We Don't Open Anywhere

As Iput my textbooks in my bag, I thought back to what had happened atlunch.

Mikihad clearly been acting strangely. I didn"t mind the fact that she hadbeen lying to me. Everyone has things they don"t want to tell others.

But whyhad she seemed so afraid of me?

Wasthere some problem with me? ...Well, it wasn"t impossible. She did mentionsomething about her magic getting less potent. It was clear that somethingabout me had changed.

But Ididn"t know what exactly had changed. In fact, I didn"t know what kindof person I was to begin with.

And ontop of that — I didn"t really care.

As Iwas standing to leave, the voice of a man I once thought called out tome.

"Hiiragi,I have something I would like to ask you. Could I have a moment of your time?"

Itturned out that Akiyama had simply been in poor health on that day. But whatdid he want with me now? We"d never held a meaningful conversation before.

Also, Ifelt like Akiyama"s countenance had changed recently. It was like he hadn"tbeen sleeping much; his eyes had bags under them, and his skin looked awful.His eyes glinted with a dim light, and his image had taken a slight departurefrom that of an honors student.

"Whenhe was still with us, would it be correct to say that you were the one who withthe closest with Yahara?"

"Huh?...Uh, more or less."

"Thatmust have been a harsh blow for you."

Heprobably didn"t have any bad intentions, but it was clear he was holding back.In reality, I was likely only one mourning Masato"s death.

Uponrealizing that, I finally understood.

Masato"shomicidal aspirations were the real deal, and he had every intention ofcarrying them out.

So eversince he died, I had been contemplating what the largest thing keepinghim from committing murder was. Was it his conscience? His morals? Hisantipathy? Fear? The effect it would have on his future? After thinking aboutit, I realized that it was none of those. Anything within him that heldhim back would have simply be discarded if he fell into despair and abandonedhimself.

Sothere had to be something outside of his heart that kept him from killing.Namely, his environment.

Ifsomeone committed a crime, their family would face repercussions as well. Evenif he was a minor, his name would eventually come out, and the internet wouldexpose the location of his house. And rather than receiving sympathy, thea.s.sailant"s family would be treated as jointly responsible. You could easilyimagine such a thing happening.

Masatowasn"t so unimaginative a person as to ignore what would happen to his family,nor did he lack a sense of empathy. He wasn"t some natural-born serial killer.

SoMasato took it upon himself to create it. An environment where he could killwithout regrets. A world filled with nothing but enemies and strangers.

Ofcourse n.o.body would mourn his death in such an environment.

"And?What was it you wanted to ask me?"

"Ahh, Isimply couldn"t help but take an interest in Yahara"s incident."

"Out ofcuriosity?"

"No,more like out of a sense of justice. I felt like there had to be something Iwas capable of doing."

I felt like Akiyama"s wordssounded rehea.r.s.ed.

"Iwonder, was it true that Yahara was involved in some rather unwholesomeaffairs? Well...I refer to affairs in the broad sense, by the way. Perhaps thatalone makes it not unusual he was involved in this incident. There were variousthings published about him in those periodicals, weren"t there?"

Althoughtheir authenticity was dubious, a number of magazines had published articlesabout how Masato was abusing stimulants, involved in the prost.i.tution ofminors, and was affiliated with an anarchist organization.

I didn"t know how best to answerthat, and Akiyama drew closer in response to my silence.

"Wereyou completely unaware of all that?"

"Iknew about the stimulants. But he never mentioned anything about any gangs orprost.i.tution rings or anything. He didn"t show any signs of being involved withthem, either. I"m pretty sure that"s all just misinformation."

Inorder to prepare the environment for his murder, he likely intimated himself inthings like that intentionally.

"Perhapsyou weren"t close enough to Yahara to involve you in things like that? Are yousaying that he never to bring you into his group of delinquent companions?"

"Prettymuch. He didn"t involve me in sketchy stuff like that. He never even ate lunchwith me, let alone tried to get me to smoke or anything. If we were around eachother we"d chat, if the timing worked out we"d walk home together. But hedefinitely never tried to coerce me, and he never invited me anywhere. That wasabout the extent of our relationship."

Bringingup the one time he called me out to that park late at night would bemisleading, so I felt it would be better I not bring it up.

"I"msure that if I ever stopped wanting to spend time around him and startedavoiding him, he wouldn"t have so much as spoken to me."

"Isee..."

Hisexpression seemed somewhat dissatisfied. Had he been hoping I"d saysomething different?

...Whathad he been hoping for?

"So,why do you ask?"

I had a hunch that Akiyama didn"treally want to hear about the incident. An odd feeling caught on my mind.

Puttinghis hand on his chin, Akiyama answered.

"Isuspect that the reason that Yahara was killed was the fact that he wassticking his hand in dangerous places. Following that reasoning, I felt it waspossible that you, as his friend, might be in danger of meeting a similar fate.Am I mistaken?"

I see. So my sense of unease wasbecause I had the hunch that he was more interested in hearing about methan about Masato.

"Infact, I was thinking—"

"—thatit would not be so strange for you to be killed as well."

Whatwas that?

I just had the oddest sensation.

Farbeyond any of the unease I had been feeling up until now, it hadbordered on outright discomfort.

"...Whatmakes you s.p.a.ce out so?"

"I,I"m not-"

Akiyamafurrowed his brows in confusion.

"Well,I can hardly blame you for being a little out of it after having something likethat happen to a friend of yours. You have bags under your eyes."

Thefact that he had bags under his seemed to be lost on him. Was Akiyama alsoplagued by something related to Masato"s death? Was that why he was asking meall this? But if that was the case, what would he, who got along with Masatoabout as well as dogs got along with cats, have to worry about?

Theunease got stronger. Something was off.

As Ipondered such thoughts, I heard a loud, rude voice.

"Oy, isAkiyama around?"

Peeringthrough the door was, for some reason, Yamazaki. The man who had been hara.s.singme and Miki the other day.

I wouldn"t have thought Akiyamawould willingly spend time with a person like Yamazaki. In fact, he grimacedmore than he had during our whole conversation.

"I"llsee you later, Hiiragi. Do be careful, now."

Raisinghis hand uncomfortably, Akiyama turned his back on me.

"Um,are you okay? That senpai isn"t forcibly dragging you around or anything, ishe?"

"Hm,well... He isn"t exactly doing me any favors by coming to my cla.s.sroom likethis, but... It"s no cause for concern."

Akiyamawalked briskly to where Yamazaki was waiting. After exchanging a few words,Akiyama lead the two of them out of the cla.s.sroom.

Everythingabout this was suspicious. But Akiyama wasn"t looking for help, so I hadno way of getting involved. And besides, I didn"t particularly want toget involved, nor did I want to help him.

Masato"sbody had been discarded deep in the mountains. The autopsy found the cause ofdeath to be a stab wound in his chest. The body was about a week old when itwas discovered, so the crime was estimated to have been committed somewherebetween May 25th and May 28th. The fact that Matsumi couldn"t get reception onMasato"s information on June 2nd corroborated that. The range on reception wasthis city, and by then Masato wasn"t in this world, let alone the city.

Theinvestigation was also going poorly. First of all, they didn"t even know wherehe died. On top of that, his acquaintances were largely unknown, and it wasdifficult to narrow down who might have had a motive. The group he had beeninteracting with hadn"t even known his name.

Thelast person to interact with him, a female company worker, gave an anonymousinterview about him calling out to her near a subway station. She claimed thathe had been acting oddly, saying things like "I"ll kill you." That was whatlead to the inference that he was using some manner of stimulant.

Butthat wasn"t it. I had seen firsthand how he had begun acting strangelyin response to Matsumi-senpai"s scanning.

Thema.s.s media had also gotten fixated on the idea that he might have intentionallyput himself in some sort of dangerous situation. But if Masato had fallen intodespair to the point of taking suicidal actions, he would have killed someoneinstead. I had grasped Masato to the point of being sure of that.

Masato"smurderous impulses wouldn"t have been directed at himself. Only people who sawlife as cheap wouldn"t differentiate between killing themselves and others. Andthe high value Masato placed on life was the reason he longed to kill in thefirst place.

Sogetting killed certainly wasn"t part of Masato"s plan. Perhaps the killer wassomeone he knew, someone he didn"t expect?

Ifnothing else, his killer was an amateur. After they disposed of the body in themountains, it was found relatively easily. And they didn"t even bother makingit look like an accident or a suicide, which lead to it being investigated as amurder and the subsequent autopsy.

I was on cla.s.sroom cleaning duty,and my musings kept me from finishing until it was rather late. Miki had beendragged off by some friends and had already returned home.

I headed for the front gatealone. The throngs of reporters, who had been crawling all over the school whenthe incident first came to light, had more or less dispersed.

If Ihad to compare, it seemed that the world at large was much less concerned withthe details and perpetrator of Masato"s death and more with criticisms of hislife. However, the fact that Masato was a victim wasn"t under dispute, so mostof the major news companies recognized that Masato may not have had any directinvolvement in the case and weren"t focusing much on his circ.u.mstances. Thatmeant that most of the people still gathered in front of the gate werejournalists from gossip magazines of questionable repute.

"...Excuseme."

Someonecalled out to me from behind. Although I initially thought to ignoringthem, thinking that they were a member of such a publication, Ieventually turned around after realizing that the late hour made it unlikelythat the question would be of that tone.

Beforeme stood a girl from another school. Her face was plain, and she didn"t makemuch of an impression. She bore a dark expression, and her eyes repeatedlyglanced for side to side. But as if by habit, her mouth alone was upturned.

"Isthis... the school where Masato Yahara went?"

"Itis..."

"It is,isn"t it..."

On thatnote, she trailed off. There was clearly a follow-up question, but he washesitating.

Thinkingthat perhaps I had met her before, I observed her face, but I hadno recollection of her.

"Sorryto bother you. That"s all I wanted."

In theend, she never gave her follow-up. Looking downwards, she quickly left.

Whatwas that? Was she an acquaintance of Masato"s or something? Even so, she wasacting rather suspiciously...

Tiltingmy head at the bizarre encounter, I gazed at the female student. Thensuddenly, a small back that I did remember appeared next to her.

RirikoMatsumi.

That"sit! Matsumi-senpai might know something about the incident!

Withthat flash of inspiration, I ran after that small back.

"Matsumi-senpai!"

Matsumi-senpaihad taken some sort of interest in me, so she would probably greet me with asmile. At least, that was what I expected.

"..."

But notonly did she not turn and smile at me, she didn"t turn my direction at all.Even when I got close enough to stare at her, she just kept plodding onslowly and ignoring me.

"...Senpai?"

Thinkingthat perhaps she hadn"t noticed me, I tapped her on the shoulder. As aresult, she finally saw me. But her deadpan expression didn"t change.

I then remembered howMatsumi-senpai had collapsed and began vomiting after reciting the informationfrom Masato"s scanning. Perhaps she hadn"t fully recovered yet? Or maybe shewas angry at me for backing away from her before I eventually set herfree?

As ifshe had truly turned into a machine, Matsumi-senpai gave no signs of life.

"Senpai,it"s me. Kouta Hiiragi."

"......hm."

At thesound of my name, she finally gave a slight response, slightly raising hereyebrows.

"Hii...ragi?"

"That"sright! I"m Kouta Hiiragi! I have something I wanted to askyou!"

"Hiiragi...The white Hiiragi..."

AlthoughMatsumi-senpai was staring daggers at me, her eyes seemed like they were out offocus.

"No."

"Huh?"

"No.You"re not Hiiragi."

"Whatare you talking about, Senpai? Of course I"m Hiiragi."

But itdidn"t look like Matsumi-senpai even head my reb.u.t.tal. Looking away from me,she resumed her plodding.

I wanted to stop her, but decidedagainst it due to her strange demeanor. One way or another, it didn"t look likeI"d be able to communicate meaningfully with her.

I sighed heavily.

Was shesimply an "apparatus" after all?

Unableto hold back my laughter, I looked up.

Once Idid, I was met with a surprise. Standing right next to me with eyes wideopen was Akiyama.

"Huh?What are you...?"

"Areyou and Ririko Matsumi close?"

He wasasking rather intently.

"Idon"t know about close, but we"ve talked a few times."

Akiyamagazed at Matsumi-senpai"s receding back. His expression was clearly warped withdisgust. His hatred for Matsumi-senpai was quite evident.

"Um...did you finish helping that blond senpai?"

But insteadof answering my question, he returned with one of his own, the disgust neverfading from his face.

"Dohave a habit of getting involved with people like her?"

""Peoplelike her"?"

"Forgivemy wording, but people with problems. Ririko Matsumi, Masato Yahara, andperhaps we should count Miki Kouzuki as well."

"It"snot like I"m intentionally hanging out with weird people..."

"Butyou"re awfully close to a number of them. And you don"t seem to be particularlyclose to anyone else."

He saidsuch rude things so casually.

"Imean, it"s true that I don"t have many close friends..."

"Andyou say that you don"t seek those kind of people out deliberately? If that"sthe case, then perhaps you hold some sort of fascination from theirperspective?"

Irritation?Or maybe it was impatience? As Akiyama continued prattling on, it became moreand more clear that something about him was off.

Heseemed to realize this, and quietly exhaled while calming his expression.

"Iapologize. It would appear I"ve said some rather untoward things. Please forgetI said any of that. I guess the incident has just made me a littlehigh-strung."

Akiyamaspoke.

"I"mworried about you, Hiiragi."

Again.

It washappening again.

Thatstrange sensation.

"Whatdo you mean by "worried about"?"

"Hmm? Imean that I"m worried about you getting caught up in this incident, of course.What else might I mean?"

Thinkingabout it logically, no other meaning made sense.

But Iknew.

Thisman didn"t care at all about my well-being.

Hehated me, and was on high alert.

It wasall a deception. The expression he was twisting his face into, one of outspokenconcern, was nothing more than a mask.

Akiyamawas concealing his true nature. Or perhaps he wasn"t aware of it.

But Icould see his filthy, corrupt true form, like a swamp of illegally dumped oil.

Ahh, Ifinally understood why Masato hated Akiyama so much.

Akiyamawas like Masato"s opposite. Masato had turned his back on the world. Whereas ifnecessary to traverse the world, Akiyama would readily use others as steppingstones.

"What"sthe matter?"

Akiyama"ssmile was warped. No, his expression was the same as before. But even if ithadn"t changed, once you knew his true self the connotation changed. If youpeeled off a single layer of his skin, his evil nature would be plainlyvisible. Although up until now I had thought of him as nothing but asimple intellectual, I could no longer sense anything from thosebespectacled, slit eyes but cold-blooded evil. If it was for his own sake, thisman could commit any crime while still thinking himself pure.

It waslike an optical illusion. Once you had looked under the facade of an honorsstudent, you couldn"t see him any other way. You stopped being able to see himas anything but cruel and self-righteous.

Hissmile was a sneer. His sympathy was cajolery. His kindness was wiliness.

"...Ihave to get going."

I left Akiyama, practicallyfleeing.

Thiswas the first time I had felt this emotion.  I had never harboredthis emotion towards myself or towards another. And what"s more, it was strongenough to make my head throb dully.

I was perplexed. Icouldn"t believe that I, of all people, could feel this way.

But Iwas certain of it.

I—

—despisedShuuichi Akiyama.

"So,like, the sky above the hot spring was twinkling like crazy. We"d heard thatthere were a bunch of fireflies nearby, so we figured that it was fireflies gotreally excited, but it seemed kinda unnatural so then we realized that itwasn"t. So, what do you think those lights were?"

Asplanned, I paid Miki a visit at her house on Sunday.

I suspected that her room wouldbe ominous and packed with magical paraphernalia, but I was completelyoff-mark. Although her bookshelves did feature a number of books on magic, theroom was painted a uniform white. If anything, it seemed a bit plain for a girlof her age, sacrificing stylishness for a wholesome atmosphere.

On asimilar note, despite Miki"s gorgeous looks she never wore makeup, and theplain clothes she was wearing were casual and not conspicuous in the least.

"Wouldyou believe it! Those lights were the flashes of smartphone cameras! Apparentlysome boys got a room above the open-air bath, right, and they were havingthemselves a photo shoot! They"re the worse! And what"s worse, now those dumbboys have seen my soft fair skin! You don"t have a monopoly on it any more! Oh,I feel so sorry for you! And to think how my chest and such swelled at thethought of you eventually being the first one to see me naked! ...Ah, butthere"s some good news on that front! When that happened, I had a towel firmlywrapped around my chest! And we all lived happily ever after!"

I felt like the room and heroutfit didn"t really mesh with her boundlessly bubbly personality.

She wasputting no small amount of effort into consciously manufacturing thatpersonality. I had initially been tricked by her audacious conduct, butin reality she was quite shy. If she couldn"t get a decent read on the otherparty, she tended to freeze up. Along those lines, the reason she hadn"timmediately approached me when school started up could have been that she wastrying to carefully examine me first.

But whywould she go so far to create that bubbly personality?

Thanksto her amiability, she could get away without being hated despite being seen asa weirdo. In order to receive that benefit, I a.s.sumed she wasintentionally making use of her smile.

Did thistoo have something to do with Miki being a magus?

"...Kouta,you aren"t listening to me, are you?"

Mikipuffed out her cheeks cutely.

"...Sorry.I had something on my mind."

Normallythat would be the end of that line of discussion, but Miki pressed her lipsfirmly together. Worrying that I had killed the mood, I said"sorry" again.

After alittle while, Miki spoke in a low voice.

"Thoseeyes, they"re awful."

"Huh?"

"They"reawful, it feels like they"re a.n.a.lyzing me."

With aserious look on her face, Miki went on.

"Imentioned this before, but Kouta, you"re getting worse at taking in my magic.Do you have any idea why?"

"Umm...is it because I"ve grown accustomed to it, maybe?"

"That"snot it. The reason you"re not taking in my magic well is because of the extentto which your attribute has changed. Someone other than me started staining youwith their attribute. That"s why my magic can"t reach you. ...You know who thatis, right?"

"Notreally..."

"Youweren"t conscious of it? ...Well, I guess that makes sense. Self-consciousnessisn"t really something you"re capable of. You yourself don"t know what kind ofperson you are, so you wouldn"t have any way of noticing changes. Then I shouldput this clearly. Kouta, you"re becoming stained in Masato Yahara"s attribute."

"Masato"s...?"

"It"sto a pretty severe degree; you"re already starting to think kinda like him.That"s what those a.n.a.lytic eyes are expressing."

"But,Masato"s already dead. There"s no way for him to influence me. Why, after allthis time..."

"To thecontrary, it"s like it"s because he died... Here, let me explain. Rightnow, you"re evoking him."

Anothernew word sprung up.

"You"remaking a face like you don"t get it. But it"s like, you don"t want to forgetabout him, right?"

"Ofcourse I don"t."

Everyonewould soon forget about Masato. Without even trying to, even his parents wouldlikely forget he had ever existed. Masato didn"t have any human connections.That was the environment he himself crafted.

Whichmeant that if I forgot about Masato as well, he would truly disappearfrom this world. He would disappear without a trace, as if he had never existedin the first place.

That"swhy I spent so much time thinking about him. So I could stillstand face-to-face with him.

"Youwant to remember him so badly, you"re calling him to your side. That"s whatevocation magic is."

"Holdup a second. If I can use magic, doesn"t that kinda mean that I"m taking on yourattribute, Miki?"

"Itdoesn"t. I told you that anyone can use magic, remember? And I told you thatyou had magical talent, right?"

She hadmentioned that.

"If youtook on my attribute, you"d be able to comprehend and master magic. But thatand just being able to use are two totally separate things. For example, Yaharawas a powerful magus. But he couldn"t control it. Magic is like a chained beast- it can lash out at any time. I don"t know if Yahara knew how powerful hisinfluence was, but it looked like he tried really hard to keep other peoplefrom getting involved with him..."

In away, him minimizing his influence was probably connected with him creating anenvironment in which he could kill.

"Youknow, Kouta, you have a talent for mimicry. In fact, I"ve never met someone whocould imitate people as precisely as you. You don"t just copy their attribute,you copy their capacity as well. I guess it"s kinda like being able to copysomeone"s results just by copying their batting form? That gets across howamazing it is, right? And it get across how insane it is too, right? ...So Irealized that I had to split you two apart so you couldn"t use that monstrousmagic of his."

Evenwithout processing it through the lens of the value system of, I couldtell that continuing to spend time around Masato was dangerous. So Iunderstood why she had been so worried.

Kouta,you"ve already completed the first step of evocation, which is creating anartificial astral body. ...Um, to put it in a way that"s easier to understand,you created a firm "image" of Yahara himself in your head. Am I wrong?"

She...wasn"t wrong.

Theimage I had of Masato in my head was developed enough for me to hold aconversation with him.

"Normally,that "image" won"t do anything. When an author keeps images of their charactersin their head, the worst that"ll happen is they"ll come across as a bit odd.But your "image" of Yahara is, regardless of your will, going and acting on itsown. It"s leaking into the outside world. You can tell if you just look."

Withoutthinking, I stared at my hand, but of course nothing about it was anydifferent from normal.

"That"image" of Yahara is trying to entrench itself in you in order to exist. Afteryou evoke it, it"ll possess you. Your barbarous name[1] - it"s like anincantation, but if he learns it, and speaks it, you won"t be able to stayyourself any more."

So, inother words the kind of thing a psychic would refer to as "possession"?

"...Whatshould I do?"

As faras I was concerned, not having been aware this was happening in thefirst place, I didn"t much care what my image did.

But Iknew that Miki saw this as a huge problem and wanted to stop it. And Iwanted to help her to the extent of my abilities.

"Youdon"t have to do anything, Kouta."

Mikipursed her lips, displaying her resolve.

Herentire body was giving off energy, and it felt like she was at the center of aswirl of light.

"I"llstop it for you."

Mikimoved her hand behind her head. Her hair fluttered gently, filling the roomwith the smell of shampoo. My first, out-of-place impression was that her hairwas surprisingly long when she let it down. She had unfastened the red hairband that always held up her ponytail.

Why wasit, I wondered, that her eyes were fixed in place at if she had been hitover the head with a log. Was she trying to perceive something? Was she tryingto appeal to me? As a result, I couldn"t get my thoughts straight. Ijust stared at her dumbfounded.

While Iwas stunned, Miki drew her face close to mine. Extremely close.

Huh?

I couldn"t even let out asurprised voice.

Because.

Miki"slips were blocking mine.

As if aswitch had been flipped in em, my thoughts forcibly ground to a halt.

Theimage in front of my eyes felt like something far off, something unrelated tome. My sense of reality vanished, as if I had been sucked into the otherside of a television.

But thesensation was still there. Miki"s lips were soft. They felt nice.

Miki drewaway.

As thepleasant sensation faded, the implication of what had just happened finally hitme.

Thatwas a kiss.

Mikikissed me.

Themoment I realized this, it felt like explosions were going off inside myhead. Like a baby that couldn"t hold its neck steady, my bobbed aboutfrantically. My eyes were having trouble focusing on Miki, who was right besideme.

"You"restill shaking. I made you shake. Now it"s fixed."

Simplyseeing those lips move was bewitching, and I began to feel dizzy.

Meanwhile,Miki fastened the red hair band she had removed from her hair around my leftwrist. It made a sharp sound as it snapped tight.

Snap.

Thatnoise echoed inside my head as if I were standing in a gigantic hall. The Thepain from the snap wasn"t just in my wrist, it spread throughout my entire bodyin tandem with a certain sense of comfort. As the pain diffused, suddenly myswelling head felt as though it were deflating. My head, which had been on thebrink of boiling from the heat before, felt like it had been suddenly thrown inthe Arctic Ocean.

Was Iback to normal?

"Miki...?"

"I"msorry."

Perhapsthinking that my soft utterance of her name had been a rebuke, she went on.

"I knowthis wasn"t fair, but I couldn"t think of any other way. I couldn"t think ofany way to save you without using magic. Even if you didn"t want me to, I hadno choice but to do it by force..."

"Magic...?That was magic just now?"

"Yeah.I"m really sorry."

I see. That wasn"t a kiss justnow.

She wasjust putting our lips together.

I was overcome with surprise. Ididn"t know what to think of it. I didn"t really mind that she had usedmagic.

But Iwas beset upon by an unfamiliar emotion.

I didn"t know what "it" was. Itfelt similar to a blend of rage, sadness, dejection, exasperation, anddisappointment, yet it was different. One thing was certain, though. "It"wasn"t a pleasant emotion.

"Kouta,make sure you don"t take off that band, okay?"

Nothaving reached a conclusion regarding my emotion, I glanced at my left wrist.

"That"sa charm containing my full-strength magic. If any fate tries to influence yourwill, this will definitely change that fate for the better."

Fromthe looks of it, it was the same as any other hair band the shops nearby wouldsell. But I could feel it tightening not just on my wrist but deep, deepwithin me.

"Canyou feel it? Then I guess maybe I didn"t need the warning. You shouldn"t beable to remove it by your own power."

Therewas no way that was possible. Let"s try taking it off, shall we?

"......Huh?"

...Itwas no good. I couldn"t do it. ...And for that matter, I didn"twant to.

I knew that I was at leastphysically capable of removing it. But I was oddly reluctant to. Even ifI knew logically that the work required to do so could hardly be calledwork, it felt like I were being sent to a battlefield and was hardlyinclined to go. It didn"t feel like I was being compelled not to,removing it simply seemed tiresome. I couldn"t be bothered to.

So thiswas Miki"s magic. So it was capable of doing this much.

"It"snot like I could just do that to anyone. I was only able to do it to youbecause of how much time we"ve spent together."

Mikishould have been glad that her magic worked, but instead she looked almostdepressed.

"...Letme give you an excuse, at least. I wouldn"t have done it if I didn"t want to.If it was anyone else, I wouldn"t have even considered it."

Shewasn"t lying. I could tell by her expression. Miki held me in goodfavor, and I likewise.

But inthe end, that kiss was for the sake of magic.

If shehadn"t had that reason, it was something she couldn"t have done.

"Sorry,Miki. I"m going to head home for the day."

Herface going white, Miki grabbed my hand as I stood to stop me.

"I"msorry. ...I"m sorry!"

"Don"tget me wrong. I"m not mad at you, and I don"t hold you incontempt or anything. If anything, I thought that was pretty Miki-likeof you. But if we"re together any longer today, it"ll just get awkward. So I"mgoing to head home. That"s all there is to it."

Uponhearing that, Miki softly let released my hand. But she didn"t look relieved,and she didn"t lift her eyes from the ground.

Sheprobably realized it as well. That our relationship couldn"t possibly continuein the same way as before.

Withoututtering another word of rea.s.surance, I headed for the door.

"Can Ijust ask one thing?"

Miki"slips were trembling pitifully.

"Youdon"t hate me now, do you...?"

Butwhen I heard that, the last of my sympathy vanished.

"Youdon"t have to worry about that. But—"

My nextwords might be unkind. But if I didn"t say them, I wouldn"t ableto settle my raging emotions.

"Ihave to wonder, why do you spend so much time confirming my feelings withoutvoicing your own even once?"

Takenaback, Miki"s eyes widened as she tried to keep her mouth under control.

I was never wrong when it came toinferring other people"s emotions. Normal people make sure conjectures throughthe lens of their own value system, distorting the result, but because Ihad no such filter I could make accurate evaluations.

But forwhatever reason, my sensors seemed to be amiss when it came to Miki.

Mikiheld no romantic feelings towards me.

I had been under themisapprehension that she felt something similar. But she had just told me quiteclearly that she didn"t.

Thereason I was mistaken was because she did harbor affectiontowards me. But it was likely similar to the emotion one would feel towards anabandoned puppy. Miki was a kind person, so if she saw an abandoned puppy shewould probably take it with her against her better judgement. She would thenbecome emotionally attached to it, and in return for her affection it wouldprobably come to love her.

But theworld had no shortage of abandoned puppies.

There wereplenty of people who could replace me.

I hadn"t realized. At some point,I had come to expect things of her. I felt that if anyone couldlocate my nonexistent contents, it would be Miki.

"Iwon"t avoid you or anything like that. If you talk to me, I"ll talkback. If you come visit me, I"ll be happy. I would never come tohate you. I know just how nice of a person you are, Miki."

But Ihad to say it.

"Butlet"s not play at being lovers any more. We"re different people, after all."

I wasn"t just talking about Miki.My family was other people. Masato was another person. No matter how close wewere, we were different people. People were all in confined worlds created bytheir own value systems. Worlds that other people could never enter.

"But ifwe do that, Yahara will-"

"It"snot your fault, Miki. It"s mine. Of course it is."

I spoke as if to interrupt her.Perhaps my voice came out a bit loud.

"Later."

I left her room.

Mikiwas likely on the verge of tears. I was extrapolating from experience.

Butthat might not be true. After all, I hadn"t known the first thing aboutMiki.

I was scared to confirming it, soI didn"t turn around.

If shehadn"t been tearing up but instead smiling, I wouldn"t know what tobelieve any more.

Butthat was the magnitude of the misunderstanding I had made. If Ihad kept going out with Miki after that, a conclusive contradiction would havebeen born. One that couldn"t be taken back.

So Iput an end to our farce of a relationship before that could happen.

In theend, Miki"s actions might have ended in failure.

Afterall, she made me aware. Aware of the fact that I was under Masato"sinfluence.

Anegative chain reaction had started. The domino effect. Once one piece fell,the paradise we had so miraculously constructed all came crashing down.

Anothercorpse showed up at the school.

I had no idea how long this chainreaction would continue. But there was one thing I did know.

"...Kou,can you hear me?"

Even"I[2]" would be a target of that negativity.