Red Data Girl: Ice Shoes, Glass Shoes (Story 2- Week 1)
Red Data Girl: Ice Shoes, Glass Shoes By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation
The Red Data Girl translation is back with another short story from Ice Shoes, Glass Shoes! This story takes place between RDG 1 and RDG 2 and gives us some information about Miyuki’s first days at Houjou Academy.
It’s nice to be working on RDG again! The past few months have been wild for me, as I’m sure they’ve been for everyone. Now that it’s summer vacation though, things are just a bit calmer than they were during the school year.
I hope everyone’s staying safe! Don’t forget to wear your masks!
Red Data Girl: Ice Shoes, Glass Shoes By Noriko Ogiwara Story Two: September Transfer Student- Miyuki Sagara- Third Year of Middle School- Fall Part 1
Miyuki Sagara didn’t feel well that morning as he sped west down the expressway in his father’s car.
It was September fourth.
Many elementary and middle schools in Tokyo had summer vacation until August thirty-first and Houjou Academy, the school he would be going to now, was the same. The fall semester had begun on September first. His late transfer date was being explained by a leave of absence due to an illness, the same excuse given to Awatani Middle School for his sudden removal from the school.
The truth was completely different, however. This time around, Miyuki was not sick or injured. Until the beginning of September, he had been on Mt. Haguro, undergoing “fall” ascetic training.
Yukimasa hadn’t objected to this decision, but he had made plenty of snide remarks about it to his son to let him know how he really felt.
Yukimasa Sagara was an ascetic monk, but he did not train on Mt. Haguro. Miyuki’s teacher was a member of his divorced mother’s side of the family, Harunobu Sengoku.
Yukimasa even calculated how he could bring up training to his advantage while we talked…
Even watching the scenery go by outside the window was making Miyuki feel sick, but he didn’t want to bring that up either. Yukimasa didn’t need to know that.—Afterall, the reason why Miyuki felt sick was due to the fact that he was hungover.
If this had been September first, I would have been able to go on my own…
He had gotten used to the idea of transferring schools and he would have much preferred to arrive at his new school without his father driving him there in the car while he, Miyuki, was hungover.
…Ugh. My head is pounding…
Regardless of that though, he wasn’t too upset that the day he would transfer schools had arrived. He was also completely fine with the fact that the classroom experience he was about to begin would be entirely different from the training he had just left. Besides himself, the ascetic monks he had been working with had all been adults. As a result, Miyuki had been rather on his own during his time in the mountains.
Mr. Sengoku helped me out a lot…
As far as Miyuki was concerned, the real father figure in his life was Mr. Sengoku. It was true that the man holding the steering wheel next to him right now was his father in the way that he had come before him in the gene pool, but in the end, that was really just a source of anger to Miyuki.
From Miyuki’s perspective, Yukimasa, who was driving the car with a pleasant expression on his face, didn’t look anything like a father. He had the physique of a young person and his hair was dyed a stylish brown. What was more, he was so used to being admired by other people, he tended to strike poses without even realizing what he was doing.
It was clear to anyone who saw him that he was the sort of man who had made plenty of women cry.
Miyuki had been born when his father had been barely legal himself. Then, seven years later, he had gotten divorced. Miyuki could vividly remember the day it had happened. He had been in fifth grade at the time. Yukimasa had conducted himself in a completely shameless manner even on the day it had taken place.
After the divorce had been made official, Harunobu Sengoku had been the only member of his mother’s side of the family that he had continued to see. He had even more or less lost contact with his mother. He didn’t know what his other relatives’ situations were, but in Kaori’s case at least, she never reached out to get in contact with him.
Yukimasa didn’t seem to notice the silence in the car. Smiling at something he had thought of, he opened his mouth the slightest bit as if he was going to hum and then said, “That’s right. I need to tell you something. I’m coming with you today so that I can get a certificate of residency here in Tokyo. I’m changing my address from the house in Wakayama Prefecture to one here. That’ll take some time to process, though.”
“Oh.”
The house in Wakayama had been Miyuki’s address when he had been transferring middle schools last time. When Miyuki had taken the elite Keibun Academy’s entrance exam, he had been grateful for a chance to live without his father, but Yukimasa had quickly acquired a house nearby. Yukimasa’s ability to pick up and move wherever was a great nuisance to his only child.
“Are you going to be living near my school again?”
“Seeing as you’re going to be living in the student dorms this time, it doesn’t really matter where I live.”
“Thank God you’re not throwing me into some random woman’s house again and making me eat her bad cooking.”
Since Yukimasa’s divorce, this had happened more times than Miyuki cared to count. Of course, there had been women who had been good cooks as well, but he ignored that in this moment.
“That’s an ungrateful thing to say,” Yukimasa answered composedly. “They were all just doing their best.”
“If by doing their best, they had an ulterior motive,” Miyuki retorted testily. In reality, however, Miyuki had always gone along with those sorts of changes in his father’s life, quickly finding the good points of each of the women that moved in with them. There had been a limit to all of that though.
“I wish you would have let me move into a dorm earlier.”
The car had turned off of the highway at some point and was now driving down a city road. It didn’t look the way Miyuki imagined Tokyo. The rows of buildings they were passing were small and simple. A nearby mountain range with blue sky and clouds above it was visible beyond the buildings as well.
Seeing as Miyuki was always moving, he had never gotten used to one area over another, but not having lived in Tokyo before, he was thoroughly surprised by what he was seeing now.
“…This looks like the countryside.”
“The Tokyo area has little towns and even remote fishing communities on islands. Your perception of the city is limited.”
Miyuki decided to keep his mouth shut until he got out of the car. However, it turned out that they were only a few minutes away from their destination.
The place was greener than he would have thought with stylish school buildings. It reminded him a little of the updated area of Tokyo Station in the way that the buildings were older, but had clearly been remodeled. Miyuki wasn’t necessarily impressed with the school because of it, but assuming the buildings weren’t a deception, this was probably an expensive place to attend.
Yukimasa parked the car outside of the school’s front gate, but did not move to undo his seat belt.
“I guess you can go on alone from here,” he said to Miyuki, remaining where he was. “I’m not going to introduce myself at the school today. You can handle the apology for being three days late on your own, right?”
It was all a bit strange, but seeing as it was what Miyuki wanted as well, he hurried to get out of the car before Yukimasa could change his mind.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Don’t let anyone know the real reason why you’re at this school and stick to the plan as much as possible. And don’t drink as much as you did on the mountain.”
Miyuki felt like snapping at Yukimasa. His father always needed to get the last jab in.
“Obviously.”
“This school takes school customs more seriously than Keibun Academy did. You need to figure that out quickly. And don’t forget that you’re the one who wanted to come here. There’s no point in resenting me for sending you.”
“You can leave now.”
As Miyuki scowled at him, Yukimasa turned his smiling face from his son and drove away. The rental car grew smaller until it turned a corner on the street and disappeared.
Miyuki continued to gaze down the road, not because he was reluctant to enter the school, but because the weather was so nice. The longer he stood there though, the harder it became to move.
…I think I’m carsick now on top of everything now. I feel terrible.
His mood no brighter than it had been before, Miyuki took an unenthusiastic step towards the entrance to the middle school.
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