“Bokuchu” Us vs the Police: 700-Day War

We met in the hospital inner courtyard once again after returning from the pool. Although we sent Yuko-chan home first, her brother, Great Inoue-kun, who was one of the main members, stayed.

Thinking about it, the reason why Saijoh-kun invited Yuko-chan was his plan to reduce our dissatisfaction. I can only say that it worked wonderfully. As soon as Yuko-chan left, as usual, all the Yuko-chan fans starting with Takaaki-kun started clamoring.

“I… I drank some water next to Yuko-chan!”
“Heh, heh. I drank some water behind her! I drank about one liter.”
“W-what!? I drank two liters!”

These guys really seemed to like these spiral-like loop arguments. It’s the prevailing view to consider it a “shame” to drink pool water, but these guys were totally opposite.
Me? I drank some too, but it wasn’t on purpose. It was because I was unskilled at swimming. Well, coincidentally it happened next to Yuko-chan. Let me think. I think I drank about three liters.

“Fu fu fu. You guys are amateurs. Getting excited over pool water. Look at this!”
It was a shaved ice spoon. Calling us amateurs, what was he a professional at?

“T-that’s!”
“That’s right! It’s the spoon Yuko-chan used!”
“C-craap! I forgot about that…”

But. Great Inoue-kun tragically confiscated it.
Of course.
It wasn’t the kind of boast that you should make in front of her real brother.

The reason why Saijoh-kun got us together was made clear in the afternoon. Our affection had totally switched to Mika-chan, and if you say it negatively, you can say that we were totally taken by Saijoh-kun’s plan.

“You guys. Sorry about today. Mika-chan’s mom was also really happy.”

“No, no. It was pretty fun. We got to drink Yuko-chan’s pool water, too.”
Is it Yuko-chan’s pool…?

Saijoh-kun.
“I guess what you should have are good retainers.”

“Ah! That’s right! Since when did we become your retainers!? Damn you!”
“That’s right, that’s right. I was called Retainer Number 9 the whole time! By a six year old!”
“That’s not bad. I was Number 17! Stupid bastard.”
As if to remember, everyone started kicking the injured Saijoh-kun.

“W-what, the words friend and retainer mean the same thing. I’ve retained you as my friends.”
“What? Is it…?”
“Retained as friends… huh.”

“There’s no way! Retard!”
“You thought you said something good? Huh? You lunatic!”

The “retainers” once again started kicking the injured.

Once we were through venting our anger, Saijoh-kun:

“Owwwwie… M-moving on. The main thing I wanted to talk about today is…”
He started telling his “plan” in a whisper.

“S-steal some…”

“F-fireworks~!?”

We raised our voices together.

“Saijoh! Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

Well, to be honest, with this guy, it was hard to differentiate when he was and wasn’t serious.

“B-by fireworks… you mean the big ones that go boom? Not the ones that they sell in stores?”
“Yeah. You can buy the ones they have in the stores, right?”

“You’re lying, right?

“I’m begging you. You guys are the only ones I can ask.”

“D-don’t joke around. We haven’t committed any crimes yet!”
Takaaki-kun said.

Everyone’s response to that was,
“Yeah. Except your assault incident.”
“Yeah. Except your misdemeanors.”
“Yeah. And, except your road traffic violations.”
“Yeah. And, except your interference of a public servant in the execution of his duties violation.”
“Yeah. And, except your public nuisance violation.”
“Yeah. And there was your obscene exhibition…”
“Yeah. And there was the postal items…”

“T-that’s enough… I was wrong… Yes. I’ve committed some… crimes…”

“But Saijoh. Larceny is dangerous. Even I can’t do that.”

“Yeah… I know too well… I know, but…”

“Mika… has a brother that’s one year younger. He’s called Ryo-kun. It’s because Ryo’s hospitalized that she’s always at the hospital…”

To summarize Saijoh-kun’s explanation.

Mika-chan’s little brother, “Ryo-kun,” was suddenly hospitalized about this time last year. I don’t know what his illness was (because Saijoh-kun couldn’t remember), but he’s been in and out repeatedly since then and his condition was at the point where he couldn’t be moved.
Right before he was hospitalized, Ryo-kun, in other words Mika-chan’s family, was supposed to go to the fireworks festival that’s held in Y-City, but because of the hospitalization, they weren’t able to go.
Mika-chan, although young, had held this in her chest and had requested to Saijoh that “she wanted to show Ryo-kun big fireworks once.”

“Hmm. I understand how you feel, but…”
“Even then…”
“They have it again next year, right? I mean, the fireworks festival in Y-City. They should show him next year.”

“It’s that… There is no… next year…”

“What? Yes, there is. They have it every year.”

“Yeah. There’ll be a fireworks festival next year, and there’ll be a next year for us. But for that sibling… there isn’t a… next year.”

We understood what he meant.

“Supposedly even next month is doubtful… much less next year…”

“Really?”

“The nurse assigned to him said so. There’s no mistake…”

“………”

“How bout bringing him out?”

Saijoh-kun shook his head.

“…………”

“That’s why. That’s why. Even one is enough. I made a promise to Mika… and Ryo… to show them big fireworks…”

Saijoh-kun’s town and our town didn’t have a large fireworks festival. At the time, cities that had large fireworks festival were really limited.

“She… thinks that I’m like Superman or something… I …… just couldn’t refuse… see.”
Saijoh-kun’s voice cut off.

“Even then, to steal…”

“Can’t we buy the fireworks?”

“I worked part time at a fireworks festival before, although it was as a parking organizer. But they made me help with the firework guy’s preparations, so I know a little.”

According to Saijoh-kun’s story, the shells themselves are relatively cheap, and can be bought for under 2000 yen (at the time). Of course you couldn’t launch them without launching power and because it was a hazardous material, they didn’t sell it by itself. To say it simply, you also had to buy the artist with it.

“Then, can we ask the artist? If everyone puts in a little, we should be able to get one or two shells, right?”

“Those guys are totally booked for the summer. I’ve already inquired.”

“Hmm. On top of that, they won’t come for one or two shells, normally.”

“And then, to launch fireworks, you need permission from the fire department and police department. Do you think we can get that?”

“It might be possible if we ask Inoue’s dad?”

Great Inoue-kun.
“I can mention it… But don’t expect too much. Aren’t the public offices closed anyways?”

“The police are open right? Maybe we can ask Chuzai to help us.”

“But if we don’t have an artist, none of that matters…”

We held our heads. We were up against the wall with this problem.

“I thought a lot about it and contacted a lot of places. Even then, the conclusion was…”

The conclusion was,

“We had to steal it and launch it ourselves.”