Mirach

“Ohh, OHHHH…!”
“Even this one is huge…”
“Amaz…ing…”

Isotake, Nanamegi, and Kinugawa all exclaimed in awe.

“Heh, of course it is. You only just noticed? Just who do you think Muu-chan is?”
Uu-chan held his chin up with a smug expression. Isotake turned to him with a bright smile.

“Muneuji is Muneuji!”
“I obviously didn’t mean it like that. I meant you guys have been lumping Muu-chan in with average, no name peopleー”
“Anyways, this storehouse really is huge. What do you guys keep in here?”
Nanamegi turned his handsome face towards me and tilted his head as he asked the question.

The place he took interest in… was our “storehouse,” which was located in our backyard.

“There are a variety of things inside. Although it’s called a storehouse, it’s more akin to a shed. It’s no different from the sheds you would find at a typical house.”
“It feels too… luxurious… to call a shed… though.”
“It’s been in use for generations, so it definitely has a historical type of feeling to it if nothing else. …Anyhow…”

Kinugawa, who had been staring with great interest at the carvings engraved in the pillars of the storehouse, corrected his posture. He turned back to me with a “Hm?” at the change in subject.

“Everyone, I wanted to offer my sincerest gratitude for today. You all agreed to lend me a hand despite how sudden the request was.”
“It’s not that big of a deal. I was bored anyways. I’m sure Akuta’s the same.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, I was in the middle of a very important mission, I’ll have you know! I was writing the script for my new movie~”

“I thought… you finished writing… that yesterday?”
“Hahah! Okay, you got me, I was bored as hell! Plus, I’ve never been inside a storehouse before, so you could say my interest was piqued!”
“I’ll do anything Muu-chan asks me to.”
“I appreciate it. If we all work together, we can finish cleaning it within a few hours.”

ー Two days prior.

“Oh dear, this won’t do. I scheduled my volunteer work at the community center on the same day I was scheduled to clean the storehouse…” I overheard Sachie-san muttering to herself in a flustered state.

As a result, I discovered that Sachie-san is in charge of cleaning my parent’s storehouse every few years. However, this year, the date Sachie-san was scheduled to clean overlapped with her volunteer work at a nearby facility.

“In that case, I can take on that task. You shouldn’t have to worry, I’d rather you focus your energy on your volunteer work.”

I offered to Sachie-san the same day I heard about her troubles.
I had asked if the Day Squad could lend me a hand, but I only asked them just yesterday.
It was just yesterday, but everyone immediately offered to help out.
I thought to myself… I truly have made wonderful friends.

“Sooo? What’re we gonna clean?”
“I was thinking that we should first start by removing everything inside and dusting the interior.”
“Got it. So we’re basically starting from the ground up.”
“I get the feeling… that there’s valuable things… in there… I’m worried… that I might break… something…”

“Exactly! I get exactly what you mean, Buddha Statue!”

Uu-chan, who had been silent up until this moment, lit up and exclaimed at Kinugawa’s words.

“Whaddya mean?”
“He’s right, there’s a lot of valuable things and historical things! Inside the Kaguya’s storehouse!”
“Really?”
“Well, I suppose there are a few things…”

“Well there’s gotta be a ton, right?”
“Mhm…”
“Of course there is! I mean, Muu-chan is cool enough on his own, but he comes from a really impressive lineage too!”

“Ah, did we flip his “brag about Muu-chan” switch?”
“Kurama’s eyes are… sparkling a lot…”
“OHH for real? What kinda lineage?”

“You guys are gonna be amazed. …This is a story I heard a long time ago from Muu-chan’s grandma…”
I can see the smug expression on Uu-chan’s face, as if he were a peacock flaunting his feathers¹.

Nanamegi responded with a dry, “Here we go again…” wearing a smile, but he gestured with his hands for Uu-chan to continue.

“Apparently, Muu-chan’s ancestors had a Mikado² lineage.”
“Ah, you were talking about this story?”

“MIKADO! I’ve heard about that kinda thing before! He was some kinda important person back in the day, right?”
“Hold up, it’s not a person, it’s a term you use when referring to the emperor at the time. Basically, you could call them the ‘king’.”
“If he’s the… descendant of a… king then, Kaguya would be… royalty…?”
“EH!? MUNEUJI IS A PRINCE!?”
Isotake yelled out in surprise as he looked at me with wide eyes.
His face was so amusing, I couldn’t help but laugh in response.
“Not to fret everyone, I’m neither royalty nor am I a prince. I’m just an average Muneuji Kaguya.”
“But, it’s the truth that you came from an imperial lineage, isn’t it?”

“You’re exaggerating a bit, Uu-chan. I have heard that my mother’s side of the Kaguya family tree had branched off from an imperial bloodline, but it extends far too long to consider myself a descendent. I’m unsure how many generations I would need to look through to even find that bloodline.”

To put it in other words: It’s true that I could say “My bloodline traces back to an emperor,“ but the me of today is a total stranger to him.
I do not possess great status or influence, and I am not in contact with any of his descendants either.

I’m sure my grandmother has told Uu-chan a similar sentiment… I thought to myself, but I refrained from voicing it after seeing how Uu-chan was pouting like I put a damper on his fun.
However, it seems like Isotake and the others enjoyed the story quite a lot.
“THAT’S SO COOL! I always knew he was like a lord!”, “That’s why… he always seemed… so elegant…”, “A descendent of royalty… It’s kinda romantic, right?” The three had voiced in excitement.

“Alright now, let’s put an end to this small talk and get started on cleaning.”
I actually find myself enjoying the role of the person who puts the rest of the group on the right track.

As everyone was replying to my statement, I unlocked the aged looking padlock and removed the chains.
As the door opened with a creak, the daylight flooded the inside of the previously sealed storehouse.

I wondered to myself about the person who last used this storehouse, and when they did.

“……”

As soon as I laid eyes on the dusty interior of the storehouse, a nostalgic scene flashed in my brainー

— ✈︎

I believe it was when I was around four years old.
My father hadn’t been abducted yet, the world was moving as it should be, and it felt very peaceful.

“Muneuji, do you know where your father is?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Sighs… So he’s over there again. Seriously, that person found the perfect secret base for himself, hasn’t he…”

My father used to use this storehouse.
It had an elegant architectural design, and it was considered a structure with great historical value. But, due to the age, my grandfather had planned on demolishing it. It seems like my father started using it himself without getting permission.

“Father, what’s thiiis?”
“That’s a model of the Mbanabarue aliens³. It’s just a rough draft, though.”
“And, what’s thiiis?”
“That one is an interstellar electromagnetic wave reflector. If we have this, we can reduce the amount of electromagnetic waves that come from space a bit.”

My father would bring all sorts of strange junk, old books, and other space related items back to this storehouse to use it as a secret base.
He never kept it clean, so it was always covered in dust. He even had a sleeping bag inside.

“Honey, please just let it go! We promised that we would go out as a family today!”
“But today, the spaceー”
“Forget about space today! You’re always going on and on aboutー”

During the times my mother started a fight, completely fed up with my father’s lack of involvement in family plans, my father would lock himself in the storehouse and spend the entire day inside.
Then, the next day, we’d find him in the living room talking about space again. It always drove my mother up a wall.

My grandmother would always complain, saying “Those two are always arguing… They should just hurry up and divorce already!” But my mother vehemently refused.
I suppose she was weak to her feelings of love.
Or perhaps she was weak to his good looks?

I heard later from my grandmother that my father’s beauty was the secret to his ability to make anyone forgive his wrongdoings.

— ✈︎

My father is gone now, though.
This storehouse remained intact, and it was no longer going to be demolished.
All of my father’s belongings have been cleared out, and it became much like your average storage shed. There were no traces of it once being a secret base.

“……”

“Muneuji, you all good?”

Isotake asked, nudging my shoulder. The action brought me back to my senses.
It seems I was spacing out enough to cause him to worry about me a bit.

“Apologies, I was just getting a bit nostalgic. It’s been many years since I last set foot in here.”
“……”
Uu-chan gave me a strange look, but I pretended I didn’t see it and wore a smile.
“Well then, let’s make haste and get this finished quickly. If we’re efficient, we should be finished sometime in the afternoon.”
“OK, you can count on me! Let’s hurry on up so we can get some lunch together!”
“Speaking of lunch, my mother said she was going to make some of her super sweet mapo tofu for lunch.”
“Ughhh I’m gonna drooollll”
“Ew! Don’t come close to me Idiotake!”
“Can you even make mapo tofu sweet…?”
“It’d be like… almond tofu…”

— ✈︎

However, my father was abducted.
Leaving my mother, myself, and this storehouse behind.
There were many things he wanted to accomplish. He still had research he wanted to do, a variety of things he wanted to see for himself.

I wonder where he is right now, and what he’s doing.
I can’t help but feel pity for my father, who’s unable to return home right now.

— ✈︎

“…Muu-chan.”
“Hm…?”
Perhaps Uu-chan caught on to my tendency to get sentimental when I thought about him. He casually leaned closer to my ear.

“If you wanna talk about it later, I’ll listen.”
And he whispered that to me.
It was a simple yet thoughtful sentence, filled with Uu-chan’s immense kindness.

“Thank you, Uu-chan.”

That’s right, there’s no point in me agonizing over it.
I found myself feeling grateful to Uu-chan for making me realize this yet again, and I took a look around the storehouse once more.
Right now, I just had to quietly focus on the task at hand.

— ✈︎