Life In The Reverse World

The next morning, after getting off the train, Harutaki went to the station lockers and retrieved the telescopic hook ladder he had stored there earlier. Following the same route as before, he headed toward Shihou Suishōen, about five minutes from the station.

However…

“Just as I thought, the difficulty’s gone up.”

From a distance, he looked toward the walls of Suishōen. In that direction, three security guards were stationed along the wall at evenly spaced intervals.

The method he used to climb over the wall last time might not work anymore.

…Or maybe not.

After thinking about it for a moment, he figured that if there were only three guards, it might still be worth trying.

Harutaki had enough confidence in the physical conditioning he had trained up recently.

More importantly, even if he got caught, it probably wouldn’t be a big problem.

“Phew…”

Taking a deep breath, he hid his backpack beside a utility pole at a street corner, then boldly ran out carrying the telescopic hook ladder on his shoulder.

The three guards were very professional. They had been vigilantly watching their surroundings, and the moment they saw Harutaki appear, they immediately assumed defensive stances, ready to deal with his “attack” and capture him.

However, the three female security guards in suits hadn’t expected that before Harutaki even reached them, he would suddenly change direction and sprint toward the opposite side of Suishōen.

The three exchanged puzzled looks. They assumed there were guards on the other side of the wall as well, but just then the walkie-talkie at their waists crackled to life.

The old lady’s leisurely voice came through it.

“Whoever catches that boy will have their salary tripled this year. Just make sure not to hurt him.”

Wasn’t this like a blessing falling from the sky?

Catch a high school student and your pay triples?!

The guards stationed along the four sides of the wall heard the message and instantly grew excited. They hurried off in pursuit of that gleaming golden sheep.

And so, a twelve-person security team lunged toward the unsuspecting Harutaki like a pack of hungry wolves.

“You’ve got to be kidding…”

When Harutaki noticed three more guards appear at the intersection ahead, he couldn’t help muttering in complaint. As he ran, he glanced back.

The number of people chasing him had now reached a full twelve.

Three guards on each of the four walls. Considering the size of the Shihou household and the area of Suishōen, it seemed Chouko’s great-grandmother had truly only increased the difficulty “a little.”

For an ordinary high school student, this might have been an unsolvable problem.

But for him, Hoshikawa Harutaki, it wasn’t that difficult.

After gauging the guards’ speed, he deliberately slowed down slightly, dragging all twelve of them into a long-distance chase.

Some had the idea of circling ahead and waiting for him from the opposite direction. But whenever he spotted someone waiting in front, he would immediately turn and run down another street. Then when the guards stopped chasing to catch their breath, he would appear again at the corner and dash toward whichever section of the wall was unguarded.

If the guards had remained firmly at their posts from the start, he truly wouldn’t have found any opportunity to climb the wall.

But among the twelve of them, if even one person failed to hold their position, he could exploit that single opening to succeed.

“Pant… pant… this kid…”

“Pant… what kind of monster is he…”

“A professional track athlete…?”

Several guards who had been trailing behind him finally couldn’t keep going. Some bent over with their hands on their knees, gasping for air, while others leaned against roadside walls, breathing heavily.

When they saw Harutaki still have enough energy to casually climb over the wall, a thought inevitably crossed their minds—

Had the head of the household deliberately found someone just to mess with them?

They immediately gave up on continuing the chase.

After running so many laps around Suishōen, he was only slightly short of breath.

Was that really something a high school student could do?

Even they, professionally trained security personnel, couldn’t keep up with him so easily. In fact, he seemed to still have plenty of energy left.

“Alright, you couldn’t even catch a sixteen-year-old boy… But since you all tried hard, I’ll double your salaries this year.”

After saying that, the old lady set down the walkie-talkie.

She had been sitting in the tea room the entire time, watching the surveillance footage on a tablet. While enjoying snacks and tea and watching the “cat chasing mouse” performance, she imagined the guards collapsing in exhaustion after being dragged around by Harutaki and couldn’t help bursting into laughter again.

“The kid he and Chouko have in the future will definitely be physically strong too.”

Turning her head, she said this to Shouko beside her, who was also trying not to laugh. Her tone sounded quite satisfied.

…

When she saw the familiar figure appear, Chouko immediately slung her blue-and-white Anello backpack over her shoulders. She happily jogged over to Harutaki and gave his shoulder a solid smack.

“Let’s go. I’m all ready~”

“I was hoping to rest for a bit… I just ran a marathon dragging a whole crowd outside.”

Harutaki complained, but he still picked up the telescopic hook ladder and followed behind her toward the backyard.

Of course running that much made him tired, but honestly, it didn’t feel all that different from his usual morning run.

Looks like it wasn’t just studying, he thought. He apparently had talent for physical training too.

…

Today Chouko was dressed exactly the same as yesterday, except she had changed her shoes to sandals, revealing ten perfectly rounded toes painted with pretty cherry-blossom-colored nail polish.

Seeing this suddenly made Harutaki realize something.

It was already summer.

The seasonal shift gave him a strange sense of abruptness, as if it had still been spring just recently, yet suddenly they had stepped straight into early summer.

He didn’t ask why the girl hadn’t changed into a different outfit. Instead, he simply let Chouko lead the way.

He knew there must be a reason. Asking about it when she hadn’t brought it up herself would be rather tactless.

After walking for a while, the two turned into an old street that carried a strong “Kyoto flavor.” The quiet and ancient atmosphere here was something you could never experience in Tokyo.

The faint bitterness of soybeans, the sweetness of wagashi, the earthy fragrance of soil and grass along the roadside… several scents—some recognizable, others not—interwove together. Accompanied by the rustling sound of sweeping outside wooden houses, they created a uniquely vivid sense of everyday life.

“This is the shop~”

Chouko pointed to an old clothing store not far away. The wooden signboard hanging above it looked weathered with age, clearly having endured many years of wind and rain.

Letting go of Harutaki’s hand, she cheerfully ran into the shop and greeted the old woman behind the counter who was threading a needle.

“Good morning~ Long time no see, Granny Chihiro!”

“Oh?”

The old woman froze for a moment, then slowly removed her glasses and squinted toward the doorway. Soon, a genuinely delighted smile spread across her wrinkled face.

“Oh my, oh my, isn’t this Chouko-chan! Four years have passed and you’ve grown into such a beautiful young lady… Let me see… yes, adorable as ever. You’ve become prettier and prettier. Your figure must make your classmates very jealous, right?”

“Ehehe…”

The girl being pinched on the cheeks by the old woman was smiling just as happily.

Harutaki stepped into the shop afterward. Breathing in the distinctive scent of old clothing, he greeted the elderly woman.

“Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Hoshikawa Harutaki. I’m Shihou’s—”

“Boyfriend!”

Chouko immediately filled in the blank before he could finish.

“This is Granny Chihiro, the shop owner. I used to love buying dresses that she altered for me.”

That kind of choice suited the girl exactly as he imagined.

A young lady from a prestigious family, yet she liked running into a narrow secondhand shop like this to buy clothes. It was rather willful in its own way.

“Hehe, a boyfriend, huh? A handsome boy just as good-looking as Chouko-chan.”

Granny Chihiro looked him up and down from head to toe, nodded in satisfaction, and added,

“You must cherish such a sweet and lovely girl like Chouko-chan, alright?”

Harutaki nodded and was about to respond, but Chouko beat him to it again.

“Um… Granny Chihiro, I want to buy a dress like the ones I wore when I was little. Do you have a bigger size?”

“I knew you liked that style, so I’ve prepared one every year based on how I thought your figure would grow~”

As she spoke, Granny Chihiro stood up from her chair and shuffled toward the back room with a slightly hunched back.

While Harutaki was looking around the small shop, Chouko suddenly appeared again from somewhere he hadn’t expected, holding a dress.

Its design and patterns were very retro. The bright red base was covered in sunflowers, radiating a lively, sunny energy.

Clearly, when paired with a beautiful girl, both modern fashion and retro clothes could look wonderful.

“Well?”

“It’s very cute.”

“That’s not sincere at all…”

Chouko puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. That wasn’t the response she wanted to hear.

“Well, I like whatever you wear, Shihou.”

“F-fine… you pass!”

She stammered, turning her head aside as she went off to search for other interesting clothes.

Before long, she popped out from an unexpected corner like a burrowing rabbit.

“Ta-da! I picked this for Harutaki-kun~”

Harutaki looked at the gaudy Hawaiian shirt in her hands and felt the corner of his mouth twitch. It seemed Chouko was gradually revealing more of her true nature.

Still, the girl’s innocence and childishness were also things he liked about her.

After Harutaki put on the shirt she had chosen, Chouko broke into a mischievous grin and giggled while grabbing his phone to snap a picture.

“Now it really feels like summer.”

Hearing her say that, Harutaki glanced at the photo on the screen and couldn’t help agreeing.

A Hawaiian shirt did instantly make people think of summer.

Scorching sunlight, bikinis and beaches, waves and surfboards, palm trees… one image after another appeared in his mind, making him want to sigh, this really is summer.

By the time Granny Chihiro returned from the back room, Chouko had made him try on several other outfits, but none seemed to please her as much as the first Hawaiian shirt.

“Granny, I’ll buy this shirt and the hat too.”

She handed over five one-thousand-yen bills she had borrowed from Harutaki’s wallet. Then she received a pure white dress from the old woman.

Before Harutaki could even take a good look at it, she stuffed it straight into her backpack.

“It’s a secret~”

She turned back and winked at him playfully, leaving Harutaki feeling quietly expectant.

After chatting with Granny Chihiro for a while longer, the two finally said their goodbyes and left the secondhand clothing shop hidden among the old houses.

This time they still showed no sign of taking a train. In fact, Chouko led him back along the road toward Suishōen. However, she didn’t stop at the entrance. Instead, she bypassed the estate and continued northeast.

About eight minutes later, Chouko turned around. The small beauty mark near the corner of her slightly upturned lips made her look irresistibly cute.

“This was my favorite playground when I was little.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she grabbed Harutaki’s hand and pulled him along a rough path, running toward the mountains.

Her smooth black shoulder-length hair fluttered in the wind.

Looking at the smile on her face, Harutaki thought—

Perhaps this was the real Chouko, freed from all restraints.

Just like when she was a child, innocent and carefree.