The person Soejima-kun was supposed to be “connected” with might be Kusunoki-san. I had just slipped through the rooftop door and stopped before the stairs. Soejima-kun said without hesitation that he liked Kusunoki-san and had hurt her. Why did the two break up? Did Kusunoki-san distance herself from Soejima-kun? Or was it the other way around? Who initiated the breakup? Could Kusunoki-san’s feelings for Soejima-kun still be the same? If Kusunoki-san still had feelings for Soejima-kun, even if they had been apart for a while. If their feelings for each other hadn’t changed, then my belief that Kusunoki-san was the person Soejima-kun was supposed to be connected with should not be wrong.
I appeared before Soejima-kun to make that connection… so I thought I’d try to find out more about Kusunoki-san. For Soejima-kun, who was desperately trying for a spirit he didn’t even know, it was the least I could do.
I raced down the rooftop stairs and ran to find Kusunoki-san. Classroom during class, courtyard, gym, infirmary—Kusunoki-san was nowhere to be found. Where could she be? Was she not at school?
In the third-floor hallway, where special classrooms like the music room and the chemistry room were lined up, I stopped to catch my breath. There was no sign of anyone in the silent hallway. It seemed like there was no one here.
As I was thinking about where else I hadn’t been in the school, holding back my bangs that were covering my forehead, my eyes paused at one place. The door to the classroom at the end of the hallway was slightly ajar, about ten centimeters open.
I was oddly curious. As I approached the door, I looked up at the classroom sign. The plate read “Art Preparation Room.”
I slipped through the door into the art preparation room. In contrast to the brightness outside the window, the room was somewhat damp and dimly lit. Plaster statues, easels, canvases, and books that looked like professional texts were scattered around a large table.
Sometimes intuition surpasses logic.
The figure of a female student standing in front of the window in the art preparation room caught my eye. Slender arms and legs, long brown hair. Even without her turning around, I knew who it was—Kusunoki-san.
The girl was looking out the window of the art preparation room.
I held my breath. As if being led, I slowly approached Kusunoki-san. From the open door of the art preparation room, I could hear the sound of footsteps and voices. Kusunoki-san turned away from the window with a surprised look on her face and checked the situation in the hallway through the gap in the door.
Three male students, holding world maps and atlases, were passing through the hallway in front of the art preparation room, chatting. After confirming that the trio had disappeared from sight, Kusunoki-san dashed out of the art preparation room.
Her sudden action left me behind in the art preparation room in surprise. The sound of her running away faded into the distance. I stood in front of the window where Kusunoki-san had been until a moment ago. And then, I looked in the direction of her gaze…
I left the art preparation room, ran through the stark white corridor, and headed toward the rooftop where Soejima-kun was. I decided to properly tell him about my thoughts. As I ran up the stairs to the rooftop, a figure suddenly appeared before me.
I’m going to crash! I reflexively closed my eyes and braced myself. The sound of a sudden brake resonated on the stairs. I realized that there was no reason for me to crash into anyone. After all, I was a spirit. Only one person in this world could notice me and stop for me. With that thought, I opened my eyes.
Soejima-kun, who had burst out of the spiral staircase, had an intense expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Upon hearing my words, Soejima-kun spoke in a hoarse voice. “I got a call… My grandfather’s condition…”
My eyes widened.
I also headed to the hospital with Soejima-kun, who had left school early. The tension on his face was palpable as we headed to the hospital, conveying the severity of the situation.
Soejima-kun was trying his best to keep it together, but he looked as if he could crumble at any moment. I felt anew the enormity of his grandfather’s presence in his life. The hospital room we were told to go to at the reception was the intensive care unit where his grandfather had been taken when he collapsed.
In front of the hospital room, Soejima-kun hesitated momentarily before opening the door and looking at me. Then he quickly looked back at the door, exhaled the breath he had been holding, and put his hand on the doorknob.
Following Soejima-kun into the room, I took one step in and froze.
“Wow, I saw an angel.”
A loud laughter that seemed out of place in an intensive care unit echoed throughout the room.
“An angel?”
“Yes, right in front of me… An angel in white.”
Sitting up and looking serious, the old man in the bed was making a young nurse laugh with a look of distress.
Huh? His condition was supposed to have deteriorated…
Leaving me stunned by the old man’s nonchalance, Soejima-kun silently approached his grandfather’s bed.
The old man, who had been talking to the nurse, noticed Soejima-kun approaching.
“Hey, Haj—”
Before the old man could finish saying Soejima-kun’s name, he gasped in pain. The boy was standing tall, pinching his grandfather’s cheek.
“Why do you look so well?”
“What’s wrong with being well?”
After brushing off Soejima-kun’s hand, the old man covered his face and pretended to cry.
“Cruel grandson… doing such a thing to a weakened old man.”
“Where?!”
The old man peered at Soejima-kun through the gap between his hands and looked up at him. Soejima-kun turned his back to the bed as if to hide his face from his grandfather.
Standing at the foot of the bed, I couldn’t see what expression Soejima-kun was making.
The young nurse, who must have witnessed Soejima-kun’s expression, sensed the mood and quickly excused herself. “Well then, I’ll be outside if you need me.” She hurriedly left the hospital room.
Silence filled the room.
With his back turned, Soejima-kun was met with a slight smile from his grandfather.
“What’s with the pitiful look on your face?”
“Shut up,” Soejima-kun retorted to his grandfather with his back still turned.
“All right, to cheer you up, I’ll read a book like I used to.”
Several books with covers were lined up on the shelf next to the bed. The old man extended his hand and tried to pick up one of them. However, the book with the cover slipped from his outstretched fingertips and fell to the floor. The old man’s hand was trembling slightly.
Soejima-kun quickly picked up the book that had fallen to the floor and offered it.
“It’s fine. It’s probably another erotic novel.”
“You’re sharp. But this is a masterpiece.”
At the grandfather’s laughter, the creases in Soejima-kun’s forehead deepened. It seemed that Soejima-kun had also noticed the old man’s hand trembling slightly, as it was quickly hidden under the covers.
“Don’t worry. I won’t die until I see my grandson’s wife.”
“You’ll never die then.”
“Again, you say something like that…”
The grandfather looked at Soejima-kun with a gentle expression and suddenly asked, “Are you scared?”
“Huh?”
“Are you so scared that you can’t stand it?”
“What are you talking about…”
At the grandfather’s words, Soejima-kun looked puzzled.
“You’re scared when you think about the future, aren’t you?”
“Who isn’t…”
As Soejima-kun replied in exasperation, his grandfather spoke more emphatically.
“No, your fear is different. Your fear is that you’re abandoning the future.”
At the old man’s words, Soejima-kun laughed abruptly.
“That’s over the top.”
The old man squinted his eyes and continued, “Hey, Hajime. Don’t neglect the present just because you’re consumed by fear of the future.”
I supposed the words were unexpected. Soejima-kun fell silent and dropped the covered book he had been holding out onto the bed.
“…It doesn’t suit you to say something so sensible.”
At Soejima-kun’s words, the old man wrinkled his face even more and laughed heartily. “Well, that’s true.” The grandfather’s cheerful laughter echoed in the hospital room, and Soejima-kun gave a small smile as if he were being drawn in.
At that time, I thought the banter between these two, devoid of any pretense, would continue forever.
The old man’s joyous laughter, which resonated in the hospital room, still lingers in my head. Change always comes suddenly, and there’s no way to prepare for it. My emotions were left behind at that moment, and it felt as if only I was being left behind by the passing of time.
Later that night, the old man passed away.