“I’m a scaredy-cat when it comes to ghosts, sure,” Iroha continued. “But that’s it. I’m not scared of heights or roller coasters, and if you must know, I love them!”
“Wha— ‘Love’? There’s no way you’ve been to that many theme parks.”
“Every normie and social butterfly goes to theme parks. It’s like a rite of passage. When you’ve got a lot of friends who fit into that category, you end up going to a ton of them. Of course, for a friendless loner like you, it’s more of a rarity, pfft!”
“You’ve been to a ton of theme parks...with other people?”
Of course she had. She was popular and beautiful at school, two things that offered her several advantages. I bet she got a lot of invitations too. If ever she wanted to go to a theme park, it would be a piece of cake for her to make it happen.
“Well, with mom.”
“Yeah, thought so.”
I played it off as though I knew what she had meant all along. I mean, I did know what she meant. Nothing about what she had said led to feelings of intense jealousy at all.
“Otoha-san takes you to theme parks then? I would’ve thought she’d ban it for being a form of entertainment.”
“She was weirdly chill about anything you can’t access via a TV or smartphone. Though it’s also kinda weird to ban all forms of entertainment for your young teenage girl except visiting theme parks with you.”
“Sounds to me like she was treating you like a five-year-old the whole time.”
“La, la, la! Can’t hear you! I’m not in the mood to relive my trauma, thanks!”
I would never have expected Iroha’s bountiful experience at theme parks to be linked to her mom’s refusal to let her grow up. I guess you can never tell when the story’s gonna cash in on its foreshadowing.
Speaking of Otoha-san...
I never did finish explaining to Iroha why I had an LVIP pass. Now seemed like a good opportunity. Otoha-san might still be hanging around the park; if Otoha-san found out Iroha was skipping school to hang out with a Hollywood film crew, she’d die of shock so fast she wouldn’t even have time to lose that sugary smile that was always on her face. And I didn’t even want to think what Otoha-san’s reaction might be if she happened to survive the experience.
“Hey, Iroha, you know what I was saying earlier about—”
“Oooh! Here it comes, Senpai.”
Less than a second after the words were out of my mouth, all thought had been wiped from my mind—by a sudden high-speed drop that sent us breaking the first cosmic velocity. That was what it felt like, at least.
“UGHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORBBBBBBGH!”
The last thing I remembered was the car leisurely climbing the track, but once it reached its peak, it was clear it wasn’t going to wait for me to switch my brain from conversation mode to adrenaline mode.
We were sent on a merciless downward plunge. I could feel the powerful Gs twisting my face, and it felt like the seat beneath my butt had been pulled away out of nowhere. I knew it was pointless, but I still clenched the lower part of my body like I was expecting to regain some stability.
Sound itself was left well behind us. Even the screams of the female passengers in the car in front of us swept past and vanished like running water.
“Aaah! Aaah! Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”
As for Iroha, who was sitting right next to me, her screams were coming in loud and clear at point-blank range. Wasn’t she just boasting about how she could deal with thrill rides? What was with all this screaming, then?
“Eeek! Omgosh, this is so much fun! You think so too, right Senpai? Or are you scared? Aha ha ha!”
Yeah, no, I take it back. She was fine. Seriously, how the heck was it possible to wind someone up while you were being tossed around at ultrahigh speeds? With skills like that, I bet she’d be able to qualify as an astronaut no problem.
“What! Could be! Fun! About! This?!” Pulling together every last nerve I had, I shot back at Iroha while the air beat up my face.
“Chill, Senpai! The ride’ll start decelerating now, and we’ll be on easy mode!”
“Wait, really?!”
“Yup! See the part of the track where it’s all twisty?”
“Oh yeah!”
“Think about it! There’s no way we can go round all those corners at this speed!”
“Hey, you’re right!”
“We’re bound to slow down! And that’ll be your chance for some relaxation!”
“Yes!”
The coaster started rounding the corners at full speed.
“You biiitch!”
“Aha ha ha ha! Gotcha!” Iroha burst into laughter as I screamed, and both of us got battered from all directions. “Going around the corners so fast is the best part of any coaster! No way was it gonna slow down! I knew you were the real scaredy-cat, Senpai! D’aww, you’re so cyute!”
“I’ve got no comeback daaaaaaaaammit!”
This time, our journey through hell ended in the blink of an eye.
“Senpai, you good?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m...fine. Wait a sec... My legs...”
By the time the ride was finished and the car had returned to the terminal, my head was spinning. When the attendant showed us off, the lower half of my body was trembling so badly I sank to the ground, leading Iroha to bend over and poke me to make sure I was still alive.
I’d heard that metaphor about a newborn foal struggling to stand up so many times, and yet I never thought I’d end up like that in real life. I probably shouldn’t have clenched my legs so much; the burden I’d placed on them was making them unreliable now.
“I-I thought we were dead meat.”
“Your face’s gone totally white. You even look too broken for me to bully...”
“Urrrgh...”
“There, there. Nice, deep breaths.” Iroha started stroking my back gently while I hunched over on the ground.
I was surprised how kind she was being now that she realized I was genuinely suffering, given how cheeky she’d been on the ride itself. She knew when to quit—and that was because Iroha, though annoying beyond belief, was genuinely kindhearted.
I breathed deeply for a little bit. “O-Okay... I think I’m starting to feel a little better.”
“I didn’t realize you were such a wimp, Senpai.”
“You don’t need to start bullying me again the moment I show the slightest hint of recovery.”
“But you always taught me that efficiency is everything—which is why I can’t let even a tiny opportunity go to waste!”
“There are times when you don’t have to be a model kouhai, you know.”
Iroha giggled bashfully as though I were complimenting her. I wasn’t. But it’d make me look weird if I pointed that out now, so I let her revel in it. Urgh.
“By the way, Senpai, I’ve got some bad news.”
“What’s that?”
“I have no idea where Mashiro-senpai’s gone.”
“Mashiro...” I froze, at first unsure what Mashiro had to do with anything. “...Ah!”
“You forgot, huh?”
“It’s not my fault! Blame the first cosmic velocity!”
“Sure, pin the blame on an intangible concept.”
Why the hell had I gone on that roller coaster if we weren’t even going to reunite with Mashiro at the end of it? Just to suffer?!
“We can’t let her go too far. We’re going after her, Iroha!”
“Wilco!” Iroha paused. “Wait, are you okay?”
“No...”
My legs were still about as stable as jelly.