Ever 17 Part #20 - Takeshi - Second Day

Part 20: Takeshi - Second Day - Part 8

Track—Insel Null

I answered without hesitating.

"Me neither."

"Me neither..."

"What! Are you serious...?"

A glance at Sora showed she was shaking her head.

"You all really don't know?"

Coco sounded pouty.

"Geez. Oh well..."

I didn't see any reason to give up.

"Well, if we don't know, then we'll just have to learn... So, Coco, will you explain the game to us?"

[Music—Stop]

"Okay. Everybody listen, alright?"

Track—Weißer Hund

Coco started shuffling the cards brilliantly.

"First, you have to shuffle the cards really good...Then you spread the cards on the table like this."

She spread them out randomly so that they didn't overlap.

"Then we do rock, paper, scissors and you turn over cards starting with the loser. Like this...you turn over one card and then one more... And if the two cards are the same number then the person that turned them over gets them."
Wait.

"So? It's easy, huh?"

"Hey, everybody got it? Let's play."
That’s just plain ol’ Memory

"........."

"That's called Concentration."

"Mental Guts..."

"Huh?"

"People usually call the game Concentration, don't they...?"

"What? Well, maybe in some backwater places they might call it that."

"That's not what I mean. That game is clearly Mental Guts. It's obvious!"
Aaaaand here we go.

"What're you talking about...?"

"No, it's called Super Memory."
They’re arguing over the name of a card game.

"Concentration..."

"It's called Mental Guts!"

"I said that it's Super Memory!"
It’s good to know that they take this more seriously than the fact that they’re stuck in an underwater theme park that will crush them all if they don’t get rescued.

"Geez! You guys are fussy! Alright. I know what we'll do! Everybody calm down! We'll compromise and...Let's say we call it Concemory...?"

"Conce..."

"...emory?"

And just then -

Track—Klamauk

"Here you go!"

The Kid came into the Conference Room carrying six cans of cola cradled against his chest. The card game stopped.

"Hiya Kiddo"

"Hey, Kid. That was sure thoughtful of you!"

You took the cola from the Kid and popped open the tab. She held down the carbonation to keep it from erupting. Like a pro, she kept from being showered with sticky cola.

"I got these on the way..."

He noisily set the five other cans on the table.

"...I brought these, too."

The kid turned around.

"What?"

"These."

Kid was pointing to the hood behind his neck. I stuck my hand in the hood. There were two chicken sandwiches inside it. They were the sandwiches that I had left on the bench during the blackout.

"I thought that somebody might be hungry."

"Oh great!"

"You are so thoughtful!"

You went over to the Kid and mussed up his hair affectionately. He stood there stiff as a rod, not resisting at all. I figured You's hands were probably pretty sticky from the cola...

"....Ahem."

Tsugumi raised her hand.

"If no one else wants one...I'll take one of them."

Tsugumi, unlike her normal self, spoke up.

"So all that repair work made you hungry?"

"........."

Of course, she didn't see any need to answer my question.

"Alright. This one's for Tsugumi."

I gave Tsugumi one of the sandwiches that I took from the Kid's hood. Tsugumi took it without saying anything. Then I held out the remaining one to Sora.

"The other one is Sora's. You didn't have breakfast, right?"

"Uh, no thanks. I'm fine..."

"Don't be polite, I made it. I know it tastes good."

"Still..."

"Hey, I'm not kidding."

"I'll vouch for its deliciousness!"

"Uh, me too..."

Coco and the Kid raised their hands.

"Sora? What? You can't eat my food?"

"That's not it..."

"Then what is it? Eat too much yesterday? Or are you on a diet?"

"No, but...I..."

"No. You have to eat or you'll get weak. Here! Take it!"

I tossed a cola and chicken sandwich toward Sora. They traced a gentle arc through the air.

"Ahh...!!!"

Sora suddenly reached out her hands... She reached them out, but...

[Music—Stop]

Fwoosh.
Bang!
Gushaaaaaw!!

But Sora didn't catch them.

Track—Traum In Der Dunkelheit
Fuck this song for having a good ten seconds before you can actually hear the music fade in.

No. She couldn't catch them.

She didn't avoid them.

It wasn't that she was too slow. Sora was there with her hands extended into space. The sandwich had fallen at her feet. The cola had violently slammed into the wall behind her and exploded. The spewing cola didn't get Sora wet. The droplets looked like they flew through Sora's body. The sandwich wrapper covered the silhouette of Sora's sandal... It was as if the two had melded together.

"Huh...?"

:aaaahaha, yeah, most of you guys saw this coming.

Sora made an embarrassed looking expression.

"Wwwwhhhhhhhhaaaaaattttttt? No, that's, what, I..."

For some reason I was completely stunned.

"I meant to toss them as if I were handing them over...that's weird...your hand must've slipped..."

"Excuse me. Takeshi, there is nothing strange about it."

"B-but! The cola blew up and...is your clothing alright?"

"Yes."

"But you're...stepping on the sandwich...your foot...you've got no toes, Sora..."

"Oh?.... My gosh! Sorry about that."

And just like that, Sora's vanished toes reappeared. But the place where the sandwich was supposed to be wavered unsteadily. I felt flustered. I didn't know what was going on.