The next day, Rena came to school, acting normal like she said she would.
She talked with Mion as cheerfully as she always did, and it made me wonder if the story she told me last night was a complete fabrication.
That's because the story really was... too ridiculously crazy to believe.
This village has a very weird and rare endemic disease... and there are religious fanatics who want to use the disease to revive their weird cult.
...And they've been researching the pathogen of the endemic disease so they can spread it throughout the village...
I was deeply influenced by Rena last night, and I believed everything she said...
...but thinking about it with a cool mind under the bright sunlight, it sounds too crazy to be true.
The story Rena told me is based on Takano-san's crazy hand-me-down ideas. It's based entirely on her theories, which, though very feasible, have no evidence whatsoever.
...The fact that Takano-san was murdered lends credit to the story. I'll give you that, but...
I looked at Mion.
She was fooling around with Rena.
...It's hard to believe that she's involved with some crazy conspiracy.
"Hey, are you listening, Kei-chan?"
"What?
Oh... ahh... I'm sorry.
I wasn't paying attention."
"Aha ha ha ha!
Wake up, sleepyhead!
You need to get enough sleep, or your brain stops working!"
Mion made fun of me for reacting too slowly.
...It's almost impossible not to trust this bubbly, cheerful girl.
I trust Mion.
I trust my friends.
I know she'd never have a hand in a crazy conspiracy like that.
If she knew about it, she wouldn't be able to act this cheerfully.
...Rena told me not to tell Mion because she might be one of them...
But it might be worth telling her without letting Rena know.
...Of course, there's at least a 1% chance that the conspiracy is true and that Mion is one of them. If so, I'd be doomed.
But if I had to choose between believing the crazy conspiracy theory and trusting my friends, my answer would be obvious.
I know that my friend, Mion, isn't a part of any conspiracy. She'd never be involved with something like that.
Even if the conspiracy exists, I'm sure Mion will be on our side.
So, whether or not it's true, it must be worth telling Mion about it...
"What's going on, Kei-chan?
Why did you call me out here?
You told me not to tell anybody.
You're not going to extort money from me, are you?"
"Is that the first thing you think of when you're called out to the gymnasium storeroom...?"
"Oh, I know. You want to give me a love letter, don't you?
People usually use the shoe locker for that, you know?"
"We don't really do that in the city.
A lot of guys hand over their love letters in person."
"Really...?
So, wait... you're... ummm..."
"...Are you kidding me? That's not why I called you here.
I have to talk to you about something very important.
I want you to listen without making fun of me."
"...What... is it...?"
"Do you know... that there are people who want to revive the cult of Oyashiro-sama?"
".........Huh?
What? What are you talking about?"
This, of course, was just my way of getting a feel for the situation.
I wanted to see how she was going to react by getting straight to the point.
But Mion really did look puzzled.
...People wouldn't normally react like this if someone pointed out their secrets out of the blue.
They always panic, if only just a little.
Either Mion was a brilliant actress... or she really didn't have anything to do with the idea of reviving Oyashiro-sama.
...I decided to tell her everything.
"Mion,
your family, the Sonozaki family, has a lot of influence in this region, including Hinamizawa, right?
......Do you think there's a possibility that they're working to revive the cult of Oyashiro-sama behind the scenes...?"
"......Revive?
Why?"
"Well, you know,
people today don't worship Oyashiro-sama like the people in the old days did.
So... people like... fundamentalists might be trying to make people worship Oyashiro-sama in the same way as the people of Onigafuchi."
"What?
Wait a second.
I have no idea what you're talking about."
"...Are you sure...? You really have no idea what I'm talking about...?"
"Of course I don't!
It sounds like one of those popular novels that sold 5 million copies over in America."
Mion's reaction was very natural.
It seemed impossible that she was pretending she didn't know anything about it.
...But regardless, I continued.
"Well...
There are people like that in this village for real.
Do you know anything about them?"
"You're saying that those people want to make us worship Oyashiro-sama like the people of Onigafuchi did...
What good will that do?"
"...You know... I think it means a lot to people who really believe..."
"But, think about it, Kei-chan.
Who'd be happy to live under those strict ancient rules?
In this day and age, it's almost impossible to live without leaving the village."
"But for example... think about Rika-chan!
All the old people say she's a reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama, right?
Those people might be religious fanatics, and..."
"Are you talking about old man Kimiyoshi?
Well... I know he's a deeply religious man for sure, but he isn't a fanatic."
"Believe me!
There really are people who are trying to revive the cult of Oyashiro-sama!"
"Ah ha ha ha!
...Okay.
I'll believe you for now, because I want to hear the rest.
Go on."
"They found out that the curse of Oyashiro-sama was just an endemic disease unique to this village, so now they're researching the pathogen."
"Where?
First of all, what's an endemic disease?
What's a pathogen?
They sound gross."
I was getting confused. I didn't know what I was talking about myself anymore...
I was deeply influenced by Rena last night, and believed everything she said.
But... having said it all out loud, I started realizing how impossible the story sounded...
"What's going on with you?
Did Miyo-san tell you all this?"
"......!
...How did you know?"
"She's infamous for this kind of thing.
She's an occult maniac. She always makes up crazy stories.
A few people have gotten badly taken in by her before.
She told me some of her stories once, and I remember they were actually very interesting.
Ah ha ha."
"...Is that...
true?"
"I think you've heard about this once or twice before, but this village had a unique culture back in the old days.
They did a lot of oppressive things, like having very strict rules, very strict punishments, and a bunch of other cruel traditions. They're well known among occult maniacs.
Miyo-san is one of them."
"So... the story I heard about the weird parasite that controls the village was..."
"What?!
Parasite?!
...Is that a new story she came up with?"
"What do you mean, 'new story'?"
"I told you. Miyo-san is an occult maniac.
She studies the weird legends surrounding Onigafuchi, and enjoys making up hypotheses, theories, and wild stories about them.
She's created a lot of different ones aside from that theory that parasites are controlling the village.
One I heard an awful while back was about UFOs.
That one was interesting, since it connected a lot of different dots!
The story was about a UFO that crashed into Onigafuchi Swamp long ago. The alien that was in the UFO and the villagers had a battle... or something like that. It was like one of those sci-fi horror B movies.
The one Satoko heard was a theory about creatures from the bottom of the ocean.
A movement in the Earth's crust opened up a connection between that underwater world and Onigafuchi, and......
the princess of the underworld fell in love with a young man in the village. It was like a sci-fi version of Romeo and Juliet.
The story about the parasites that you heard must be a new one.
I hope she makes all of them into a book one day. Heh heh heh!"
Mion began laughing so hard that she had to hold her stomach.
...As I looked at her laughing like that... I realized I fell for something that ridiculous.
At that point, it was obvious.
...I had been completely taken in.
"I'm sorry, Mion!
But please answer my questions!
First... Do the fanatics who are trying to revive the cult of Oyashiro-sama exist?!"
"No, they don't.
I mean, it's totally the opposite.
The Three Families have agreed to open Hinamizawa to outsiders in order to make this village thrive.
I'm not supposed to tell anybody about this, but there's a project to build a new highway by the end of the 20th century.
The Sonozaki family is promoting its construction without informing the villagers.
If all goes well, this whole area will flourish.
My grandma is betting she'll make a fortune when it causes land prices in the region to skyrocket.
Well, most of the work will happen in the 21st century, so I'll likely end up taking over the project."
"So... you don't think there are people who hate outsiders?"
"I told you! There are no such people!
What makes you think we want to make this village more inconvenient than it already is?
In fact, we've already started selling the land of the village to rich people who want to build country residences here.
Your house is on the first lot we sold, Kei-chan.
Didn't the villagers welcome you?
The Three Families are trying to do everything they can to stop young people from leaving the village."
There was nothing vague about what Mion had said.
Her story makes a lot more sense than Takano-san's delusional theories.
...And so, Mion's words woke me up from that delusion.
"So... what about this? I heard that the residents of Hinamizawa have extraordinarily high levels of something in their blood, and it proves that they're infected by parasites..."
"Really?
How did Miyo-san figure that out?"
"Takano-san is a nurse. I'm sure she can do that..."
"And you think anyone would give her blood samples for no reason?
Because I sure don't.
Even if she could get blood samples somehow, how and where would she examine them?
How many blood samples do you think she examined all by herself?"
...Mion was right.
I couldn't believe I thought Takano-san could do all that just because she was a nurse.
It struck me hard to believe that she got that many blood samples and did a high level examination like that without any help.
...When I thought about it rationally... I shouldn't have believed such a ridiculous story so easily.
"Umm... I heard that people here don't get hay fever, which is proof of their being infected by the parasite...!"
"Only people in cities get hay fever.
I heard it has something to do with fuel emissions.
Kei-chan, you're talking about Hinamizawa.
I mean, even people in Okinomiya don't get hay fever, I think."
"Well... what about this?!
I heard that the Sonozaki family has a death squad and that they kidnapped the grandson of a government Minister once!"
"Ah ha ha ha ha!
That sounds cool! I wish I had a squad like that!
Ah ha ha ha ha!"
...Even I was sounding ridiculous.
...But I believed all of it last night.
...I believed it because Rena looked very serious.
"It's true that the grandson of a Minister was found in Takatsudo.
We didn't do it.
We just acted as if we did."
"...What do you mean? Please explain."
"Okay.
The Onigafuchi Guardians protested violently during the dam conflict.
They did something close to terrorism as well.
But there were people who used the resistance movement for their own benefits.
They used the name of the Onigafuchi Guardians to rob people of money and valuables."
The Onigafuchi Guardians were a very aggressive force at that time.
There's a high possibility that some people thought they could use the name to extort money.
"The kidnapping case was one of those incidents.
The kidnappers thought they could stifle the police investigation by acting like they were the Onigafuchi Guardians. They kidnapped the boy to demand a ransom.
To tell you the truth, the members of the Onigafuchi Guardians were all very surprised.
They were actually impressed that those guys actually pulled it off.
I remember they even said they'd give them an award."
"W-Wait a second!
So, the Onigafuchi Guardians had nothing to do with...
the kidnapping?!"
"No.
Not at all."
Mion said it firmly.
It was a simple and clear answer, which left no room for suspicion.
And thinking about it, it's nothing surprising.
Kidnapping the grandson of a Minister and negotiating with him in person is a huge deal.
The Onigafuchi Guardians were a very aggressive group, but this operation wasn't so easy that it could be carried out by any of the normal residents of Hinamizawa.
It was obviously the work of professional criminals, without a doubt!
"...Like I said earlier,
the Sonozaki family acted as if we were the masterminds of the kidnapping case."
"What do you mean by that...?"
"...This is... a secret precept of the Sonozaki family.
You can't tell anybody about this, okay?!
When an incident like this happens, we traditionally act as if we're responsible for it. It's a tradition of bluffing."
"......Bluffing...!
Really?!"
"Yeah.
It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it works out in our favor. It can be a criminal incident,
the weather, or even lottery numbers.
We act as if it happened because the Sonozaki family wanted it to happen.
It starts to sound like we're a very powerful organization,
doesn't it?
That's the point.
This is the secret strategy that only the Sonozaki family heads know about.
This strategy is meant to make us look bigger and stronger than we really are."
"....Wow.........
So... what about the plan they had during the dam conflict? The one to attack the Ministry of Construction.
Was that true?
I heard that they obtained weapons and even trained for it...!"
"Heh heh heh heh!
That was the spin we put on it.
There's no way we could actually carry out a crazy plan like that!
Our real goal was to make people believe that we were capable of doing things like that so we could exact pressure on the government.
That's all."
They obtained weapons and went through training just so they could exact pressure. They had no intention of actually carrying out the plan.
...The Sonozaki family was just bluffing...
That made sense.
Of course it did...!
It's impossible to attack the Ministry of Construction. Even if they did, it wouldn't solve the problem! All I had to do was use common sense!
Even if they did, they would have been crushed within seconds by a huge number of policemen! Why didn't I think of that?
"What about the weapons and the training...?"
"As for the weapons... no comment. Aha ha ha!
But we did go through training.
We needed to do that in order to make the bluff look real!
We gathered some younger men from my father's office and appointed Kasai-san as leader of the group. We went to a desert in Texas, played war games with some instructors, and went sightseeing in San Francisco afterwards.
Ah ha ha ha ha."
"So... So......"
I couldn't think of anything else.
...It was obvious now.
I... no, Rena and I both...
...were completely fooled by the scrapbooks of Takano-san's delusion...
Rena was so serious about it, so I believed her... but if you examined it closely, there were so many inconsistencies.
I couldn't believe Rena took a delusion like that so seriously.
...I knew the reason why, though.
...She was still in a state of shock after being caught with the corpses that day. She was mentally unstable.
Then she came across this tall tale... and she believed it.
Rena is a smart girl.
She wouldn't have taken it seriously if she was stable!
Plus, another thing happened to wake me up from the delusion.
The white van I saw yesterday came to school during the lunch break. The four men in work uniforms I saw were there, too.
I said thank you to Mion, and followed them.
The man who talked to me yesterday knocked on the door of the teacher's office.
"Hello. I'm from the Okonogi Gardeners."
"Oh, thank you for coming.
It's very hot today, isn't it?"
"It sure is. By the way, you look very beautiful today, as always. Eh heh heh!"
"Thank you. Well, you can start whenever you're ready."
"Yes, we'll start right away.
My account manager told me to give this to you."
"The quote and the invoice, I see.
The date is left blank on both of them.
Well, there shouldn't be any problem.
Thank you so much."
"All right. We'll start right away!"
The man was talking to Chie-sensei with a big smile.
"...Mm?
What are you doing here, Maebara-kun?"
"Oh, Principal...
Who is that guy...?"
The principal pointed his finger at the window.
When I looked out, I heard the noise of an engine starting.
The noise was coming from the engine of a motorized lawn mower.
I saw young men in work uniforms taking another lawn mower, some brooms, and a ladder out of the van.
"They're gardeners.
We haven't taken care of the grass around the fence and the trees for a long time.
I wanted to clean them up before summer."
"Mr. Principal, thank you for giving us a call!"
The man noticed the principal, took off his hat, and bowed.
"No need!
I trust your work. Please take care of things."
"I think we can finish it today.
We might make a lot of noise, though."
Each worker took one of the tools and walked towards the fence where the grass was growing.
The engine of the lawn mower was very loud, and the kids who were playing in the school yard looked at it curiously.
"Hey!!
It's dangerous out here. Go back to your classroom!"
It was Chie-sensei.
She handed an envelope with the documents in it to the principal.
It said "Okonogi Gardeners" in green on the envelope.
"Principal,
please sign the invoice and drop it off at their office next time you go to the town hall."
"Of course.
Will do."
"Ah... Chie-sensei.
Did they come here yesterday?"
"Yes.
They came here to look at the grass late in the afternoon.
They told me they got lost on the way back because they tried to take a shortcut."
"This village has a lot of small roads branching off everywhere,
and they can be very confusing."
"I remember when I first came here..." Chie-sensei started talking about when she got lost, and they laughed together.
There was... never anything suspicious to begin with.
...I thought they were suspicious yesterday... because of what Rena had told me.
At first, I thought it wasn't unusual to see a white van.
But then, right after I heard her creepy story, I saw a white van parked on the road, and I got scared.
The gardeners weren't familiar with the roads of Hinamizawa, and they got lost trying to take a shortcut on their way back.
That's all.
............I
had it totally twisted around?!
I believed that fake-sounding story. I believed that the Sonozaki family was working behind the scenes, and I fabricated the existence of a group of fanatical believers in my mind.
Worse, I doubted Mion!
Damn it!!
I'm such a fool!
She's my friend!
We took each other's hands that day, saying that we were a family made of friends, and that friends were friends no matter what!
I said that... but then, I doubted my friend... I'm so stupid...!!
...Anyway, Rena was the problem!
She also needed to wake up from this crazy delusion!!
I had to hurry and wake her up.
Rena seemed like she had no mind to listen to anyone else.
She truly believes that the Sonozaki family are the masterminds of a large-scale conspiracy...!
I remembered the plate number of the white van, and I also remembered their faces.
...Without a doubt, this was one of the vans that have been following me!
So far, I've confirmed that three or four cars have been following me.
I could especially recall this white van because it followed me around the longest of all.
The people who were in the other cars must be the lookouts, and the ones in this van must be tasked with direct contact, like kidnapping or assassination.
The lookouts secure the surroundings, and the ones in this van attack the target...!
That's a common maneuver involved in both kidnapping and assassination. The scrapbooks said that, too.
...If so, I'd better watch out because it was them, not the lookouts, who came to the school premises.
I don't think they'll attack me while I'm in school.
They're in the early stage of their covert operation now, hiding their fangs and claws until the last stage of their horrifying scheme.
...That's why they won't take action in the school, where people are watching...!
But it looked like they were talking with Chie-sensei in a very friendly way.
I could only hear bits and pieces of their conversation, but it sounded very suspicious.
I tried to remember the chatter and the movements of their mouths, and I played my memory of it like a video tape in my mind.
"Hello. XXXXXXXXXXXXX."
"Oh, thank you for coming.
It's very hot today, isn't it?"
"It sure is. XXXXX you XXXXXXXXXXXXX today XXXXXXXXX. Eh heh heh!"
"Thank you. Well, you can start whenever you're ready."
"Yes, we'll start right away.
My account manager told me to give this to you."
"The XXXXXX and XXXXXXXX, I see.
XXXXXXX is left blank on XXXXXXX.
Well, there shouldn't be any problem.
Thank you so much."
"All right. We'll XXXXX!"
I used the information I had to guess what was going on. I played the video again and again in my mind, and also paused it and played it in slow motion again to check many times.
...Then, something unbelievably horrifying started to emerge.
There's no doubt that they're acquainted with Chie-sensei.
...But I've never seen them visit this school before. So, it's hard to believe that Chie-sensei is their contact.
There's no doubt that they're the death squad under the direct control of the Sonozaki family.
They have the local accent, which proves they were chosen from the Sonozaki corps.
The death squad was talking with Chie-sensei.
They know each other.
What's their relationship?
Who's Chie-sensei, anyway?
During the dam conflict, Hinamizawa's school was closed and it was merged with the one in Okinomiya.
...But the Onigafuchi Guardians didn't accept that, and they made a part of the forestry service building into a school.
But needless to say, the school they made didn't have a teacher.
So, it was only going to be a token form of resistance.
...But a teacher who had a strong passion for education felt sorry for the children, and she came to work there.
That was Rumiko Chie-sensei.
...It was obviously strange. Teachers are government employees, and they normally belong to their prefectures.
As long as they lie low and don't cause trouble, they don't get fired, and they don't get demoted.
They can work up until the official retirement age, and they're guaranteed to get a fixed retirement fund.
She was one of those government employees, but she defied the Board of Education and came to work for Hinamizawa.
The villagers admire her as 'a teacher of passion'.
...I heard that Oryou Sonozaki herself successfully negotiated with the Board of Education that suspended Chie-sensei for defying their orders.
...It was easy to get an answer from this by connecting the dots.
Chie-sensei was recruited by Oryou Sonozaki as a teacher to work at the "school" the Onigafuchi Guardians had created.
In other words, she was already working for Oryou before she came here!
As for the principal, he was the principal of the school in Hinamizawa from the beginning.
He's a respected person of this region, and he's been closely associated with the Three Families for a long time.
So, that means...
This school has been under the control of the Sonozaki family all along!
That's why Chie-sensei is acquainted with the death squad. It makes sense now.
...Chie-sensei confirmed that I came to school today, made a phone call
...and called them here...?!
...I don't want to know why she called them here.
If she called them just to monitor me, they'd wait near the gate until class was over.
But they came onto the school premises... Why...?
Stop pretending to be a fool, Rena Ryuugu!
Do you think nothing will happen if you pretend not to notice it?!
Think. Think hard. And calm down, Rena Ryuugu!!
What will they try to do to me today in school?
In school?!
How are they going to do anything with my classmates and friends around me?!
It's easy.
Chie-sensei will tell me to come to the teachers' office during the last class of the day.
What about my clubmates?
That's easy, too. Chie-sensei can easily make them go home early using her authority as a teacher.
She can make up any reason she wants. Maybe the classroom is going to have carpentry work done today, so they can't stay in school.
"It sure is. XXXXX you XXXXXXXXXXXXX today XXXXXXXXX. Eh heh heh!"
"Thank you. Well, you can start whenever you're ready."
...See? There's no doubt...
They clearly said "they're ready to do it today"!!
And... what else...?
"Yes, we'll start right away.
My account manager told me to give this to you."
"The XXXXXX and XXXXXXXX, I see.
XXXXXXX is left blank on XXXXXXX.
Well, there shouldn't be any problem.
Thank you so much."
I see.
They gave Chie-sensei an envelope with some documents in it.
...That "blank" is an eerie phrase.
...Was my name supposed to be in the blank...?
Why is it left "blank"? What does that mean?
I told you, Rena Ryuugu!
Do you still think that nothing will happen if you pretend not to notice it? Stop that!!
So, what it must mean...
Is that it's an order from higher up.
It says to make "Rena Ryuugu"
become "blank"!!
I took a peek from the shadows, and I saw the principal taking documents out from the envelope. He started reading them.
He looked stern... He looked very serious.
...I wished I could take a peek at the documents, but I was too far away.
I kept looking at him just to see if he'd react at all. ...And then, the envelope caught my eye.
The envelope said "Okonogi Gardeners" and it had some numbers that looked like a phone number.
Fortunately, I have good eyesight.
...I memorized the number.
If they're a death squad, the gardening company must be a camouflage occupation.
It probably doesn't even exist.
I wanted to find out. I looked for a phone.
...There's only one phone, and it's in the teachers' office.
Fortunately, the teachers were chatting in the hallway, looking at the gardeners.
It was now or never.
I made sure nobody was watching me go into the teachers' office. I rushed in and grabbed the phone on the principal's desk.
I went over the phone number in my head, and dialed it up.
...I'm glad they have a touch-tone phone.
It would've been difficult if it was a rotary dial.
If somebody answered, I'd only have to ask "is this the Okonogi Gardeners?"
I'd wait for the answer before hanging up. It should be easy.
It connected!
"...The number you dialed is..."
I felt a cold chill run through my body from the bottom of my feet.
Wait. Don't make a quick judgment...
I might've remembered the number wrong.
...No. I know I remembered it right.
It was an easy number to remember.
It's impossible to remember it wrong.
Then, did I dial it wrong?
I put the phone down and started over. This time, I dialed the number more slowly.
The teachers might be coming back at any time. In that situation, it was risky to do anything slowly.
But... I needed to make absolutely sure.
"...The number you dialed is..."
It's... the same.
...There's no doubt.
The company "Okonogi Gardeners" doesn't exist.
It's just a camouflage occupation for the Sonozaki family's death squad!!
"...Please make sure the number you dialed is correct.
...The number you dialed is..."
I was too stunned to put down the receiver. The announcement kept running over and over again. The voice was cold and creepy.
I hung up the phone and rushed out of the teachers' office.
I ran to the bathroom and held my head in an attempt to cool down.
Calm down, Rena.
Calm down, Rena Ryuugu.
Stay cool.
Rena Ryuugu...!
I wasn't safe here anymore.
If I stayed here, I might be erased, even in the open.
They'd erase me?
Why?!
They aren't certain that I have the scrapbooks...!
.........I...
told Keiichi-kun...
where I hid the scrapbooks.
......Yesterday, I told him I hid them in my hideout
in the garbage dump......
Is Keiichi-kun...
in cahoots...
with
the Sonozaki family...?
I felt as if my head was a pot that was cooking some dubious stew. There was only soup in my brain.
I cut up clues, information, and facts just like I'd cut vegetables, and threw them into the pot.
Some of them were floating on the surface, and others were on the bottom of the pot. They were being cooked in a boiling soup...
...No, it can't be. Keiichi-kun is on my side.
He's the only one who's on my side.
...He held out his hand to me at the trash piles. There was no lie in that hand...
When he grabbed my wrist, I felt nothing but his strong and pure heart. He promised me he'd be on my side...!
I shouldn't doubt Keiichi-kun. He's the only one I should trust. He's the only one who is on my side right now...!!
"...I'm sorry. I'm sorry... Keiichi-kun...
I was about to doubt you...
I'm really sorry,
I'm so sorry..."
I said it out loud on purpose, full of regret that I doubted Keiichi-kun, the only one who is on my side.
...Now that I think about it, whether I have the scrapbooks or not might not matter to them.
Erase anyone who is suspicious!
That's the safest way.
...Does that mean... they're in a hurry?
"The Day of Oyashiro-sama's Revival" might be just around the corner...
And that's why they're trying to get rid of any small fish bones that are stuck in the throat, by any means, before it's too late.
We don't need her anymore.
...Just erase her if you're worried so much...
I could easily picture Oryou Sonozaki saying that.
...Picture?
No, she DID say that!
That's why they're here today!!
What should I do? What should I do?
Should I wait until school is over?!
I was like a fish in a pond.
No matter how many times I escaped from the net, I was in the pond, and they own the pond. I didn't stand a chance!
Then, what should I do now?!
I couldn't keep escaping from the net. I should get out of the pond!
...I didn't know how to fight them. I didn't know who's on my side. I was about to give in to despair.
...For now, I'd have to think about how to survive this, so I'd at least have time to think about how to fight against them.
I have to get out of this pond...!
When I was about to leave the bathroom, one of my classmates came in.
I pretended to be sick and talked to the girl while leaning on the wall.
"I...
don't feel good...
I think I better go home. Can you tell Chie-sensei I left school early...?"
I shouldn't let Chie-sensei know that I'm leaving school early if I'm trying to run away from them.
But if I didn't, they might think I ran away without cause.
That might lead them to chase after me without mercy.
If that happens, I don't stand a chance!
They were planning to capture me after school is over, but I 'happened' to feel sick and left school early.
...If they took it that way, they wouldn't think that I noticed the noose tightening around me.
I was about to go back to the classroom to get my bag, but I changed my mind and turned around.
I didn't need my bag anymore.
I realized nobody was watching me, so I stopped pretending to be sick, and started running.
"...Mmmmm?
Chie-sensei, take a look at this."
"Take a look?
Is something wrong with the documents?"
"Yes.
The date on the quote and the invoice are left blank.
They're supposed to put today's date here."
"Oh, they wanted to leave them blank.
They said they couldn't put the same date on the quote and the invoice.
They're told to leave them blank by General Affairs."
"Okay, then.
And this. The phone number on the invoice is different from the one on the envelope.
Do you know which is the correct one?"
"Oh, I didn't notice that.
...Hello, excuse me!"
"Yes?
What's the matter?"
"The phone number on the invoice is different from the one on the envelope. Which one is correct?"
"Oh!!
Ah ha ha ha ha!
It's the one on the invoice!
I used the old envelope we used to use at our former office.
I'm sorry about that.
I told our part-timer to add a stamp with the new phone number, but I guess she forgot.
I apologize for the confusion.
Can you just erase the number?
Wha ha ha ha ha...!"