On the morning of the school trip’s third day, I slowly sat up in my bed and found that out of the four beds in our room, one was already empty. Asuhain-san... Even her belongings were gone. The only evidence of her having ever been here was the still messy sheets.
I couldn’t help but remember the events of last night after I’d simply stood in place, not able to do anything as I watched Asuhain-san disappear into the night. After that...
“Asuhain isn’t the culprit,” Mizuto had said as he stood next to a tree. The lights hanging on it had been irritatingly bright. “I’m convinced she isn’t, now that I know that Minami-san was standing guard by the pool entrance. I should’ve listened to you a little closer. Sorry...”
“What do you mean?” I asked weakly, curled up in a ball.
“Since Minami-san was standing guard by the pool entrance, the culprit had to have been hiding in the locker room and didn’t leave until we were all gone.”
“Wait...so they were hiding and we just didn’t see them?”
“That’s the only possibility. You saw all the tall lockers in there, didn’t you?”
Oh, right. They’re big enough to fit a person. We could’ve easily overlooked that.
“Do you remember how I came out of the locker room after you? That’s because I was checking inside all the lockers. I’m guessing you didn’t.”
“Right...”
So that means the mysterious individual was hiding in one of those lockers?
“The culprit must’ve stealthily left the locker after Minami-san ended her stakeout of the pool entrance. As a result, the culprit couldn’t have gotten back to their room before either of us.”
“Okay...”
“When you got back, Asuhain was already there, so that’s why it’s impossible for her to be the culprit. If she was, she would’ve had to have passed by you to get back to the room first.”
“Yeah...”
“Do you know why we’re talking about this right now, Yume?”
I meekly shook my head. I didn’t have the will to think too much about anything.
“The culprit’s someone else,” he said gently. “That being said, it’s a fact that her thigh has a cut on it, and it’s true that someone cut themselves on the bushes.”
“Oh...”
“Asuhain also started acting differently today. I’m thinking that she probably did hide behind those bushes, and that there was some kind of reason for doing so. But it wasn’t when we met up. She must’ve been there before us and seen something, which made her start acting differently. I think the answer has to lie in the words she said to you.”
The last words she said to me before running off had been so emotionless. It sounded as if she’d given up.
“Do you really not want to know what happened to her or what she’s thinking? Would you really ‘not get it’?”
I looked down and buried my face into my knees. “I don’t know... I really don’t, but I don’t like not knowing...”
I was acting like a child, but that was how I truly, honestly felt.
I could tell that Mizuto had crouched down next to me, and then I felt him gently lay his hand against my back.
“I can stay by your side, but I can’t really give you superficial words of praise, and I definitely can’t bad-mouth Asuhain to make you feel better. That wouldn’t be fair, since she doesn’t have anyone like that for her. More than anything, I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to forgive yourself, would you?”
He’s right. I think that even having him talk to me like this is taking advantage of his kindness. Even if Mizuto helps me get back on my feet and I try to patch things up with Asuhain-san, I get the feeling I still might not really ever understand what’s going through her head. I’ll never be able to deny what she said to me.
“Take a night to sleep on it,” Mizuto said. “Then decide what you want to do. I’ll help you as much as you need after that.”
“Thanks...”
And now, I’d slept on it. The girls in our room changed in a more or less awkward atmosphere before leaving the room to go to the restaurant for breakfast. I spotted Mizuto when we arrived. Seeing me, Mizuto put the slice of bread he’d been eating down and looked up at me.
“Made up your mind?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
I want to know. I don’t want to stay in the dark. I’d been able to become an honor student, make friends, join the student council, and get a boyfriend. But even so, at this rate, I was on course to repeat the same mistakes I’d made as a middle schooler. I’d be passive, foolish, always waiting for someone to solve things for me. If I didn’t face this head-on and find out what was going on, I’d never “get it.”
“In that case, there’s something we need to do first.”
“Like what?”
“Don’t you remember the other weird thing that happened during this trip?” he asked, a teasing smile spreading across his face.