"Are you sure this is okay…"
"We're already here anyway."
"The problem is whether we'll get caught."
"Definitely not. At this time of night, there's no one at the school. As long as we avoid the patrolling old man, we'll be fine."
"I see…"
At night, several boys squatted behind the school gate.
They were Naoya Chikushigawara, Koichi Sakakibara, and Tomohiko Kazama.
After hearing from Mochizuki Chika in the morning that someone named Katsumi Matsunaga had left a message in the old classroom, the boys began entertaining the idea of sneaking into the school at night to go 'treasure hunting.'
On one hand, the clue might be the key to saving the entire class, and on the other, the thought of sneaking around like this gave them a strange thrill.
"Then let's take the chance now, we…"
"What are you doing?"
"!?" x3
Hearing a voice suddenly behind them in the middle of the night, the boys flinched in fright.
They quickly turned their heads and saw Rinji standing behind them with no expression.
Naoya patted his chest and exhaled in relief. "So it's just Takamine. You scared me. Don't sneak up on people like that."
Koichi asked curiously, "Takamine, you came here too?"
"Yeah. I heard that guy hid something in the old Class 3-3 classroom. Out of curiosity, I came to check. Of course, I also knew you lot wouldn't be able to sit still and would come here."
"Hahaha, as expected, we can't hide anything from you."
Naoya scratched the back of his head with a laugh, then walked up to Rinji and slung an arm around his shoulder.
"So, Takamine, want to treasure hunt with us?"
"You're just doing this because you think it's fun."
"Of course it's fun. We don't get chances like this often." Naoya turned his head toward the school's locked iron gate. "First, we need to find a way to climb the wall and get in. Then… hey, Takamine, what are you doing?"
Before Naoya finished, Rinji had already walked to the iron gate, lightly touched the lock with his hand, and with a sharp crack, the gate slowly swung open.
Rinji entered the school first and said to the others, "Hurry up, get in."
"O… oh."
Without caring what trick Rinji had used, the others quickly followed him inside.
…
"Takamine, has anyone told you that you're unusually mysterious?"
"My friends never said that."
"So Takamine did have friends before?"
"Of course I did, but definitely not you."
"Ouch, that hurts."
Naoya and Tomohiko walked in front, while Rinji and Koichi followed a little behind them.
Maybe out of curiosity or just boredom, Koichi started talking with Rinji.
"Ever since you joined the class, Takamine, you've been really cold."
"Ah, that's only toward you guys," Rinji said flatly. "After all… I really don't want to have anything to do with you."
Before coming to school, Rinji had spent quite a while outside with Misaki and Mei, only leaving when the sky grew dark.
Rinji wasn't blind. He could see Misaki's reliance on him, as well as another emotion mixed in that he couldn't quite define.
He sincerely thought it was a bad thing.
Not because he didn't want to get along, but because he absolutely couldn't have any ties with her.
Rinji knew he was someone from twenty years in the future, a person who shouldn't exist in this era. He couldn't get too close to people here.
Even though his father told him the future wouldn't change because of such things, he still refused. It wouldn't be good for himself or others.
He never understood why his father threw him into this school.
"Huh… what kind of reason is that?"
"Let's drop this topic. There's something I wanted to ask you," Rinji suddenly said.
"Hm?"
"I remember you're from Tokyo. Did you ever live in Yomiyama before?"
"No, I didn't," Koichi explained. "I only recently came back to study in Yomiyama. But… if I had to say, I was born here."
"Oh?"
"My mother… passed away not long after I was born."
"My condolences."
"That was fifteen years ago. During my time in Yomiyama, I lived with my grandparents and Aunt Reiko."
"The Aunt Reiko you mentioned… was she a Class 3-3 student back then?"
"Yes…"
"Which year?"
"1983."
"… Fifteen years ago, huh."
Still, this information wasn't of much use to Rinji.
"At least your aunt survived that calamity. Otherwise, your grandparents would've been devastated."
"That's true. I don't want to see my family sad again either… huh?"
Koichi suddenly froze mid-sentence.
In his mind, he could clearly picture his grandparents and father at a funeral. Every face was filled with grief, and his father was holding a black-and-white photo of the deceased.
That wasn't imagination. It was a real memory.
But whose funeral was it?
If it was his mother's, he would've just been born then. He couldn't possibly remember it.
So whose funeral was it? Who had died?
"Ugh…"
"Hey, are you alright?"
Rinji looked at Koichi, who was holding his head in pain.
"No, it just feels like I forgot something…" Koichi gave a bitter smile.
He had the feeling he'd forgotten something very important.
"We're here."
As they talked, Naoya and Tomohiko, who were in front, had already torn off the 'No Entry' seal and arrived at an abandoned classroom at the top of a building.
This classroom had been abandoned ten years ago, which meant both Katsumi Matsunaga and Koichi's Aunt Reiko had once studied there.
The door wasn't locked. Inside, the desks and chairs were neatly arranged, though covered in dust.
Occasionally, under the dust on the desks, they could see drawings left by students long ago.
In the darkness, the whole classroom felt especially eerie.
"Is this where the thing is hidden?"
"We'd better find it before the patrol catches us…"
"I found it," Rinji said.
"So fast!?"
Everyone rushed over and saw Rinji crouching under the podium, holding a cassette tape wrapped in tape.