Chapter 51 - Truck Journey
In the dark storehouse, he grabbed the edge of the circular object and exhaled softly.
The preparations were finished.
The string tying his body felt tight.
He turned slightly and moved the string.
He extended his right hand slowly and twisted the protruding object.
As he did that, the chair he was sitting on jolted greatly, and the metal boy came back to life with a piercing sound.
Bit by bit, strength returned to his right leg.
As the pedals were pressed, the acceleration went up little by little.
Before long, sunlight returned to the storehouse.
If seen by an onlooker, it might seem like a fearful thing, but this was the fastest way he could move.
From the beginning, it was a mistake for a person without a license to drive.
If there hadn’t been an engine stall, Daigoro wouldn’t have died, and he wouldn’t have had to take over the operation.
He was really unlucky.
Turning the despair into a big sigh, he exhaled.
Even though he said that, the despair inside him didn’t disappear.
Rather, it was enough to make him feel it again.
As he went out on a wide road, he pressed the car audio playback.
At that moment, the powerful music of a saxophone filled the vehicle.
Flustered, he lowered the volume.
If he played it too loud, those would come.
He dreamt of playing the music he liked at a very loud volume one day.
It probably won’t happen for eternity though.
“Hey, Riku!”
He jumped at the sound of the loud voice coming from behind.
If he hadn’t worn a seatbelt, he might have collided with the ceiling.
After he tried to make his heartbeat return to normal, he answered,
“D-don’t shout all of a sudden, don’t I always tell you this?”
“Yeah! I’m sorry!”
Well, she definitely didn’t get it.
Misa always responded like that when she didn’t reflect on her actions.
“So, what is it?”
“Why is Riku the one driving?”
“Because Daigoro died? Therefore, we don’t have anyone driving.”
“What about Jin?”
“In another car.”
“Whaaat? I want to meet Jin!”
“Don’t be selfish. You’ll be able to meet at the next stop.”
He was at a loss when children were being selfish.
They had no consideration for the situation and were silent to the world spreading out around them.
“Be obedient.”
“Okaaay.”
It was still good that she listened to his words, huh.
Since Misa turned quiet, he started listening to the music again.
The low tone of the sturdy contrabass and the light melody of the piano eased his despair a little.
Only by a little though.
As he had been absentminded, a hand stretched out for his L-shaped object hanging from his waist.
It was something you wouldn’t find on a member of a brass band just a short time before.
At this time when there weren’t any people supervising any longer, it was so important is had become indispensable.
The day he had to use it might not be far off.
He didn’t want to be eaten up and scattered like Daigoro, so he would have no choice but to salute the end of his life with a gun.
Only thinking of it, caused the feeling of despair to surround him.
Therefore, he breathed a big sigh.
His eyelids opened vigorously with a snapping sound.
What she first saw was a white ceiling with fluorescent light.
Slowly moving her upper body, she understood that she had been sleeping in the school infirmary.
“Jun…”
Right.
This wasn’t the time to be sleeping in a carefree manner.
She had to search for Jun.
As she put down her feet from the bed, her body felt unsteady.
It seemed like she hadn’t spent a short time in bed.
Jun was waiting.
Miu entered the infirmary.
Noticing me, she stared in wonder.
“Senior Haiga, how are you feeling?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
Since there didn’t seem to be any irregularities in her body, she answered in accordance with it.
As she did that, Miu spoke some ambiguous words.
“Uh, about Senior Jun, I’m sorry.”
A painful expression.
“About what?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t think of anything that has happened though.”
“Huh? Senior Jun died…”
“Jun hasn’t died.”
Miu looked at her like she had gone mad, and she got a little irritated.
Jun wouldn’t have died, so what was she spouting about?
The story didn’t fit at all.
She brushed Miu aside and left the infirmary to go look for Jun.