FLCL

they had to have at least some idea of what his strange affliction was and why it was affecting him.

A nurse, her back still turned to Naota, flipped through a chart.

'Um…' he began.

'Please, lie down on the bed.'

Following the nurse's instruction, Naota reclined upon the cold bed.

'Please, close your eyes and relax,' she continued. 'What happened to you?'

'Um… well…' Naota trailed off.

'This is a hospital. You can tell me anything, including things about your growing pains,' the nurse said encouragingly. 'You don't have to be embarrassed here.'

'No, it's nothing like that. It's this completely strange thing.'

'What kind of thing?'

'How to describe it…?'

'Please, don't be embarrassed,' the nurse reiterated.

'It's some kind of bulge.'

'When it comes to teenage problems, a bulge is completely normal. How long has it been going on?'

'In the middle of the night, it just…'

'Always in the middle of the night,' noted the nurse.

'Urn, it's right in the center of my forehead.'

'So, it's under that bandage?'

Naota explained, 'Yes. You see, if I don't keep it pressed down, then it pushes out.'

'Very eager, isn't it? I understand.'

'Eh?'

'It's Flictonic Clipple Webber Syndrome—a psychogenetic disorder, manifesting during puberty, in which a section of skin hardens. With this disease, if the child overexerts himself, a horn grows out from the forehead.'

That doesn't sound real!

Naota finally realized, with shock, that he recognized the nurse's voice. Panicking, he opened his eyes to see the nurse was, indeed, the Vespa girl.

'When did you—?' he began.

'So, what do you have, exactly, under that bandage?'

'What are you doing here?'

'You thought you'd managed to ditch me?' she asked, grinning boldly as she suddenly pulled out her electric guitar.

As one might expect, Naota jumped off the bed and ran.

Is she really a nurse here?

Naota had no idea the real nurse was tied up in the waiting room, wearing merely her underwear; she was lying alongside the doctor, who was currently unconscious.

'Don't run,' the Vespa girl said. 'The fun's just begun!'

'You must be kidding!'

The person bearing the devil's mark will be destroyed by the light-speed Vespa girl.

As though chased by a carnivorous beast, Naota fled the hospital as fast as his legs would carry him.

It was a living nightmare.

Chapter 3

When he finally reached home, Naota collapsed on his bed, exhausted.

His heart kept pounding. He hadn't run this much since he'd been in a marathon.

What's this all about?

The situation was worse than it had been the previous night. Now, this girl Naota thought he'd met accidentally was, inarguably, hunting him.

Light-speed Vespa… Obviously, she wasn't an ordinary girl.

Without hesitation, she'd caused absolute mayhem: driving her bike down the hospital corridors, breaking through glass doors, speeding through a crowded street. She'd even flattened the phone booth Naota had popped into.

For the first time, Naota felt happy simply to be alive.

I got away, didn't I? I managed to get home alive, right?

Whenever he saw that chaotic maniac, it inevitably signaled trouble.

Additionally, the horn continued to grow out of his head. That girl probably would follow him, so now he couldn't go to a different hospital. Speaking of hospital visits, the girl had noticed the bandage.

Maybe she'd given him some kind of terrible virus along with that curry-flavored kiss. Maybe there was nothing he could do to make the horn go away. Maybe he really would have it for the rest of his life.

Was that why the girl was after Naota?

Is it really the devil's mark? he wondered. Will it get bigger? Am I going to die? Or—

Suddenly, his father, Kamon, loudly hollered for him to come downstairs for supper. It was dinnertime already.

In the Nandaba household, meals were formal 'gather 'round the table' family affairs. Every morning and evening (and afternoon, when it wasn't a school day), Naota joined his father and grandfather for meals. He had thought it was perfectly normal until recently, when he'd discovered that things weren't the way he'd once thought.

Among his classmates, many didn't eat with their families as much as one time per week. Whereas adults might pity these children, Naota, by contrast, envied them a little. Eating alone was cool. It seemed like the first step to living independently.

However, eating alone wasn't allowed in the Nandaba household. His father rigidly enforced this policy. It seemed to have some special meaning for Kamon. It didn't matter if you weren't hungry, or if you were running a fever, or if you had one—or three—horns growing out of your head. You still had to stick to the mealtime ritual.

So, Naota went downstairs to eat.

His family wasn't the kind he could discuss his problems with. Should he catch a cold or something similar, all he could expect in return was a scolding to take better care of himself.

And then… Naota, who had come downstairs, froze when he looked into the room: There she was… right there! The Vespa girl!

'Yo,' the girl greeted him casually. As before, her tone was overly familiar. She was sitting with Kamon and Shigekuni, happily sipping miso soup.

Naota began, 'You…'

'Let me introduce you,' Kamon said. 'Starting today, we have a beautiful new housekeeper, so welcome her. Her name is Haruko Haruhara.'

'This miso soup is a little bland,' stated the girl. 'The broth isn't very good.'

'I'm very sorry,' Kamon apologized. 'I'll be more careful tomorrow.'

'What? A housekeeper?'

Naota actually meant to say, 'Why is this girl the housekeeper?' and 'Why, if we have a housekeeper, did you cook dinner, Dad?'

He noticed that his dad sported a bandage.

'Ah, I got hit in a bad accident today,' explained Kamon.

'By a bike?'

'Yes, by a bike—and also by Haruko, in other words. You know what a sucker your dad is for love…'

Behind his thick glasses, Kamon's eyes were intense. He used to work in Central City as a magazine editor,