Chapter 3: “…… That can’t be.”
Latecomers will be handled in the staff room.
I entered the staff room with my heart beating a little because of my first work.
Kana suddenly shows her face from behind.
“Huh, there’s no one here.”
Strangely enough, there was no one in the staff room.
On the other hand, despite the deserted atmosphere, there are traces of staff and teachers in the staff room. Printouts to be distributed to the students are piled up on the teachers’ desk. The prints were scattered on the floor, perhaps because of the prank of the wind that came in through the window.
“If no one is in the staff room, there must be an assembly in the gym….. We’re in trouble.”
I had some doubts that even the school receptionist isn’t here, but it’s possible to think that she just coincidentally left her seat. Before that, it was more important for me to be properly treated as an attendee rather than what the staff was doing.
Kana is picking up the prints scattered in front of her homeroom teacher’s desk.
“Kana, let’s go to the classroom and put our bags down. If there’s no one in the staff room, everyone will be in the gymnasium for a meeting.”
“You can go first. I’ll clean up here before I go.”
She arranged the bunch of prints she had picked up on the desk, and used the puncher that was also on the desk as a weight to keep it from falling.
“Got it. I’ll go first.”
The hallway leading to the classroom was also empty, just like the staff room. When I opened my phone and checked the time, it was obvious that there were no people in the hallway as it was in class at that time.
However, when I passed by and looked into each classroom, there were still no students or teachers.
“It’s increasingly possible that there’s a school assembly.”
It’s like turning into a laughing stock among the group of students if I enter late. As I flump down on my chair upon arriving at the classroom, I think about what I should do hereafter. As I thought, it feels like the best to wait until the assembly is finished.
“Kazuki…… seems to be here already. It’s only at a time like this that he’s on time……”
Kazuki is the first person I met after moving here. It’s thanks to him that I was able to easily fit into the class at the school I went to, where I didn’t have any local friends.
He is currently a dear friend of mine.
Compared to that, my encounter with Kana wasn’t as exaggerated as Kazuki’s. She was the second one who talked to me after him.
When I first entered the school, the students, including me, who had no friends, tried to blend into the class with that person as the starting point when they were able to have a conversation. And when you start to get used to it, you move away from that starting point and create a group of people who really get along.
In other words, Kazuki and I were the starting point for Kana.
Kana doesn’t really belong to any group other than me and Kazuki, and even though it’s normal for women to form groups, she doesn’t even actively try to do so.
Like a neutral country, it treats everyone equally. Of course、 she neither hated nor deeply liked.
If Kana was suddenly asked to form a group with people she liked, Kana wouldn’t be able to make a decision right away, but she wouldn’t be left out either.
However, even such Kana quickly gets close to me and Kazuki.
Our ideas don’t particularly align. According to Kazuki,
――It’s probably because she likes you, Masaomi.
or so he said, but I’m not sure if it’s really true. It’s a rare case to go to school in the morning just like today.
Before that, I’m not good with Kana’s unique mood. It’s like a marathon runner trying to run at his own pace but being caught in the lead pack and being forced to pick up the pace.
When I told Kazuki this analogy, he laughed saying it was a long but good analogy.
I sigh heavily.
“Is the assembly still ongoing?”
The bell for the next class is about to ring. It wouldn’t be surprising if the hustle and bustle from the gymnasium to the classroom was approaching.
“Kana as well, just how long is she going to clean up in the staff room……”
Perhaps, she happened to run into the teacher returning from the assembly in the staff room, and then went through the formalities of being late.
“Just in case”
I left my seat to check on Kana, who I had left alone, and while completing the tardiness procedure together at the same time.
My priority is the tardiness procedure and not Kana, this is the point.
I returned to the empty corridor a second time.
Only my footsteps echo in the corridor. I wonder if the assembly is still being held in the gymnasium. For the assembly to last until the students are late for class, it means that they must be talking about something very important. If the teacher finds out that I didn’t attend such an important assembly, to say nothing of being late as the reason, I could get myself into a lot of trouble.
“During yesterday’s class, there was no……”
When I arrived at the staff room, the bell announcing the start of the next class finally echoed through the school.
Even if the bell, which is supposed to signal the beginning of the work, rings out, the unmanned space, which shows no reaction, makes me feel eerie.
Students rushing back to the classroom down the hallway and teachers heading to class. Such a sight does not exist.
I enter the staff room, which is still empty as I expected. Of course, Of course, I didn’t forget to say my greeting when I entered the room, even though it was unmanned.
“Excuse me.”
I walked around the desks of each teacher, but again there was no one there.
“Kana?”
The prints had not been put away. The prints where I was looking have been tidied up, but the rest is a mess.
“That girl… Where did she go?”
Since it’s Kana, it’s possible that she aimlessly went somewhere.
“Did she…… go ahead to the gym?”
The end of my words sounded like I’m doubting what I saw.
“This is…… Kana’s bag, isn’t it?”
It was in the place where Kana put it down when she was putting away the printouts. Probably because it’s in the way of her cleaning up. Sighing, I grab it.
“Who forgets her bag when going somewhere, normally?”
Is it because she leaves her textbooks in class? It’s very light. I can’t say about others but my bad isn’t as light. It’s because I bring back only the subjects that I like, so I can still study when I get back to my apartment.
“Anyway, should I go to the gym too?”
I brought Kana’s bag back to the classroom and headed to the gym.
“Is no one here yet?”
When I returned to the classroom, neither my classmates nor the owner of the bag, Kana, were there. I turn on my phone and text Kana.
“The bag in the staff room is……”
You forgot to bring it so I put it on the desk.
“She should understand if I write this much.”
Send.
When I was about to leave the classroom, satisfied with my good-naturedness, I heard a vibrating sound from inside Kana’s bag.
A persistent vibrating sound.
It’s a sound that can be heard naturally these days.
“It really backfired, it did……”
I’m so tired of being like that. I powerlessly put my hand on the classroom door, heaving a bigger sigh than the last one. The sound of the non-stop vibration made my brain vibrate.
I shook my head, which had begun to be caught in a negative consciousness, like an oscillation, and stepped forward with force.
When I left the classroom, I heard the sound of Kana’s bag falling from the desk, probably because of the continuing vibration.
It’s eerie when such a sound resonates in an empty classroom, but I know the seeds and mechanisms, so I’m not scared at all.
That’s right, the bag fell because of the vibration from the phone.
“……That’s not possible.”
I immediately go back to the classroom and try to check Kana’s bag. The bag was found in no time. It is lying on the side of the desk with its mouth open.
Nearby, the mobile phone that received my email is still shaking.
……But, it doesn’t look like it’s shaking strong enough to make the bag fall.
I pick up the phone, stop the vibration, and lift Kana’s bag. Even though I knew it was bad manners, I took a peek inside Kana’s bag. Then, as I had imagined, there was not a single textbook or notebook in the bag. However, there were traces that there was indeed something in the bag.
“What’s this……”
A large amount of something like an egg yolk was sticking to the inside of the bag. When I touched it to check, it pulled a long string between my thumb and forefinger.
It’s a scarlet sticky substance.
When I put it close to my nose, it smells like a rotting cat that was run over by a car. It was so intense that it made me want to vomit.
I honestly wish that I didn’t have breakfast.
“Why is there something like this in Kana’s bag…”
I wipe the sticky substance on my finger with a pocket tissue. However, this does not mean that the source has been clarified. Until now, I still haven’t found the cause of the fall of Kana’s bag.
“That Kana…… she better prepare herself for this later.”
Impatience begins to build a nest inside me. They spring forth in large numbers from the nest and try to monopolize me. As if boosted by that, I hurriedly looked around, but I couldn’t find anything that’s likely it.
“This is reality. And this is Japan. It’s useless to only think about it.”
I shake my head again to regain my composure.
The reason why Kana’s bag fell, what the origin of that sticky liquid was, it’s better to forget about them.
I will go to the gym, join the assembly late, and once it’s over, my usual school life will begin.
“……Okay.”
I straighten the collar of my blazer vigorously.
Leaving the classroom and going past the staff room, the gymnasium is right there.
That’s the beginning of today’s casual day.
I silently pray to myself like a counselling.
