“Hey, hello there.”
A young girl was trembling in the corner of a dark room.
Her parents, who were supposed to be there, had long since fled, leaving her all alone.
It wasn’t just her parents.
The neighbors, the residents next door too.
They had nearly died because of her.
That’s why the girl was trembling.
Wondering what had gone wrong.
If she had done something bad.
But she couldn’t find the answer.
The fact was, the girl couldn’t leave that small room, only cowering there in fear.
If left alone, she would likely have starved to death.
That’s when a young boy appeared before her.
Wearing a black hat and a tattered coat.
“D-Don’t come any closer, please!”
The girl cried out in a hoarse voice.
Not out of fear of the boy himself.
But fearing that whatever power she possessed might end up hurting him.
“Hm? Oh, sorry for suddenly showing up like this. I must look pretty suspicious, but I promise I’m not dangerous.”
Doing as she asked, the boy stopped and gave a casual smile.
As if trying to reassure the girl.
“…You’re…not affected at all? By being near me?”
“Nope, doesn’t seem that way. That’s why I came to help you out.”
Everyone around the girl had become unable to be near her.
One day, suddenly, she was all alone.
Abandoned in a dark cave with no light shining through.
Wilting away like a flower deep inside.
But the boy appeared as casually as going for a stroll, reaching his hand out to her.
“I don’t know what it is you want. But at the very least, I think I can help so you don’t have to cower here in this corner anymore.”
●
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
Shizuku – Teardrop.
Always wearing a hood, she only ever wears boyish pants or skirts, along with stockings or tights, and constantly has gloves on, never allowing any exposed skin. She carries a violin case slung over her shoulder.
The pale white hair peeking out from under her hood immediately catches the eye.
Her dark amber eyes are usually half-lidded, but that only adds to her charm.
Just turning sixteen this year, she’s rather short in stature with an unfortunately underdeveloped body, but that too is part of her endearing qualities.
Their meeting spot is the fountain plaza at the center of the residential district of Vardium.
The weather is nice, but being a weekday, there are only a few families with children or couples enjoying the scenery, while on the roads, black exhaust wafts from horse-drawn carriages and the automobiles the wealthy have started driving around in.
Shizuku emerges from behind the shadow of a passing carriage.
She crosses the road, walking over to where Norman is standing in front of the fountain.
An unpeaceful girl, ill-suited for such a peaceful park setting, Norman thinks.
“A nice day, at least fitting for the hood, perhaps?”
“Was that a snide remark about the hood?”
Her petite frame slightly hunched as she walks, combined with her lack of exposed skin, gives off an impression of being detached from the world, unable to fit in anywhere.
Like a flower bud that has refused to bloom and bask in the light, destined to wither away in the darkness if left alone.
An fragile girl who seems poised to simply fade away.
“Hey, Shizuku. You’re late. But don’t worry, I just got here too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Norman?”
Her voice was clear.
But riding it was a slightly bored, faintly displeased tone.
Cocking her head, clearly not the reaction he expected, her tied-back hair swayed behind her neck.
“Ah, that’s strange. Didn’t I say the same thing last time we met up, no matter how long I made you wait?”
“That was when you arrived before the meeting time. If I say that after the other person is late, doesn’t that make you late too?”
“Oh, you’re absolutely right.”
“Honestly…”
From beneath her hood,
Shizuku let out an exasperated sigh laced with a hint of amusement and a wry smile.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Sorry I’m late. But what’s with meeting up in a place like this?”
“I don’t think it’s too bad. Seems like a pretty standard meeting spot.”
“You ‘seem’ to think? You’ve met up here before?”
“Can’t say that I have. I hardly ever have any business around these parts.”
“That makes two of us, which is why I got a bit lost.”
“But I did at least know this was supposed to be a famous meeting place.”
“Something you would know that I wouldn’t.”
“…Fair enough.”
Shizuku – Teardrop.
Shockingly, she is actually a hikikomori, a shut-in.
At sixteen years old, daughters of merchants or nobility would normally be attending finishing schools to become brides, while those from poorer families would be working or already married.
Yet this peculiar and rather pitiful girl neither attends school nor works, instead confining herself to her lodgings and passing time playing her violin hobby.
Not that she gives off such a vibe herself.
Norman shrugged his shoulders.
“Shall we get going then?”
He started walking,
and Shizuku silently fell into step beside him.
Keeping a distance of about a fist’s length between them.
“So?”
A piercing, cold gaze bore into him.
Norman answered by pulling out a file from inside his coat and handing it to her.
“…”
Shizuku accepted it wordlessly. Inside were a few documents and photographs.
The first thing she saw was a smiling portrait photo of a woman who appeared to be a noblewoman.
“Who is this person?”
“Mary Wallwood. The president of a shipping company. A brilliant female CEO who successfully took over her late husband’s company five years ago.”
“How old was she?”
“Thirty-five.”
“You mean her age at death, right?”
In a rather careless, disinterested motion, she flipped through the file.
There was a photo of Mary Wallwood’s corpse.
While it depicted a rather shocking manner of death, she closed the file without changing her expression.
“To have succeeded at running a shipping company at that age, she must have been quite capable.”
“Well, she was surrounded by that utterly nonsensical huge wall.”
Norman looked up at the sky, and Shizuku followed suit.
Their gaze met an immense wall in the distance.
The walled city of Vardium was aptly named, completely encircled by towering walls.
Walking from one end to the other at a brisk pace would easily take an entire day.
In the center rose an exceptionally tall tower, but the walls were even higher than that.
How much time and effort must have gone into constructing such massive encircling walls was unimaginable.
He had been living in this city for about a year and a half now, but having no interest in its history, he had never looked into it.
Just one thing:
“This city has no wind.”
Wind should blow in from somewhere and anywhere, you’d think.
There were small breezes of airflow, but nothing you could really call wind.
As if this city had been left behind by the rest of the world.
“For someone born and raised in this city, that’s perfectly normal though.”
Shizuku shrugged.
“Being in such a remote location, we can’t easily leave the city. And basically all our living necessities are self-contained within, so there’s no need for wind really.”
“But there are still things we lack that have to come from outside. That’s where shipping companies play a crucial role for this city.”
“Hmm. As a shut-in, I couldn’t care less about that stuff.”
“In a way, it’s precisely because you’re a shut-in that you get to enjoy those conveniences…”
“More importantly…”
With a thump, the file was roughly shoved back at him.
“Meeting up after so long, and you’re already talking business? Shady business at that?”
“It’s just work, that’s all.”
“Illegal work.”
“Not at all. …Ah, I mean, it’s a mystery novel plot.”
The follow-up remark was directed at a passing gentleman.
A young man in an expensive-looking tailcoat and top hat, likely a nobleman of some kind,
He who had paused upon overhearing the words “illegal business” from the petite girl’s lips. Norman gave him an easy smile.
“Ah…I see. Does that make the young lady your assistant then?”
The refined gentleman gave a slight bow before continuing on his way.
“…What was that about me being an assistant?”
Shizuku, having briefly increased the distance between them, closed it again as she asked.
“You didn’t know? There was this popular mystery novel series a few years back that was all the rage in the capital, and hit it big here in Vardium just last year.”
“Who is this ‘everyone’ who was reading it?”
“…I suppose it’s more accurate to say everyone besides you and me.”
“I don’t read wordy novels that just give me a headache.”
Well,
that’s certainly not a line you’d expect to hear from a cool, melancholic beauty like her.
“So?”
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