My Girlfriend is a Death Row Inmate - Chapter 6: Tomorrow, the day that was not supposed to come, has arrived

Chapter 6: Tomorrow, the day that was not supposed to come, has arrived

Shizuku Nanagi’s existence inevitably brought about changes. Midnight snacks and baths could be disguised by waiting until the family had fallen asleep, but there was one moment where this wasn’t possible.

Waking up.

Locking the door can be a countermeasure to some extent, but there was no reason for the family not to have a spare key. If I woke up too late, my family would step into this room and I’d be in trouble.

That’s why, at this age, I started using an alarm clock for the first time.

The time was 6:30 a.m. It was good that I woke up on time, but I felt it would be quite challenging to do this every day while Shizuku was in this house. But I had to do it. There was no other option.

“…You didn’t sleep?”

Having made the most of last night, Shizuku’s restraints were now released except for her feet. This was done to prevent her from moving, but with her upper body free, she didn’t need my help. She could remove them herself.

However, she was not afraid to call herself my slave and never tried to remove those restraints.

“…You think I didn’t sleep?”

“Did I fall asleep before you?”

“Well, who knows? If you were sleeping, maybe I wanted to see your sleeping face.”

With her hand under my armpit, Shizuku twisted her mouth lewdly and narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t you want me to see your sleeping face?”

“…No, it’s not like that.”

“Then it’s fine, right? I’ll keep looking at your sleeping face as much as I want.”

The shame I felt wasn’t because of any lewdness on her part. Even though there was no reason to be ashamed of her seeing my sleeping face… No, wait. My parents must have seen it countless times already. It’s too late to be embarrassed now.

“I’ll, umm, go now. Please don’t move today, okay?”

“Sure, sure. Do your best today.”

Doesn’t she feel any sense of crisis? Or is she enjoying this crisis?

When I looked back, Shizuku blew me a kiss from the bed. I didn’t think that act would have any influence, but in the next moment, my face flushed instantly.

———————————— 

Directing Yuuna’s attention to the incident was just a temporary measure. If she managed to navigate that situation smoothly, it would be my turn next.

Since she was being accused of lying, it was certain that I was also present at the scene. That became a fact yesterday. There was no point in trying to deny it now; I would only be branded as a liar as usual.

Moreover, it wouldn’t be surprising if the police showed up. If they investigated, they would quickly find out that those three were bullying me. Waiting at school for interrogation… It’s not an unimaginable scenario.

I went to school nervously, but I didn’t see any curious onlookers waiting for me. It would be fine if Yuuna’s interrogation was still ongoing, but I couldn’t imagine the situation turning out so conveniently.

When I carefully reached my shoe locker, I noticed something like a letter stuck inside.

Normally, any ordinary boy would feel excited or startled, but even I, who was not in any way ordinary, felt the same way. The significance was probably different.

The letter was crumpled as if it had been forcibly stuffed in. I took it out like I was picking up trash, and inside was written in what seemed to be a ballpoint pen.

“Come to the garbage dump after school.”

And it also said this:

“I know everything about you. If you don’t want to cause trouble for your family, you must come.”

It was almost like a threat, so this was not a love letter. As expected. If it were just a letter resembling a love letter, I wouldn’t go, but what concerned me was the last sentence.

I met Shizuku Nanagi by chance, and there was no planning involved. It wouldn’t be strange if someone had seen us. Even though we did destroy the evidence, we couldn’t have erased every trace.

If I were told that someone knew, I would have to go, even if it were a lie. If by some chance it were true… I would be doomed.

“…………”

I feel like my spirit is all worn out. If I’m allowed to, I would want to confide in someone about this situation right now. But that would surely be betraying Shizuku Nanagi. I couldn’t commit such an injustice to her, who trusted me completely. So what if she’s a death row convict? So what if she’s a criminal?

Since the moment I first laid eyes on her, she captured my heart. It’s too late to pretend to be a rational person now. Shizuku Nanagi and I are both criminals.

I pictured Shizuku’s face. She’s trying so hard, saying she’ll do anything I ask, and I haven’t even given her one reward yet. It wouldn’t be unfair to give her at least one reward.

As a little revenge, I decided to put the fake love letter in another locker. If it could cause a little discord among them, that would be fortunate.

I wonder what reward I should give her. Just imagining it makes me excited. Since the fear from earlier has disappeared, if anyone is expecting me to act strangely, they’ll be disappointed.

“Good morning.”

I greeted the whole class with a touch of sarcasm. I wanted to see the expressions of my classmates, but none of them seemed to care about me. Some turned to look at me, but only for a few seconds. Most of my classmates were focused on one particular spot.

“I wonder if I went too far yesterday…”

“No, no. We actually held back. She must be oversleeping.”

“I don’t think Yuuna-chan would oversleep, though.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to show your face, you know? It’s like that sometimes.”

That spot was Yuuna’s seat. Yuuna, who had quietly maintained perfect attendance, was nowhere to be found today. From various hints, I could guess what had happened, but I still had the right to get involved and know what happened. I snuck up behind Terunori and pretended like I’d been there the whole time before tapping him on the shoulder.

“Hey. What happened?”

“Huh? Ah, Yuuna didn’t come to school.”

“Yuuna?”

“Yeah, after you left yesterday, we all tried to get her to tell us everything. She suddenly started crying and asked us to wait until today to talk about it.”

“And now she’s not here.”

“Yeah.”

It didn’t go as I had imagined, but it was still a terrible experience. I was almost excited, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to make her cry, so I had mixed feelings.

“By the way, what were you trying to ask her?”

“We just wanted to understand your situation and asked her about it. We didn’t mean to make her cry intentionally. We were just curious.”

Terunori’s expression soured as he admitted, “It felt like we had done something wrong when she broke down,” and it was true. If he was aware of this, a normal person would have exercised restraint. It was the absence of such restraint that allowed onlookers like them to be unrestrained.

I hope Yuuna would reflect on this a bit, but with her not being here, it’s hard to say if she would.

Even as the class began, Yuuna was nowhere to be seen.

———————————— 

No way, did she—?

No, no, that’s highly unlikely. Shizuku Nanagi would be eagerly awaiting my return today, suppressing her boredom. She wouldn’t have any inclination to do anything beyond that, and I wouldn’t do anything even if she asked. It’s unimaginable that she, who wants to avoid police attention, would draw attention to herself.

But Yuuna was a serious girl. She wouldn’t just skip school without reason. Even the teacher seemed unaware of the reason.

Who could be the sender of that letter then?

I thought it was only Yuuna, but why call her out when she’s not here? Could it be unrelated to yesterday’s incident? Maybe it was indeed a love letter?

No, that’s impossible. Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ryuma. As you can see, Sakisaka Ryuma is not the type to attract romantic attention.

First period passed.

Second period passed.

Third period passed.

She didn’t show up. No one in the class seemed to harbor any sense of guilt or responsibility. They were all vaguely concerned, but no one seemed to think it could be their fault. They perceived it as someone else’s problem entirely.

As the fourth period was about to begin, a girl I rarely interacted with approached me.

“Ryuma.”

“Hmm?”

Her name was Maria Kujyohoshi. As her name suggests, she’s half-Japanese, and her blonde hair is the most beautiful in the class… not that there’s much to compare it to. This school prohibits dyeing hair.

So even though we didn’t have much interaction, I still remembered her. Some people call her “Madonna” because of her soft demeanor and motherly nature.

High schoolers and their nicknames, seriously.

“Let’s have lunch together!”

I didn’t mind, but it seemed like she had something she wanted to talk about.

“Sure. But you seem to have something you want to talk about.”

“Yeah. There’s something I really need to tell you. It’s about Yuuna.”