Tatsuhiko Takimoto - Welcome to the NHK!

I didn’t say anything.

“I’m not doing this religion thing because I like it, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s my parents. Both my mom and dad love religion. In our house, I’m the only one with a decent head on his shoulders. If I ever said that I wanted to leave the church, what do you think would happen? I once said to my mom, ‘I want to join a school activity, and I want to play at friends’ houses.’ When I did, that old hag started screaming, ‘You devil!’ She wouldn’t even make me lunch for days.”

The boy laughed. “I go along with my parents enough for them not to get mad; and then, when I’m outside the house, I do what I want.”

He spent his time at school like a normal kid, I concluded, and while at home, he lived as a devout, religious person. He was living a double life.

“What I’m saying is, you guys should be sure not to make the mistake of joining up.” He sounded serious. “Everyone made a fuss over you today, right? Everyone seemed happy, right? You probably thought something dumb like, ‘maybe I could get along with nice people such as these’, right? You’re wrong. That’s their trick. They’re not acting out of any kind of selfless love. It’s a way to get you to convert.

“Once you’re on the inside, it’s just like any other normal society. Everyone wants to be the leader. Everyone wants to go to the holy land. My father is desperately trying to set things up for himself to advance—sending presents to the leaders, trying to raise his position, no matter what. It’s really idiotic. You saw what happened today, didn’t you? That girl who presented last was just a nondescript researcher until recently, but her family kept telling her to enter missionary school until, finally, she did. When she, a family member, presents at the missionary school, her aunt gains status.”

I fished for more information about Misaki.

“Eh?” The boy blinked. “Well, that girl just recently became a researcher. She’s a normal girl—an adopted child, or some kind of ward of that older woman. The uncle seems to have no interest in religion, which might prove to be a saving grace. No, I guess she’s torn between two things, which is even harder. She always seems troubled, for some reason.”

I was deeply grateful to the boy for this inside information.

When we parted, the boy admonished, “Like I said, don’t do it. You absolutely must not convert. Well, I don’t really care if you convert; if you do, though, don’t have kids.”

I nodded slightly and returned to my apartment.

The next day, Misaki and I walked through the city streets. The sky was a cloudless blue. As it was Saturday, there were a lot of people near the station, and it was all a little dizzying for me.

As promised, I’d met her at the neighborhood park at one o’clock in the afternoon, and we’d gone straight to the station. About two hours had passed, and we were still walking. We just kept walking. Although Misaki walked in front of me, ostensibly in the lead, I got the feeling that we’d been walking around and around the same roads for a while.

Still, Misaki’s footsteps remained steady.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Um, where are we walking?”

Misaki turned around. “What?”

“I mean, what’s our destination?”

“We can’t just walk like this?”

I rolled my eyes toward the sky.

Misaki stopped and folded her arms, deep in thought. “Hm. Now that you mention it, it is kind of strange. Thinking about it more carefully, I guess most people do try to go somewhere.”

I had nothing to say.

“Hey, where do you think people normally would go?”

It’s not like I have an answer. To begin with, what in the hell were we doing? It was Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon, and we had met to walk around in the city. Who in the world are we, anyway? If I could answer that question, maybe our destination would change.

At any rate, I asked, “Misaki, is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

“No.”

“Have you eaten lunch yet?”

“Not yet.”

For the time being, we decided to go to a nearby family restaurant.

As we entered the family restaurant, Misaki said, “This is the first time I’ve eaten at a place like this.”

I smoked a cigarette. The tip was shaking slightly. It was painful for me. I wanted sunglasses. If I could just have sunglasses, I wouldn’t have to worry about strangers staring at me.

Misaki ordered the lunch special. She ate with vigor while I sipped my coffee.

Dammit, I thought. The caffeine was making it even more difficult to stay calm. Soon, I would start acting suspiciously.

Misaki was rather cheery, however. She looked like she was having fun making some sort of origami from the paper napkins set up on the table.

“Look, it’s finished. Isn’t it amazing?” It was a crane.

“It is amazing. You’re very skilled.” I praised her.

My stomach was starting to hurt, so we left the family restaurant.

We walked for about another half hour before heading to a cafe. I drank some black tea, and Misaki ate cake. I was trying to remember the original reason we were meeting like this.

On that night, Misaki had said, “Let’s go into the city. If we do that, I think you’ll definitely head in a good direction.”

Oh, right. In short, this was another part of the hikikomori escape program, and it didn’t mean we were on a date or anything. And then, there was the previous night. After watching Misaki last night, I was oven more mystified by her true identity. For starters, the evening had erased my theory that all this was just a covert religious recruitment on her part. Given how little she had fit in with the surroundings at the assembly, it was unlikely that she’d zealously try to convert strangers.

In the end, who was she? Even now, she remained a huge mystery. What should I do, hanging out like this with such a mysterious girl? What should I do? Finally, with no idea what else to do, I simply kept silent.

Misaki pulled another book out of the bag that she always carried. This one was The Many Words That Guide You: A Collection of Proverbs That Will Echo in Your Heart. Another strange book… I was no longer surprised.

Moving her cake plate aside, Misaki opened the book on the table.

“Let it be.” Saying this, she intently looked at me. “It seems to be a saying by a man named John. What do you think this means?”

“L-let things be as they are.”

“Ah, that’s a great saying!”

Eventually, our meandering took us back to the manga cafe where Misaki worked occasionally. The man sitting at the register nodded at her. Acting like a regular customer, I took a receipt. Then, we sat down in the very back of the room.

The place was basically deserted.

Drinking free cola, I concentrated on reading manga. Misaki, who sat across from me, watched me and drank orange juice. I was incredibly distracted, but there was nothing I could do about it. I felt like a hole was about to open in my stomach.

Finally, I couldn’t put up with it. There was no way I could read manga like this. I tried speaking. “Misaki?”

“Hm?”

“There aren’t many people in this manga cafe, are there?”

“It’s because of the recent downturn in the economy.”

I looked over at the man behind the counter. “That man, how is he related to you?”

“He’s my uncle. I’m always causing him trouble; but because I’m leaving before long, I think he’ll forgive me.”

It sounded like they had some sort of complicated family dynamic; however, I didn’t want to hear that story, so I changed direction. “Anyway, Misaki, do you enjoy your religious activities?”