An Earnest Unrequited Love, Wanting to Make it Bear a Little Happiness. Vol 1 Chapter 1.4

Part 4

[Ichihana Mayu] The Next Day’s Very Annoying Trash Sorting (Page 60)

It looks like my “fated encounter” is still a bit far off. Just a teensy bit farther than I had originally predicted. Mimi told me: “I’m only guessing, but if you could break this fence a little, we can probably get inside” So I did exactly as he asked. The iron fence around the garbage collection area, that is. I smashed the lock on the door and then we proceeded to take a couple of things from inside. I figured that my job was done then, but who am I kidding. There’s still a lot more to go. It’s taking so long.

“Hey haven’t we already sorted enough of this stuff?”

“Well, it appears that Mayu-chan’s fated person is actually protected by some fairly high level security, so this really can’t be helped.”

Right now Mimi’s come out of his phone. Or rather, I should say that he “transformed” or something like that. Just like before with a bunch of high-pitched noises and sounds like breaking ice, little parts of him s.h.i.+fted around like a Rubik’s cube, (descent Note: It actually references a j.a.panese wooden puzzle called a 組木細工 which looks similar), finally taking his current shape. Even if I watch him closely, I can’t tell how it works. I guess if someone filmed it in high-speed it would look like salt crystallizing or something. But it’s somehow different. It’s actually even stranger than that. Though the transformation process is so mysterious, in the end he turns into a single pink rabbit. But I actually don’t get bored of watching it. It’s almost like a special CG scene in a movie, it’s pretty interesting. And now that plus.h.i.+e-like something that I call “Mimi” is speaking again: “That place is a fancy apartment complex with some really good security in place. Even though he’s only a simple high-schooler, he’s got some nerve living there. I mean, even the dumpster had a lock on it! He’s not kidding around, this guy. I’m s.h.i.+fting my caution rating for him up one rank.”

“Eh? But I broke in for you, didn’t I? I properly brought back all the things we needed.”

“Well, having the axe on hand was a big help. That was very smart of you. Did you somehow know that we’d be needing it? Had you seen that security of his beforehand?”

“What the heck are you talking about? This axe is what Usausa Divination told me to bring. It’s my Lucky Item!”

“I still don’t understand all this “divination talk” in the slightest.”

“Mimi, you’re a lot dumber than I thought.”

“And there you go insulting me without a second thought. I demand that you provide some proof. I was designed to be an advance hacking AI and I can’t bear to have you talk to me that way. My pride is making me overheat! I’m currently using all of my cooling features to try and stay calm.”

“Haha! Your purple coat is getting darker! You’re so silly!” Even though I’m laughing at him, I decide to go easy on him for now.

But all that aside, please hurry! I gotta finish what I set out to do. I brought back all the stuff I was told to gather and now we’re going through it. On top of the sheet I laid out, all the garbage we took is sorted neatly. I uncrumpled all the sheets of paper I could find. Anything that looks like a memo or doc.u.ment is especially important. Shopping receipts, any kind of bill or bank statement. Even though Mimi was the one who thought all this up, he really likes to take his time. I can’t wait any more!

“Hey Mimi, once you go through all this stuff, will you be able to figure out lots and lots of things about Nijou-kun? Almost like you know him?”

“Oh course, Mayu. Data collection is the most fundamental thing. Gathering anything and everything we can from the garbage is a good place to start.”

“Well, I can’t say that anything is really jumping out to me yet…like, what about this?”

I pick up a utility bill from the pile. All the information on it; address, name, telephone number, I know all that stuff already. Even if I don’t look at all those empty packages, ripped off labels, and opened envelopes, I would already know it by heart. What else is there to find here?

“Looking through the electric, water, and gas bills, I can make a good estimate of how many people live in that apartment. It looks like the number is rather low. Really low in fact. Is this guy almost living on his own?”

“He lives with just his mom, right?” Looking through all the envelopes I have, I read the names carefully. I look closely at the address box handwriting on each one. I see, I see. A lot of these look like they were written by young girls. I bet they even used cute stationary. It’s obvious that these letters were for things you couldn’t easily discuss over text messaging. It looks like there is some compet.i.tion I need to be more aware of.

“I can’t believe there are so many girls who don’t understand other people’s feelings. It really bothers me. They really don’t see how much trouble they’re causing for me. Hey Mimi, don’t you agree?”

“I don’t really get it, but I’ll agree just in case. Because you can be a bit scary sometimes. By the way, it looks like his mother’s name is Yuriko Nijou, right? It looks like there are only two people that letters are ever sent here for. It’s a mother-son household. Moreover, it looks like the mother is barely home. All the housework seems to be done at night and on the weekends when the water and electric usage goes up a bit. That’s probably related to laundry and vacuuming. “

“Now that you mention it…it looks like Nijou-kun even cooks for himself! Look, look. All the credit card and electronic purchases are probably his mom’s, but the rest are Nijou-kun’s. If you look at his shopping receipts, you can even guess what he’s making!”

Truthfully, I want to be the one to cook for him, but when I look at the receipts, I have to admit that he makes some pretty impressive stuff. But I needn’t worry it seems. It looks like he is mostly making j.a.panese-style food. Oh Nijou-kun with his beautiful, silky hair. It’s all just like I imagined. He probably wants to eat pasta sometimes, but it’s just too troublesome to make. So I’ll make it for him! My very own home-cooking! Just for Nijou-kun. I start s.p.a.cing out just thinking about it…wait! That’s no good! I immediately reset my face that had gone all dreamy. (descent Note: From the description/phrase in the text, she is actually making that obsessed/semi-drooling laugh/grin that girls often make when fantasizing about something in anime/manga, but that’s too hard to translate, so imagine it)

“After that…well, it looks like there are plenty of notes and reference sheets from school. But I already knew that he was a good student. He likes books too, right? It seems like he’s visited the book store quite a bit. But that’s all old news. Is there anything else? I already noted down the kind of soap, shampoo, and toothpaste he uses.”

“Do those really matter? All that stuff sounds really bor-wait! Wait! No! It’s nothing. It’s ultra-important! You’re going to use the same shampoo, right!? That’s great!!”

“Right? Right!? Mimi looks like such a dummy but you actually understand! Hey look at this! Look! Is this one helpful?”

“I’m not a dummy! I’m a high functioning device! I asked you to lay off the insults…hey, wait! This is great! Bingo! It’s a total bull’s-eye! I was hoping for something like this. As expected of you Mayu, you really have a talent for finding things. Not to mention some really good luck.”

“So this is it? Well, is it really that great?”

I slowly put the ripped up sc.r.a.p of paper back together with some tape. It still looks pretty bad, but at least it’s back in one piece. It’s a memo from the security company that covers Nijou-kun’s apartment. It looks like his pa.s.sword was recently changed. I already know which room he lives in, so if I know the pa.s.sword and the name of the apartment resident I wonder if I can get in. Hmmm. Unfortunately it seems like the most important part, the very pa.s.sword I need, is marked in asterisks [******]. I have no clue what it could be. But at least their office number is listed on the doc.u.ment, so let’s try and give them a call.

“h.e.l.lo? Hi, I’m Yuriko Nijou from Crown Garden apartment 901, I’m trying to remember the name of the security guy over here….wait, was it, um, Mr. Aikawa?”

“Um…. actually it’s Aida. Let’s see…yes, Aida is in charge of security over there.” (descent Note: In j.a.panese you don’t add “san” and stuff when talking about people who belong to your family and/or company. You’d figure this Aida is a man and thus “Mr. Aida” but given what Mayu does next, I suppose it could be a woman and as most of you know j.a.panese doesn’t make that clear.)

“Oh yeah, that’s it! Aida. I had a question about our recent pa.s.sword change and I was wondering if you could transfer me to them…”

“Wait a moment please……um, I’m sorry but it looks like Aida is out right now, I’ll have them call you back as soon as possible.” (gender-vague lol)

“Ah, I see. Well if that’s the case, then don’t worry about it. My son can tell me when he gets home.”

And with that I hung up. I let out a sigh of relief. I always get a little nervous when I have to play a specific role or ask for a specific person like that. Anyhow, I gotta hurry up and make the next phone call.

“h.e.l.lo? This is Aida from over at the Crown Garden maintenance office. I had a question about the pa.s.sword for one of the residents here…”

“Thanks for all your hard work. Just hold on a second and I’ll put you through to the security chief.”

This time I also try to put on a very adult-sounding voice. On the line, it looks like the chief finally picked up. I tell him my name (Aida), once more, letting him know that I am the maintenance and security person over at the apartment complex. This “Aida” person is a real human being and I’m sure the guy on the line knows the name at least.

“Mrs. Nijou from over in apartment 901 just came over here asking me to check on her pa.s.sword. It seems she tried to enter it 3 times and then the system locked her out. I tried looking it up on my computer but we had a little bit of a system failure a few days ago and though I backed everything up, I only have their old data on here. The Nijou’s changed their pa.s.sword recently, right? Can I have you look it up for me?”

“It was apartment 901, right? Okay…let’s see…can I have you tell me the resident’s name, address and phone number one more time?”

“Gotch’ya. Let’s see….” Starting off like that, I provided the guy with all of Nijou-kun’s correct personal information. But honestly, this stuff was so easy to find, it’s hard to believe that they actually use this kind of info as “ident.i.ty verification”.

“Alright, so it looks like the pa.s.sword is….” With that, he kindly provides me the very thing I was looking for.

“Got it.” I quickly jot down a memo. “Thanks a lot, I’ll let them know. I’m sure I caught you at a busy moment, but thanks for helping me out.” With a nice little smile, I make sure to finish things off on a pleasant note. I’m positively beaming right now. When I excitedly wave the pa.s.sword towards Mimi, he’s looking at me with a somewhat happy, yet somewhat concerned expression. It’s odd, almost like his response is a bit more muted than I expected.

“Hey, look! We can get into Nijou-kun’s apartment anytime we want now, right? This really is some amazing good fortune. It’s just wonderful! Just like Usausa Divination predicted. That good luck is really paying off.”

“Ye-yes. That’s right. You’re exactly right. I’m surprised really. But Mayu, are you really just a normal girl? Just a simple middle-schooler? Just now, that really was some NSA, CIA level-stuf—“

“Oh yeah, and CYBERCOM too, right? What the heck are those things?”

“Ah, uh, well…it’s fine. Please forget I mentioned it again. Right now, that was nothing. Nothing. I didn’t say anything. I’m not saying anything right now. But all that aside, how is it that you perfectly remembered all those acronyms that I told you to forget?”

“Who, me? I guess my memory is pretty good. But I’m still super average. But what about you Mimi? Why are you breaking out in a cold sweat again?”

Mimi is shaking his head back and forth. He’s just a little, pink rabbit but honestly he’s also pretty mysterious. Still, he’s one of my Lucky Items, proof of my good fortune. Usausa Divination is always on the mark and it told me to find a rabbit and an axe. So I did. Oh yeah, there was also that long piece of metal (descent Note: I love how vague Toriihitsuji is about it. Check out the PV for a better idea). Is that ever gonna be useful?

Holding it in one hand, I look at it questioningly. The metal is colored red and black. It’s really strange. But I decided that I’m not going to worry about it. Whatever, it’s fine. (descent Note: Mayu-chan loves saying “Ma, ikka” over and over again lol) That’s because everything seems to be going along just swimmingly right now. When things are going right, you should never waste time worrying. You just keep pus.h.i.+ng on ahead. s.h.i.+nomiya-senpai is always saying things like that, and I agree with her. Straight ahead! Straight ahead! If you don’t have forward-thinking, positive thoughts, nothing good can happen, right? Wasting time worrying is about the most pointless thing you can do!

“Well Mimi, I guess that’s about it for today, huh?”

“For the first day things went splendidly I think. I dare say, it’s almost like we overdid it.”

“Hmm…what should we do next? Hmm, I got it! Let’s go buy matching soap and shampoo! But honestly, I think the shampoo I’m using now is actually pretty good. It has a nice herbal scent and is really easy on your hair. Nijou-kun’s hair is already so sleek and wonderful…I bet if he started using mine it would become even better! What do you think Mimi? Hm? Hmmmm!?”

I’m so happy I just can’t wait for tomorrow. I’m spinning around the room shaking Mimi about. I’m in the mood to dance, but it’s already night and if I get too loud I’m sure my parents will yell at me. That would be bad.

As I swing Mimi about, he’s making some strange high-pitched noises. But it was all m.u.f.fled and shaky so I can’t really pick up any of what he’s saying. Whatever.

“Alright, let’s get in the bath and then go to bed. There’s so much to do tomorrow.”

I start running about only to hear my mother yelling from the other side of the door. I knew that would happen. But it’s all stupid Mimi’s fault. He was making all those high-pitched squeaking sounds and it’s was so noisy.

“OKAY! OKAY! I’ll be quiet! I’m going to get in the bath and then go straight to bed, OK?!”

I let go of Mimi and he drops to the floor. The moment he bounces up I smash him with one foot and keep walking towards the bath, carrying my towel and clothes in my hands. So much to do, so much to do! I gotta get so much stuff done tomorrow. It’s gonna be really busy. At least that’s how I think things will turn out. But the more I think about it, the more excited I get.

This is starting to get really fun!