Chapter 194: Chapter 195: Neighborhood Rules

Wanting to be both the first and last person for the one they love seemed like a natural instinct for living beings.At least, that’s what I believed.When you love someone, you yearn to possess everything about them.Such thoughts made me want to fill even the past I wasn’t part of with my presence.So, it was enjoyable to imagine what it would have been like if we had spent our childhood together.For this reason, Salome and I were in the process of creating a new childhood in our own way.

“Hey! Hurry up! Why is a boy so weak?”“Girls are naturally stronger until puberty hits.”

Salome turned out to be more of a gang leader than I expected, and I played the role of a naive city boy trailing behind her.Young Salome was a troublemaker who caused all sorts of mischief, and she was still exactly like that now.

Swish—We stacked empty boxes to peek inside a peculiarly shaped building.Climbing on top of them and standing on our tiptoes, we could see children in dresses twirling to the rhythm of clapping hands.

“One, two, turn. One, two, turn. That’s right. Good. You need to practice diligently now so you won’t embarrass yourselves at court gatherings someday. Now, one, two, turn—.”

It seemed to be some kind of ‘dance school.’I felt there should be a more elegant term for it, but I couldn’t think of one.Then, my attention was drawn to a black-haired child among the others.With a white dress and long hair as dark as ebony, she exuded a strong princess-like aura. She looked to be about 6 years old.

“Miss Garcia. Shall we dance to the teacher’s clapping?”“Yes.”

The girl’s name was Garcia.What a name, reminiscent of an expensive cat breed.The child danced gracefully on the gleaming marble floor, and Salome, observing this scene, clicked her tongue, rolled up a piece of paper to make a blowgun, inserted a pebble, and blew on it.

Fwip—The launched pebble struck Garcia’s ankle.Pat—

“Hiik!”

Garcia let out a faint cry and fell to her knees.Salome burst into loud laughter at the scene.

“Hiik? She just shreeked! Serves you right! Cariote, why are you playing at being a noble when it doesn’t suit you?”

Only then did the little lady seem to realize we had been spying on her from the window. Garcia… no, Cariote’s face flushed red enough to be visible even from a distance, and she shouted.

“…Stop right there! So this wasn’t just my dream!”

Cariote had been roleplaying as a noble lady, taking advantage of the lucid dream. I thought it suited her well, but she seemed furious that we had discovered her fantasy.

“Stop right there!”

Pat—Cariote grabbed her flowing, puffy dress and attempted to chase after us in her uncomfortable shoes.Of course, it was impossible for the noble lady Cariote to pursue us as we scaled the wall.

“That’s hilarious! I have to tell Hina about this!”“St-Stop right there!”

The 6-year-old Cariote struggled to climb the wall.Just when we thought we had easily outrun Cariote, we encountered a dead end.The wall was too high for a child to climb over.

“What? Why is it blocked here? According to my memory, this should lead to the bakery street?”

This alley was a dream world created based on Salome’s memories. But the sudden appearance of a dead end greatly confused her.What could this mean?As I was also puzzled, I heard a tongue-clicking sound from behind us.

“Tsk tsk— Trying to outrun me in an imaginary world made of magic. Salome, Judas, playtime is over. You’re now like mice trapped in a box!”

It was Brigitte.Little Brigitte was blocking our way back, holding a wooden staff. I wasn’t sure how, but I could tell that Brigitte had manipulated this space somehow.Soon, Cariote appeared next to Brigitte, her black hair swaying.

“…What? Don’t tell me you’re Cariote? What’s with that appearance? You look like a doll.”“…Well, it’s a long story.”

The meeting between 6-year-old Brigitte and 6-year-old Cariote was quite awkward.It was just Cariote who was unilaterally feeling uncomfortable, though.

Swish—At that moment, Salome grabbed my side.Then she whispered in my ear.

“Judas, you go to Cariote’s side. I’ll handle Brigitte’s side. When I count to three, we run in opposite directions. Got it?”“……”

My ear tickled from Salome’s whispering.Whispering was more ticklish than I had imagined. As I was marveling at this, Brigitte got angry at us.

“Stop whispering! Judas! Come over here! If you come here now, I’ll forgive you for putting us in this weird dream! It was clearly Salome’s scheme, right?”“You’ll forgive me?”“Hey! You’re not believing that, are you? Judas, you’re on my side!”

Pat—Salome grabbed my arm.Soon after, Brigitte approached and seized my other arm, pulling me.

“Judas, I said come here!”“Brigitte, stay out of this! This is my dream!”

My arms were being pulled from both sides.Even though it was a dream, my shoulders felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

“Argh!”

Then something strongly gripped my waist.It was Cariote.

“Cariote, why you too suddenly!”“I’ll tell you now, but at 6 years old, I was quite greedy. I had to have whatever others had to feel satisfied. Judas, I’m going to make you look as embarrassing as me.”

Is this for real?I felt like a criminal being drawn and quartered.I thought we’d create some new childhood memories in this dream, but why am I being tortured like this?

Suddenly, I recalled once imagining how nice it would be if pretty girls fought over me.The prettiest girls in class fighting with me at the center.Along with the fantasy of ‘heroically defeating a sudden intruder in the classroom,’ it’s probably something every boy has dreamed of at least once.

“Hey, Salome! Judas is in pain! Let go of him!”“Brigitte, you let go! Or you release him, Cariote!”“…Judas has to be my dance partner at the social gathering.”

Crack—My arms and waist were screaming in agony.

“…Stop it!”

I had no choice but to shout at the children.Only then did Salome, Brigitte, and Cariote release their grip.Relieved that they listened better than expected, I addressed everyone.

“Instead of fighting, why don’t we all play together since it’s come to this? What did you play when you were young? There are four of us, so let’s divide into teams. You know ‘Dedenji,’ right?”

Swish—As I held out my palm, Brigitte frowned.

“What’s Dedenji? Do you mean ‘Whitey, Blacky’? Flipping palms to divide teams?”

…Whitey, Blacky?What’s with that vaguely racist chant?As I frowned, 6-year-old Brigitte blushed.

“That’s what we called it in our neighborhood. All the children of the Walpurgis family used that term.”

I see.Since most Walpurgis people are white, they divided teams into Whitey and Blacky.Soon, the noble lady Cariote, who had been listening, spoke up.

“I was wondering what you were talking about, but you mean ‘Dendi Dendi Brady.’ It’s where you flip your palms and divide teams based on whether the palm or back of the hand is showing, right?”

Brigitte frowned at Cariote’s know-it-all attitude.

“What’s this about Dendi? Is that some kind of spell?”“That’s how everyone divided teams in the plains where I lived. I thought everyone naturally used Dendi Dendi Brady to divide teams. How strange.”

Cariote shook her head.Now everyone’s gaze turned to Salome.How did they divide teams in Salome’s area?Soon, Salome spoke.

“In my neighborhood, we called it ‘Underwear Stripping’. Un-der-wear Strip-ping. Strip-ping Strip-ping.”“…Strip what?”

I wondered what kind of place Salome’s childhood neighborhood was.Looking at it this way, it became clear how differently we had spent our childhoods.I thought about what kind of childhood each of us had experienced.

# # #

“Dad…!”

Shake— Shake—, Shake— Shake— Shake—!Something shook me awake from my sleep.When I came to my senses, Naru was tugging on my arm.I reflexively said,

“Dad don’t go back to sleep!”“Dad! You need to eat breakfast! Breakfast! You have to eat breakfast! Today’s breakfast is cereal! I’ll make it for you! I’ll pour cereal into milk! Naru is good at making cereal! Naru is the cereal master!”

So Naru continued to wake me up.The morning sunlight was already streaming through the window, illuminating the floor.What time could it be?

“9 AM?”

My goodness, I’ve slept in so late.Soon, Naru placed a bowl of cereal on my bed.Eating breakfast prepared by my daughter while lying in bed.Is this why people raise daughters?With such thoughts, I took a spoonful of cereal— Slurp—*.Since it was cereal brought from the 21st century, it naturally tasted like the 21st century.

“Naru.”“Why are you calling me!”“What do you say when dividing teams? You know, when you do this with your palm. Dividing teams based on your palm or the back of the hand. You have that too, right?”“Dividing teams? Do you mean ‘Urung Kyarung’? These days, they also say ‘Rai Rai Molumolu’!”

Even stranger names popped up.

After finishing the cereal Naru had prepared and changing my clothes, I stepped into the hallway.As if the timing was strangely perfect, the women who had also slept in late like me emerged into the hallway, yawning.They all seemed tired despite sleeping in.Salome, who yawned so widely that all her teeth were visible, asked.

“So what are we doing today?”

Well.Today was a day where nothing particular was planned.At that moment, the women who had been eyeing each other grabbed their children and hugged them.While the children looked confused, only Cecily reacted with disgust.

“Hiiiik…! Are you trying to suck on my cheeks again…!”“That’s right.”

Slurp—Cecily’s soft cheek was sucked into Cariote’s mouth. Of course, Cecily struggled and resisted, but she couldn’t overcome an adult’s strength.

“…Fuck!”

Anyway.After the commotion settled down, the women looked at each other’s faces.Brigitte asked.

“Naru, what do you kids play these days at places like playgrounds or schoolyards?”“Molumolu Battle!”

Meow—

“Anything besides Molumolu Battle?”“Um, hmm… hmm.”

Naru fell into deep thought.It felt like today would be another day of running around and sweating for various reasons.