Chapter 9

“She said she’d abducted Haruru a little while ago. It looks like they’re planning to give her to someone else at a rest stop on the highway.” “Then we need to hurry and contact Ms. Koyomi!” “Yeah, let’s go— H-huh? The door to the music room is locked?!” Apparently, Hachisu had never intended to let us leave the room. It might have been a trap, but the door to the music room was tightly sealed. We couldn’t escape through the window, either, since we were on the top floor. What now…? “Are you two all right?!” To our amazement, the door to the hallway was broken down with tremendous force. It was Ms. Koyomi, who’d been looking for us. “Ms. Koyomi! Fuyuko and I are fine, but Haruru is…!” Ms. Koyomi entered the music room and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Hachisu was unconscious. She secured Hachisu’s wrists with specially designed handcuffs, then smiled gently at us. “Don’t worry about her; she’s fine. While you two were fighting Hachisu, I made sure to rescue your friend.” “Huh?! B-but they drove Haruru away…” “I know. When she was dragged into a car outside the school, a nearby high school boy happened to get involved. Apparently, he wound up helping her.” “A high school boy…?” “He left without introducing himself, but thanks to him, Haruru was fine when I found her. She’s safe now. Right?” Ms. Koyomi asked, facing the hallway. Our precious friend, our spring in the Autumnless Trio, Haruru Agarie, was standing there. “Haruru!” Fuyuko and I opened our arms and waited for Haruru to jump into them. But instead of coming into the room, she stood there without moving. “I’m sorry, guys.” Why was she apologizing? Why did she look so upset? Why was she about to cry? “It’s my fault you two got caught up in this. It had nothing to do with you… And it wasn’t even just you two. I caused trouble for the other students, too, and even Ms. Koyomi.” She looked more heartbroken than I’d ever seen her. Fuyuko and I couldn’t move, either. “They said my blood was different from normal people’s. Hachisu told me. She said that a freak like me shouldn’t be able to have a normal time in high school. That’s why I can’t be with you two anymo—” “Don’t act like we’re dumb!” I shouted at Haruru as she tried to reject us. “There’s nothing wrong with you! So what if you have blood that’s a little different? We’re not going to stop being friends…just because of that, are we?” Her cute smile. Her innocent, mischievous heart that sometimes showed itself. Her sexy, voluptuous body. Her charming voice. The happiness on her face when she talked about her favorite anime and manga. Her bliss when she enjoyed sweet snacks. Even if her blood and palate were a little different than most people’s, all those things made her who she was—a normal high school girl named Haruru Agarie! “That’s why I— That’s why we love you, Haruru. We want to stay with you forever. Tomorrow, and the day after, and when we grow up, and when we get old… Always, always!” I wanted to stay friends forever. Stay friends with me, Haruru. I’ve always wanted to live out a normal high school life, and I want to do it with you. “Nagisa.” Fuyuko took my hand after I finished shouting. As I felt her warmth, we broke into a run together. “…Ah!” We stood there, at the boundary between us and our beloved friend. Then we threw our arms around her and hugged her tightly again and again. “I love you, Haruru. I’d never be okay without you.” “I love you, too, Haruru. I love you because you’re you.” As Haruru took in our words, her hands slowly came up to circle around our backs. She hugged us hard enough to hurt, but it was a good pain. “I…I love you guys, too. I don’t want to be away from you. I want to be together forever…!” I held her with all my strength, putting all my love into it. Then our normal friend started to fill in our future schedule. “For summer vacation, I want to buy new swimsuits and go to the beach or pool together!” “Sure. I’ll give you the cutest swimsuit as a gift.” “And for the culture festival, I want the three of us to run a maid café with cute costumes.” “Leave it to me. I’ll work all night and make us three maid outfits so we can have a trio look.” “On our field trip, I want to sneak out of the hotel at night and talk on the beach by the sea.” “I want to set off fireworks, too, even if it means the teacher catches us and yells at us.” “For Christmas, I want to have a sad girls’ takoyaki party.” “If Santa doesn’t come, I promise to give you happiness on Christmas Eve.” “For our graduation ceremony, I want to go out to eat together and scribble in each other’s photo books.” “Sure. We’ll eat yakiniku and look back on our youth while wearing our uniforms one last time.” “Are you really going to make all my selfish dreams come true…?” she asked in a shaking voice, her face drenched in tears and snot. Fuyuko and I answered her with the obvious, “You dummy. Of course we are. The three of us are going to do everything together.” “Yeah, you’re really dumb. We’re going to be best friends till the day we die.” Haruru kept crying. “That’s so, so unfair. You’re being so nice; I’m only going to love you guys more. Nagi, Fuyu…we’ll be friends forever…!” I was crying too, and Fuyuko was sniffling next to me. We showed each other our matching tearstained faces, and we just hugged each other for a while. But the end had to come, even for a youthful day like today. “Well, everyone, it’s long past time for all of us to go home, so please slip out the window of the nurse’s office. I’ll tidy up afterward. Heh-heh.” Heeding Ms. Koyomi’s words, we walked back through the school building at night, holding hands. Three girls walking in a row might have been a nuisance to other students, but… …I hoped that, for just this moment, we could get away with it. Because we were living our best lives as high school girls. “Hey, how about we go to a diner after this? I’m hungry and want to eat a mountain of fries! And hamburgers! And a parfait to finish with!” “Nagisa’s a big eater for someone so thin.” “Well, I am a proxy detective. I use my brain a lot, so my three great desires are stronger than most people’s.” “Whoa?! That means the other two, sleep and se—” “Shut up, Haruru. To be precise, I’m just a big eater and big sleeper!” “A diner would be nice, but how about going for karaoke after we eat, just the three of us?” “Ooh! That would be the best, Fuyu! I want to sing a song I learned the other day, the sapphire one! Do you two know it?” “Huh? I don’t know any sapphire songs.” “It’s the number one song on both streaming and download! Isn’t that crazy?!” “Nagisa’s out of touch. She’ll have no friends if she keeps going on like this.” “I—I will not! Besides, if I do…I—I have you guys.” “Nagisa, you’re so cute!” “Nagi’s the cutest!” “Ah, whatever! Shut up! Hurry up and go home!” The three of us could enjoy anything and go anywhere. With the three of us together, even the school building at night was a great place to chat. I felt like our youth would continue for a long time to come. Even once we graduate high school and go to university, and then when we become adults—always. But for just a little longer, I—we— —wanted to be high school girls!