Chapter 4 (1/2)

The “Disease Coexistence Journal” is, in essence, her will - that is what I believe In that unused paperback, she writes about the everyday things she saw and felt, leaving the had rules unique to her

I couldn’t say I knew any for certain, but was fairly sure of a few that I had observed Firstly, she wasn’t si her day-to-day experiences Days where she saw so special - within the “Disease Coexistence Journal”, she co behind after her own death

Secondly, she chose not to leave behind non-textual information in the “Disease Coexistence Journal” It seeraphs didn’t fit in a paperback, deciding only to handwrite with a black ball pen for the “Disease Coexistence Journal”

Lastly, she decided that she wouldn’t show anyone the “Disease Coexistence Journal” until she died With the exception of e due to a force majeure even more so than her blunder, no one else had seen her life’s records Apparently, it seems she told her parents to release it to all her loved ones after she died Whatever its present purpose, those around her would receive herakin to her will

But even though nobody should have been able to influence those records nor be affected by theave her my opinion on the “Disease Coexistence Journal”

It was regarding my name - I didn’t want it to appear in the “Disease Coexistence Journal” It was simply because I didn’t want to receive any unnecessary scrutiny or criticism from her parents and friends after her death In the midst of our Library Committee work, she had re the “Disease Coexistence Journal” It was then that I formally requested the o so that’s up to me” I shatever more I words I had “If you say you don’t like it, it ave up about the trouble that would arise after my classmate’s death

With that said, ether with the matters of the yakinku and sweets, but for the two days after we had went to Dessert Paradise, my name shouldn’t have appeared in the “Disease Coexistence Journal”

The reason was that in those two days, I hadn’t exchanged a single ith her at school It wasn’t weird or anything, since we had always done our own thing in class Instead, it could be said that those days adorned by the yakiniku and sweets were the irregular ones

I attended school, took tests, and quietly returned hoood friend and those froroup, but I detero out of my way to be affected by them

Nothing truly special happened in these two days If I was forced to pick so, there were only twothe corridor, a guy that normally didn’t even so much as look at me had come to talk to me

“Yo, Plain-Class Yamauchi?”

His pretty ineleganthad a sort of freshness to it I suspected that it may have been the case that he carried sory atby his face, he wasn’t the slightest bit upset, and in fact had solee about him He must have been one of those frivolous people that were like bundles of curiosity

“No, absolutely not”

“That so? But the both of ya had dessert right?”

“We just happened to have a ether”

“What’s with that?”

“Why are you interested?”

“Hm? Ah, don’t tell irls that are more refined”

Even though I didn’t ask, he continued to blabber on nonchalantly It seeree on was that she wasn’t refined

“I see, so we had the wrong idea, but everyone in class is cla ‘bout it ya know”

“It’s all a , so I don’t mind it”

“How um?”

“Not really Could you hold the dustpan for me?”

“Leave it to me”

He was flaky, and always skipped out on cleaning duty, so I thought he’d turn me down Unexpectedly however, he helpfully held onto the dustpan for me Perhaps he didn’t understand the concept of clean-up ti to do it properly

He didn’t pursue the matter any further than that This was the first incident that happened within those two days that was irregular to me

Having a conversation with a classularity was trivial, it put me into somewhat of a melancholic mood The bookmark that should have been sandwiched within h I fortunately re that was distributed for free at bookshops and the like; it was soht when I went to the , but in any case, even though I wasn’t the least bit bitter that my own carelessness was the root cause, I felt down for the first time in a while

But though I was feeling down about so that was ultimately superficial, those two days were normal for me And since the norm for me was tranquility, in other words, I hadn’t been haunted by the girl as close to death

The beginning of the end of regularity began on Wednesday night; I was enjoying the last of “nore

No e the fact that at that ti - it was probably because I was a character Even in novels, the only ones that knew the setting of the first chapter were the readers The characters the

The e’s contents were as such:

“Good job with the tests! We’re getting a day off froht to the point, will you be free? You’ll be free anyway right? I’n] Anywhere you want to go?”

Herassumptions about people’s circumstances sort of ruined my mood, but she hit the bull’s-eye when she said I was free, and I didn’t have any reason to turn her down, so I replied, “I’o to before you die”

Of course, this would later come back to bite me in the neck I simply should have known better than to leave the decision- to her

And so, thethe place and tie and prominent train station within the prefecture, and the time was peculiarly early, but I wrote it off as just another one of her many whims

I replied with ajust 11 characters, and she responded with the last e I received that day

“You definitely can’t break this promise okay?”

No matter how much we opposed each other, I fundamentally never broke proht” and left my cell phone on my desk

As a spoiler, the word “proirl’s trick Actually, perhaps it was only I who had interpreted it as a trick I had thought that the “pro to Her “pro anywhere you want to go to before you die”

The next day, I headed to ourand found her already waiting there She was carrying a sky blue backpack that she usually didn’t bring along, and wearing a straw hat that she usually didn’t put on - she looked as though she were leaving on a journey

Even before we exchanged greetings, she was shocked at my appearance

“You’re dressed too lightly! Is that all you’re carrying? What about your change of clothes?”

“…………Change of clothes?”

“Huess you can just buy some over there Seems like there’ll be a Uniqlo”

“Over there? Uniqlo?”

That was the first tins of unease in my heart

Treating s and questions like wind on her ears, she looked at her watch and responded with the question - “have you eaten breakfast?”

“It wasn’t very filling, but I had bread”

“I haven’t eaten Is it fine if we get so?”

I thought that there wasn’t any particular issue with that, so I assented She grinned and started to head towards her destination in large strides I was thinking that ere headed to a convenience store, but we arrived at a bento store instead

“Huh, you’re getting a railway bento?”

“Yeah, it’s for eating on the shi+nkansen Are you getting one too?”

“Wait ait wait”

I grabbed the upper ar the bentos lined up on the display, and pulled her away fro pleasantly as she glanced at the girl, but when their eyesthe granny a shock too

“That should be my expression”

“What’s wrong?

”shi+nkansen? Railway bento? Explain properly - what exactly are we doing today?”

“Like I said, we’re going on a trip on the train”

“So by 'train’, you meant the shi+nkansen? And when you say 'trip’, just how far do you o?”

After , she plunged her hand into her pocket and took out two rectangular pieces of paper I immediately understood that they were tickets

She passedtaken a look at it, my eyes spread wide open

“Um, is this a joke?”

She chortled It seemed like she was serious

“It says we’re not going somewhere for a day trip, so it seems like we can still rethink this”

“…………No, no, Get-Along-kun, you got it wrong”

“What a relief, so it really was a joke”

“That’s not it, we’re not going for just a day trip”

“…………Huh?”

Notwithstanding the futility of the entire exercise, our conversation from this point on flowed in such a way that I ended up overpowered For the sake of convenience, a large part of it would hence be omitted

She asserted herself, and while I tried to persuade her otherwise, she played her trues Thus exploited was my intention to never break a promise

Before I realised it, I was already riding on the shi+nkansen

“Haaah”

While staring at the flowing scenery fro thrust into the present situation Besideher mixed rice

“This is -kun, have you done so like this before?”

“Nope”

“You can relax you know, since I’ve properly bought travel azines for today’s sake”

“Ah, is that so”

Even reed boats should have a limit somewhere; I frowned at myself

Incidentally, just like the yakiniku, the money for the shi+nkansen tickets came from her purse She told me not to mind, but it wouldn’t do not to repay her, even if it was at the cost of the dignity of a human like me

While wondering whether it was tiht before my eyes

“Want some?”

“……Thanks”

I received the orange and wordlessly began to peel its skin

“You’ve got no energy at all, huh Don’t telloff?”

“No, I’ onboard For your plans, and the shi+nkansen too And I’ on my decision to do so”

“What a downer, you’ve got to be !”

“Though it seems more like an abduction than a trip to me”

“If you’re going to keep reflecting on yourself, you should just look at me instead”

“And exactly what do youthat?”

Once again treating my words like the wind, she closed the lid on the railway bento she was done with, and tied a rubber band around it Her ni human

I discouragedinto words the difference in the sense of reality she emanated and the actual reality, and proceeded to silently eat the orange one wedge at a ties from a kiosk, but they were unexpectedly sweet and succulent I took a look outside and saw the rural landscape spread out into the distance - a scene which I normally wouldn’t have seen I spotted a scarecrow in the field, and for son er any point in resisting

“By the way, Get-Along-kun, what’s your first name?”

It was a sudden question froazine beside reen of the mountains had calhtforwardly Even thoughher head with great interest Follohich, she whispered my full name to herself

“Wasn’t there a novelist with a name like yours?”

“That’s right, though I don’t knohich one you thought of”

Using my own first and last names as a base, two authors came to mind

“Could this be the reason you like novels?”

“That’s not far off the truth I did start reading because of that, but I like books because I think they’re interesting”

“Hmmm, so you have the same name as your favourite author?”

“Nope My favourite is Osamu Dazai”

See the name of a literary master, her eyes spread wide open

“By Osaer Human’?”

“That’s right”

“So you like gloomy books like that, huh”

“It’s true that Osah the atmosphere of his books, but words can’t be disloomy you know”

It was rare ofso enthusiastically, but she could only respond with a pout, seely disinterested

“He me”

“Seems like you aren’t really interested in literature, huh”

“Yeah, not really I read h”

Just like I had expected It wasn’t a ine her patiently reading a novel Even forit while loafing around her roo

It couldn’t be helped that my conversation partner wasn’t interested in what I had to say, so I asked her so that I was curious about

“Your parents are pretty okay with you travelling huh What did you do?”

“I told the with Kyouko If I toldI wanted to do, they’d ree to it in tears, but as expected of travelling with a boy - I can’t tell how they’d react”

“You’re really horrible huh, tras”

“Speaking of which, what about you? What sort of excuse did you give your parents?”

“Since I didn’t want to worryfriends So I told the at a friend’s house”

“That’s horrible, but how lonesome”

“But couldn’t you say that no one got hurt?”

She shook her head in disazine from the backpack placed next to her feet What an attitude for the culprit that had forced rossed herself with her azine, I seized the opportunity to conjure a paperback froan to focus on that instead Worn out by the extraordinary a, I wanted nothing but to surrender myself to the story and let my heart be healed

While thinking about things like that, it suddenly dawned uponfate to let her disrupt my peace; it was a certain someone’s fault that I had become completely paranoid Thankfully, my precious time passed without any distractions I concentrated on ood place to stop It was then when I suddenly becaed - but never expected - to grasp I looked toon her stomach

The sight of her sleeping face enticed ns of a serious illness, but I ultiainst it

Thereafter, she didn’t awaken the rest of the way Nor did she wake up even after the shi+nkansen had arrived at our station

If I had to say it, it looked as though her short life had ended on the shi+nkansen, but the truth was that she was simply impossibly hard to awaken - it wasn’t an oently poked her cheeks and pinched her nose, but she just groggilyup As a last resort, I shot a rubber band in my possession at the back of her defenceless hand - she jumped out of her seat in an overreaction

“You could have just called !” She said as she punched h all the trouble to wake her up - unbelievable

Fortunately, this was the shi+nkansen’s final stop, so ere able to grab our bags and take our ti

“Our first landing! Waaah! I can smell ramen!”

“Isn’t that as expected of your iination?”

“I definitely smell it! Isn’t it your nose that’s rotten?”

“I’rateful that my brain isn’t rotten like yours”

“It’s h”

“I’m a coward, so let’s ban that deathblow from now on It’s not fair”

While laughing, she said, “What if we -kun a deathblow too?” But I didn’t have any plans to contract a serious illness in the near future, so I politely turned her down

We took a long escalator down from the platform to a floor where the souvenir shop and the rest area were located The space seeot full marks for cleanliness and left me with a favourable impression

We took another escalator to get to the ground floor, and we finally reached the ticket gates An unexpected sensation assaulted me the moment I stepped out, so much so that I doubted my own senses Like she had said earlier, I could s - perhaps it really was true then, that he in the urban prefectures could smell sauce, while he in the rural prefectures could smell udon I’d never been to either, so I couldn’t deny the possibility, but ould have thought that a single dish could permeate the everyday lives of humans to this extent?

Even without looking at the face of the girl standing besideat me, so I absolutely refused to look

“So, where are we going?”

“Hehehehehehehehe, huh?”

How annoying

“Ah, where are we going? We’re going tolunch”

Speaking of which, my stomach did feel empty

“As I thought, it’s gotta be ramen, how about it?”

“No objections”

Ae strides at my own comfortable pace We were apparently headed for soazine while on the shi+nkansen Her gait showed neither sign of pause nor hesitation We descended underground, exiting the station for an underground street, and found ourselves standing in front of the ramen store far sooner than expected As we neared the store, its distinctive scent of rah I wasn’t really put off, there were copies of a page fro this shop plastered onto its outer wall But it didn’t seem to be a weird shop, so I was relieved

The ramen was delicious The food arrived quickly upon our orders, and we quickly began to stuff ourselves The both of us had chosen the noodle refill system, and ere asked how hard anted our noodles to be, I heard her say “steel beam”; I politely followed suit To think there was such a classification for the level of hardness - it would be best if no one ever found out about this ane” was probably created by boiling the noodles for a shorter duration of time

Reinvigorated by the hearty ot on our next train There was no need to rush, since the shrine of the God of Studies she had wanted to meet was about thirty minutes away by train, but as the leader of our expedition had demanded we hurry, I simply followed suit

While sitting on the train, I remembered a report that I had read somewhere, and I parted my sealed lips

“It seems like this prefecture is rather unsafe, so it’d be best to be careful Shooting incidents and the like are apparently quite common”

“Is that so? But isn’t it the same with any prefecture? Haven’t you heard about that murder case in the next prefecture that happened the other day?”

“I haven’t been watching the news lately though”

“Someone from the police said it on TV, but it seems like the assailant was the hardest for them to catch yet Like they say, the devil’s children have the devil’s luck!”

“Though that shouldn’t be the main takeaway from this story”

“Thatto die”

“I’ve only learnt this now, but proverbs can’t be trusted I’ll remember that”

It really did take the train thirty minutes to ferry us to our destination The clear sky andaround, I was starting to get soaked in sweat I wondered if I would really be alright without a change of clothes, but it seemed that our next stop would be close to a Uniqlo

“What great weather!”

With a sht steps as she climbed the slope up to the shrine The slope to the precinct was crowded despite it being a weekday afternoon On both sides of the street, there were stores selling all manners of souvenirs, sundries, food, and even the odd suspicious-looking T-shi+rt - it truly was a sight to behold A store selling specialty rance it emanated tickled my nasal cavity

Froet pulled into a store, but in the end, we didn’t buy a single thing Fortunately for us, the store attendants were understanding, and I was able to peacefully enjoy just looking at the items

Having finally reached the end of the slope, now drenched in sweat, we headed straight for the first vendingmachine, especially one deliberately installed in such an exquisite location to take advantage of thirsty passers-by, but there was no resisting a life-preserving instinct

Whipping her sweat-soaked hair fro as always

“Feels like we’re really in the springtime of life!”

“The grass …… It’s hot”

“Have you ever been in any sports clubs?”

“Nope You see, I’m of noble birth, so it’s fine even if I don’t move my body”

“Don’t insult those of noble birth You should exerciseas much as me, and I’m sick”

“But that doesn’t have anything to do with a lack of exercise”

Even the people around us had reached the lie of nearby trees It seemed like today was another especially hot day

So our dehydration, we slipped away from the other youth, and resumed our journey We washed our hands, placed thee as atched the turtles float on the water, and at long last, we arrived before the God As for e ca an explanation for it, but the tepid heat had caused et She, on the other hand, never see it

We stood in front of the box that acted as the God’s wallet, and tossed in a s Then we properlyonce more

I had learnt from somewhere that shrine visits weren’t actually the tiinally meant as an expression of one’s deterht now, I couldn’tcould be done about it, I thought I’d give the girl beside norance, I made a wish to the God

May her pancreas be healed

Only when I was done did I realise I had prayed for even longer than her Surely, wishes that we knoon’t come true were easier to pray for Perhaps she even wished for so different fromthat should be offered in silence alone

“I wished to be lively until I died Get-Along-kun, what about you?”

“……You’re always tra on my intentions, huh”

“Huh, don’t tell et weaker? You’re the worst! I rong about you!”

“And ould I wish for someone else’s misfortune?”

The truth was that I had wished for the complete opposite of what she had speculated, but I didn’t tell her Speaking of which, wasn’t this the God of Studies? Well, it was a God, so it probably didn’t mind the details

“Hey, let’s go draw our fortunes!”

I furrowed estion I had considered fortune slips to have no connection to her fate Predictions about the future ritten on theirl didn’t have a future

She rushed to the spot where the fortune slips were being sold, unhesitantly deposited a hundred yen into the box, and drew a fortune It couldn’t be helped, so I followed along

“The one with the better fortune wins!”

“Just what do you think fortune slips are?”

“Ah, I got a Great Blessing”

She was grinning from ear to ear The inside of ht of this girl With this, it was proven that fortune slips didn’t carry any sort of power at all Or perhaps, it was even an act of kindness froirl that had already drawn an extraordinarily great curse

She raised her voice

”Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! Look, look! It said 'your disease will be healed soon’! There’s no way it’ll be healed!”

“…Just what about this are you enjoying?”

“What’d you get?”

“Blessing”

“So it’s lesser than a S?”

“Though there are also those that say it’s just lesser than a Great Blessing”

“Whichever way it is, it’s my win, hehe”

“Just what about this are you enjoying?”