Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1

Return/Attack

Part 1

July The tily earnest——

Ikuse Tobio and a friend were on the train returning froazines near the door

“As I thought, the suspension of this one ht be better”

“If that’s the case, then wouldn’t it have been quicker to have gathered stuff at the junkyard near the riverbank?”

To Tobio’s opinion, his friend sighed with half-open eyes

“Foolish Such things, so your ownone If they’re shi+tty, then wouldn’t there be an unknown possibility of suffering severe punishment in a car accident? As ‘spected, it’s certain that, by having saved purchasing money to insert brand new parts, doesn’t that make it all more romantic?!”

His friend spoke passionately, his eyes glisteningly sparkling

Recently, he seemed crazy about leefully working part time despite the school prohibition

Incidentally, obtaining a general motorcycle license at his and Tobio’s school is also a school rule violation If one is found out, getting suspended immediately was unavoidable

However, it’s the second year of high school It’s said that boys that age by nature have an interest in bikes and cars

“Tobio’s should also get his license The two of us could go touring! It would absolutely be fun!”

Recently, he had been frequently inviting Tobio to do so

Tobio was not at all without interest But……

“Ooh, that doesn’t sound bad……But I’m not really in the mood”

Tobio replied, s wryly

“I see, it’s not easy to forget……”

His friend abruptly looked down at the floor of the car

‘Still unexplained! Sinking accident of the Heavenly of Aloha issue The case that casts a shadow on the United States’

Even as Tobio looks at it, a small shadow appears on his face

Two o, Tobio was in the midst of that incident

The sinking of the luxury liner that carried 233 of his fellow students As a survivor of the incident, Tobio was chased everyday by the media

Such is to be expected If a shi+p carrying japanese high school students caught fire in anews story It was top news at any station on a daily basis, with thethe survivors of the incident, as well as officials

A joint funeral for the deceased classmates, was carried out a as one of the surviving, was quite the newsflash during the funeral

Several students other than Tobio who also survived were in no state to attend school for a while

They were subjected to curious and also accusatory gazes but, even more so, there was a serious problem

There would suddenly be no classmates who, until recently, had all been so lively As many teachers were also lost in the accident, there weren’t many people at school who could offer consolation That incident, given how public it was, hts in one’shunted by the press, had little choice but to stay home until the excitement over the incident died down

“Froe that they never found people who lived through it?”

To his friend’s question, Tobio lowered his gaze

“Aah, only those who did not participate in the school trip survived ……Aether, myself included”

Those who had survived from the same school year as Tobio, they were all limited to students who had not been able to attend the school trip as well A both the students who attended as well as the teachers, there were no survivors

When the shi+p broke in half, one side had sunk to the sea floor, while the other half continued to be searched From here, the bodies of a few of the teachers were recovered, the only bodies that were found from those aboard From that search, the corpses of students were not once found to be intact The search proceeded to try and salvage the remains that had sunk to the ocean floor, but the sunken shi+p had ended up in an unexpectedly tight crevice, fro it was extremely difficult As of now, there was no set prospect of recovering them

Those on TV proposed a variety of theories for the sinking accident, while suspicious gossip was circulated about what the true inside story was Every day there’s a shady cohboring country!’ or ‘Supernatural phenomenon!’, ‘It’s the work of UFO!’ and the like, but all that talk just seems foolish

——It’s because the cause of the sinking accident is still unknown

Dubious theories are just areality

However, the japanese easily grew tired of the subject Without any progress in the case, by the tie of political corruption becaradually was treated as less neorthy

Maybe the bereaved fa any fuss is to bla “take a risk!” and such, little by little it became an issue they didn’t want to face

By that ti with Tobio had each decided which school that had accepted the theh School after all that they’d been through Every one of his fellow student was no longer attending school there

Thus the surviving students all scattered, fleeing frohbors from when they attended that first school, who had also watched them with unrestrained curiosity

“That ti Because of the mass ate”

As his friend recalled the scene, Tobio wore a bitter expression

As his friend has said, he’d been asked to comment every day in school but none of them were used

Initially treating hi him troublesome looks, he barely spoke to the students he encountered, and finally was granted some peace

Early suer talked about, his unease turned to composure, and he was able to calm down in his oay And so for the first time he was able to deeply feel the loss of his classmates

“Well, these thoughts must be painful, so isn’t better that that you devote yourself to adapting to this new life? Thinking about such unpleasant things, that certainly harmful to your mind and body”

Hitting hiement Tobio was thankful and obediently followed these words

In the meantiets off

“Ah, well I’ Don’t worry and cheer up”

He gets off the train and shows a guts pose to Tobio with a sives a short reply of, “Ah, see you,” and shook his hand

“………”

Tobio remained alone in the car and exhaled

Sorry——

Tobio in his heart, apologized to his friend

Between the new friends, a deep gap still exists A gap that still did not feel filled

While being jolted in the train, Tobio was gazing at the sky

When he is alone, he hasin a daze like this

Suddenly taking out his cell phone, Tobio lowers his gaze to the mail screen The majority of his inbox was used for preservation, to keep the past fro

The address, that of the friends who died in the accident The mail was sent fro alone on the train, checking the mail has become a daily routine Every time he sees the e- hiia It is not possible to send replies to the mail, it’s simply accumulated But even if they can’t send mail, it’s Tobio’s only point of contact with them

And so he will continue to check theer stops on one of the e-irl as Tobio’s childhood friend

‘Boarding the airplane now Looking forward to some comfortable air travel See you later And !’

E-mail that would have been sent from the airport This was it, the last contact from her

His new life had begun, the life he had become accustomed to, where Tobio, when he was alone, would often cry in his rooreat sense of loss

Lunch break, the upsurge of stupid topics on the roof, spending tia school, the day-to-day memories

Sae who had gone to high school with him—— Since they lived nearby it was a coettable smile

——That everyday occurrence is gone

On the day she left for the school trip, Sae’s appeared to have such a lonely look as she left ——

He’ll never again be able to hear the reason for such a face

So that Tobio cannot recover

Tobio, rather than getting off at the station he would usually, got off two stations early

He could stop by the bookstore, kill soame center

Alone, returning to that large apartment, he would just think about his classhts started in his head, they would persistently fill his mind until he left home the next day

The sense of loss would violently corrode his mind

So, as a so would the pain be alleviated

6 pm passed, 7 o’clock arrived The sun re time in the summer, and so was still out as late as 7 o’clock

Tobio, having lost the fighting ga the final boss battle, while sighing decided to return home At this time, the street was sparsely populated with people like office workers that just finished work Tobio alking with hollow eyes

It hen he got to the crosswalk Suddenly looking at the sidewalk across the street, Tobio’s vacant eyes spotted so Instantly, his eyes opened as wide as they could

——Sae

What he was currently seeing, it was a figure that was supposed to be i violently

They had a relationshi+p where each had watched the other’s growth froe There’s no way he could be mistaken

Before he could try to reach out, the pedestrian signal turned red As onework became like a wall, with no way to proceed

Quickly change to blue! Sae is……,Sae is right there!

As Tobio watched, several , Tobio was further startled

Aood friend froure of Sasaki Kouta

Sasaki was talking at length with Sae And then, the group that includes Sasaki and Sae walked off to someplace

I have to jued

He realizes Sae’s group will cross with the alternating signal When the signal changed, the group that alking was just barely still in sight Wading through the crowd, Tobio started running

She was alive——

He did not yet know that the person was indeed her It ht be an illusion formed by his own desires

But, her dead body had not been recovered from the sea Corpses had not been found

They ht not necessarily be dead There were 200 or e even if a few people drifted and ended up somewhere on the island! His lack of co due to the illusion caused him to think so

Tobio crazily chased after the group

As the sun went down, the color of dusk deepened

Tobio was breathing heavily, as he chased the group However, being caught by a signal again a few one

Little by little, he proceeded to walk towards unpopulated streets

As he advanced down the dimly lit road, the street becaure enter a construction site area at the extremes of his vision

He gave chase, reaching the front of the building under construction It was a scene for the construction of a condoely open, ain entrance

Tobio, confir, stepped into the site He proceeded to enter the site filled with steel and wood

Since the light from the electric la sky of dusk, visibility was very poor inside Tobio turned on the ht

It hen he was co there——

Tobio was fa a white shi+rt instead of the school unifor, doubtlessly the back of the friend who had attended the sa of this year

“……Sasaki?”

Gingerly, Tobio called out

Despite being called, Sasaki continued defiantly walking towards the back ……He began to feel worried about as up ahead ……He began to wonder if the individual was conscious, or even human

“Sasaki……what’re you doing?”

Again, Tobio called out Then the boy turned to face hiht that had been shi+ning on his back now lit up his eyes

“——!”

Tobio let out an inarticulate sound and shrank back

Fro noticed hi towards hiiant lizard The ed with a slurping sound as it stared at hi nearby was certainly Sasaki It must be Sasaki Tobio was convinced

At that ht at it, there was the a there

There were deep scars on the head The skin around the eyeball on one side had been scraped away

“Hii!”

Tobio released a sht

The lizard beginshe heard earlier !

In front of hi at Tobio, his neck slightly inclined The chest of his white shi+rt has been stained red by the spray of the dog’s blood

Sasaki—— He was Sasaki It was the sao to karaoke and arcades with But while he was alearing a prankster’s smile, now he just stared at Tobio eain but his voice wasn’t working It’s probably because his body and mind have been paralyzed with fear

“You……what are you doing?”

It was a question that Tobio somehow squeezed out

“……oun……d”