I'm sure someone knows where this prototype came from.

Just writing for fun. Release your emotions

That's it.

(This story is bugged. Can't edit content So there is still a point of error. I'm sorry.)

The summer has ended. And the school term has begun again.

But I don't want to go to school at all.

I don't want to go…

...Because Asaaki is still waiting for me there...

...Even though this past summer took you away from me.

Three white lilies were arranged in a light blue vase on the study table next to me.

Asaki's desk had been empty since the start of the semester.

The person who set it up was our homeroom teacher. The cause is well known.

Pathetic

What's the benefit of doing this?

Is that to make everyone feel better?

It may be true for others. But not for me Because every time I look in that direction It makes me think of the blue skies of last summer.

A summer that I don't want to think about again.

But I couldn't take my eyes off it.

'Cause if I look another way What I will see is far worse.

in the school yard Under the shade of that big mahogany tree

Asaki stood there. In a school uniform like mine.

She stood there, all alone.

And she looked at me

With those blue eyes

She looked and looked and looked.

Then she raised her finger and pointed at me.

I know, Asaki, I know.

The story of her still being here And the matter of why only I can see you

Because what happened was my fault, right?

"Takeda-san, did you hear what the teacher called?"

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Please get up and read the next paragraph to the whole class.”

“Yes, Master.”

Asaki is gone. But now you'll come back again.

Because my hunch told me that until Asaki gets what she wants She won't go anywhere.

It's time to go home.

I put my things into my bag before heading to my locker to change my shoes.

But it's not in there.

I said so.

I'm the next target.

But it's deserved.

I found my shoes in a nearby trash can. A little dirty but still wearable.

The sound of the sea waves is loud and gentle. All the way I walked home

I will miss these sounds after I graduate and move to Tokyo for high school.

The faster you can go, the better.

Because I don't want to be here anymore.

I don't want to see you

I don't want to walk past that railroad crossing every day again.

But I still have to be patient. Because it's not yet time

It seemed that at the railroad crossing there was only a single lily left in an orange juice can that stood alone next to a utility pole.

Asaki likes orange juice.

Who is doing this?

I looked up from the lilies. And there she was. In the same clothes as during the day Wear shoes for walking outside of school. And on her shoulder was a school bag hanging.

A pink rabbit keychain hung from the zipper of her bag.

There's nothing wrong with my bag.

Asaki raised a finger and pointed at me.

What exactly do you want from me, Asaaki?

Without even pausing to think about why I was doing that, I stepped forward towards her.

It was as if it wasn't my own desire at all.

“Where are you going in such a hurry, darling?”

Someone grabbed me by the shoulder from behind before pulling me back.

The sound of the wind sounded before a large iron horse rushed past me. It was only a few tens of centimeters away.

“Damn it, why don't the barriers fall down? Like this, someone will get hurt again.”

The train passed by. Asaaki disappeared as well.

“Thank you.”

“You must be very careful, dear. I heard that a young girl about her age was recently hit by a train here.”

The person who grabbed me was a young woman dressed like a foreign tourist with a suitcase in tow. In fact, upon closer inspection, I was pretty sure she wasn't Japanese. Both the light hair color and those eyes No matter how you look at it, you're not from around here.

“Who are you?”

“Me? I'm just someone passing by. You don't have to care.”

“And where do you come from?”

“A very boring place.”

Weird people that would be considered normal in foreign countries?

“If there's nothing else, I'll have to excuse myself first.”

She walked past me, dragging her bag.

"Soon we will definitely meet again, Haruki."

What do you say?

I turned around to ask the strange woman. But she's gone.

Am I going crazy?

I got home and turned the key to open the door.

I'm alone My father died many years ago. As for mother, she goes to work in Tokyo.

To others, this probably sounds like a dream life. Live your life alone without anyone being too bossy.

It was really good in the beginning.

But coming home and having to turn on the lights first every day As the days went by it made me feel depressed, I don't know how.

I eat dinner, take a shower, do my homework, read a book, and get ready for bed.

My life has been like this since the start of the semester.

If Asaki is still alive Sometimes we'd hang out in the city. Or she would come to my house from time to time.

But such a thing is probably not possible anymore.

So all I can do is act like I normally do.

It was as if nothing had happened.

I returned to the classroom after the bathroom break during lunch.

Someone took a vase from Asaki's table and put it on my table. and put the chopsticks on top of the packed lunch I brought from home.

I understand. Everyone wants to tell me this.

I picked up the vase and put it back in its original place before pulling my chopsticks out of the lunchbox and starting to eat my lunch, ignoring the stares of the people around me.

No one said anything to me. And I have nothing to say to them.

This is good. Everyone is different.

Having said that, I haven't seen Asaki even once today.

That's strange. Where did she disappear to?

I skipped PE class claiming I was sick and asked permission to sleep in the nurse's room.

The nurse in that room isn't here right now. I don't know where she disappeared to.

But that's good, because I want to be alone.

There was the sound of someone walking. That means the nurse should have returned.

No, the person standing in the doorway was not the nurse.

Asaki, you're here again and you're wearing a gym uniform.

She looked at me from the edge of the door before raising a finger and pointing at me.

Then she turned and walked away.

I have to follow you.

Asaki disappeared up the stairs.

I follow you

She kept walking up.

And finally I opened the rooftop door.

Asaki stood at the edge of the deck and looked out to sea. She was outside the bars that had been installed to prevent accidents from happening up here.

I hurried towards her. But I couldn't reach her because of the fence between us.

“Asagi,” I tried to call her.

Those blue eyes looked back at me. And then she smiled Like the last time I remember

I wanted to say something but I couldn't. Because I don't know how to begin.

Will you apologize, will you ask, will you be angry or will you cry?

What exactly should I say to you?

Asaaki's delicate fingers slowly lifted and pointed towards me. And while still smiling at me She slowly leaned back and fell off the edge of the rooftop.

“Mr. Takeda,” a voice called out from behind me.

The homeroom teacher was standing there. Her expression was astonished, like a ghost.

“What is it, Master?”

“Come down now, Mr. Takeda.”

I don't understand what the teacher is talking about.

Until I realized that I had climbed the edge of the fence and almost crossed to the other side.

As soon as I came back inside The teacher walked up to me and spoke to me in a trembling voice.

“Follow the teacher now.”

Not long after, I found myself standing in front of the homeroom teacher whose trembling had not yet disappeared.

"Mr. Takeda"

“Yes, Master.”

“Why are you trying to climb over the fence on the rooftop?”

"...There's nothing."

“Mr. Takeda, please answer teacher honestly now.”

And how should I answer that? Did you see Asaki standing there? The teacher probably believes it.

“Is Mr. Takeda worried about something these days?”

"Not this."

“If there is one, please tell the teacher. In case the teacher can help you.”

Like Asaki tried to do?

“I don't have any problems at all.”

“Then can you promise me that you won't do anything like that again?”

“Yes, I promise.”

“I understand. It's almost the school festival. Teacher doesn't want anything to happen before that day.”

Festival? Is that something that teachers are worried about?

“Everyone in the room was also looking forward to it. So please take care of yourself, Mr. Takeda.”

I'm starting to understand why Asaki stopped trying.

It's probably because no one paid any attention to her at all.

There's no one.

besides me

And in the final episode

Even I don't care about her.

I got home and lay on the bed without even bothering to take my socks off.

There aren't many photos left on my phone.

Because after the summer is over I deleted almost all the pictures on my phone.

Except for one picture

The first picture I took with Asaki

"We're friends, right, Haruki?" Asaki asked, turning to me.

"I don't know. It's probably like that."

Asaki lowered the can of orange juice in his unfinished hand before smiling mischievously as the sound of the ocean waves carried on the breeze blowing down the street where the two of us were walking home. Her blue eyes sparkled in the stark contrast of the orange evening sunlight.

“I'm glad you accept me as a friend even though I'm not like everyone else.”

Asaaki winked at me.

“What are other people going to know?”

“That's it.”

We continued walking along the path. Asaki slowed down and let me walk in front of her.

“Hey Haruki, do you love me?”

“In what sense?”

“Whatever you're thinking of right now.”

"...um"

“No matter what happens, right?”

"...um"

“Then why did you leave me here?”

I hurriedly turned around to the back. Asaki smiled at me from behind the traffic barrier as the sound of the alarm grew louder.

“Do you really love me, Haruki?”

I tried to take a step and reach out to Asaki. But my body didn't move at all.

"If...you really love me..."

The sound of the wheels rubbing against the tracks became louder and louder.

“...come to me. In a world where everything is transparent.”

And the train hurtled past me.

What crazy dream did you have?

On the blackboard in front of the class was a message written in chalk: Planning a school festival

I don't care anymore So let others decide what to do this year.

“Should I make it a haunted house?”

“It makes sense.”

Didn't you do that last year? Never mind, I probably wouldn't have participated anyway.

“So what kind of ghost should we make?”

“Would you like to be a blue-eyed ghost?”

Wait a minute.

“Makes sense. You can take it that way.”

“Really, it's scary, I think.”

Let's not play around.

“I think it'd be better not…”

“Why are you afraid that that girl will come and trick you?”

I can't stand it any more. I can't stand it any more. I can't stand it any more.

The sound of tables and chairs falling made everyone in the room stop talking and turn to look at me. The indigo vase that was on Asaki's table just moments ago fell to the floor as well, causing the lilies inside to scatter across the floor of the room.

“Have you all gone crazy?”

I've said it.

At this point, there's nothing you can do to stop it.

You just have to continue and finish it.

“Haruki, you…”

“Don't call me that. They're not my friends. I have only one friend And she is dead…”

The whole room was silent.

“Even after she died, how could they still do this?”

“We were just having fun.”

“Playing for fun? Do they think of Asaki as just a toy? Is it just something for all of you to crush and throw away like that?”

“Pretend to speak well. Didn't you also call Asaki a blue-eyed ghost?"

“Yes, yes, yes, I do. I do it because I think that if I do it then everyone will accept me. Let me be one of you. I'm a fool, a fool, an absolute fool to try to trade the only person who understands me for something worthless like that.”

I've tried to hold back But in the end he couldn't stand it and started crying.

"Haruki, I think you'd better go to the infirmary."

“Somebody please go and find the teacher.”

The other people in the room started walking towards me.

No, don't come in.

They don't understand.

never

"Hey, Haruki ran away."

“Follow quickly.”

All I can do is run.

Running without knowing the goal

My mother used to say I wasn't very smart.

Especially when it comes to being honest with yourself.

I really hate it when adults are right like this.

I'm tired and take a break.

I don't know where I am.

All I could see was a road that stretched along the coast with the sound of the waves and wind coming from time to time.

The sky was already dark.

How long have I been running?

forget it

I don't want to go anywhere.

Whole house, Tokyo, high school

I want to sit here forever.

That's it.

Someone came.

Who?

Oh, it's you.

What do you want me to do, Asaki?

Follow her like that, right?

okay

You can go anywhere.

Here it...

Ah, that's true.

For you, everything ends here.

That's appropriate.

For people like me

“We are friends, right?”

"yes"

"Then Haruki, hug me and don't let me go again."

"um"

Even if you don't tell me, I won't let go. Because I can feel you and I know this isn't just a dream. You are in front of me I don't care any reason or explanation. It's not necessary now.

The sound of the alarm sounded. I closed my eyes and hugged Asagi tighter than before.

“Let's go together…”

The sound of the machinery became louder and louder as the iron rails vibrated.

“...to a world where everything is transparent.”

--goodbye--

My body floats

Really floating, not just figuratively.

Asaki pushed me off the train tracks.

Why?

Why

She just smiled before winking at me with those blue eyes.

The passing train crashed through her transparent body, shattering like glass that slowly fell to the ground and shattered into grains of sand that shone in the darkness.

Then she disappeared

While I'm still here

I'm... helpless.

I...don't know what to do next.

“Your condition doesn't look dull, darling.”

That sound

A foreign woman stood there with her suitcase in tow.

Since when have you been standing there?

“Come with me, Takeda Haruki.”

Now what do I have to lose?

I followed her to a roadside vending machine with a bench next to it. The light from the streetlights shone down from above as the foreign woman stood examining the vending machine.

“Would you like something to drink, darling?”

I didn't answer. Who would have the mood to answer at a time like this?

The sound of a can dropping rang out before the woman walked back over and handed me a can of water.

It was the same canned orange juice that Asaki liked to drink.

"thank you"

“Don't worry.” The young woman also had the same can of orange juice in her hand.

I don't know who this woman really is. But from everything that happened tonight There's nothing that could surprise me.

“Haruki, what do you plan to do after this?”

“I don't know. Let's continue living life as if nothing happened.”

“Does that mean you can accept that you can't fix what happened?”

“I...don't want to accept it. But there is no other way.”

“What if I told you there was a way to fix all of this?”

What do you say?

“What does that mean?”

A strange young woman raised an orange juice and sipped it in front of me.

“So fix all the things that happened. Both the story of Kazuha Asaki and the story that happened during the summer. All of that.”

“What should I do?”

The strange woman reached towards her suitcase before opening it and pulling out something from inside for me to see.

“This is the contract. All you have to do is sign this piece of paper.”

"yes"

“Calm down, young lady. Before you do anything rashly, I have to tell you clearly. This is not a freebie. For her to get what she wants, there must be an exchange. As soon as she signed Instead, she will lose something very precious to her.”

“So...what is that thing?”

"I do not know"

“What do you mean?”

“I don't know, darling. No one knows what will happen after she signs. Unless she gets exactly what she wants. But the price of it...I don't know.”

It sounds completely funny, but…

like before

What do I have to give to myself right now?

“I will sign.”

"Are you sure? Once you do it, you can't ask for it back."

“I will.”

"..I understand. Here's a pen. Write your name clearly."

I did as I was told and signed my name in the space at the bottom of the piece of paper.

“Here.”

“Um, it looks neat.”

“So, do I have to do anything else?”

“There's nothing. All she had to do was go home and sleep.

“That's all?”

“That's it.”

Probably nothing will happen. Maybe you're just teasing me.

What's that sound? Hmm, that's a police car siren.

The police car slowly slowed down and stopped in front of me. As soon as the door opened Two police officers quickly got out of the car and came towards me.

“Takeda Haruki, right?”

"yes"

"I've found you. You can cancel the search."

"Mr. Takeda, we'll take you home in a moment."

I turned to look to the side. That young woman has disappeared. Only the unfinished can of orange juice was left.

I got home and did my usual routine before going to bed.

Tomorrow, I probably won't be able to look at the faces of other people at school.

But let it be. I don't care anymore

To be honest

Even though it sounds impossible

But I deeply hoped that what the woman said was true.

Because no matter what the exchange is

I wish for myself to have another chance.

That's all.

The summer has ended. And the school term has begun again.

But I don't want to go to school at all.

I don't want to go…

...Because I have no reason to go there...

...It's like being alone. It's better to read books at home.

I sat and looked at the empty study table next to my seat.

This table has been vacant all semester.

And I'll probably be free until I graduate.

That's good, because I don't like other people sitting next to me. Because it's annoying.

“Show respect”

“Hello, Teacher.”

“Hello everyone. How is the summer? Teacher, I hope you all finish your homework in time.”

Huh, I could tell from the sound that someone couldn't finish it.

“Before we start class. Teacher, I would like to inform everyone that there will be new transfer students in our class.”

What do you say, the new kid?

“A man or a woman, Master?”

“Woman, I moved here from Tokyo.”

Oh, big city kid. Probably moved to follow my parents who came to work in this area.

“Please come in.”

The classroom door opened before a young girl walked in. At first I didn't pay much attention because at first glance she looked like any other girl you could find anywhere.

But those eyes

Those blue eyes

It almost made my heart stop.

Why?

"Hello, Kazuha Asaki. Nice to meet you all."

Kazuha Asaki...why does the name sound familiar like I've heard it somewhere?

I probably thought too much. Because how could I have ever heard the name of the person I met for the first time?

“Miss Kazuha, you can choose your seat as you wish. Because soon we will start our first class.”

A blue-eyed girl walked past the other seats and headed towards me. It seemed like she had her eye on the seat next to me.

End of my quiet life

"hello"

"hello"

"My name is Kazuha Asaki. Nice to meet you."

“I know, you just introduced yourself in front of the class.”

“It's true. And what is your name?”

"Takeda Haruki"

“Haruki?”

Let's play with real names like this. I'm not considerate at all.

"Is anything up I see you staring at me all the time.”

“Her eyes are beautiful.”

“Eh”

“It reminds me of the sky last summer.”