Part 3 | Contents | Part 5 The rumor of the threatening letter took the school by storm – but saying that would be an overstatement. The rumor did not sow any panic or chaos, and all was quiet all the way until the speech. If you conducted a survey among the students and asked […]

Part 2 | Contents | Part 4 We went up the stairs at the South Block, and soon found ourselves in front of the Art Preparation Room on the fourth floor. Koumura-sensei, who had one free hand, unlocked the door, causing the smell of paint to waft out of the small, dimly-lit room. The first

Part 1 | Contents | Part 3 Two weeks before the speech, I was on class duty. One boy and one girl was assigned for class duty on each day, going by our student numbers. Since the boy-girl split in my class was uneven, everyone would have a different partner every day of class duty.

(Note: Sachertorte is a chocolate sponge cake covered with chocolate glaze and filled with apricot jam.) Contents | Part 2 It was during a June which saw little rain and was swelteringly hot, making it seem like we’d skipped the plum rains and had gone straight to midsummer, when a strange rumor was spread in