Chapter 2: The Day Orimoto Suzuka Disappeared

Orimoto Suzuka. Second-year high school student.

Neatly trimmed chestnut-colored hair. A face that makes you feel her friendliness. Her personality is also gentle, and she's a person who earns trust from both male and female students as well as teachers.

However, she's a member of Sera's harem, and there are rumors that she draws resentment from some girls.

At any rate, it's an undeniable fact that she's a female student with an overall good reputation.

(...What kind of situation is this?)

As mentioned, Orimoto is popular at school.

For such a person of good character, whose reputation reaches even my ears, someone who's clueless about romance and worldly matters, to be shouting at the school gate first thing in the morning is somewhat strange, to put it mildly.

「Why?! Why is everyone ignoring me!」

Orimoto's anguish, tinged with grief, was really reaching my ears. Really, what is going on?

I look around while tilting my head.

「Hey! I said hey!」

Just an ordinary morning scene.

Nothing more, nothing less.

In that case, this is the usual sight, where popular kids flock together and gloomy people like me just sneak through our days.

Originally, Orimoto is the type who falls into the popular category, and that's a truth acknowledged by herself and others.

At least she's a girl who has nothing to do with loneliness.

For someone born on the winning side to be ignored from morning on is quite mysterious.

However, she's clearly out of place.

「This is weird, even Okaa-san and Otou-san...」

That said, we live in different worlds.

With the brilliant status of being the childhood friend of the protagonist Sera Keiichi, plus being beautiful and excellent in her studies, at this point it's unclear how much good karma one would need to accumulate in a past life.

There's no doubt she's also one of the school's representative beauties, and there are multiple invisible barriers between her and me, who's just a library committee member.

「What is this, what's going on...!」

That's exactly why I won't get involved.

Yesterday I witnessed the tragic scene of her getting rejected by Sera, but that's it. The parallel lines of being strangers still don't intersect.

If a bland guy like me went up and asked "Did something happen?" I'd definitely get a disgusted look.

That's a case of the right tool for the right job.

Her friends should handle it.

(…And I don't want any trouble.)

Orimoto's failed confession would be prime gossip material, that's guaranteed. I hear the girls are competing viciously, each hoping to become Sera's girlfriend.

If Orimoto has dropped out of that race, the competition might become even more intense.

「What's happening to me...?」

In that situation, there's no room for a mob character like me to get involved. And I have no intention of doing so anyway.

I don't even dream of trying to make connections. I don't plan to dream of it. I'm the type who's satisfied as long as I can enjoy my mediocrity, I don't want anything else.

「What should I do...?」

In front of the school gate.

Perhaps tired from shouting, Orimoto murmured weakly with shadows falling across her face. Her expression has a coldness mixed in, and you can't sense any hint of joking.

But as I mentioned before, it has nothing to do with me.

While passing by, I moved away from her.

I couldn't have imagined Orimoto Suzuka being ignored until yesterday.

I mean, this is Orimoto Suzuka we're talking about.

Though she drew curious glances as a member of Sera's harem, she generally gathered popularity.

If this is bullying, it's too large-scale, and if rumors about her rejection are spreading, it's too soon.

There's something off about it, but that's all.

I am who I am, and there's no change in that.

It's true that if you asked whether I had no interest at all, that would be a lie, and I can't completely deny that part of me that cranes my neck to look, but it's a problem that doesn't suit me.

「Please! If I did something wrong, I'll apologize, so please! Just don't ignore me! Please?」

However.

Is this really bullying?

There wasn't even a trace of such signs until the day before yesterday.

When I turned halfway back to look, there was Orimoto hanging her head. Melancholy was drifting from her back.

─────

If this is a joke, it's in rather poor taste.

I became convinced of this when I stepped into the classroom. An indelible question mark floats in my head.

「...Where did her desk go?」

I sat down at my seat for the time being.

Then I looked over there with a sidelong glance. It's not there. Something that should have been there isn't there. And what was strange was that, at least currently, I was the only one questioning this oddity. Her desk it's not there.

Orimoto Suzuka's desk and chair are gone.

They had disappeared so completely it was as if they had never been there to begin with. The faint scent of rain drifting in from the window clings damply to everything.

The homeroom teacher had just rearranged the seats on a whim the other day, and I was lucky enough to get a seat by the window in the back. It's a great spot where you can see everything.

Orimoto should have been in the center of the class.

So during breaks and such, I remembered circles of conversation spreading around Orimoto's seat.

But currently, a plain female student is sitting in the center seat of the class.

That's strange.

(Well, I mean, whatever.)

Given Orimoto's personality, I don't think she'd be upset just because someone else was sitting in her seat.

However, it's even less likely that that plain-aura-filled girl would occupy Orimoto's seat of her own accord.

And she's sitting there boldly as if it's her own seat. I rub between my eyebrows and trace back through my memory. No, that's definitely right, that was Orimoto's seat.

When I hurriedly counted the desks, one was missing. ──That's right, that's right, that girl was sitting behind Orimoto.

「Nobody's going to say anything?」

You'd think someone would normally speak up.

For example, Sera, who's currently fooling around with his friends. Or one of the female students who was part of the harem would confront her about it.

There's nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Everyone naturally accepting this strangeness.

It's strange, yet there's an atmosphere where the strangeness isn't strange. That was especially strange.

While I was being tossed around by these questions, Orimoto smoothly entered the classroom. The atmosphere doesn't change.

...Zero students try to talk to her.

「──!」

After taking in something, she frowned and Orimoto dashed out of the classroom. It was action faster than thoughts like "go after her" or "worry about her" could form in my brain. I couldn't tell if there was anyone other than me who watched her back.

─────

Orimoto didn't return until lunch break.

To be precise, it's more accurate to say that during my lunch break wandering, Orimoto's figure came into my field of vision, and I could see her face was a mess from crying.

Perhaps because of the threatening environment, the courtyard was quiet—she was the only student there.

「I hate this, what is this? I don't understand, what should I do...? Can't they see me?」

The scent of rain is getting stronger.

Orimoto's face, as she limpsy rested her body on the bench, has no vitality. The commotion that had continued since this morning showed no signs of improvement and seemed to be tormenting her.

「People ignore me even when I try to talk to them, what, am I that hated? I don't understand...」

What is Sera doing?

Even if she's someone he rejected, if his childhood friend is suffering, he should provide minimal support, this is a situation that can only be called abnormal.

(...I'll avoid eating here.)

It doesn't matter where I spend my lunch break.

The classroom is just a bit uncomfortable.

I'm a loner. Thoroughly so.

I didn't have the boldness to munch on my lunch while mixed in with students engaged in lively conversation.

「It's hard. It hurts. ...Keiichi.」

Every time her sobbing shook my eardrums, awkwardness grew in my chest.

I've ended up hearing Orimoto's wailing for days in a row.

An indescribable sense of guilt, no, that's not right. This is pure, helpless melancholy. There's nothing I can do. I'm not in a position to listen to her problems.

Suddenly a female student appeared.

She had a garbage bag in her hand, right, cutting through here would be a slight shortcut to the incinerator. The girl was running as if in a hurry. ──And then she tripped.

「Ah.」

The voices of me, Orimoto, and the girl overlap.

Was it because of Orimoto's good figure?

Was it the female student's carelessness?

The sound of the garbage bag being crushed.

Fortunately, the garbage bag acted as a cushion, and the female student stood up without injury. But then it was natural for Orimoto to get up from the bench too.

She bowed her head apologetically while wiping away tears.

Even though Orimoto was clearly there, and the female student who tripped over her was at fault, the fact that she spontaneously apologized showed Orimoto's character.

「Ah, sorry! Are you okay?!」

Something strange and suspicious happened.

Orimoto's words echo hollowly through the courtyard. Normally, the receiving female student should show some kind of reaction. That's how it should be.

However, after standing up, the female student looked back and forth between the ground and her surroundings with a puzzled expression. Furthermore, she treated it as if Orimoto didn't exist.

It's somewhat rude and extremely inconsiderate behavior. It makes me feel bad even as a stranger.

「Hey, wait a minute──」

Ignoring Orimoto's attempt to stop her, the female student who had fallen ran away with the garbage bag in hand. Immediately, a desolate atmosphere slowly seeped out.

It's like being treated as if she doesn't exist. Or like being treated as something untouchable. In other words, it's ignoring, which means it's bullying.

I even thought this was no laughing matter.

I suspect it might be nationwide in scope.

Is it Sera's doing, or some girls who find Orimoto annoying? I can't see the answer, but the reality is right there. Orimoto Suzuka is being tormented.

The female student who ran away turned the corner toward the incinerator. Orimoto had been observing this whole sequence of events.

Before long, Orimoto heavily sat back down on the bench and clenched her fists on her knees.

From an outsider's perspective, her pitifulness is beyond description. If this were all an act, even great actresses would dance barefoot and there'd still be change left over.

The current time is lunch break. At most a few hours since this morning. In just that amount of time, so many strange things had piled up.

No one brings up the topic of Orimoto not returning to the classroom. Even the teachers pretend not to know.

It's not just her desk, her locker isn't either.

It had suddenly disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with. As if that were the correct state of things.

The fact that there was no absence check during this morning's homeroom was also mysterious, making me want to doubt whether I'm the one who's out of sync.

「...No way. That's ridiculous.」

The idea that they can't "see" her is shallow, foolish, and an unrealistic fantasy.

Orimoto's ostracism continued the next day and the day after that.

Her complexion, growing more haggard by the day, was bad enough to remind you of a sick person, and even I had come to think that this couldn't continue.