This Japanese Slice-of-Life Isn’t Lame

Chapter 44: Skin

“Kitagawa-san?!” Chinatsu Chiyuki shouted in surprise.

She did expect the person to appear in front of her to be Kitagawa Tera.

“Guests, please keep quiet and don’t disturb the other guests dining.” The store owner’s kind reminder came.

“… Ah, I’m sorry.” Chinatsu Chiyuki sincerely apologized before looking back at Kitagawa Tera with a look of disbelief on her face.

However, the pure and noble her overcame her initial reaction in a flash, suppressed the surprise in her heart, and lowered her voice. “Kitagawa-san, you are the blogger of the Office of Paranormal Activities?”

“As you can see.” Kitagawa Tera was sitting opposite Chinatsu Chiyuki. After a pause, he said, “I noticed that something was wrong with you the first time I saw you. I wanted to find time to talk with you, but when I spoke with you during lunch break today, I knew that Miss Sen was you.”

The ‘chi’ word in Chinatsu Chiyuki was often used in Japanese surname romanization rules. Chinatsu Chiyuki naturally did not use her real name as an online alias but instead used the Roman pronunciation ‘sen’ for the Japanese number ‘chi’.

Generally speaking, it was not easy for people to link it to her. However, Kitagawa Tera had put together her real name with what she said today about ‘having an appointment with a friend this afternoon’ and had a pretty good idea.

Miss ‘Sen’ on the internet was Chinatsu Chiyuki.

“So, Kitagawa-san was just testing me when you took the initiative to set an appointment time?” Chinatsu Chiyuki touched her forehead.

Only now did she understand why Kitagawa Tera had taken the initiative to propose discussing it in private.

Chinatsu Chiyuki did not expect that the expressionless Kitagawa Tera was so exceptionally shrewd.

“Let’s cut the chase. Shall we talk in detail about the situation with you and your friend?”

Kitagawa Tera ordered a cup of mixed coffee, and without blushing or skipping a beat, he said, “You get the bill.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.” Because Kitagawa Tera said it so naturally, it made Chinatsu Chiyuki feel that it should be this way, so she subconsciously nodded in agreement.

By the time she could react, she could not help but take another look at Kitagawa Tera.

It was not that she was unwilling to pay for a cup of coffee, but Kitagawa Tera’s attitude of taking it for granted annoyed her. She wanted to complain but did not know what to say.

Chinatsu Chiyuki could only suppress the urge until her face turned red before reluctantly saying, “Does Kitagawa-san think there’s a problem with me?”

Kitagawa Tera took a sip of coffee, raised his head, and looked at Chinatsu Chiyuki for a while before saying, “Apart from your flushed face, shortness of breath, and wanting to complain about me, the rest doesn’t seem to have a particularly large impact on you.”

Er… Chinatsu Chiyuki froze.

Kitagawa Tera gently rubbed against the warm coffee cup with his fingers and then dove straight into the topic. “Does President Chinatsu have nightmares often or suddenly see things that normal people can’t see recently?”

“That’s right.” Chinatsu Chiyuki suppressed her surprise. “Kitagawa-san should have read the specific details in the email. I frequently have nightmares about puppets, and the situation in the nightmares is mostly similar.”

“Nightmares about puppets?” Kitagawa Tera’s interest arose. “Exactly what kind of dream is it?”

“I dream about running for my life in the abandoned puppet factory.”

“Running for your life?” Kitagawa Tera rubbed his fingers against the cup.

“That’s right.” Chinatsu Chiyuki recalled the dream, and her delicate body seemed to tremble slightly in fear.

Kitagawa Tera ordered another cup of coffee and passed it to her.

Chinatsu Chiyuki looked at Kitagawa Tera gratefully.

But Kitagawa Tera did not think much about it. Chinatsu Chiyuki was the one paying in the end anyway.

Chinatsu Chiyuki took a small sip of the coffee. Her voice sounded as though her throat had been stuffed with ice, making it difficult to speak. “I dreamed that I was in the abandoned puppet factory running, escaping from countless puppets behind me…”

“Puppets? Puppets that can chase after you like living humans?”

“Right.” Chinatsu Chiyuki nodded while holding the coffee cup in both hands, seeming to want to absorb the warmth from the small cup.

“I don’t know why I’m having such a dream. In the beginning, I could easily find the exit in the nightmare. The factory paths were flat with almost no hindrances.

“But recently… ”

Chinatsu Chiyuki’s voice started to become painful.

“I can feel the dream becoming more and more realistic. My stamina, breathing, psychological changes, the scorched smell of the puppets being burnt lingering in the air… Everything became very realistic.

“But I didn’t dare to stop running. It’s as though those puppets would run up to devour me the moment I stopped.”

Chinatsu Chiyuki’s body was trembling.

“What I’m most afraid of are the changes to the dream… From the initial boundless plains and flat paths to now, where all kinds of ruined machines and the wreckage of puppets lie in disarray on the path… The dream seems to be slowly evolving… It’s like a living thing.

“In this dream, my stamina gets weaker and weaker every day, but the puppets are gaining speed… They are gradually catching up with me, and recently, I can even see the expressions on these puppets clearly at the exit.

“They were obviously fake faces, yet they caused me to shudder. There were obviously no expressions, yet I could feel their greed, cruelty, coldness, evilness…”

Chinatsu Chiyuki let go of the cup of coffee and exhaled heavily.

She was obviously in a warm cafe, but her whole body felt like an icehouse.

This situation undoubtedly left her feeling hopeless. The desperate fear was no less than watching a butcher with a knife approaching her step by step.

It was amazing that Chinatsu Chiyuki could persevere until now. Had it been another little girl of the same age, she would have collapsed long ago.

“And now, I seem to be able to gradually hear their hoarse voices clearly.”

“Voices?” Kitagawa Tera asked in doubt, “What did they say?”

“… They seemed to be saying a word… One very simple word.” Chinatsu Chiyuki grabbed her hair.

This action was not very ladylike, but it was the only way she could alleviate her inner fears.

“Skin…”

“Skin?” Kitagawa Tera raised his eyebrows.

This inexplicable word was incomprehensible to him as well.

But when he noticed that Chinatsu Chiyuki could no longer recall, he did not continue forcing her but instead extended his hands and held her shoulders.

“Rest assured. I have an idea of what’s going on now. What’s on you isn’t hard to exorcise at all. After all, you were merely implicated by your friend. The crux lies with her.”

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Chinatsu Chiyuki’s current situation was actually similar to Kamiya Mirai’s, just that the ‘will’ on Kamiya Mirai was much weaker than the one on Chinatsu Chiyuki.

If Kitagawa Tera were not to help, it would likely only take another week or two for this student council president to be on the brink of collapse.

However…

A thought flashed through Kitagawa Tera.

Skin? What does this mean?