A faint ray of light that is coming in from a broken window illuminates Rikkchan. With “Night Vision”, I can see her clearly even without the light, but this is not the case for Ichinose-san. The moment she sees Rikkchan who is covered in blood, her expression changes.
“This can’t be true… Ricchan… RICCH---mugu…”
“You shouldn’t scream so loudly. Even with all our skills, we should still be careful of our surroundings.”
“…(nod)”
Ichinose-san who is depressed eventually calms down after I cover her mouth with some shadows. Even though we have “Cognitive Impediment” and “Attention Cutoff”, there are no absolutes in this world. I’ve already confirmed with “Enemy Detection” that there aren’t any humans or monsters nearby, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Along with Ichinose-san (or rather with her on my back), I quickly approach Rikkchan who has fallen down.
“Wan!”
Momo barks besides Rikkchan, telling us to be faster. Having met her before, Momo must have remembered Rikkchan’s smell. Then again, Momo seems to display terrific judgment abilities under situations like this. Is it her instinct?
“Urgh…”
Rikkchan shows a reaction when I nudge her. Good. She’s alive. But she’s barely holding on. She’s in a terrible condition. There are cuts all around her body, and a chunk of flesh is missing on one of her sides. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it wouldn’t have been weird if she died. For her to still be alive, she must possess some life-saving skills. Is it a skill that heightens the user’s recovery? Is it Self-Recovery? Regeneration? When we saved her a while back, she also seemed to have recovered swiftly. Regardless, something has to be done quickly. Where’s Nis.h.i.+no-kun? Weren’t they together? Were they separated? Or perhaps --- Nonono, this isn’t the time to have my thoughts wander.
“Ichinose-san, do you have any recovery medicine?”
“…No I don’t. I have to get them again through Gatcha…”
“How many SP do you have left?”
“….1.”
So there’s only one chance. If transferring SP is possible, she can use mine, but…
“ ‘Gatcha’! ”
Ichinose-san activates the skill without hesitation. This is the first time witnessing the “Gatcha” skill in action. So this is how it works… In front of my eyes, a retro box with a lever appears out of nowhere. It’s like the ones in candy shops. What is that black band on top of the lever? It kind of looks like a slot?
“Please! Come out!”
Slowly, Ichinose-san pulls the lever. The prize that comes out is…
Why did this happen? As her consciousness slowly faded, Rikka asked herself such a question. An unknown howl resonated throughout the cafeteria while she was fighting the monsters. The monsters, especially the lesser wolves that Rikka was facing, abruptly stopped moving in fear. No, they appeared to be in awe. Anyway, the truth did not matter as the situation was to her advantage.
Shaking off Nis.h.i.+no who tried to stop her, she left the cafeteria after pa.s.sing through the waves of monsters. Unknowingly, she headed towards the direction of the howl. There wasn’t any basis for her actions, but something compelled her to do so. For some reason, she felt like she could meet the person she was looking for if she went in that direction.
That girl.
Ichinose Natsu.
A girl who was her best friend.
Was. In the past.
More than a year has pa.s.sed since her best friend dropped out of school. The cause was bullying. Refusing to attend school after constantly receiving insidious hara.s.sment from her cla.s.smates, Ichinose dropped out. The leader behind it all was Rikka --- or so everyone in school believed. However, reality was different. She was oblivious to the situation. The fact that her best friend was getting bullied. The fact that the bullies were the people in her group. And--- the fact that she was the reason behind it all.
When she entered high school, Rikka had completely changed her appearance. It was the so-called high school debut. With her appearance and amiable personality, she soon became the center of the cla.s.s. Even beyond the confinements of the cla.s.s, she had close friends in other cla.s.ses. Nevertheless, even when she changed her appearance and cla.s.s, she continued to interact with her best friend. But some people found this uninteresting. Rikka was someone at the top of the school’s caste system. On the other hand, the bland girl was someone at the bottom of the pyramid.
Unfit. Repulsive. Such thoughts were present. Jealousy. Feelings of inferiority. Among the people that Rikka hung out with, there were also some that had similar thoughts. Unknown to Rikka, their hatred turned into fangs, preying on her best friend. By the time she was noticed of the situation, everything was too late. Not only did her best friend leave school, she was framed as the culprit under a careful planned ploy. She was unable to meet or communicate with her as Ichinose’s parents and the school did not allow them. In this fas.h.i.+on, Rikka lost her close friend.
Despite having a hole in her heart, she tried to act like she was fine, pretending as if nothing had happened. Yet they met again. In this world filled to the brim with monsters. Upon seeing her face, she felt like her emotions would explode. She wanted to play with her. Talk with her. She wanted to go shopping with her, choose clothes with her, play games with her, and live a normal life with her.
(But I guess… it won’t be possible… anymore…)
She had to fight a series of battles even after leaving the cafeteria. There were more monsters than she expected within the school premise. Fight. Search. Fight. Search. Fight. Search. Now, Rikka was burnt out. She couldn’t feel her limbs anymore. She knew that she was slumped against a wall, but even breathing in and out pained her body. She was about to die. Even knowing so, all she could envision was her friend’s face.
(…I wanted… to apologize…)
Before she breathed her last. She wanted to apologize. And if possible, she wanted to protect her friend this time around.
(I don’t want to die…)
If she died, she wouldn’t be able to apologize. If she died, she wouldn’t be able to protect her. That’s why she didn’t want to die. Suddenly, she heard footsteps. What were they?
“Wan!”
It was a bark from a dog. Following that, she also heard the sound of someone running towards her. Who are they? Two people? She couldn’t see clearly. She couldn’t see clearly either. She felt like she heard someone shouting something. It was a voice she remembered hearing somewhere. It was like the voice of a very important… Yes, it sounded like the voice of the person she had searched for so desperately--- Ah… she was becoming more and more drowsy. She was about to lose her consciousness.
Something went into her mouth. Liquid? No, it was more like a jelly. She swallowed it. At that moment, she felt like her body was being pulled out from the bottom of a dark and cold lake. She felt like her body was burning from the inside. The blood which had refused to flow circulated throughout her body, and her heart started to pump repet.i.tively. At the same time, she felt an excruciating pain. It was evidence that her limbs had recovered their senses.
“Gagha…!?”
Her mind was hazy. Her body felt powerless. Exhaustion flooded her body. Nevertheless, she heard the voice. The voice calling for her name was ---
“…Ah.”
She slowly opened her eyes. Just opening her eyes was exhausting for her current state. Although it was blurry, reflected on her eyes which were covered in blood was the figure of an individual.
“…Wha…t?”
She couldn’t voice her words properly. It was unbelievable. She saw the girl that she had wanted to meet in front of her.
“Thank G.o.d… Ricchan… Thank G.o.d…”
She was hugged. It felt warm. The face of her best friend who she had finally met after one year of separation looked terrible. Not only was she wet with tears, she wasn’t wearing makeup either. It was a pity despite her outstanding features.
“Natsun…I’m… sorry… that… I didn’t… notice… I’m… sorry… Because… of me… you weren’t… able… to attend… school…”
“…!?”
“I’m… sorry… Even… if you can’t… forgive me… I wanted… to… apologize…”
She wanted to apologize. For a long, long time, she had wanted to apologize. It might have been too late to do so. It might have not changed anything. However, she, Ichinose Natsu, smiled at her.
“It’s okay… As long as Ricchan is alive and I could meet with you again, it’s okay…”
“Natsun…”
“For a long time, I wanted to see you…”
“Yeah… I wanted to see you too…”
On this day, the two girls finally reunited.