Sure enough, it was Anzu. She’d been waiting off to the side of the main entrance to campus with her arms folded and her back against the wall.
“Took you long enough,” she said grumpily as she pushed off the wall.
“Sorry, I was trying to find you. I would’ve called you, but…”
“Oh, right. I never gave you my number, did I?”
“Nope. But yeah, I was just thinking we should do that. Makes things a whole lot more convenient, at least.”
“Yeah, okay!” Anzu exclaimed, sounding surprisingly ecstatic as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. We quickly typed each other’s contact info into our respective address books.
“This is so exciting!” she squealed. “I’ve never traded numbers with someone before!”
“Wow, no kidding?”
“What about you, Tono-kun?!”
“Yeah, it’s pretty new to me too. You’re only my second contact ever.”
(The first had been Shohei, for the record.)
“…Second, huh. Well, gee, aren’t you special,” she grumbled. Her expression went from beaming to deadpan in zero seconds flat—it was quite the dramatic mood swing. She closed out of her address book and shoved her phone back in her pocket. “So I heard you got called into the faculty room. What was that all about?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess someone saw me walking along the train tracks the other day, so I kinda got chewed out for that. No biggie.”
“Huh. Well, fair enough.”
“Speaking of which, I heard someone spotted you doing the same thing as me, so we really need to not use the train tracks going forward. I mean, not that it’s that big of a deal or anything. I got off relatively easy, I’d say.”
“Relatively?”
“Oh, yeah… So, uh…” I began, scratching my cheek with one finger. “I actually got roped into running an errand for Ms. H. Gotta go stop by Kawasaki’s place and drop off some homework for her.”
“Kawasaki…” Anzu repeated, her expression darkening as if to say “How dare you utter that name in my presence.” And, well…after what Koharu had done to her, I couldn’t exactly blame her for feeling that way.
“Yeah, so I think we’ll have to call off the investigation for today. Sorry.”
“…All right.”
“Anyway, I’d better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said and started walking toward the nearby bus stop. Then something tugged on the strap of my book bag, so I turned. Anzu was staring me straight in the eye.
“Wh-what’s up?” I asked.
“I’m going too.”
“Huh?”
Where in the hell had this change of heart come from? I was totally convinced that Anzu hated Koharu’s guts… Or maybe she wanted to come along precisely because she had a bone to pick with her? Was this a revenge thing?
“Uhhh, you sure about that? This is Kawasaki’s house we’re talking about.”
“Yes, I heard you the first time.”
“You don’t think it’ll get awkward or hostile or anything?”
“Oh, it might. Wouldn’t be surprised.”
Then why the hell would you want to come? I wanted to ask.
Before I could summon the nerve to ask, Anzu let out an impatient huff. “However, now that the investigation’s been called off, I’ve got nothing to do this afternoon. So I figured I’d tag along to kill some time, that’s all. Unless you don’t want me to come?”
“I mean, it’s fine, I guess… But we’re just dropping off some homework and leaving. So I’d better not catch you throwing hands.”
“Wow, excuse you. I would never.”
“Or legs.”
“I would never.”
With that, we made our way down from campus and hopped on the bus. The plan was to ride it for six stops, where we’d get off only a stone’s throw away from Koharu’s residence. We were leaving school a bit late, so there were actually very few other Kozaki High students on the bus, and certainly none who were sophomores like us. We sat at the very back of the vehicle, and I lazily gazed out the window and watched the scenery pass by as the driver took off.
When we passed through the shadow of a nearby hill, I could see Anzu’s face reflected in the windowpane. She was sitting directly beside me, her nose buried in her book from the moment we settled in. Curious as to what kind of book it might be, I tried to examine the front cover through the reflection, but all I could really make out was the backside of an illustrated cat sitting on its haunches. I figured it was one of those “what would life be like from this animal’s perspective” types of stories. All I knew was she’d been reading this book for a while, as it was the same one she’d had her nose buried in before she punched Koharu in the face.
“So do you totally hate Kawasaki, or what?” I asked randomly, turning my head back away from the window.
“Yep. Hate her guts,” Anzu said without a mote of hesitation, not looking up from her book.
“Then why are you coming to her house?”
“Because I wanna go wherever you go.”
She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and my face went bright red in turn. Easy, Kaoru. Don’t get the wrong idea. You’re just working together. Nothing more than that. I cleared my throat and did my best to keep my cool.
“Y’know, you really shouldn’t say stuff like that so lightly,” I warned her.
“How come?”
“Uh, because anyone other than me would probably take it the wrong way and get their poor little heart broken? Just a guess.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say it about anyone other than you.”
“…Pretty sure you’re giving me a little too much credit here. I’m just your average, boring-ass high schooler.”
It was this that finally caused Anzu to tear her eyes away from her book and look directly into mine. “That’s not true at all. You’re not boring or average, Tono-kun. If you ask me, you’re about as abnormal as they come.”
“…Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?”
“Obviously.”
“Well, if you say so, I guess,” I said with a shrug, then rested my elbow on the windowsill once more. Shortly thereafter, the bus driver announced over the intercom that we were approaching the stop nearest to Koharu’s place, so I pushed the button to request our stop.
As the bus rolled up to the stop, I handed the driver three hundred yen, then descended the stairs and onto the sidewalk. Almost immediately, I smelled the pungent scent of wet earth. I glanced at the towering white thunderhead slowly advancing through the western sky.