Clockwork Planet: Volume 1 Read online

“...Please state the regular frequency marked by my main cylinder.”

  “That’s the biggest one in your spine, right? If so, 6,254,941,395 hertz.”

  “...How many artificial nerve pathways are linked to my spring?”

  “Of the ones directly linked, 15,045,549,846 pathways. Including the ones linked by resonance, 62,945,634,574,578 pathways in total.”

  “......Master Naoto. To confirm, have you seen my blueprint?”

  “No? I mean, something like that exists?”

  “It does not. It should not. That is why I am inquiring. Why does Master Naoto know my makeup down to such fine details?”

  “Why, you ask?”

  “With an instrument of measurement an individual could own—No, even with the measurement machine of a specialized institution, a feat like analyzing my full makeup in three hours should be impossible. As such, I can only conclude that you knew my blueprint beforehand.”

  His expression blank, Naoto tilted his head at RyuZU, who was pressing him for an answer.

  “I mean, the actual article was right in front of me, you know? Even if I don’t examine you with a machine, if I just listen to the sounds, that much is immediately obvious. Isn’t that common sense?”

  RyuZU stared at Naoto with eyes filled to the brim with suspicion. “Now that is the first time I have ever heard of such outlandish common sense—The sounds, you say?”

  “Well, I suppose it’s something like a unique little trick of mine? My ears have always been sharper than others’. If it’s just the makeup of a machine, I can tell that much by listening carefully, even if I’m not looking directly at it.”

  “Does that apply to me as well?”

  “Yes, if I listen to the sounds. Your body is very pretty, RyuZU. Everything is in harmony, without even so much as a single fingertip’s worth of a superfluous element. So to that same extent, it was readily apparent where the malfunction lay. There was a noise mixed in with all the pleasant sounds, so I lost my cool and just started repairing you without thinking. I’m not sorry for what I did.”

  “.........”

  “Hmm? Is something wrong, RyuZU?”

  “Master Naoto.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Master Naoto, you are a pervert.”

  “Yeah. ...Huh? What does that have to do with what we were just talking about?” Looking puzzled, Naoto raised himself up. “Now then, I guess I’ll get going.”

  While Naoto and RyuZU were resting, more and more students in the vicinity could be seen on their way to school. As the students crossed the bridge, their gazes surrounded the two of them as they exchanged whispers from a distance.

  RyuZU watched the students’ behavior, puzzled. “...Strangely, it seems we are gathering a lot of attention. What could be the reason for this?”

  “Ah—, well, that’s understandable. It’s because someone like me is with you, isn’t it?”

  RyuZU nodded as if satisfactorily convinced of Naoto’s answer. “It is a self-evident truth that the peasants’ envy, base to the point of making one nauseous, would gather upon me, who possesses beauty akin to that of an angel that has descended down from the heavens. What a foolish question that was, do excuse me.”

  “Yeah. You’re not wrong, but in this case, I’m also present.”

  “In other words, Master Naoto, the one who stands at the peak of the inferior lifeforms known as humanity, and I, the most prized treasure of the realm above the clouds, being together doubles the awesomeness those peasants behold, right?”

  “That’s totally wrong. What those glances mean is, ‘Why is that unremarkable bastard together with such a transcendentally cute girl?’”

  “Master Naoto. While it is true that you are so lowly, I cannot bear to even look at you, there is no just reason for you to be disparaged by base humans that are beneath even the level of worms crawling on the ground.”

  “Even I’m gonna cry soon, you know.”

  While almost breaking down on the spot, Naoto shook his head. “Well, it’s whatever. I’m merely reaping what I’ve sown. Besides, this is nothing unusual for me.”

  However, RyuZU shook her head in restrained anger. “No, this is not fine.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it is absolutely baffling. I cannot comprehend the basis on which this group of people can define you as someone to be despised.”

  Naoto raised his eyebrows, as if perplexed. “Rather, let me ask you instead. On just what basis are you rating me so highly, RyuZU?”

  “The only one in all of humanity who could repair me while I was broken was you, Master Naoto.”

  “But that’s only your perspective, right RyuZU? Most people won’t think that.”

  “Is that not because those people are a useless bunch beyond feeble-mindedness and cannot comprehend even that much?”

  “But society is made up of them, RyuZU. And those whom no one understands are the same as nonexistent—That’s the rule of this society.”

  ...After a long pause, RyuZU opened her mouth reluctantly. “While admitting to being refuted by Master Naoto is exceedingly disagreeable, I will admit that you have a point.”

  “I see that you get it now. Are we all good, then?”

  Naoto stood up and was about to get going when RyuZU seemed to think of something and stopped him.

  “I apologize. May I ask just one more thing?”

  “Mm, what?”

  She asked, as if trying to sound something out, “I have heard that the creatures known as humans exhibit a mysterious acquired trait in which they classify being favored by an unspecified large number of the opposite sex as having high social status.”

  “I’d like to hear in detail where you caught wind of such a thing, but yeah. What of it?”

  “Is that an easily understandable ‘good point’ that raises the reputation for a member of the group of people that Master Naoto belongs to?”

  “Huh? I don’t see where you’re going with this...” Naoto said as he tilted his head. “Well, of course popular people are automatically highly rated. After all, that basically means that they have allies.”

  “—Understood.”

  “I don’t really get what you’re saying, but I’m gonna get going now, okay?”

  “Yes. Well then, Master Naoto, I shall see you again in a bit.”

  While finding RyuZU’s gaze curious as she saw him off, Naoto headed towards the school building.

  Passing through the side entrance where the shoe lockers were without stopping, Naoto headed to the foyer behind the main entrance. His own slippers had been stolen long ago, so he borrowed a pair of guest slippers here instead. Then, he hurried to the classroom as his slippers made sticky sounds.

  The hallway near his homeroom was filled with noise and activity; however, no one greeted Naoto upon seeing him. The only thing different was that in place of the usual snickers, whispers were being exchanged instead.

  Entering the classroom, Naoto placed his satchel on top of his desk and sat down. It was covered in graffiti that he’d even become somewhat attached to by this point. Spending the rest of the time until homeroom pretending to be asleep was Naoto’s go-to plan.

  Covering the desk with his face on top of his arms, RyuZU’s words inadvertently ran through his mind.

  “Reputation, huh...?”

  To be honest, he wasn’t interested after all.

  The eccentricities of a talented person might be passed off as a fly in the ointment, but a useless oddball would only be treated as a black sheep.

  Furthermore, Naoto had no intention of concealing anything, whether it be his uselessness or his abnormalness.

  That’s why the current situation was just him reaping what he had sown. It was annoying, but there was nothing he could do.

  As he lay face-down on the table thinking about such things, he genuinely became sleepy.

  ...Well, so many things happened after all. Can’t be helped, can’t be helped...

  Usually he wo
uld get up when his homeroom teacher came, but Naoto decided that he would just go to sleep like this for today.

  And so, he fell into a deep sleep.

  ●

  “—Nghh...?”

  Naoto woke up from the unusual commotion in the classroom.

  Suspecting that it had become lunchtime already, Naoto looked at the clock, but the time was only 10:46.

  It was still only just time for third period to begin. He had only slept for about two hours.

  Naoto lifted his head, wondering just what the commotion was all about, upon which he heard,

  “Ah—... I know this is sudden, but I’ll be introducing a transfer student to our class.”

  Upon the classroom podium stood the teacher in charge of third period’s lecture and a single girl.

  She was a beautiful girl, so much so that it looked like she were sparkling, and she captivated the eyes of those who beheld her just by standing there. Her pure-silver hair swayed sleekly, and she had pale, almost transparent skin. Her lips were a light, peachy pink color, her cheeks radiated rosiness, and her eyes were glittering gold, like a crown.

  The students in the class were left flabbergasted in unison at those features that were so beautiful, they were hardly believable for a human.

  “......Whatcha doin’?”

  Naoto inadvertently spoke out in his local dialect.

  Perhaps the girl at the podium heard him, for she took a step forward and waved at Naoto gently.

  The gazes in the classroom that had been thoroughly taken by the otherworldly beauty refocused all at once onto the unremarkable loner in the class.

  “My humble name is RyuZU Your Slave. Though I will be studying with everyone starting today, I do not have any interest in getting to know all you honorably banal and base people, so I shall be just fine without your care, thank you.”

  The sight of the silver-haired girl bowing as she smiled like a blooming flower caused Naoto’s face to fall onto his desk once again.

  ●

  “I judge that with this, a ‘good point’ that the masses can readily understand has been created.”

  “—Uh-huh... Well, yeah. You’re right. It’s just that, there’s an expression in this world that having too much is just as bad as having too little, you know?”

  Naoto pointed that out as the piercing gazes from those around him made him draw his shoulders inward.

  Jealousy, hatred, disgust, enmity... If those gazes had physical power, Naoto would surely have been killed several times over by now.

  “If my companion is a beauty like you, now they’ll be like ‘Why is a bastard like him...’”

  “......To state my impressions frankly, I have come to feel that it is easier by far to teach a cow how to walk on two legs than to expect rationality from humans.”

  “Well, I won’t deny that.”

  From third period onwards, the rest of the day was like a storm for Naoto.

  RyuZU, who had forcibly snatched a seat next to Naoto, stuck to him tightly for the whole lesson. When it came time for lunch, she sat down on Naoto’s lap and fed him his lunch, urging him to open his mouth now and then by saying “Ahhh” in a monotonous tone. Afterwards, she took him to the courtyard and sat down on the grass, then grasped Naoto’s head and coercively laid it above her knees.

  Naoto wasn’t one to mind the public eye (If he had been, he could never have proclaimed his abnormality.), but neither was he cheeky enough to be able to enjoy RyuZU’s lap pillow while feeling the immense pressure from others who would love nothing more than to tear him from limb to limb.

  Probably because they flirted so incredibly brazenly and overbearingly, their classmates only looked on from afar without conducting the typical question time for transfer students all the way until school ended, when a few fearless souls finally stepped up to the plate.

  However...

  “Uh, umm, could I have a bit of your time?”

  “Yes? Do you have some business with me?”

  “Ah, r, right. Well I’m sure that as a transfer student, there’s a lot—”

  “I see. However, I do not have any particular business with you, so I shall be excusing myself.”

  “Of things you don’t know yet, so—er, huh?”

  ...

  “Hey, heyy heyy! You’re so pretty, RyuZU-chan.”

  “Yes. I am aware of that. What of it?”

  “Aware?... Uh, errr. RyuZU-chan, you’re kinda—”

  “Could I have you not call me by name with that honorable brain of yours, from which I cannot perceive even a glimpse of intelligence? Furthermore, to append the –chan suffix to my name. Come again after you have discerned your own place—Actually, you need not bother. After all, it would just be a waste of time.”

  ......

  “Ah—I’m a second year. My name is—”

  “You must really detest me, to wear a face like that that could spoil my mood all the way from a floor above. However, I am sorry to say that I lack the faculty required to hold an interest in ants, so I request that you kindly take your leave.”

  “Er, huh, no umm—I’m actually quite pop—”

  “Sir, I told you to disappear. Or—Is it that human language is too difficult for you?”

  .........

  “Ah—”

  “Before you speak the words in your mouth, please first carefully consider whether it is worth wasting the Earth’s oxygen, the many lives that were sacrificed to provide you with the calories you would expend, and above all, my precious time—If so, then please, do continue.”

  ............

  Heaps of corpses lay everywhere.

  When she talked to Naoto, she had the smile of an angel; but, when she addressed others, she skewered them through. Her verbal abuse was that of a demon with a frozen expression and a merciless tone of voice.

  As the result, during the time that Naoto and RyuZU walked from the classroom to the school gates, boys and girls numbering in the double-digits ended up suffering deep wounds.

  ●

  Exiting through the school gates, Naoto and RyuZU walked along Kamogawa River.

  While passing by an old man doing his best at running and a college student practicing her instrument, the two of them walked from Demachiyanagi heading towards Shijou Street.

  “Master Naoto, you seem to be awfully tired,” said RyuZU, looking back at Naoto, whose footsteps were heavy.

  “Right, well... that would be thanks to you. Today’s situation must be what the phrase ‘bed of nails’ is used to describe.”

  “To mind the gazes of the riffraff to such an extent, Master Naoto really is a coward—Not that that is particularly surprising or anything.”

  “Please stop, I think I’m going to discover a new horizon any time now.”

  After wriggling his body in seeming agony for awhile, Naoto continued.

  “—By the way, I have a question. How did you transfer to my school, RyuZU?”

  “I submitted a notification of transfer, of course,” answered RyuZU, looking calm and composed.

  “I mean, even if you give me such a reflexive answer... Can you really start attending on the same day that you submit your notification?”

  “I simply had a little ‘talk’ with the principal.”

  “...’talk’?”

  “It is something that Master Naoto need not know about.”

  “No wait. I’m starting to feel really anxious now.”

  “It really was not anything worth mentioning. I simply made a tiny amount of small talk regarding the hair-shaped accessory on top of the principal’s head.”

  “You threatened him! You do know that that’s a threat, right?!”

  “But it wasn’t really a threat? I simply made a trivial request after the small talk.”

  “...Umm, Miss RyuZU? I believe you said that you’d handle our housing and money, but don’t tell me you were planning to do so through crime... right?”

  “Master Naoto,”

>   RyuZU looked at Naoto with a smile that seemed like it would make those who beheld it fall in love.

  “‘Crime only becomes crime if it comes to light’—This is common knowledge that will never change, you know?”

  “.........Alllright, I heard nothing just now. More importantly, you said that you found a place for us to sleep tonight, but where did you decide on in the end?”

  “You can see it already. It’s the hotel behind that high-rise building called ‘The Oh, Yes’”

  “...Miss RyuZU?” Naoto froze to a standstill right on the spot. “If my memory isn’t failing me, wasn’t that a love hotel?”

  At Naoto’s question, RyuZU widened her eyes.

  “—It is just as you say. Honestly, it surprises me that you know it, Master Naoto. Could you have stayed there before?”

  “You know that that’s not possible. I simply knew that the normies in my class go there often—Hey, who cares about that! Like we can stay in a love hotel, what are you thinking?!”

  “However, that love hotel, ‘The Oh, Yes,’ is the cheapest accommodation in Kyoto Grid right now, not to mention it has full amenities.”

  “That’s not the problem! In the first place, if RyuZU and I were to be seen leaving a love hotel together, we’d be expelled instantly you know?!”

  “......I remain unconvinced. In that case, please let me hear Master Naoto’s great alternative plan.”

  Offended, RyuZU slightly puckered her face up as she spilled that out sarcastically. In response, Naoto thought as fast as he could before concluding,

  “...F, For now, let’s stay at a manga cafe tonight!”

  Naoto took RyuZU’s hand and began walking.

  Perhaps they had wasted too much time by the love hotel, for the crowd of people walking through the shopping district grew as the surroundings slowly darkened.

  By the time they finally found a manga cafe lying around the corner, the sun had completely set.

  “Well, I guess this is fine. If we wait a little longer now, we can stay for cheap tonight with the overnight deal here.”

  —Naoto said as he turned around, upon which his expression immediately turned severe.

  Before he had realized, there were three men surrounding RyuZU from both sides.

  They were about the age of college students. Each and every one of them had a dirty face, slovenly clothes, and was jingling glittery bling with their hands.