Translator: Lilo
Editor: Ryuubii

Chapter 3: Daily Attacks In the Library

Act 6

When I returned to the Hasumi residence, the front door was unlocked.

This was as usual.

But when I entered inside, I couldn’t find Hasumi-senpai anywhere.

Had she gone for a walk or gone to the convenience store? She didn’t lock the door properly, how careless. I waited for her to come back, but there was no sign of her coming back at all.

In the meantime, uncle returned first and I had to explain the situation.

When he heard my story, he immediately called his daughter’s phone. But there was no answer. She probably had it turned off or decided to ignore it.

Uncle eventually gave up, put down his phone, and looked at me, who was watching the situation from the side.

“What do you think?”

“I hate to say it, but I think Hasumi-senpai ran away from home.”

The cause was obviously me. She must have run away from home because she couldn’t stand the situation of having a mistress’s child at home. She must have been so irritated that she accidentally uttered that sarcastic remark this morning.

“Ran away from home, huh…?”

Uncle murmured.

“For the time being, we’ll wait it out for today and talk to the school tomorrow.”

And so he finally sat down on the couch for the first time since he got home. He was shocked by his daughter’s behavior which he didn’t expect, and he sat there looking truly tired.

“This is truly not easy, Misato…”

“…”

That name―Was it Hasumi-senpai’s mother?

I looked down at his figure as I stood there.

I was the reason Hasumi-senpai ran away from home. Hasumi-san, who brought me here, may have a remote cause, but the main reason was me. If that’s the case, I need to do something about it.

“Please wait a little while before contacting the school. If it spreads, it will be difficult for Hasumi-senpai to come back. Can you leave this to me?”

It was actually quite easy to solve this problem. All I had to do was just say to Hasumi-senpai, “I don’t intend to stay here for a long time.” If she wants, I can leave right away. I had already made up my mind, so I should have just told Hasumi-senpai first. If she knew about how I would only stay for a month, she might have been able to tolerate it.

“Do you have something in mind?”

“If she doesn’t have any other friends outside of school, I suspect she might be staying at her school friend’s house.”

If she had attended a prep school for the university entrance exam, she might have made friends outside of school, but as far as I could see, it didn’t seem that way.

But the question was how would I find and meet Hasumi-senpai.

§§§

The next day at lunchtime, I called Takinami-senpai to the library.

I borrowed the key because I wanted to clean up the bookshelf during my break time, although that was just the pretense. I lightly sat on the table closest to the counter and waited for Takinami-senpai to come in.

She arrived shortly after, looked around once to make sure I was the only one in the room, and finally opened her mouth.

“What’s wrong, Shizuru? What’s with the sudden call?”

“I have a few questions for you, Takinami-senpai.”

Perhaps it was because no one was present. She was very frank from the beginning, and I responded accordingly.

“From the looks of it, it doesn’t sound like you’re repenting for your past behavior and want to be in a relationship with me.”

She said it mischievously, but her face was not smiling. She knew what kind of situation she was in. So I continued on with my story without responding to her joke.

“Can you guess who Hasumi-senpai’s closest friend is?”

Takinami-senpai was in a different class from Hasumi-senpai, and they had never been together in either 10th or 11th grade. So, I’m not sure if she could give an answer, but she was the only one I can rely on at the moment.

If the factor was only being a 12th grade student, Kanata-senpai would suffice, but that person was a recluse writer who has no interest in the world.

“It would probably be Shiiba-san who you saw the other day too. Even if it’s wrong, I’m sure it would be someone from that group.”

“I see…”

Then, the first step would be to contact Shiiba-senpai. Since I managed to gain a certain amount of trust from her in the Manyoshu case, she was a relatively easy person to talk to.

“Did something happen with Hasumi-san?”

“…”

For a moment, I hesitated whether I should answer or not. However, it would not be fair to her after getting the answer I wanted and leaving her in the dark.

I open my mouth with only truth.

“Hasumi-senpai is missing.”

“Missing?”

Takinami-senpai repeated my words. Then she put her finger on her chin, and with a thoughtful look on her face, she murmured to herself, “Come to think of it, I heard that she was absent due to cold or something.”

“Is it possible that she had an accident outside?”

“I don’t think so, because there was no message or call after a full night.”

We ruled out that possibility from the beginning.

“I’m pretty convinced she ran away from home.”

“Ran away? Did something happen at home?”

“Of course something did. And it’s my fault.”

What else could it be?

“It was me! If I hadn’t gone to that house, Hasumi-senpai wouldn’t have left! I wouldn’t have made her say those heartless words! It’s all my fault!”

I hit the table three times while biting my lower lip after realizing my mistake.

“Calm down, Shizuru.”

Takinami-senpai immediately calmed me down.

“Don’t worry, Shizuru. It’s not your fault that Hasumi-san left.”

“On what basis?”

“More importantly,”

She interrupted my attempts to refute her.

“You’re gonna look for her, right?”

“Ye-yeah.”

That’s right. What I needed to do now was not to argue about where the blame lies or how foolish I am. What I needed to do right now was to find Hasumi-senpai.

“There are quicker ways to find out where Hasumi-san is.”

“What do you mean?”

Takinami-senpai let out something unexpected. Does she know something that I don’t?

“Just call them up.”

“If I could, I wouldn’t have a hard time.”

I became irritated and retorted.

If anything, it was an alternative that could not even be called an alternative.

“Have you called her since she disappeared?”

“Uncle called, but she didn’t pick up.”

“I bet.”

Takinami-senpai then let out a sigh.

“But, she will pick it up if it’s from you, Shizuru.”

And, she stated it clearly.

“I doubt it.”

“Just call her.”

“I don’t know her number.”

Where does that confidence come from? But before that, I had no way of contacting Hasumi-senpai in the first place. I really should have asked her if I knew this was gonna happen, since we had talked about it once.

“You’re siblings, right?”

Takinami-senpai looked astonished.

“Siblings that were born just yesterday, you mean.”

“Nice to meet you.” “Then let’s exchange contact information right away.” If such an exchange were possible from the start, this situation would not have happened.

“No other choice. I’m pretty sure I have her registered.”

After saying this, Takinami-senpai began to operate her smartphone. Apparently, they had exchanged text chat IDs.

“[Shizuru will call you.] and send.”

She sent a message immediately.

It seems that she didn’t send a message to “Answer the phone” or something. Perhaps she wanted to leave that to Hasumi-senpai’s judgment, or perhaps she wanted to prove that she would answer the phone if I called.

“Call her after a little bit of time has passed.”

Takinami-senpai uttered. She then pulled out a chair close at hand and sat down. I sat down lightly at the table as she did.

“Hey, Shizuru. Do you really think Hasumi left because of you?”

Takinami-senpai suddenly asked a question.

“What else is there?”

“Didn’t you say it yourself? That it’s not good without understanding things? Have you talked to her about it?”

“We got interrupted.”

After dinner that day, I had a great opportunity to talk with Hasumi-senpai, but while I was in the middle of a conversation, uncle intervened and that opportunity was squashed. I also missed another opportunity, and that was yesterday morning. What in the world am I doing?

Takinami-senpai softly smiled.

“Shizuru, you’re like a child when you look troubled. You’re so cute.”

“Can you not?”

What are you saying at a time like this?

“This is a good opportunity. Talk to Hasumi-san about it.”

Takinami-senpai, like an older person, said as if she was an older sister telling her younger brother what to do.

“Here, this is her number.”

Perhaps thinking it was about time, she showed me the screen of her phone. There was Hasumi-senpai’s name and her contact information such as phone number and email address were displayed.

I looked at it and half-heartedly tapped the number in.

The reason for this tedious process was probably because if I were to call them out of the blue, there was a good chance she would ignore it since it was an unknown number.

And so, after a few calls,

[…What?]

Hasumi-senpai’s grumpy voice.

She really picked it up.

“……”

I was speechless, not expecting for her to really answer.

[You know, you called me because you had something to say, right?]

“I’m sorry. Um… you should probably head back home. Uncle is also worried about you.”

[…..]

However, there was no reply from Hasumi-senpai.

Not long after.

[Well, I suppose. He’s my parent after all.]

She chuckled.

I wondered why she would do such a thing even though she knew what she was doing. In my mind’s eye, I could see Hasumi-san looking down with his head in his hands.

“Can we meet and talk?”

Instead of such complaints, now was the time to talk.

[I don’t mind. When and where do you want me to go?]

“At six o’clock this afternoon, in the school library.”

At Hasumi-senpai’s reluctant question, I answered.

The library closes at 6:00 PM. Unless it will be a really long talk, I can just say that the closing process took a long time as an excuse.

[…Alright.]

Hasumi-senpai replied shortly and hung up.

“It looks like she agreed to meetup.”

Said Takinami-senpai. Just by listening to my words, she must have had an approximate idea of how the conversation went.

“You owe me one. I’ll have you go out on a date with me sometime.”

“Why did you think Hasumi-senpai would answer?”