Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093094101424177/episodes/16818622176151448860
Rescue means getting involved. Getting involved also means having a conversation.
A coffee shop. There is only one cup on the table.
The water poured into it is crystal clear, with ice melting slightly. Condensation drips onto the table and spreads. I am at a loss for words, so much so that I want to escape reality through scene description.
The waitress bustles around the hall, and the customers enjoy their meals.
Outside the window, it is already dusk, and a worried message from my mother arrives on my smartphone. I make excuses and try to cover it up, but there is still no sign of me being able to go home.
“Hey, can you see me?”
I tilt my head like a broken doll.
I couldn’t help but tense under the pressure.
(What should I say?)
It’s not that I didn’t want to help.
I wanted to help. But when asked if it was my role, I couldn’t help but feel doubt. I didn’t want to get involved in trouble, and I definitely didn’t want to be the target of bullying, but in reality, it was a supernatural phenomenon.
(I wish someone would tell me it’s a dream.)
I still can’t fully comprehend such an absurd reality. I’d rather believe it’s a dream.
Above all,
I had decided that Orimoto was a resident of another world and not someone I should get involved with.
I was the only one who could see her, and I had taken it upon myself to feel responsible for her. I don’t deny that.
Then was this inevitable?
I followed her, reached out my arm to stop her from falling off the railing, and before I knew it, I was dragged into a café, with a cup placed in front of me.
I went on at length, elaborating on my theory in a roundabout way, but to put it simply—what should I do?
“Hey, you can see me, can you?”
After expressing her gratitude, Orimoto shifted into a mode of grilling me.
There was no hint of accusation, but a relentless desire to know the answer burned in the depths of her eyes.
There was no aggression, no glaring, no violence.
She simply wanted to know. She wanted to know.
I judged that Orimoto was seeking an explanation, acceptance, and understanding of the cause of what had happened to her.
There was something only I knew.
There was something only I understood.
It was impossible for me to tell her the answer she desired, and all I could do was talk.
“…I’ve already answered that many times.”
“…But I’m still anxious. …Is it really true?”
“It’s beyond the limit of what can be lied about.”
I answered with a curt response.
“Hey—can you see this?”
Speaking softly, Orimoto snatched my cup and held it up high.
The light source was shining through the glass. It was just an ordinary light and a cup. The image of a beautiful girl holding it up high would be distorted if applied to general theory.
“Hey, the angle. Don’t change the angle.”
I realized that I was attracting attention. Everyone looked at me suspiciously.
If, if it were true that Orimoto was invisible to others, then I would be a man venting his frustration at thin air.
“I’ll apologize first. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, you idiot ! It’s spilling, or rather, it’s already spilled ! Wait a sec !”
At the moment I tried to stop her,
there was a sharp sound.
A high-pitched, air-slicing sound that felt strangely clear and real.
Transparent water spread across the white wooden table.
I stared at it. There was no meaning to it.
I accepted it calmly.
“And this too.”
“What?! You !”
Orimoto said, piling on the insults.
The cup, with its slender fingers slipping through the splashed water, fell with a dry sound.
A particularly loud sound echoed through the café.
“Look, the waitress is coming.”
“Sir? Are you okay?”
The waitress who rushed over fixed her gaze directly on me. The staff couldn’t see Orimoto Ryoka. That was the tone of her voice.
This was the third time. The third time.
The first time, Orimoto’s desk and chair had vanished without a trace.
The second time, Orimoto had written something in the classroom with some resolve.
And the third time had occurred outside of school.
From that sequence of events, I had no choice but to acknowledge that—this wasn’t bullying.
Something inexplicable was happening.
I had no choice but to believe that Orimoto and I were caught up in it.
“Ah ! Um, I’m okay. It was just a slip of the hand. Could I just have a towel?”
“But I did it.”
“Understood, Sir. I’ll bring you a towal right away. Please wait a moment.”
“My words are being ignored, aren’t they?”
It’s as if I’m the one who did everything wrong. I smiled wryly while ignoring the stares from those around me.
As I tried to gloss over it, I felt a sense of unease.
Ignoring me, Orimoto continued speaking as if nothing had happened. What was going on?
When it was shown to me so clearly, I felt as if I were drowning in layers of strangeness, like a mille-feuille.
“It’s just you, isn’t it? You can see it. My classmate, Kasugai kun. What’s going on?”
“There’s no way I can know…”
I could see a store clerk holding a cloth in his hand from behind. My gaze was still fixed on me.
“My parents and friends all seem to be unable to see me, and everything I do is ignored. Even when I scream in their ears, they don’t flinch.”
“Well, that must be annoying.”
“Right? You’d be like, ‘What the hell?’ At first, I thought I was going crazy and felt sick.”
But it wasn’t that, Orimoto shook her head.
“When I was pushed on the pedestrian bridge and no one could see me, if Kasugai kun hadn’t been there, I probably would have died.”
Died. Orimoto hesitated slightly before saying those words. It was a heavy topic.
“What were you seeing From far away?”
I hesitated over how to respond.
“….I also have something to apologize for. First, let me clarify that I don’t know what’s going on either.”
The exchange continued. A server who had come over to the table bowed slightly and asked,
“Excuse me, sir….? Were you on the phone? I thought you were talking to someone.”
“No, no. It’s not like that, so it’s okay. Um, well, talking to myself is kind of a hobby of mine…..!? Really, it’s fine !”
“Talking to yourself is a hobby? Sorry, Kasugai kun ! I guess I just talked too much.”
Orimoto bowed her head and smiled shyly.
It was more of a smile mixed with guilt than malice.
I endured the clerk’s strange gaze and took the cloth.
After watching the clerk run back to work, I quietly lowered my voice.
“…Maybe the coffee shop was a mistake?”
“You dragged me here, but it was definitely a mistake. I haven’t even had anything to drink yet.”
I glanced at the menu.
Orimoto was staring intently at the menu, maybe because she was hungry.
Behind the pretense of reading the menu,
I continued the conversation with Orimoto.
There was something I needed to apologize for, and I couldn’t let it go until I told her.
“Actually, I noticed it on a weekday. But I couldn’t tell if what was happening was bullying or not.”
“So, you could read the words written on the blackboard too? I see, I see—uh-huh.”
That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?
Orimoto’s words cut deep, but his tone was gentle.
Orimoto was well-liked by both students and teachers, and when I saw her in person, I understood why.
I am a pacifist.
I am not good at fighting.
I hate being the center of attention.
The thought of me, a pacifist, getting involved with Orimoto Ryoka, who is always flirting with Sera, the top of the social hierarchy, makes me shudder with fear.
Moreover, at first glance, it seemed like outright bullying, so I hope you can understand my actions.
But there’s no point in dwelling on such things. I hesitated, placing my fingertips on my forehead before responding.
“…Should I apologize again?”
“Hmm, maybe you should just talk to me normally? I cried a lot and it was tough. Wait, did you see me screaming at the school gate?!”
I’m swept away by the emotional waves of the extrovert.
I don’t have the skill to surf on top of these chaotic waves of emotion.
It’s certain that Orimoto cried all week long, and she looked pale and fragile, like a dead person.
Such a woman, Orimoto Ryoka, seems fine in front of me, but humans are complicated.
“Well, sort of. I ignored it.”
“That’s terrible ! I talked to Kasugai kun for the first time, but he’s surprisingly cool. I’m surprised.”
Cool? That’s a mistake. I’m just twisted.
“I don’t think that’s the case, but…”
“That’s it ! The way you talk isn’t like a classmate !”
“…That’s just how high school boys are.”
Even as I said that, I had no reference material because I had no friends. Orimoto’s statement made sense.
Orimoto laughed at something, then looked out the window, then turned to talk to me. Her mannerisms and intonation were hard to grasp.
“So? Why was Kasugai kun on the pedestrian bridge? The timing was too perfect, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right. I’ll apologize for that too.”
After a short pause, I speak honestly.
There’s no need to lie or cover it up. Under Orimoto’s gaze, I decided that it would be dishonest to hide it.
There’s no reason to hide it, even if I try to look cool.
“I was following you.”
“──Huh?”
Orimoto’s eyes widened in shock.
“Kasugai kun, are you a stalker?!”
“I’m not ! Well, maybe not exactly. No…I want to say no, but.”
Denying it vehemently only made it seem more serious.
And once again, I drew attention to myself.
I reflexively tried to stand up, but I hit the brakes and slowly sat back down.
It was a mess. I couldn’t get my words together.
I had naturally fallen into Orimoto’s rhythm.
“At first, I was just curious. You were being ignored in class all the time. It felt weird.”
“So, you noticed and talked to me?”
“…That’s what friends do, right?”
“…….Well, I guess so?”
A brief silence. A few seconds of silence.
I had decided that it was not my job as an outsider, but rather the job of Orimoto’s friends and teachers.
“I didn’t know if it was really invisible, if no one else noticed it, if it was bullying, or if it was some kind of ghostly thing…”
Orimoto listened in silence.
Occasionally, she nodded and murmured in agreement.
“I saw you today by chance. Seriously. And then on the pedestrian bridge—-Ignoring that moment would be traumatic.”
“……….Hmm…..I see.”
Orimoto tapped her chin with his finger and narrowed her eyes in thought. Then she suddenly chuckled.
“Kasugai kun is the culprit? Of this supernatural phenomenon?”
Orimoto stood up abruptly and spun around dramatically. A serving robot passed by.
The robot, equipped with a human sensor, should have stopped when it detected Orimoto’s heat source, but it just kept moving and bumping into her. Moving, bumping.
Curious, I reached out my hand, and the robot emitted a gentle warning sound, “Danger” before stopping. When I moved my hand away, it started moving again, saying, “Thank you.”
Orimoto sighed in resignation, “Even the robot…” and sat back down at her seat, looking defeated.
“No one can see me anymore, Kasugai kun, you’re outside the rules. It’s understandable to be suspicious, right?”
“It’s not me ! …I want to say that, but if I were in your position, I’d be pressing you too. …But it’s really not me.”
I raised both hands modestly.
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