Book 1: Chapter 3 |
10,876th Time
It’s March 2. Today has to be March 2.
Why do I need to remind myself of that?
…Must be because it’s still so cloudy outside despite it being March.
That’s got to be it. It’s the weather, the way the blue sky remains hidden just enough to dampen your spirits.
When the hell is it ever going to clear up?
I’m in the classroom before the bell rings, and those are the kinds of dull thoughts going through my mind as I stare out the window.
I’m sure I’m only thinking this way because something’s off with me. I mean, not that I’m sick. I feel the same as ever. There’s just something…weird about me today.
I can’t really describe it, but I guess it’s closer to a sense of wrongness, like suddenly noticing I’m the only one not casting a shadow.
Anyway, it’s not like dwelling on it will uncover any answers, so I might as well eat my Umaibo. Today’s flavor is pork kimchi. I take a bite of the crispy puffed-corn stick. No matter how many of these I eat, I’ll never get tired of that texture.
“Umaibo again? Don’t you ever get sick of those things? If you keep eating them every day like this, your blood will probably turn the same color.”
“…Um, what color would that be?”
“You think I care?”
The one responsible for this nonsense is my classmate Kokone Kirino. Her brown hair, which falls somewhere between semilong and long, is tied back in a single high ponytail. Kokone changes how she does her hair all the time, but this style seems to be a favorite of hers lately. It feels like I haven’t seen her do it any other way for a while.
Kokone takes the seat next me and peers into a light-blue hand mirror as she does her makeup with some tool a guy like me has no idea what to call.
She’s so focused, it almost makes me want to tell her to try concentrating that hard on something other than cosmetics.
“Now that I think about it, a lot of your things are blue.”
“Um, yeah, that’s because I like it. Oh yeah, Kazu, do you notice anything different about me today? Anything at all?”
With that abrupt change of topic, Kokone turns to face me, her eyes glittering.
“Hmm…?”
What could it be? How am I supposed to know if she just asks me without warning like that?
“Here’s a hint! Something has changed about my most attractive feature!”
“Huh?”
I look at her chest without thinking.
“Hey! What, you think it’s my breasts?!”
Can I help it if Kokone is always bragging about how she outgrew her D cups?
“Everyone knows my most striking feature is my big, beautiful eyes. As if my breasts could just get bigger overnight! Or maybe that’s what you were hoping, you perv! You’re obsessed with boobs!”
“…Sorry.”
I had no way of knowing what Kokone considers her “most attractive feature,” but I figure it’s best to just apologize.
“…So? What do you think?”
Kokone gazes directly at me, her eyes brimming with expectation. They certainly are big. Now that I realize it, I can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed.
“……But your face looks the same as usual.”
I try not to stare too closely at her face as I say this.
“What’s that? You say my face is as lovely as always?”
“That’s not what I said!”
“Well, you should!” she demands. “I’ll have you know that I’m using mascara today. How is it? What do you think?”
I still can’t tell what she wants me to notice. She looks exactly the same as yesterday.
“……I mean, how am I supposed to notice that?”
I was going for the honest approach, but it was the wrong choice.
“What do you mean…‘How am I supposed to notice that?’?!”
Kokone hits me.
“Ow…”
“Ugh! Could you possibly be any more boring?!”
Kokone sounds like she’s just playing around, but I think I’m detecting a hint of genuine anger in her voice.
She pretends to spit on the floor and goes to show off her new mascara look to the rest of the class.
“Phew…”
That really wore me out. Kokone is fun, but I can’t keep up with her.
“You two lovebirds finished with your little spat?”
The first thing I see upon turning around is a right ear with three earrings in it. There’s only one person in our school with those…
“…Daiya, there’s no way anyone could mistake that for a lover’s quarrel. That would’ve happened no matter what.”
But my friend Daiya Oomine blows off my rebuttal with a snort. Yep, he’s just as arrogant as ever today. But I guess it would be pretty weird if someone decked themselves out with silver hair and tons of accessories, blatantly violating school rules, only to act all meek and humble.
“Could you seriously not tell she had mascara on? I couldn’t care less about how she looks, and even I could see the difference.”
“……Really?”
Daiya lives next door to Kokone and has apparently known her since kindergarten, so his claim that he doesn’t care about her has to be a lie. Still, I might have a problem if I missed something even this self-centered and dismissive guy picked up on.
“…But, you know…”
I feel like she was wearing mascara yesterday, too.
“Oh, I got you, Kazu. You’re just letting that ho know you aren’t into her. I feel you there. I do the same thing, only I’m more upfront about it.”
“You’re such a jackass for a class president! I can hear everything you’re saying, you know!”
Daiya continues on, completely ignoring Kokone and her infamously sharp ears. “Enough about all that, though. Have you heard there’s a new student transferring to our class today?”
“A transfer student?”
I confirm with myself again that it’s March 2. Why would anyone transfer so late in the school year?
“A transfer student! Really?!” Kokone really was listening in the whole time, evident by her jumping in now.
“I’m not talking to you, Kiri. Don’t just butt in from across the room. And don’t try to come over here, either. For the sake of my mental health, I don’t want to look at that sloppy paint job you’re so hell-bent on applying to your face.”
“Wh-what?! Well, maybe you should think about doing something to fix that messed up attitude of yours first, Daiya! Go hang upside down for forty-six hours, and maybe you might get some blood flow to your head again so you can start using it!”
They’ve both got mouths on them, that’s for sure. I raise my voice to speak over them, trying to put an end to the trash talking and steer the conversation back on topic.
“So, a transfer student? I think I may have heard something about that.”
Just as I planned, Daiya shuts his mouth and gives me a long stare.
“…And who’d you hear that from?” he asks me, a serious expression on his face.
“Huh? Why does that matter?”
“Don’t answer my question with a question.”
“Um… Who told me, again? I think it might have been you.”
“That’s impossible. I heard about the transfer student myself only just now when I went to the faculty room on an errand. There’s no way I would’ve had time to tell you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Rumors about this type of thing spread like wildfire. Kiri is about the biggest gossip out there, and even she was clueless.”
Thinking back on what I just witnessed, I realize he’s right. In fact, none of our classmates in first-year Class 6 seem to be in the know.
“That means they kept the information under wraps until today, the actual day of the transfer. If that’s the case, then why would you know about it?”
“…Ummm, I don’t know.”
I wonder why?
“I guess it really doesn’t matter. But still, don’t you think it’s a bit odd, Kazu? Why would we have a transfer student arriving so late in the year? The way I see it, something must have happened. Maybe she’s a real problem child, like the daughter of some chairman who got kicked out of another school. That’s a believable reason for transferring now and keeping the news on the down-low.”
“You shouldn’t make crazy speculations and form a biased opinion of the girl before she even arrives, Daiya! Transfer students have enough trouble with people thinking weird things about them as it is. Not to mention that everyone’s eavesdropping.” Kokone’s reprimand provokes some wry grins from the classmates who were indeed listening in.
“So? You think I care?”
Wow…
Just as a reflexive sigh escapes me at Daiya’s overbearing attitude, the bell rings.
The rest of the class gradually makes their way to their seats.
Kokone is sitting in the row closest to the hallway, so she opens the hall window and leans out over the sill.
It seems she wants to be the first to see our new classmate.
“Oh!” she blurts out, as if she’s spotted someone who fits the bill.
Apparently, she’s having fun getting an eyeful, but then she suddenly lets out a yelp and returns to her seat with a wooden expression on her face.
What could have happened?
A smile rises on Kokone’s face as she whispers, “Wow.”
I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to ask her what she saw, but without a moment’s notice, our teacher, Mr. Kokubo, enters the classroom.
The shadow of a female student appears behind the frosted glass on the door.
Observing the classroom and noticing everyone’s curiosity, Mr. Kokubo calls in the transfer student.
The silhouette on the other side of the door moves.
And that’s when I see her…
It’s instantaneous.
The entire scene changes, as if the classroom itself has just been hurled off a cliff.
The first thing I notice is a particular sound.
It’s a dry scratching noise, a rasping sound like our surroundings are being ripped apart.
Scene after scene violently and forcefully interposes.
Similar sights appear over and over.
My mind runs wild, only to find itself forced back and tightly locked in place, like it’s being crammed into a little metal box.
“My name is Aya Otonashi,” I hear.
“I’m Aya Otonashi,” I hear.
“I’m Aya Otonashi.” I heard you, dammit!
I reject those words against the massive tide of information trying to force itself into my head. There’s no room for anything else. My brain is going to be sick. There’s no way it can possibly digest all of this.
“Ah…”
I…
What…? I can’t understand any of this.
Once I realize this, I shut my thoughts away…and I’m back to normal.
Huh? What was I thinking about just now?
I’ve forgotten, so I turn back toward the front of the classroom and look at her.
At the transfer student, Aya Otonashi, whose name I have yet to learn.
“I’m Aya Otonashi” is the only thing she mumbles, in a voice that seems to imply she couldn’t care less if we heard her or not.
She steps down from the podium.
The entire class is buzzing at her terse self-introduction.
She starts walking toward me, apparently oblivious to the confusion of her new classmates.
Gazing directly at me.
She matter-of-factly takes the seat next to me, which just happens to be empty, almost as if it were set aside specifically for her to sit in.
Otonashi has been examining me with undisguised suspicion as I watched all this transpire in stunned silence.
…Maybe I should say something.
“……Um, nice to meet you.”
But her scowl remains unchanged.
“Is that it?”
“Huh…?”
“I asked you if that’s it.”
Am I missing something? I can’t think of what she could possibly mean. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever seen Aya Otonashi.
But the mood in the air suggests there’s something else I need to say.
“……Uh, is that uniform from your old school?”
My forced question elicits no reaction from Otonashi, who continues to stare at me.
“…Okay?”
Seeing my bewilderment, Otonashi sighs for some reason, and her lips turn up in the kind of exasperated smile you use with a disobedient child.
“I’ll let you in on a secret you might like, Hoshino.”
…Huh? I don’t recall telling her my name.
That’s the least of the surprises in store for me, though.
Five seconds later, Otonashi’s next utterance stuns me into silence.
“Kasumi Mogi is wearing light-blue panties today.”
✵
Kasumi Mogi generally wears her regular school uniform during PE instead of her gym clothes. Today is no different. She’s wearing her usual uniform while she watches the boys play soccer, her expression as lifeless as some sort of doll. The pale legs extending from below her skirt are so slender it seems as if they could break at any moment.
And for some reason, I’m resting my head on those legs.
Okay, yeah. At this point, I officially give up trying to understand any of this. I’m happy, but my brain isn’t ready to process the situation. All I can do is put the tissue to my nose and focus on stopping the bleeding. I think I might lose my mind if I don’t.
I more or less understand how this situation came about. I couldn’t focus because of Otonashi, and so the soccer ball hit me in the face and gave me a bloody nose. Mogi was worried about me and, for some reason, let me rest my head on her lap.
Her legs aren’t soft at all, though. To be honest, they kinda hurt my head.
Why is she doing this?
I look up at her, but her expression is blank and unreadable.
Still, I’m happy.
I’m hopelessly and helplessly happy.
Of course Otonashi’s revelation about the panties startled me, but not just because of how sudden it was. Like, she said she would tell me a secret I “might like.” She knew that information about Kasumi Mogi would qualify, and that’s what really caught me off guard.
Not even Daiya or Kokone is aware of my love for Mogi.
Why would Otonashi, someone I supposedly just met today, have any clue about my feelings?
And yet she still said what she said.
“…Hey, Mogi…”
“What?” she replies in a soft voice, like a small bird’s. It suits her petite frame and delicate appearance perfectly.
“Did Otonashi talk to you at all today?”
“Otonashi, the transfer student? …No.”
“So you aren’t friends with her at all?”
Mogi shakes her head no.
“Has anything strange happened to you recently?”
After thinking a moment, Mogi responds the same way, and the soft waves of her hair sway along with her.
“Why do you ask…?” she replies, her head tilted to one side.
“Ah, well…no reason.”
Looking over toward the playing field, I see Otonashi standing in the center like a statue, utterly uninterested in the ball and the group of girls swarming around it. When it happens to roll over to her, she kicks it back to another player, who appears to be on the other team.
“Hmm…”
Maybe I’m overthinking things. Maybe she doesn’t really know how I feel.
Otonashi’s appearance, or even just her attitude, really makes an impression.
When someone like her suddenly makes that kind of declaration from earlier, I can’t help but read too much into it, right? Perfectly understandable.
Still, why do I have so much trouble believing it?
Otonashi looks in my direction.
And her gaze stays locked onto me.
The corner of her mouth lifting defiantly, she starts marching in my direction, even though class isn’t finished yet.
I quickly find myself on my feet.
Though it should have been the greatest happiness of my life, I’ve relinquished the right to rest my head on Mogi’s legs.
I’m shivering from head to toe.
And I don’t mean that as a mere figure of speech—my entire body really is shaking.
Perhaps because she’s noticed Otonashi approaching, Mogi also rises to her feet, her face taut with unease.
Otonashi walks up to me, that same defiant smirk still on her face…and suddenly jabs her finger at Mogi.
It’s all very abrupt.
There’s a sudden gust of wind. With absolutely no forewarning whatsoever. That no one could have predicted.
And that breeze lifts Mogi’s skirt.
“~~~~!!”
Mogi quickly grabs the hem to hold it in place—only the front, though, and I’m standing behind her.
The wind is gone as suddenly as it arrived, and Mogi looks back at me. Though her face is as blank as ever, her cheeks are just the slightest bit red. She mouths the words “Did you see?” Or maybe she says them in a voice too quiet to hear. I shake my head no with all my might, though I’m sure the vehemence of my denial gives it away that I’m lying. But all Mogi does is lower her gaze without another word.
Otonashi quickly appears beside me.
I catch a glimpse of her expression.
“Uhhh—”
It’s then I learn the reason why I’m trembling. I can read what’s behind that look. It’s something I’ve never once had directed toward me in my entire life: enmity.
Why? Why me of all people?
Otonashi’s still glaring at me with that sneer. As I stand there, unable to do anything but shiver, she places her hand on my shoulder and brings her lips to my ear.
“They were light blue, right?”
Otonashi knew everything. That I have feelings for Mogi, that a gust of wind would reveal Mogi’s underwear in front of me—everything, from start to finish.
What she said to me earlier wasn’t just some joke.
It was a threat, meant to insinuate that she understood me, that she knew me inside and out, and that she controlled me.
“Surely you remember now, Hoshino?”
She watches my rigid form carefully.
We stand like that for a while, but perhaps dismayed by my lack of response, Otonashi eventually lowers her gaze and lets out a sigh.
“I thought surely that would work… You’re even more dim-witted than usual today,” she complains in a low voice. “If you’ve forgotten, then you better remember this. My name is Maria.”
Maria? But I thought your name was Aya Otonashi.
“I-is that your pen name or something?”
“Shut up.” She doesn’t even try to hide her anger. “Fine. You might not be responding, but I’m still going to do what I have to.”
And with that, Otonashi turns away.
“Hey, wait…”
I call out for her to stop. She turns around, obviously annoyed.
I instinctively recoil at the sight of her brows furrowed in such anger.
It doesn’t makes sense. But judging by her behavior, maybe…
“Is this because we’ve met somewhere before?”
My question brings a smirk to Otonashi’s face.
“Yeah, we were lovers in a former life. My beloved Hathaway, how it pains me to see you reduced to this. To think the man who came to spirit away a princess of an enemy kingdom such as myself could become such a cretin.”
“…Uh, I don’t think I…”
I’m completely dumbfounded. Perhaps satisfied with my reaction, for the first time today I see what could be a considered a real smile on Otonashi’s face.
“Just joking.”
✵
The next day, I find Aya Otonashi’s lifeless body.
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