A pale light was piercing through my shut eyelids. When I opened my eyes, the morning sun was shining in from the window of the guest room.
What time is it now? I wonder if Soejima-kun is already awake.
I slid through the sliding door of the guest room and walked down the hallway, stopping in front of the stairs leading to the second floor. The room on the second floor where I first appeared in this house was Soejima-kun’s. I couldn’t sense any movement in his room from downstairs.
Yesterday, we had searched for all possible information related to “my memory” at the library, but we hadn’t gotten any significant clues before the library closed. Even after returning home, Soejima-kun kept searching for information on the internet. All I could do was verify the information he provided and try to remember something—and I couldn’t remember anything! I was not useful at all. Even after we retired to our rooms, I could hear noises from Soejima-kun’s room through the ceiling of the guest room I was staying in. It seemed like he was awake until late at night.
The house was silent. I guessed Soejima-kun was still sleeping… but just as I was about to turn on my heel, I thought I heard music coming from somewhere. Following the faint sound, I found myself in the living room. The sliding door was left open by about a third.
Without slipping through the gap in the sliding door, I entered and saw Soejima-kun sitting on the sofa, his arms crossed, asleep. One of his earphones was hanging by his side. Music was probably leaking from the one earphone connected to his smartphone.
On the table in front of the sofa where Soejima-kun was sitting, A4 papers, books, and pens were spread out haphazardly. Careful not to wake him up, I peered at the items spread out on the table.
On the table were textbooks, notebooks, and articles about high school traffic and school accidents printed on A4 paper, with red circles marked around them.
When did he get here…?
I turned my eyes to Soejima-kun, sleeping on the sofa.
I couldn’t tell the room’s temperature, but considering there had been a flurry of snow yesterday, it must be cold. I was worried about Soejima-kun, who was sleeping in his thin clothes without anything like a blanket or comforter.
But I, who couldn’t touch anything, couldn’t put something on him. I was reluctant to wake him up, and I was just wandering around, unable to do anything. As I was doing this, my eyes met Soejima-kun’s, who had opened his eyelids faintly.
When our eyes met, Soejima-kun gave a small shudder and opened his eyes wide in surprise.
After a few seconds of staring at each other in silence, Soejima-kun said with a look of realization, “I was surprised. I thought you were a spirit… Ah, you are a spirit.”
“Sorry…”
Soejima-kun scratched his head and yawned.
“How long have you been here?”
The question I wanted to ask was reversed in a sleepy tone.
“Just now… I thought I heard music.”
I pointed to my own ear. Soejima-kun seemed to notice that one of his earphones was out and tapped his smartphone to stop the music.
“I had been holed up in my room all the time. I fell asleep intending to change my mood.”
Soejima-kun began to tidy up the A4 papers and textbooks that were spread out on the table. I watched intently as he picked up a textbook.
What Soejima-kun had in his hand was the math textbook I had seen on the desk in the room the day I first appeared in this house. Noticing my gaze, Soejima-kun tilted his head and asked, “What?”
It was such a minor thing that it wasn’t worth talking about, so I shook my head to indicate that it was nothing, but Soejima-kun gave me a skeptical look.
“If you’ve thought of something, speak up. It’s on my mind.”
“It’s… really not a big deal.”
As I fumbled for words, Soejima-kun urged me to speak up, looking annoyed and saying, “Just say it.”
I hesitated and then voiced my thoughts. “I just thought that I remembered the formula in that textbook…”
I had thought he would find it a really trivial story, but Soejima-kun’s reaction was different from what I expected.
Soejima-kun had a look on his face as if he had realized something.
“I see. That makes sense,” Soejima-kun muttered, as if he had come to a conclusion by himself.
“We don’t necessarily have to stick to the accident on the stairs. The point is to recover your memory.”
“Huh?”
“You’re wearing a school uniform, and you’re probably about my age. If you remember this second-grade high school math formula, you must be around seventeen…”
“So…?”
Not understanding what he was trying to say, I looked at Soejima-kun as if to probe him.
With a look of inspiration, he turned his gaze to me.
“Let’s go to my school. You must have been going to school before you became a spirit. Even if it’s a different school, you might remember something if there are similarities in the classes and atmosphere.”
And so, we decided to go to school that day.
I had never thought of going to school, but just like I remembered the formula in the textbook, I thought that I might remember something else. Besides, I felt guilty that Soejima-kun had taken time off from school to investigate me, so it seemed like the best way for both of us.
I, who didn’t need much preparation to go to school, was waiting at the entrance for Soejima-kun to get ready. I was somewhat restless, checking with my hand to see if my bangs were properly covering my eyes, when Soejima-kun, changed into his school uniform and putting on his coat, came down the stairs.
Once he put on his shoes, he looked at me and nodded slightly. I understood it to mean “Let’s go,” and I also nodded in the same way.
Soejima-kun’s high school was three stations away from his house. It was a coeducational middle and high school, as he had explained to me on the way.