Chapter 221: Longing for the Smile I Saw That Day
[Author's Note: I need to write the Truth Book too… and there are so many side stories I want to write… but it's been two weeks, damn it! I'll write them little by little.]
(The rain... I wonder if it'll keep falling until tomorrow.)
I thought that as I watched the pouring rain through the window.
The weather forecast said a typhoon was approaching, which meant a storm warning would be issued from tomorrow through the day after, and school would be closed because of it.
It's not that I'm arrogant... but I'm aware that I'm a cut above. Still, that's one thing and this is another. Knowing that today and tomorrow were days off, the mountain of assignments each of my teachers had piled on was enough to make even an honor student sigh in frustration.
And then there was this downpour and strong wind—the harbingers of the typhoon.
I don't have it so bad. Since I've already called ahead, a car will probably come for me in about ten minutes. It's a privilege of my family background, I suppose. I can't help but feel a little sorry for my classmates who forgot to anticipate the rain and came to school without umbrellas or raincoats. But the weather is the weather. It can't be helped.
(Am I... depressed? First I'll go home and finish my assignments... Ah, I also have my lessons... I wonder if I can just take today off.)
That request probably won't be granted.
"Never take refuge in the weakness of being a woman"—following this family precept, not just me but my two older sisters have also trained in martial arts for self-defense. Skipping practice on a rainy day would surely not be allowed.
(I guess I really am... depressed.)
It seems that even with my privileged upbringing, I still get to share in the same gloom as everyone else.
My thoughts kept drifting in a bad direction. Smiling wryly at myself for it, I headed toward the entrance to change into my outdoor shoes—something uncommon these days—when I suddenly noticed it.
???: "Hmm, well... I guess it won't get wet. My wallet and device are in my bag, and my clothes... well, if it's Iwamaki-san, she'll probably laugh it off. Probably."
At the entrance—the boundary between the school building that protects people from the rain and the torrential downpour outside—there stood a male student.
Judging by his uniform, he was definitely a student at the same school. And if my memory wasn't wrong, he was probably in my class...
(Hi... no, Hizu... which “tsutome” was it again?)
He was a classmate with a surname rarer than Suzuki or Sato. I'd forgotten whether the “tsutome” was written with the character for “diligence” or the one for “duty,” but his surname was definitely Hizutome. As he stared intently outside while doing squats, next to him was his school bag, stuffed into a transparent plastic bag—probably given to him by the school—with the opening tied shut. And since he had neither an umbrella nor a raincoat, I understood that this Hizutome had forgotten to prepare for the rain.
(He looks like he's having a rough time out there.)
From the way he was acting, it was clear he intended to sprint home without an umbrella or raincoat. I didn't know where he lived, but he would undoubtedly be completely soaked by the time he got home. And even if he did make it home, a mountain of assignments would be waiting for him. I thought his misfortunes were stacking up.
But then:
???: "Alright! Here goes!"
???: "...Huh?"
He was smiling.
As he dashed out into the rain, showered by a barrage of droplets. As he carried his bag, filled not with physical weight but with a mountain of assignments. Even so, he ran with a huge smile on his face.
The screams of the Hizutome kid faded into the distance. I watched his retreating figure, a question forming in my mind.
???: "Why was he so happy... so full of joy...?"
That was our first meeting. He surely had no idea I was even watching.
After that, I saw him and his smile many more times. Through spring, summer, autumn, and winter... no matter how troublesome the assignments, or even on days when he took a spectacular fall in PE and ended up in the nurse's office.
???: "Alright! I just got an email saying that thing finally arrived! I'll pick it up quick and pull an all-nighter...!"
He always went home with a smile.
At some point, I started wondering why he smiled when he went home. And alongside that question, I wanted to know what it was that made him smile.
So one day, I decided to follow him.
I'd already figured out his route home after several observations. And I wanted to know where he stopped along the way. Strangely enough, it never crossed my mind that what I was doing was what people in general call "stalking."
Where I ended up was a game shop. Probably a privately owned one.
???: "RockRoll... it's not 'Rock 'n' Roll,' huh... Eep!?"
???: "Fufufufu... finally, finally I have you, Survival Gunman...!"
The manual door swung open, and the kid whose name I'd barely remembered back then—Rakuro Hizutome—burst out of the shop. On instinct, I ducked behind the corner.
Rakuro: "Huh? A cat, maybe... Eh, whatever. I got the first-print bonus too. Time to head home."
(Ah, he still looks so happy.)
At school, he wasn't a bad student by any means. He paid attention in class, his grades were good, and he wasn't unfriendly to his friends. But he never smiled the way he did back then while at school.
Watching Hizutome run off from behind the corner, I steeled myself and opened the door to the game shop, "RockRoll."
Little did I know that the shop's owner would not only point out the true nature of the feelings I hadn't even realized I had, but would also end up becoming my accomplice.
???: "Summer break... is over, huh."
Since that torrential downpour, the same seasons had come around several times. And now, even I could see it.
My time of just watching from afar... my time of waiting in the wings... was over. My accomplice, Mana Iwamaki, had said it was "time to act on the flags I'd planted." And on the morning after summer vacation ended, Rei Saiga knew it by instinct.
???: "Young lady, the car is ready."
Rei: "...No, I'm sorry. I think I'll walk to school today. It's my first day back from break, so... call it a change of pace."
???: "I see... Very well."
After eating breakfast, putting on her uniform, and taking an extra moment to fix herself up in the mirror...
Rei: "Well, I'm off."
???: "Have a nice day, young lady."
Though she was usually driven, she still knew the way. But today, she decided to take a different route to school.
Because she had a feeling... that she might.