Stalking

“Hey… Does Mom… love me?”

Aoi-kun muttered this, covered in blood in the snow.

“Yeah. Mom… truly… loves Yuto.”

“I see… I also… love Mom…” Tears overflowed from his eyes at that moment.

It’s evident that these tears aren’t artificial but natural.

Then, the scene shifts to Aoi-kun being embraced by the actress playing his mother as the credits roll.

Directed by an unknown director, starring unknown actors, the film “Night at the Winter Manor” was shown in only one theater but remained a cult classic.

I admired the child, who seemed to be around my age, for his truly immersive performance.

“Dad… This kid is amazing!”

“Yeah. He’s incredible. If only that thing hadn’t happened, he’d probably be a famous child actor by now.”

“That thing?”

The lead child actor was involved in a fatal accident just two months after the movie was released. Even after several years, there were no reports of him appearing in any other films.

Just like his character died in the movie, the actor himself died as well.

And then, eight years later, during my third year of middle school…

◇

“Hey! Onozuka-kun was saying he likes the ocean!”

“R-really…”

“Why the lack of enthusiasm? It’s Onozuka-kun! The ace of the soccer team, handsome, and smart Onozuka-kun!”

“Well… I’m not really interested in romance or anything like that.”

“What?! What a waste! If it were me, I’d start dating him right away!”

“Haha…”

Such was the conversation I was having with my friend Sakina Magudo.

I wasn’t interested in romance at all. I believed that no matter how charming a guy might be, my heart would never flutter.

But I didn’t know the direct cause of that feeling within myself.

“Anyway, about the test we had the other day,” Sakina was saying, when a boy walked past behind her.

He had a slightly downcast, gloomy, and deeply despondent look on his face.

I immediately recognized him as that child actor.

At that moment, my heart began to stir distinctly.

“Hey, are you even listening? About the math scores…”

“Huh? Oh, yeah…”

I used all my brainpower to memorize his appearance.

For starters, I knew he didn’t go to my junior high.

So when I got home, I researched the uniforms of nearby junior highs one by one. After picking out several similar uniforms, I went to those schools the next day after class to confirm.

Finally, on the third try, I arrived at the correct school.

After that, I searched various social media platforms, but I couldn’t find any information about him. Still, I couldn’t give up.

I contacted kids who went to the same elementary school and asked if they knew anyone who went to that junior high.

“He has long bangs, looks a bit gloomy, slender… seems lacking in motivation, or rather, lacking in energy. Oh, could it be Yamaguchi?'”

“Do you have any pictures?”

“Pictures? Hmm, I wonder if there are any of Yamaguchi… Just a moment.” Then, three minutes later, they returned and said, “Found one! It’s from the sports festival… he’s in the corner. Sending the picture now.”

And what came through was indeed that boy sitting cross-legged in the corner.

“Who’s this… So, what’s he like?”

“He’s… kind of gloomy. Doesn’t have many friends and is really quiet.”

“What’s his name?”

“It’s Aoi Yamaguchi.”

From then on, I investigated everything about him. Not just his address, but his phone number, his few friends, whether he knew any girls, and even which high school he was planning to attend.

“Hey, Shichiya. You could aim for a better high school. There’s no reason for you to choose this one a bit far away,” my homeroom teacher said.

“…I have to go to this high school.”

“But…”

Despite my parents’ objections, I succeeded in entering the same high school as him. However, I never ended up in the same class as him in my first and second years. All I could do was stalk him.

However, after several years of stalking, I managed to grasp most of his circumstances.

Since that traffic accident incident, his relationship with his family had deteriorated, and he was no longer treated as a part of the family. This was likely influenced by the fact that both of his younger sisters were geniuses.

Surrounded by his two sisters—the eldest holding the record for the 100-meter sprint among junior high school girls, and the younger one with a talent for singing so great that she appeared on TV—he endured verbal abuse and shouting.

Gradually, it seemed like he had completely closed off his heart.

Watching him like this, I wanted to do something, but with my introverted personality, there was nothing I could do.

So, if given the chance, I wanted to talk to him a little. One day, as usual, I was stalking him pretending it was a coincidence, and I noticed he was tailing someone too.

It was Marin Shiozaki, the popular girl in class.

At that moment, my heart felt like it was about to burst with pain.

Then, as they happily got into a taxi together and disappeared somewhere, I felt like something inside me had cleaved apart.