Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 13 - Chapter SS

Bonus Short Stories

Scene #8: Curly and Silver

Ranta sighed with his head down on his desk. “I dunno...”

“Wh-What’s up, Ranta-kun?” Monzo asked from the seat beside him, but Ranta stayed quiet for a moment.

Monzo started mumbling. “U-Umm...”

Tired of keeping his mouth shut, Ranta turned to Monzo. “Listen, man...”

“Huh? Uh, sure.”

“Don’t you have something?”

“Wh-What?”

“Like a clever saying, or a little story that’ll grab my attention. Or you could play stupid, so I can be the straight man.”

“Oh, no... I’m not good at that kind of stuff...”

“Yeah, that figures. You’re kind of boring, man. But a good guy. It pisses me off that your cousin, your childhood friend, and even your little sister are all cute, though.”

“Hm? Hmm, well, uh, my sister doesn’t look like me, so I guess she is cute...”

“Now you’re bragging?!”

“Huh? No, she’s my little sister. I may be seeing her in a better light because of that...”

“Nah, you’ve got it right. I think she’s plenty cute. Your sister, I mean. Like, isn’t she gonna get even cuter? When she grows up a bit, those boobs’ll grow, too.”

“...I’ll kill you.”

“Huh?”

“If you look at my sister funny, friend or not, you’re dead!”

Monzo was shouting awfully loudly. No, it wasn’t just his voice. Monzo’s face was a mask of rage.

The classroom was silent. Well, of course it was. People thought of Monzo as a quiet guy. Ranta, too. Monzo sometimes got oddly worked up about food, but he was by and large a gentle giant.

Who knew he’d be so scary if you got him mad?

Ranta swallowed. “You made me piss myself a bit there.”

“O-Ohhh! S-Sorry. Wh-When it comes to my sister, I lose my senses a bit.”

“You made me piss myself! I’m not sure how that’s just ‘a bit’! You really lost it!”

“You really... wet yourself?”

“Just a little, okay?!”

“O-Oh... Do you have a change of underwear?”

“I told you, it’s just a little! Less than a milliliter, I’ll bet! Look, man, we’re weirding everyone out, okay?! This is your fault, Moguzo!”

“S-Sorry...” Monzo shrunk into himself as if trying to make his big body as small as possible. No, even doing that, he still wasn’t small.

“Pfft...” Ranta burst out laughing despite himself.

“Huh?! Wh-What?!”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

“B-But you laughed...”

“It was just a little funny. Tickled my funny bone just a bit. Not hard, mind you. Listen, man, if you could just pull off the funny man act a little more naturally...”

“F-Funny man? Like, in a comedy routine?”

“That’s it. That’s the one I’m talking about. Okay? Lately, I’ve been thinking. I wanna live as fun a life as I can. So, the natural conclusion is that I should be a celebrity, right? Girls dig celebrities.”

“They... do?”

“If I were famous, with my looks, they’d be all over me. It’d be something else. Seriously, seriously.”

“Uh, yeah... Well, I g-guess... Maybe...”

“You’re not up to it, though. You can’t be the funny man or the straight man. I mean, I’m obviously the straight man. So my partner needs to be a funny man. The natural dunce type, the weirdo who doesn’t fit into society, or the clever guy who can play the fool... I’m gonna go hit the washroom. Gotta check out the state of my pants, after all.”

“Oh. S-See you later...”

Ranta left the classroom and headed for the washroom. Focusing on his somewhat damp crotch as he walked, he almost bumped into someone.

“Whoa, sorr—” He started to apologize, but when he saw who he’d nearly walked into, they were tall, with silver hair. “Eep!”

“Huh?” the guy asked.

“Ohhhh, no, no, no! I-I-I-I-I-It’s nothing! Forgive me!”

Ranta was about to perform a kowtow, but if he did, he had the feeling the guy would stomp the back of his head, killing him instantly. He took off running.

“Th-That was Renji! Damn, he’s scary!”

Why did I have to run into Tanaka Renji, the terror of the school, of all people? Like, wasn’t it bizarre that guy was the same age as them with the aura he gave off? He had to be over twenty. He had way too much of an intensity that transcended his age.

“Aw, crap. I think I wet myself again!”

At this point, neither of them could ever have predicted that, one day, they would form the comedy duo “Curly and Silver.”