Chapter 2 “Not there”
Since then, there has been no further communication from Towako.
“How about it, Houzuki? Have you heard from your best friend?”
As usual, Houzuki visited the old school building, ignoring Yuiru’s teasing and staring intently at her mobile phone.
There were no messages in the messaging app since their exchange during the day.
Towako hadn’t said anything. After saying, “I’m here,” there had been no further response.
Yuiru, playing with stacked sideways chairs, said,
“Houzuki, I told you. Your so-called best friend doesn’t exist from the beginning; it’s imaginary. Give it up, you’re alone.”
“Towako is real!!”
Houzuki glared at the silver-haired, red-eyed male student and said,
“Towako is my best friend, my best friend who as always been by my side!!”
“No, she’s not.”
Yuiru gently shook his head and said,
“You have always been alone. The girl named Towako doesn’t exist, and you have always been by yourself.”
“You’re lying!! Towako exists!!”
“Then tell me.”
Seated on the pyramid-like stack of chairs, Yuiru looked down at Houzuki from his elevated position and said,
“What is your best friend’s name?”
“Aoyagi Towako.”
“Where is she from?”
“She was born in Tsuki-nashi Town and raised here.”
“Any memories from elementary school?”
Jiji.
“That’s――”
Zazaza, ――pi~po~, pi~po~.
“That’s――”
Zazaza, ――uu~, u~.
“…………”
The image that flashed in her mind was intensely red.
The sky was dyed in red, and there were flickering red lights in front of her.
Right beside her was a red backpack. A muddy keychain was swinging.
――That day had an exceptionally beautiful sunset.”
“Houzuki.”
Calling out Houzuki’s name as she stood there, Yuiru snapped her back to reality with a forehead flick.
“Hey.”
“Oww.”
Surprisingly painful, Houzuki groaned.
It was the first time in her life she had been flicked on the forehead by a ghost.
She had never even considered interacting with spirits before, let alone getting flicked by one.
“What are you daydreaming about? Can’t you share even a single memory?”
“I get it, but…….”
Houzuki held her head,
“I can’t remember…”
She couldn’t remember anything.
There had to be memories. She had spent a long time with Aoyagi Towako.
Beautiful memories, ugly memories – she should have experienced them all with her.
However, as if they had been erased, those memories were slipping away from Houzuki’s mind.
What she remembered was,
“Sunset.”
“Huh?”
“The sunset was beautiful. That’s all I can remember.”
What remained in her memory was the beautiful evening sky she looked up at the intersection.
It stretched endlessly, burning in a deep red, grand, and incredibly beautiful.
The flickering lights in front of her were the red lamps of ambulances.
Several cars had collided, flattened, and onlookers were whispering about a girl who had been caught up in the accident.
Apart from that, she couldn’t remember anything else.
“You’re quite seriously affected, aren’t you?”
Yuiru pushed Houzuki’s back,
“You should go back now. You’ll realize your mistake soon enough.”
Picking up a student’s bag as if to say, “Take it and go,” Yuiru said,
“What is wrong and what is right? Are your eyes, your senses, truly normal?―― Once you have the answer, you can come back to the old school building.”
Houzuki glanced at the silver-haired, red-eyed male student and then walked away from the old school building, holding the student’s bag.
Aoyagi Towako is alive. She believed that.
They had been together all this time, so she should be alive
“Towako is alive……She’s alive……”
――Why did Yuiru say such things?
☆
Houzuki returned to the main school building with unsteady steps, heading towards her shoe locker.
On the way, she noticed several female students, perhaps from the same class.
Spotting Houzuki walking down the hallway, they whispered to each other, “Look…””She’s not muttering to herself today, is she?””I wonder if she’s okay today?”
There was no way everything was okay without having a best friend.
“Hey.”
A female student who had been glancing in Houzuki’s direction suddenly approached.
The emotion reflected in her obsidian eyes was curiosity.
Clearly, she had come closer to enjoy the reaction of the other person. Or perhaps it was some form of test of courage.
“Hey, are you not talking to someone today?”
“My best friend isn’t here. She seems to be absent today.”
When Houzuki answered that,
“Is that your imaginary friend?”
The female student said that in a mocking tone.
Houzuki didn’t understand.
Well, she understood the words. Imaginary friends, something that corresponds to an imaginary best friend.
Was she trying to say that Houzuki’s friend, Aoyagi Towako, was an “imaginary friend”?
“Do you also think that Towako doesn’t exist?”
“Isn’t that the case?”
While giving Houzuki a disdainful look, the female student said,
“You’re・always・talking・to・yourself・in・empty・places・where・no・one・else・is. It’s just not normal, you know?”
――No one is there?
No, Houzuki can see her clearly.
Aoyagi Towako’s existence is undoubtedly there. She’s just not present at the moment, but Towako is alive and well, existing—
‘Really?’
What crosses her mind is the vividly burning red sky.
A very beautiful sunset, with the red lights of an ambulance flickering. Several crushed cars, an intersection, and onlookers gossiping.
Poor thing, so pitiful.
Uttering such words towards someone.
The red school bag lying in front, a keychain covered in mud.
Whose arm is barely caught on the shoulder belt?
――Up to that point, Houzuki was asking herself questions.
“Hey.”
Several female students turned toward Houzuki with a hint of fear.
“Do you know Aoyagi Towako?”
“Huh? Isn’t that-“
As soon as Houzuki mentioned that name, one of the girls seemed to recall something.
“Yeah, that’s the girl who died in the intersection accident. It happened quite a while ago… I was in elementary school back then. It became pretty big news, so I still remember it.”
That day, the sunset was beautiful.
The sky burned in shades of red, and the red lamps of the ambulances flickered.
Many cars had gathered at the intersection, and onlookers whispered gossip.
“Poor thing.”
“Poor thing.”
In the center of the intersection, they gossiped while looking at the bloody girl being carried away on a stretcher by the emergency services.
“Was her name Aoyagi Towako-chan? She probably can’t be saved anymore.”
