When Hajime had gone to the Hiyama and Kondou families, Shinji and Yoshiki had come with him. They’d asked to be there as a way of honoring their friends who’d stepped off the proper path.
Hajime had told every family the unvarnished truth, and hidden nothing. He’d even brought along Artifacts to recreate visions of the past to show them what had happened.
The Kondou and Nakamura families hadn’t been a huge issue. Eri’s mother hadn’t even joined the group of families looking for their children, and if anything, had seemed happy her daughter had disappeared. She’d moved away, in fact, and Hajime had been forced to use the compass to find her location.
When he’d gone to visit Eri’s mother, it had actually been tragic. Just the mention of Eri’s name had caused her to fly into a rage, so he’d left without telling her the details of her daughter’s death.
The Kondou family, on the other hand, had refused to believe Hajime at first. They’d chased Aiko and Hajime out of their house and told them to never come back. But Shinji and Yoshiki had stubbornly kept going back to their dead friend’s house, so while Reichi’s parents still hadn’t sorted out their feelings, it seemed like they were finally starting to accept that their son was dead.
Since Eri, who’d killed Reichi, was already dead and her mother was an insane wreck, they had no one to direct their anger toward. Shinji and Yoshiki were keeping an eye on Reichi’s parents just in case, but it seemed they’d be fine eventually.
However, the visits to the Hiyama and Shimizu families hadn’t gone as smoothly. Hiyama’s parents had declared the visions of the past to be a fabrication, probably because they didn’t want to believe their son had truly died, especially in such a gruesome manner. But because they refused to accept that he’d been killed by Hajime, it meant they also refused to accept that Daisuke had betrayed everyone for his own gain. As a result, they raged at Hajime, blaming him for impugning their son’s honor and not bringing him back even though he’d taken everyone else with him.
Not even Shinji and Yoshiki had been able to get through to them. In fact, Daisuke’s parents had called the two of them traitors as well, claiming they were betraying their friend. After hurling insults at Hajime and Aiko, they’d even tried to physically assault them. Since Aiko believed it was her fault for not being able to properly reform Daisuke, she’d been willing to take their blows, but Hajime refused to see her get hurt for this. And so, he’d used his intimidation at full power against them. Even veteran soldiers ended up shaking in their boots when he did that, so unsurprisingly, Daisuke’s parents had collapsed to the ground, trembling in terror.
“Let me just say this,” he’d said, glaring icily at them. “You’re free to believe whatever you want. I don’t regret my actions, though, and I have no intention of apologizing. Also, if you dare to lay a hand on anyone I care about, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
It didn’t matter to Hajime how much Daisuke’s parents had been hoping for his return. He’d come here to explain the truth and nothing more. That was all he felt he owed them. Ultimately, Daisuke Hiyama had been one of Hajime’s enemies, a twisted man who’d killed someone important to him. The look he gave Daisuke’s parents made that clear to them as well.
Honestly, Hajime didn’t know what the Hiyama family planned to do next. He had no intention of taking back his declaration, though, or having mercy on Daisuke’s parents if they tried to hurt his family. Aiko, Shinji, and Yoshiki were free to keep trying to get through to Daisuke’s parents if they wanted, but Hajime was only keeping an eye on them now to make sure they didn’t try to hurt anyone he cared about.
Incidentally, the visit to the Shimizu family had left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth for a different reason. His parents had only cared about how their son’s death would affect their social standing. They hadn’t seemed the least bit sad that he was dead, but they had been immensely worried about how Yukitoshi’s death would be spoken of among Aiko and the students. The reactions of Yukitoshi’s older and younger brother had been truly striking.
Even if Hajime’s words were a lie and Yukitoshi was secretly alive somewhere, the fact that everyone who’d been summoned with him hated him meant that it would actually be worse for their image if he’d returned. As a result, they’d all begged Hajime and Aiko to promise they’d tell the public that Yukitoshi had died a hero.
Yukitoshi’s parents had even mentioned that it would impact their other sons’ career paths if Yukitoshi was known to be a traitor and agreed with Yukitoshi’s brothers. They’d even tried to get Hajime and Aiko to sign NDAs.
Seeing their reactions, Aiko had completely lost it. It had taken a lot of effort to calm her back down. Hajime had ended up cowing everyone in the Shimizu family with his intimidation as well, but like the Hiyamas, he was still keeping tabs on them.
Suzu Taniguchi, who’d come with Hajime to visit Eri’s mother, smiled weakly at Hajime’s words and said, “Nagumo-kun’s right. It should be okay to talk about them at least.”
Everyone knew who it was Suzu would want to talk about.
“I’m sorry for what she did to your friend, Nakano-kun, but...”
“It’s fine, we don’t mind you talking about her. Isn’t that right, Yoshiki?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Taniguchi. It’s not like we’ve forgiven Nakamura, but...considering what we did to Shirasaki, it’s not like we have any right to talk.”
They’d failed to notice what Daisuke was up to, so they hadn’t been able to stop him from stabbing Kaori. That had left deep scars on Kaori’s body, and Shizuku’s heart.
However, Kaori and Shizuku simply turned to Yoshiki and Shinji and shook their heads.
“It’s fine. We don’t mind. It’s all over and done with now.”
“If anything, it’s worse if we act like no one should talk about them. It’ll just make the classroom depressing.”
With that, the atmosphere inside the classroom finally relaxed.
“By the way, Nagumo-kun, thank you for telling me where the Nakamura family grave is,” Suzu said.
“Considering how earnestly you kept asking her mom, I figured you deserved to know. I just used the compass, so it wasn’t a big deal. Have you gone there already?”
“Yep.”
Eri had met her end in the Sanctuary, in a strange liminal space which had contained only Suzu and Eri. And so, Suzu had come with Hajime in order to tell Eri’s mother her last moments, as no one else had seen them. In the end, though, Eri’s mother hadn’t even bothered to listen. Due to that, Suzu had at least tried to ask her where the location of the Nakamura family grave was to pay her respects, but Eri’s mom had stonewalled her there as well.
“It’s not Eri’s grave, and it’s not like I have any of her stuff I could leave as an offering, so it wasn’t really a meaningful visit.”
“Stupid, if you think it has meaning, then it’s meaningful,” Ryutarou said, flicking Suzu on the forehead.
“What was that for?!” Suzu shouted, rounding on Ryutarou. But then, she saw he was smiling gently at her and her anger faded.
“If it grants you peace of mind to visit the Nakamura family grave, if you feel like you’re closer to Eri when you go there, then who cares if her body isn’t actually buried there? Also, stop running off to places alone. Take me with you next time.”
“...It pisses me off how considerate you’re trying to be when you’re so stupid, Ryutarou.”
“Hey!”
Though Suzu looked like she was pouting, most of the girls could tell she was starting to develop feelings for Ryutarou and they all stared avidly at her. Meanwhile, the boys looked like they wanted to spit at Ryutarou’s feet.
Just then, the bell rang and Aiko strode into the classroom.
“All right, everyone, take your seats! It’s time to start the morning homeroom—hm, what’s going on?”
Aiko looked over the classroom, wondering why all the girls were staring at Suzu and all the guys were glaring at Ryutarou.