FLCL

Chapter 3

The following morning, Miyaji went to visit Naota's house on her way to school.

Naota hadn't been in class the whole week, and when Miyaji had tried to call his home, his father had replied casually that Naota wasn't coming in that day, either. With no reason given, a student skipping school for a week was quite a serious matter.

'Good morning. It's Miyaji…' She peeked into the shop, which had no customers or shopkeepers. It was a bakery, but for some reason, the inside of the shop was full of stacked magazines, as though it were a publisher's warehouse. They looked like freshly printed mini comics. When she spotted the tide, 'Come on Mabase,' Miyaji cocked her head, feeling as though she'd seen it somewhere before.

'Good morning, teacher,' a man from the back of the shop acknowledged her politely. It was Naota's father, Kamon Nandaba.

'If it's about Naota, I don't think he'll be going to school today, either.'

'Is he unwell?'

'No he's perfectly fine—probably very well.'

'If he isn't ill, then he really shouldn't be skipping school.' Miyaji sounded like she was pleading.

Kamon was gazing at Miyaji with a knowing look, grinning broadly. With his long hair tied at the back of his neck, he looked far removed from practicalities, and he wore quite an impertinent expression. She couldn't tell what those eyes behind his glasses were thinking. She hadn't had much experience speaking to him before, so she felt a little awkward, but that didn't mean she was going to back down. She was a person of conviction.

'When I was in school, I was in charge of looking after the hamster,' Kamon said out of the blue, using a very serious tone. 'You know, I had to make sure the hamster was fed.'

Where was this story coming from all of a sudden?

'But once, I took off school for three days. I was watching videos at home the whole time—Monty Python. You know it? It's really good. And in those three days that I didn't go to school, it died, the hamster. I was the only one in my class who was responsible for the hamster, so while I was away, no one took care of it. I learned my lesson, that I couldn't skip school. A son's failings are his father's failings, so I will sort this out myself.'

'What do you intend to do?'

'Kill him.'

'No, that's going a bit far.' Miyaji was swept away by Kamon's words. 'Fortunately, Naota wasn't in charge of the hamster. Anyway, could you please let me see Naota for a moment?'

'No, this is not just about boycotting school.'

'Just?'

'Boycotting school isn't all. He hasn't come home at all for a while. For a while, we haven't really known —'

'He isn't here? Naota?' Miyaji was naturally quite distressed. 'For a whole week? Mr. Nandaba, for a student not to come to school—'

'He gets good grades, doesn't he?' Kamon asked calmly.

'Class is important.'

'His grades are always all fives. But once, it was written on one of his school reports that he could be a little more obedient. You're that teacher, aren't you? It's okay. Don't worry about his studying. We have a very good home tutor.'

Terrible. This is a terrible family. The father is a little weird.

Even so, Miyaji thought, if Naota wasn't at home, then where was he now?

Morning rush hour was nearing in Mabase. The traffic on the roads increased, and the sidewalks were full of residents rushing to work or school.

Behind the station, there was a large park alongside a straight road. There was a slide and a sandpit there, and ginkgo trees surrounded the area. Of course, the rushing residents did not turn to see them—the homeless. They slept there as if they were dead, but the residents were too caught up in their own lives and so did not pay them any attention.

But now a girl was standing there, regarding two people sleeping on a park bench.

The girl was Ninamori. And the two people sleeping on the bench, rolled up in a single wool blanket, were none other than Naota and Haruko, the pair of traveling vagabonds. They looked like two animals sleeping in the same nest.

For a moment, Ninamori gazed down at the two sleeping faces.

Naota's eyes were closed, and his breath was strangely relaxed.

He cried, Ninamori thought. He's stopped pretending to be a grown up.

The class president who had found her classmate in the process of skipping school now wore a small, gentle smile on her face.

'I couldn't buy you boots, but try your best, Mr. Cat.'

After some time had passed, she once again started toward the school to move on with her own day.

A thick mist surrounded the town. This wasn't morning mist, though, and it was even thicker than the day before.

Mamimi walked down a small alley to escape the clouded air.

Next to her, making strange mechanical sounds as it walked, was her mechanical Takkun. Takkun had grown up even more, and it was larger than a dog and closer to the size of a donkey.

'After tonight, I'll be able to forgive them,' Mamimi muttered as she gazed down at a notebook. There were dark bags under her eyes, and one could tell she was tired just by looking at her. She had been 'working' every night, but this was the first time she'd done it around the clock.

Mamimi's 'work' was revenge, and the notebook in her hand contained a list of the people who deserved punishment, no doubt all names of people who had bullied her.

When Mamimi suddenly heard voices in front of her, she quickly hid herself in the shadows. She couldn't let anyone see her leading Takkun around.

When she peeked around to see the source of the voices, she saw a sake shop with a sign reading 'Masamune's Sake.' The voices belonged to two boys, Masashi and Gaku.

'Last night, I heard that Fujipyon's older sister's moped was done.'

'That girl with the bleached blonde hair?'

'Everyone from Second Street over, everyone got something damaged…'

They were talking about Mamimi's work. Although arson was her preferred method, Takkun was more faithfully obedient to his own appetite than to Mamimi's orders, so she'd changed her battle plans a little. In other words, instead of setting fire to the house she wanted to attack, if it had a car or a bike, then she offered that to Takkun as food.

Now, as a result of her feedings, Takkun had grown in size, and Mamimi was a little troubled about where she would hide him that day. As she continued dragging Takkun down the alley, he began roaring out of nowhere: 'Gi gi gi gi!'

That was the noise Takkun made before he jumped at food he'd spotted—and the thing that had taken Takkun's fancy was the sake store's three-wheeled truck.

Mamimi panicked and tried to pull on the chain attached to the robot's collar with all her might, but Takkun had grown so big that Mamimi's strength was no match for its own.

'Stop that. They're not on my revenge list.'

The four-legged robot knocked away its master's powerless arms, though, and ran straight at the three- wheeled truck.