[Warning 15+]
Author's Notes:
The manga adaptation has officially kicked off.
The manga adaptation has officially kicked off.
Part Four
"―From Now On, You Better Treat Me with That Same Energy, Too!"
Chapter 133
What Are You, A Monkey?
"―From Now On, You Better Treat Me with That Same Energy, Too!"
Chapter 133
What Are You, A Monkey?
After that, Hayato got changed real quick and headed out with Haruki and the gang.
The early mornin' air in Tsukinose was way different from the city—chilly enough to give you the shivers.
The eastern sky was still red, fadin' into a deep indigo toward the west, with just a few stars still twinklin' up there. Some early-bird cicadas from the mountain started buzzin' their mornin' greetings.
Watchin' the fields get painted over from night colors to mornin' hues by the sunrise, they made their way along the path toward a certain spot on the hillside.
Both Haruki and Shinta were practically skippin' ahead of 'em, all hyped up, while Hayato followed behind with an old bug cage, keepin' pace with Saki.
"Man, you can't have a country summer without some bug huntin'! You seriously never see 'em in the city! I really hope we caught some Miyama stags in the traps—maybe even a rhinoceros beetle!"
"Even when we were just little brats, rhinoceros and stag beetles were pretty rare. I feel like all I ever caught were cicadas."
"This is my first time... ...bug huntin'...!"
The convo kept flowin' as they thought 'bout the traps they'd set.
Then it hit Hayato.
This might be the first time Hayato'd gone bug huntin' since Haruki moved away.
Since it'd been forever, Hayato actually felt pretty stoked 'bout the whole thing.
"...Oh."
"Whoa! You good, Murao-san?"
"---!? Oh, eh, yeah, um... ...I'm fine..."
Right then, Saki suddenly lost her footin' and almost took a spill.
Even though Hayato reacted fast and caught Saki by the hand to prop her up, she ended up clingin' to his arm.
When Hayato leaned in to check Saki's face, her slightly droopy eyes looked all hazy with sleepiness, probably from lack of rest. He just gave an awkward grin and muttered, "Well, it's ungodly early, after all."
In an instant, Saki's face flushed deep red from embarrassment, and she scrambled to pull away.
"Hey, Hayato, don't go bullyin' Saki-chan now!"
"Um, well, it's not exactly like that..."
"I-I'm not bullyin' Murao-san! Ugh, whatever, I’m headin' on ahead!"
Gettin' teased by Haruki, who'd seen the whole thing, was too much for Hayato, so he started power-walkin'.
Shinta looked back and forth between Haruki and Hayato for a split second, but Shinta's interest in bug huntin' won out, and he chased after Hayato's back.
Both Haruki and Saki looked at each other and shared a little giggle.
◇◇◇
The spot Hayato and the gang were headin' for was a wooded area on the hillside, a bit of a hike from Saki's shrine.
Near the entrance, there were trees like sawtooth oaks and beeches—it was one of their old hangouts.
There was a logging road there that didn't get much use anymore, but the unpaved path was still pretty rough, makin' it easy to trip. Little Shinta was clearly havin' a hard time hikin' through it.
"Shinta, wanna hold Big Sis' hand?"
"Ngh, no way! I'm doin' it myself!"
Seein' Shinta struggle, Saki tried to reach out a hand, but he turned her down, probably 'cause he was feelin' shy.
Instead, Shinta looked way more hyped 'bout checkin' the traps and started boltin' ahead.
"Good grief," Saki muttered with a little sigh. Haruki, walkin' right next to Saki, just let out a giggle.
Since they'd set 'em up last night, the traps weren't even that deep in the woods.
Right after steppin' into the brush, they spotted a brown trap danglin' from a tree.
"Aw, man..."
"...Oh."
"Well, I guess this happens sometimes..."
"Y-Yeah, you're right..."
A chorus of disappointed voices rang out.
The bug trap—made of sliced bananas soaked in shochu and coke stuffed into a stockin'—sadly didn't have any of the Miyama stags or rhinoceros beetles they were after. Instead, it was just swarmin' with ants and flower chafers. Looks like the bait was a hit with the wrong crowd.
Failures like this were somethin' they'd been dealin' with since they were just brats.
Hayato just gave his head a scratch, thinkin' it couldn't be helped.
"...So, what's the plan?"
"If we turn back now, I'm gonna feel like a total loser...!"
"I hear ya, but still."
"No Miyama stags?"
"No, we're lookin' for 'em! If my memory's right, there should be a decent sawtooth oak if we head just a bit deeper in!"
"Heck yeah!"
"Whoa, hold up, Haruki! Just how many years old is that memory!?"
Gettin' all fired up with a weird sense of competition, Haruki veered off the trail and started hackin' through the brush into the deep woods.
Shinta chased after Haruki, while both Hayato and Saki scrambled to keep up.
The woods were overgrowin' with all sorts of plants, makin' it a total pain to walk as branches and leaves kept smackin' into 'em.
Since Haruki was just forcin' her way through, her bare arms and legs were gettin' covered in tiny little scratches.
Haruki probably thought she was just doin' the same stuff they used to do.
But unlike back then when Hayato treated Haruki like one of the boys, Haruki was a cute girl now.
What the heck is Haruki gonna do if those leave scars?—thinkin' 'bout that made Hayato knit his brows in worry.
"Yo, Haruki, maybe we should head back for a sec? Even if we're gonna keep goin', we gotta, ya know, get prepped properly."
"Hmm, you got a point... ...wait, look! That's it, look at that!"
"That's..."
It happened right as Hayato made that suggestion.
They found a massive tree with a hollow that triggered some faint memory.
It was a huge-*ss tree.
The hollow was way above eye level, probably as high as a second-story window.
"I'm just gonna go check that one real quick!"
"Whoa, hold up... ...what are you, a monkey?"
"Hayato! I can hear you, y'know!"
As soon as she said it, Haruki bolted, totally ignorin' Hayato's voice tellin' her to knock it off. The way she scrambled up that tree was smooth as hell, like she hadn't missed a beat all these years.
Watchin' Haruki go from the foot of the tree, her long hair—way different from when they were brats—was waggin' behind her like a tail.
Hayato remembered they used to climb stuff like this all the time, so his brain knew Haruki'd be fine. Still, he couldn't help but feel a total wreck watchin' her.
Back in the day, Hayato'd have just hopped up there with Haruki without a second thought.
But for some reason, Hayato found himself hesitatin' now.
Finally reachin' the hollow, Haruki let out a shout. "Aha!"
"Found 'em! The Miyama stags are right here!"
Looks like Haruki hit the jackpot. Hayato could tell just by lookin' at her back that she was totally stoked.
Now, what's the move here?—while Hayato was stuck waverin', a tiny shadow suddenly lunged at the tree.
"I wanna see the Miyama too!"
""Shinta!?""
Hayato and Saki both shouted at the same time.
Knowin' how Shinta usually was, suddenly startin' to climb a tree like that was a pretty gutsy move.
Followin' Haruki's lead, Shinta kept goin' up, lookin' way more light on his feet than anyone expected.
It was probably Shinta's first time ever climbin' a tree.
Shinta's movements were still pretty clumsy, and that was exactly what was makin' everyone a total nervous wreck this time.
"Shinta-kun, that's dangerous! L-look, when you’re climbin', make sure you’ve always got three points of contact, okay!?"
Noticein' Shinta thanks to the other two yellin', Haruki was shocked but still tried to give him some tips on how to climb.
All they could do was watch from below.
But seein' the huge-*ss grin on Shinta's face, there was no way they could bring themselves to stop him.
"I had no idea... ...that Shinta could be like that..."
"Yeah, me neither... ...totally caught me off guard..."
Hayato got a weird sense of deja vu.
The image Hayato was seein' was his (Hayato's) own younger self.
(Come to think of it...)
Hayato remembered how, back when Haruki first moved away, he totally lost track of how to even have fun by himself.
Hayato could've done the exact same stuff, but he remembered how doin' it alone just felt empty as heck.
Shinta was probably havin' his first-ever blast hangin' out and playin' with a whole group of people.
That's gotta be why Shinta was gettin' so hyped up.
But just as Hayato was squintin' his eyes, watchin' Shinta lunge at that tree without a second thought...
"---!?"
"Sh-Shinta!?"
"Look out! ---Ow, ouch..."
Shinta, who'd climbed all the way up near the hollow, lost his footin'—maybe 'cause he let his guard down.
Hayato, waitin' at the bottom, reacted instantly and caught Shinta, but they both ended up slammin' into the ground with a loud thud.
"Shinta! A-Are you okay too, Big Bro!?"
"I'm fine, this is nothin'... ...haha, besides, Shinta's still tiny and light as a feather."
"Eh... ...oh..."
"Geez, what do you think you're doin', Shinta?!"
Saki rushed over, lookin' pale as a ghost, and started scoldin' Shinta with teary eyes.
As for Shinta, he couldn't even wrap his head around what just happened and just stood there lookin' totally lost, tears wellin' up in the corners of his eyes.
"Murao-san, take it easy. I used to have stuff like this happen all the time when I was a brat. Shinta isn't hurt either, right?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"B-But, Big Bro..."
"And—hop!"
"Haruki!?" "Haruki-san!?" "Big Sis Haru!?"
Right then, Haruki came flyin' down from the tree with a shout.
Then Haruki just gave a big-*ss grin like the whole thing was no big deal.
That was a total curveball move.
While Hayato was just rollin' his eyes and mutterin', "Told ya Haruki's a monkey," Haruki shot him a cranky look for a sec. But then, she suddenly slid right between the Murao siblings and started rufflin' up Shinta's hair like crazy.
"Whoa, Shinta-kun, look at you! You're such a champ! Man, it's impressive you didn't cry even after that fall. Hayato once bawled his eyes out just 'cause he let a rhinoceros beetle get away!"
"Big Sis Haru?"
"Whoa, hey, Hayato! When the heck did that happen? Which story is that even!?"
"Eh, Big Bro, you... ...bawled your eyes out...?"
"M-Murao-san, please don't believe a word Haruki says."
"Tee-hee."
Hayato's face turned beet red after havin' his past dirt leaked like that.
Watchin' the whole scene, Saki could only blink her eyes in total confusion.
Shinta looked just as stunned by the whole thing.
But Haruki just wore a big-*ss, kid-like grin and pressed the Miyama stag beetle she'd caught into Shinta's hand.
"Since you're such a brave kid, Shinta-kun, I'm givin' you this Miyama as a prize."
"Wait, for real!? But Big Sis Haru, you're the one who caught it!"
"It's all good. Besides, it'd be a total pain tryin' to take it back to the city, right?"
"Th-Than―Ah..."
Instead of a "Thank you," a cute-*ss stomach growl echoed out. Giggles and laughs started spreadin' through the group, with Shinta at the center lookin' all embarrassed.
Then, noticein' Hayato givin' Haruki the side-eye, Haruki flashed a mischievous grin and poked out the tip of her pink tongue.
It was a smile Hayato'd seen a million times since they were brats.
And yet, for some reason, Hayato's heart skipped a total beat.
"Oh—anyway, I'm starvin', so let's just head back home for now."
"You're right, maybe Hime-chan is already awake too."
"Oh, wait up, Hayato, and Saki-chan too. You comin' too, Shinta-kun?"
"Yeah!"
Then, as if tryin' to play off the way his heart was totaly poundin' in his chest, Hayato turned and started walkin' back toward the house.
Author's Notes:
Like I mentioned in the Intro, the manga adaptation has officially kicked off.
You can check it out over on Comic Walker and Niconico Seiga.
I'll post all the deets 'bout the manga in the Activity Report.
Meow.
Translator's Note:
If you're readin' this WN version right here, then you probably already know what went down with the manga adaptation, right? Yeah, you guessed it—the manga got the axe back in 2025.
TL: Reeze27
ED: Reeze27
PR: Reeze27
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