It was a secluded spot deep in the back of the bicycle parking area, a place where students rarely ventured. Wataru and Shinonome-san headed toward it, seemingly sensing the gravity of the situation. I followed hurriedly after them.
“……”
“...I see,” Wataru muttered.
Unable to grasp the situation, my gaze shifted back and forth between Wataru and Shinonome-san. I had a bad feeling about this, but the heavy tension in the air stifled any words I might have used to ask for details.
“...So? Why did you approach me in such a surreptitious way, given the circumstances?” Wataru asked in a somewhat nonchalant tone.
It didn't seem as if he felt nothing after hearing Shinonome-san say she was being monitored by her family's orders. I could see his intention to dispel the darkening mood.
“...That hand...”
“!”
In response to Wataru's words, Shinonome-san returned a pained look. Her eyes were fixed on Wataru’s left hand, which was wrapped in a bandage stained with a faint, reddish-brown seepage. After staring for a moment, she took a step toward him, as if testing the limits of what was allowed under her surveillance.
“Hey, what are you—?!”
Wataru took a step back. But Shinonome-san didn’t stop; she walked right up to him. Then, keeping her eyes on his left hand, she gently and tenderly picked it up, being careful not to touch the injured area. Both Wataru and I were taken aback by her sudden action.
“Ah... It’s because of me... If only I hadn’t done that...”
“No, wait... Young Lady...”
As if handling a fragile piece of glass, Shinonome-san placed Wataru's left hand on her own palm and stroked it with her fingertips. Then, as if to deliver a finishing blow to the flustered Wataru, she brought his hand to her white cheek and closed her eyes as if in prayer. Her face was filled with a sorrow that looked like anguish and regret. She looked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
As I stood there dazed, the Driver, who had been monitoring Shinonome-san, began to move.
“The luggage, if you please.”
“Eh... Um, this is Wataru’s...”
“I am aware.”
The elderly gentleman, clearly many years my senior, held out his gloved hands. I almost handed over Wataru's bag as I was told, but at the last second, I tightened my grip on the straps and hugged it to my chest.
“We shall see Sajou-sama home ourselves,” he said.
“E-Eh, um...”
Troubled, I turned my gaze toward Wataru, and our eyes met.
Wataru, with his left hand still held by Shinonome-san, nodded with a troubled, resigned expression. I relaxed my arms and held out the bag.
“I shall take custody of it.”
“Ah...”
As the bag left my arms, the cold air rushing into the empty space left me with a sudden sense of loss. Perhaps Wataru’s bag had been my emotional anchor to keep myself composed in this place. Having lost it, I felt unbearably vulnerable.
“Sajou-san.”
“...What is it?”
Shinonome-san stepped back—but continued to speak while still holding Wataru’s left hand. Wataru replied in an exasperated tone. I wondered if he wasn't afraid of having his injured hand held like that. He could have asked her to let go... or at least shown some kind of resistance.
“I have heard that your parents drive you to school in the mornings.”
“Well, yeah... I don't know who you heard that from, though.”
“And I also heard that on the way home, your parents’ schedules don’t align, so you walk.”
“Wait, seriously, who told you that?”
Come to think of it, he was right. Wataru was being dropped off by car in the morning to protect his injury, yet he was walking home. I had been so caught up in walking home with him that the question had never even crossed my mind. So that was the situation.
How did Shinonome-san find out? I’d always felt she had a kind of power that normal girls didn't, but I wondered if she could find out anything she wanted if she tried.
“Therefore, I would like to take on the duty of seeing you home until this injury is no longer a burden.”
“Wha...”
Wataru seemed troubled by the fact that she was maintaining control over the situation from start to finish. I felt the same way. I’d been listening the whole time, but I couldn’t understand why Shinonome-san had to be involved with Wataru’s injury. Why was it that Shinonome-san would be the one seeing Wataru home from now on?
If that happened, it would be as if I was no longer—
I didn’t ask for the reason behind the emotions welling up inside me. Whether it was a self-defense reaction born of anxiety and confusion, or my suppressed feelings snapping back like a spring, the needle of my heart pointed sharply toward confrontation.
“—U-Um!”
“! N-Natsukawa...?”
“I’ll... I’ll take responsibility for seeing Wataru home!”
I didn’t understand the situation. However, the one thing that absolutely could not change was that Wataru would go home with me. No external interference was needed. Who was the one who had been watching over Wataru at school ever since his hand was wrapped in that bandage? I wouldn't say it was only me, but I didn't want someone who had just suddenly appeared to take that role away from me now.
Shinonome-san released Wataru and turned toward me.
“...On foot, I presume?”
“Ugh... Y-Yes, on foot...”
“And what responsibility do you have?”
“T-That’s...”
“Natsukawa Aika-san.”
“...Gh...”
A strong, blue gaze was directed at me.
Shinonome-san’s goal was to ensure that the injured Wataru wasn’t burdened. To that end, she was intending to use a car.
And what about me? I wanted to make sure Wataru didn’t get distracted by his injury and cause another accident. To that end, I would be Wataru’s left hand and his eyes, staying alert on his behalf. That was why we walked home together—but which one was more certain, more for Wataru’s sake? It was so obvious that I had no words to strike back with.
“……”
In that case, what about responsibility? It was true that there might be no reason for me to go out of my way to stay by Wataru’s side. But the reason I stayed there was because I simply couldn't stand by, I couldn't just leave him alone, I couldn't feel at peace unless I was there!
“Natsukawa, let’s just—”
“—What about you, Shinonome-san?”
“H-Hey, Natsukawa.”
With those words of retort, I became aware that I was fighting right now. I felt an uncontrollable sense of dislike, and now that I had put it into words, I couldn't back down.
“What responsibility or reason do you have to get close to Wataru?”
“...Natsukawa-san.”
“If it’s just out of kindness, then I’ve already got it covered. There’s no need for you to go that far when you barely have any connection to him!”
I didn’t want to lose.
I wanted to know more than Shinonome-san did.
I thought that, by now, there were no secrets between us.
I wanted to have the same "tomorrow" again.
As my voice grew sharper, I caught Shinonome-san's gaze. There was no agitation in her eyes. She remained composed. I felt her will to meet my challenge head-on. In contrast to my vision, which was being flooded with inconvenient information, there was no brake inside me to calm my heart.
“—I have both responsibility and a reason.”
“...Eh.”
My momentum was crushed by her overwhelming words.
The wind died down as if time had stopped. My heated head cooled, bringing clarity, and I remembered a reality I didn't want to admit, accompanied by the return of that bad feeling. A back moving away, a face I’d never seen before. The vector of a heart that had lost its rights.
“...What is it?”
“N-Natsukawa, that's enough. I don't want to be a burden to you anyway.”
“Wataru... didn't you get hurt because you were being careless? You said you tripped, and as you put your hand down, a tool stabbed you.”
“Yeah, that's right.”
The sequence of events leading up to the injury that I’d heard from Wataru.
While my worry grew because it was a major injury, I had thought that if it was Wataru, who had worked so hard for the Cultural Festival, then maybe he could have made such a blunder because he was being too earnest. A part of me had even felt exasperated, thinking he was such a klutz.
“Wasn't it just... Wataru's blunder?”
If that were the case, I could have stayed by his side as I pleased. I could have hidden my guilt by using Wataru's personal circumstances as a reason. Without looking for a reason, I could have used that alone as an excuse to talk to him. As a lid to cover my anxiety, it was the one thing I could cling to—
“...A blunder? A blunder, you say...?”
“...!”
“H-Hey...”
Shinonome-san’s voice changed. Her pale face turned bright red, and she clenched both hands into fists. She grit her teeth, her shoulders beginning to tremble.
With an expression that was a mix of anger and a sob, her sharp, tear-filled eyes turned toward me.
“—That's not it at all!!”
It was the first time I had ever seen her show such raw emotion. Both the composure she’d shown during the Fashion Show and the meekness she’d shown toward Wataru until moments ago vanished. She threw powerful words at me, her blonde hair disheveled. I didn’t even think of resisting; I didn’t have the courage to face it—I just wanted to know the truth.
“T-This person...!”
“Hey, Young Lady!”
“Young Lady!”
“He did it to protect me!”
Shinonome-san squeezed the words out through her trembling. Wataru and the Driver grabbed her shoulders to restrain her. Wataru seemed to try to cover her mouth, but with his hand bandaged, there was a hesitation in his movement.
“—He stabbed his own hand to save my life!!”
The truth, laden with her passion, rained down on me like freezing water.
Along with the force of her words, a single drop slid from one of Shinonome-san’s blue eyes. The transparency of those tears, which felt completely devoid of lies, reflected her flushed skin.
Ah... I...
“He groaned in pain! He showed me his bleeding hand! Just so that a foolish girl like me would stop!!”
I—once again, I knew nothing at all.