IGTL Chapter 66

Chapter 66 – Dear Shithead Brother, Get Your Ass to Work. No, Seriously. ①

“Teketokko pakapoko pon♪ ×2”

Right after I left the library, the ringtone of the smartphone in my pocket rang.

“Hm?”

When I took out my smartphone and looked at the screen, it was a call from an unknown number.

Without answering, I immediately searched the number in my browser and found out that it seemed to belong to the management company of the apartment I was currently renting. Its reputation was absolutely awful.

I never imagined that the management company of the apartment I had rented would have such a bad reputation.

Come to think of it, I felt like this management company had some mandatory service called “Total Support,” which supposedly handled various troubles that occurred in rental properties.

Could something have happened in the room I was renting?

Just to be safe, I started up a recording app and answered the call. The person on the other end introduced himself as Kaji from Akutoku Realty.

Akutoku Realty, huh? What an impressive name for a management company.

“This is Kaji from Akutoku Realty. Am I speaking to Mr. Takahashi?”

“Yes, that’s right…”

Still, what could this be about?

There was plenty of money in the account used for automatic rent withdrawals, and my water, gas, and electricity bills were also set to automatic withdrawal. I had no idea why the apartment management company would be calling me.

“…I’m terribly sorry to trouble you, but could you come to our office now? This matter cannot be discussed over the phone… There is something urgent we need to confirm…”

“Haaah?”

That made no sense.

What on earth could this be about if he couldn’t discuss it over the phone?

“Um, is this something you can’t tell me over the phone? I can’t even decide whether to go unless I know what it is… I have my own schedule too…”

It was currently a weekday afternoon. Did the management company think I was some kind of idle bum?

If I had been at work, there would have been no way I could go, right?

Well, I was unemployed right now, though…

When I told him that, Kaji’s voice became slightly irritated.

“…It’s rather difficult for us if you say that. We’re in a hurry here… Could you please come to our office for now?”

“Hmm, even if you say that, I have my own plans, and it’s strange to ask me to come over now without even telling me what this is about.”

“As I said, this is a delicate matter, so I cannot discuss it over the phone.”

“No, why can you discuss it if I go there, but not over the phone? That isn’t a reason at all, is it?”

When I replied that way, Kaji groaned with a “hmm.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped… We received a complaint from another resident of the apartment. Apparently, they are troubled because they can hear banging sounds from your room, as though something is being struck, day and night. They’re furious and saying they’ll move out if the noise issue isn’t resolved… Does that ring any bells? The sound seems to be coming from your room.”

“Haaah?”

No, of course it didn’t!

I was living in a hotel right now, damn it!

“Um, when are you talking about?”

“It has apparently been happening almost every day recently. I would think you would know that best, wouldn’t you?”

His unpleasant way of speaking seemed to imply, You’re the one banging on the wall or something and making all that noise, aren’t you?

I had absolutely no memory of it. And despite that, his statement sounded as if he was implying, You’re doing something, aren’t you? which irritated me.

“Um, I’m recording this call…”

When I muttered that, Kaji suddenly flew into a rage.

“Haaah!? Why the hell are you recording without permission!? That’s a crime!”

At this point, his tone no longer sounded like someone from a management company.

It was amazing that anyone had entrusted apartment management to someone like this.

If I were a landlord, I would absolutely never hire this kind of management company.

“…Recording a phone conversation in itself isn’t a crime. Also, I’ve been living in a hotel recently, and I haven’t gone home for about two weeks. So, you’re saying that despite that, someone has been hearing banging sounds every day? Doesn’t that seem strange?”

“…There is also the possibility that you are lying, isn’t there? Why are you living in a hotel when you have a rental contract?”

I see. It was true that living in a hotel while having a rental contract was strange. Normally, that was what anyone would think.

But I was an exception.

And after thinking that far, I arrived at the truth.

The true source of that “banging noise like someone was hitting a wall or something”…

“I can’t explain the details, but for certain reasons, I’ve been staying at a hotel since two weeks ago. It’s possible that someone has been pulling that sort of prank day and night to harass me.”

“A prank? What do you mean?”

“This is only speculation, so I’ll avoid making any definitive statements, but why don’t you install a security camera for now? You might find out who’s causing the noise. If you keep making baseless accusations against me, I won’t hesitate to take this to court. What would you like to do?”

When I said that, Kaji’s tone dropped by about three levels.

“Understood. We’ll back down for today. However, in that case, because you are the cause…”

“Li-sten. I might be the direct cause, but obviously the person doing the harassment is the one at fault. Please warn that person directly.”

“…”

When I said that, Kaji went silent.

Even if the cause originated with me, the one causing the noise problem was someone other than me.

I wanted him to tell that person to stop causing the noise problem.

“…Well, I have a rough idea of who did it this time, but I have no proof. If the landlord tells me to leave, I’ll leave. After that, do whatever you like, whether that means installing a security camera or throwing the bastard causing the noise problem into the pigpen.”

When I said that, Kaji hesitated.

Perhaps he had not expected me to go so far as to say, “If I’m told to leave, I’ll leave.”

“N-No, the neighbor also said they would be fine as long as the noise problem was resolved…”

“I see. In that case, please handle the rest.”

The ones causing the noise problem were probably the parents of the high school students who were almost certainly going to prison for robbery resulting in injury.

I had no idea how they had identified my home, but judging from what the management company said, they might have been pounding on the door to my apartment day and night. At this rate, there was also a possibility that they had graffitied it or put up flyers.

“Haaah…”

Maybe I really shouldn’t return to that apartment until, at the very least, the high school students’ sentences were finalized.

“U-Understood. We will handle this matter on our end.”

“Yes, thank you.”

After hanging up, I walked straight toward the hotel.

Seriously… One thing after another…

“Hm?”

When I reached for my smartphone unexpectedly, this time, my older brother was calling.

My older brother, Takahashi Yoichi, was the kind of man who seemed like someone had taken my acquaintance Kudo Shinji’s sheer shittiness, boiled it down for hours, and concentrated it.

After entering high school, he went to university for four years, then repeated years for another four, and was ultimately expelled.

After rebelling against our parents, who told him to come back home, he declared that he would not return, hopped between part-time jobs while living in Tokyo, and lived on a monthly income of 140,000 yen.

Naturally, with that kind of income, he couldn’t live in Tokyo.

Falling behind on rent was normal for him, and of course, he didn’t pay his water, gas, or electricity bills either. Despite that, he loved fashion and spouted nonsense about never wearing the same clothes twice, making him a bottomless idiot. On top of that, he had an outrageous amount of debt.

He had borrowed all the way up to the maximum limit from consumer finance companies, spent every last bit of it on horse race betting tickets, lost it all in the end, and when his living expenses ran out, he would contact us as if to say, “You’d be in trouble if I died, wouldn’t you?” A parasite. That was my shithead brother.

Honestly, I didn’t know how many times I had told my parents I wanted to cut ties with him.

However, apparently, in the law-governed nation of Japan, cutting ties was not possible.

This was all thanks to the shitty provision known as Article 877, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Code, which stated, “Lineal relatives by blood and siblings shall be obligated to support one another.”

The degree of obligation to support one’s spouse and children was stronger than the “obligation to support one’s own parents and siblings,” and was considered “an obligation to enable them to maintain the same standard of living as oneself,” which was extremely troublesome.

To use an example, if King Bonbi from Planet Bonbiras was your lineal relative by blood or sibling, no matter how much you hated it, you would have to sink together with him. If you left him alone and he died, depending on the circumstances, you might even be accused of abandonment by a person responsible for protection resulting in death or injury. In other words, it was practically an obligation to take care of everything, even if it meant sacrificing your own life.

Feeling that this was absurd beyond belief, my parents and I pooled our money together and settled all of the debts, unpaid rent, and various other messes of my older brother, Takahashi Yoichi, before forcibly repatriating him to our family home. Six months had passed since then, so what did he want now?

When I answered the phone, I heard my older brother’s frivolous laughing voice.

“Yo. Long time no see. It’s me, it’s me! Do you know who this is?”

For a moment, I thought it was an “it’s me” scam, but I could tell from the voice.

That voice that made me sick to my stomach… It was the voice of my shithead brother, Takahashi Yoichi.

“Yeah, long time no see. What do you want?”

“Man, it really has been a while. I just wanted to hear how you’ve been. How’s life in Tokyo?”

“No, you can skip that and get to the point…”

It was going to be something worthless anyway, right?

Quit dragging it out and just say it, you bastard.

When I said that bluntly while irritated, my shithead brother’s cheerful laughter rang in my ears.

“Well, actually, I’m getting married!”

“Haaah?”

Married?

Who was?

You, my good-for-nothing shithead brother?

My head felt like it was getting confused.

No, depending on how I thought about it, was she an angel!?

To think there was a woman in this world odd enough to take in that scum-of-scum, as if someone had gathered every piece of trash in the world, boiled them down, and concentrated them…

For some reason, I felt an overpowering urge to offer a prayer to God.

Thank you, unknown woman who would take in concentrated scum.

God, thank you for granting my shithead brother such a wonderful encounter!

Thanks to you, we were saved!

As I was offering prayers to both God and the unknown woman, my shithead brother’s voice came from the smartphone.

“Hey, hey. You’re too surprised. Well, Dad and Mom were shocked too.”

“No, of course they were.”

Obviously we were shocked.

A shithead bastard who loved debt and gambling… No, my shithead brother was getting married, you know?

I was stunned!

I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest!

“So, what kind of person is your fiancée?”

I asked out of simple curiosity.

Then my shithead brother began talking about his fiancée in a cheerful voice.

“Man, she’s an angel. An angel. An archangel! We met through marriage hunting, and she has a dream for the future, she’s insanely cute, and she’s a little loose with money, but she’s amazing!”

“No, what did you just say?”

Didn’t he just say, “She’s a little loose with money, but she’s amazing”?