Chapter 76

A certain letter arrives in the mailbox of the apartment where the man lives.

The envelope has child-friendly character stickers plastered all over it, and the address is written in pencil, but there is no sender's name anywhere.

For a moment the man wondered if a child had mistaken the mailbox and put it in his slot. However, since the university where he worked was written as the addressee, he realized there was no possibility of mistake.

Curious, he opened it and found cute animals printed on the letter paper, with birds and dogs further drawn in marker.

Why would such a letter come to me? So he thought, but the problem was what was written.

He turned his eyes to the letters. Yet he doubted his own eyes. The letter was so strange he wondered if he himself had gone mad.

Everything was in hiragana. Characters that looked like wriggling earthworms—barely recognizable. Trying to grasp what was said in his own words, the man read the letter aloud.

"'......Next time...... at the stage, a fun play will be performed. I'm very, very much looking forward to it. I'm so excited I can't sleep at night. So I'll burn it. Because I want to make it a stage that blazes up more and more, won't you let me help too? Burn burn, throb throb. Please, please take good care of me'...... Hah!?"

The man was shocked in two ways. First was undoubtedly the letter's contents. A child's letter looking forward to the play they will put on. Yet it contained the bizarre message "I want to burn."

Does this mean "moe"? Still, could a child who can't yet use kanji handle a word like "moe"?

If not, then it must mean "to burn."

One thing drowned out that shock. This is an apartment mailbox. It's outside. If he were to shout "burn burn throb throb" outside, the neighbors would have every right to be suspicious.

He noticed the icy stares around him and froze. That was the second shock.

"Ah, it's...... nothing...... e-excuse me...... eek......"

Terrified by the letter's contents yet unable to bear the shame, the man fled into his room.

One mysterious letter came to me too. Carefully written letters in ball-point pen. I read it while munching on French bread for dinner.

"Torakawa Hyoga-kun. You know I joined the university drama circle, right? I need a guy like you to help with something related to that. You don't need to bring anything. This coming Saturday at nine, could you come to the university stage? If you come, I'll stuff yakiniku in your mouth. Never ever forget this fact. From your senpai, Kiriyama."

......Good grief. Sounds like some kind of hassle. But since he'll treat me at a yakiniku place, I'll let it slide. I owe Kiriyama-senpai plenty.

It might be tiring, but it's not all bad. Guess I'll go check it out.