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CHAPTER 1 – MULTIPLE STARTING LINES
PART 01
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1-1 SUMMONED BY A LETTER FROM A CHILDHOOD FRIEND
As I pulled today’s newspaper which I’d forgotten to pick up that morning from my mail box, I found a letter stuck between the pages.
“Huh?”
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh, it’s a letter addressed to me… Hey, there’s no stamp on this?”
So it was a letter posted personally to me. Who could it be from?
“Hmm, the sender is… Oh, it’s Satsuki.”
“A friend of yours?”
“A childhood friend. By the way, she wasn’t there at the opening ceremony just now. I wonder what’s up.”
The Satsuki I knew wouldn’t have missed it without a valid reason.
Fiddling with the letter, I opened the front door and kicked off my shoes.
“Is Satsuki-san a delinquent who usually skips school?”
“No. In fact, it’s the opposite. She used to be the council president at our middle school.”
“Ooh… Now that’s strange.”
“You have any idea about this?”
“Nope.”
I always seem to fall for her tricks… Oh well, let’s focus on the letter for now.
Throwing my bag onto the living room sofa, I tore open the envelope and watched as a pile of eraser dust poured out.
Opening up the neatly folded pages, I was greeted with Satsuki’s familiar handwriting.
[To Namidare Rekka-sama. I have something really important to tell you. I thought about writing it down here, but I feel that it’ll be better if we talk in person. I’ll be waiting for you today at the place where we used to play as children. From Ootomo Satsuki.]
Her words were neatly written, as always.
But there were no traces of correction on the letter, despite the vast amount of eraser dust, which meant that she’d rewritten the same letter numerous times before posting it out. This didn’t seem like her usual methodical self.
“What a vague letter. There’s nothing important written on it,” R, who had suddenly appeared by my side, commented as she peeked at the letter.
“She said she’ll tell me more when we meet up.”
“So you’re going now?”
“She said that she’ll be waiting there today. She can be really stubborn if she wants to, so she’ll probably wait all day if I don’t show up.”
“But Rekka-san, you must be tired from attending the opening ceremony, right? I’m sure you can take a short break first…”
What’s with her? Why is she suddenly acting so concerned about me? …Oh.
“Don’t tell me you’re dying to watch TV.”
“…I didn’t say that.”
“Sorry, but that’ll have to wait. I’ll stay in all weekend to watch it with you.”
“I told you, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Then don’t pout.”
“I’m not pouting—”
But she still looks quite unhappy.
Oh well, guess I’ll really have to spend my weekend watching TV with her.
With my mind full of the DVDs we’ll rent, R and I left the house together.