Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 1 by Kouhei Kadono

Author:Kouhei Kadono
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative fiction, The Second Novel in the Boogiepop Series.
Published: 2014-11-02T20:33:26+00:00

***

As soon as all the men had been thoroughly beaten, the cloaked figure went through their pockets, and removed a large number of little plastic bags filled with drugs.

Stuffing these into the pack on his side, the weirdo darted away.

His breathing was ragged, less from exhaustion than panic, and at last, he took shelter under a rarely used pedestrian overpass.

The girl was waiting for him there-Orihata Aya.

“Thank you, Masaki,” Orihata said, smiling.

The cloaked weirdo took off his black hat.

That weirdo was me-Taniguchi Masaki.

“Ugh! This outfit is freakin’ hot!” I griped. “You have no idea how hard it is to fight dressed in this thing!”

“But according to the rumors, this is the outfit he wears,”

Orihata said, moving around behind me and untying the cloak.

“Girls’ rumors! I bet they never put any thought behind them at all. Grr.”

“Towel,” she said, handing it over. I scrubbed my face with it, and the make up came off soon enough. I felt much better already.

Obviously, I had been following them since Orihata left the station.

As soon as she entered the redevelopment zone, I quickly hid in the shadows and changed. . .even went to the trouble of putting black lipstick on to seal the effect.

What was I doing, you say?

Well. . .I was playing super-hero.

I was punishing all the evildoers in town. But please, don’t ask me why. This was all Orihata’s idea.

She took the pouch off my hip, scooped the drugs out of it, tore open each of the bags, and poured the contents out in the nearest ditch. The brown water dissolved the white powder relatively quickly, and there was no sign of it a minute later.

‘Millions of yen, they said...’ I thought, absently. Not that I thought it was a waste, or that I wanted that money. It’s just that for most people, I could see how that amount of cash could easily become a motive for doing something illegal.

“You’re a hero, Masaki,” Orihata announced.

“I...I guess.”

“Thanks to you, about a hundred people have been saved from drug addiction. That’s a good thing.” She sounded like she was still reading off some invisible cue cards plastered nearby. And the tone of her voice made it hard to tell if she was being serious or still playing along.

I just didn’t get it. She had known all the signs and code words for that transaction earlier, but how the heck would a girl like her know that kind of crap? I asked, of course, but all she said was,

“Almost everyone knows.”

“Oh? Your hand...” Orihata’s gaze stopped on my left hand.

I had grazed it, and there was a little fresh blood on the surface.

“Just a scratch.”

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault,” she said, taking my hand gently, and tending to the wound with a first aid kit she’d brought with her.

Her hand was so soft, and her face was close enough that I could feel the warmth of her breath.

Beneath the deserted walkway, it was just me and a girl standing close together, bound by a shared secret.

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