CH 30

It is raining.

Standing there was a man in a raincoat.

Who is he ……?　

I knew it was not me.

“Ha….Ha….Ha…”

The man was breathing on his shoulder.

And he has something in his hand, and someone is lying beside him.

It is a woman. And she is wearing the girls’ uniform of our school.

The fallen female student’s abdomen was covered with a great amount of blood.

The blood was washed away by the rain and spread on the spot.

The person who was lying there was ────.

＊＊＊

“!?”

I woke up.

There was a slight flood of light through the curtains, and I could hear birds chirping outside.

I slowly raised my body and stretched out on the spot.

But I still couldn’t get rid of the drowsiness. With my head still in a daze, I looked at the clock on my pillow.

08:02.

That’s what it said.

“……I’m late”

If I were a normal person, I would have rushed out of the futon, but I am different. If I was going to be late anyway, there was no point in rushing. I would be tired even if I hurried. And I would get scolded because I was late. If that is the case, it is better to go slowly and get scolded.

Having reached this conclusion, I lay down once again with the futon over my head.

“…..”

I lay down, but my eyes were too bright and I couldn’t sleep a second time.

That’s strange. I, who love to slumber more than eating three meals a day, can’t go back to sleep?

I thought about it as I lay under the covers.

Today is the first day of school between the consecutive holidays of May and the end of April.

I was so tired that I thought I would stay home and relax for the rest of the day, but as usual, Ayako-san made me work hard for the rest of the day.

I worked almost full time from the morning.

Our café also becomes a bar at night, so there was almost no time to rest. Thanks to this, I was not at all tired.

In fact, I was even more tired than I should have been.

Even though I was still tired ……, I could not sleep. Why is that?

“—-!”

Then I immediately remembered.

It was a strange dream. It was like a futuristic vision I always have.

But I felt indescribable, like I was drifting in a dream.

At the same time, it was a bad dream. I felt sick when I remembered the content.

“It’s a bad luck dream. Someone dying”

Who was that woman in our school uniform?

I couldn’t see her face clearly even if I tried to remember.

“…… I should go to school”

After thinking about it for a while and not being able to come up with an answer, I crawled out of my futon and slowly got ready to head to school.

◆

“You are late !!”

Shortly after I arrived at school. I was being barked at by the mad dog next door

“Why are you so mad at me? Did you miss me that much?”

I’m going to make a light joke about it.

I’m sure she’ll just snicker at me when I say it.

“A-Are you stupid? How can you be so stupid?”

It was different from the reaction I expected. I feel like Asagiri is becoming strangely gentle. I wonder if it was after we finished climbing the mountain.

It was good that we exchanged contact information, but I have never contacted her, and she has never contacted me.

Was it worth it?

“So why are you so mad at me?”

“duty!”

“What?”

“You and I are on shift today!”

I see. That makes sense.

So I’ve pushed all the day-to-day work onto you.

“You look like you don’t feel sorry for me.”

“No, I feel really bad. Just like that.”

“You’re doing it on purpose. You haven’t changed one bit.”

Instead of getting angry, Asagiri sighed in disgust. Alright, I’ve won.

“Okay. I’ll go to Casablanca with Nanami next time.”

“…………?”

Casablanca is where I am staying. In other words, it is a cafe and bar run by Ayako san.

I don’t mean to be rude, but are you going to go out and eat?

It’s a waste of time, so I don’t think you should. If I don’t cook, the food there is just stuff sold around the corner.

“I’ll ask Ayako san to pick it up on your tab.”

“!?”

Please don’t do that.

In case you’re wondering, I’m getting paid part-time while I’m helping her. Even just for that, my pockets are cold, but don’t take any more money from me!

Asagiri looks satisfied with my impatient face.

I can’t say anything since I was the one who was late.

“Ah, good morning, Ito-kun.”

Then Kurase arrived.

I wondered if she was returning from somewhere.

“Nanami. It’s noon. It’s not time for a good morning.”

“Haahaha, you’re right!”

“By the way, are you okay?”

“Eh? What?”

“You were called away again, weren’t you? He didn’t try to get to you?”

“Yeah! I was fine! He asked me to hang out with him, but I turned him down because it was my day to hang out with Yuri-chan!”

“Did he ask you out on other days?”

“He asked me out, but I turned him down, too. That day was a special sale day! He asked me out on other days, too, but I told him I’d ask Yuri-chan about her plans, and he went away!”

“………… Ah, right.”

Kurase smilingly answers Asagiri’s question. Apparently, as far as I can tell, she was called to a confession.

It seems that she fought off the persistent person with her usual natural charm.

“Does that happen often?”

This seems to be not only in Kurase, but in Asagiri herself. It was a realistic way of saying it.

“S-Speaking of which, Ito-kun!”

“Hnn?”

“W-Well…”

“Arase! You’re late! You’re too late!”

“Ugh, Hey! Sosuke! What are you doing here all of a sudden?”

“I’m hungry. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

“H-Hey! I-I’m sorry. Kurase, can I see you later?”

“Y-yeah! No problem!”

I was then dragged by Sosuke to the cafeteria.

◆

“Haa….”

I sighed.

It’s not going well.

“What’s wrong?”

I sighed as hard as I could in front of my best friend, Yuri chan. It would bother her if I did it right in front of her, right……

“If you have any problems, just tell me. Nanami is always reckless.”

“Fufu, Thank you.”

Yuri-chan then opened the lid of her bento, took an omelet, and put it in her mouth.

Seeing this, my stomach rumbled with gurgles. It always looks delicious …….

“Nanami, what’s for lunch?”

“Bread today.”

“Bread. ……?”

“I was going to make lunch, but I used all the ingredients I had planned to use for lunch at dinner last night. My father was pleased to see how extravagant it was!”

“I see. ……”

I take a loaf of bread out of my bag; six slices of bread. I take the bread from the bag and eat it without any dipping sauce.

Yuri-chan is eating fried chicken this time.

Looks good. I knew it would be delicious. …………

“Do you want…….?”

“Eh, Is it okay!?”

Yuri-chan said so and placed a piece of fried chicken on top of my bread.

“I’ll give you this in return!”

“No, I don’t need it.”

I wanted to give her a piece of bread, but she refused. Even though it was delicious.

I put the fried chicken between the bread and ate it.

“Hnn~~~! No matter when I eat it, fried chicken made by Yuri-chan’s grandma tastes so good~!”

Yuri-chan’s grandmother makes her lunch. Her grandmother is a really good cook, and when my father is away for work, she sometimes treats me to a meal.

“Fufu, for what it’s worth, your troubles don’t seem to be particularly problematic.”

“Ah, umm.…”

“You have one?”

Yuri-chan told me, and I once again remembered what was troubling me earlier.

It’s a bad habit of mine to forget as soon as I eat something delicious.

“It’s about Ito-kun though……?”

“Him? Is it related to what you were going to say earlier?”

“Y-yeah. ……”

I thought I saw a wrinkle between Yuri-chan’s eyebrows.

“Actually, …… I’ve been meaning to ask Ito-kun for his contact information, but I’ve been having a hard time asking him.”

I boldly opened up to Yuri-chan.

Actually, I had been meaning to ask him for a while, but I didn’t know how to ask him because I had never asked for a boy’s contact information

After all, it’s embarrassing …….

“H-Hee, you don’t need his contact information ……, do you?”

“Ito-kun just transferred to another school and I haven’t seen him exchange contact information with many students.　Besides, I want to get to know him better. ……”

“Want to know him better….”

“That’s right! Let’s ask her together, yuri-chan! Then we can exchange together!”

“No, I’m …… not ……”

“Mouu, you’re talking like that again! You’re his classmate, can’t you at least exchange contact information?”

“W-Well, maybe when I’m ready.”

“Muuu~…”

It’s kind of difficult to get a grip on Yuri-chan. She often sees Ito-kun as an enemy. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t want to get along with Ito-kun so well.

“Even though Ito-kun …… is a nice guy. ……”

After that, the conversation came to an end and the pre-bell rang just as I finished eating all six slices of bread.