Mirei Nakamura was still absent. Toshihiko had known it was coming, but nonetheless, he sighed dejectedly upon glimpsing the attendance record. The girl probably wouldn’t be coming to Matsuno Juku again anytime soon.
The day before the previous one, he’d paid a visit to the Nakamura household along with Sayama. They’d called ahead to let Mirei’s mother know they were coming, but she’d remained pretty cold toward them. At first, she tried to hold their entire conversation over the intercom, hoping they would leave after that. After Sayama refused to back down, Mirei’s mother opened the door for them with a deliberately exaggerated sigh. Just like Hirona had said, the front gate was adorned with aggressive-looking anticlimb spikes.
“I’ve told you before that my daughter isn’t feeling well. I don’t see why—”
Dr. Nakamura’s attitude had been pretty spiky, too, but she stopped short when she saw Toshihiko. For a moment, she froze, just staring at his face. A lot of people had a similar reaction upon meeting him for the first time. But she quickly recovered her professional demeanor, glaring at the two of them and picking up where she left off.
“I don’t see why I should tell you anything more. Isn’t it a little odd for two cram school teachers to be paying a home visit to check up on one student? I’m rather busy. I’ll see to it that Mirei keeps attending. Isn’t that enough for you?”
“As I explained on the telephone, Mr. Katayama here has some concerns…”
Sayama trailed off, wilting under the incredible pressure Mirei’s mother exerted. Toshihiko saw that he would have to take over.
“I’m Toshihiko Katayama. You probably heard already, but Mirei was with me when I…”
“Oh, so you’re Katayama. You smaller cram schools must have it hard if you need star attractions to entice new students.”
Ignoring her gibe at him, he went on.
“Would it be possible for us to speak to Mirei?”
“What is there to talk about? Are you going to reassure her you’ll still be there to get her to keep on attending? I told you already, I’ll take care of that. You needn’t worry about cheering her up in the meantime.”
“That’s not it. Well, not entirely. But if she stays away much longer, it’ll just waste your money, so if you would like, we can extend her leave of absence indefinitely.”
“We’re not exactly strapped for cash, Mr. Katayama.”
Toshihiko’s suggestion only seemed to inflame the lady further.
“Why was she even with you that day? I didn’t want to say anything since you got hurt so badly, but there’s something strange about the whole thing. Don’t tell me you’re going to say you have a relationship with her, too? It’s disgusting! Mirei’s just a child!”
That “too” reminded Toshihiko of what Mirei had said about her home tutor. The memory made him queasy. But Mirei’s mother didn’t even give him time to deny it.
“My older children will be home soon, so I really can’t have you staying here any longer. Please leave. And don’t concern yourself with our family’s problems again.”
She refused to listen to anything more they had to say, and they were forced to go without ever seeing Mirei. According to Sayama, the girl’s family seemed to place more importance on the fact that she was enrolled at a cram school at all than on whether it was improving her grades.
“But her mom has it tough, too. They seem to be the type of family where everything about the kids’ lives gets left to the mother. Nakamura’s brothers are apparently hardworking, diligent students, so they’re probably fine. Nakamura herself, not so much. She always seemed like she was under a lot of pressure to me. Like she enrolled at Matsuno Juku just to get her parents off her back,” said Sayama.
“Wait, their mom has to do everything?! Isn’t she also working full-time as a doctor?”
Sayama laughed ruefully.
“Not all men are as enlightened as you—let’s put it that way.”
Toshihiko had lost his father in high school. His father had also been a doctor, a heart surgeon at a university hospital. He’d always been busy and had never come home at a consistent time. They may not have had the routine other “normal” families did, but Toshihiko still had plenty of memories of his father. Toshihiko had never gotten into any serious trouble that his parents knew about, but if he had, the blame wouldn’t have been put on his mother alone.
“I guess it takes all kinds to make a world.”
He decided to shut down any further attempts to discuss this issue. There was no point speculating about something so thoroughly divorced from his own experience.
After that, the two of them met up with Midori and went to a restaurant to update her on the situation. She seemed pretty clued in on Mirei’s family situation already, though. She didn’t actually say, I told you it was pointless going to talk to them, but it was clear that was what she was thinking.
It was a pity they hadn’t been able to get anything out of Mirei that day. Toshihiko had been hoping she would at least tell him if the woman who had attacked her was the same tall woman Hirona had seen during her visit.
Mirei used to come to the cram school even when she didn’t have any classes, making up some excuse or other to see Toshihiko. For someone like that to refuse so stubbornly to speak to Toshihiko spoke volumes about the condition she was in. Right now, getting her side of the story wasn’t going to be an option. It was time to pursue other avenues.
“Mr. Katayama?”
He felt a hand on his shoulder and almost jumped out of his skin. It was Midori.
“That was a bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?”
Midori laughed, her voice clear and bell-like. It was the kind of sweet, innocent laugh that contrasted with her mature, dignified appearance. There were probably plenty of men out there who would find this side of her absolutely adorable. And yet Toshihiko still hadn’t cleared her of suspicion. Her childlike smile, which had seemed pleasant enough before, now took on a more sinister air.
“Sorry, I guess I was spacing out.”
“Really? Still worried about Nakamura?”
She gave him a sharp look and pointed at his computer screen.