It wasn’t even monsoon season, but rain kept pouring down from the sky.
According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to be sunny all the way through next week, too. Guess the Korea Meteorological Administration really is just a lying weather office, here and there.
“Seriously, when is this rain going to stop…?”
I muttered irritably, looking down at my pants soaked by the rain. A lot of students were opening their umbrellas and heading home at a quick pace. After three straight days of torrential rain, I could hear every student complaining about how miserable and sticky they felt.
“That teacher’s going too far. He gave us homework to investigate why a Spacequake happens. I mean, how are we supposed to know something even scientists don’t fully understand?”
I heard a student grumbling about how hard the assignment was. But homework about why a Spacequake happens? Man, that teacher who assigned it really came up with a weird one. Still, if I turned it in with something like, “It’s a phenomenon that happens when a pretty girl comes into the real world,” I wondered how the teacher would react.
Well, probably one of two things. I’d either get called straight to the faculty office, or a package from some stranger would show up.
“Haaah~ should I just go home and sleep?”
I yawned widely, opening my mouth with a long stretch. Lately, there hadn’t been anything particularly interesting going on, so I was pretty bored. Come to think of it, my friends had said there was a circus nearby, hadn’t they? Since I was bored anyway, maybe I should go check it out sometime soon.
“………But why did Kurumi come to Korea and start climbing a tower, of all things?”
While I was lost in random thoughts, I muttered to myself as I looked at a tall tower in the distance. It was the same tower a student had pointed out three days ago while we were heading back, freaking out because they thought they saw a girl standing there.
Only later did I find out there had actually been a ton of eyewitness reports about a girl standing on top of that tower that day. A ghost. A mass hallucination. Some crazy woman on a tower. Stuff like that. There were all kinds of stories, but the one detail everyone agreed on was a girl with black twin tails wearing something like a red dress. Some people even insisted it was a gothic lolita dress, and when I heard that, I immediately guessed the girl was Tokisaki Kurumi.
I’d wondered what kind of useless Spirit she was, but I never imagined that useless Spirit would turn out to be Tokisaki Kurumi. Why was she in Korea again? It couldn’t just be for sightseeing.
“Maybe I should call her ‘Crazy Three’ if I ever meet her later.”
Personally, I was most curious what kind of reaction she’d have if I called her that to her face. But then again, considering she’d supposedly killed ten thousand people herself, actually meeting her was a little hard to look forward to. Well, time would pass, and whether I met her later or not, I’d deal with it then.
As I was thinking those pointless thoughts, I turned toward a deserted back alley.
“………Hm?”
Something green suddenly caught my eye. It was a tiny little girl. She was wearing a green hood with rabbit ears and seemed to be searching for something in the rain without an umbrella. Wait, that’s Yoshino.
“Wow.”
I let out an impressed breath at the sight before me.
Wow, seriously. I had briefly thought yesterday, “I saw Tohka, so now I want to see Yoshino too!” but I never expected I’d actually run into her today.
But why was she here? Did Yoshino even show up in Korea? Uh… why was there nothing in her left hand? Didn’t Yoshino always carry Yoshinon in her left hand?
“Did she lose it?”
In Korea, not Tengu City? Wondering that, I slowly walked toward Yoshino.
“Hey… kid?”
“…………!”
As I got closer, I could see that Yoshino really didn’t have Yoshinon in her left hand. I checked her right hand too, just in case I’d remembered wrong, but it wasn’t there either.
So she really did lose it. The moment I thought that, Yoshino’s face went pale blue and she started to run away from me in a panic—
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
“Ah.”
She fell over.
I stared blankly at the scene for a moment, then hurried over in surprise to the Yoshino who had collapsed onto the ground.
“A-are you okay?”
“D-don’t come any…… closer…….”
“...............”
I was deeply shocked to see her trembling like a leaf, looking at me with fear-filled eyes. She looked like she was about to cry, keeping her distance from me in a terrified voice. I couldn’t exactly blame Yoshino for reacting like that, but it was still pretty sad to get that kind of response when I hadn’t done anything wrong.
But……
“If there’s anything I can help with, maybe?”
“...................”
No response. Even after I crouched down to meet her at eye level, Yoshino was still just scared out of her mind.
She looked so pitiful trembling like that that I wanted to help somehow, but with her this frightened, there wasn’t much I could do.
Hm, but since Yoshinon wasn’t with her, maybe if I said this……
“Are you looking for a rabbit doll?”
That was the moment. Yoshino, who had been terrified just a second ago, suddenly widened her eyes and lunged at me. In the sudden change, I couldn’t even get up, and just as I was going, “Huh? Huh?” in surprise, Yoshino came close and grabbed my head with both hands, then started shaking it back and forth.
“W-wait. Kid, I’m getting dizzy!”
“…………!”
Only then did Yoshino look startled and stop shaking my head.
Maybe because she was a Spirit, she was way stronger than she looked. Ow… I rubbed my neck, which hurt from being shaken so suddenly, and muttered that to myself.
“.................”
“Uh, I think she’s asking where the rabbit doll is. Sorry, but I don’t really know where it—whoa.”
Just as I was about to answer under Yoshino’s piercing stare, I saw the face that had looked like it was clinging to its last hope turn into a look of utter despair in an instant, and I got so startled I couldn’t even finish my sentence.
Seeing her look like she was about to cry, I quickly blurted out something else.
“B-but, kid! I can help you look for that rabbit doll!”
The moment I said that, her face, which had been on the verge of tears, changed back into a surprised expression, and Yoshino stared at me blankly with wide eyes.
“If you need help, I’ll look with you. I never meant to hurt you. If I scared you earlier, I’m really sorry.”
“.................”
Still no words. Even after three minutes, the silence remained.
Was this not going to work after all? As I thought that and let out a quiet “Haa….” in my head,
“Uh, y-yes? It’s okay if you help me?”
Seeing her nod with a faint smile, I was surprised and asked her that. Yoshino nodded again and smiled once more.
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