“I told you before, but my class isn’t the type that works too hard at these kinds of events...”
“I heard you say that, but it’s you, Momota-kun, so I totally thought that you united your unmotivated class and got them excited by saying something like ‘You only get one chance at youth, so let’s enjoy it to the fullest!’”
“...Just who do you think I am?” Her assessment of me was strangely high. Well, Orihara-san doesn’t know how I normally am, after all. At school, I really am just a plain student, and I’m sort of toward the lower middle in terms of popularity.
“I’m just a guy that’s being used by the girls to decorate high places.”
“You are tall, Momota-kun. But...that does make me a little worried.”
“Huh? What does?”
“I mean...if you help out those girls like that, then some of them might fall in love with you, you know?”
“What are you talking about? There are no girls like that.”
“But when I have you grab things for me from high places, it gives me butterflies.”
“...Huh? O-Oh... Thank you.”
“Y-You’re welcome.”
“...”
“...”
What even is this conversation?! We’re acting as innocent as if we’d just started dating, but we’ve been going out for like half a year!
“W-Well, I’m looking forward to the school festival,” Orihara-san said like she was trying to shift gears. “It’ll be my first school festival where they let in outsiders. I’m pretty interested in seeing what that’s like.”
“Really?”
“My school’s festival wasn’t like that. Every year, we rotated between a theater festival where every class acted out a theme they decided on and a choir festival where every class sang a theme song.”
“Oh, I see.” The high school that Orihara-san attended was Tourin Girls’ High School, a private school for girls. Their school was one of the most prestigious all-girls high schools in the prefecture, and their festival was very elegant.
“I also want to meet Ura-kun and Kana-kun again after so long. Without a chance like this, I can’t really see them.”
“Those two are both class representatives, so they’re putting way more work into the school festival than I am.”
“It seems like they are. I can understand Kana-kun doing it, but...I wouldn’t have thought that Ura-kun would be a class representative as well. Oh... That’s not very polite, is it?”
“It’s okay. I’m thinking the exact same thing.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well...I think that Ura has finally moved on a little bit.”
I’ve never thought badly of Ura, of course. Even if it is widely accepted that he’s an introvert among introverts, everyone has their own way of living. I think it’s terribly discriminatory to assume that introverts are unhappy and miserable and to pity them for it. However, I know how Ura used to be a long time ago. He was a boy who was bright and lively who always led the way at the center of his class. It’s not like I hate the way Ura is now or that I’ve ever wanted him to change...but when I see him getting a little closer to how he used to be, I feel a little relieved. I don’t know if his reason for it is his feelings for Ibusuki or what, but whatever it is, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
“...You’re like Ura-kun’s mom, Momota-kun.”
“Oof...” At last, even Orihara-san has hit me with that line. I don’t get it. I thought I’ve just been treating him like a normal friend would.
As we continued our telephone call, it became late.
“Well, I’ll see you on Saturday.”
“Okay. When you get to the school, just contact me, and I’ll go get you.”
“Thank you. I’ll be prepared,” Orihara-san said, and the phone call ended.
“...Prepared?” What does she mean by “prepared”? Does she mean she’ll get dressed up? Hmm? “Well, whatever.”
I was a little concerned about the last thing Orihara-san said, but I didn’t think too much about it.
As it would turn out, I would deeply regret this decision on the day of the festival, and I’d be tormented by regret for not having pursued it any further. That said, it was probably inevitable regardless; just before the festival, a terrible incident would happen that would make me forget all about what she’d said.
♡
I found out about the incident three days before the school festival.
With the festival fast approaching, every class was in the final stages of getting ready. The hallways were lined with everyone’s preparations spilling out from the classrooms, and most classes had students staying after school to make final adjustments to their decorations or do rehearsals.
I could feel the pre-festival mood as I walked down the hallways. Since it was lunchtime, I went to Ura’s class to invite him to eat lunch with me like I always do. However...
“Huh?” He wasn’t there.
“...?” I looked all around the classroom, but I didn’t see him.
Hmm? That’s strange. Kana sometimes has lunch with Uomi or his other friends, but as long as Ura doesn’t have anything to do, he almost always spends lunch with me.
Maybe he did have something he needed to do? He’s been pretty busy since he became his class representative, and it wouldn’t be unusual if he had work to do during lunch... Still, if that were the case, Ura would have told me about it beforehand.
Oh well. I’ll just get in touch with him.
I didn’t want to just whip out my smartphone in the hallway, so I decided to get in touch with him after I went to the usual empty classroom. However, right as I started to head there, someone called out to me.
“Hey, Momo!” It was Kana, and he ran up to me.
“Oh, hey, Kana. What’s the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?”
“There’s a problem... Just now, a girl from Ura’s class talked to me...” Kana looked extremely panicked. “She said...Ura didn’t come to school today.”