The next day, I made up my mind to leave class before Tanaka said anything.
I wasn’t heading home, though. Kurumi and I had a strategy session planned.
I moved my desk and chair, then joined the flood of students heading to practice or clubs. Fortunately, Tanaka was talking to the other girls and didn’t notice.
Out in the hall, other classes were already preparing their shops. Everyone was smiling, like this was the one thing they had to look forward to.
I made my way down the third-floor hall and around the first years’ building. I chose a path that would take me by the fewest people.
Saigou High didn’t allow clubs to put up exhibits. Everyone was focused on helping out their classmates, so the old club annex was extra quiet.
The hallway seemed darker than usual as I headed all the way to the back. I found the same metal plate by the door as always, covered up with that paper sign reading “Stargazing Club” in magic marker.
The door rattled as I stepped inside. Was it always that stiff?
“…Oh. Hey there, Natsume.” Kurumi was seated at the table, in full revenge mode. She looked up and nodded at me. “Heh-heh! Glad you decided to show.”
“What do you mean? When have I ever no-showed?”
“Come on. You are totally the sort of cad who’d stand a girl up.”
“Am not. What do you take me for?”
“That would be telling.” She flashed me a teasing grin and giggled.
I rolled my eyes, sighing.
This was typical banter for us, but it dried up faster than usual today, and I took a seat.
“Time to strategize,” Kurumi said, putting on a serious expression.
“Yeah. Let’s get to it.”
Kurumi started digging through her bookbag. Instead of her usual notebook, however, she pulled out a thin laptop and a set of twenty CD-Rs. Our goal for today was to make the Insult CD. She’d come prepared.
I took out my phone and a USB cable and placed them on the table.
“I bought some blank CDs yesterday,” she said.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Oh. Ha-ha-ha. That’s right! You saw me there.” Kurumi smiled like she was trying to cover a slipup.
Right, I’d planned to ask about that before we got to work.
“So, Kurumi, you know Tanaka?”
“…Um, well, yeah. I guess.”
Hmm. This is like pulling teeth.
As she tore the wrapper off a CD-R, Kurumi glanced up at me hesitantly. “Uh…did she say anything about me?”
“About you? Nope. She didn’t say a thing. We headed straight back to school after that.”
“Ha-ha… Well, good. Let’s keep it that way.”
She averted her gaze. The mystery had only gotten deeper, but the look on her face made it clear she didn’t want me digging any further, so I dropped the matter. Does it have anything to do with her decision to quit school? I guess I probably shouldn’t speculate.
“Well, let’s start editing!” Kurumi lifted the laptop’s lid and turned it on.
I did my bit by putting the fat end of the USB cable into the computer and the thin end into my phone. After a moment, I got a notification asking if I wanted to trust this device. I tapped “okay” and put down my phone.
“How do we turn the recording into a CD?” I asked.
“First, we sync the phone and the computer and copy over the data. Then I’ll use some free software to read the file. After some quick audio editing, we’ll balance out the volume levels and then write it to the disc.”
“So you don’t just copy the file, huh? You sure did your homework.”
“Yeah, I read up on it yesterday.”
This didn’t seem like something you could learn from a few internet searches. But Kurumi was bright like that.
While I was busy being impressed, Kurumi started going back and forth between the phone and the laptop.
“…That should do it,” she said at last. “Thanks for letting me borrow your phone. The data’s all synced up.”
“So I’m good to disconnect?”
“Yep. Go right ahead. I’ve got everything copied over. Now I just have to cut and paste—that is, choose which insults to put on the CD. Let me try a few configurations. Then we’ll give them a listen together.”
She stared at the screen intently as she worked the touch pad.
There was a burst of white noise. I held my breath and leaned in—and immediately regretted it when a man’s voice exploded in my ear.
“Do you want me to kill you?!”
The noise stopped. Kurumi was scowling. She’d pressed pause.
“…What a piece of garbage. You okay, Natsume?”
“Mm, I’m fine. It just…surprised me a little.”
“The volume’s way too high. I’ll lower it while we do the editing.”
She tapped away at the laptop, and the audio began again. This time the white noise wasn’t even audible.
“Do you want me to kill you?!”
“…Sorry.”
“You can’t even solve this easy problem?! I just taught you this yesterday! How is that possible? Why do you even come to school? You’d be better off dead.”
Better off dead. That’s right. It’s all coming back to me.
This recording came from math class. A classmate had been ordered to solve a problem on the blackboard and had failed; the teacher had lost his mind. It must have happened around the end of April.
“This is ridiculous. You’re dragging the whole class down!”
“…I know. Sorry.”
“If you’re not even gonna try, just go home. I don’t need a useless lump like you in my class!”
“Um, Natsume, what’s that noise in the background?”
“Oh, the teacher picked up the pile of turned-in homework and threw it on the floor.”
“Yiiikes. I can totally see that happening, though…”