Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051604232886910
As soon as class ended, Shunta left the classroom as if fleeing.
“For now, what should I do…?”
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with an answer.
“I need to find out more about the current situation.”
Muttering that to himself, he headed home.
He opened the front door.
“I’m home.”
There was no reply.
“Just as I thought,” he said with a wry smile as he headed toward the living room.
His eyes met Nagisa’s.
But in the next instant, she quietly looked away.
No words of reproach.
No smile.
It was as if Hayata hadn’t even been there to begin with.
(……This is bullying, isn’t it?)
Carrying a heavy weight deep in his chest, he returned to his room.
He opened the drawer of his desk.
Textbooks.
Notebooks.
Handouts.
He checked them one by one.
“…Completely blank.”
There was almost nothing written in the notebooks about the lessons. There was no sign that any homework had been turned in, and the handouts remained blank. The few remaining words were scrawled haphazardly, as if he’d given up halfway through.
“Did I really do this…?”
He let out a small sigh.
“Is there anything else…?”
Just as he reached into the back of the desk,
his fingertips brushed against a worn notebook.
“…A diary?”
He slowly opened the cover.
‘It’s been three days since Mom left. I don’t feel like doing anything. Dad keeps telling me to “at least eat a little,” but I have no appetite. I’m sorry, Mom. I promised, but I… can’t bring myself to try.’
“…Did I write this?”
Shunta’s hand froze.
A dull ache spread deep within his chest.
He, too, had lost his mother.
There were nights when he couldn’t sleep.
There were days when he couldn’t think about anything at all.
That’s exactly why these words hit him so hard.
“…”
He muttered softly and quietly turned the page.
‘Dad’s the only one who comes into my room every day.
‘You don’t have to go to school.’
‘There’s no need to rush.’ That’s what he tells me.
……I’m sorry, Dad.”
He turned another page.
“I got into another fight with Nagisa san. ‘You’re not my mom.’ That’s awful. I know. But my mouth just moved on its own.”
“…This is tough.”
Shunta instinctively pressed his hand to his forehead.
He felt like he could see, just a little bit, why Nagisa hated him.
He turned another page.
“Mio came by again. I know she’s worried about me. But right now, I don’t want to talk to anyone.
I told her, ‘Go home.’ She looked hurt.
……I’m a terrible person.”
“…Mio.”
Shunta’s finger paused.
“…If it were me, I wouldn’t say something like that.”
The moment he thought that, Shunta shook his head.
“No. If I’d been pushed to the wall even more back then… who knows?”
He recalled the cold gaze Mio had directed at him earlier that day.
“Is this… the reason?”
No, if that were all, would she have rejected me that completely?
And then—the entrance ceremony.
The words he’d heard from those around him at that time flashed through his mind.
“…What happened?”
Events he knew nothing about.
Relationships he knew nothing about.
And yet, the writing on this page was unmistakably his own handwriting.
For a dream, the story made far too much sense. Shunta lowered his gaze once more to the first page of the diary.
[Sorry, Mom. Even though I promised, I… can’t bring myself to try at all.]
“…It’s just like me.”
Losing my mother.
Promising her I’d move forward with my life.
Up to that point, it was the same.
But—I was able to pull myself together, little by little. The “me” who left this diary behind couldn’t do that.
“…………”
He couldn’t bring himself to blame him.
If just one thing had been different for him, too…
If he hadn’t had someone to lean on…
He might have ended up the same way.
“…Dad was the only one who was always worried about me, wasn’t he?”
Staring at his father’s words written in the diary, a small smile slipped onto his face.
“I wish I could see Dad…”
Just then—Riiing.
His smartphone vibrated. On the screen was:
[Dad]
“…!”
Hayata immediately pressed the call button.
“Hello!”
“Is that you, Shunta?”
His father’s familiar voice.
In that instant, the tension in his heart eased just a little.
“…I’m so glad.”
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
“Shunta”
“What’s up?”
“I heard from Nagisa. She said you went to school.”
“Huh…?”
(I went every day, though…)
There was a brief pause.
Then his father laughed gently.
“You did great.”
“D-Dad!”
“What is it?”
“…There’s something I want to ask!”
Just as I said that—
“Sorry! I’ve got a customer!”
“I’ll call you back!”
“Just don’t cause any trouble for Nagisa or Yume!”
“W-wait, Dad—”
Beep, beep. The call ended.
“I didn’t get to ask anything…”
But I’d just gotten to talk to my dad.
That alone made me feel a little lighter.
I looked down at my diary once more.
“First, I need to figure out where I am and what’s going on.”
I muttered quietly. Then I noticed my wallet lying under the desk. I opened it.
“…That’s not much.”
There was almost nothing left.
No one’s going to make me a meal.
Both Nagisa and Yume hate me.
“…I can’t rely on this family, after all.”
If I keep staying in this house,
someday I’ll really be kicked out.
He clutched his wallet.
“Whether it’s a dream or reality, I can’t survive without money.”
“…Maybe I’ll get a part-time job.”
“I need money for living expenses.”
“Besides, there are all sorts of things I want to investigate.”
He left his room.
As he walked through the twilight streets, a flyer caught his eye.
‘○○ Café: Hiring Part-Time Staff’
Hayata stopped in his tracks.
“I can’t afford to be picky…”
He peered inside through the shop’s glass window.
“…I’ll go here.”
Hayata quietly opened the door.
The bell chimed.
“Welcome!”
Behind the counter, a head of vibrant pink hair swayed.
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