“Hell if I know.” I shrugged. It was the truth—I genuinely had no idea.
I finished packing up my things and headed out of the classroom, then made eye contact with Anzu as I walked past her in the hall. She gave me a silent nod, then turned around and walked down the stairs…but I wasn’t sure whether that was supposed to mean “I’ll wait for you outside,” or “Let’s call it off for today.” Would have been nice if she used her words, but alas, I couldn’t be bothered to chase her down and ask, so I headed straight on to the faculty room, turning left around the next corner. When I reached the door at the end of the hallway, I quietly slid it open and announced my arrival, then wove between the cubicles over to Ms. H’s desk.
“Um, Ms. Hamamoto? You called for me?” I asked, and she turned to look up at me. Then, setting aside whoever’s quiz she was grading, she swiveled around in her seat and gave me a big, friendly smile.
“Oh, there you are, Tono-kun. Sorry to call you up out of the blue.”
“That’s okay. What did you need me for?”
“Yes, well. It’s about Kawasaki-chan, actually.”
“Oh? What about her?”
“Well, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, she hasn’t shown up for school the past couple of days. She did call in to say she wasn’t feeling well, but I’m starting to get a little worried about her. Was thinking that if she doesn’t come back soon, a little house call might be in order.”
“Okaaay…” I said. What does that have to do with me, exactly?
“Which is where you come in, Tono-kun. Could you be a dear and deliver Kawasaki-chan’s summer English homework?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes, you. I already asked some of her friends if they’d be willing to handle it, but apparently they’re all too busy.”
I assumed she was referring to the girls in Koharu’s usual posse. Probably that Haneda chick and the other one, Sado. If I had to guess, they’d blown Ms. H off out of laziness or spite. Hence why she’d resorted to asking me.
“You two went to the same junior high, correct?” asked Ms. H. “So I figure you probably know where she lives.”
“I mean, I do, yes…”
“Then can I count on you to take care of it?”
She’d put me in a tough spot. Anzu and I were planning to meet up and further explore the Urashima Tunnel. Though even if we weren’t, I didn’t really feel like doing grunt work for the sake of the girl who’d always made me do her grunt work.
“Sorry, I’ve kinda got plans this afternoon…”
“Oh? What kind of plans?”
“I was gonna go hang out with a friend for a while.”
“Really, now? And do what, exactly?” Ms. H inquired, and I kind of just stood there perplexed, wondering why my teacher would ever need to know that. Then she smiled and dropped the bomb: “Not another reenactment of Stand By Me, I hope?”
“…Sorry? Come again?”
“The school received an eyewitness report the other day from someone who’d seen ‘that Tono kid’ walking illegally along the train tracks. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
Aw, crap. Somebody saw that? And to think I just got done judging Hanashiro for the exact same thing…
“Er, yeah, about that… Thing is, I’d missed the train, and I couldn’t afford to wait for another, so I decided to take a little shortcut home, and, uh…”
“So it really was you, then,” she sighed, disappointed. “Oh, Tono-kun. You know, we’re typically supposed to call a parent or guardian when we receive reports like this…”
Oh God. If my father found out about this, I’d really be in for it. Seeing no other recourse, I panicked and started groveling. “I-I’m really sorry! I promise it won’t happen again! Just please don’t call my house…”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
I held my tongue and listened to what Ms. H had to say.
Apparently, the person who’d called in had requested that the school let me off with a simple warning, since they knew my family had “fallen on hard times” in recent years, and it was Ms. H’s intention to respect their wishes. I wasn’t sure whether to feel grateful for this stranger’s goodwill. I often found myself annoyed at how quickly word got around our enclosed rural community, since it meant everyone knew about all of my family’s nasty little secrets.
“Regardless, please, no more walking on train tracks, okay? You could literally get run over and die—and even if you didn’t, you’d get hit with a nasty fine for forcing the train to stop.”
“Yes, ma’am… It won’t happen again.”
“Good. Well then, I suppose I’d be willing to let it slide, just this once…” Ms. H began, before ominously trailing off into an excruciating pause. “…Then again, you’ve had a lot of absences and late arrivals recently, so perhaps a phone call home really is in order. That is, unless you’re willing to prove to me you’re committed to doing better going forward.”
“And how can I do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know… Maybe by offering to step up and check in on another student who hasn’t been showing up lately? Maybe bring them their homework while you’re at it?”
So it was a thinly veiled threat, then. Do as she asked, or she’d call my father.
“…All right, fine. I’ll deliver Kawasaki’s homework.”
“You will? Oh, bless your heart! Here you go, then!” she said, handing me a staple-bound English workbook. I put it in a plastic sheet protector and slid it into my book bag. As I walked out of the faculty room, I made a mental note that we’d need to find another route to the tunnel going forward, even if it required a massive detour. Walking along the train tracks again would be far too risky.
Now then. I needed to let Anzu know I’d been conscripted for homework delivery duty, as well as that we’d been seen walking along the tracks. Presumably, she knew I’d been called to the office, but I wasn’t sure where I might find her. I decided to check back in the classroom for starters, but she wasn’t there. Then I figured she might be waiting in the main entryway, but she wasn’t there. I supposed it was possible she’d gone home or headed to the Urashima Tunnel by herself, but…
Ugh. Times like these made me really wish we had each other’s contact information. Scouring every corner of the school wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I changed out of my indoor shoes and walked out of the building, scanning the courtyard as I made my way off campus. Right as I passed through the main gate, I heard a voice call out from behind me.
“Tono-kun.”
“Whoa! Jeez, you scared me…”