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Chapter 95 – Liar
Tsuru didn’t know anything about Arina’s condition. The fact that she had a dual personality disorder. The fact that she had amnesia. The fact that she had a past she wanted to forget.
It was clear from the way she acted that Arina didn’t tell anything about it to her, even though the current Arina should think of her as her best friend.
That was why I decided to not tell her anything.
“Don’t cry, you look ugly.”
“I’m not crying.”
“Then, what’s that thing coming out of your eyes?”
“Calpis.” (T/N: A Japanese soft drink)
“My, this uncle is suprised!”
She wiped her tears with her sleeves, revealing the red, swollen corners of her eyes. Her eyes were still moist though.
“You’re the worst… Suddenly yelling at me like that…”
“My bad.”
“I was so scared! Grr!”
“Wait, calm down, stop hurting the poor desk!”
The girl grabbed the desk and shook it wildly. The corner of the desk hit me on my stomach repeatedly. It was painful, but I couldn’t stop her from going wild.
Though the damage I received was pale in comparison to the damage the poor desk-kun took. Imagine being him, one day, human suddenly came to your house, murdered you, mutilated your body and turned you into a forgotten furniture. On top of that you still had to endure this kind of abuse.
I couldn’t take it anymore, he was too pitiful. I grabbed his body and stood my ground. Eventually, the girl stopped her abuse.
“Haa…”
“Tired?”
“Why are you so strong? Aren’t you just a simple idiot?!”
“Forget about that. So, what’s your plan now, Niwatori Tsuru-san?”
“I’m going to find out about everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know roughly what the current situation is. Arina forgot everything about you, but she remembers us. If you’re the only one she can’t remember, that means one thing. You’re someone important to her, even more than the rest of us.”
“Important as in, I’m the target of her revenge?”
“Dumbass, if you actually think like that, then you really are a dumb blockhead! In any case, I don’t know the cause, she probably hit her head or something, but this seems to be the case of a temporary memory loss. But, the cause of it isn’t important right now.”
She crossed her legs and continued her words with a serious expression.
“We need to solve this using a rather extreme method. You’ll have to interact with her again so she can slowly remember everything about you.”
I immediately rejected that idea.
“I won’t. I told you that I don’t want to get involved with her ever again.”
“Why are you like this? What made you avoid her so much? Are you hiding something?”
“If Arina didn’t tell you anything, then I can’t tell you anything.”
“Can’t you just tell me?”
“Never.”
“I’ll shake the desk again.”
“I’ll stop you with all my power.”
“Try me.”
We reached a stalemate and silence enveloped the room.
Our gazes met as we eyed each other like tigers.
Since she didn’t seem to be giving up, I decided to tell her what was in my mind.
“Tsuru, just let it go. This doesn’t concern you at all. You can still hang out with her like before and whatever happens between me and Arina wouldn’t leave any impact in your school life. Think about it, you won’t be able to hang out with her as much when you two graduate. Make use of your time and make some precious memories with her.”
“Are you implying that you’re okay with all this?”
“Yes.”
“Stop lying! You think sacrificing yourself will make her happy? Stop deluding yourself!”
“I’m not sacrificing myself…”
“Then why did you say that doing this is hard for you, you dumbass?!”
I couldn’t say anything to that.
She lost herself in anger but her words were completely right.
If I were to tell her everything, I could probably convince her.
Maybe she would apologize to me for not understanding the circumstances, not understanding how much pain Arina suffered and for scolding me like this. But what was the point of that? I didn’t want to guilt trip her–
Suddenly, the sound of a door being opened echoed through the room.
We immediately turned our gazes toward the door.
The opening was barely noticeable. If we didn’t hear the sound, we probably didn’t know that someone had opened the door.
“Come in.”
Tsuru called out, but the person behind the door didn’t reply.
When said person came out, our minds went blank. Ghosts didn’t exist, that was my belief, but when I experienced something strange like this, my mind would wander to the various methods of exorcisms involving throwing tomatoes from my bag. Sadly, I didn’t have any in my bag currently.
“Sorry… I didn’t know that there were people here…”
The person who peeked in from behind the door was Arina.
*   *   *
Arina’s PoV
There was something that had been bothering me.
A boy called Sakaki Sui.
Ever since I contacted him half a month ago, I’ve never interacted with him again. Mainly because he said that I used to hate him.
It wasn’t like I didn’t try to talk to him, I did, but he wouldn’t even try to look at me. Maybe he hated me too, like how I used to hate him?
But, soon enough I found out that he was lying.
I went through my note and there wasn’t a single word that described my hatred toward him. I didn’t remember when I wrote about him though, so while reading, it gave me a strange feeling.
In any case, in the note, my impression of him was favorable. I hated him? I branded him as trustworthy, there was no way that I would hate someone like that. I checked through my phone, we called and texted each other a lot, it was obvious that we were quite close.
So, why did he lie to me?
The note told me that he helped me with all his might. He earnestly tried to help me cure my amnesia and personality disorder.
Both were the secrets that I kept even from my closest friends. Aside from him, only mom, Akakusa-sensei and Kazawaguchi-senpai knew about it.
I tried to remember him and I vaguely remembered the traces that he left behind. But, his figure was foggy. I couldn’t remember what he looked like or how our interactions went.
“Arina-san? Where are you going?”
The girl in tennis wear, Shirona, called out to me.
“There’s something that bugs me… I want to go to the old staff’s room.”
“Ah~ Are you meeting up with Sui?”
“No.”
“Be careful, okay? If he’s doing something strange, just tell me, I’ll whack him good!”
“I’ll be fine.”
I left her after that. I tried to hide the fact that I forgot everything about Sakaki Sui. It made me always on edge whenever his name was brought up, but it seemed like nobody could tell that I was pretending.
But at this point, I was pretty much convinced that Sakaki Sui lied to me. Shirona’s actions and words were enough as proof. But, why did he lie to me?
In my foggy memories of him, I vaguely remembered the thing we did in the old staff’s room. Back when I was reading there with my mom’s preserved flowers that I brought over. Though, I didn’t remember his presence there.
To find out about the truth, I decided to visit the place itself. So, I headed toward the old staff’s room.
When I arrived, I had a sense of deja vu. I remembered that I used to change into my gym clothes here. I would put my hair up and store my underwear in my bag.
I placed my hand on the door as I felt someone’s presence inside. There were sounds of footsteps coming from the room. I decided to leave the place but, suddenly, a familiar voice called me from inside the room.
“Come in.”
Tsuru? Why was she here? A secret rendezvous with her boyfriend maybe? You can’t do that, Tsuru! This is the school! Wait, does that mean it’s okay if she does that outside? No, hell no!
Curiosity got the better of me and I peeked in fearfully.
“Sorry… I didn’t know that there were people here…”
Aside from Tsuru, there was a wide-eyed Sakaki Sui inside.
Our eyes met for the first time in a month.
TL: Iyo
ED: Dodo