Kei: Tsudzura-chan, do you think you could go look for me?
Tsudzura: I do not mind, but, Onee-san, are you okay?
Kei: That is, uh…… ahaha, I think, as an added effect of that blackout, my waist and legs are……
Tsudzura: Rendered unable to stand?
The undue shame weighs down my head, that I can’t even raise it to face her as I nod gloomily.
Upon those two shoulders of mine, Tsudzura-chan sets her tiny hands.
Tsudzura: Please think naught of it, Kei-oneesan. My debt to you is far beyond one night’s stay and should any chance arrive to repay it, big or small or whatever the particulars, I will always welcome it!
That nobility, and the purity of her smile, are like those of a wingless angel.
And to think I would push this off onto that Tsudzura-chan at the slightest sense of fear or danger, what could be more despicable?
Kei: Ah……um, actually, Tsudzura-chan……
Tsudzura: What is it—?
Wringing out whatever courage I might have, I turn to face Tsudzura-chan, who into just now was searching around her bags for what must’ve been a flashlight or something.
Kei: I think really, that I…… um, Tsudzura-chan.
Tsudzura: Yes?
Kei: That thing you’re holding there……
Tsudzura: This would be a hammer, but what of it?
Kei: …………
Tsudzura: In that case, Onee-san, I shall be off to the entrance hall, then.
Keeping the hammer hidden behind her, Tsudzura-chan leaves the living room. And as if following his other half, Obana-chan trails behind.
Kei: ……Is this really okay?
Mom, does not having the courage to step forward first make me a bad person?
If you’re watching, I beg you, please make sure that nothing bad happens.
Tsudzura: Towaaa———!
——: Too soft!
Tsudzura: Why you—!
It turns out that the blackout was only in passing, and while I’m waiting, the room regains its light.
Just as I’m thinking that might just have been a good omen, I hear Tsudzura-chan’s voice reach the room.
Tsudzura: Onee-san, you have a visitor~!
Creaking the boards of the wooden floor as they enter the living room are Tsudzura-chan, Obana-chan, and one more.
To my surprise I look, and see a woman looking close to halfway through her twenties, with a height of 170cm (5’7 – 5’8) with yet more to spare.
And on top of her long limbs, and a rather Japanese-removed figure, her facial features are clearly those of a beautiful woman, floating a slight air of unknown national heritage.
What’s more, this person is——
——: Kei, what’s wrong with you, making her receive a stranger at a dangerous time like this?
——someone I know.
Going by the name of Asama Sakuya-san, she is a longtime friend of my mother’s, and similarly an old friend of mine.
She’s also someone I can rely on, and with her sudden arrival, I can’t help but think my mother’s guidance was involved somehow.
Kei: Hauu~~~
I am so relieved, my strength leaves and I fall back into a seat.
Sakuya: ……Kei?
Kei: Ah, nothing, it’s nothing. But Sakuya-san, why did you come here?
Sakuya: I came for work, you know. Work. It’s all right here.
What she waves between us as she speaks thusly is her usual camera, with a big lens attached.
Sakuya-san’s work doubles as reportage writing and photography, so judging by her gesture just now, she must be here on a photography assignment.
Sakuya: This time, the theme is “Our Remaining Japanese Wildlife”, the subjects being badgers and foxes, boars, deer, butterflies, etcetera.
Kei: Butterflies, too?
Sakura: In a word, yeah. People like to look at them, after all.
As it so happens, I hear she first learned photography to take pictures for her articles, but it would seem the pictures she took as a hobby grew popular, and are now her main item.
She also has a foot in the exploring domain, with landscapes of unknown regions, seldom seen wild animals and ecosystems, always outdoors.
Kei: But, why here? I think there are a lot more famous places than here to find animals.
Sakuya: Famous places like that become tourist spots. If it’s just the ones that appear with bait, any old half-baked shutterbug can take a picture of that.
Kei: Ah, I see.
Sakuya: Not to mention, this place has some regional flavor to it.
Kei: Is that so?
Sakuya: I’ll bet you don’t remember, but you stayed in this house when you were little, you know, back when Emiko-san was alive.
The “Emiko-san” she’s speaking of the mother of my father. In other words, my grandmother.
In other words, her history with my family goes back far enough to remember that time.
Kei: So that’s why you remembered this mansion, then.
Sakuya: That’s right. I was taking pictures in the mountains, and suddenly got rained on. So I thought I might just borrow your roof, but you can see, I’m fully a wet rat, already.
As she speaks, her gesture of shaking her head to shake off the water is more like a dog than a mouse—— hang on…
Kei: Sakuya-san, don’t spray it all over like that!
Sakuya: If you don’t like it, it just makes me want to do it more. It’s human nature. In fact, why don’t I just give you a great big hug?
Kei: Wah, stop it, stop it! Right, towel!