The person bearing the devil's mark will be destroyed by the light-speed Vespa girl.
As though chased by a carnivorous beast, Naota fled the hospital as fast as his legs would carry him.
It was a living nightmare.
Chapter 3
When he finally reached home, Naota collapsed on his bed, exhausted.
His heart kept pounding. He hadn't run this much since he'd been in a marathon.
What's this all about?
The situation was worse than it had been the previous night. Now, this girl Naota thought he'd met accidentally was, inarguably, hunting him.
Light-speed Vespa… Obviously, she wasn't an ordinary girl.
Without hesitation, she'd caused absolute mayhem: driving her bike down the hospital corridors, breaking through glass doors, speeding through a crowded street. She'd even flattened the phone booth Naota had popped into.
For the first time, Naota felt happy simply to be alive.
I got away, didn't I? I managed to get home alive, right?
Whenever he saw that chaotic maniac, it inevitably signaled trouble.
Additionally, the horn continued to grow out of his head. That girl probably would follow him, so now he couldn't go to a different hospital. Speaking of hospital visits, the girl had noticed the bandage.
Maybe she'd given him some kind of terrible virus along with that curry-flavored kiss. Maybe there was nothing he could do to make the horn go away. Maybe he really would have it for the rest of his life.
Was that why the girl was after Naota?
Is it really the devil's mark? he wondered. Will it get bigger? Am I going to die? Or—
Suddenly, his father, Kamon, loudly hollered for him to come downstairs for supper. It was dinnertime already.
In the Nandaba household, meals were formal "gather 'round the table" family affairs. Every morning and evening (and afternoon, when it wasn't a school day), Naota joined his father and grandfather for meals. He had thought it was perfectly normal until recently, when he'd discovered that things weren't the way he'd once thought.
Among his classmates, many didn't eat with their families as much as one time per week. Whereas adults might pity these children, Naota, by contrast, envied them a little. Eating alone was cool. It seemed like the first step to living independently.
However, eating alone wasn't allowed in the Nandaba household. His father rigidly enforced this policy. It seemed to have some special meaning for Kamon. It didn't matter if you weren't hungry, or if you were running a fever, or if you had one—or three—horns growing out of your head. You still had to stick to the mealtime ritual.
So, Naota went downstairs to eat.
His family wasn't the kind he could discuss his problems with. Should he catch a cold or something similar, all he could expect in return was a scolding to take better care of himself.
And then… Naota, who had come downstairs, froze when he looked into the room: There she was… right there! The Vespa girl!
"Yo," the girl greeted him casually. As before, her tone was overly familiar. She was sitting with Kamon and Shigekuni, happily sipping miso soup.
Naota began, "You…"
"Let me introduce you," Kamon said. "Starting today, we have a beautiful new housekeeper, so welcome her. Her name is Haruko Haruhara."
"This miso soup is a little bland," stated the girl. "The broth isn't very good."
"I'm very sorry," Kamon apologized. "I'll be more careful tomorrow."
"What? A housekeeper?"
Naota actually meant to say, "Why is this girl the housekeeper?" and "Why, if we have a housekeeper, did you cook dinner, Dad?"
He noticed that his dad sported a bandage.
"Ah, I got hit in a bad accident today," explained Kamon.
"By a bike?"
"Yes, by a bike—and also by Haruko, in other words. You know what a sucker your dad is for love…"
Behind his thick glasses, Kamon's eyes were intense. He used to work in Central City as a magazine editor, and he liked growing his hair long and tying it back so that he could pass as some kind of intellectual.
"How can you say that with a straight face, Dad?"
"What's the issue?" asked Haruko, pursing her lips and defending Naota's father. "Everyone needs love, until they die."
Encouraged by her support, Kamon plucked up the courage to ask, "Oh, by the way, Haruko, what do you think—which of these roles do you like?"
"Which do I like?"
"The 'oh, Mister Editor, I didn't know you had such a young wife' kind of dream? Or—no, no, no—perhaps you prefer the 'my hubby is a professional dough roller' model? That's a fine choice, too."
"A shame he didn't die when he got hit," Shigekuni casually remarked.
"That's so mean," Kamon protested to his father-in-law, "especially after I hired Haruko to come and live with us to help you out, Father."
Give me a break, thought Naota.
Haruko sat between Kamon and Shigekuni, and it looked like a fierce love triangle was developing. Naota's head already ached from the horn; he wasn't about to allow this new mayhem in his home.
"Do we really need a housekeeper?" he asked.
"This housekeeper saw things," said Haruko, glancing sideways at Naota and giving him a knowing smile. "She saw Taro fondling a girl."
"You know I'm not Taro!"
"Fondling?" Kamon homed in on Haruko's assertion, demanding, "Who?"
"No one!"
"Who have you been fondling?" asked Kamon doggedly.
"Mamimi Samejima and I were hanging out."
"She's no good," Shigekuni said, wholly to himself, still eating his meal. "She's not good enough for Tasuku."
Kamon continued, "Exactly what have you been doing with your brother's girlfriend while he's been away?"
"We met up by accident."
"Have you done it?"
"I'm still in junior high!" Naota yelped, "What are you thinking?"
"I knew you'd say that! When I was your age, I used the same excuses. You're just like me. You've done it, haven't you? Yes, I'm sure you must have."
"Oh, really?" Haruko's eyes narrowed. "You're popular."
"I'm nothing to overlook," chimed in Shigekuni. "I'm single."
"What are you saying, Father? Me—I'm single, plus, I'm a fine man." Kamon's face stiffened. "Anyway, Haruko, you already know Naota?"
"More than that," Haruko said. "Takkun and I, we already have that kind of relationship."
"You mean…?"
"Yes, mouth to mouth."
"Mouth to mouth… as in CPR?"
"Shut up about it!" shouted Naota.
Kamon suddenly stood up, grabbed his son's shoulders, and pushed him against the wall.
"Is that true, Naota? I thought you were a complete washout, but…"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Naota needed a break from this madness. Obviously, Kamon was worked up—not because he was truly angry, but because he was excited to have a female in the house. And Naota wasn't in the mood to be any part of it.
"So, you've already… with Haruko…"
"No!"
"I bet you thought you'd do it again tonight, eh? Oh, I can see those impure thoughts behind your seeming indifference."
"I'm not hiding anything."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm not hiding anything!"
"Under that bandage," Haruko interjected, "he might be hiding something there."
What's going on?
After hastily finishing his nightmarish dinner, Naota climbed into the bathtub.
Is that Haruko Haruhara girl really going to live in our house from now on? I have to do something!
However, Kamon and Shigekuni already had fallen for her, and there wasn't much Naota could do on his own. Of course, there wasn't any way his father and grandfather could have known Haruko was the infamous light-speed Vespa girl.