TFOA Chapter 28

Precisely three hours later, his hands began to tremble, just as they always did.

Benjamin didn't try to endure it and neatly cleared his workspace with practiced ease.

He was about to head straight home when he paused, remembering what his blonde-haired neighbor had said when she'd come to borrow the shovel.

["Thanks for bringing me the shovel! Want to stop by my place later when you finish my painting? I'm harvesting cabbage today."]

There were two options. First, just go home. Second, get some cabbage and then go home.

Normally, he would have chosen "just go home" without a moment's hesitation.

But there was one variable—he was broke.

Since he'd started painting and cut back on translation work, his pantry contained nothing but eggs.

In such times, even a piece of cabbage would be precious.

In the end, Benjamin decided to stop by her house.

'I'm going to collect a reward for good deeds, yet somehow this feels like it's hurting my pride,' he thought, finding it strange.

"You came?"

He'd seen her from the time she was painting, but she'd been bustling about outside her yard, planting something or other.

Along the yard's fence, green seedlings were planted in a neat row. It was the same spot where Benjamin had once thought tulips would look nice.

"Curious about what these are?"

When the painter stared intently at the freshly planted seedlings, Niksi spoke up.

"But I'm not going to tell you what they are."

Niksi said this mischievously.

Because the painter hated sunflowers!

If he found out, the painter might grab a shovel right now and pull up all the seedlings. She couldn't let her labor go to waste.

Ironically, Benjamin had been uninterested, but her declaration that she wouldn't tell him sparked his curiosity belatedly.

So he found himself staring at the seedlings planted in a neat row along the fence once more.

Niksi giggled and invited him inside the house.

Benjamin was led by her hand into the house.

Though he'd once collapsed here after taking medicine and falling asleep, it was still an unfamiliar place to him.

Niksi seated Benjamin in a chair at the table, then scurried off to the storage room where she kept her crops.

Left alone in someone else's house, all a person could do was awkwardly try to familiarize themselves with the surroundings.

He slowly observed the interior.

Niksi's house was, to put it nicely, filled with furniture that each had their own quirk, or to put it badly, it was messy.

Antique charm and sophistication were scattered about inconsistently and haphazardly.

With her mouth closed, she might have seemed to advocate for a noble modernist era, but the moment she opened her mouth, she was revolutionary—a house that suited its owner perfectly.

"Here. Not bad for my first time growing it, right? Her name is Timmy."

Niksi set down a modestly sized cabbage.

It definitely had the cute size that showed it was homegrown. Perhaps a bit bigger than a fist.

He picked up the cabbage with one hand.

For some reason...

"I thought the cabbage would be as big as a house."

He who still harbored nightmares of the green beans muttered.

Somehow, since it was grown by this neighbor, he'd expected it to be something beyond ordinary.

"That's prejudice. I don't always make weird things, you know..."

"So you were aware that they were weird."

"I've heard it plenty. But strangely, when I do something normal, people think it's weird. Do you know why?"

Niksi sat in the chair across from him.

A gentle floral fragrance rose from the chamomile tea prepared for him as it was placed on the table.

"Everyone was surprised when I came here too. Oh, back then too. When I said I was going to military academy, everyone was shocked."

Military academy? Right. That's right. Come to think of it, the farmer before his eyes had been a soldier. The Battle of Gergonne. 23rd Division.

"...From my perspective, I don't think that was because it was ordinary."

"Then?"

"......"

Benjamin looked at Niksi as she put sugar cubes in her teacup.

Pale eyelashes and ruby-red eyes beneath them.

When she kept her mouth shut and smiled, she gave off quite a delicate impression—soft and weak-looking.

Niksi didn't know why he was staring at her so intently and just blinked.

Moving his gaze downward, he spotted chamomile petals stuck to Niksi's cheek.

'No wonder the tea had a grassy smell—she must have dried them herself.'

So she had that hobby too. Growing flowers, drying them...

Without realizing it, he reached out and brushed her cheek.

It was lukewarm.

Only then did he come to his senses with an "Ah."

"Painter?"

A voice asking back as if she didn't understand what was happening.

Benjamin frowned slightly, then brushed off the petal he'd transferred to his own hand.

He was simply puzzled by how this neighbor had thought to make flower tea. He hadn't intended to remove the petal at all.

Because that was unlike the bizarre and outrageous things the person before him would do—it was modest, ordinary... quite delicate.

So this was just...

"It doesn't suit you."

That's why people were probably surprised. Her and soldier. They didn't match.

A strange tension filled the air.

'What a pointless thing to do.'

Just as he thought this and was about to get up to leave—

"What's wrong, painter? Are you suffering from heat exhaustion?"

Niksi, who couldn't possibly know about such mounting tension, completely killed the mood.

In her eyes, the painter had suddenly become absent-minded, wiped some dirt off her face, then got all worked up by himself and scowled—that's all she could see. So naturally she was curious about what was going on in his head.

The painter let out a short, hollow laugh. "Ha."

Ah... right, this was the kind of person she was. He ruffled his hair.

"Curious?"

"Yeah."

"Too bad. I'm not going to tell you what it is."

Having received the cabbage, he stood up to return home.

She booed at him, telling him not to copy her.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then, take care."

"...Hey."

When he reached her front door with the cabbage in hand, he spoke up.

Niksi leaned casually against the doorframe for a formal send-off.

"What is it, copycat painter?"

Instead of a farewell, he waved the hand holding the cabbage.

"Thanks for this."

"Well of course you should, huh? Wait, what did you say?"

"Next time, try growing them a bit better. Monster-sized. That would suit you better."

"Wait! I didn't mishear that, did I? What did you just say?!"

Finally! The time had come to receive gratitude from the stray cat.

With a flushed face, Niksi grabbed Benjamin's sleeve.

He'd tried to just pass by casually, but this neighbor tactlessly set up another scene.

"What, tha..."

"Thanks?"

At her face that looked exactly like a little kid who'd received a praise sticker, Benjamin made a groaning sound.

"Tha... stop getting so close."

Unable to bear the burden, he stepped back lightly.

As he stepped back, his sleeve slipped free, and Niksi was pushed back as well.

At that moment, Niksi's heel caught on the entrance carpet that had been poorly positioned and was sticking out awkwardly.

"Huh?"

In an unguarded state, it was natural for her body's center to tip backward.

She realized her body was falling backward with a sudden rush.

Unable to regain her balance, her flailing hand grabbed Benjamin's collar, and—

"...?"

Benjamin's upper body suddenly pitched forward from the unexpected collar-grab.

CRASH-CLANG-BANG!

The two fell with a tremendous noise.

"......"

"......"

Benjamin's light beige hair tickled Niksi's forehead.

A distance of less than a hand's span. The sound of breath drawn in short gasps of surprise.

His rare, startled round purple eyes reflected her image.

The cabbage rolled away beside them.

Fortunately, no mishap occurred where their features brushed against each other.

Looking at Benjamin's arm that was supporting him beside her, Niksi bluntly spoke.

"Are you grateful to me?"

"...I was until just now."

Benjamin silently paid respect to his left hand that had done well supporting his weight.

He raised his upper body. Then he extended his hand to Niksi, meaning for her to grab it and get up.

But his neighbor was still lying on the entrance floor.

Had she gotten a concussion from falling?

A chilling thought flashed through his mind as he raised his hand and waved it in front of her.

"Are you okay..."

"......"

Suddenly, she began crying.

His eyes, which had been about to ask if she was okay, widened in surprise.

Niksi began crying like a faucet had been turned on.

'Why?'

He was more shocked than when they'd fallen and fell into a long silence.

Unfortunately, he didn't know how to comfort someone. So he just froze awkwardly in his half-risen position.

She lay there like that for a while, then after some time passed, began moving while trembling.

"Ah..."

"......"

"Ah... shit..."

"...Are you okay."

"My tailbone..."

He, who had been about to ask if she was okay again, shut his mouth.

Tailbone?

Numerous question marks appeared above his head.

Niksi tremblingly held her lower back. Tears were still flowing from her eyes.

Niksi rolled up the entrance carpet while shaking like a sick duck.

There was a metal decoration about the size of a thumb sticking out.

"Ah... shit... damn it... I think I hit my tailbone on this... my tailbone..."

'She's definitely not okay.'

His face naturally scrunched up. The painter expressed deep regret to the writhing Niksi.

"Painter, look at my tailbone for me. I think it's broken..."

Niksi groaned while grabbing the painter's forearm.

"Why should I look at that?"

"I saw your bare chest too, so it's fi... fine..."

"......"

Even if she said it was fine, he definitely wasn't fine with it.

In the first place, voluntary and involuntary were completely different, and the difference between upper and lower body was like heaven and earth.

Besides, he was a man, and she was... at least biologically a woman.

Anyway, unable to go as far as checking her tailbone, he had no choice but to crouch down beside Niksi. He intended to stay by her side until Niksi's pain subsided.

Time passed, and the tears that had been flowing automatically stopped, leaving only throbbing bruises in Niksi's awkward area.

When the pain ended, Niksi threw a fit, saying she was going to destroy the metal decoration that had been hidden under the entrance carpet.

"This thing almost destroyed my butt! It almost went from two pieces to three pieces!"

Niksi struck the dented part of the metal decoration hard with the shovel.

Then suddenly, there was a sound of wooden flooring creaking.

Niksi panted as she grabbed and pulled at the metal decoration.

She thought it would pop out like a nail being pulled, but it didn't.

The metal decoration rattled in the floor, and the wooden flooring connected to it seemed to crack slightly, then began creating a thin gap.

"...?"

"Huh?"

Soon the tightly closed floor opened. It was a door leading to an underground storage room that even the homeowner didn't know about.

She took the painter down to the basement.

"I had no idea there was a space like this under the floor."

A cool, earthy-smelling space. They went down the creaky wooden stairs.

Having groped their way down to the ground level, Niksi hung the lantern she was carrying on a hook hanging from the ceiling.

It was an underground room just the right size to use as a root vegetable storage or a wine cellar.

Feeling like she'd discovered a place with unexpected treasure, Niksi hummed while looking around the basement.

She didn't know what it was originally used for.

On the old shelves were bladed tools commonly used for farming, on the desk were scraps of paper, and beside it was an old cane that looked like a crutch.

Were these the previous owner's things? Niksi examined the crutch.

Something had fallen in the corner beneath the crutch. She reached for it.

Among these, Benjamin found the most unusual thing.

It was a shotgun.

It looked very familiar. Especially the part with two barrels and triggers.

He grabbed the wooden part of the gun and examined it from various angles.

M30. It was the same model he'd been issued when he was in the military.

The model seemed somewhat modified, making it hard to be certain, but it appeared to have been modified to be suitable for hunting.

In the corner of the stock, a name was written in rough letters, probably belonging to the gun's owner.

<Mark Richter>

'Was this gun popular in this area?'

Benjamin recalled the old days. It seemed old from being neglected for a long time, but the gun's condition was good.

Should he be glad about this? He opened the magazine to check.

'Live ammunition is loaded.'

He instinctively emptied the magazine. It was a habit his hands knew even without intention.

He rolled the bullets he'd removed in his hand, then put them in the drawer.

"Wow. There was something really ominous under our house's floor?"

Niksi said, looking at the shotgun he was holding.

Besides that, there were several other sinister things.

A map with dirty stains on it. A dull knife and thick hooks that would be used to hang pork. Moldy biscuits in the corner.

Really, though she didn't want to assume this...

"This house... could it have been lived in by some weird person?"

"What do you mean by weird person?"

Benjamin looked at Niksi. The person in front of him was weird too, so how unhinged would the weirdness that a weird person spoke of be?

At Benjamin's question, Niksi blurted out with a disgusted expression.

"You know, those movies. Where a neighbor who pretends to be kind on the surface hides their secret hobbies in a basement like this and does strange things every night—B-grade movies!"

Even without B-grade movies, such unhinged characters were... right in front of his eyes.

She could have just looked at herself, but she was wandering in a completely different dimension.

"Look at these hard biscuits. The owner of this house must have locked someone up and only given them biscuits. Without even water. And look at this! This looks exactly like something you'd use to tie something up! Those, what are they called, chains or whatever, you know, any-way!"

"Something like this?"

Benjamin found a bundle of wire in the second drawer.

Niksi shouted the answer like a quiz show host.

"Yes! Exactly like that!"

Huh? Seeing the familiar object he was holding, Niksi blinked.

"Hey, painter. Let me see that."

Half-forcefully taking the wire bundle, Niksi began examining it carefully.

Benjamin found something like a note in the drawer. Rustle, he unfolded the paper.

<2 rabbits, 1 pheasant.>

Strange tastes indeed. His noisy neighbor had said that, but from his perspective, it just seemed like...

"Looks like someone who enjoyed hunting."

The shotgun, the dull knife, the hooks, the snares.

The owner of this basement seemed to have simply enjoyed hunting.

"Hunting?"

The two looked at each other.