...The chorus of the higurashi had replaced that of the cicadas.

Their cries came from a distance, echoed loudly, and then faded away. They sounded so weak and fragile.

Rena's voice was just like the cries of the higurashi. She'd say something, but the words would quickly fade away.

...She sounded so fragile that it made me worry she might vanish into thin air along with her words.

But nobody is pressuring her to continue.

Mion dusted off the hood of an abandoned car, and sat down on it as if to show how relaxed she was.

She actually did look very relaxed, as if she came here to enjoy the cool breeze of the evening or something.

Satoko followed Mion's example and sat down as well.

She didn't look nearly as relaxed, however.

I thought about following suit, but it felt rude to look away from Rena even for the short time it would take to look for a place to sit down. So, I decided to remain standing.

Rika-chan didn't sit down, either.

But she wasn't looking at Rena.

Everybody else was looking at Rena,

but Rika-chan...

was looking at the red sky.

Rika-chan's expression was hard to describe...

She looked pale and blank at the same time, as if all of her emotions were gone.

Rena wore the same kind of expression.

She kept trying to say something, but it seemed like the words were stuck in her throat.

...She noticed Rika-chan was looking at the sky, so she decided to look that way as well.

Mion did the same.

...So did I.

Satoko looked that way too.

And with that, there was silence.

It was like we were in a concert hall, filled with the chorus of the higurashi. A concert hall with the highest roof in the world.

...A refreshingly cool breeze tickled our sweaty bodies.

I could almost make myself believe we came here to enjoy the breeze and the sunset...

I could only wish

that was what we came here for...

The shadows of the birds flying across the sky soured the feeling of our quiet concert.

...They reminded us that time hadn't stopped.

Nobody wanted to pressure Rena.

We didn't want time to pressure her, either.

We wanted to keep the cool red sky as long as we could, so Rena could calm down and talk.

Right then,

I heard a sound, and it brought us all back to reality.

...The hood Mion was sitting on had made a noise when she moved to cross her legs.

I don't know whether Mion made the noise on purpose or not

...but it reminded us that time had been passing by.

The noise took our attention away from the sky and back to the ground.

Such a tasteless noise seemed to have urged Rena to speak.

Rena heaved a small sigh, nodded as if she understood something, and looked at us like she always did.

"...There's one thing I want to say...

before anything else."

She was probably saying it to everybody. But since I'm standing in the middle, with her looking at me... I nodded to her to represent our agreement.

"...I think I did the right thing."

Her voice wasn't hoarse anymore.

She sounded just like she always did.

"I wonder how much we're allowed to struggle in order to be happy..."

It sounded like a question, but nobody answered.

"That's why

I really like Mii-chan's club.

...The one rule is to do whatever it takes to win, right?

I think that's wonderful.

...If we were only allowed to do nice things, and if there was a limit to how much we could struggle... people who aren't happy wouldn't be able to seize happiness at all.

Misfortunes are like a chain reaction, I think.

Once they begin, they're very, very hard to escape.

In order to escape the chain of misfortunes, you need more than just luck or even assistance.

I think you need to struggle as hard as you possibly can.

You need to do your best.

That's how you seize true happiness. That's what I believe."

Rena stopped talking, looked up, heaved a sigh, and opened her mouth again.

"But... I'm not saying that I expect you to accept what I did.

...I know that was a very bad thing to do.

Didn't you all look stunned a while ago?

That tells me everything..."

I've never seen her smile so... self-derisively like this.

That smile looked unbelievably painful.

...I could really feel how huge the distance between us was.

There's nothing physically there, but... I felt as if she's talking to us through iron bars or a chain-link fence. That's how great

the distance between us was.

"...But, it's okay.

There's nothing we can do about it.

That's just how things are in this world.

If I were you... I'd probably look just as stunned, and I'd say something irresponsible and merciless."

She probably... said that to hit back at us.

We're just putting on a mask of sympathy, enjoying the spectacle of a clown on a stage. That's why she said that.

She probably expected us to say something in return.

...But none of us knew what to say.

Rena looked disappointed for a moment, then turned and clambered on top of an abandoned car.

Then she spread her arms out and gave a little twirl, letting her skirt billow up before she grabbed both ends and gave us a graceful curtsy.

"Well then... are you ready for a story?

This is the story of how Rena Ryuugu did her best."

There was no curtain or spotlight.

She was atop an abandoned car amidst the trash piles, a stage specially made for her.

We tried not to miss a word of what she was about to say.

We believed that was the least we could do to not hurt her feelings.