REIKA-SAMA -276

I knew it… The one standing directly behind me when I quickly turned around was Enjou looking down at me smiling.

"Don't peek into somebody's cell phone!" I glared at Enjou, hiding my phone.

"Sorry. I stopped to see what you were doing and just happened to see," he apologized. He's acting like it was an accident, but he definitely did that on purpose. There's no way that the black heart didn't mean to do it. But… "Will you forgive me?" he says, giving a sad, troubled look.

Ugh… To anybody looking, I'd look like the bad guy who won't accept Enjou's sincere apology. How calculating! I fold to public opinion.

"Please be careful…"

"Thank you," he smiled. It pisses me off that his smile looks a little like his younger brother, the angel, Yukino-kun… Even though he's a fallen angel.

I put away my cell phone in my pocket and try to choose what to eat, but Enjou won't move for some reason. I turn around irritated. "…Please don't stand behind me. It's unsettling."

"Oh? Kisshouin-san, did you switch jobs from spy to killer?"

"No." What happened to your commendable attitude from a moment ago? And Enjou's completely decided that I'm a spy... Frightening… "I don't like having someone behind me. I'm afraid you'll put chewing gum in my hair."

"What kind of an imagination do you have?" I don't want to show an opening. I can't see my back, so it's hard to notice my hair or clothes messed up.


Enjou listened to my complaint and stepped from behind me to my side. Huh? You're still here? …Forget about him. I'm hungry. Japanese or western… I want rice, so sushi? I want salmon roe.


As I was picking out sushi, "So, you're going to a morning glory fair, Kisshouin-san?" He remembered…

"…Yes. It's summer, so I wanted to have a morning glory in a pot…"

"That's tasteful," Enjou replies. Do I accept him at face value…? With this black heart, I always search for an angle.

"So where do they have the fairs?"

"I checked, and found many already over…" If I thought of it earlier, I would have made it. Shame!

"I see. That's too bad. But couldn't you just order some?" That defeats the purpose. I want to go to the fair to get to the food stands. Flower shops don't have food stands.

"If not a morning glory fair, a Chinese lantern fair will do…"

"Chinese lantern? Didn't you want a morning glory?"

"Umm…" He got me. I need to think of an excuse. "I simply want a plant that makes me think of summer. A potted plant in the summer would be a morning glory or a Chinese lantern."

"Oh… A potted plant for the summer." Was that not convincing? I guess the Chinese lantern's associated with the festival of the dead, rather than the summer!?

I quickly flee from Enjou carrying my sushi plate, but with the difference in stride length, he catches up. He leans into my face and his eyes shine brightly as he states, "I get it. Kisshouin-san doesn't want a morning glory or Chinese lantern, but just want to go to a fair." He knows! My eyes opened wide from surprise, and reading my expression, Enjou nodded, "I see," knowingly. "So why do you want to go to a fair?"

I can't say to eat at the food stand. I don't want to be seen as a glutton. "…Why? I just do."

"Oh. I see… Kisshouin-san's full of curiosity, after all."

Curiosity? "Really?"

"Well, you know about a lot of different places. Places that Masaya and I have never been."

"Not really…"

"Yes, really."

I don't like where this is going… Most of the places Enjou and Kaburagi haven't been that I have are cheap eats and junk food. Is it only a matter of time before he realizes the real reason I want to go to a fair!? To change the subject, I make an 'oh, no' expression and quickly go to Salala-sama and Fuyuko-sama who had already returned to their seats saying, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"No, I only returned myself. I thought about speaking with you, but I didn't want to interrupt your talk with Enjou-sama." Please come talk to me, then. Seriously.


Then… "Can I sit here?" Enjou asks. His soft expression won't allow us to turn him down. Hey, go somewhere else. Three girls are here. Have some consideration.

Ignoring my dissatisfaction… "Nouzen-san, there's a play coming to Japan from that writer you liked."

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it. Are you going to see it, Enjou-sama?"

"I'd like to if I have time. There's an actor that I like. The interpretation of the play's a lot different from the book. Are you okay with that?"

"I've given up on that any time anything becomes a play. I'll enjoy it as something different from the book."

"That's nice. Haginokouji-san, do you attend the theater?"

"Recently, I attended Shinkei-kasanegafuchi. The bloodcurdling acting of the vengeful spirit was wonderful…"

"Kasaengafuchi, huh. Speaking of that…" Enjou's people skills unleashed from that smile draw out topics that interest the target and makes a discussion lively. Enjou gives Fuyuko-sama some welcome news of a horror story, making her excited. He quickly moved from outsider to the central figure here. What the heck!?

Then… "Shuusuke. What are you doing here?" It's Kaburagi. He's even more trouble!

"It's just as you can see," replies Enjou, gracefully picking up a tea cup.

Kaburagi looked at him questioningly, and suddenly tried to sit down at this table. Ugh!

"Kaburagi-sama, did you not come to pick up Enjou-sama?"

To my attempt to shoo them away, Kaburagi replied, "Not really." Then why did you come…? Oh, right. Kaburagi doesn't have any friends other than Enjou, I insult him in my mind. "This is a little crowded," he complained. Of course, it's a table that I was sharing with Salala-sama and Fuyuko-sama. If you realized that it's crowded, take your friend and leave. "Okay. We'll move to somewhere with more space," ordered Kaburagi who came last. "Where?"

"What about where Kisshouin-san always sits?" So Kaburagi and Enjou decided everything for us, and we moved to my personal space… Why do we have to go?

But, Fuyuko-sama picked up her plate and asked, "Should I ask for more tea?" and Salala-sama had given up as she stood up with a smile. I guess that I have to follow.

"This is a nice spot. It's relatively private." That's right. It's a relaxing area by the wall. Unfortunately, with Enjou and even Kaburagi here, my usual out of the way seat is the most attention gathering seat.

"Is your father going to search for rare books again this summer?" asked Salala-sama to Kaburagi. His father was a collector of old and rare books. The literary Salala-sama greatly respected him, and I heard that she visited the Kaburagi home to look at their library.

"I wonder. He's still stuck on books he gained in London the other day, so that may be enough for now." He sounded like he hoped that would be so. I wonder why? Rare books can be ridiculously expensive, so it's an expensive hobby, but that shouldn't be a problem for the Kaburagi family… "Do you not welcome your father's interests, Kaburagi-sama?"

"I'm not opposed, but it's difficult living with him since the library has to be renovated after gathering so many books, and they're all hard to prevent them from deteriorating."

Oh, I see. "Since paper would fall apart with humidity."

"It's not just paper. The leather bindings are troublesome. Books that he picked up in the backwoods of Europe were such a mess that a massive insect infestation erupted from the binding."

Gyaaa! Not bugs! And massive infestation!? I'm getting itchy just thinking about it. I glance at my salmon roe sushi. I've lost a bit of appetite…

"A refined interest like collecting rare books has such problems…?"
"Insect infestations are more common than it seems." I want to scratch all over my body. "That incident forced the entire house to be sterilized, so even my mother was angry, and she prohibited potential problems from being brought home. A library separate from the house was built for that." Of course she'd be angry… And I'm still being attacked by bugs in my mind. And I'm still itchy…

"Kisshouin-san, you're fidgeting. What's wrong?"

"I'm getting itchy just hearing about this…"

"Oh, I understand," he stated sympathetically.

"Basically, leather-bound books of uncommonly used animals require special attention with me," Kaburagi stated gravely. It must really have been bad.

"Can we not speak anymore of insects? We're eating…" I was looking forward to my sushi, but the specks are starting to look like something different. Massive insect infestations…

"…I guess."

"Yes."

Kaburagi and Salala-sama drank some tea to cleanse their palate, while I ate the sushi with reckless abandonment.

Fuyuko-sama murmured, "The world of rare books must be so deep. It was quite interesting." He gently placed a hand on her cheek and asked, "Speaking of rare book bindings, does he possess anthropodermic bibliopegy?"

Kaburagi and Salala-sama looked stunned. Did they just draw away from Fuyuko-sama?

"Anthropodermic?" I asked.

Enjou explained, "Human skin. Books bound by human skin." Books made from human skin!? Book bound by human skin!? GIEEEE! We went from insects to something even more grotesque!

Stop! It's scary! I won't be able to sleep! I was reborn into a shoujo manga, not some terrifying horror manga!

"Even your father wouldn't… Right, Kaburagi-sama?"

"Yeah…"

Is it just my imagination that Kaburagi isn't sure…? He's frowning, as if in thought, but is it really okay…? I've been to his home, but could there be one there…?

Noooo! It's terrifying! Sends chills down my spine! I feel like something just possessed me!

"Kisshouin-san, you're fidgeting again…"
"Enjou-sama, could you swat my back, to purify!"

"Huh, like this?"

Hurry! I'll be possessed! Hurry! Enjou swats my cringing back, and I calm down.

To go from insects to the grotesque… Something even worse when eating… The fatty tuna on my plate… It looked so good a short while ago… I glared at Fuyuko-sama. Her thought pattern approaches the black mass too easily.

I can see something different, again, so I swallow it in desperation.

Comment