Chapter 3 [Twilight intersection]
With uncertain steps, Houzuki headed towards the old school building, dyed in the colors of the evening sun.
She had hardly been thinking about anything.
She didn’t want to think.
Why had she forgotten such an important incident?
Despite witnessing that gruesome scene firsthand, Houzuki’s memory had been completely rewritten. She had forgotten it entirely.
Opening the door to the old school building, she stepped into the dusty interior.
Gyii~, patan.
Gyii, gyii.
Gishi~, gyii.
The rotting floorboards creaked.
Gyii, gishi~.
Gyii, gishi~.
――Gyii~.
“Well, you seem quite downcast, don’t you?”
A familiar voice of a male student reached Houzuki’s ears, causing her to stop in her tracks.
When she turned around, a conspicuously silver-haired, red-eyed male student stood in the dimly lit school building.
With a twisted smile on his handsome face that wouldn’t be ignored if there were any ordinary female students capable of seeing ghosts, Yuiru Enen, the silver-haired red-eyed male student, spoke.
“Have you finally realized your mistake?”
“………”
Staring daggers at Yuiru, who spoke as if he had known from the beginning, Houzuki confronted him, closing in on him.
“Did you know?”
“About what?”
“That Towako is dead.”
“I know if you say I know, and I don’t know if you say I don’t know.”
Yuiru offers a terribly ambiguous answer,
“I could tell that the so-called Towako was strange. I guessed that 9 out of 10, she’s a ghost. But I don’t know how she died.”
“I see……”
Houzuki responded without strength.
She didn’t want to accept reality.
Nevertheless, the fact that Aoyagi Towako had died was a thing of the past.
Had she, in tandem with Houzuki’s growth, also matured and remained by his side as a ghost?
“I’ll go to the scene of the accident.”
“Oh?”
“Towako has been talking about it.”
A message received on the messaging app.
A string of hiragana characters forming an incomprehensible sentence.
‘I am here.’ Is Aoyagi Towako still at the scene of the accident that happened in the past? The massive traffic accident that occurred at the intersection. Is she stranded at that gruesome scene?
If so, then she must help her.
“Even though you realize your mistake, you still have the will to help your best friend. That’s wonderful.”
The silver-haired, red-eyed male student stood in the dimly lit hallway of the old school building and showed a crooked smile.
“But can she still be saved? It might be too late already.”
“Even so, I will go.”
Houzuki tightly gripped the strap of her school bag and stared directly at Yuiru.
“Towako is my best friend. I want to help her.”
“In that case, I won’t say anything more. Do your best, then.”
Turning his back to Houzuki, Yuiru remarked,
“Well, if they can’t be saved, I’ll just have to eat them myself.”
☆
The accident happened at a relatively large intersection in Tsuki-nashi Town.
Oddly, the intersection that Houzuki uses on her way home has relatively few cars passing through.
The pedestrian signal casts a lonely light, and pedestrians crossing the road follow the signal’s instructions. There is no sign of a car rushing in.
Houzuki surveys the entire intersection, searching for the vanished figure of her best friend.
“Towako……”
“Oh my. The intersection here has also gotten neater.”
Yuiru, sitting on the guardrail, follows with his gaze a young man on a bicycle who passed by closely, exclaiming in amazement, ‘Is that a modern bicycle?!’ It’s unclear from which era he hails.
Without any intention of seriously searching for her best friends, Houzuki ignores spirits that seem to care less about finding her friends and focuses her gaze on the intersection.
Where could she be? There are hardly any pedestrians, and the traffic isn’t heavy either. Yet, Aoyagi Towako is nowhere to be found.
Time passes as if mocking Houzuki, who is earnestly searching for her best friend, and the color of the sky begins to change.
“Ohh”
Yuiru, who was sitting on the guardrail, looked up at the sky and said.
“The sunset is beautiful today.”
“Twilight……”
Houzuki looked up at the sky.
The sky above is dyed the color of crimson, and the sun sets behind the mountains.
That madder red sky was the same as the time when Etsuko Aoyagi was involved in a traffic accident.
Jiji, zazaza.
“Houzuki-chan.”
Jijiji, zazaza.
“Houzuki-chan.”
――――Zazazaa, ji, jiji.
“You said we’d be together forever, right?”
Something cold touches Houzuki’s hand.
“Eh?”
When Houzuki turned around, she saw a young girl she had seen somewhere before.
Wearing a red backpack and a slightly outdated anime character hoodie, the backpack swayed with a slightly dirty keychain.
The girl’s hands were cold as if soaked in midwinter water, and behind the silver-framed glasses, her obsidian eyes were bloodshot. Despite being younger than Houzuki, she grips Houzuki’s hand tightly, unwilling to let go.
Ah, she is…
“Towako…!!”
“Houzuki-chan.”
In a childishly high-pitched voice that hasn’t changed since that time, the girl says,
“You said we’d be together forever, right?”
――――――――Za za za za za za za za.
Static, static, static.
――――――――Pi-po, pi-po.
The wailing siren of an ambulance pierces through the ears.
“Houzuki-chan.”
Unbeknownst to her, the world had been rewritten, and the sky, surpassing crimson, had taken on an eerie shade of purple.
Numerous cars were crushed, twisted, and scattered, yet none of them had anyone inside.
A mountain of scrapped cars piled up at the intersection, and the flashing red light of the seemingly arrived ambulance illuminated the scene, accompanied by the blaring sound of the siren.
Ah, she remembered this intersection. She had seen this scene before.
Wearing the ×× High School uniform even as an adult, Houzuki finally understood what she had to do.
Her best friend desire to be ‘together forever.’ She was left behind at this spot. So, if she was going to be together with her forever, she had to follow her.
“Towako…… are you there?”
Houzuki calls out to the pile of scrapped cars.
“I’m here, Houzuki-chan.”
In the center of the intersection, a familiar girl stood, appearing as if she had always been there.
With black hair and silver-framed glasses, she gave off an intellectual impression. Wearing the ×× High School black sailor uniform with impeccable style, she was Houzuki’s best friend.
Aoyagi Towako reached out her hand, wearing a gentle smile.
“Come on, Houzuki-chan.”
Houzuki reached out to take Towako’s outstretched hand.
Because she was her best friend.
Because she had to be by Towako’s side.
“Being dragged along is pathetic, Houzuki.”
The one who took Houzuki’s hand, reaching out to her best friend, was the silver-haired, red-eyed male student.
“You are my servant, providing me with meals. It would be troublesome if you were messed with.”
While separating Houzuki from her best friend, Yuiru Enen, the silver-haired, red-eyed male student, glared at Aoyagi Towako.
“It seems you tried to incorporate Houzuki, but it’s unfortunate. You’re tonight’s meal.”
