Romanticism 9

Rinne: BWABWABWAAAAP! BEEP BEEP!!!

Niki: Bwabwabwaaaap! Beep beep!

Tsukasa: Eeek? Wh–what’s going on so suddenly?!

Ritsu: Is it a biker gang? No, wait—is that Crazy:B?

Arashi: Hang on, they’re blocking our path?! In that giant truck?!

Ritsu: Ohh, it’s an art truck. This is the first time I’ve seen one in real life.

Tsukasa: An art truck...?

Ritsu: They’re extravagantly decorated trucks. To put it simply, they’re giant vehicles with incredibly gaudy decorations all over them.

I always thought they were basically like vampires: endangered species that only turn up in manga nowadays.

Tsukasa: S–so why do they have something like that...? Is this a common thing in Osaka? The one sitting in the driver’s seat appears to be Amagi Rinne from Crazy:B, but...?

Kohaku: Sure is. Those idiots belong to me. I can’t see HiMERU-han or Niki-han, so I reckon they’re sittin’ on top of the trailer.

Heyyy! Ya idiots! The heck’re y’all doin’ here?

Rinne: Oh? Yo yo yo, Kohaku-chan!

Whatcha doin’ over there with Knights, huh? Sneaking around without even telling your onii-chans?

Kohaku: As If I need brothers like y’all. I got enough on my plate with my annoying older sisters.

Tsukasa: Indeed! And I have already taken up the role of Oukawa’s older brother!

Kohaku: I knew you’d say that, but I wish ya hadn’t. Jeez, I really am surrounded by idiots.

HiMERU: Not to worry, Oukawa! HiMERU is here!

Kohaku: Yeah, HiMERU-han’s been mighty weird too, especially lately.

(But what is goin’ on here?)

(That art truck blockin’ the road sticks out like a sore thumb, but there’s a buncha other big cars that creeped up around us now. But this is a sidewalk, ain’t it?)

(It’s like they’re tryin’ to surround us with cars to keep us from gettin’ away.)

(But I don’t get why. It don’t feel like they’re tryin’ to throw some big welcome home party for me.)

Tsukasa: Just what are you doing?! Why are you driving along a pedestrian path and making so much noise? You’re disturbing the residents here!

I would ask you to explain yourselves clearly, Crazy:B!

Kohaku: (Ngh... just like always, Bou’s totally makin’ a fool of himself. I’m kinda worried, but I’m sure his Knights buddies’ll take care of him.)

(Right now, I gotta figure out what Rinne-han an’ them are really up to. If this were some random gangster, I’d have no choice but to stick around an’ protect Bou.)

(Crazy:B may like messin’ around, but they’d never do somethin’ I really hate.)

(I trust ‘em enough to believe that much, and I know they care about me.)

......

Tsukasa: Hm? Oukawa? Where are you going? It’s not safe to approach an idling car! You never know when it might begin moving!

Kohaku: Why don’tcha just worry ‘bout yourself, Bou?

Tsukasa: But—

Rinne: —Oh? What do we have here? You’re strong as ever, Kohaku-chan, you jumped right up onto the trailer ♪

Niki: Nahaha ♪ Pretty awesome! Just hoppin’ around like that!

HiMERU: Welcome back, Oukawa ♪

Kohaku: ...Thanks. Why are y’all sittin’ on the back of this truck, anyway? You’re gonna get hurt if ya fall.

Niki: Huh? No point in asking us why we’re doing it—it’s just for the fun of it!

HiMERU: Don’t lump us together. Shiina was up here showing off, so HiMERU followed him to see if there was something interesting.^[1]

Kohaku: People who copy idiots are still idiots, ain’t they HiMERU-han?

HiMERU: (whispering) In any case, was everything okay in your end? We haven’t heard from you in a while, so we got worried.

Kohaku: (whispering) ...Yeah. Well, there were some things I didn’t expect, but we got it all smoothed over for the most part. From the looks of it, Double Face is gonna be A-okay.

HiMERU: Is that really the case?

Kohaku: ...?

HiMERU: Take a look, Oukawa. Perhaps you’ll be able to see history in the making.

Kohaku: Huh? What’s that s’posed to mean...?

jp proofing: Remi
eng proofing: findermao