The Girl Who Spits Up Jewels

Volume Ⅰ The Girl Who Spits Up Jewels

Chapter 1

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This is the story about jewels, and the girl loved by them.

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-ririri- Rang the clock near the pillow, waking Clue from her sleep.

Urgh, so noisy, she thought to herself and stretched her arm while feeling a terrible slumbering feeling in her head, and turned off the alarm with her stretched out fingers. However, she couldn’t muster the energy to wake up just yet, and it took about five minutes before her face came out of the futon.

When she finally glanced at the clock, the hands had already moved quite far from the time the alarm rang.

“……Good morning.”

She got up and muttered thus in the room where there is no one in particular. She stepped down from the bed thinking that she couldn’t decide what to do next ― but just then, with a -kororin-, two, no three jewels rolled out from the hem of her nightwear. She had apparently “spat” them up while she was asleep.

One is red, the other is blue, and the last one is an emerald green, which she all collected, then gently stowed them into the pocket of an apron on a hanger.

――It is the start of another day for Clue, an employee of 「Jewelry Sputnik」

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Learfiat is a medium-sized town located in the eastern part of the continent, a prospering inn-town near the Lukar Highway.

The town is well known as a production centre for a wide variety of fruits and flowers, which is possible due to the mild climate it has throughout the year. The town does not have a branch of the Witch Association, but the police department there is so excellent at maintaining security that there are no unsolved cases. It is a very comfortable place to live in.

In one corner of the town is a small jewelry store ran by two employees ― 「Jewelry Sputnik」

――The second floor of the store is the residential area. The room where the employee, Clue, lives is also there.

Going down the stairs in front of her room and opening the door will lead her to the store.

“Good morning.”

She gets dressed, eats, then goes to work. She is dressed today in a simple round collared blouse, spring flare skirt, and a dark blue cardigan. This particular cardigan has a flower shaped button on the second spot from the top, making it one of Clue’s favorites. However, when she boasted about it to the shop-owner before, he glanced at her chest and snorted, saying, “I’m not so desperate that I will desire a chopping board,” after which, she stopped talking about fashion to him.

After that, as usual, she tied her chestnut-colored hair that reached all the way down to the middle of her back with a triangular bandanna, and wore an apron. Although it is not so fancy, she wears a red earring on her right ear, which is also the only accessory she has. The shop-owner had previously stated, “This is for you,” and she has always worn it after that.

Clue gave her greetings to the shop-owner who would have been at the counter of the shop, only this time, her sleepiness had already completely melted away. However,

“……Huh, Sputnik-san?”

The shop-owner cannot be found in the store. He is usually here before her, sitting in the chair at the cashier counter and slurping black coffee with a grumpy look in his eyes.

Looking closely, she saw that the windows are locked and the jewel cases are still covered with clothes. The door of the jewel processing room is also locked and he doesn’t seem to be inside.

Is he oversleeping or just late? She wondered, glancing up towards the second floor of the store, where the shop-owner’s room is located, next to Clue’s room. If he isn’t here before the opening time, I’ll go up to his room and wake him up ― Clue get the store ready for opening with that thought in mind.

First of all, she unlocked the entrance and flipped the 『Closed』 tag on the door to, 『In Preparation』. After that, she opened the window, air out the store, and stripped a cloth off a jewel case. After confirming that the case and the display of the contents is okay, Clue rolled up the cloth and stowed it under the shelf. She then proceeds to remove the clothes from the other jewelry cases, and then enters the unlock number of the cashier counter.

When,

The doorbell at the entrance rang and the door opened.

The store is still “In Preparation” as stated on the tag, and the shop-owner isn’t there yet ― but it is a fact that someone came in, so Clue turned towards the door in a hurry.

She greeted whoever was coming in with her brightest smile, as usual.

“Welcome to Jewelry Sputnik! I beg your pardon dear customer, as we are still not open for―”

However,

“It’s me.”

The one coming in is not a guest.

He is slender and tall, and with a well-defined face. The bridge of his nose is slightly lowered, the corners of his eyes look sweet, which further accentuated his sexiness. The person’s appearance is, in a nutshell, “The type women would go crazy for.” ――The person leaning against the entrance of the store is Sputnik, the jeweler and owner of Jewelry Sputnik.

But where had he been and what was he doing? His ashen-coloured eyes seemed to be out of focus for some reason, his cheeks are pale, his black hair seemed somewhat ragged, and he looks very tired.

He walks in as Clue is wondering how strange he looked. However,

“Eh, w-welcome back, Sputnik-san. Why have you been out drinking until it’s a time like this?”

Sputnik stopped his feet and Clue unintentionally grimaced because of the irritating smell of alcohol.

However, disregarding her appearance, Sputnik moved past her with unstable steps. Clue hurriedly followed despite her confusion.

“Where have you been this entire time―”

Her words stopped there because she detected the smell of something else in the air, other than the smell of alcohol.

Women’s perfume.

However, Sputnik doesn’t even look back and grumpily said,

“If you can smell the alcohol, you may safely conclude that I was in a bar.”

“Alone? Till now?”

“I can arbitrarily drink alcohol with anyone.”

Clue’s cheeks swell unintentionally at his brusque reply.

“It would be a problem if the store’s remaining money is embezzled or used for recreational purposes.”

“Don’t worry. The cash I used is from my wallet.”

It doesn’t seem that he would be detailing the events of the previous night. Clue’s mood worsened, and her cheeks swelled even more.

But whether he noticed it or not, Sputnik stopped walking and turned around.

He glanced at the employee who does not even bother to hide her anger, but he does not seem to be particularly embarrassed.

“Listen up, Clu, I’m going to sleep now until noon. If a customer comes by, deal with them appropriately. And If someone comes for me, tell them that the owner is out buying supplies.”

The shop-owner is just telling her to lie. Feeling that there is no reason to listen to such self-centered commands, Clue is in a bad mood and tries to answer, “I can not approve of such things,” but just a moment later, he had already looked away from her and stared into nothingness.

“Ah, that’s right, speaking of purchases, how is it today?”

His question seemingly lacked conformity, but Clue knew what he meant. He is talking about her “constitution”.

Clue does not want to answer due to her bad mood and the uncomfortable swirling feeling in her stomach, but this is about work. After a short sigh, she answered his question.

“…Three.”

She wanted to ignore her emotion but her voice sounded slightly lower than usual.

Anyway, Clue gave her answer and pulled out a folded white cloth from her apron pocket. Unfurling it, the jewels she had gathered in bed when she woke up can be seen.

“I see. Hmm.”

Sputnik received the jewels along with the cloth and looked through the unprocessed red jewel, and smiled. There is no trace of his drunk state, looking more like an innocent boy, a sight that makes Clue startled.

Eventually, he lowered his arm and said, while rolling the other two on the palm of his hands,

“They are pretty good today.”

“Is that so?”

“There are no scratches, their sizes are fine, their purity is high. Processing them would be worthwhile. You ‘created’ a good batch today.”

Then, his characteristically long fingers stroked her head.

――Clue has a mysterious “constitution” that will let her “create” jewels in her body.

Ruby, sapphire, peridot, emerald, garnet… a huge variety of jewels. Clue’s body “created” them and she “spat” them out from her mouth several times a day.

But even she herself doesn’t know what kind of mechanism or physiological phenomenon caused it. She had already been like this for as long as she can remember. Not even her parents knew what caused it, and before she noticed, she was captured by bandits and treated as a slave to procure funds. She was left in a corner of their hideout with only tattered clothes covering her body. She did not eat properly, and everytime their money ran out, they would beat her till she “spat up” more jewels.

The one who saved Clue was Sputnik, who was a wandering jeweler back then.

One day, the bandits targeted this ill-natured traveler as they usually did, but had the tables turned against them. The bandits tried to escape in a hurry, but were caught by Sputnik who proved to be too much for them, and he demanded, “Reparation for the emotional trauma he suffered by the sudden assault,” and that, “If they can’t do so, they should offer up an organ or two.” He then proceeded to loot the valuables in the bandits’ hideout. Among them, “The Girl Who Spits Up Jewels” – Clue, was also included.

Then, a few years later, Sputnik, after securing a fair amount of funding, decided to set up a small jewelry store bearing his name in this city of Learfiat ――Now let’s return to the previous topic.

The warmth of his hands gently caressing her and his affectionate voice giving her praise makes her forgot a bit of her anger, and she almost forgave him, but she somehow managed to held on and lifted her head up, saying,

“T-that won’t work! I won’t be fooled by your words, and no matter what, drinking at a bar all night isn’t a good reason to skip work!”

“-tch-“

He clicked his tongue, he seemed to indeed have ulterior motives.

Sputnik shrugged his shoulders and said,

“It’s unfortunate but, I didn’t just drink and play all night.”

“……Really?”

“Yes. ―I went to the inn last night.”

“Sputnik-san!”

At an inn and returning with the scent of women’s perfume. Clue isn’t a child who won’t understand what that means.

Her cheeks flushed as she shouted his name, to which Sputnik returned a loud laugh. Clue’s reactions are interesting, so he likes to tease her. Clue is aware of this fact, and while she could let the teasing pass, she was unable to stop reacting in such ways.

Please don’t do that anymore ― Clue was about to shout, but then,

-karan- -koron- The doorbell rang once again.

Clue swallowed the words that were just about to leave her mouth and turned around. She saw a woman standing there.

“Nice to meet you.”

The woman greeted them in a calm, alto-soprano voice.

She is a beautiful woman with long black hair tied together with hairpins and dressed in a casual suit. Although her soft eyes left a slightly childish impression, her red lips are very mature looking, and with her fashion style, she looks like a professional.

――Sputnik’s facial expression, that was just cheerfully laughing, turns gloomy at once.

He called her name without hiding his displeasure.

“…Gee, Natsu.”

“What’s with your greeting, Gee? How have you been? Sleazyputnik”
(TN: Sleazy + Sputnik. I tried okay)

Natsu ― She is a female police officer at the Learfiat Branch Police Department.

To be exact, she is an inspector. But contrary to her slender and supple appearance, she is able to enter the male dominant police department with her excellent martial arts and apprehension techniques ― or so the rumors goes. Her achievements are countless, and she is as famous as the Lieutenant Inspector here, and she is absolutely incompatible with Sputnik for some reason.

“Oh, you unfortunately made your appearance at the worst of times ― before the store opened. And could you not remember other people’s names?”

“It’s useless to remember your name whatsoever, Sleazyputnik. Or rather, isn’t ‘Sleazyputnik’ too long and too cumbersome, polluting the air a bit too much by saying it? How about just Sleazy? How do you do, Sleazy?”

“You now reduced my name to just two syllables. What business do you have with me?”

Sputnik turned to her without hiding the thought of ‘pleaes leave already’ in his eyes.

But she received it with a cool ‘I’m not bothered’ face.

“I’ve got nothing to do with you. I’m simply on my daily patrol ― How have you been, Clue-chan?”

Being suddenly spoken to, Clue simply blinked.

Sputnik aside, Clue doesn’t seem to think that she is hated by her. For example, while walking around the city shopping, Natsu will greet with a smile and share good information like, “The butcher is going to sell croquettes cheaply from 5 o’clock today!” And “New pink crepes are sold over there. They look weird but are surprisingly good.” And other such things if she knew.

Natsu is smart and strong, with a high social status, and a bright personality. Clue herself doesn’t particularly hate her.

“Oh, um, so so. Natsu-san?”

“That’s great. I’m about the same. You look cute today too, Clue-chan.”

“C-c-c-cute! It’s not like that. C-cute.”

“Don’t listen to her, Clu.”

Clue is suddenly praised and she covers her flushed cheeks with her hands. Sputnik seems surprised that Clue was so flustered, and he points his finger at Natsu.

“I’m thankful for your ‘patrols’ today and the other days too, Inspector-dono. I’ll tell you one good piece of information to thank you for coming to see us every day. Are you aware of how someone like you is called? ―― ‘Officious Hag.’ Remember that.”

“Oh dear, you don’t have to thank me. I’m just doing what I like to do ― To protect the citizens from insolent bastards like you.”

“Oh my, to denounce a good law-abiding citizen as ‘insolent’, I expected nothing less of the competent policewoman you are. I teared up when I thought that the taxes we paid are used to feed someone like you.”

“I am honored to receive your praise. However, if possible, rather than your insincere compliment, I would rather you be silent and give out both hands for me to more easily do what I must. It would be easier to handcuff you, thereby saving me some trouble.”

“Are you looking for a fight?”

“Oh, that’s a witty remark.”

“Ah, umm, fighting isn’t good, you both should get along, okay?”

Clue’s attempt at mediating is brilliantly ignored by the two. Then, their intense glaring continued―

―But it didn’t last long, Sputnik being the one who turned away first.

“Oh, I quit. I don’t want to waste my sleeptime on such stupid squabbles.”

Saying those words, he turned around and placed one hand on the knob to the door labeled, 『Employees Only』. It is the same door Clue came through earlier. The door leads to the employee’s residential area.

“Wait a, Sputnik, we’re not done talking.”

“That’s right, Clu. The silver wires have run out. Also, there aren’t enough detergents and emery. Get them ready and put them in the processing room before I wake up. And don’t wake me up until I do so naturally.”

He seems to have no desire to listen to Natsu’s words any further. He one-sidedly said what he wanted, twisted the knob to open the door, opening the minimum necessary width, and moved his body inside, slamming the door shut without waiting for Clue’s reply.

The 『Employees Only』 sign makes a -batan- sound as the door closes.

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A/N: The name of this novel is derived from @gkryu1001 -san’s tweet “Jewels comes out from the throat” and @igawanatsuki -san’s tweet “The Jewel Girl and the love of the Delusional Jeweler at Mach”. There is a ‘delusion’ in the story here, but I still haven’t decided about the ‘love’ part.

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T/N: @igawanatsuki’s tweet – https://twitter.com/igawanatsuki/status/344688572055552000

@gkryu1001’s twitter account has been suspended.

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