Our eyes met only briefly, but it was long enough for him to recognize me.
Realizing that, I quickly lowered my head, but the male student standing before me did not turn around and leave.
Instead, he held out a handkerchief to me.
It was a little damp, but it looked dry enough to wipe myself with.
Staring at that handkerchief, I slowly raised my head again.
There was the face of a male student looking at me with an awkward expression.
"Um, was that unnecessary?"
As the boy said that and raised his head, I followed suit and looked up further. Before I knew it, the rain had stopped, and sunlight was streaming through gaps in the dark clouds.
Captivated by that beautiful sight, I eventually came to my senses and looked ahead again. The boy stood there with his rain-soaked bangs brushed back, smiling at me with a bashful, troubled expression.
Thump.
"?"
In that moment, for some reason, my heart gave a powerful beat, and it felt as though my face had grown hot.
"What do you think? Can you stand?"
I stared for a moment at the hand he extended toward me, then slowly took it.
He put strength into his arm and helped me up, bringing our gazes level with each other.
When our eyes met, he smiled at me.
Thump, thump.
Feeling the pulse through the hand holding mine, I could only stare blankly, as if spellbound, into his blue eyes.
What kind of expression had I worn in response to that smile, which seemed to be telling me, "It'll be all right now"?
"Ah, that's the warning bell. I should get going—"
"W-wait!"
"Yeah?"
At that moment, I called out to stop him without thinking.
Because I wanted an answer from him.
"If it were you... what would you do if the world oppressed you?"
"The world oppresses me?"
"...For example, if everyone around you turned their backs on you, or if you were betrayed."
"That's oddly specific."
His words struck a nerve.
Because he was right.
I did not know why I had said this to a boy I had only just met.
But at that time, I had a feeling that he would show me the path I should take from then on.
Embarrassingly enough, it was only a vague feeling.
"Hmm, in that case, I'd stand tall as if daring them to keep watching."
"Stand tall?"
"Yeah. Unless the world comes to an end, the way the world looks at me won't change anyway. So wouldn't I rebel against it with everything I've got?"
Because in the end, the only person in this world who can protect me is myself.
My eyes widened at those words.
Rebelling against the world.
To someone like me, who had never even rebelled against Father once, those words felt enormous.
Above all, the words that resonated with me most were that the only person who could protect me was myself.
I had always looked to those around me for a way to protect myself.
I had wanted someone to protect me.
But the world was not so easy.
Even now.
With the shield that was Father gone, I had been unable even to protect myself from the oppression bearing down on me.
No, I had not even considered trying.
I had searched for a means of protection from those around me.
And as a result, things had come to this.
If, back then, I had faced whatever people said with more composure and courage, would things have reached this point?
In the end, having given up on protecting myself, I could not even step forward to rebel against the world.
"But isn't it too late to do that now...?"
"Too late... Is it really?"
"Huh?"
"You know how they say the moment you think it's too late is the earliest you can start. It's still better to try something than to do nothing at all."
Ding-dong-dang-dong♪
"Ah, the warning bell! Sorry, I've got to go first!"
"W-wait?! What's your name?"
Unfortunately, at the sound of the warning bell, the boy quickly disappeared.
He vanished so quickly that the hand I reached out toward him was left hanging in vain, and I never even learned his name.
"...How am I supposed to return this?"
Muttering that, I tightly clutched the school uniform jacket draped over me.
.
.
.
.
.
"I never got to return it after that."
I never saw him on the rooftop again after that.
Still, thinking I would return it someday, I carefully washed and ironed it, then hung it up in my room.
After we met again later, I returned the handkerchief, but I never got to give back the school uniform jacket.
Now, it had become something I could no longer return.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
With a creak, a boy and a girl entered.
They were Adam and Carol, who had been assigned to my unit this time.
"We have completed the investigation you ordered and came to report our findings."
"Please take a look~"
"All right."
Taking the reports Adam handed me, I had the two of them sit across from me as I sat on the sofa, then examined what they had written.
Adam's report was clean and followed the textbook format perfectly.
There were a few lacking areas, but that was simply because he still lacked experience. A little refinement would solve it.
The problem was Carol's report.
No, should I even call it a report?
It reminded me so much of someone I was close to that, rather than a report, it still read more like her personal diary. I quietly sighed.
The contents were cute, but it could not be called a report.
If I were the only one reading it, that would be one thing, but this was going to be forwarded to higher-ups, so it had to be rewritten in the appropriate format.
"Captain, did I make a mistake?"
As I silently looked over her report, Carol, who had been bantering with Adam, cautiously asked while reading my expression.
Seeing Carol like that, Adam looked at my face, then promptly took the report I was holding.
After reading it, he seriously nodded and opened his mouth.
"I don't think I'm all that good at them either, but this is closer to a diary than a report, isn't it?"
"What part of this looks like a diary to you?"
"Even objectively speaking, it does."
"I wrote down everything I investigated."
"There are more of your impressions than there are investigation findings."
"Then impressions are important too, aren't they?"
"...Why?"
Adam seriously asked her back.
Carol thought for a moment, then answered as though it were obvious.
"They need to know how much I contributed at the scene."
"The report doesn't need that."
"Why doesn't it?"
"What headquarters wants to know isn't how much you contributed. It's how the mission proceeded and what problems there were."
"I know that much too."
Carol stuck out her lips.
"But I'm good in the field, aren't I?"
"Reports are part of the field too."
Left speechless by those words, Carol puffed out her cheeks, then looked at me with the expression of a teary-eyed cat.
"Captain, is that really true?"
Carol slightly leaned toward me as she asked.
"Reports are part of the job too."
"Urk?!"
"Still... it's much better than it was at first. There are a few things that need correcting, but..."
"!"
It was true that she had improved a great deal from the beginning.
At first, because of that gyaru speech of hers, it had been even harder to make out what she was saying.
"See! Even the Captain said it was okay!"
"How did you interpret the Captain's words to reach that conclusion...?"
Adam muttered that, then looked at Carol's bright expression.
In the end, he let out a small sigh and nodded.
"...As long as you're happy."
"Hehe~!"
Adam silently turned his head away.
He must have realized there was no point in taking this any further.
Besides, Carol accepted corrections more quickly if she was praised first.
"Good work, both of you. There are some parts to revise, but only the reports remain, so let's return to headquarters and finish them there."
"Then do we get off early today?"
"Yes, so finish tidying up around here and let's go."
"Yay~"
Watching Carol rejoice, Adam quietly asked me,
"Is that all right, Captain?"
"There's no point in investigating any further. It would be better to report for now and wait for the decision from above."
"Understood."
Only then, seemingly relieved that they really were getting off work, Adam also smiled without realizing it. Watching him, I placed the reports on my desk and looked out the window.
At the blue sky, as though it had never rained at all.
Maybe I should head back too.
To the home where the people precious to me were waiting.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register