do something about that child?」

「She seemed to have some good friends at least, so I think she’ll probably be okay. The reason I am able to be a normal college student like this is because Yae was there for me.」

Even if she didn’t feel the love of her parents, even if she was all alone in the house, if she had even one best friend to whom she can entrust her heart, they can support each other and live. Futaba knows this from her own experience. So that day, even though she worried about that girl relentlessly, she backed down knowing that she had a friend with whom she had a heart to heart.

「As usual, you say things like that without shame.」

「It’s nothing to be ashamed of. So, I was told to go home early because she had promised to hang out with a friend the day I visited her. I ran into his friend, but she was so alarmed that I was really nervous that she might call the police.」

「You must have talked to her in some forceful way anyway, right? You have that kind of thing going on, and I don’t blame you for being misunderstood.」

「Muh, that’s rude. She was about to close the front door, so I just put my foot in so she couldn’t close it.」

「I think that’s enough of a case…」

The air that was about to become heavy was dispelled by Futaba’s casual words, and Yae winced at the story of her failure, of which she was completely unaware. Futaba has always had this kind of mood-maker talent to change the atmosphere of the place for the better without being aware of it. It’s a kind of charisma, and there are many friends and senior and junior students who adore Futaba.

「And she was wearing a really skimpy men’s T-shirt. Perhaps that was from Onii-chan. I think the reason girls at her age go out of their way to wear something like that is probably because they want to feel as close to their father as possible. I think she’s waiting for her father.」

「Just like you did?」

「Yeah. I wanted to play with my mom and dad too. I wanted them to be with me more. I’m sure Onii-chan would have done the same. That’s why, I’m going to go for a while so that she won’t be lonely as much as possible, but I think it’s best to wait and see how things go before deciding whether to take good care of her. Even if Onii-chan and I couldn’t make it up to each other, I want to make sure that she can spend more time with Onii-chan.」

「I see… It’s a family matter, and I’m not going to say anything more from me if that’s what you want, but if you have any problems, you can always talk to me. I can still use means that you can’t take right now.」

「Ahaha, that’s true. I’ll ask for your help then. So, here’s the thing…」

Futaba nodded happily at Yae’s dependable words and immediately discussed a strategy to befriend the little girl.