?
Both Aki Tomoya and Kato Megumi were completely confused, with blank expressions on their faces.
After hearing those words, Eriri's previously gloomy face showed a surprised expression. Upon realizing that Kasumigaoka Utaha had seen through her thoughts, she became embarrassed and angry again.
"Hmph!"
She crossed her arms and turned her head away. Her golden twin tails traced a beautiful arc through the air with her turning motion.
"I-I already knew that without you telling me!"
After throwing out these words with her back to everyone, she hurriedly left with small, frantic steps.
"Kasumigaoka-senpai, what did you mean by what you just said?"
Aki Tomoya asked Kasumigaoka Utaha.
"It's nothing important."
Withdrawing her thoughtful gaze from the direction Eriri had left, as if she had done something very draining, Kasumigaoka Utaha looked somewhat tired. She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Rather than worrying about Sawamura-san, Tomoya, you have your own things to do, like caring about the game's production progress."
Aki Tomoya still had questions, but since she had said this, he couldn't continue pressing the matter.
He just made up his mind to ask Eriri about the reason later when they were alone.
She was an important artist in the team, and there couldn't be any unexpected situations before the game was completed.
...
Many things are like this—when you're hesitating, wavering, and unable to move forward, often a single sentence from someone else can make you truly determined to take action.
Eriri had decided to visit Murakami Yuu's home after school to check on him. This was a decision she made following her heart's desires.
Actually, when she heard in the office that Murakami Yuu had taken sick leave, Eriri had already begun to worry. This feeling was reflected on her surface and noticed by everyone, but only Kasumigaoka Utaha had seen through to the real reason.
However, why would she know I was thinking about Yuu?
Sitting in her classroom, Eriri came to her senses and noticed this question.
After thinking carefully while resting her chin on her hand, she understood.
Her reaction in the faculty office must have been somewhat obvious, catching Kasumigaoka Utaha's attention. Plus, Hiratsuka-sensei and Sakata-sensei's conversation wasn't too quiet—almost everyone present could hear it.
So it was a deductive result combining all these factors. Kasumigaoka Utaha really is someone with a meticulous mind...
Because she had something on her mind, the afternoon classes were somewhat difficult for Eriri to endure.
During breaks, she had multiple impulses to call Murakami Yuu and ask how he was feeling.
But she forcibly suppressed these impulses because she had heard Sakata-sensei say in the faculty office:
"He said sleeping in the afternoon would be fine..."
What if Yuu was resting right now? Wouldn't calling disturb him?
Not wanting to disturb Murakami Yuu's rest was only part of it—the deeper reason was that Eriri felt somewhat uneasy.
Thinking about how Murakami Yuu recently, while not showing it obviously, had been somewhat distant in a way she could vaguely sense.
She was afraid that after calling and talking, she would receive a rejection from him saying she didn't need to specially visit him. That wasn't the result she wanted.
Eriri had her own thoughts. Although this plan was somewhat wrong, she still hoped to use this opportunity of Murakami Yuu being sick to restore their relationship to the intimate one they used to have where they could talk about anything.
This urgent feeling stemmed from external factors that stimulated her—that girl named Ogiso Setsuna gave her a very unsettling sense of crisis.
The scene she had witnessed that day at noon of the two walking side by side replayed in her mind from time to time, with close-up shots of them chatting happily.
Such scenes always gave Eriri the feeling that if she didn't start taking active action, her relationship with Murakami Yuu would probably stop there.
No, it might even gradually fade with time.
When this realization might become reality, her heart inexplicably produced a feeling of emptiness.
The things that originally belonged there had vanished without a trace. That hollow feeling was like being in a crowded but silent black and white street.
The world had lost its color, the crowds were no longer joyful, and this place without certain things was like a dead land.
She didn't want to have these feelings that made her want to cry anymore—not even once.
So Eriri took action.
After school, she packed her bag, changed out of her indoor shoes, put on her British-style round-toe leather boots, and quickly walked toward the train station.
After getting off at her destination station, Eriri didn't rush directly to Murakami Yuu's home.
Instead, she walked around the nearby shopping street, looking left and right.
Considering that the sick Murakami Yuu was weak and needed nutrition, she planned to buy some fruit and bring a portion of porridge.
Porridge wasn't actually difficult to make, but unfortunately, Eriri was a young lady who never lifted a finger at home. She could manage simple microwave use, but anything slightly more complex was completely impossible for her. Even using a rice cooker to cook rice was a very difficult battle for her.
So to avoid making a mess of Murakami Yuu's kitchen, Eriri chose a safer approach.
While carrying the fruit and packaged porridge toward the apartment where Murakami Yuu lived, the sky, which had gradually become overcast with dark clouds, suddenly erupted with thunder.
The huge sound startled Eriri, making her tremble and freeze in place, her eyes showing undisguised terror.
Bean-sized water drops fell from the sky, first as a light drizzle, but within just a few breaths it became a violent storm.
The rain poured down like a waterfall from above, hitting the ground with dense pattering sounds.
Pedestrians on the street hurried along, either holding briefcases over their heads or carrying umbrellas.
Eriri was among them, running with small steps. She held the paper bag containing the porridge in her arms. Her hair was completely soaked, her shoes began taking in water, and the dense rain mist blocked her vision.
In a moment of inattention, she was tripped by a slightly protruding stone brick. As she lost balance and fell toward the ground, she instinctively turned her body to prevent the porridge in her arms from being damaged.
"Hiss, it hurts..."
The apples from the fruit bag rolled all over the ground, and her schoolbag was thrown to the side, but fortunately, the porridge she had specially protected wasn't damaged.
Eriri slowly stood up. Her knee joints and the outside of her arms had a burning pain.
She endured the physical discomfort, picked up her schoolbag from the side, and collected the scattered apples one by one, putting them back in the plastic bag to carry.
The surrounding pedestrians turned a blind eye to this scene and unconsciously kept their distance to avoid unnecessary trouble.
As she resumed walking toward Murakami Yuu's apartment, the tears Eriri had held back for so long finally flowed out—because of pain, and because of grievance.
After finally entering the apartment building and reaching Murakami Yuu's door, Eriri arranged the long hair stuck to her cheeks, sniffled, wiped her face with her damp sleeve, put on her usual proud expression, and slowly pressed the doorbell.
After waiting a while with no one coming to open the door, she pressed it again and waited quietly for a while, but still received no response.
Not home, or asleep?
She put down what she was carrying and took out her phone, entered the number, and dialed.
"Sorry, the user you are calling has powered off..."
Still unwilling to give up, she pressed the doorbell once more. Eriri stood in front of the unopened door and slowly lowered her head.
"Idiot, idiot, idiot..."
The murmur carried a crying tone—was she talking about Murakami Yuu, or herself?
She leaned against the wall and slowly crouched down, resting her head on her knees, gradually becoming unable to control her sobs.
Accompanied by increasingly frequent thunder, the rain outside grew heavier.
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