Ch.289If Side Story. Tokyo Slayers: Final Chapter (27)

It wasn’t anything extraordinary, but that’s how our two-day trip came to an end.

I had seen Fukuda crying last night, but her face wasn’t gloomy by morning.

Rather, it seemed like our conversation had been refreshing for her, as her expression looked a bit more relaxed than usual.

Nanami seemed a bit reluctant to go home and kept suggesting we play more until right before departure. Even the kids who had been somewhat awkward when we first arrived ended up having fun together after going along with Nanami’s suggestions.

On the way home, Shii fell into a deep sleep leaning against Souta’s shoulder on the train.

“……”

Yuka and Nanami sat side by side in the seats across from Souta and Shii.

Though the two still couldn’t be described as completely friendly, they agreed to sit together since they couldn’t bring themselves to ask to change seats with Shii sleeping so peacefully on Souta’s shoulder.

On the way back to Tokyo, Souta had to suppress his laughter as he heard the two of them chatting or occasionally bickering.

Kotone Kurosawa and Harumi Fukuda sat in the seats behind Souta and Shii.

Unlike the occasional conversation from the seats in front, the two of them didn’t talk much on the way back.

When Souta slightly turned his head to peek between the seats, he saw them both staring blankly out the window.

Kurosawa sat by the window, gazing at the sunset landscape.

And Fukuda sat beside her with a somewhat ambiguous expression—it wasn’t clear if she was looking at Kurosawa or at the scenery outside with her.

At least, the strangely indignant expression that Fukuda used to have when looking at Kurosawa was nowhere to be seen, which was reassuring.

“……”

What am I even worrying about?

Souta let out a small sigh and turned his head back to look out the window.

The sunset view was beautiful. It was still a sweltering summer—but this was the first ordinary summer vacation he’d experienced since becoming a high school student.

Souta thought he was satisfied, in his own way.

*

Summer vacation is short.

Of course, if you think about it, only students get to enjoy such a long period of rest without anyone’s interference.

After the short period until high school, or the longer period until university, once you get a job to make a living, you rarely get to rest for a whole month at once.

Unless you quit your job, that is.

But even so, like for all students, this break felt short to Souta. While resting indefinitely without any purpose might be its own kind of torture, Souta was a student after all.

After the summer trip ended, he met up with friends a few more times. He hung out with male classmates, chatting and having fun, and he also met with Yuka and Nanami separately.

…But not with Fukuda and Kurosawa. Neither of them was the type to reach out first.

If someone asked whether he was worried at all, it would be a lie to say no, but somehow Souta felt somewhat reassured after seeing Kurosawa at the beach.

So he was thinking they could all meet up for tea or something once the vacation ended.

*

The day summer vacation ended, school reopened.

Although going to school isn’t always pleasant, gathering with friends in one place after a long time is quite enjoyable.

At least on the first day back.

“Sasaki.”

Yuka raised her hand slightly. The corner seat by the window had always been Yuka’s since they started attending this school together.

Souta sat down in the seat in front of Yuka—which had always been his seat since entering this school—and waved his hand slightly in greeting.

“Everything okay?”

“Well, yeah. This summer vacation was relatively peaceful.”

Souta smiled wryly at Yuka’s words.

It wasn’t entirely peaceful, considering they had encountered some thugs at the festival, but at least they hadn’t had their lives threatened by yokai.

“Ah.”

Souta’s phone vibrated.

[Happy back-to-school!]

It was a message from Nanami. From the message, it seemed she had safely arrived at school too.

‘Safely,’ huh.

Somehow his speech habits seemed to be gradually rubbing off from Yuka.

“Nakahara?”

“Yeah.”

Souta nodded at Yuka’s question.

As always when Nanami came up in conversation, Yuka rested her chin on her hand and made a sullen expression. Souta didn’t continue talking about Nanami to avoid upsetting Yuka. He had at least developed that much sensitivity by now.

“Alright everyone, take your seats.”

Just then, the homeroom teacher came in and said that, and the students quieted down and went to their seats.

And so—the first day of the second semester began.

*

That day, Souta and Yuka naturally went looking for Kurosawa.

Kurosawa, who usually approached them first, didn’t do so today.

It was a bit concerning.

After all, they hadn’t been able to resolve the situation with those girls they saw that day, or with the boys who were with them. While Kurosawa probably hadn’t been bullied separately during the vacation, they would inevitably run into each other since they were in the same class.

“Huh? Her? She didn’t come today.”

And that’s what Yuka and Souta heard.

The student who told them this wasn’t one who had openly bullied Kurosawa. Of course, they were still a bystander, but they had no reason to lie about something like this.

Moreover, Kurosawa really wasn’t visible in the classroom.

“……”

While Yuka was scanning the inside of the classroom with a sharp gaze, Nanami, who had spotted Souta and Yuka from afar, approached them.

Their expressions must have looked serious even from a distance, as Nanami didn’t greet them with her usual cheerfulness.

“What’s going on?”

As Souta was about to explain the situation to Nanami, who asked with a rather serious expression instead of a greeting, Yuka moved.

“Huh, Yuka?”

Before Souta could stop her, Yuka had forcefully opened the classroom door and gone inside.

Bang.

The sliding door hit the end with a loud noise, startling the students in the classroom. A few people passing by in the hallway also turned to look in surprise.

“Wait, Yuka!”

Souta quickly followed after her, noticing where Yuka’s gaze was fixed. Nanami also followed behind Yuka with a quite serious expression.

But they couldn’t stop Yuka from grabbing a girl by the collar.

“Eek!?”

The girl who was suddenly grabbed and pulled to her feet turned pale. Only after getting closer did Souta notice that the girl had injuries on her face.

It wasn’t too serious, but one of her eyes was slightly swollen, and there were some bluish bruises.

Had she fallen somewhere—

“…Where is Kurosawa?”

Yuka asked the girl.

She was one of the three girls who had been bullying Kurosawa. The other two weren’t even visible. For a brief moment, Souta wondered if those two had taken Kurosawa somewhere—

“I-I don’t know!”

Souta was a bit surprised when the girl suddenly burst into tears and shouted.

“I-I’m not going to bother her anymore! Th-that’s what you wanted, right?!”

The classroom, which had been slightly noisy, fell silent at her outburst. Nanami and Souta, who had followed Yuka in, looked around in confusion.

Whatever had happened to this girl, the other students seemed to think that Yuka had done something to her.

But Yuka didn’t seem to care about those stares as she glared directly at the girl.

“You must know. You all were bullying Kurosawa so much. You even tried to do terrible things to her outside of school just because she recognized you.”

“I… I really don’t know.”

The girl was now sniffling.

“I broke up with those boys too, and, yes, I won’t do those things anymore…”

“Wait, Yuuki. Something seems off about this girl.”

Nanami put her hand on Yuka’s shoulder and said quietly.

“……”

At Nanami’s words, Yuka loosened her grip a little.

“Hey, you.”

As the girl collapsed back into her seat, sniffling, Nanami asked in a somewhat calmer voice.

“What exactly happened? Why are you reacting like that to Kurosawa’s name?”

“Sob. Hic.”

Whether reassured by Nanami’s voice or relieved to be free from Yuka’s grip, the girl couldn’t continue speaking and finally burst into tears.

Souta wasn’t the type to think this way about a crying girl, but he found it rather absurd.

It wasn’t simply because a girl who had been bullying someone was suddenly acting vulnerable.

It was because she was acting as if, during the vacation, Kurosawa had been the perpetrator rather than the victim.

“…Let’s go.”

Judging that they wouldn’t get an answer from this girl, Yuka turned and left the classroom.

And then.

“……”

Her eyes met with Harumi Fukuda, who was leaning against the wall in the hallway outside the classroom.

Fukuda had a somewhat complicated expression.

Looking at that expression, Souta somehow felt that Fukuda might know the aftermath of what had happened during summer vacation.

And apparently, Souta wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“Do you know what happened?”

“…What about Kurosawa?”

“Seems she didn’t come to school.”

After this brief exchange with Yuka, Fukuda gritted her teeth.

“…Follow me.”

Fukuda said that and started walking. Yuka naturally followed behind her, and Nanami and Souta exchanged glances before quickly following along.