Mio was quite nervous about going to school the next day. Nervous, but also a bit eager to find out what might happen next.
For the first time in a while, she’d enjoyed a good night’s sleep.
Everything with Kanbara had lasted only a few days, but she’d felt locked in tunnel vision the entire time. Now that her heart and mind were calm again, she finally recognized that she had become his slave, completely under his thrall. Everything felt different now, even the weight of the air around her. It was like she’d been hurled into a terrible storm and mutilated by it for a brief period. She’d come out alive, but could easily not have survived.
She wanted to have a proper conversation with Shiraishi.
He didn’t frighten her anymore. And what about Kanbara? With Shiraishi around, Kanbara didn’t frighten her as much as before. She felt ready to talk to her senpai without cowering.
“Morning, Mio,” Saho greeted her. Mio responded in kind. She was very curious about the third-year class. What had happened to Kanbara? Was he in school today, pretending like yesterday hadn’t happened? There was no way he could hide the injuries on his face.
Shiraishi wasn’t in class yet. He always showed up right as the bell was ringing. Today, that felt agonizingly late to Mio.
What if he’d transferred schools again…?
The thought of him simply vanishing as abruptly as he’d come left her antsy. He still hadn’t given her a satisfying explanation for all of this.
Mr. Minamino suddenly popped his head into the classroom and said, “You two. May I see you?”
This was strange. He always came into the classroom after the bell rang. Mio and Saho shared a confused look. Hanaka wasn’t here yet.
Mr. Minamino’s face, normally so genial, seemed stiff. Concerned, the girls asked, “What is it?” as they walked into the hallway. A woman stood behind the teacher.
She looked exhausted. Her eyes were dark and sunken. The pallor of her skin suggested that she hadn’t slept or was ill. She stared at Mio and Saho, ready to burst into tears at the slightest provocation.
For some reason, her face looked familiar.
And then Mio recognized her, remembering this woman from parents’ orientation day. She was Hanaka’s mother.
“This way, please.” Mr. Minamino ushered them to the student counseling office next to the faculty room. An ominous premonition came over Mio when they entered the small office.
“Have a seat,” the teacher said, but Hanaka’s mother didn’t. She just stared at the girls. Since she refused to sit, they couldn’t, either.
Clearly upset, Mr. Minamino got right down to business. “Hanaka did not come home last night.”
Mio gasped.
“What?” Saho breathed.
“She did return home at one point, but then later slipped out of the house again without anyone realizing, and there’s been no word from her since. She didn’t come home in the morning, and no one’s had any contact with her. She hasn’t shown up at school, either,” Mr. Minamino explained.
“…Does either of you know anything?” Hanaka’s mother spoke for the first time. Her eyes were red. Perhaps it was from crying, or lack of sleep, or both. She leaned in toward Mio and Saho. “There was a note left on her desk. And the window was open, like she was spirited away by a vampire.”
A vampire.
Hanaka’s mother seemed very shaken by this. Mr. Minamino stared at her, uncertain how to respond to such a wild claim.
Mio felt the blood drain from her face. In addition, her body felt stiff and frozen, like her soles were stuck to the floor.
Her imagination was working overtime.
A wide-open window. Hanaka’s empty room, with curtains swaying.
The vampire comment was just the first thing that popped into her mother’s head. However, the absurd remark formed a clear image in the mind’s eye.
“What was written on the note?” Mio asked. Her voice didn’t sound like her own. She had a bad feeling.
Vampire.
Hanaka had started wearing a ponytail recently. When her slender neck was visible, it made her look more adult, and it suited her very well. That white back of the neck.
Hadn’t someone recently told Mio to cut her hair because it covered her neck? He’d said he didn’t like that, and she recalled how disappointed she’d felt after that comment.
Vampire.
A creature of the night, sinking fangs into a pale, exposed neck. Mio thought of Hanaka, yet felt a prickle on her neck. Her hair stood on end.
Kanbara smiled when she told him of the fight with her friend. He had given her a gentle, enveloping, forgiving smile and told her it was okay.
“You’ll be on good terms again in no time. You and Hanaka always look like you’re having fun. All three of you. You’re like the Three Amigas.”
She nearly screamed.
Mio had never introduced Hanaka and Kanbara. But he knew her name. The day he’d waited for Mio at the front gate of the school, he would have seen every student who walked past before she came by. That included Hanaka, who’d rushed out of the school before Mio and Saho.
“Here it is.”
Hanaka’s mother pulled a long, narrow piece of paper from her bag. Upon reading it, Mio opened her mouth in a silent scream, and she shut her eyes.
I’m with Kanbara-senpai, a senior at school. Don’t worry about me.
It was Saho who cried, “Whaaat?!”
When Mio opened her eyes again, she saw Saho was so rattled and flustered by this that she didn’t know whether to look at Mio, Hanaka’s mother, or Mr. Minamino. It was almost sad. She was clearly most worried for Mio. Saho stared pleadingly, her question unspoken but obvious.
“What does it mean? What does it mean?” Hanaka’s mother begged.
“Kanbara the third-year isn’t here yet. I called his house, but nobody answered. Harano, you’re on the track team with him, right? Have you heard anything?”
“…I don’t know,” she replied hoarsely. Saho eyed her with pity. “I didn’t call or text Hanaka yesterday. The last time I saw her was when we said good-bye after school.”
“Same for me,” Saho added, shaking her head.
Hanaka’s mother lifted her head and looked at both girls. “Is this older boy going out with her?”
Saho took a short, sharp breath. She glanced at her friend for help, but Mio avoided looking back, focusing on Hanaka’s mother. Ultimately, Saho shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
It was doubtful Kanbara would ever show up at school again.
Mio might never see him again. It was devastatingly clear to her. Not on any logical basis; she just knew. After the sight of him writhing in agony yesterday, she knew.
It’s my fault.
Shiraishi had saved her, that much was certain. Kanbara had given up on Mio. But what if more than one girl had been taken in by his charm and lured under his sway?
So soon?
Hanaka had switched to the ponytail only recently. Had it been enough time for her to get close with him? Mio sighed.
It wasn’t about time.