Ch.214Epilogue. Training Camp (8)

I was taking pictures of the sandcastle when suddenly even the kids who were playing ball came running over, making V-signs in front of the camera.

A group of pretty girls striking poses in front of a well-made sandcastle, spreading out left and right. I’m glad I didn’t bring Souta here. That fortunate guy doesn’t need to see this kind of scene.

I wonder if he’s filming some kind of romantic comedy with his harem members right now. I just hope his house hasn’t been taken over by Hana and Nanami.

At least it’s good that Tsuneda is here with us.

“Kotone, come over quickly!”

While I was busy taking photos, Yuka waved at me.

Uh…

“I’ll take the picture for you!”

The person who came running out saying that was Koko.

I handed the camera to Koko and ran over to pose.

Click.

Only after the photo was taken did I realize—was there any point in Koko and I switching places? We look exactly the same anyway.

Well, our swimsuits are different.

Yuka chose a black one-piece swimsuit for Koko, but for some reason, she picked a bikini for me. It’s not extremely revealing, but it has lace on it which honestly makes me a bit embarrassed.

At least everyone around us is also wearing swimsuits, so I just go with it.

Right now, people can tell us apart in photos because they know what swimsuits we’re wearing, but after a few years and several more gatherings like this, those memories might start to fade.

Which one of us is Koko… Well, if you look closely at our expressions, you might be able to tell us apart—or maybe not. Though my expressions have become quite varied these days.

After Koko, Yuka took the camera and photographed Koko and me together. Then Mako’s trio crowded around me for pictures.

Izumi, Kaoru, Tsuneda, and Shii also took lots of photos.

Youth.

The time when blue sprouts emerge, the springtime of life.

Usually, these days never return, but I was fortunate enough to sprout new buds under this blue sky.

“Oh, right, there’s watermelon in the refrigerator. Who brought it?”

“Um, I did…”

“Ohhh, well done, junior!”

When Kaoru shouted, Tsuneda’s cheeks turned slightly red. Hehe, Tsuneda laughed with a slightly awkward sound.

“Can we do watermelon splitting? Somehow seeing the watermelon makes me feel like we should.”

“I-I brought it for that reason.”

“Well done, Junior Tsuneda! The future of the Literature Club looks bright!”

I guess having someone prepared in the club makes things easier in many ways.

Tsuneda’s preparedness seems to be of a slightly different kind, but whatever. The result was fun.

The watermelon splitting that Tsuneda was looking forward to was actually quite enjoyable.

It wasn’t a game where multiple people took turns, but rather one person was blindfolded and had to find and smash the watermelon with a bat while listening to directions from others. It created a small festival-like atmosphere.

Tsuneda, who had the most expectant expression, held the bat and eventually succeeded in breaking the watermelon.

I had wondered what we’d do with the smashed watermelon after seeing it in animations, but the conclusion was simply to eat it.

Since we had spread out a large mat, no sand got on it, but eating the contents while holding the unevenly broken watermelon rind gave me an odd feeling.

If I hadn’t seen so many human corpses, it probably would have felt less strange.

…I guess I don’t need to think about such things in this setting?

*

Lunchtime.

Yesterday, I hurriedly finished lunch so I could go out and play, but today I was more relaxed.

We had played hard all morning, so I was hungry and my body was a bit tired.

Since it gets excessively hot from noon until about one o’clock, we took our time eating and resting.

And somewhat surprisingly, Kaoru had brought a shaved ice machine.

It wasn’t a particularly large device, just a hand-cranked ice shaver. By the way, we had frozen plenty of ice in the refrigerator yesterday.

“Heave-ho!”

Kaoru energetically turned the shaved ice machine to grind the ice, and Izumi lightly drizzled syrup on top before distributing one to each person.

It wasn’t red bean shaved ice, just ice with different flavored syrups. Apparently it’s called “kakigori.”

The taste was, well, more like a less-melted slushie compared to the shaved ice I’ve had before. Still, the coolness made it perfect to eat under the air conditioning.

With a spoonful of ice covered in Blue Hawaii syrup in my mouth, I was checking the photos taken this morning when I scrolled back to the ones from last night.

And only then did I remember that I had taken something like a ghost photo.

“…”

A chill ran down my spine. Not the same kind of chill as when I encountered a yokai, just an instinctive aversion.

Hmm…

“I’m going to the room for a bit.”

Just then, Yuka got up saying that. Everyone was holding melting shaved ice, so they just responded with a lazy “Okay~”

“Kotone?”

When I also stood up to follow Yuka, Koko reacted.

“I need to get something from my bag too. I think the memory card is full.”

“Uu?”

Maybe she didn’t understand what “memory” meant.

Koko tilted her head.

And then she followed me.

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.

If I ask Koko not to tell anyone, she won’t.

Somehow I feel like this is something that shouldn’t be revealed to Kaoru in particular. If she found out, the excited Kaoru would want to rush over there right away.

When we got to the room, Yuka was rummaging through her bag.

I took out an SD card from my bag. Then I glanced toward Yuka.

“What?”

Yuka asked without turning around. It wasn’t a sharp question, just an everyday voice. She just felt my gaze while looking for something in her bag.

“Well…”

I hesitated a bit.

It was a bit funny even to me that I was showing this attitude now, but even so, it felt a bit awkward to say “I’m scared of ghosts” at this point.

Of course, I’ve caught yokai.

I’ve summoned Kokkuri-san, a divination spirit, and I’ve seen things that have crossed over from the afterlife.

I’ve even fought with something called a god.

The problem is that “ghosts” are a bit different from those things.

I’m that kind of person. I’m afraid of spiritual ghosts, twisted in ways that no physical attack can harm. If one suddenly jumps out in my room at midnight, or in my dreams, there’s nothing I can do.

With zombies, I can just stay away from them, and the same goes for most other monsters. Honestly, it would be more ridiculous to fear opponents bound by physical laws with this body of mine.

The same goes for the dead I saw then, and for when I saw the silkworm.

Even the entity that responded during the Kokkuri-san divination wasn’t even a ghost.

So, um, I was still afraid of ghosts. That hasn’t changed from when Yuka first said there might be a ghost in that apartment until now.

“What’s wrong?”

When I stammered, Yuka turned around and called to me in a rather serious voice.

She was holding a thin shirt in her hand. It seems she was feeling cold from the air conditioner set at 18 degrees and eating shaved ice.

I tilted my head, but finally gathered my courage.

“I think I took a ghost photo among yesterday’s pictures.”

“…”

Yuka stared at me blankly for a moment.

If I were to interpret that expression, it would be something like:

“So what?”

…No, even so, isn’t a ghost photo a bit concerning?

Yuka looked at me and quickly covered her mouth.

My face turned slightly red.

“Uu?”

Koko tilted her head, looking back and forth between us.

Yuka took several deep breaths with her hand still covering her mouth.

“So, you’re saying there’s a ghost photo— *inhale*”

Oh come on.

I can see your stomach and chest trembling. I can see you’re holding your breath trying not to laugh.

I looked up at Yuka with my burning face.

“Look.”

When I handed her the camera, Yuka took it with slightly trembling hands.

Looking at the camera screen while desperately trying to hold back laughter, Yuka took several deep breaths before finally continuing.

“Listen, Kotone.”

“…”

When I looked up with a slightly disgruntled expression, Yuka lowered her eyebrows slightly in an apologetic expression.

But the way she spoke carefully, as if soothing a child, was a bit irritating.

“Most of what circulates as ghost photos are usually misunderstandings.”

So that’s how you’re going to play it…

Well, I guess that could be true, but still!

“For example, look. This thing here.”

Yuka showed me the camera screen. Koko stuck right next to me to look at the screen together.

“Things that appear white and faint like this are actually quite common. Something might have just passed by nearby, you know?”

“That may be true, but…”

It’s certainly not that strange. Something could have passed by. No matter how well-lit a room is, it’s bound to be darker than outside during the day, which naturally slows down the shutter speed.

Simply put, there’s a high chance of afterimages remaining in the photo. You know how people’s faces can look strange in photos when they move quickly.

“If a moth or something flew by the window, it would naturally be captured like this. Although we’re near the mountains, it might have actually been quite close. You can’t perceive depth in photos, right?”

“…”

My face turned even redder.

Yuka, perhaps feeling bad about almost bursting into laughter, handed me the camera and placed her hands on both my shoulders, bending slightly at the waist.

“But just in case, let’s bring some charms. Abandoned houses tend to attract ghosts and vengeful spirits. Okay?”

Okay, I get it.

I get it, but…

Could you please stop making that expression like you’re soothing a much younger sibling?

I’m probably much older than you in reality.

But Yuka didn’t stop there.

“By the way, Kotone.”

Yuka said with a gentle smile.

“Were you that scared of ghosts?”

“…”

I could barely contain my embarrassment by gritting my teeth.

I turned away from Yuka and strode out of the room. Yuka followed, apologizing, but I was extremely annoyed that her voice still carried traces of laughter.

What am I, some small cute animal!

I may look like that! I may be shorter than the new junior who just joined!

It was frustrating that I had nothing to say in denial despite my indignation.

“Uu?”

Only Koko tilted her head, not understanding the situation.

*

In the afternoon, we went out and played for about three more hours.

This time I joined in and enjoyed playing ball. Although I hadn’t completely forgotten about the ghost photo from earlier, running around energetically did improve my mood somewhat.

Yuka seemed relieved seeing my face. She must have thought she teased me too much, as she looked apologetic after I sulked for about an hour.

After playing happily like that, we came back, showered, and then held another Literature Club meeting.

We had agreed that everyone would write a draft essay at their own pace, and surprisingly, everyone had completed theirs fairly well. The quality of the writing could always be improved later, but seeing how earnestly everyone wrote, it seemed that even Harumi hadn’t just come along purely to play.

Izumi looked at this scene with satisfaction.

The papers everyone had written were carefully collected and put into Izumi’s bag.

“Alright.”

Kaoru stretched with a grunt, then said,

“After dinner, we’ll have courage training.”

That “evil expression” unique to Kaoru flashed across her face.

“Everyone look forward to it.”

“I’ll say it again, I’ve checked the safety beforehand. There don’t seem to be many dangerous objects in the house.”

So that’s where she went when she briefly left while we were showering.

That explains why she was the last to shower. Even if it’s at a lower elevation, mountains are still mountains. If she went there, she would naturally have sweated.

“By the way, we’ll draw lots to decide partners for going up. Even if you’ve arranged something in advance with someone, it won’t work.”

What arrangement?

Would arranging something solve the fear?

Well, I admit I’d probably be less scared if I went up with Koko or Yuka.

I glanced at Yuka, who smiled at me.

I looked at Koko, but her expression was surprisingly nonchalant. Koko has grown quite a bit over the past year and more. She’s learned that it’s okay not to always stick by my side.

Of course, her favorite place was still beside me, and she still tried to be near me most of the time, but she seemed to understand that there are times and situations where it’s better not to be clingy.

…I should feel happy seeing Koko like this, but somehow I felt a little sad.

“Well, you still need to prepare mentally. Shall we draw lots in advance?”

Rather than that, you just want to see something interesting right away, don’t you?

Not just me, but Izumi seemed to think so too, but since it wasn’t just Kaoru who wanted to see this interesting thing—the other club members did too—we decided to draw lots in advance.

And I was paired with Mako.