Volume 5 Short Story 2
✧･ﾟ: * Part 1 * :･ﾟ✧
Crocodile's Melancholy
It's dark.
On top of that, it's cramped.
What is this. I can't believe it.
Moving is the worst and the lowest.
I, the honorable first member of the Shiorichan Fan Club, the excellent and wonderful crocodile tissue box cover, am in a situation where I am trapped inside a cardboard box, and this is entirely because of the move.
Because of that, my tissue box has been taken away from my stomach, and I cannot perform my important duty of protecting the tissues for Shiorichan and supplying them.
Moving really is a terrible thing.
Inside this cardboard box of darkness, all I can do is exist as a crocodile without a tissue box.
No, I have no complaints about Shiorichan moving.
My place is wherever Shiorichan is, that has already been decided, so no matter where she goes, I will follow.
As long as I can be together with Shiorichan, it does not matter how long I am trapped inside this cardboard box.
But I do not like the reason that caused the move.
Sendai Hazuki, who is trying to take Shiorichan away from me.
The fact that I am in this situation is entirely because of her.
It is really infuriating.
If Sendai-san had not appeared, Shiorichan would not have ended up going to some distant university that I cannot understand, and she would not have started doing something incomprehensible like sharing a room.
I had been planning to live peacefully with Shiorichan in this room forever, but because of Sendai-san, everything changed, and I ended up stuffed into a cardboard box. It is not amusing at all.
And there is a problem with the packing order.
I do not understand why brilliant me had to be boxed before the black cat plush that Sendai-san brought.
Moreover, before the packing was even halfway done, I was put into the box, and although it is only temporary, the lid was closed.
I had been by Shiorichan's side and cherished by her long before Sendai-san brought that black cat, yet now it feels as though the black cat is being treated as more important.
I cannot accept that.
I have the mission to watch over Shiorichan until the very last moment of the moving preparations, but if I am put in a cardboard box, I cannot fulfill that mission.
The order of putting me into the cardboard box was decided by my beloved Shiorichan, so I accept it, but I still feel unsettled inside.
Perhaps Shiorichan treasures me so much that she absolutely did not want to leave me behind, so she packed me before the black cat, yet the fact that the black cat gets to see Shiorichan longer than I do is difficult to accept.
If possible, I want to get out of here immediately.
And I want to see Shiorichan.
When Shiorichan put me into the cardboard box, she looked just a little anxious, so I am worried.
I may be a great crocodile, but I cannot speak, so I want to get out quickly and cheer Shiorichan up with these fluffy hands and body of mine.
From the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my cotton stuffing, that is what
I am thinking.
As the proud tissue box cover crocodile.
✧･ﾟ: * Part 2 * :･ﾟ✧
Black Cat's Anticipation
In Shiorichan's room, there is a bookshelf filled with many books.
My job as the black cat plush is sometimes to guard those books.
But right now, I am not doing my job. Lately, I have been listening to Shiorichan's stories about something called "moving" all the time.
She says it is tough because of Sendai-san.
That preparing for the "move" is bothersome.
Since Shiorichan no longer has to go to that place called "high school," she stays home all the time and tells me many of those stories. So every day is happy and fun for me.
But soon, I will be shut inside a lonely place.
When I asked the crocodile tissue cover about this "moving" thing, it said that going to a place that is not this room is what "moving" means, and because of that, we get shut inside a "box."
I was chosen by Sendai-san, placed inside something called a "bag," and brought to Shiorichan's room. Meeting Shiorichan here made me happy, but I do not really like dark, cramped, lonely places like that "bag."
That is why I do not want to be shut inside something called a "box."
I want to stay like this forever on top of Shiorichan's bed.
Right now, Shiorichan is petting my head, and it feels nice.
"The packing is almost done."
Shiorichan talks to me, picks me up in a hug. Then she chooses one of the many "boxes" in the room and opens the lid.
"It is cramped, but stay here for a while, okay."
Shiorichan puts me inside the "box."
No.
I want to be with Shiorichan more.
That is what I wanted to say, but the lid was closed, and I was shut inside a place that is dark, cramped, and not lonely.
"Narrow! Too close. Just because you are a little like my Shiorichan does not mean you get to be right next to me."
Inside the "bag," I was alone, but the "box" is different. I cannot see anything and do not really understand, but there is something fluffy and soft right beside me.
"Hello!"
I greet it.
Even in the dark, I can tell.
The loudness of this voice and the softness of the body belong to Crocodile-san.
"Hello. ……Why is the black cat in this box too. So stuffy."
Crocodile-san greets me back.
"I do not know, but Shiorichan said to stay here for a while."
"Why here!"
"I do not know, but Shiorichan said so."
When I answer, Crocodile-san lets out a sigh.
"Was my Shiorichan doing okay?"
"Yeah, she seemed a little lonely, but she said she is going to do her best with the moving."
"Hmm. You do not have to talk anymore."
"I want to talk with Crocodile-san."
"……If you really want to talk with me, the senior and excellent Crocodile, then show proper respect."
"Respect?"
"Since I am the senior and brilliant one, act like I am super impressive or something."
"Okay, Crocodile-san is super impressive."
It is dark and cramped here, but since Crocodile-san is with me, I do not hate it. But I want to talk with Shiorichan soon. Also, Shiorichan said that when the "moving" happens, I will get to meet Sendai-san.
So I hope the "moving" finishes quickly, quickly, so we can get out of this "box."
Right, Crocodile-san.