Brave Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

hunters.” Everyone’s gaze was turned up at the building. “We of all people should know best that there are no such things as ghosts, and certainly not here. You’re looking a bit pale, too, Dad.”
    Mr. Daimatsu grinned sheepishly and scratched his head. Wataru had seen that gesture so many times this night already that he wondered if it wasn’t the scratching that had given Mr. Daimatsu his big bald spot.
    “That’s right,” he said quietly. “If you’re going to be scared of something you should be scared of people. They’re much worse than ghosts.”
    To Wataru, it sounded like a perfectly rational adult thing one might say to children afraid of ghosts. Still, Mr. Daimatsu and his son Noriyuki seemed embarrassed. They both looked down at the ground, as though they had said something they shouldn’t have.
    “Time to go home.” Noriyuki walked around behind Kaori’s wheelchair, and undid the brakes.
    “You get in,” Mr. Daimatsu said, waving toward the van. “We’ll give you a ride back to your homes.”
    “We’re fine,” Katchan said quickly. “We live right over there.”
    “None of that. It’s our responsibility now that we found you out here. It’s an adult thing, don’t you know,” the man added with a wink. “In you go.”
    Ultimately, Wataru and Katchan were talked into accepting the ride. Wataru got in the van. His seat was right next to where Kaori sat strapped into her wheelchair. He could smell the shampoo scent of her hair. He felt that somehow he was too young by at least five years to be smelling a girl’s shampoo in the close confines of a car, but more than some sort of illicit excitement, he felt a pang in his heart. Kaori couldn’t move, couldn’t smile, couldn’t talk. She merely sat like a doll. And yet her hair smelled wonderful. It made it even more painful to see her pretty face, her skin the pure white of soap, and her delicately long and slender arms.
    Because Bar Komura was closer, they dropped Katchan off first. Then they headed toward the apartment building where Wataru lived.
    “You can just let me off at the corner.”
    From the driver’s seat, Mr. Daimatsu chuckled. “You mean if we drive up in the car, it will make a noise, and someone might notice you snuck out at night?”
    Wataru winced. “My dad gets home late every night, and I don’t want to run into him at the door.”
    “But what if you get mistaken for a thief?”
    In the end, they let him off on the street in front of his apartment. No one was at the entrance. The entire building was silent. Mr. Daimatsu and his son waited in the van until Wataru had reached the elevator door, then, flashing their headlights once, they drove off.
     
    “You get caught?”
    The following morning, Katchan came running up as soon as first period was over. “Let me guess: your mom was up when you got back, and she beat you within an inch of your life?”
    Wataru shook his head. He had snuck quietly back into the house to find his mother still sprawled on the kitchen table, and his father not yet home.
    “So you were totally safe! How come you look so sleepy then?”
    “How could you sleep after that?”
    “I zonked out as soon as I got home.”
    “You amaze me, Katchan.”
    Katchan gave his best innocent look. “So why couldn’t you sleep?”
    Wataru had been thinking about Kaori. There was something about Mr. Daimatsu and Noriyuki that made him think they were hiding something. There was more to them, beneath the surface, and it aggravated him to not know what it was. The more he thought about it that night, the more agitated he became, and he couldn’t fall asleep until dawn.
    “I dunno. They seemed pretty nice to me.”
    “Oh, they were nice. Too nice.”
    “How so?”
    “Look, normally, when grown-ups find kids running around at a time and place like that, they get mad, right? But all they did was laugh. They didn’t even scold us a little bit.”
    “Maybe they’re used to it, what with Ishioka