part1 c11 (2/2)
Undoubtedly, he must have lied to us. What was he planning—how useless. If he were to play an act, at least play to the end…
“Speaking of which, you’ve gone too far, Yukiatsu! You act so calm and refuse to come with us…”
“Uh?”
Matsuyuki stopped his hand that was turning the meat, and said lightly and peacefully, “When Menma appeared in front of me, she asked me to tell us to stop messing around.”
“Uh…?”
Matsuyuki was staring at me, with that smile that only belonged to the corner of his mouth—he was trying me again with those disgusting eyes.
“Eh? Did Menma say this?”
Standing beside me, Menma c.o.c.ked her head in astonishment.
So this was the case…what was he planning—that b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
He joined this BBQ just to scoff at me? And bought so expensive meat just for this?
“Taking her wish as an excuse to capriciously fool around is perhaps just giving trouble to Menma.”
Matsuyuki looked at me, seemingly wanting to continue.
“Stop, Matsuyuki!”
Everyone had noticed Matusyuki’s intention, and Anjo looked even more unstable than Matsuyuki or I.
“Menma wouldn’t want this to happen, right? Five years have already past, yet we’re still reluctant to leave.”
“Oi, Yukiatsu, you…!”
“Mmm..”
“I am already introspecting myself. Although I carelessly joined Yadomi in this, Menma would definitely feel unhappy for this.”
“…”
“Yadomi. You’re such a poor thing. Menma’s not here, and you don’t even go to school. How deplorable…”
“Jintan!”
Menma stared at me with her round eyes.
I had already become a sandbag. I don’t care what you say.
“But, when you do such senseless things, the real one who’s poor isn’t you but Menma…”
I couldn’t understand Matsuyuki’s feelings. Did he hate me because I said that to Menma that day?
“That’s wrong!!”
I looked at Menma.
Menma shook her head potently—not to me but everyone.
“That’s wrong! Who’s poor…Although Menma don’t understand, and don’t know why I would be here…there are many, many scary things out there and many places I’m not sure of, but…!”
When I came to my senses, Menma had already been crying.
Her face was cried to a mess, and her fists tightly clenched.
“When everyone could gather together…when everyone could think of Menma’s things, this was undoubtedly the reason of my happiness!”
“Ah!”
“Hey. Yadomi. You should forget about Menma already. Stop letting her stuck in your mind…”
“No! That’s nonesense…that’s nonesense!”
Her voice couldn’t reach Matsuyuki’s ears, yet she still continued to rebuke him.
“Even if Menma died…Menma still hopes everyone could be good friends! So…”
As if casting off her tears, Menma vibrantly lifted her head.
“So, stop quarreling for Menma!!”
“Hey. You.”
“Uh…Yadomi?”
Hey. You—I carelessly let it slip off my mouth.
Stop quareling…stop qaurreling for Menma. Do you have to worry for us to this date?
Your will was drivelled by others, your denying unheard, and your words unable to be sent.
Aren’t you the one who was hurt the most?
“Heh…It seems like you have something to say, Yadomi?”
Matsuyuki wore a provocative smile.
I had to say something.
“Ah…ah…”
What I wanted to say were beyond numbers.
However, the words seemed to be stuck firmly on the depths of my throat. No matter what I say, I would be reckoned as an idiot.
I don’t want this to happen.
This wasn’t because I lost my qualification as a leader, for I didn’t care about that thing long ago.
This was because Menma was here. Perhaps she was only my hallucination, but she was, in fact, here, and her eyes were welled with tears, her shoulders trembling. I didn’t want her to scoff at me.
No matter what I say, Matsuyuki would want to destroy me elatedly, however, his pain, or should I say, my pain, would hurt Menma even more. So…
“Hey. Yadomi. What’s the matter? You don’t have anything to say now?”
“That’s enough! Yukiatsu!!”
At the moment Hisakawa wanted to grab Matsuyuki by the arm…
“…”
Menma suddenly ran as if she had made her mind.
“Uh…?”
She ran to the bag of fireworks Anjo had put on the floor, and stretched her hand inside…
“Believe in me!” As she cried, she tore off the wrapper.
“Uh?!”
Everyone wasn’t aware of it at the start.
But when I started to scream, they followed the direction of my eyes and lost their ability to speak like I.
“What?!”
“Ehhhh?!”
Having found their voices, they made an extremely normal voie of people who met summer ghost stories first-handedly.
In front of my eyes, Menma opened the fireworks and took out a piece. I could see her, but they…
“What’s that? Why is the firework rod moving by itself?”
“Hey, Yadomi! Stop joking, what mechanism is this?”
Even Matsuyuki had a tensed face, his voice going crazy.
“Stop playing around…Stop it, Menma!!”
Actually I noticed this from the start. Menma could touch anything. Could hallucinations touch things? No, it didn’t matter whether it was a hallucination now.
If that was the case, then the evidence of Menma’s existence are limitless.
But I didn’t want that to happen.
Menma had been our pal. Even now, she was our pal. She had the same soft smile she had at that time. She would always say ‘yo’ or ‘bobobo’ like a kid.
It was the spirit that was right for the summer…I didn’t want to let the Super Peace Busters to look at her like that.
“Menma!!”
But Menma didn’t stop. She didn’t care whether they would be scared of her, or mistook her. She lightly put the rod in her hand near the candles Tsurumi had prepared for the spirit stories.
Seee…
Following the striking sound as fast as bubbles in soft drinks, the leading-line of the rod was ignited.
“!!”
In front of everyone, Menma swung her rod through the air.
The light’s trace pierced through the darkness.
It brought back the memories of that summer.
Everyone added their pocket money together and bought some fireworks. For children were restricted from playing fire, they would want to do it more when they are restricted, as they would become excited when doing bad things. Therefore, everyone waited for the sky to darken.
It was the same on that day: the rod was ignited with a ‘seee’ sound like the bubbling of soft drinks. Looking at the fiery rod, everyone cried out in joy.
“Wuagh! Excellent, Jintan! It’s round! Round!”
We were indeed children. Looking merely at the fascinating fire rod wasn’t fun. We swung the fire rod around and drew endless light traces in the dark. I swiftly twisted my wrist and drew a few circles in mid-air, and when Menma saw me doing this…
“Guess what this is!”
She swung her fire rod and drew a strange figure.
“What’s that, eight?”
“Ah, is that infinity?”
Tsurumi was right. Menma nodded her head in happiness.
“That’s right. It’s the symbol for infinity!”
“Eheh. What’s infinity?”
“Don’t you know, Popo? Infinity is the meaning for on and on till forever.”
Menma nodded again to Matsuyuki’s explanation.
“That’s it! This is us—the Super Peace Busters!”
And then, she suddenly wore a smiling face.
“It means that we are best friends for on and on till forever!!”
“…Menma.”
A flower was drawn by the traces of the fire rod in the darkness.
This flower was made by the repeated swinging of Menma’s fire rod, repeatingly telling us the meaning of ‘best friends’.
“Ah…”
Everyone who was originally scared…looked at it and started to remember the things at that time; their faces also relieved.
It wasn’t the face of seeing summer ghost stories first-handedly.
It wasn’t simply astonishment and puzzlement.
“It’s really…Menma.”
Just when Anjo murmured in her subconscious…
“…Who’s kidding!!”
When Matsuyuki roared, Menma’s actions stopped.
“Yukiatsu…?”
“Who’s kidding? What is this? I don’t believe it! I will never believe it!”
Matsuyuki’s roaring sounds reverberated in the dark woods.
His fretful and restless footsteps left gradually. No one stopped him: everyone only listened quietly to his leaving footstep sounds.
Matsuyuki’s voice disappeared. The buzzing sounds of summer insects dominated nearby places again, but everyone was still silent.
This silence represented everyone believed in Menma. This silence declared this truth with the loudest voice.
The fire rod in Menma’s hand had burnt to the end while we weren’t noticing.
“Jintan.”
Menma smiled to me. It was the same unsightly, acidulous smile she had on that day.
“Sorry.”
She apologised to me for a reason I didn’t know.
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