The discipline committee meeting was during lunch.
“Ehem. I expect that all of you have noticed, but this year, discipline has become rather slack. There are now four girls, students here, who appear to have run away.”
They called it a meeting, but we hardly ever spoke at all. The teacher in charge always droned on and on at us the whole time.
Frankly, we may have been called the discipline committee, but not one of us was operating under the illusion we could actually control anybody. Most of us were, like me, breaking those rules ourselves.
The boy I met in town yesterday, Saotome, was the secretary. He took minutes in a notebook. Despite double dating on the side, he melted right into the atmosphere here, like a model committee member.
“If any of you happen to hear about anything like that, then please, come running to me. One of their friends might be able to get in touch with them.”
We made no response. We never did. The teacher never seemed to notice.
“Incidentally, the infamous Kirima Nagi failed to arrive this morning. Make sure to keep an eye on her, hear? No telling what that girl’s plotting in the shadows.”
He glanced sharply around the room.
We remained silent.
The only sound was the scritching of Saotome’s pen, jotting down absurdly complete minutes.
Suddenly, the PA system crackled to life.
“…Miyashita Touka, second year, class C. Please, return to the infirmary at once. Miyashita Touka, second year, class C…”
I jerked in my seat, and it made a screeching sound on the floor.
“Mm? Something the matter?” The teacher glared at me balefully.
“I, uh, feel dizzy,” I said to excuse my actions, but in fact my head was reeling.
“Are you okay, senpai?” the president asked. “You look pale.”
“Third year? You go on back to class.”
Seniors had exams to study for and didn’t really play a major role on the committee. Heck, they didn’t even need to come the meetings in the first place. Of course, I wasn’t taking exams, but the teacher hadn’t bothered to remember that, apparently.
“Okay.”
I stood up, and the president followed suit.
“Sensei, I’ll take him to the infirmary.”
The teacher made a face, but then simply ordered her to hurry back.
“…That okay?” I asked Niitoki.
“Are you okay?” she whispered back.
I said nothing else, but rushed to the infirmary.
There was no one there.
I let out a huge sigh of relief.
The announcement had asked Touka to “return,” so she must have been there before, but gone out again.
(No, she was supposed to go home, but she must still be on campus. Her card hasn’t been swiped through the gate…)
Thinking furiously, I slumped down on the bench beside me.
“…You’re worried about her?” Niitoki asked.
“Yeah, a little.”
I looked up, and she spoke quickly, stiffly, “I thought as much. I’m in the same class as her.”
I gaped at her, but she kept talking.
“She’s been a little off recently. Like she can’t sit still. Glaring outside during class. The teacher yells at her about it a lot. I thought she might be having trouble with you or something.”
I had no answer.
“I like you too, you know. But—”
“………”
“But it looks like you like her more than me.”
She was glaring at me now.
I couldn’t think of any way to respond.
“I’m going back now,” she snapped, and bolted out of the infirmary.
Needless to say, I was out of it for pretty much the rest of the day.
✦ ✦ ✦
After class, I went to the place where we had agreed to meet, but Touka wasn’t there.
Sunlight barely filtered down to the deserted rear of the building, so it was quite dark around me.
I threw my bag on the ground, shoved my hands in my pockets, and leaned against the wall.
I couldn’t figure out what to do next, so I stared aimlessly up at the sky.
The edge of the school roof made a clear straight line cutting the sky in half.
But there was a shadow jutting over that line.
I gasped in shock.
It was the silhouette of a person. A person with a flat, pipe-like protrusion on their head, wrapped in what seemed like a cape.
At that moment, I knew it was him. It was the mysterious cloaked figure.
When he saw me, he spun around and pulled away.
I yelled towards him, “W-wait!”
Right beside me, there was an old fire escape. It was connected to windows on each floor and went all the way to the roof.
I vaulted the locked gate at the bottom and raced up the stairs to the roof—in clear violation of school policy.
When I hit the roof, I yelled, “Miyashita! That you?!”
The cloaked figure slowly emerged from the shadows. He stared directly at me again.
“You…know Miyashita Touka?” he said in Touka’s voice. It was a little deeper, more male sounding, but if you listened for it, it was clearly hers. “I see. We met yesterday, didn’t we? I have done you wrong. I ignored you, and for that…I apologize.”
I rushed over to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
Suddenly, my body was flying through the air, and then came crashing down upon the concrete with a hard thud.
“——?!”
Had he swept my legs out from under me? The pain raced through my entire body before I figured it out.
“What… What’s going on?” I cried.
“I should state clearly that I am not Miyashita Touka. Currently, I am Boogiepop,” the cloaked figure whispered.
“C-currently?”
So, Miyashita had been herself this morning? Is that what he meant?
“I’m sure you’ve heard the idea before. Simply put, it resembles the concept of the split personality. Understand me so far?” this “Boogiepop” continued.
“S-split—?”
“None of you have noticed yet, but danger is hovering over this school…and all mankind. That is why I have emerged.”
I couldn’t quite decide if I really should be referring to Boogiepop as “he” or not, but I could tell from his expression that he was deadly serious.
✦ ✦ ✦
3.
That evening, I called Touka’s house directly.
“Miyashita speaking,” her mother answered.
In my most serious voice, I said, “Hello. This is Takeda from the Shinyo Academy discipline committee. Is Touka present?”
When she heard the words “discipline committee,” Touka’s mother made a little gasping sound into the receiver.
“H-has Touka done anything…? But we haven’t seen that since she started high school…”
That?
“I’d like to speak to her directly, if possible.”
“O-of course! Just a moment,” she said in a much too respectful tone for some high school kid. Any other mother would have just said, “Hang on a sec,” or something equally trite. She must have been distressed.
“Touka speaking,” said Touka, in her usual voice.
“Hi, it’s Takeda.”
“Yes?” she said flatly. Presumably her mother was hovering near by.
Apparently, the Miyashita residence still didn’t have any other extensions.
“Did you go somewhere this Sunday?”
“Not really,” she said, knocking the receiver twice. I took this to mean the same as two fingers held up in our sign language. It meant, Sorry, not right now.
Obviously, I already knew that, but I had to ask anyway.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“You ever heard of Boogiepop?”
“Eh?” she said blankly. I’d caught her completely off guard. “What’s that?” She wasn’t acting. She really didn’t know.
“Never mind. It’s not important. I just really wanted to hear your voice, is all. Sorry.”
“Thank you,” she said, very politely as if for her mother’s benefit. I translated it as a sign of pleasure.
So, it looked like she didn’t hate me after all.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
“Sounds good.”
I hung up first, and silence overcame me.
I crossed my arms and tried to think. That Boogiepop guy had been right. Touka had completely forgotten about our date the day before, as well as our promise to meet after school today.