When I woke up in the morning, I hadn’t received a reply from Eriko yet. I had been lying in bed, waiting while lazing around until the date changed. But as soon as the date changed, I suddenly felt sleepy and realized it was morning. The lights were still on. If my mom found out, she would scold me.
What should I do about my homework? Oh well, never mind, I’ll ask someone to help me copy it before class. I checked my phone again. The last message I sent to Eriko was still unread. I had a sense of unease.
Eriko wasn’t the type to ignore messages. Usually, she would reply right away.
Maybe her phone’s notification settings are messed up… That must be it. Eriko probably hasn’t realized. Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. I should be able to see her at school.
I left home without having breakfast, telling my mom that I had an assignment I had to do.
The usual route to school felt unusually long today. I wanted to go to school quickly, but I couldn’t seem to get there. Even though it wasn’t guaranteed that Eriko would be there even if I arrived early, I couldn’t help but want to go as soon as possible. Even the beautifully clear blue sky felt unpleasant today.
The scenery around me seemed to pass by faster than before. Before I knew it, I found myself running towards school.
I arrived at the classroom, but Eriko hadn’t come yet.
I waited for Eriko to arrive in the classroom, but she didn’t show up. As time passed, I started feeling more and more irritated, thinking, “Why isn’t she coming early?”
In the end, Eriko didn’t come even when it was time for homeroom to start. This had never happened before. Something was off. I had a growing sense of unease.
The classroom door opened, and I thought it was Eriko, but it was our homeroom teacher, Yamashita, who came in with a serious expression. The moment I saw his face, I felt a chill down my spine.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, I didn’t want to hear what Yamashita was about to say. I had a feeling that I shouldn’t listen to it.
Despite my thoughts, Yamashita opened his mouth to speak.
“Good morning, everyone. Today, I have some sad news to share. Tomita passed away yesterday. It seems it was due to a traffic accident.”
I felt like I was hit hard from behind and my mind went blank.
“Listen, listen! If walking while using your phone is bad, you can just stop walking, right? Aren’t I so smart for realizing that?” This was the message I received from Eriko yesterday. What was that about? A traffic accident? Why? She definitely didn’t walk and use her phone. But somehow, I understood. Eriko was killed by the Patrolman.
It must be true. I couldn’t think of any other possibility. My intuition is never wrong. But then why was Eriko killed?
Yuri-chan senpai said that if the patrolman’s story is true, it’s okay as long as you tell it to two or more people within a week. That means she should have been safe for a week. But Eriko was still killed. Does that mean the information I heard was wrong?
So, how much of this story is actually true? Was it already too late when I heard it? If it was already too late when I heard it, then why am I still alive while Eriko was killed? Why was Eriko killed in the first place?
Was it because I told Eriko about the Patrolman’s story?
It’s because I told Eriko. It’s because I told her about the Patrolman’s story that she was killed. The reason Eriko was killed is because of me. I killed Eriko. I killed her. I killed her. I killed her. I… I…
Unbeknownst to me, I lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a white ceiling. Where was it again? This ceiling. I was lying on a bed, and I could see white curtains around it. Oh, it’s the infirmary. I felt relieved being in a familiar place.
“Oh, you’re awake? Sasaki-san, are you feeling calmer now?”
As I sat up, Ms. Satonaka, the young and cute female nurse from the infirmary, peeked through the gap in the curtains. She was a very approachable and popular woman among both boys and girls. Eriko and I both liked her a lot.
The moment I saw Ms. Satonaka’s face, something inside me snapped. Tears overflowed one after another without my intention. Ms. Satonaka silently sat on the bed and gently stroked my head.
I cried so much that I thought I might run out of tears in my body. After finally calming down, I told Ms. Satonaka about the events of yesterday. She listened silently until I finished talking.
“It’s okay, Sasaki-san, you haven’t done anything wrong. There’s no need for you to worry,” Ms. Satonaka said with a gentle yet firm expression after I finished talking.
“But, but…”
“No ‘buts.’”
Ms. Satonaka looked at me with an unwavering gaze. I couldn’t say anything and lowered my head.
“Sasaki-san.”
“Yes?”
Startled by her calling my name, I lifted my face. I wondered what she was going to say, and felt a little anxious, but Ms. Satonaka was looking at me with a cute smile.
“Would you like to talk with me at a leisurely pace?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Thank you. Before we start our conversation, would you like something to drink?”
“…Huh?” I was surprised again by Ms. Satonaka’s sudden suggestion. She was smiling mischievously.
“If you keep talking in that voice, your throat will hurt,” she said.
“Huh?” After crying a lot and talking a lot, I realized that my voice had become quite hoarse.
“I’m thinking of getting something from the vending machine on the first floor. How about you, Sasaki-san? What do you want? I’m going to get milk tea,” she said.
“Oh, no, I can buy it myself. But my wallet is in the classroom…”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. But let’s keep it a secret from everyone else,” she said with a giggle, putting her index finger in front of her lips. Seeing her face, I felt the tension in me loosen.
“Then, I’ll have lemon tea.”
“Got it. Just wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back,” Ms. Satonaka said.
“Yes.”
After watching Ms. Satonaka leave the infirmary, I lay down on the bed. Various emotions were swirling in my head. But I felt like I could sort things out a bit if I talked to her.
For now, I didn’t have a bad feeling. I thought this place was safe. I gently closed my eyes.
“Friends should be cherished,”
Suddenly, I heard Ms. Satonaka’s voice right beside me. I was taken aback and opened my eyes to see her serious face right in front of me. She had just gone outside, I thought to myself. But before I could say anything, Ms. Satonaka grabbed my neck tightly with both hands.
I struggled desperately to free myself from her grip. When I looked at her face, her eyes were wide open and it was clear that something was off. Besides, I didn’t hear the sound of the infirmary door opening after Ms. Satonaka had left.
I hesitated for a moment, but then I kicked Ms. Satonaka’s stomach with all my might and managed to break free from her grip.
“Friends should be cherished,” Ms. Satonaka said, taking a few steps back after being kicked by me. She didn’t show any signs of pain and said that to me.
No, this isn’t Ms. Satonaka. I intuitively understood that, and I dashed out of the infirmary.
This person is definitely dangerous. I have to run or else I’ll be killed. I had no concrete evidence, but I was sure. For now, I decided to run down the hallway and head to the staff room closest to the infirmary.
I walked straight down the hallway from the infirmary to the staff room. There were a few conference rooms and counseling rooms along the way, but the distance wasn’t that far.
I reached the staff room and swung open the door with force. I was about to enter, thinking that anyone would do as long as they could help me, when I realized that there was no one inside the staff room.
Why now…
I clenched my lips and left the door wide open as I headed towards the stairs. The real Ms. Satonaka should be by the vending machine, so if I could just make it there, I might be saved.
As I ran down the hallway and approached the stairs, my phone in my pocket started vibrating. It was like a phone call, and it kept vibrating even when I ignored it.
Who could it be at a time like this? They’re not very considerate. The incessant vibrating of the phone was annoying.
When I reached the landing of the stairs, I shoved my hand into the pocket where my phone was. And that’s when it happened.
“I told you, using your phone while walking is dangerous.”
I heard a voice close to my ear. It was a low, unfamiliar man’s voice. As I tried to look in the direction of the voice in a panic, a strong force collided with my body.
I didn’t understand what was happening. But before I knew it, my body was floating in mid-air. Well, to be precise, I wasn’t floating, but rather I was being thrown from the landing towards the stairs. And just as expected, I tumbled down headfirst.
The first person to discover me was Nurse Satonaka from the infirmary. She had gone to the first-floor vending machine to buy a drink and was returning when she heard a loud noise as if something had fallen from a height.
She rushed to see what had happened, and there I was, lying on the floor of the infirmary, bleeding from my head.
The screams of the female teachers echoed throughout the school building.
Naomi, who had been carried into the hospital, had narrowly survived, but her condition was severe. Even after a week had passed since she was brought in, she had not regained consciousness.
There were several puzzling things about this incident.
First, just before Nurse Satonaka’s screams echoed through the halls, there were several teachers in the staff room. Each of them was in the middle of preparing for their next class or handling administrative tasks when suddenly the staff room door was forcefully flung open. To their surprise, Naomi stood there, looking pale and frightened.
The teacher who was closest to the door tried to speak to Naomi with concern, but she just looked disappointed and ran away, avoiding eye contact with the staff room.
The second puzzling thing was Naomi’s smartphone. The smartphone that Naomi had been gripping tightly as she fell down the stairs was ringing. One of the teachers who had gathered after hearing Nurse Satonaka’s scream noticed that the display showed Naomi’s own name, “Naomi Sasaki,” as the incoming call. It was baffling as to why her own name was displayed on the phone during such a critical moment.
And the third thing. When the teacher who had rushed to the scene of the accident confirmed that Naomi was still breathing, they heard a voice from the landing of the stairs. It was a low and eerie voice of a man, and the voice said this:
“I wanted to make it easy for you.”
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