CH 41

Sensing something unusual, I took Asagiri, looking down, and went into a park that was just nearby.

There was a covered bench in the park. I decided to listen to what she had to say there. I really want to get home before it starts raining again.

“What’s up?”

“………….”

She doesn’t respond to my words. Her expression was dark.

“Are you alive?”

“………….”

“Are you dead?”

“…………”

No. No response. She seems to be just a corpse.

……Aside from that joke, it feels like she’s very sick.

It’s like her mind is not here.

I can’t seem to get Asagiri back to her usual state, and I’ve already given up on her. I can’t even listen to what she has to say.

Normally, I would have left here.

–I know the look you had on your face.

The words from that time are flashing back to me.

This is exactly what happened.

I don’t know if I had that look on my face too.

The lonely face of someone who feels no one needs them. The face of someone who feels alone in the world ……, even though that can’t be true.

What can I do to make her react to me?

…… rub her boobs?

“……”

That’s not a good idea. If it’s bad, I’ll be killed. For a moment, I thought about something stupid.

But it seems that this situation will not change unless I do something like that. I mean, not the chest rubbing, but a shock similar to that would be enough.

It can’t be helped. I can’t help it. Please forgive me.

**

“What are you thinking? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

**

I can’t help it if you show me such a future. See, if it makes it possible for us to have a proper conversation, I’ll accept the punishment.

“I’m sorry.”

“…………?”

Standing in front of Asagiri, I reach out a hand to his chin. Then, angling her face, I bring my own face close to hers.

“………………!!!?”

After a delay of one tempo, a shock hit my cheek like the first time I met Pashin.

It …… hurts. Oh, it really hurts. I think my jaw is about to come off. …… I started to cry. But it was close.

“What the hell were you thinking? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

And the result as I saw it in the future vision that comes.

The sight of Asagiri’s face flushed and breathing hard.

“Ouch,……, you finally spoke.”

“………….”

“I had to do this or you was seriously going to be quiet the whole time. Sorry.”

“… you know, even if it’s ……, there are some things you can do and some things you can’t do. ……”

It’s a good argument. That’s exactly right. What I did was sexual harassment. It ended in an attempt, but if I was sued, I would lose.

“I’m really sorry”

“…..I-it’s fine. ……”

With flushed cheeks, her voice gradually became quieter and quieter. It seems that Asagiri also understood that I did such a joke because I was really worried about the situation.

“I see. So what happened ……?”

“N-Nothing. ……”

Asagiri is still not open to me, though she is now showing some reaction.

The only way is to go a little further.

“You mean the …… family?”

“─ ───!”

It seems I hit the nail on the head.

Something happened with her parents,……, or maybe her younger brother.

Speaking of younger brothers, I am also concerned about Kurase’s case. I am not sure if I should ask Asagiri about this as well, but considering the current situation, I am not comfortable with that.

For that reason, I need to deal with Asagiri in this state first.

“Are you in disagreement with your parents?”

“Did you ask …… Nanami about it?”

Asagiri immediately glared at me. I was right, it seems.

“I didn’t ask her. I only heard that you live alone with your grandmother.”

“…… that’s right.”

She mumbled quietly again and looked down.

Then, after a while, she opened her heavy mouth again.

“….That’s right…….. My parents abandoned me.”

“……!”

“My parents only loved my younger brother. That’s why I’m …… living here with my grandmother.”

Then Asagiri continues.

–I was never looked after by my parents.

–My parents didn’t need me.

–Only my younger brother was kind to me.

─ ─ That my younger brother is the only one I have to protect.

The facts of the past kept coming out of Asagiri’s mouth one after another.

Asagiri seems to be half-heartedly telling me the truth.

I hold my mouth shut against the heavy truth.

A drop of water soaks the asphalt. I notice that it is starting to rain.

I hear the sound of sniffling.

“So I ran into my mother earlier when my brother asked me to give him a ride to his hometown. She said she didn’t expect anything from you. …… I thought I could finally forget you. ……”

Asagiri looks down with a voice that sounds like a mosquito crying. I don’t know what to say to her at a time like this.

“I know how you feel about ……. But, why worry about such things?　Asagiri is over here right now, having a good time with Kurase. Isn’t that good enough?”

“…………”

Asagiri doesn’t answer anything.

…… No. The words that should be spoken now are not such flimsy words. But this is also my true heart. There is no use in being stuck in the past forever. There is no need to be bound by the past. Neither I nor Asagiri.

Silence continued between the two of us for a while. I don’t know how Asagiri received my words. I also don’t know what she is thinking right now.

Maybe this is the right time. I could ask her about her brother at a later date. It is difficult to ask Asagiri now, I decided.

Besides, she said earlier that she had sent her brother to her hometown. I don’t know the truth about the stalking, but it will be okay for a while.

“Yes,…… I have to find my brother,…… Yuto,…….”

Asagiri stood up as if she had just had an idea.

Besides, it’s raining like crazy right now.

Since we were talking earlier, it had started to rain. The rain was getting heavier.

I stopped Asagiri, who was about to run out into the rain.

“I’m sure he knew my parents would be coming. That must be why he ran away! That’s why I have to protect him. ……”

“Why did he run away ……?”

“That’s because that parent must have gotten sick of him.”

Asagiri is a little agitated.

Apparently, I don’t understand her brother’s behavior.

So I took another step. I need to clear up what’s bothering me.

“Hey ……, what were you doing on May 5th? Were you with your brother by any chance?”

“Why…………”

“It’s okay. It’s important. Tell me.”

My eyes meet Asagiri’s. I look at her with serious eyes.

“I was in Nagahama with my …… brother. But so what?”

“At that time, was there anything strange about your brother? For example, did he disappear in the middle of the day?”

“He didn’t disappear. He just said he had something to do and went home first. There was nothing strange about it.”

I knew that what Fujibayashi was saying was true. Did he find Kurase in Nagahama and follow him there?

But still, it is strange. Why doesn’t Asagiri think anything of her brother’s behavior?

“Could it be, though, that it was the brother who called the parents?”

“……What are you talking about? How could he do such a thing?”

“No, because it doesn’t make sense. Why would your brother leave and your parents come as soon as you go back to your hometown?　Was there really nothing strange before that?”

Asagiri says that her brother is a kind and gentle boy who loves his sister, but there is something off about his behavior.

Would a truly kind child leave his sister behind and go somewhere?

Would he take her back to his hometown where his parents might be?

It would be strange for the parents to show up there after several years.

The younger brother may have been acting abnormally in other ways that we haven’t heard about.

Maybe the younger brother doesn’t care about Asagiri, his sister?　Such a question arose.

“…………That’s not possible. ……”

Asagiri is troubled with her head. Maybe she has an idea of where she is going.

“Hey, I think you should have a good talk with your brother. I know he’s important to you, …… including your parents, but…”

What came back was Asagiri’s yell. A sad cry. Maybe she was at her limit.

“Hey, Asagiri! Calm down!’

“Let go of me!…… Ah!”

I grabbed both of Asagiri’s arms and held her back as she tried to run out into the heavy rain. Asagiri resisted violently.

The bounce caused Asagiri’s phone to fall to the ground.

The impact of the fall caused the phone’s display to appear.

“──!”

There was a boy with a crying blur around his right eye, smiling carefreely at Asagiri.

Asagiri immediately picks up the phone she dropped, hugging it. I, on the other hand, froze when I saw the boy projected there.

“………… Asagiri, is that your …… brother?”

“What if it’s ……?”

…… that man is Asagiri’s younger brother after all. The man in the raincoat who appeared in my dream.

It was the moment when my premonition turned into certainty.

It was the moment when the premonition turned into certainty. The same time, my heart started to beat very loudly.

Come to think of it, it was raining. The dream and the situation overlapped.

“…………”

Oh, come on, seriously. Wasn’t it a dream after all?

Kurase is in danger. No, no, calm down.

“Asagiri, your brother is in your hometown, right ……?”

“He’s not ………..”

“……, where is he?”

“………….”

Asagiri does not answer. I had a bad premonition and my impatience was accelerating.

No way…

“Is he over here?”

“……”

Asagiri nodded her head.

I have a feeling it’s not going to be good.

Kurase is in danger.

I found myself muttering that.

“What do you mean…..?”

Oh no. Asagiri asked me. The person who should not be asked the most.

“What do you mean? Hey, explain it to me. Why is Nanami in danger if Yuto is around?”

“N-no. ……”

I’m still lost even though I’m here.

It will only put an extra burden on Asagiri, who is struggling with family matters. Is it right to do such a thing?

But even if I didn’t tell her, what if that future was true? What if Kurase gets involved?

What would Asagiri think then?

No matter which way you take it, there is only an unpleasant future.

Asagiri is looking at me with a serious expression. I felt I could not escape from these eyes.

I let out a big breath to calm my heart like a rampaging horse. I resolve myself to do the same.

“Kurase told you? She said she’s being stalked.”

“…………?”

“I’m sure you know about the shoe box thing, but there’s been a lot of crazy stuff going on since then. Kurase’s picture was sent to her house.”

“………… didn’t tell me that.”

“She didn’t tell you, did she? Kurase didn’t want Asagiri to worry.”

“…… that kind of thing..”

Asagiri was shocked. I’m sure she was sad that she didn’t tell me, her best friend. But there is no time to be sad about that.

“I heard that Kurase was being followed by someone during the Golden Week holidays.”

“───…. What’s up with that ……?

“Fujibayashi happened to be there at that time. She said that the person who was following her was actually there, but that he ran away.”

“…… that’s right.”

Asagiri heard this, and a look of relief came over her face.

“The only thing is, the person who was following her is …………. Asagiri. It seems he is your younger brother.”

“…………!”

Asagiri’s eyes widened. It was a look she had not expected at all.

“O-of course not. He would never do such a thing.”

“I’m sorry. I can only speak from Fujibayashi’s eyewitness testimony, so I can’t be sure about this. But Kurase is actually the victim of a stalker.”

“I told you that he wouldn’t do such a thing!”

Asagiri, perhaps unable to keep a normal mind because of her parents, would not listen to what I had to say.

But Kurase is in danger if I don’t stop my brother here.

If it was really just a dream, then so be it. But if it was not. If it wasn’t. I would regret it to death.

“But what if it was true? What if something happens to Kurase?”

“Don’t be silly! That’s all you’re going to say, that my brother is going to do something to Nanami! What’s the basis for that! Don’t say bullshit!”

“I don’t have any evidence…… But I know what it is.”

“Ha…What do you know about ……? Are you a prophet or something? What do you know about the future?”

Asagiri laughed through her nose. It was right on the money.

“……That’s right. Believe it or not, I know what the future holds.”

I found myself saying it out loud. I was sure people would think I was crazy. But still, I said it because I thought there was even a small chance that she would believe me.

“It was the same when I saved Asagiri for the first time. I knew that Asagiri was going to be hit by a car. That’s why I had to do what I did.”

“…………”

“So next time, Asagiri’s brother might harm Kurase.”

“……. Don’t be ridiculous.”

A pain shoots through my cheek.

“Don’t make fun of me! Do you think you can convince me of that! Do you know what the future holds? Don’t be ridiculous! Do you know how I feel if you’ve been listening to me for a while now, like you know what I’m talking about? I’m sick of it! My brother is not the kind of boy who would do such a thing!!!!”

Asagiri spat out, got up and ran off.

The next thing I knew, it was raining.

All I could do was watch Asagiri’s backside as it soaked in the rain.