Chapter 6 | Contents | Chapter 8
The pain in my chest was easing.
Right after the accident, I’d been a little afraid to even draw a breath, but right now I can hold a conversation normally. The pain in my leg is still heavy and incessant, but it’s not unbearable with painkillers.
When I told that to Miyamuro-sensei who had come into my hospital room, he scribbled something onto the piece of paper on his clipboard, peeled back my hospital gown and cast a glance at my thigh which still had a fresh surgical scar, then smiled.
“You’re making good progress. From today, it is fine for you to use a wheelchair with a nurse’s assistance.”
If this news was given in writing, I would have raised my hands and might have even cheered, “Yahoo!”. However, since it was given in person, I tried my best to keep calm, yet spoke in a voice that even I could tell was oozing with joy.
“Thank you.”
After that, the doctor explained more about my condition, but to be honest, I wasn’t really listening. At the end, he repeated what he’d said the last time.
“Let’s do our best so you can be quickly discharged.”
I told the physiotherapist Mabuchi-san about having gained permission to use a wheelchair when he came by, passing Miyamuro-sensei on the way in. Mabuchi-san’s rugged face broke into a smile.
“That’s good. It’s the first step.”
“When will I be able to do rehabilitation while standing?”
“It will still take some time, I think, but it should not be that far off.”
With such a development in my medical treatment, rehabilitation became more intense. It probably wasn’t completely because of that, but I was lightly sweating at the end of it.
I wanted to ride on a wheelchair right away, but also didn’t want to press the nurse call button just for that. The nurse will come over eventually, so I’ll ask her for help at that point. With that thought, I looked up at the ceiling while feeling somewhat restless. Satoyama-san entered to do some cleaning, and he left after collecting the trash and mopping the floor. Just for today, the nurse didn’t come into my room. Resting my head on my arm, I let out a deep sigh.
But thinking about it, the nurse only came over to complete her duties of serving meals and replacing the IV drip fluids. I couldn’t possibly ask her to show up to fulfill my desire of riding in a wheelchair when she didn’t have any other purpose to be here.
In the end, the usual very short-haired nurse came into my room during lunchtime, as expected. Since I understood that this was a busy period where she had to distribute meals, I decided not to talk about riding a wheelchair until lunch was over. After finishing my food and rehydrating, I finally made my request when the nurse entered my room again to remove the tray.
“Excuse me, I was told by Miyamuro-sensei that I can ride in a wheelchair with a nurse’s assistance. Could you please help me with that?”
I’d aimed for this timing, but the period when the nurse had to clear trays did not seem to be good time. With a stiff expression, she looked and me and replied.
“I will check with him.”
That made me feel apologetic.
It was over thirty minutes afterwards when the nurse returned, pushing a wheelchair. I was so excited, I doubt if my heart leapt as fast when my parents gave me my first bicycle.
“Is that mine?”
The nurse looked down at me.
“This is the hospital’s equipment.”
What I wanted to ask wasn’t if the wheelchair would become a belonging of mine forevermore, but whether anyone else would be able to use it while I’m hospitalized. But alas, it was too late. Now I seemed like a high school student getting too hyped over a wheelchair and stupidly running his mouth.
I also needed help from the nurse to move from the bed to the wheelchair. My thigh bone was being held in place with only a metal nail, after all. I was prohibited from putting weight on that leg, and if I lost my balance and fell from the wheelchair, causing the wound to open… only Miyamuro-sensei would know the consequences of that.
First, the nurse directed me to sit at the side of the bed. Wearing hospital slippers – I hadn’t used those before either – my feet touched the ground, but put no weight on my right leg. The wheelchair was placed at an angle away from the bed, so I had to rotate my body using my left foot as an axis.
While assisting me, the nurse’s countenance was frighteningly solemn.
As I slowly moved my body, she stayed close, a worried frown on her face. For the first time, I wondered if this nurse was not a veteran. She seemed too nervous for someone who should have experienced this numerous times already, and I felt that it wasn’t a good thing to convey that tension to the patient. She looked to be in her late twenties, so she was probably still gaining experience.
The wheelchair’s tires must not have been locked properly, for the wheelchair shifted a little at the moment I was about to sit down.
No one can properly break their fall if their chair gets pulled away as they are sitting down. A soundless scream gurgled at the back of my throat. My heart rate shot up.
If we’re using the criterion of instantaneous fear, I was probably more afraid at this point compared to when I was about to be run over by a car. But fortunately, the wheelchair only moved by a slight amount. The nurse gripped the handles and stopped the wheelchair, allowing me to safely sit down on its surface.
While my heart was ringing like an alarm bell, I looked back at the nurse. While she may have been the one who’d failed to properly lock the wheelchair’s tires, she was also the one who pulled the handle and saved me.
“Thank you.”
I said gratefully. The nurse appeared to not notice that an accident had almost occurred just now.
“Where would you like to go?”
I’d already decided where to go if I could ride a wheelchair. Without any hesitation, I told her my destination.
“Please wheel me to the toilet.”
Up till now, I’d always had to rely on the nurse for excretory matters. While I would still have to trouble her to move around, how liberating it would feel to be able to complete those bodily functions on my own! Without saying a word, the nurse started pushing the wheelchair.
We left the hospital room.
How many days has it been since I’ve been out of this room? To begin with, I was unconscious when I was brought here, had an operation on my thigh while under general anesthesia after receiving an explanation on my condition from Miyamuro-sensei, and I was also on a stretcher when I was returned to my room after that operation. You could say that all I know of the hospital is my room and the corridor’s ceiling.
The corridor was bright and wide, with its floor and walls based on pale green and cream. Upon exiting the room, I was met with a waist-high window, from which I could see an atrium. Being seated on the wheelchair, I couldn’t tell what was under the window, but it was probably a courtyard. The corridor extended both left and right. On the right I could see a nurse station, as well as an elevator at the end of the corridor. To the left were more rooms. The nurse pushed my wheelchair towards the left.
There weren’t many people in the corridor during the early afternoon. Everyone else in a hospital gown were elderly. The corridor ended with a passage to the right.
On the way, I spotted a display with the floor number “4F”, from which I understood that I was hospitalized on the fourth floor.
The corridor bent to the right again. Not long after the nurse pushed the wheelchair past that point, I could see the toilet sign on a wall. I would be entering a wheelchair-accessible toilet.
Unfortunately, as a first-timer on the wheelchair, I was unable to conduct my business alone, and in the end I had to receive assistance from the nurse. However, I now understood the gist of it. Perhaps I would be able to do it on my own next time.
We returned to my room via the same route. When I was back on my bed, I asked the nurse.
“Um, can this wheelchair travel outside?”
A wary look crossed her face, as if she was thinking, “What in the world is he saying?”
“You can go into the courtyard or on the roof, but not outside the hospital.”
“I was told by the police that they would like to meet me for another witness interview once I can go outside.”
But the nurse flatly refused.
“There are other patients I’m in charge of, so it is impossible for me to leave the hospital during my duties.”
Now that I thought about it, she was absolutely right. It probably wouldn’t be too late for me to go to the police after I recover a little and become able to ride a wheelchair on my own. The nurse left the wheelchair in the room.
– And I was left alone in the hospital room.
I popped today’s chocolate bonbon into my mouth – it tasted quite salty – and stared at the message card that was stored in the white box.
Hisaka-kun hadn’t participated in any badminton tournaments for the past three years… what else could I tell from that card? I muttered.
“Osanai-san is in contact with Kengo.”
There should be no relation between my hit-and-run accident and the one that occurred three years ago, just that accidents often happen on a dangerous road. While my brain knew that to be true, I was preoccupied with how similar the two incidents were, and Osanai-san probably felt the same way. Thus, it isn’t strange for her to try to obtain information regarding Hisaka-kun.
Using the limited space on this piece of paper, Osanai-san was telling me that Hisaka-kun had not taken part in any badminton tournaments during high school. She knows that there is a significant meaning behind this piece of information, and knows that I recognize its importance.
In other words, she knows that I learned of Hisaka-kun’s suicide through Kengo.
There are a few possible interpretations regarding the fact that Hisaka-kun has not participated in a tournament.
One interpretation is that Hisaka-kun did not suffer any aftereffects of the accident, but was unable to demonstrate his prowess in badminton for some other reason, or lost his passion for competing, and thus quit badminton in high school. He could have also tried to compete but failed to reach the level required to enter a tournament.
Another interpretation is that Hisaka-kun advanced to a high school out of the prefecture. Osanai-san only checked the schools within the prefecture, and I don’t know which high school Hisaka-kun went to. It is entirely possible that he continued playing badminton in some other prefecture somewhere.
One more interpretation: Hisaka Shoutarou-kun was no longer in this world as of three years ago.
“…Even if that’s the case…”
Even if the third possibility was true, I had nothing to do with it. I should not be related to it at all. Trying to prove that my actions were extremely negligible, I recalled the past on my bed.
After realizing that Hisaka-kun had been walking with a companion at the moment he got run over, we tried to find the identity of that companion. We headed for the train station building on a Sunday to have another talk with the eyewitness Fujidera-kun who was thought to be given a gag order by Hisaka-kun. Since we had no plans to go to school, both Osanai-san and I were in casual clothes. I was in a dark blue short-sleeved shirt and beige chino pants, I think. What about Osanai-san?
I flipped through the notebook, but the answer couldn’t have been written yet. Time for me to fill in the blanks.
Ushio-kun did put in a word to Fujidera-kun for us. I would have preferred meeting Fujidera-kun in the morning, but he was apparently busy, so the meeting was scheduled in the afternoon.
It would be my second time talking to him.
In our first interview, he was merely an underclassman who happened to witness the accident. I’d even felt a little sorry for him, given that he was first questioned by the police, then by an upperclassman.
But everything changed as our investigation progressed. Fujidera-kun was not just a pitiful underclassman, but quite an interesting opponent who had skillfully avoided my questions. In the first round, I’d taken a punch square in the face because I hadn’t prepared for it. I’d planned to take the round, but if there was a judge, they would have given Fujidera-kun ten points. However, I now knew the cards in his hand. I would now have him reveal everything he knew.
The MOS burger in the train station building was designated as our meeting location. It was more familiar to me than a privately-owned cafe. I’d contacted Osanai-san, and we’d planned to meet up at a bookstore in the same building before our chat with Fujidera-kun.
I was absentmindedly reading a magazine about cars while standing in that bookstore. I’d wondered if I could make any headway regarding the blue light wagon that didn’t have an ABS installed, but naturally, I found nothing of use. Looking at my mobile phone, I found that it was almost the appointed time, so I returned the magazine to its shelf and turned around.
Osanai-san was right in front of me. Trying to mask my agitation, I raised my voice.
“Why did you sneak up behind me!”
She became misty-eyed, as if she was severely hurt by that statement.
“I wasn’t trying to… I, I just thought I would call out to you…”
I didn’t have enough information to judge if I should take that at face value.
Osanai-san was clad in a navy dress and white cardigan. While she had been wearing sneakers the day before when we had to walk a long distance, on her feet now was a pair of glossy strap shoes. Overall, her outfit gave off the nuance of a short excursion.
After that, we left the bookstore without saying a word to each other. The MOS burger where we were to meet Fujidera-kun was on the ground floor, while the bookstore was on the third. We exchanged a little information as we took the escalator down. I initiated the exchange.
“Ushio-kun won’t be coming.”
All Osanai-san did was nod. She must have already known that he wouldn’t be coming. She then said a short line.
“I can’t talk with Okahashi-san.”
Hisaka-kun’s dating partner, Okahashi-san, was a classmate of Osanai-san. It would be best to directly check with her about the amulet in question, but it was quite a private matter, and it wasn’t unreasonable for Osanai-san to be unable to extract an answer overnight, even considering her overwhelming drive.
We continued to the next escalator and reached the ground floor. It being a Sunday afternoon, half the seats in the MOS burger store were filled, with many well-dressed people, and all the voices I heard sounded cheerful. Next to a glass wall were a few box seats, and one of them contained a figure that seemed far removed from the atmosphere in the shop. His entire body and countenance expressing anxiety, Fujidera-kun was sitting on the sofa with a tall-sized cup1 in front of him.
I locked eyes with him and gave him a light wave before first ordering a drink. I went with an iced coffee, while Osanai-san chose a milk tea.
Osanai-san and I sat down next to each other opposite Fujidera-kun, who was for some reason in his school uniform. Perhaps he had business in school in the morning, or did he not want to come across as impolite, given that he was about to be interrogated by his seniors? If it was the latter… I would feel quite bad for him. I began with a casual greeting.
“Sorry to make you wait.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Did you arrive a long time before us?”
“No, I arrived not that long ago.”
I noticed that the water droplets formed from condensation on the paper cup had collected into a pool on the table, yet the paper cup itself was already dry. Hence, Fujidera-kun had likely arrived much earlier than five or ten minutes ago.
While Fujidera-kun was mostly looking down, he would glance in Osanai-san’s direction every now and then. When she noticed his gaze, she smiled lightly, causing Fujidera-kun to suddenly raise his head.
“You’re the girl who almost got run over?”
“This is the second time I’ve been called that, but it’s not my name.”
Osanai-san placed a hand on her chest.
“I’m Osanai Yuki from class 3-4.”
Fujidera-kun was rendered speechless for a moment.
“…So you were a senpai?”
“Yes, I was a senpai.”
Having seemingly regained his composure, Fujidera-kun replied.
“Are you injured anywhere? At that time, I didn’t go to help…”
When I’d asked Fujidera-kun for his eyewitness account in school, he was acting suspiciously. At first I’d surmised that he was feeling guilty for not doing anything to help the girl who fell from the embankment road, then came to realize that Hisaka-kun’s gag order was the main cause for Fujidera-kun’s attitude.
However, looking at Fujidera-kun now, it seemed that his concern for the fallen girl was genuine. Osanai-san shook her head.
“Don’t worry about it. You actually ran over to Hisaka-kun after he got hit by the car, right? I think that’s a natural thing to do. Anyway, I wasn’t injured.”
A relieved smile spread across his face.
“Is that so? That’s good. Ah, umm, I’m Fujidera Makoto from class 2-5.”
“Thank you for coming today, Fujidera-kun. Sorry to bother you on a rest day, but there are some questions we need to ask.”
She then added in a casual tone.
“About what really happened, that is.”
Fujidera-kun fell into silence. I sipped some of my iced coffee – I should have asked for some sugar, as well as cream – and broke the ice.
“Now, you should know why we called you here, right?”
Fujidera-kun froze up. I’d solved all sorts of mysteries in my three years of middle school life, but I never thought the day would come when I would be able to deliver that line. Interlacing my fingers on the table, I declared with all my heart.
“We already know what you were trying to hide. Give up, and tell us the truth.”
Blood drained from his face.
I was struck with a great deal of excitement. Finding secrets and cornering the person who tried the hide the truth was quite fun. I could get hooked to this. But on the other hand, I felt a little sorry, just for this case. Fujidera-kun did not hide the information on his own accord, but was told to do so by Hisaka-kun, yet I’d almost driven him to tears. I made a mental note to hold back just a little when revealing lies and secrets.
His head drooping, Fujidera-kun said in a murmur.
“Sorry for keeping quiet about this.”
I had no intention of being mean to him, so I suggested a compromise.
“You were told to do so by Hisaka-kun, weren’t you? If so, you didn’t have a choice.”
“Uhh, could you keep it a secret from Hisaka-senpai that I told you about this?”
“Of course.”
Fujidera-kun became clearly relieved upon hearing that guarantee, and started sucking on the straw coming out of the paper cup. It seemed to contain orange juice.
Before moving on to the main topic, there was one question I wanted to ask.
“So, did you actually not tell the police that Hisaka-kun was not alone?”
With a face that looked like it’d swallowed a stone, his response came out in barely a whisper.
“Well, they didn’t ask.”
Incredible! So he’d even kept it quiet from the police because his senpai asked him to? Should I commend his resolve, or feel chilled by the Badminton Club’s hierarchical relationship? Or should I think that the police made a mistake by not confirming that the victim was alone?
Eventually, Fujidera-kun spoke in a resigned tone.
“So, where should I start?”
I exchanged looks with Osanai-san, and she replied.
“From the very beginning, please.”
Fujidera-kun nodded.
“…On that day, club activities ended at four o’clock. After we kept the equipment, I returned to the classroom. Some friends were there, so I stayed to talk with them for a short while. I left school at about 4:50, I think.”
That was approximately fifteen minutes before the accident.
“I’ve told this to you already, Kobato-senpai, but I don’t usually use the embankment road. It’s scary with the cars being so close. But on that day, my parents were on a business trip and were not at home, so I was to have dinner at grandma… at my grandmother’s house. I don’t know any way to get there other than that road. A while after I went down to the embankment road from Togou Bridge, I thought I saw Hisaka-senpai walking in front of me. I only saw him from the back, but I could somehow tell.”
Fujidera-kun sipped on his drink with the straw again. He hadn’t looked at my face a single time from just now.
“And next to him was a girl in a uniform that wasn’t from our school. She was pushing a bicycle.”
I didn’t want to derail his recount, but this was an important point. I asked.
“Was the girl on the bicycle’s left side? Or was she on the right?”
Fujidera-kun tilted his head momentarily.
“Umm, she was on the right.”
“So going from left to right, it was Hisaka-kun, that girl, and the bicycle, right?”
“Yes, that is right.”
I nodded, then gestured for him to continue. Fujidera-kun reached for his cup, but withdrew.
“That girl was wearing a uniform I didn’t recognize, though the only uniform I know is ours. Anyway, I intentionally walked slowly so I would not close the gap between me and Hisaka-senpai.”
I was about to ask him why, but he supplemented an explanation on his own.
“I thought it was his little sister. Normally, you don’t want to be seen with your family, right? So I kept my distance from them.”
I could understand where he was coming from. Fujidera-kun stopped talking, so I urged him on.
“What happened after that?”
“After that…”
Fujidera-kun looked at Osanai-san.
“Osanai-san came up to the embankment road and started walking towards me. Uh, she wasn’t trying to get to me, but was just walking in my direction. I did not know her name at that time, though.”
After going up to embankment road via the staircase, Osanai-san started walking upstream.
“Osanai-san came up between Hisaka-senpai and I. After seeing her, I thought it was our school’s uniform. After that… the car drove over, and ran over Hisaka-senpai.”
“I’ll ask again, just to be sure. What kind of car was it?”
“It was a pale aqua light wagon car.”
“Got it. Continue.”
Perhaps it was just my imagination, but Fujidera-kun’s face seemed to be pallid as he nodded.
“I heard a huge braking noise, then a heavy thud, and senpai fell over. I was unable to move for what seemed to be a really long time, but it was probably just for a short moment. Osanai-senpai also heard the noises and turned around. She was almost hit by the oncoming car, and fell below the embankment road.”
Osanai-san did not fall below the embankment, but actually jumped down to the berm, so she suffered no injuries, just that her sailor uniform got dirty and her vocabulary notebook got soaked in water.
“I was confused about who to help. Osanai-senpai looked like she jumped off on her own, but she could have gotten tagged by the car, and Hisaka-senpai was collapsed on the asphalt. I first ran over to Hisaka-senpai. He looked really surprised to see me. He smiled and said, ‘Fujidera, huh. Seems like I’ve been hit.’”
“He smiled?”
“It was strained, but senpai was smiling. He said, ‘My hands can’t move,’ and the girl who was walking with him started searching her bag. Senpai said, ‘If you’re looking for a phone, take mine out of my pocket.’”
“I see!”
I unintentionally exclaimed. I finally realized what I’d overlooked. As Osanai-san, Fujidera-kun and some people in the shop stared at me, I said quickly.
“Right, both of Hisaka-kun’s hands were injured. In the hospital, both of them were wrapped up in bandages. There was no way could have called for an ambulance or the police. Someone… Someone else was there to operate his mobile phone!”
Wincing a little, Fujidera-kun replied.
“Um, yes, I was getting to that.”
What a shame! If I’d noticed this earlier enough, I could have surprised Fujidera-kun with my thinking abilities! Not paying any heed to my feeling of wanting to grind my teeth in frustration, Osanai-san waved Fujidera-kun to continue, and he nodded.
“…Uh, that girl dialed the emergency number as Hisaka-senpai told her to and put the phone to his mouth. He very calmly said, ‘This is an emergency. I’ve just been hit by a car on the embankment road pavement.’ and unhesitatingly answered the questions he was asked. It was the same for the police. While I was standing next to him, I was the most panicked, even though I was not the one who got run over. There was nothing I could do.”
Pulling myself together, I re-imagined the moment of the accident. The companion was a girl, and she helped with the reporting of the accident. All Fujidera-kun was stand around. However…
“It was all you could do. It’s also possible that Hisaka-kun was calm because you were there next to him. And on top of that, you were keeping a lookout to see if the culprit would return, weren’t you?”
“Well, yes, I suppose… Thank you.”
Now we were getting to the crux of our discussion. I let Fujidera-kun continue.
“After reporting the accident, senpai said to leave his phone on the ground. The girl looked concerned, but he said, ‘I’m fine, just go.’ I didn’t know who she was, but I thought she would stay. I was under the impression that she was a family member of his, and I thought she couldn’t possibly leave senpai to go home alone. The girl did look a little torn, but in the end she got on her bicycle and rode off. Um, I… To be honest… I thought that was an awful thing to do.”
Putting aside Fujidera-kun’s impression of that act…
“Which direction did she go on the bicycle?”
“In the direction the two of them were originally going, downstream. After the girl left, senpai looked at me like he had just noticed me for the first time, then said, ‘You can go too. The paramedics and police will handle this, so you don’t need to be here.’ But I could not do that. Since I was surprised by the girl leaving him behind like that, I did not answer his question, but asked, ‘Was that your little sister or something?’”
Fujidera-kun took a short breath.
“When he heard that, senpai looked scared… he said, ‘Don’t tell anyone about her, not even the police.’”
As Fujidera-kun ended his sentence, I could see the weight of tension lifting from his body. He added one more line, his countenance filled with resignation and liberation.
“And that is how I knew I had seen something terrible.”
“Terrible?”
I asked, and the one who answered was Osanai-san.
“Fujidera-kun knew that Hisaka-kun was going out with Okahashi-san. Is that right?”
Having a question thrust at him, Fujidera-kun nodded. I also understood what she was getting at.
“Ah! Two-timing, you mean?”
I’d considered that possibility to be self-evident, so hearing that roundabout way of putting it made me momentarily confused about what he was referring to. I nodded in satisfaction, but was rebuked by Osanai-san.
“I don’t think that’s a good way of saying it.”
Fujidera-kun was looking down, his face bright red.
Recalling that he did not go for voluntary practice the day before, I asked.
“You didn’t go for voluntary practice because you would feel awkward if you ran into Okahashi-san, right?”
His face still red, Fujidera-kun nodded.
Up till this point in my middle school life, I’d solved many mysteries ahead of others. I’d certainly made a few mistakes in this hit-and-run case, but those weren’t enough to make the glory I’d earned disappear. Based on such experience, throwing love into the mix frequently causes the mystery to lose its purity. The fickleness of human beings would be on clear display, and all sorts of nonsensical, erratic behavior that bears no merit can be summed up with, “I did it out of love.” Even in this case, the mystery girl who’d left Hisaka-kun collapsed on the ground after the hit-and-run accident and escaped the scene on her bicycle was a little strange, but if it was implied that this was the result of complex interactions borne from that bizarre state of mind that only love can produce, then there would be nothing I could do but think, “That’s it?”
However, we can still approach the truth by putting together facts and discoveries. No matter her relationship with Hisaka-kun, that mystery girl still saw the vehicle up close. There was no doubt about that.
“After that, it was as I told you. I looked at the road to see if the culprit would return, and I peeked below the embankment when I remembered the girl who had jumped off, but no one was there. It was true that a few police cars came to the scene along with an ambulance. I also really overheard the police saying they wanted the ambulance to wait before transporting Hisaka-senpai, the paramedics saying that they wanted to make a U-turn on the spot, and both requests being denied. Some people in uniforms alternated traffic on a single lane and started conducting their investigation. I was asked some questions about the situation, but I was still keeping an eye out to see if the vehicle returned to the accident scene.”
Indeed, it was exactly as he’d recounted to me. It seemed that apart from the sections that he was forbidden from speaking about by Hisaka-kun, Fujidera-kun’s story was not a lie.
We’d listened to a genuine recount of the accident from Fujidera-kun, and we had to decide our next move. Apparently also having noticed this crossroads, Osanai-san turned her head to face me.
“What do we do now?”
She asked, to which I replied.
“Actually, I thought of two options yesterday. Based on our interview with Fujidera-kun, if it seems like Hisaka-kun will tell us about the companion, we go to the hospital. If not, we look for the companion.”
After a short pause, I continued.
“But based on what we’ve heard, I don’t think Hisaka-kun will give us an answer.”
Hisaka-kun had chosen to hide the existence of his companion even after being run over by a car. That companion had also agreed to leaving the accident scene without much resistance. If they were going that far to hide it, I couldn’t imagine that Hisaka-kun would spill the beans if I asked him to. Thus we had no choice but to search for the girl. How should we do it?
Osanai-san nodded in response to my statement, and directed a question at Fujidera-kun.
“What was the girl like?”
“By that, you mean…”
“Like her height, or her features.”
Fujidera-kun pondered for a moment.
“She was wearing spectacles. Her hair was relatively long, I think. As for her height… all I can say is that it was average…”
That was too weak to be a clue. I added a question.
“You said she was wearing a uniform, right? Do you remember what kind of uniform it was?”
Fujidera-kun answered without much confidence.
“Probably.”
“You think you’ll know when you see it?”
“Yes, I think. Probably.”
That should be good enough. I felt bad for Fujidera-kun, but I would still be drawing out more information from him.
“Right, we’ll do an identity parade, though you won’t be identifying faces.”
Fujidera-kun frowned upon hearing my suggestion. He seemed to be thinking that I’d said something weird.
I decided to leave the explanation for later. He should immediately understand.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Eh? Where to?”
With both her hands wrapped around the paper cup filled with milk tea, Osanai-san said quietly.
“A uniform shop.”
That was supposed to be my line. I shot a cold look at Osanai-san.
I’d bought my uniforms from a store in a shopping mall called Remora, but I knew that there were other uniform stores in the city. Osanai-san seemed to have an idea about one of those shops.
We left the MOS Burger, then started walking on the city’s high street. The early summer sun rays were severe as usual, but it became easy to walk when we got to the arcade.
This street had a bank and insurance company built next to each other. It would probably be bustling with the working crowd on weekdays, but it was awfully quiet today, which was a Sunday. We silently walked on the road that was devoid of people.
Osanai-san was walking in front. She apparently knew a shop that stocked uniforms from all schools in the city. I was the first to come up with the idea, but she’d overtaken me with her knowledge of where such a uniform store was located.
Fujidera-kun had an unsatisfied face, as if he wanted to say, “Why am I being dragged to a uniform store on a Sunday afternoon?”, but followed without a complaint, probably because he was feeling guilty that he’d kept things hidden from us.
We reached Osanai-san’s recommended shop about ten minutes from the station. It had mannequins on display in its show window, wearing high school uniforms I would sometimes see in town. The shop took up the first and second floors of the building. It didn’t look dirty or battered from the outside, but I somehow got the impression that it was an old shop. A signboard read “Akiritsu-ya”.
Osanai-san yielded her position of leader to me in front of the shop.
“Say something convincing when they ask what we’re here for.”
How unreasonable. She didn’t seem to be that bad at coming up with such excuses, too.
That said, since she requested me to do it, I decided to accept it. The shop’s glass doors were manually-operated hinged double doors, and it had a bright interior.
The shop was stuffed with hangers that had uniforms hanging off them like bells, as well as mannequins, each wearing a different uniform. I’d thought that it was quite a big shop, but the uniforms took up too much space compared to the shop’s floor area, making it feel cramped. No one was in the shop, but an entry chime rang out, and a man appeared from the back of the store. It would be terrible if they were a mean-spirited person, but the person who entered was young and appeared to be cheerful.
“Welcome! What are you looking for?”
It seemed like we wouldn’t be able to freely browse if we had no reason to be there. I’d been told to say something convincing, so that was exactly what I would do.
“Excuse me. We are doing research on what kind of uniforms students in other schools wear, so could we take a look?”
The shopkeeper readily answered.
“Sure, go ahead. Middle school uniforms are on the second floor. Please call me if you need anything.”
And thus we cleared the first hurdle, though it was clear that we’d gotten permission not because of my quick wits, but because the shopkeeper was simply a good person – or perhaps an apathetic one – so I felt a little let down.
An information plate was fixed to the side of the staircase. The first floor contained high school uniforms, while middle school uniforms were on the second floor. We went up the stairs.
I’d not noticed before, but there were more high schools in the city than middle schools. There were fewer hangers on the second floor but more mannequins. Our middle school’s uniform was displayed in a prominent position.
Fujidera-kun was overwhelmed by the number of uniforms.
“Do I have to look through all of these…”
“Not all of them. We just have to find the uniform the companion was wearing. I’ll leave you to it, then.”
I said, then Osanai-san and I stood on both sides of the staircase. We hadn’t planned to do this, but it seemed like we were blocking Fujidera-kun from the escape path. Fujidera-kun said nothing, and started observing the uniforms one by one. The two of us simply watched him.
While tracking Fujidera-kun with my eyes, I opened my mouth.
“Osanai-san.”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but…”
Osanai-san also did not keep her eyes away from Fujidera-kun.
“Then I probably won’t answer, but what is it?”
“On that day, you used the staircase to go up to the embankment road. You then started walking upstream.”
“Yes.”
At that time, the embankment road had Hisaka-kun, his mystery companion, and Fujidera-kun. I’d heard from Fujidera-kun regarding why he was using that road. I hadn’t asked Hisaka-kun why he was on that road, but since he was heading in the direction away from school, we could for the time being assume that he was simply going home.
However, Osanai-san had walked up to the embankment road and started walking towards school. I hadn’t asked about her reason for doing so.
“Where did you come from, and where were you going?”
She glanced at me for a second.
“We’re trying to find the culprit of the hit-and-run. For vanity in your case, and for revenge in mine. I guarantee that my actions on that day had nothing to do with the accident. So it’s a secret.”
“I want to believe you, but…”
“Kobato-kun, you want to solve the case, right? I thought you wanted to solve it, rather than know everything about it.”
That was an impressively correct understanding of my desires, but I hadn’t asked that question out of pure curiosity.
“I’m just stating a possibility, but… we don’t know if the hit-and-run was really an accident.”
“You’re saying that they did it on purpose? The wagon car braked so that it wouldn’t hit Hisaka-kun, though.”
“But it still hit.”
“That was just a result.”
“They certainly hit the brakes for Hisaka-kun. But afterwards, there was someone they rushed straight towards without braking.”
It was Osanai-san – Could she be the culprit’s true target?
While facing forward, Osanai-san looked down slightly.
“…We haven’t produced results, but you’ve helped me, Kobato-kun. You believed what I said. So, I’ll tell you this.”
I looked at Osanai-san. So she was hiding a secret!
Her words came out like a whisper.
“At the moment of the accident, I thought I would die. I was so scared I was shaking. Kobato-kun, suggesting to someone who almost died that it might not be an accident and could be because they were targeted for murder is not a funny joke.”
I didn’t mean it as a joke, I wanted to say – but barely swallowed my words. Osanai-san was treating it as a joke for my sake.
After a short pause, Osanai-san continued.
“I won’t say that I don’t remember being targeted. I don’t want to think that someone hates me so much that they want to kill me, but enemies can come from anywhere. Me going up to that embankment road at that time was just a coincidence I couldn’t predict. No one can aim for that. If we go by what you’re saying, after the culprit ran over Hisaka-kun, they charged for me, their main target. That’s wrong, Kobato-kun. It doesn’t stand to reason.”
…Osanai-san’s point was valid.
“You’re right, it’s exactly as you say. I take back my question.”
“You might not notice it, Kobato-kun, but it’s amazing that you can admit when you made a mistake.”
I didn’t know how to react to her complimenting me for doing something that should be natural. Do some people maintain that they’re right even when they’ve made a mistake?
Osanai-san seemed to be grinning slightly.
“Alright, since you’ve taken back your question, I’ll tell you. I was thinking about something. I was walking and thinking, and even when I was about to reach my house, I wanted to think some more, so I turned here and there haphazardly. I only learned that the staircase was connected to the embankment road when I went up.”
What kind of face did I make in response to that statement? As for Osanai-san, her original poker face had returned.
“You don’t believe me, do you? There’s no reason to, after all. That’s why I didn’t want to say it.”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I was just wondering if it would be impolite to ask what you were thinking about.”
This time, she laughed.
“That’s definitely a little rude.”
Fujidera-kun’s voice came from the gap between a cluster of mannequins.
“Um, senpai. I think I might have found it.”
Fujidera-kun was standing beside a particular mannequin.
It was wearing a uniform with an aqua-colored shirt that sported a small burgundy ribbon at the collar and a checkered skirt. A plate next to the mannequin said “Takematsu Middle School”. Osanai-san looked at it doubtfully.
“Where is Takematsu Middle School?”
I answered while looking at the uniform.
“It’s in the south, isn’t it? It’s almost at the prefectural border.”
“How long do you think it takes to get to the accident scene?”
“By bicycle, an hour… no, it shouldn’t take that long. About forty minutes, I’d say.”
Osanai-san put on a face that made it seem like a question mark would float up above her head. It also didn’t sit right with me. Takematsu Middle School was too far away. I just couldn’t imagine her pedaling on her bicycle all the way to some place close to our middle school and the accident scene to meet with Hisaka-kun, while still in her school uniform.
And more importantly, Fujidera-kun, who had just done the identity parade – albeit without faces – looked really unsure of himself. He was frowning uneasily while staring at the uniform he’d picked. I didn’t mean to corner him, but it seemed like I would have to check if it was really the uniform we were looking for.
“Why did you think this is it?”
Fujidera-kun was inarticulate.
“Umm… because of the lines at the cuff. It’s like this, with two lines. But I feel like it had a sailor collar…”
The uniform on this mannequin had a shirt collar.
“Was there a ribbon on the collar?”
“Uhh, rather than a ribbon, it was a scarf. It was navy blue in color, I think.”
“The skirt was checkered, right?”
“No, it was plain… I think…”
Thus, I had no choice but to say this.
“It’s wrong, then.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
Fujidera-kun instantly agreed.
Osanai-san, who had looked through the mannequins before I knew it, said as she stood by the window.
“But that’s the only summer uniform with two lines at the cuff.”
“Exactly! That is why I thought this is the uniform.”
However, it had a shirt collar instead of a sailor collar, a burgundy ribbon instead of a navy blue scarf and a checkered skirt instead of a plain skirt. The differences were too significant to ignore.
“Is it possible that the girl was wearing casual clothes that looked like a uniform?”
Fujidera-kun put on a difficult face.
“To be honest, I did not look so carefully at that person’s clothes.”
Well, it was true that he had no time to do so when his club senior had collapsed before his eyes. But Fujidera-kun appended a statement.
“However, I did see that some sort of mark like a school badge was sewn on the collar. That is why I assumed it was a school uniform.”
Takematsu Middle School’s Uniform had a school badge sewn at the collar that looked like the character 中 enclosed within two hexagons. But even if it had a school badge, I couldn’t think that it was the same uniform the companion was wearing.
“Do you remember what that school badge was like?”
“…It was kind of… wriggly…”
“Wriggly?”
“Sorry, I don’t know. But I feel it was different from this mark.”
Indeed, the badge in front of us was more “jagged” rather than “wriggly”.
I asked Osanai-san, who had returned close to us.
“This place has uniforms of every middle school in the city right? Including private schools?”
Of course, there was no way she could certify that.
“I don’t know, but there are some private school uniforms here.”
I folded my arms.
“If it’s not from a school in the city, it could be from outside the city… but would a middle school student from outside the city cycle all the way here in her uniform to meet Hisaka-kun?”
But Osanai-san seemed to have a different idea. She looked at us in turn before speaking.
“Follow me.”
She was headed for the staircase, towards the first floor.
I picked up on Osanai-san’s intentions before we started going down the stairs. Fujidera-kun had said that he thought the companion to be Hisaka-kun’s little sister, and I was carelessly led on by that assumption. Just because she looked younger didn’t mean that she was actually younger. Hadn’t Fujidera-kun also revealed that he thought Osanai-san to be a first-year student?
High school uniforms were displayed on the first floor.
“Now, one more time, Fujidera-kun.”
He nodded. This time, we almost didn’t have to wait at all. In about ten seconds, Fujidera-kun decidedly pointed at a uniform.
“This is it. This was the school uniform I saw.”
There were two lines on the uniform’s cuffs, and sewn on the collar was a mark that looked like the number 8 with a vertical bar going through it. A plate extending from the mannequin’s head read, “Ouyou High School”.
I woke up at pre-dawn again.
Three years ago, I received Fujidera-kun’s cooperation to figure out who had walked with Hisaka-kun on the day of his accident. We were reaching the truth, step by step.
Or at least, that was what I thought.
What did I actually get close to? At the very least, the investigation surrounding the hit-and-run accident (which was what I thought it to be) was nearing its end. Ouyou High School, adults, and pain… pre-dawn is not a suitable time for reflecting on the past. This is a time period for me to ponder upon what I need to do today, and prepare for the day ahead. Taking a deep breath, I dismissed my recollections.
I felt around my pillow, but couldn’t find anything. Perhaps Osanai-san can’t come everyday with exams soon approaching. In fact, she’d been too conscientious in visiting me for the past few days.
I looked around the room. Dawn sunlight streamed into the room through the curtains, allowing me to vaguely look around. I could see my bed, the change of clothes my parents brought for me, a small round chair for visitors, and a table. On top of the table were the wolf plushie, the chocolate bonbon box, a vase with flowers…
Flowers?
The number of flowers had increased. On the sideboard, the roses that Osanai-san had gifted were still giving off their fragrance. There should be no flowers on the table, but now there was a white vase, wide at the bottom like a triangular flask, containing a flower I didn’t know the name of. I reached out for the shelf and grabbed the vase.
It didn’t feel like it contained any water, and weighed lighter than how it looked. It was for dried flowers.
Since she’d taken great efforts to bring those gifts, I wanted to receive them directly. There were also many things that I wanted to talk to her about. I wanted to ask about the investigation progress, exchange information with her, and more importantly, tell her not to push herself too far. Yet I’d fallen asleep last night again. Perhaps I’d gotten into this rhythm, or perhaps this hospital life that was devoid of stimulation made it such that I would fall into deep sleep quickly. Since we kept missing each other, it would be great if Osanai-san could take that into consideration and come in the daytime, when I would definitely be awake – that was what I thought, but based on the messages I’d received thus far, she was probably using that time to find the culprit who had run over me.
A small envelope was wedged in between the flowers. I used my fingers to pick it up and opened it.
| Please water the flowers at night. |
Osanai-san was telling me to water the dried flowers.
Late as it was, I finally realized what kind of situation I had been dropped into.
Chapter 6 | Contents | Chapter 8
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