CH 20

When I returned to the mountain path I had just taken, I saw Asagiri with a grim look on her face.

And as soon as she saw me and Fujibayashi behind her, she hurriedly approached us.

“Hey! Where’s Nanami!?”

“Kurase? I don’t know. Wasn’t she with you?”

“Kurase said she was going to go after you too, and she was gone before we could stop her. I thought Kurase had already joined up with you. ……”

Come to think of it, I thought I heard voices behind me when I was chasing after Fujibayashi. Wasn’t it my imagination? I looked back and there was no one there, though…….

“I haven’t met her…….”

“No way…….”

Asagiri’s face turned blue.

“Hey. Phone? Can’t you get through?”

Then Fujibayashi, who was standing behind me, asked Asagiri.

Asagiri was puzzled for a moment by the advice from the person with whom she had just had an argument, but then, perhaps thinking it was too much to ask, she hurriedly opened her smartphone.

“……no good. It’s out of range because it’s in the mountains.”

Asagiri was becoming more and more sad.

“W-what should I do …… if something happens to Nanami….”

Asagiri’s frustration is tremendous.

If she’s only been gone for a few minutes, it seems like she’s worrying too much,……, but Kurase certainly has a dangerous side to her. There is a precedent of almost slipping down a few minutes ago.

“Don’t be so down. She’s only been gone for a few minutes, right? We’ll find her soon enough!”

“You don’t know that! Nanami, she’s reckless and she seems to be firm, but she’s not! Even just now it was a close call. …… if something had happened to her…….”

Asagiri recoils at the words Sosuke said to comfort her.

Asagiri was not so calm when it came to Kurase.

“Hey, maybe she went that way to the right earlier,”

Fujibayashi interrupted from the side. The road I was on when I came back after Fujibayashi.

It was indeed a subtle fork in the road.

“But that one looked decidedly steeper. On the left was a perfectly normal road, so why bother going that way?”

“Nanami could have done it. ……”

“……Seriously?”

As expected of Kurase, or should I say ……, she is showing a …… fearsome naturalness. I don’t have time to say that, though. It would be a big deal if she really was lost.

“In the meantime, I’ll go back and take a look.”

“Then I’ll go look for her too! I can’t wait here with Nanami gone!”

“No, Asagiri and the others can wait. Or better yet, go for the checkpoint and have the teacher notified.”

“Haa?! Why not! Don’t tell me you’re not going with me because you don’t want to go with me! Now is not the time to be saying that!”

Asagiri’s screeching voice echoes. She ain’t listening.

“I don’t mean that. I know you’re worried about Kurase, but when it comes to Kurase, you don’t see what’s going on around you, do you?”

“….”

“You look like you have an idea. That’s why it’s more likely to put you in danger and prevent a second disaster.”

“B-But then, what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m a lucky guy. I may be unreliable, but you can count on me.”

These are completely baseless words. But Asagiri stared me in the eye with a serious expression.

“…………I understand.”

Then she gave a small nod.

Apparently, she trusts me a little.

“I’ll go to the checkpoint right away and get a teacher.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Be careful out there, Arase.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

And so I parted ways with Asagiri and the others.

I had another concern, whether Sosuke would be able to handle being sandwiched between Fujibayashi and Asagiri, but for now, let’s concentrate on finding Kurase.

After I was alone, I headed back in the direction Kurase had walked.

“It’s always like this, really. ……”

With a sigh, I let out a complaint.

To tell the truth, I could have reported the incident to the teacher instead of looking for it alone.

It would have been foolish to search alone for a person lost in the mountains.

Still, there was a reason I was alone.

Fortunately, I have a strange power. I have a strange power to know the future. So even if something happens to me, I think I can handle it.

And so it was after I found Kurase. I feel like I’m going to invoke my natural ability and get into all kinds of danger, but if I can foresee that danger, I feel like I can somehow avoid it.

I went down the road to the right.

◆

I, Nanami Kurase, was in trouble.

After Ito-kun chased after Fujibayashi-san, I also chased after Ito-kun.

The reason was that my words had made Fujibayashi-san uncomfortable, and she and Yuri chan had gotten into a fight. I felt responsible for that.

“Where did Ito-kun go……?”

I looked around and all I saw spread out was trees.

I completely lost sight of him.

“That’s strange,…… Ito-kun, I think he went this way,…….”

Ito-kun’s back was in sight, but when I came to, he was gone.

It is a surprising discovery that Ito-kun is fast on his feet. Come to think of it, he pulled me up by the river too, so maybe he is athletic?

“Even so, I’m worried about him. …… I wonder if he and Sana-chan were able to meet up with each other. I hope Ito-kun and Sana-chan didn’t get lost,…….”

I’ve climbed this mountain a few times, but Ito-kun just transferred to a new school. So I was even more worried.

“Haaa,…… I must have failed,…….”

Alone, I once again think about how I had offended Sana-chan earlier.

But the other kids didn’t seem to have a good impression of her.

It is true that she is a little scary, but I think she is also kind.

Once before, a boy from another school approached me. Later, when I asked Yuri-chan about it, she told me that it was called “picking up girls.”

I was almost taken away by the student who was so skillful with words, but she saved me. I found out later that it was Sana-chan.

Knowing Sana-chan like that, I wanted to be friends with her, but I failed.

“Ito kun, by the way, he and Sana seemed to be getting along well. When did they become good friends ……?”

It’s kind of a blur …….

I want to be friends with both of them, but I’m like a mosquito.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t it Ito-kun rumored to be the girl from the women’s basketball team the other day?”

I believe it was Takimoto-san from the women’s basketball team. She’s petite but athletic, lively and energetic.

“Ito-kun said they weren’t dating. ……”

I’m curious about the truth. At least it seems true that he saved Takimoto-san in the gymnasium, and they say that smoke does not go up where there is no fire. ……

“I wonder if Ito-kun is quite popular ……?”

Ito-kun, for some reason, I have the image of him helping people in trouble.

When I first met him, he saved me from the river, and just now he saved me from a near-slip down.

“!!”

My face got hot remembering that time when he held me up.

I was so nervous when I thought about Ito-kun.

“W-Well, he saved my life, you know. It’s natural to want to get along with him.”

I talk to myself without making excuses to anyone.

Still, I’m still curious…

“That’s not enough! I have to find them both as soon as possible. If I’m lost, I’m in trouble!”

And with a shake of my head, I drowned out the thoughts that popped into my head.

From there I strolled around, raising my voice.

It hadn’t been too long since I’d chased them, so I didn’t think they were that far away, so I figured I’d find them while I was shouting.

However, even after walking for a few dozen minutes, I could not find anyone.

In fact, the forest seemed to be getting steeper and steeper.

“Where is everyone?”

I felt lonely at heart and muttered to myself.

“Kyaa!?”

I didn’t notice the tree roots at my feet and tripped and fell with a flourish on the spot.

“Ouchh…….”

It seems I hit my knee when I fell.

I rolled up my jersey and checked the affected area. The area where I hit it was turning blue-black and was bleeding.

“It hurt. ……”

Just looking at the blood made me feel sick. I leaned against a nearby tree.

“What should I do ……?”

I covered the bleeding area with a handkerchief for the time being. But it bled right away.

“This handkerchief was my favorite. ……”

Maybe it’s the blood, maybe it’s the fact that no one is around, but I’m getting more and more feeble. As I cower in this way, old memories come back to me.

I feel like there was a time when I was all alone like this. Like this, in a place where no one was around and no one would help me.

I was lonely and scared. …… What happened at that time? ……

“Kurase?”

I felt someone called me.