For the time being, she decided she would deliver the clothes to Shoma at the hospital, then quietly try to arrange a meeting with this Masako girl. He didn’t need to know about it.
She sent a message to her mother, informing her that she was going to visit Himari in the hospital and would be home later than usual. Her mother still had no idea that the Takakura kids had any connection to the bombing sixteen years ago. She was generally a patient, forgiving woman, but if she found out, she might just forbid Ringo from ever associating with them again. Naturally, Ringo would disobey this order. Thus, it was better not to tell her in the first place.
Ringo didn’t want to upset her mother. She cared a lot about their relationship—they only had each other now, after all. But she knew she would have to come clean about her dear friends eventually…and about the boy she loved. She would have to tell her mother about what sort of people they were, and what effect they had on her, and how they helped her mature as a person.
Then her phone started ringing on the coffee table where she’d left it. Thinking it might be Shoma, she ran over and answered it.
“Hello? Shoma-kun?” she blurted. There was a pause.
“I have the other half of the diary, Oginome-san.”
Ringo recognized the voice as Kanba’s.
“Kanba-kun?! Where are you? You have the diary?!”
She remembered both he and Shoma were looking for it at one point, but she figured he would be with Himari by now. Didn’t he know she was in critical condition?
“Actually, you know, Himari-chan got taken to the hospital—”
“With our powers combined, we can save her,” he cut in.
“Have you been looking for the diary all this time?”
Stricken with fear, she pulled out her half of the diary and hugged it to her chest. Had he stolen the other half from Natsume Masako?
“Yes, and I finally got my hands on it. Now the diary is complete,” he declared. “But I need to stay where I am. They’re after me.”
“They? Where exactly are you, Kanba-kun?”
She heard him hold his breath.
“Let’s meet up and complete the diary. I promise, I’ll meet you there.”
Ringo nodded without hesitation.
At night, the district of Ikebukuro was still swarmed with people, but the Sunshiny International Aquarium had long since closed for the day. The building was deserted; no one was at the ticket counter, and no one was lined up to enter. The surrounding area was dark, and the signposts were hard to make out.
Timidly, Ringo slipped inside. The carpeted floor muffled her footsteps as she moved from room to room, the glowing blue tanks her only guide. Here in the silent aquarium, the schools of fish paid her no mind, swimming or sleeping as they saw fit. As the contortions of the thick glass threatened to make her sick to her stomach, she steadily grew more and more cautious of her surroundings.
She didn’t think Kanba would try anything funny; at the very least, he wouldn’t do anything that would have a negative impact on Himari. But Ringo still had questions. Even if he and Shoma were technically estranged at the moment, why wouldn’t he call his brother to tell him about the diary? And when he said “they’re after me,” was he talking about the remnants of the organization, like that tabloid journalist mentioned?
“Kanba-kun, where are you?”
It was a spacious building, and yet the darkness seemed to absorb her voice without letting it echo. No matter where she looked, all she could see was fish.
Then a voice suddenly spoke from above: “Oginome-san.”
“Kanba-kun?” She froze, listening intently.
“Did you bring your half of the diary?”
For a moment, her gut instinct was to stay quiet. But Ringo had no reason to come all the way here empty-handed.
“Yeah, it’s right here.” In her arms was a bag containing just the half-diary.
“Thank you. Now come over here.”
“Where?”
“Ahead of you, at the plaza.”
Clutching her phone in one hand just in case, Ringo slowly walked in the direction of the plaza indicated to her by the signposts. Moments prior the fish had seemed creepy, but now she found she was scared to part from them.
“Kanba-kun, Himari-chan’s waiting for us at the hospital. We need to go.”
“Don’t worry. Tomorrow, Himari and I will board the same train from sixteen years ago. We’ll go to a new world where she can be saved.”
“A new world? You mean, using the spell? Tell me, Kanba-kun, how much do you know about transferring fates? Did you get your half from that girl named Natsume-san?”
When did he learn about it, and how long was he acting on this knowledge? If he was actually being pursued, then he would naturally be looking for a place to hide. So why was he taking his sweet time?
Just then, two small, gleaming scarlet eyes caught Ringo’s attention. Swallowing, she walked over and crouched down to investigate. There, she found a black teddy bear.
“What is this thing? Kanba-kun, where are you?” she called out, rising to her feet.
“Thank you, Oginome-san.”
His voice was soft, but a lot closer than she was expecting. She flinched in surprise.
“Kanba-kun, how did you know that Yuri-san gave me back her half of the diary? I hadn’t told anyone yet. And how did you know about the spell?”
“I heard about it from a friend,” Kanba replied calmly, without hesitation.
“Who?”
She whirled around, away from the teddy bear. Standing there in the darkness was a tall man with glowing white skin and eyes as deep as the ocean. His long, silky-looking hair added a hint of pink to the blue light of the aquarium.
“Where’s Kanba-kun?” Ringo asked.