Track 5
Hotel Room
*Rustling sounds*
(...What is that? Something’s noisy.)
(Careful… don’t wake Liguang… easy… easy…)
......Hey, fool.
Whoa!
What the hell! If you were awake, you coulda said something!
Your presence was so loud, it woke me…
I wasn't trying to wake you! I was getting dressed super quietly!
(...He’s like a bird, chirping nonstop so early in the morning… Annoying…)
I know you never get enough sleep, so I was gonna let you rest... I'm serious!
……
(It’s been a while since I’ve looked him straight in the eye.)
You had work stuff, so I bet you were up all night again, huh?
(One of his eyes…is a slightly different color from Kiba’s.)
A-Anyway, I've got something to do, so I'm heading out.
…I’m going too.
Huh?
You’re going to the shrine the old woman mentioned yesterday, aren’t you?
*Liguang gets out of bed*
Uh... y-yeah, but... You’re coming too?
I’ll get changed.
...O-Okay.
...So, uh, should we call Ten too?
No need.
Shimane - Tamatsukuri Hot Spring
Good thing we made it to the shrine safely! Gotta put this protective charm bag with the stone in it somewhere safe…
Liguang, you better be grateful. This Great Renga caught your magatama for you today. You almost dropped it while putting it in the charm bag.
……
More importantly though, I felt like my wish might actually come true. That wishing stone had some serious power.
You were praying for quite a while… You were praying excessively during yesterday’s shrine visits as well.
...W-Was I?
What were you praying for?
……
Ten said if you tell someone, it won't come true...
What sort of superstition is that?
I don't want to jinx it...
Fool, you’re doing it again…
Tch.
Wh-What?
—Come here.
…..??
Shimane - Footbath
A foot bath... Whoa, it's right by the river too!
(But why'd Liguang bring me here?)
……??
(...Does this guy lack the ability to keep his heart off his sleeve?)
*Liguang gets in the foot bath*
*Exhales*…
Are you getting in or not?
O-Of course I am!
…Hey, that side is hot.
A little heat won't bother me—OW OW OW!
(...Fool.)
F-Fine. I'll sit next to you then...
*Renga gets in next to Liguang*
……
……
*Chirp chirp*
*Sigh*, say something.
Huh!? What do you mean "something”?
Usually you’re making a racket, chirping away even when I don’t want to hear it…no.
Forget I said anything.
What?
(I can't help but insult him. But there's no point in that.)
(I’ve continued this baffling relationship with him for over ten years… I must resolve this stalemate during my life as Liguang.)
(Since it’ll only be for this life, I’ve decided I must face him at least once.)
…You and I have never spoken properly before now, have we?
……!
The first time we met was…my birthday party, wasn’t it?
Y-Yeah. That day, you collapsed when you saw me... I tried to visit you, but... I got turned away.
Yes……
…Did you first approach me because you thought I was “Renga Nishizono’s” close friend?
Y-Yeah. But for some reason you were pissed off from day one...
That is…because I thought you were scheming something.
Scheming? What would I even...
……
(I was blind as well. Someone as shallow and utterly stupid as this guy would never be capable of doing anything to me…)
Hey! You're insulting me in your head right now, aren’t you!? It's written all over your face!
I was just recalling the face you made when you failed to get into the student council during high school.
Cut it out, stop bringing up my embarrassing past!
Then you picked a fight with me on the way home, and a crow defecated on you.
Gah! Stop it! You almost got peed on by a dog in middle school too!
…That did not happen.
I'm not making it up, I was there! It was Ribbon-chan the Chihuahua, the one that took walks on 4th Street at 4PM every day!
I don’t care. How many times did you step in dog feces. Just counting the number of times in high school…
……This talk is pointless.
What did “Renga Nishizono” say to you?
Huh?
Besides telling you that we were close friends. What did he talk about with you?
U-Uhh... “Renga” taught me a lot of things.
Like, he's the one who told me I lived in Ward 3!
……
He was really nice. He got me clean clothes, brought me origami paper, praised me when I made flowers with them… and when I gave him one as a gift, he said he’d cherish it.
My first time going up Landmark Tower, he's the one who took me. It's an unforgettable memory for me…
Before I met “Renga,” I was always…
Nothing but trash. But he told me I mattered, that my life had value. ...He said that to someone as insignificant and dirty as me.
……
(It’s almost as if I’m listening to a story about a completely different person.)
(The “Renga Nishizono” I knew was—)
What about you, Liguang?
…You’re asking about Kiba and I?
...! Whoa! So you call “Renga,” Kiba! You guys were best friends after all!
…? What are you saying?
He came up with that name when we swapped places. Looks like you already knew about it!
……
…His nickname was Xiaoya.
Xiaoya? That's a new one!
(It’s been over ten years…since I last spoke that name.)
So was Xiaoya also warm and bright like the sun!?
……
No… He was impudent and a bit black-hearted.
What!?
He was sharp, and on top of that resourceful.
When he would visit my house, we’d both be sitting with our legs thrown up on the desk, but right before my parents would walk in, he’d notice and sneakily put them down without telling me…
As a result, only I ended up being scolded by my parents… This kind of thing would happen often. And Xiaoya would secretly laugh while watching.
Whoa... So that's the Kiba you knew!
……You’re not disappointed?
Why would I be? That actually sounds exactly like what “best friends” are like!
……Xiaoya had a way with words… He was popular with both boys and girls at school.
But he found gifts born out of affection annoying… So during those kinds of special events, he would pretend to go to school but escape to my house instead.
Wow, so he had a wild side too... But I totally get why he was popular!
I wasn't popular at all... Wonder if Kiba would be disappointed.
……
But it's surprising you got outsmarted that much. Guess Renga was really sharp!
…I didn’t just let him get away with it. I retaliated appropriately.
Huh!?
Like when I called Reika-sama over while the guy hiding out at my house was bragging arrogantly. She naturally punished him harshly upon hearing it.
Yikes, grandmother is terrifying when she’s mad... You play dirty too...
I don’t care. He was foolish to think he could use me.
...I see. That's kind of nice. Like you were equals.
……Anyway, our relationship is a bit different from what you imagined.
...N-no, but I bet “Renga” was playful like that with you because unlike me, you had everything.
I had nothing, so he was extra kind. He probably pitied me.
......
You and Kiba really were best friends!
……
When we first switched, you were so upset… So with things the way they were, I was scared that if I returned the identity of “Renga Nishizono” to Kiba, the two of you might have ended up fighting. And it’d be my fault.
I desperately kept trying to follow you around, hoping you two could go back to being friends again.
...But for you, Liguang, I was probably just being annoying, huh?
Back then... and even now... sorry for dragging you into this.
……
*Renga takes out his magatama*
But today, I made a serious wish on this magatama!
I wished for you and Kiba... to be friends again.
— “I want the two of you to be friends.”
(...Someone said the same thing once before.)
*Something happens to Liguang's memory*
……Ugh.
……Liguang?
(What was that just now? The memory that resurfaced…disappeared?)
*Sound of a crowd*
Oh, a buncha tourists are coming. This is bad—Liguang, let's get out of here.
If we're in the way, it might hurt Izumo's tourism reviews!
…Yeah, right.
*The two get out of the foot bath*
Man, that was nice!
Gotta put this magatama away properly...
……
Flashback
Back then... and even now... sorry for dragging you into this.
Shimane - Footbath
(Dragged me in…? You, me? No…Kiba and I were the ones who dragged you into this.)
……