Another, Vol. 2 by Yukito Ayatsuji Read Free Book Online

time.”
    This was the first I’d ever heard of her having a senpai like that. Ignoring my slight surprise, Mei went on: “I guess she heard some rumors about what’s going on this year , so…”
    “You mean she came to see you because she was worried?”
    Mei inclined her head ambiguously at my question. “More like she didn’t want to get involved, but it kept bothering her, so she ended up coming by…I guess.”
    She gave me her detached read on it.
    “I think Mochizuki might be the source of the rumors. She acted like she knew I was the one who’s ‘not there’ this year. But she didn’t really give me any advice or anything. And talking about stuff, she looked really jumpy…So I made the first move and brought up a couple questions I had.”
    The first had been a question about the “extra person” (“the casualty”) who’d infiltrated third-year Class 3 two years ago.
    Mei asked Tachibana about her, mentioning the name “Mami Asakura” that she’d gotten from Mr. Chibiki’s binder. “Do you remember someone with that name being in your class?”
    The result was, basically, exactly as Mr. Chibiki had told us: “No, I don’t,” she’d answered. Then she’d added uncertainly, “But after everything was over, I heard stories that there was a girl with that name…”  Meaning that the loss of memories involving the identity of “the casualty” had in fact happened to her, the former member of third-year Class 3.
    The other question was about the student who’d been made “not there” in third-year Class 3 two years ago.
    “What was he like?” Mei had asked, cutting straight to the point. “The ‘disasters’ started because he violated the class’s ‘decision’ partway through the year, right? What happened to him after that?”
    “She said it was a boy named Sakuma two years ago. Apparently he was always a quiet, unobtrusive kid.”
    As detached as always, Mei related the facts that she’d extracted from the girl Tachibana.
    “It was a little after the start of second semester when Sakuma abandoned his role as ‘not there.’ Then the ‘disasters’ started at the beginning of October, apparently. People died in November and December, and then…after New Year’s, Sakuma killed himself.”
    “Oh. Suicide, huh?”
    “I didn’t get a chance to ask what happened after that, but he might have been the ‘death for January’ in ’96.”
    It was afternoon, during a break in the perpetual rain. We’d gone down to the bank of the Yomiyama River and were watching the cool water flow by as we talked. We had cut afternoon classes, and without either of us making the suggestion outright, we’d left the school grounds.
    We returned to school through the back gate around the time sixth period would be ending. When we came back in, someone shouted at us, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
    Must be the gym teacher, Mr. Miyamoto , I guessed immediately. I suppose he’d spotted us from far away and mistaken us for regular students who’d cut out of school. He came running up to us.
    “Hold it right there! Where were you two off to at this time of…”
    That was as far as he got before he came to a halt and took another look at us, the words Wait a second— clear on his face. Then he swallowed the rest of his lecture.
    I gave a slight, silent dip of my head and Mr. Miyamoto kind of awkwardly turned his eyes in some other direction. With a sigh he said, “This must be tough on you two. Still, I can’t really condone you leaving school. You need to cut back on that.”
      
    2
    With all this going on, I made up my mind to ask Reiko about it again. After much tortured thought with no results, I just couldn’t stay quiet any longer.
    That was—yes—the night of the last Saturday in June.
    “Um, I heard something from Mr. Chibiki, the librarian, the other day.”
    I spoke up, unprompted, to stop Reiko as she was getting ready to withdraw in silence to the side house