Ch.213Epilogue. Training Camp (7)

I was an adult mentally, but the feeling of sleeping late and waking up late the next day always felt good.

It was something I rarely experienced after losing my entire family, but before that, when my life was still rolling along normally, things were different. Occasionally when I managed to take time off, I would stay up incredibly late for no particular reason.

What I did was mostly the same. Watching currently popular anime, binge-reading manga or novels, or playing games I had bought but hadn’t gotten around to.

When I thought I wouldn’t be called anywhere the next day, my mind would feel strangely at ease, and I would glance at the clock while staying awake until what could be called dawn, until finally succumbing to sleep, then bolting upright at a late hour, checking the calendar, and feeling relieved.

I suppose since office workers don’t have the concept of vacation breaks, spending a few days like that was itself a kind of deviation from routine.

Still, sleeping too late felt like a waste of time.

The vacation still had a long way to go. I could stay up late and wake up late the next day to my heart’s content. The day before coming here, I had woken up after 10 AM to the sound of Kagami cooking.

Since our schedule here was for two nights and three days, I felt it would be too much to waste an entire day. If I woke up too late, it would be just like yesterday when we arrived on the island.

As I rubbed my eyes and groaned, trying to get up, I realized my body felt a bit heavy.

It wasn’t just a feeling of heaviness. Something was actually weighing down on my body.

“…Ugh.”

I stretched both arms forward and barely managed to crawl out from under those bodies by pulling myself along.

“…”

The culprits were none other than Yuka and Koko.

It seems we all slept in one room.

How did it end up like this?

At least I wasn’t the last person to fall asleep.

First, right.

We had grilled meat.

Outside the building, there was a barbecue party setup. I was a bit concerned about disturbing the neighbors, but as it turned out, several buildings nearby were rental properties like ours, so we didn’t really need to worry about being considerate.

Plus, our building was positioned a bit forward, closer to the beach.

We took out the meat we had put in the refrigerator while unpacking and grilled an enormous amount. I don’t think anyone had considered how much we’d bought. There was beef, pork… everyone was so excited about eating that no one paid attention to which cuts they were.

It was just delicious.

When I grilled meat for Koko, Yuka and Yuu, who were next to me, grilled meat for me. Koko gave the meat she grilled to Tsuneda, and Tsuneda practiced grilling meat awkwardly with Shii.

Kaoru and Harumi, who had become quite close during the last semester, had their arms around each other’s shoulders, laughing happily about something. Izumi and Mako smiled watching those two.

How should I put it? It was like a scene from a painting. So vivid that I could remember it clearly even now, after one night.

Right. We took lots of pictures too.

I brought a bright lens since I thought we’d be taking pictures at night too. With the large camera around my neck, the kids found it fascinating and automatically made V signs for me.

Not just Harumi and Kaoru, but even Tsuneda and Shii.

I got up and carefully walked on tiptoe to avoid stepping on the kids sprawled out everywhere.

Fortunately, the door was a sliding door, so there was no risk of not being able to open it or, conversely, of the kids spilling out when I opened it.

“Mmnya.”

…They didn’t spill out, but an arm did stick out.

It was Kaoru’s arm, as she tossed and turned right next to the door, sticking out of the room.

Well, closing it again would be impossible.

Fortunately, the temperature outside the room wasn’t much different from inside. Actually, it was a bit warmer inside. The air conditioner, which had gone into sleep mode, was blowing slightly less cool air.

Perhaps because I had concentrated so hard on leaving the room, by the time I reached the living room, I was fairly awake.

I considered washing up right away, but then my eyes fell on the camera. It was on the living room table.

So I left it here.

Does that mean I didn’t take pictures in the room? I think that’s right. There was no need to bring the camera when going to bed.

I could use my phone to take pictures if needed.

I approached the table, picked up the camera, and sank deeply into the sofa.

Then I carefully looked through the pictures I had taken yesterday.

Ah, right. After eating meat, we had fireworks.

It wasn’t the kind of fireworks you shoot into the air, but you know, the kind of home fireworks that often appear in anime. That’s what we did.

Things like sticks that spark and crackle when you light them and hold them, or sparklers that look like threads and drop sparks if you don’t concentrate.

Even though they weren’t particularly spectacular fireworks, we kept repeating “pretty, pretty” as we took in the sparkles.

“Heh.”

I couldn’t help but make an awkward sound as I flipped through the photos.

It was a picture of Koko holding a sparkler in each hand, smiling brightly. Even though it was dark, her face was illuminated by the light of the fireworks.

Because of the light creating a soft orange gradient centered on her face, the photo had a somewhat dreamlike quality.

Yet it also had a vitality that made you almost hear a “Wow!” sound effect. This was probably the best photo I took yesterday.

I moved to the next photo.

Somehow we had moved inside to the living room.

Even after eating all that meat, we ate more. Well, they say dessert goes to a separate stomach, don’t they? Everyone was at an age where they’re still growing. After eating dinner and playing hard, you get hungry again quickly.

We opened the snacks each of us had brought and ate while chatting about various things.

Surprisingly, amid all the conversation, there was no talk of boyfriends at all. We lamented the fact that among so many beautiful girls, not one of us had a boyfriend.

Tsuneda at least had a boy she was interested in, and Shii was completely infatuated with her brother, but the rest of us didn’t even have a boy we were interested in.

We turned on the TV and watched a movie that happened to be playing. It was a clichéd romance movie. We all tore at our hair and shouted “Again?!” several times as the male and female leads kept almost kissing but stubbornly refused to do so.

In truth, Koko knew almost nothing about romance, so she was just following along with our shouting. She probably just found it fun.

By the time I had viewed almost all the photos taken in the living room, I remembered why we had ended up sleeping all tangled together.

“…Looks like no one went upstairs after all.”

I muttered with a small, hollow laugh.

That’s right.

The rooms were divided into two. Upstairs had two double beds. And downstairs had a bedroom without beds.

Naturally, the bedroom without beds was where we laid out futons to sleep. It was a space where about five people could sleep comfortably. That was only possible because we were high school girls; if we had been bulky high school boys, five would have been a tight fit.

We changed into the pajamas we had brought and gathered in the downstairs bedroom.

It was a space where we could all be together, albeit cramped, if we sat rather than lay down. Izumi, Kaoru, Mako, and Harumi were supposed to go upstairs to sleep.

At first, we sat and talked, but gradually everyone started lying down. Even the most energetic high school girls start getting sleepy after midnight.

Some leaned on the shoulders of the person next to them, and some even used others’ knees as pillows. I think I leaned against Yuka, and Koko leaned against me.

And we fell asleep just like that.

“…”

So that’s what happened.

Of course, when ten high school girls fall asleep in a room like that, they naturally end up piled on top of each other.

I couldn’t help but smile a little at the absurdity of it all as I continued flipping through the photos on the camera, until I came to the last one.

“…Huh?”

I muttered to myself.

Since I had shot with the lens hood firmly attached, there weren’t many lens flares. Besides, we were indoors. Unless you’re shooting directly at a fluorescent light, lens flares don’t typically appear.

The camera was pointing toward the window.

Behind Koko, who was smiling brightly at the camera making V signs with both hands, there was something slightly hazy.

“…”

I stared intently at that hazy thing.

It didn’t seem to be right behind the window.

Orienting the house by the cardinal directions, the entrance faced south. Entering through the front door and turning left brought you directly to the living room, with windows naturally facing south and west.

The south-facing windows were for sunlight, and the west-facing ones were for viewing the sea.

Koko was sitting by the south-facing window.

The closest visible thing was obviously the road. The house across the street was also visible, and up to that point everything was perfectly normal.

But behind that. The focus was on Koko’s face, so the area where that hazy thing was located was barely visible. Due to the contrast between the indoor and outdoor brightness, it appeared almost black.

But it didn’t seem to be floating in the air.

I turned my body to look at the angle from which the photo had been taken.

It was bright daylight outside, so the composition was fairly comparable to what was in the camera.

The place where that hazy light had been was the mountain.

…Wasn’t that abandoned house supposed to be on the mountain?

I quickly turned off the camera and put it down on the table.

Then I got up and went to the shower.

I tried to splash cold water on my head to wake myself up completely and, if possible, to wash away what I had just been thinking about.

Even while doing so, I tried my best not to close my eyes.

Afraid that if I did, strange thoughts might come to mind.

*

Thankfully, while we were playing, those thoughts didn’t really come up.

Especially when we were playing in the sea.

Moving through water requires quite a lot of energy. Naturally, there’s no room for other thoughts.

Yuka kept targeting me and charging at me, and once I was caught, I would chase after her, trying to flip her over.

Still, there was a kind of family bond, I suppose. Yuu would occasionally stand by my side and take my part.

“Two against one is unfair!”

Yuka shouted that, but she still looked quite happy.

“Woah!”

And then Koko, who had emerged from behind Yuka, hugged her and they both sank gurgling into the water.

“Puha!”

Yuka quickly stood up and took a breath.

The way her ponytail, wet from the water, flipped over looked a bit like something from a soda commercial. Especially the scene where water splashed in a circular pattern.

Yuka was wearing a sports bikini. Thanks to her streamlined figure, it suited her extremely well.

Compared to when I first met her, Yuka was smiling so brightly it was hard to imagine. As if she had put down all the burdens she had been carrying on her shoulders.

Am I smiling like that too?

“You let your guard down!”

While I was absentmindedly looking at Yuka, she charged at me.

“Wuak!?”

I could only let out that single cry before gurgling down into the sea.

*

Even after all that water play, the kids were still full of energy.

Actually, not all of them were.

Tsuneda and Shii seemed to have less stamina than kids like Harumi, Yuka, or Kaoru, as they came out of the water after playing for a while and started playing with the sand.

They weren’t just digging like little children; they were building quite a serious sandcastle.

“Wow!”

Koko, who had been showing interest in their play, sparkled her eyes at the impressive sandcastle they had built. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to want to destroy it, just crouched down beside them to watch.

Izumi also seemed to want to come over, but she was dragged away by Kaoru.

“Koko, Koko!”

Yuka called out, waving her hand widely in our direction.

“Let’s play beach volleyball!”

“Woo?”

Koko tilted her head as if she didn’t know what beach volleyball was, but when she saw Yuka holding up the ball, she made an “Ah!” sound, jumped up from her seat, and ran over.

“Are you okay, senior?”

“I just said I wanted to rest a bit.”

I replied to Shii’s question, stretching my legs out on the sand as I sat down.

Over there, teams were already forming. Kaoru had really prepared well, as there was already a net set up in the middle.

Kaoru, Harumi, and Mako were one team.

And Yuka, Yuu, and Koko were the other team.

Very fortunately, Izumi wasn’t on a team but seemed to have been called to be the referee. The relief on Izumi’s face was obvious even from here.

The game was quite intense. Perhaps because both sides were full of energy, the power behind the ball was considerable.

At first glance, Mako might not seem like someone who could exert much strength, but recalling how she had delivered punches during that brawl last year, her athletic ability wasn’t entirely lacking. And while Yuu wasn’t someone who normally enjoyed sports, she seemed to have inherited some energy from her father’s side.

As for Koko, well, she was overflowing with vitality, no need to mention.

The sight of the girls playing was a work of art in itself.

“Wa-watermelon splitting.”

“Huh?”

While I was absentmindedly watching that moving artwork, a cautious voice came from beside me.

“A little later, would you like to do watermelon splitting?”

It was Tsuneda speaking.

“Watermelon splitting?”

Ah, come to think of it, there was one in the refrigerator. Could it be that Tsuneda brought it?

Since we hadn’t gone shopping separately after arriving here, I naturally thought someone had brought it. I was 100% sure it was Kaoru.

“Oh, is it not okay?”

“No, it’s fine.”

I said with a smile.

“But did you bring the watermelon?”

At my question, Tsuneda’s face turned red. Is she a bit embarrassed?

Twisting her body awkwardly,

“I-I also brought the stick…”

She confessed as if admitting to a crime.

I can see why Koko finds Tsuneda cute.

Well, Tsuneda’s luggage was unusually plentiful.

Perhaps she had many things she wanted to do and brought a lot of items.

Kaoru and Izumi had also brought fireworks, but Tsuneda had some too.

She really came to make the most of her school days.

That’s an admirable mindset.

“Alright. Then let’s go get it while everyone is playing.”

“Yes!”

Tsuneda and Shii stood up together.

The sandcastle they had built stood proudly, making the term “sandcastle” seem inadequate.

…I should bring the camera back too. It would be a shame not to record this.