CH 69

“Yu-kun? I know this is a strange question, but have you heard anything from Enka?”

That was the first thing Touko-senpai said, heard from the other end of the phone.

“What? From Enka? Contact? No, I haven’t heard from her.”

I answered without understanding the meaning.

“What should I do…”

“What happened?”

“Enka has run away from home.”

“Huh?”

What the hell happened?

Does it have anything to do with what we were talking about?

“I’ve been trying to contact her friends’ houses since a while ago, but no one knows…”

Although Touko-senpai is very worried, I thought that there was no way she could know where that maverick girl was going.

She probably has a lot of hidden friendships from her sister.

“I have to go and look for her.”

“Now?”

It was well past eight o’clock in the evening.

A woman alone at this hour to go looking for someone?

“I can’t leave her like this. She’s a girl who doesn’t know what she’s going to do if she gets carried away.”

I don’t know what she would do even if I didn’t think anything of it.

But I feel like I probably had something to do with Enka running away from home.

“Touko-senpai, I’m going to go look for her together with you.”

“Yeah, but I can’t trouble, It’s late now.”

“It’s better than letting Touko-senpai go looking for her alone. I’ll be there soon, so please wait for me. It won’t take more than 20 minutes by car.”

Tonight my parents are both playing golf overnight.

They went in a minivan, so there is a litre car at home that my mother uses on a regular basis.

“Thank you. I’ll wait for you at my place then.”

I hung up the phone and quickly put on my coat and left the house.

***

Shortly before 9pm, I arrived at Touko-senpai’s house and picked her in the car.

I asked her if she had any idea where Enka might be going.

At this time of the day, all the shopping centres are closed.

And if she’s left for Tokyo, we’re already out of luck to find her.

“I don’t think she has that much money because she ran out in her regular clothes. And she didn’t take her phone with her, so she wouldn’t have a regular pass either.”

Then you’re saying it’s within walking distance?

“Why didn’t she take her phone with her?”

“Because I have it.”

Saying that, what Touko-senpai took out was Enka’s phone.

My face twitches.

“Enka said, “Yu-kun once picked me up and kissed me before. He almost did more than that to me and showed me this picture.”

My heart beats fast all at once.

My mouth becomes dry, but I gulped.

“Oh, no, um, Touko-senpai, that’s not true. I’m not that kind of thing…”

“It’s okay. I understand. I don’t know what’s going on, but this is something that Enka has set up, isn’t it?”

Hearing those words, I felt a dreadful loss of strength from my whole body.

At the same time, it felt like sweat was pouring from my forehead.

Touko-senpai continued.

“That girl was saying vehemently that I should break up with this kind of guy, so I questioned her too. Then we got into an argument. She even showed me these photos, so I got angry and slapped her. Then she ran out of the house…”

“I’m sorry. I wish I had spoken to you earlier…”

“We’ll talk about it at length later. But more importantly, we need to find Enka now. When she ran away from home the same way before, she almost got herself into a lot of trouble, so…”

–What’s the lotta trouble?

I thought so, but I didn’t pursue it any further.

In the Bay Area around here, there are quite a few dangerous people hanging around at night.

Me and Touko-senpai looked around for station fronts within walking distance of her house, Inage, Kemigawa, Makuhari and Makuhari Hongo, and Inage Kaigan, Kemigawahama and Kaihinmakuhari on the Keiyo Line side.

In addition, I also looked in family restaurants and fast food shops along the roads.

But there was no sign of Enka anywhere.

“Is there anyone at home?”　I asked.

“My grandmother is here. But I think our father and mother will be home by now. I’m sure they’re both worried.”

It was almost midnight, So they probably are.

“I’m going home. I have to talk to my father and mother about Enka…”

“Okay. If you need anything, you can contact me anytime. There’s no one at home tonight and this car is always available.”

“Thank you.”

I drove Touko-senpai to the front of the house.

When I got out of the car, she looked at me and said.

“I’m sorry I kept you up late at night.”

“No, it was my fault to begin with.”

“If you hear from Enka, let me know. I don’t care what time it is.”

“I understand. It’s you who should be calling me, Touko-senpai, really, any time, so please don’t hesitate to call me.”

She nodded at me and went into her house, closing the door behind her.

I drove on my way back to my own house, looking for any sign of Enka at some convenience store or other.

She’s got that platinum blonde hair that stands out. I’d know if she was there…

But inwardly, I also thought, ‘There’s no chance of Enka contacting me’.

I was passing a park on the corner near my house when I saw a yellow thing on a swing in the park.

I thought I saw a yellow thing on the swings in the park.

I slowed the car down and looked again at carefully.

It was a feminine silhouette with long blonde hair.

–if

I parked the car and got out and stepped into the park.

Sitting on the swing in a prone position was still Enka.