Chapter 2: Cultural Festival With Eina (7) |
The next fortnight flew by. That morning, I went to school early and we practised for the play.
I was half asleep through class, and after school, we had another rehearsal. While we rehearsed, our classmates were around the room making costumes and props.
Suddenly, a huge crash sounded along with the noise of breaking glass. The sound team were picking out music and sound effects.
There were even people making spotlights with torches and cellophane.
This kind of scene was happening all throughout the school. The entire place was getting into the swing of the cultural festival.
To use a common saying, they were fulfilling days.
But for some reason, I felt dissatisfied.
I didn’t know why. I had an odd lonely feeling, like a small hole had opened up in my heart.
However, there was so much to do that I didn’t even have the time to think about it. I had to spend any free time I had binding the books for the literature club.
After school, I figured that the class could do without me for a while and headed to the clubroom to decorate it. It was already completely dark outside but for today only, the teachers wouldn’t say anything if we were here late.
When I arrived, Ruka-senpai was already there.
“Good timing! Shuu-kun, can you get this?”
She was on top of the desk, trying to hang decorations on the blackboard, but she couldn’t quite reach. She was stretching out so far that it looked like she might fall.
“Leave it to me, Senpai.”
I switched places with her on the desk and hung out the decorations.
“Where are the other two?”
“They already left. They’ve got prep school. I wish their prep school would read the mood though.”
“It’s unavoidable, the exams won’t wait. Will you be okay?”
“Hmm, I actually have prep school soon too.”
“Then go. I’ll finish the rest.”
“Are you sure? I can skip…”
“It’s okay, it’s just the decoration left.”
She didn’t look too happy about it, maybe she’d been hoping I would give her the excuse to skip.
“Yeah. Thanks. Oh yeah, I’ll definitely come watch the play tomorrow! Good luck!”
“Thank you, but what will we do here then?”
“I’ll ask Kobayashi-sensei to cover for us, she is our adviser, so it’s fine! See you!”
Ruka-senpai left with the flopping of her footsteps.
“Now then, let’s finish up quickly.”
The others had mostly finished already, I just had to create the venue.
I put several desks together like a bar, lay a cloth over the top of them and arranged the bound books on top of that.
It wasn’t just the books for the festival, we also put out older books too for anyone interested.
I finished and let out a long breath, looking out of the windows.
The school had already fallen quiet, most of the students had probably gone home.
The sky was pitch-black, with stars dotting it.
I wonder if Eina is looking at the same stars, I thought idly.
The Eina I talked to was the Eina from five years in the past, so she couldn’t be looking at these stars. But… what about the current Eina?
Was she, on the same planet, at the same time, looking up at these stars.
I took out my phone. I’d not had any messages. I was really busy at the moment and couldn’t reply much, so Eina and I hadn’t talked much recently. Sliding my finger over the touchscreen, I called her.
It rang once and she picked up.
《Hello, this is Eina.》
“It’s Shuu.”
《Good evening. It’s the real thing tomorrow, are you already home?》
“No, I’m still at school.”
《Wah, that’s tough.》
“Well, I’m about to go home.”
《It sounds like a fulfilling school life!》
Eina was completely right. Recently, my life had been surprisingly fulfilling.
“Yeah, it is. Practising for the play and preparing for the literature club is fun, but,” having heard Eina’s voice, I knew why I felt lonely, “I’m sure it’d be more fun if you were here too.”
Eina wasn’t here. I didn’t know her face, her name, or even her age, but I still felt that she should be next to me. I wanted to meet her.
But we couldn’t meet.
Because she lived five years in the past…
If we were just a long distance apart, we could still meet. I could get the train, or even a plane.
But the interval in time was insurmountable.
《…I would want to meet you if we could,》her clear soprano entered my ears, quiet and lonely, 《I wanted to prepare for the cultural festival with you, and to practice the play with you.》
I thought that maybe Eina felt the same as me, and I quietly held her voice in my heart.
“Thank you, Eina.”
《It’s okay.》
We were silent for a while, utterly wordless. But my heart was at ease, maybe because I knew I was connected to her through my phone.
She wasn’t beside me, but I didn’t feel alone in the slightest.
“Say.”
《Umm…》 we spoke together before falling into silence waiting for the other to continue.
“Go ahead.”
《Uhh, When is your birthday?》
“Saturday next week.”
《Eh, it’s that soon!? What do I do…?》
“What do you do?”
《Uh, ah, I was talking to myself. Ah, that’s right, then why don’t we go out together next Saturday?》
“Go out together?”
I didn’t understand what she meant.
《Of course, we won’t be able to meet. But if we go to the same place, it’s sort of like we’ve gone out together.》
“Ah, let’s do that.”
I checked my watch.
I really did have to head home soon.
“I’m hanging up then, I have to go home.”
《Right.》
“…”
《…Um, aren’t you hanging up.》
“I was waiting for you to.”
We both laughed.
《Then on three?》
“On three.”
《One.》
“Two.”
《“Three.”》
Our voices mixed with the electronic tone as we hung up. Even after hanging up, my gaze lingered on my phone for a while.