"Kagura-chan, hurry up or we'll be late!"
Goodo Morningu!~ This is Shimura Shinpachi reporting! I am 16 years old turning 16 in autumn, and a high school 2nd year! I am always described as "plain" or "glasses" or an "otaku", but I'm only an Otsu-chan fan! What is wrong with being an Otsu-chan fan, huh?!
Anyways, my family is really poor as we shoulder the debts of our deceased father, but we manage to get by with the help of Gin-san and Sis! Currently, I am also living with Kagura-chan who Gin-san unofficially adopted into his family since he didn't want to make her live with him in his shared house! Now, that introductions are done, let's get back to the story!
A vermillion haired girl with an ornament keeping her hair in place on each side of her head comes rushing out from inside the house, pulling me along with her as she exits my house. "Let's go Pattsuan!"
That was Kagura-chan, she is one year younger than me and my junior. She is also an extreme glutton with tremendous physical abilities! Which is why now, I am flying in the air as she runs on top speed to our school: Gintama High.
Once we reached the school gates, Kagura drops me on the ground and I grunt in pain before rising slowly as to ease the pain, though it doesn't help. Kagura-chan is extremely excited today, after all, it's her first day as a high school girl! She turns back to me with a big grin on her face, "I'm going to go find Soyo-chan, Pachi-boy! Don't get thrown into the dumpster by school bullies while I'm gone!"
I feel a vein pop from my head and I shout back at her. "I'm not going to get thrown into the dumpster! And who even does that nowadays! Honestly, I may be an otaku but it's not like that kind of event actually, happens in real life! Those are only events from manga and anime!"
Suddenly, something heavy hits my head. I rub my head and look up to see a familiar man with a silver perm and blank face—Gin-san. He picks his nose with his pinky, "What are you doing Pachi-boy? Looking for your glasses?"
I hastily get up from the ground and counter back, "What do you mean looking for my glasses?! I have them on my head right now!" I push up my glasses. "And quit emphasizing my glasses so much!"
"Who cares?" Gin-san flings the booger away. "Anyways, shouldn't you be getting to class? The bell is about to ring."
I blink for a second before reacting in an outburst. "I'm going to be late!" Then, I take off and rush to the school.
Dan, dun, dan, don. Don, dan, dun, don. The bell rings, signaling the beginning of lunch. I gather my lunch box and make my way through the hallway to the stairs, then climb up until I reach the roof. When I open the door, I feel a light zephyr pass me as I face the bright blue sky. In the middle of the ground are three girls sitting together: one of them is Kagura, the other is a black-haired girl, and the last one is a green-haired girl. The girl with long, black hair is Soyo, Kagura's best friend and the daughter of a high-ranking government official. The girl with green hair tied into a bun is Tama, she is working part time at the neighborhood pub, "Snack Otose". I make my way to the three girls and sit down, bringing out the lunch I made early this morning.
"Yo, Glasses!" Kagura greets me as she is stuffing her face in her own lunch that I strained to make this morning.
Soyo gives a slight bow, "Hello, Shinpachi-sempai."
"Good afternoon, Shinpachi-san," Tama smiles at me as she eats her fried food. Tama loves fried food and other oily foods with a lot of oil, she is practically as obsessed with oil as Gin-san is with sugar! She pretty much drinks oil with how much she eats!
I greet them too, "Good afternoon." Then, I begin to eat my lunch.
As we eat, Kagura holds out her cell phone and shows the group a picture of a cute white dog plushie, if I remember correctly it is the one she brought back on the day she went out with Gin-san. Does that mean he got it for her?
Soyo is the first to respond with a squeal, "Aww~ It's so cute!"
Tama responds robotically, "Indeed, it is quite an adorable doll."
Kagura looks smug as she shows off her new plushies. "Isn't it! I named him Sadaharu!"
"How did you get it?" Soyo asks excitedly.
This is when Kagura's smug smile drops, and twists to irritation. I can tell from his that it wasn't Gin-san who had given her the plush. But who could it be? Her eyebrow twitches probably as she remembers who had given her the doll and she even hesitates to answer.
Tama pushes her to answer. "I'm curious as well."
Kagura groans in frustration, "It was this guy…" Her ocean blue eyes shift to the side. And is that a blush I see?!
A guy?! What guy?! Who the heck did she meet?! Wasn't she supposed to be with Gin-san?! What exactly happened that day?!
"Oh! Who is the guy!~" Soyo teases Kagura with a nudge of her elbow.
Tama joins in, "I had no data of you interacting with guys outside of Shinpachi-san and Gintoki-san. Please inform me of the details of this encounter."
"Well, you see… I met him when Gin-chan and I were in the parlor eating parfait. That guy walked in with Gin-chan's home mate that he had an affair with, and then since Gin-chan and the home mate guy were so into their own world, we left to the arcade—!"
Dan, dun, dan, don. Don, dan, dun, don. The bell interrupts the story. Kagura stops telling it so that she can quickly clean up and head to class, and so do the rest of us.
What happened next, though?!
During study hall I rush into the staff room, striding towards a certain silver-haired teacher who sat in his chair leaning back.
"Gin-san!" I confront the lazy teacher. He turns around to me, picking his nose with his pinky.
"What do you need, Shinpachi." He digs out a booger and flings it in another direction.
I peer at the teacher with determined eyes, taking a deep breath then exhaling it before starting. "Gin-san, do you know that Kagura-chan went on a date with a guy?"
"A date? Her? As if! No one would date that flat-chest monster girl." Gin-san responds his eyes as dead as ever.
I gulp. "It's true, Gin-san! She even brought home a stuffed-animal on that day and she said she got it from a guy!" I slam my hand on his desk. "And it was on the day that you two were supposed to spend some family time together on, too!"
The silver perm man blinks his red eyes, then sighs. He scratches his silver perm, scrunching his eyes, before replying. "Ahh… that day, huh." He then turns back around to his desk, shrugging me off. "Just leave her be! Leave her be! It's about time that the girl gets a boyfriend!" He mumbles something under his breath that I couldn't understand, but it was something along the line of. "Besides, I doubt she is going out with him…"
"Gin-san! You aren't taking this seriously enough!" I try to get the teacher to pay attention. "How about if that guy is trouble!"
Gin-san mumbles something again about cops before speaking loud enough so I could understand him. "Just ask her herself! It's too much trouble if you ask me!"
I grumble at how lazy this teacher can be. What guardian?! How can he not be worried about a girl he regards as his own daughter?! I fume as I stomp out of the staff room and slam the door.
If Gin-san won't take this seriously, I will! I'll just ask her about this guy after school before I head to work!
Thankfully, the bell had already rang for the end of school, and I am packing to quickly leave. I sprint out of the room as soon as I am all packed, grabbed my outdoor shoes from my locker, switch them for my indoor shoes, and head out the door.
As expected, Kagura-chan was already a great length ahead of me in the school yard. I smile and run up to her as I was about to call out to her. But then I stop at the familiar sound of the song, "Acchi Muite" by Swimy—Kagura's ringtone. She pulls out her cellphone, presses a button, then puts the mobile to her ear.
"Hello, Kagura speaking."
I inch closer, trying to see if I can hear the conversation.
"Ahh, yeah. Uh-huh. Sure. Yes, I know where that is aru! No, I won't get lost aru! What do you take me for, a five-year-old? … Huh?! What was that?! You want to fight bastard?! … Uh-huh! See you-aru."
Is she going to meet someone? Could it be that guy from before? I look at the time using my cell phone. I still have a bit of time before my shift starts… I look up at the vermillion haired girl. And I'm really worried for Kagura-chan… I guess I'll follow her just to see what this guy looks like.
I pull together whatever courage I have, and follow her. Making sure that I don't get caught in the process. It kinda feels like I'm stalking her… But, I must find out who she is dating! I try to brush aside my doubts as I continue to follow her.
In a few minutes, we reach a large gated area, where there are many buildings inside. I look at the sign to see where we exactly were. Wait! This is G University! I quickly turned my attention back to Kagura. Don't tell me this guy is a student here?!
We finally reach the gate entrance, where a guy with light brown haired stood against the gate. He was playing on his phone with one ear listening to music, and the girls all around the campus that pass him all giggles and ogle the man. It couldn't be that guy, could it?
My question is answered when Kagura waves to the guy. "Yo, sadist!"
'Sadist'? What kind of name is that?!
The brunette looks up from his phone, and seeing the vermillion haired girl, he puts his phone in his pocket and takes out his earbud. "Yo, China." He greets Kagura as he walks over to her.
It is him!
All the girls around them glare at Kagura for having contact with the handsome young man.
What is with this?! How did Kagura-chan get to know a gold saint level handsome guy—no a platinum-god level!?
I watch as Kagura and the handsome brunette chat a bit.
Well, there is one thing for sure…
I pull out my cell phone and dial the number for my job. The line rambles for a bit, but when the other end picks up I spoke.
"Shimura Shinpachi is requesting time off."
It's my job to find out
