Part 2
Izayoi listened to the rattling of the bus windows due to the violent storm as he reached out his hand to smear the condensation that had formed on the windows. It would seem that the violent storm was attacking this region. When he got off the bus, the driver had called out to him to ask him to seek shelter as soon as he can, but because of how troublesome it was, Izayoi decided to ignore the warning.
The abandoned facility hidden within the depths of the mountain was used as his hide-out and Izayoi veered off the paved road to the forked path that trekked up the mountain. Originally, this place was supposed to be allocated for an Eldercare facility, but due to the projected highway development program, the former plan had suffered a setback and was left to waste in the mountains without being dismantled.
Completing the journey through the mountain path that was much worse due to the stormy conditions, Izayoi shut the ruined glass door that was webbed with fractures as he stepped into the facility.
Picking up the towel that he hung on a broken-off pillar to dry his head, he then lit the lantern that he had prepared in advance.
Confirming the time with the borrowed light of the lantern, he noted that the time on his watch was 23:56. Seeing that it was only four minutes left before the time limit would be up, the young Izayoi who could not hide the disappointment in his heart gave a sigh.
“……It’s now 23:56 and the number of people who have found me is zero.”
“---It’s now 23:57 and the number of people who have found you is one.”
This would be considered as clearing the game right?---Hearing the light and carefree voice talking to him from the vicinity, Izayoi hurriedly turned around and pressed his back towards the wall as he raised his alertness.
It was the voice of a woman. An invader who had a voice that was as sweet as a songstress[44] was holding her breath as she hid in the other corner of the dark room.
Originally thinking of tiptoeing to close in on the person…. Izayoi dismissed that idea after some careful thought as he saw no point in doing so and shrugged his shoulders.
“……Nn. That’s right. You’re the one who successfully cleared this game. As the host, I will congratulate you, so get your butt over here now.”
“……This host sure has a foul mouth.”
Though the tone was disapproving, the words still felt quite soothing to the ears.
Izayoi felt his interest in this woman grow with each word that she spoke from the shadows..
“Come to think about it, don’t you want to give a self-introduction? ‘Izayoi-chan’?”
“……Oh? How admirable that you are able to find that out.”
“Of course, it goes without saying. This is a game to find you. Starting from the identity of the host would be the most sensible method.
“HngHng.” The words that carried her pride echoed in the room.
“But, I sure didn’t expect to meet such a problem child such as you in the world. Transferring through twenty four welfare organizations, switching between thirty-one pairs of foster parents, and amongst the foster parents, twenty-one of the adoptees have been convicted of having committed some kind of crime that they had done on the sly. To the extent of which no family or organization would want to accept you.”
“Sounds quite accurate. But, to think that you would try to find this kind of brat. When it was even made clear to you that I was guarding against infiltration by setting up countless traps amongst the ruins that would have made a small mountain due to their numbers.”
“Oh. Nn. That sort of level isn’t a problem. But the piano wires were really very dangerous for anyone else so I got rid of them.”
And the piano wires landed beside Izayoi’s leg, having been thrown from the shadows.
These were the wires that he had set up as a trap surrounding the place where he hid the briefcases. And due to the fact that it was in the deepest recesses of the ruins and that the placement should have been too dark to identify……No. Compared to all these……
“……You actually didn’t take the money and leave.”
“It is because I’m interested in you that I’ve come.”
“Of course that would be the case, wouldn’t it?” A cheerful laugh echoed around the dark ruins.
“…Yeah, I guess. All the other participants seem to be struggling to find the location of the money, and they seem to want to decipher the location of the money from the photo.”
“That’s because the photo was purposefully taken to mislead the crowds. When taking the photo, I had purposefully allowed the background of the seaside horizon to be snapped as well. Although no matter how I put it, it was still too simple but still able to become a major factor in misleading.”
“But to have so much money, wouldn’t it be very difficult for a child to move it alone?”
“That’s also a method to deceive the enemy. Besides that, I’ve also prepared many other clues to mislead. In the end, all of them were still easily misled! I should have been strict in my choice of participants.”
“Tch!” Izayoi clicked his tongue in frustration.
In the end, a teasingly giggling laughter could be heard from the darkness.
“I understand. That kind of method might have gotten quantity but the quality would have declined, hence being unable to achieve the climax that you seek. Since you wanted to use the Internet to do a large scale propagation, you should have started the game from the test of [Finding the Contents of the Prize]. In that way, not only would you be able to choose the participants, it would have allowed the performance to have an increased credibility. The biggest flaw in this game……should be the fact that you allowed most of the people to assume ‘How can there be a little brat who possessed that amount of money? It must be a prank.’ , right?”
The other party gave off a laugh that sounded musical and pleasant to the ears.
Izayoi was a little unhappy but that conversation had much that he could learn from, hence he did not open his mouth to say anything.
Following the sound of the heels clacking against the floorboards, the mysterious woman was closing in.
Raising his lantern to brighten the area, the features of the woman became clear before his eyes.
Confirming the woman’s appearance, Izayoi used a disapproving tone to question:
“……Hey, you climbed the mountain dressed in that?”
“Of course. These are the clothes that will bring me my victory every time.”
With that, the woman gave a pose with her hand on her hip.
The woman was dressed in a long white coat that was over an amethyst colored vest with spaghetti straps, with heeled black long boots to match. The most unique part about her that would leave an impression was the mismatched shell earrings that were on her left and right ear. This is because most of the shell that was hanging on the left ear had swirls that could only be formed due to genetic abnormalities and would be very rare indeed.
The face that had been illuminated by the light was an unexpected beauty with wavy golden short hair that seemed to bring out the delicate and proportioned facial features. As for her age, even if the standard was raised, it would still seem along the lines of the first half of her twenties.
“……I didn’t expect you to be so young, Oba-san.”
“Haha! Calling me young and then saying Oba-san? You sure are evil huh, Izayoi-chan. You should give me the respect and reverence and respectfully call me with a sense of defeat in your voice: ‘Canaria-oneesan'. That's how it should be.”
---Izayoi’s eyebrows twitched a bit at that.
At the same time, he dismissed the previously cordial attitude as he started to release a sense of animosity towards Canaria that seemed strong enough to harm others.
“……I’m sorry but I cannot simply ignore those words you just said. What does ‘with a sense of defeat’ mean? Canaria-obasan. I am the host and you, the challenger. Then, you should be respectfully receiving the prize from me. That should be reasonable, right?”
Izayoi’s eyes glinted with a sharp gaze that showed a fearlessness that was totally unlike a young child’s normal behavior.
However, Canaria only drooped her shoulders and showed a very disappointed look.
“……I say, Izayoi-chan. I will return the question to you. Why did you want to host this game?”
“What?”
“Although I think it shouldn’t be the case……but could it be that you had the ‘I hope someone somewhere on this whole world will be able to find me’---that kind of lame pathetic feeling that led you to host this game?”
At that moment, Canaria’s gaze seems to have shot through Izayoi.
……Or at least that was the illusion that Izayoi had experienced.
“If it were so, then I might have overestimated you. So I can honestly apologize. ‘I’m sorry for I shouldn’t have treated you as an equal nor should I have taken a child’s game so seriously.’”
So what’s the case? Canaria furrowed her neat looking eyebrows as she threw the question to him.
Izayoi stared at Canaria, stumped for words at that moment.
[My……reason to host this game?]
“Wishing for a person to find me?”---How could that be? Izayoi shook his head forcefully. He wasn’t a person who had hosted the game for such a lame pathetic reason. Just thinking about that was already able to give him goosebumps.
Then what would be the purpose? Izayoi couldn’t find the answer even after some thought.
Canaria arched back forcefully and spread her arms wide. A gust of wind that was similar to the one that was tormenting the ruins with rain outside billowed her long white coat, making her petite frame look much bigger.
“It can’t be right? Izayoi-chan. The reason why you hosted the game shouldn’t be so small and weak. The message that you wrote wasn’t the complaining letter of a lost child, but it should be a letter of challenge that was written with a much stronger determination.”
“……”
“The thing that you seek is for a challenger comparable to your own power, am I right? And this game is one that’s precisely crafted to find that sort of person. Yet the participants were all regular mortals who were similar to some Tom, Dick,[45] and Harry who could be grabbed off the street……I say, Izayoi-chan. The reason why you feel unsettled and frustrated isn’t due to the fact that there wasn’t a person who appeared to solve it, but it’s because you had originally wanted to host a game that could get the blood of people to boil and be a high tension contest. But in reality, the standard of the game was so low that it couldn’t succeed.”
“……Ugu!”
*Bang!* Irated and restless, Izayoi stomped through the floor boards.
It would seem that her words had hit their mark. The enormous strength of his foot, which was unlike that of a normal ten year old, caused the entire abandoned facility to shake and a violent gust of wind and rain started to blow in from a collapsed opening in the wall.
Canaria did not show any fear at the act of intimidation as she faced her back towards the lightning and closed in on Izayoi. One step at a time.
“I will repeat it once more. I’m the victor and you are the loser. This game was started by the challenge letter that you had issued and it was accepted by me. Since there’s a person who appeared and cleared your game, you are obliged to praise the victor as the position of a host. A person who cannot accomplish that should have never aimed to be a host.”
*Kack!* Canaria who had heeled to a stop before Izayoi looked larger now even though she was supposed to be a petite woman. The young Izayoi took a step back and dropped the line in a sullen tone.
“……You mean for me to admit defeat?”
“That’s right. Then as the position of the host, announce the proclamation of a winner who has cleared your game. And with that, this game will end.”
“……”
“And when your game has ended……Let’s start a new game together.”
---*What?* That came so suddenly, like a sneak attack, that it left Izayoi stunned.
Canaria seemed only to think of herself at this point of time as she continued on:
“That’s right. That’s the promise for the next game. Oh well, it’s good as well. For the next round, I will take on the position of the host. As long as I use the money that you have prepared, I can build quite a satisfactory stage……Hehe. This time, let me be the one to show you what a true host is.”
“So how about that?” Canaria tilted her head as she asked.
Because of how the topic had progressed in such an unexpected direction, Izayoi couldn’t help but gape in a daze without an inkling of what reaction to give at this point in time.
Just like that, he stared stupidly at Canaria for quite a while---before seeming to think of something as he pouted and asked:
“Then……the game’s prize is?”
“Prize?”
“Nn. Since it is a game that only both of us participate in, then there’s no need to prepare all those things that you discussed just now right?”
“Nn~ That sounds about right as well……Oh well, then let’s do it like this?”
Canaria bent her knees to match Izayoi’s eye level.
Following that, she then allowed their foreheads to touch and told Izayoi in a tone that sounded like she was pulling an evil prank:
“If I win……I can get a sharp tongued son.”
“……”
“If you win……Then I will always be your playmate for life. An additional condition would be: I will also prepare a great place for you to rest and relax.”
“How about that?” Canaria asked with a smile.
Izayoi had a troubled look, seemingly in a bind as he placed his hand behind his head to think for quite a while before nodding his head in an exaggerated yet swaggering manner.
“……Ah, I just can’t think of any other plan. So the victor of this crappy game will be you, Canaria.”
“Thank you. Then it is now my turn as the [Host] to invite you.”
Saying that, Canaria had tugged Izayoi’s hand and with young Izayoi, they walked hand in hand towards the door.
---The game between the two of them continued for almost two years.
Crossing the boundaries of countries, they traveled across continents. Going in search of the demon at Iguzau Falls, and had gone to confirm the end of the world……In the end, both of them reached a welfare organization.
[CANARIA foster home]---that was the children's welfare organization that was built just to accept Izayoi.
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