3

When Saya opened the door, the school doctor looked up from the sandwich she was eating.

“Oh, Hokage-san.”

“Heya.” After a cursory bow, Saya’s eyes darted around the room. The curtain around the bed inside was drawn back, so no one was sleeping there today.

The school doctor looked hard at Saya’s face, her expression darkening. “You look like you’re having a hard time. Still can’t sleep?”

“Yeah...”

It had been two days since then; Saya was once again stricken with insomnia.

For a fleeting moment, slumber had come, but try as she might, she couldn’t seem to replicate the experience. Ultimately, the drowsy days began once again. Having been robbed of restful sleep once more when it had been right before her eyes, Saya’s irritation was already at its limit.

The school doctor peeked at the clock. “You want to rest here for the afternoon?”

“Oh, no. Uh, I had something to ask you,” Saya said with some hesitance. “The last time I was resting here, a girl I don’t know came in. She kinda had airy, long hair, and was probably shorter than me...”

Saya made vague gestures with both hands as she described her, then lowered her hands. “...That’s about all I know, though,” she concluded weakly. The school doctor got a suspicious look on her face.

“Airy and short? Anything else?”

Other than that... She had been soft, and smelled like sunshine, but Saya obviously was hesitant to say either of those things.

“It was only for a moment, so... I dunno.”

“So, why ask about that girl?”

“She suddenly fell into bed with me and started sleeping. I wanted to ask if you had any clue who she might be, but... Now I think about it, you wouldn’t know from just that, would you? Sorry.”

Saya turned to leave, but the school doctor called out to her.

“Could it be Konparu-san, maybe?”

“Konparu?” When Saya turned back, the school doctor nodded.

“If it is, it’s unusual she’d come to the health room. I believe she’s a second-year, like you, but she’s your polar opposite, in a way.”

“My polar opposite... How so?”

“Konparu-san would fall asleep anywhere and everywhere.”

Anywhere and everywhere. In the classroom during lectures, in the courtyard during lunch, and in the library after school.

This Konparu didn’t need to go out of her way to sleep in the health room’s bed. She had apparently been sighted sleeping everywhere in the school.

How enviable.

When Saya left the health room, she wandered the school aimlessly. By the time she realized it, it had been more than ten minutes since afternoon classes began.

As she walked the empty halls, she could hear voices coming from the classes in each of the rooms she passed by. The windows were frosted, so she couldn’t see inside all that well. She could only see vague shadows and hear muffled voices. From beyond the wall came the noisy sounds of a gaggle of girls taking class— it felt similar to walking past a tank at the aquarium. The moment they noticed she was here, dozens of eyes would swivel in her direction.

Thinking about that made her feel awkward; with quiet footsteps, Saya walked through the classroom building.

She didn’t feel like returning to her own class at this point. She’d kill time somewhere until the next break. No, what am I even doing? she suddenly thought.

When she went from the classroom building into the corridor between buildings, the courtyard came into view. The rim of the dry fountain was a perfect height and width for sitting on, and would make the ideal spot for a midday nap, but it was visible from every window of the school building. It was class time, so if the teachers caught her, she’d be heading straight to the student guidance room.

While looking at the fountain—where no one was sitting—Saya remembered at last.

Right. I was searching for her.

Hitsuji Konparu... the airy girl.

In these two days of being tormented by insomnia once more, Saya had had a lot of time to think. Why had she been able to sleep just that one time? What was different about the situation?

Even with her mind dulled by drowsiness, the answer was clear. Hitsuji Konparu. The moment that girl had fallen into bed, she’d been suddenly dragged down into sleep.

Maybe I can sleep if it’s with someone else...? That thought had led her to ask her big sister to sleep with her last night.

Not only had she not been able to sleep, her sister’s tossing and turning caused her to fall out of bed.

That let her narrow down the answer even more.

“It has to be her,” Saya mumbled indistinctly.

Where was Hitsuji Konparu, who was said to sleep anywhere and everywhere, right now?

Did she have a secret place where the teachers wouldn’t find her? Or because it was class time, was she asleep at her desk? That would make what Saya was doing absolutely pointless, but looking around was still easier on her nerves.

Going through the corridor, she crossed over to the neighboring school building.

In the moment when her eyes were adjusting to moving from a bright place to a dark one, something strange appeared in Saya’s vision.

It was like the keys of a keyboard instrument had stretched to be long and thin, had turned into legs, and were walking. It was something she couldn’t quite place as a living being or a machine, and it was silently climbing the stairs.

“Hm?”

When she blinked and looked again, there was nothing left to see.

Was it an illusion?

It was true that when she had been deprived of sleep for a long time her eyes played more tricks on her, and she was plagued by strange visions, but something about it tugged at Saya’s frayed psyche.

That thing just now... I’ve seen it somewhere...

No, but how could I have? Where would I even see something like that?

A game? A video online? A manga? A movie? A museum?

If not, then... a dream, maybe?

When her train of thought reached that point, a vague memory resurfaced.

Right! I saw it! That thing—I saw it in a dream!

Two days ago. That short dream in the health room... Just before I woke up, it entered my vision, with all those legs in a horizontal line...

Unconsciously, Saya had been heading to the roof, but the thing from before was nowhere to be seen. She only saw it for an instant, but it had definitely been climbing the stairs.

From out of her foggy memory, a single name surfaced.

“...It’s a Suiju.”

That’s what she’d been calling it—a Suiju—though she had no idea what that meant.

Chasing after the Suiju, Saya climbed the stairs. The second floor was quiet and dimly lit, and the closest science room didn’t seem to be in use. Looking up, she could see it again. In the contrasting light of the dimly lit indoors and the bright outdoors, she caught sight of it for just a moment, many legs clicking along as it passed through the third floor and went even higher.

When she chased after it all the way up the stairs, she came to the door to the roof; it was bright on the other side of the frosted glass. She tried the doorknob and found it was unlocked, so she opened the door and went out on the roof.

There, Saya found Hitsuji Konparu.