Ayame impeded Takenaka’s way after hearing his proposal, claiming that such a method might not even be successful and that he would be taking a significant risk to make it work, but Takenaka was steadfast and would not yield. Before the sun had even risen, they arrived at my alma mater and snuck into the old school building. He even broke the lock, soberly claiming that time was of the essence.

On the roof of the deserted old school building, Hyuga showed up there with a foreboding air, even though he did not call out to her. No longer retaining a trace of her former self, she had turned into an evil spirit that only sought to drag people to their deaths.

“The souls of those who linger in one place for too long, even if it is merely a few years, become tainted and transformed into something terrifying. When we first appeared in front of her, she was…”

Unable to even form her original appearance, she had forgotten her identity and created her own spiritual magnetic field on the rooftop. A conversation was out of the question, and moving in closer would have made her attack without hesitation.

“I told Takenaka to retreat. That if things continue as they are, instead of saving someone, another person will die.”

Bringing the evil spirit back to its senses was no small feat considering that they entered nearly haphazardly and without any sort of preparation. Her support was minimal since she was using her daughter’s body as a medium. She said that they should prepare themselves properly for the challenge one more time.

“He should have listened to what the veteran told him.”

At this point, Ayame ruffled her daughter’s long hair and laughed comically.

“Then he said, ‘We can’t take the long way to go again. Hakamada will die if we don’t do it now…’ Well, that’s a good thing, I thought to myself in defeat.”

“Then…”

“We went as far as we could, almost unarmed. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that foolhardy with an evil spirit… though he was the most reckless one.”

Taking another sip of her canned coffee, Ayame looked back at Takenaka. She said that Hyuga, who had been driven out of her mind by the struggles of Takenaka and herself, finally regained her sanity as the morning sun was about to rise. Her soul, which had been bound and defiled with darkness for so long, was purified.

Now able to have a proper conversation, Takenaka explained the situation to Hyuga and sent her to my rescue.

Takenaka sent Hyuga out, assuring her that he would do all in his power to assist her despite her fears that she was short on time and power to reach the place where I had been dragged into.

After that, thoroughly exhausted, he returned to his parents’ house, which he had bolted from, and went to his grandfather’s temple, where he shut himself in the main hall and recited a long sutra. Apparently, he had been empowering Hyuga for a long time without getting much sleep. Up until just before I woke up…

To think that he had been frantically striving to save me… For a while, I couldn’t say anything as I watched Takenaka sleeping with a reassuring look on his face.

The wounds he sustained and the dark circles under his eyes attested to how relentless the battle had been.

“It wasn’t just him.”

Just like Ayame said, many others were working in the shadows to save me. After I got into the accident, the manager contacted everyone and promptly made arrangements for the police and an ambulance. Hirai, Aoyama, and Nagase, all of whom took turns working the night shift in my place while worrying about my comatose state.

Kinoshita, who came to visit me in the hospital, prayed daily in front of Hyuga’s grave for me to be saved.

My mother, father, and younger sister, who looked like they were about to die, were talking to me over and over again, and the three of them were folding 1,000 paper cranes together, despite my unpromising outlook.

The other staff members as well as Nishimura and Tanaka, who had heard from Kinoshita about my predicament, were helping to fold paper cranes for me. Hence, three bundles of 1,000 paper cranes were hanging by the window of my hospital room.

“This…”

For a person like me. Everyone… for a person like me. For such a hopeless me… all for me alone.

“They should be doing this for me… for a guy like me…”

My lacrimal gland loosened again. The snot dripped down my nose but I couldn’t wipe it off with my unusable arms.

“I can’t believe it… Despite me being a hopeless guy…”

“That’s why you’re wrong. Idiot.”

Ayame sighed and informed me, her eyes moistening as if to impart insight to me, “You are more cherished than you believe. Being liked by people, being loved by people―Realize that a little. Otherwise, there’d be no meaning in her rescuing you for the second time…”

“Second…?”

“The second time was when she pulled you back from the beckoning of the sea of trees, and…”

“That day, several years ago.”

“That day…? You mean the day… when Hyuga and I had our falling out?”

“You too were aware of how oddly she was behaving that day—even more so than usual. It was caused by a major reason.”

“What is the reason…? Did that reason have anything to do with Hyuga’s death?”

Ayame took a white cloth out of the bag at her feet and brought what was wrapped in it up to the position where I could see it.

“Have you seen this?”

With an earnest expression on her face, Ayame showed me a piece of paper that was dirty and tattered, no, this was…

A talisman…

Although blotched and unreadable, it had some kind of writing on it. More than half of it was torn off, and I could tell just by looking at it that it was no longer in effect.

“We found this on the roof of the old school building. This is a talisman to seal up a powerful force. As you can see, it has long since expired. Somebody must have stuck it there a long time ago, to ensure that the “powerful” force wouldn’t be attracted to it and harm people.”

“…That’s…”

No way…

One by one, fragments that had been dispersed across my mind converged together, and they all guided me toward the answer I was seeking.Everything was connected.

That day, that time.

About why Hyuga was so desperate. To confirm that answer, I moved my lips fearfully.

“Hyuga, no way… to keep me away from that place… that’s why she―”

Ayame paused for a moment and nodded.

“If she hadn’t chased you off the rooftop, you would have jumped off… that day, right over there. Unbelievable, I know.”

At Ayame’s words, a chill shot down my back as I lay back on the bed.

“You didn’t see it at all at the time, but she did. She could see that you were possessed by ‘something’ incredibly harmful that lingered in that place… and the proof was in the fact that you kept going to that rooftop. That is the harbinger. Before you know it, your mind has been contaminated and you are drawn to it. Various things become inconsequential, and you become lethargic. You were already in a state of immediate withdrawal, you know.”

Hyuga, realizing this, was in a great hurry to wake up my fogged eyes and did everything in her power to force me to leave the rooftop. In my emotional instability, I rejected Hyuga without even listening to what she was actually trying to convey to me.

“As a result, you left that spot. What she did was right but―”

It was one step short of a solution, nevertheless. Even if I moved away once, I would come back again. Hyuga was intensely distressed. After much thought, she finally came up with a solution―

“She attempted to deal with that thing that was trying to pull you in.”

And it was only one person, and the result was starkly evident.

Hyuga, who was only slightly more powerful than others, was sealed up for a long time by a powerful talisman.

It was impossible for her to manage it all by herself. Even so, she probably thought she could pull it off. Perhaps she didn’t doubt that she could do it.

“No… maybe she knew.”

That she may not be able to overcome her opponent.

Whether or not, Hyuga challenged “that” which stayed on the rooftop.

She challenged and lost.

Losing… and then…

The vector was directed at Hyuga, not me.

The same entity that was attempting to suck me in instantly took control of Hyuga and dragged her in with overwhelming force.

Hyuga’s ego was robbed, and she was unable to resist.

From a rooftop dozens of meters high…

To the cold… rain-drenched concrete.

She was pushed downー

“That was the truth of that day. Her true demise.”

The truth buried in the darkness. The truth that would have been buried forever without Takenaka and Ayame releasing Hyuga from the rooftop―

It impacted me so much that I couldn’t take it in.

“…No… way…”

Whatever I did, my words wavered all over the place, and I was powerless to straighten them up. A truth I had to accept, a truth I had never known before. It was too huge and heavy.

“Then… she… to save me…”

I felt like I was going to be crushed―

“For someone like me… to save me… in exchange for my life… she died… is that what you mean?”

“That girl told us not to tell you about it until the very end. She said she didn’t want… to hurt you…”

“Because of me… she had been alone in that place… until now…”

Everyone mistakenly believed that she committed suicide. Even though she was such a kind and gentle person with such a smile on her face, she became an evil spirit and forgot about everything.

Such treatment… for years without anyone to save her… was too agonizing.

And yet, she…

“Even after becoming an evil spirit… she still thought about you. She was shouting your name all the time… cursing and mourning herself for having no choice but to part ways with you like that. Even in death, she never forgot you alone… and that was how terrific it was… I was amazed as well…”

Not for herself, but all for me.

“If… you ever find out everything, she asked me to tell you this.”

――『Senior, please don’t blame yourself. I am glad that I saved you.』 ――

Everything she did… was for me…

Instead of holding a grudge, she consoled me, even in death.

“Every… thing… is… not… good…”Tears streamed down to the edges of my mouth and soaked into my wounds.

“Didn’t you die…”magic

I was saved?

Without you, I couldn’t say that anything would have been better.

If you hadn’t been there…

“You… idiot…”

You should be the one who deserved to be alive, not me.

“Even if you save… this idiot, it won’t do anything…”

I couldn’t even wipe away your last tear.

Not even your last words could be answered back to you. And you… for such a pathetic man…

“Don’t say that.”

Ayame stopped me as I was getting self-loathing.

“Even if you are such a fool… she couldn’t leave you alone. You were clumsy, all you had in mind was baseball, and you were stubborn… But that girl couldn’t help but like you more than anyone else…”

“…Uugh.”

“She only had one life to risk and she couldn’t do it half-heartedly.”

“Urhh…”

“So don’t say such a miserable thing… you don’t have to force yourself to look good… just…”

Ayame remarked as she made me rise on my feet anew.

“You have inherited the life she was supposed to lead… so move on, stubbornly.”

Then she smiled at me for the first time.

“That’s her wish.”

The voice of a forlorn day-dweller. A ray of wind swept in through the window and ruffled the curtains.

Turning away from the orange light, I gnashed my teeth. What should I do to stop these overflowing tears?

“Ayame, I’m sorry… I’m going to cry miserably… for a little while…”

“I see… Then, I’m going to have a smoke outside, call me when you’re done.”

She left with a joke and quickly walked out of the hospital room with her canned coffee. I began sobbing in the hospital room after that, like a switch had been forcibly flipped.

――『I wish I could have spent more time with you…』 ――

Me too… Me too, Hyuga.

I wish I could have spent more time with you too―

I wish I could have shared more stories with you and learned more about you.

“Hyu… ga…!”

On this day, I learned the true meaning of life—that people did not live alone—for the first time at my age.

Everyone was helping someone in the shadows and, likewise being helped. Without realizing it, in places out of sight.

Someone was keeping us alive.

With the help of many people.

We were not living but we were all being allowed to be alive.

“Hyuga…!”

I was not alive right now.

I was allowed to be alive.

By one precious life, Hyuga, and the saving hands of many people.

I was allowed to live…

Being allowed to continue living by…

From now on, I was going to keep on going, making someone to live and engraving that fact on myself so firmly and intensely that it would not disappear.

Facing forward.

It may take a long time but that was okay.

If I didn’t choose to retire, if I didn’t choose to keep going, then you… you would be smiling at me, right…

With the tiny palm print left by the IV on my left wrist against my cheek, I continued to cry, thinking of Hyuga’s last smile, until my tears were running out.