25 25

His feelings for you are unique.

25

Aside from music classes in primary and secondary school, Wakana Kawakami had never systematically studied music. Therefore, she was unsure how her singing style would ultimately be perceived by Fei Jia, a "professional."

The moment the video finished loading and Fei Jia could see it, she immediately stared intently at the screen, waiting for the other party's evaluation.

After waiting for a while, just when she thought that Fei Jia might have to wait a while to see it, the message changed to "read" and a reply came back a few minutes later.

Who taught you this?

[Could it be Dazai again...?]

Kawakami Wakai quickly sent a cat shaking its head emoji.

Then she recounted how she had originally planned to try out a Russian class at a nearby language school, but instead met Gogol, who suggested that learning a few songs might be a better way to find common ground with Fedya than learning conversational Russian, and how he had taught her those songs.

Fyodor's response to this was simply...

[...] A string of ellipses.

Kawakami Ruoyi: "...?"

Did she make a mistake again?

She wanted to find out the name of the song, but then she suddenly remembered that she hadn't asked Gogol about it in the Russian class before they parted ways.

So Ruoyi could only send Fei Jia a cat-shaped clasped-fist emoji.

Just as she was about to launch another attack using honorifics—

[Fei Jia: He wasn't a music major, nor did he study vocal music or any musical instruments.]

[Feyya: If you want to learn Russian songs, come find me.]

Huh?

The moment after receiving the message, a voice request popped up on the screen.

From Fedia.

Kawakami Wakana immediately clicked to connect and then began bombarding the room with her loud voice.

"Feijia, you're really going to teach me to sing? I'm so happy! So what should we learn, simple nursery rhymes? Or some nice love songs?"

This instantly gave Fyodor a headache.

"Quiet."

Kawakami Wakana didn't want to increase Fei Jia's murderous intent towards her without being seen, so she immediately quieted down.

A melodious song came from the phone's receiver.

This time, Fedia didn't play his cello; instead, he chose to sing a cappella. Even without accompaniment, his voice was beautiful. Although it was a cheerful melody, there was an inexplicable sense of heaviness in it, like the song of the sirens. Even knowing that it was filled with danger, it would still make people stop and listen without realizing it.

Kawakami Wakana sat on the bed, her phone beside her, humming softly along with Fei Jia.

Perhaps it was because Fei Jia sang really well that she sang along, even though it was the first time she had heard the song and the lyrics were in a language she had never encountered before.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

It felt like it was stretched out for an infinitely long time.

Only after the small 1DK rental room fell silent did Ruoyi exclaim in admiration, "Feijia, you sang so beautifully! What's the name of this song?"

She didn't want to end up embarrassing herself like Gogol had done before, when he asked her to sing because she forgot to ask the song title.

“Mom Wants Me to Get Married (1)” was the simple reply from the other end.

They even kindly sent the Russian song title to the chat history.

Kawakami Wakana said "Oh," copied the song title into Google, and started searching.

She quickly found the lyrics, but her finger paused when she saw the last line.

He is a kind and cheerful person.

But he doesn't love me. (1)

"..."

"Feijia!" she blurted out instinctively, "I will never stop loving you!"

Fyodor: ?

He smirked: "So, the 'love' you're talking about is the same feeling as God's loving-kindness?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Ruoyi finally hummed in agreement.

Although Ruoyi would visit the shrine with her parents or friends every New Year, she had never actually believed in any so-called "god," so she didn't really understand what kind of god she was talking about, but she still said it subconsciously.

She might still like Fedia, but she just doesn't know if Fedia likes her in the same way.

“I see…” Fyodor said, seemingly lost in thought.

“Oh, right!” Ruoyi suddenly remembered something, “Gogol-kun…Gogol-san also said that you helped me resolve some trouble?”

"You believe what he says?"

"..."

The two exchanged a few more brief greetings and then hung up. Fyodor put his phone aside, muttered something, and made the sign of the cross by touching his right index, thumb, and middle fingers together.

Then, he picked up his phone and sent a group message to several of his "dead house rats" subordinates.

[Implement the previously agreed-upon plan.]

[Causing Herman, a member of the "Group," to possess the supernatural power of the "White Whale" and fall.]

…………

Sunday.

Today is the day that Kawakami Wakai goes to work at the "Whirlpool Cafe".

It seemed the Armed Detective Agency was closed today, because by noon, Kawakami Wakana hadn't seen a single member of the agency. Even Dazai Osamu, who always came here to slack off whenever he had time, and even when he was busy, he would steal a moment to relax, was nowhere to be seen.

Even though the Armed Detective Agency is one of the "Big Three" in Yokohama's supernatural world, its members are still human and naturally need rest, so Kawakami Wakana didn't find it strange.

There weren't many customers in the store today, so it was relatively quiet. She even had time to sneak around on her phone or chat with her colleagues for a while.

Just as Ruoyi was mopping the kitchen floor and enthusiastically talking to one of her high school colleague who worked there about the Russian song she was currently learning, "My Mother Makes Me Marry," she was practically about to sing it to him herself—

"Wow! Didn't you see? A foreigner came into our shop!" Another young girl, who had been serving customers, ran over with her face flushed. "It was two men, I don't know if they were father and son, but they looked really rich!"

Foreigners?

This sentence made Kawakami Wakai prick up her ears.

Her first thought was that the person who came might be Feda. After all, Feda knew that she worked here.

But when I heard that the foreign guests were "father and son", I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Father and son...

That's definitely not Fedia.

If Fedia's father really showed up here, it would truly become a horror novel.

"And they don't seem to speak very good Japanese!" the little girl said pitifully. "What should I do... My English is okay for passing exams, but when it comes to talking to foreigners, all I can say is 'hello' and 'bye'..."

Another high school student working part-time also expressed some difficulty: "My English teacher says every day that my English pronunciation is just like reading a foreign language..."

"..."

An awkward atmosphere instantly filled the kitchen.

After a long pause, Kawakami Wakana finally said, "Then, I'll go!"

"Kawakami-senpai—" The two high school girls were moved to tears.

The foreign guests at that table didn't order much. Ten minutes later, Kawakami Wakai came over to the guests with French fries and hamburger patties.

“Hello…” she said in the English Fedia had taught her, “enjoy your meeting.”

“Thanks.” The blond, blue-eyed man nodded.

But when Kawakami Wakana looked at the man, she paused for a moment.

She felt like she'd seen this person somewhere before. Now, getting closer, she saw—

This isn't from the photo Yumeno Kyusaku showed her before...

Francis?

so……

Could he be here to see someone from the Armed Detective Agency?

However, she wasn't a member of the Armed Detective Agency, so even if Francis was indeed looking for someone from the agency, it was none of her business. Therefore, she simply gave a slight bow and prepared to attend to the other guests.

But just as she moved a little further away from that table, she suddenly heard the white-haired old man sitting with Francis say:

"Captain, Scottie-chan seemed to like wearing braids when she was alive."

Scotty-chan...?

No, no!

They... can speak Japanese, right?

"Seriously?" Ruoyi couldn't help but whisper.

He was just a capitalist being targeted by the Port Mafia...

Kawakami Wakana didn't seem to care much about her meeting with Francis.

After finishing her work that day, she packed her things and prepared to go back to Sendai.

She originally planned to go back for the Obon festival, but many people went home during the Obon festival, so the shop was too busy. Therefore, she had to go back a few days earlier to celebrate her mother's birthday, and then stay in Tokyo to work during the Obon festival.

When she got off at the station, her parents were already waiting for her. Seeing her father and mother whom she hadn't seen in a long time, Ruoyi was about to greet them when she paused, her raised hand pausing.

"What's wrong, Ruoyi?" her mother asked, puzzled.

"It's nothing," Kawakami Wakana quickly replied.

Then she pushed her suitcase forward, took her father's arm with one hand and her mother's arm with the other, and said in a slightly coquettish tone, "I'm hungry. Mom promised me we'd have barbecue today!"

As she spoke, she glanced at the top of her parents' heads.

Above both of their heads was written—

[Affection level: 100 (family)]

[Murderous intent: 0%]

Speaking of which—

The previous characters, including Dazai Osamu and the little boy Yumeno Kyusaku, also had a "friend" label indicating their affection level.

But Fei Jia is the only one whose favorability rating has no notes at all.

Kawakami Ruoyi: "...?"

Does this signify anything?

So she messaged Dazai Osamu about her discovery, and then went to eat barbecue with her family. Barbecue is considered a rather luxurious dish, and Kawakami Wakai hadn't had it in a long time. She was immediately overwhelmed by the aroma.

It wasn't until after dinner that Ruoyi remembered the message she had sent to Dazai Osamu.

Upon inspection, Dazai Osamu had already replied.

【Wakai-chan...】

[Your Fyodor, he really does like you, doesn't he!]

"...?"

After Kawakami Wakana sent a question mark, Dazai Osamu immediately replied:

[Think about it, the favorability ratings for me, Oda Sakunosuke, Kunikida-kun, and Q are displayed with "friend" in parentheses. Does that mean we have a friendship level?]

[And your parents' "home" represents their level of affection as family members.]

But whether it's friends or family, a person can have many. That's why nicknames exist in contact lists.

So, Fyodor's affection level has no notation, meaning it's a unique feeling—a lifelong commitment to one person.

[Author's Note]

(1) Russian lyrics translated from the Russian folk song "My Mother Wants Me to Get Married"

This song tells the story of a woman whose mother wants her to marry, betrothing her to seven different men, each of whom refuses or is rejected for different reasons.

Today's Mini-Theater

I remember ZW saying that Dostoevsky is the type who would give a girl he likes a gift of a country's worth of goods on Valentine's Day or something.

Gu Kede—

Perhaps on their first Valentine's Day together, Fejia will prepare a marriage application.

The reason is that once you get married, you can apply for ownership of a Japanese company in the future; and then... you can become the Prime Minister??

Of course; it could also be a plane ticket to Lucia.