Boundaries

The lingering effects of the Student Council election gradually faded, and campus life returned to its day-to-day routine.

The October afternoon sunlight fell across the desks, neither cold nor hot. The dismissal bell had rung, and the students left in twos and threes.

Takahashi Ren would be heading back a little later today. He had someone to meet.

When he pushed open the stairwell door at the back of the special teaching building, Kamuro was already inside.

"What is it?" Takahashi Ren closed the door.

"Do you know Ayanokoji from Class D?"

Takahashi Ren froze for a moment.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

Of course he hadn't forgotten that name.

"I do." Suppressing his questions, he replied calmly, "He's the boy who ran really fast in the last event of the sports festival, right?"

Although he hadn't been there at the time, he had heard about it afterward.

"Right." Kamuro nodded. "What else do you know about him?"

Rather than answering directly, Takahashi Ren asked, "Why do you ask?"

"After the sports festival ended, Sakayanagi told me to bring Ayanokoji to see her." She paused. "I thought I'd ask you and see if Sakayanagi had ever had you investigate him."

Takahashi Ren was inwardly startled.

Sakayanagi was keeping an eye on Ayanokoji?

But something else concerned him.

Kamuro seemed... still unaware that he had lied to her.

Back then, he had deceived Kamuro with the excuse that he was also one of Sakayanagi's hidden pawns.

Later, Sakayanagi had exposed that lie to his face, but she had also said she hadn't told Kamuro.

Was Sakayanagi deliberately keeping quiet, or was there another reason?

Or had Sakayanagi already told Kamuro, and Kamuro was simply playing along with her?

Takahashi Ren couldn't be sure.

"Are you listening?" Seeing that he hadn't said a word, Kamuro waved a hand in front of him.

"No." Takahashi Ren shook his head. "I don't know. Sakayanagi never asked me to investigate him."

That wasn't a lie. Sakayanagi really had never asked him to do that.

"I see." Kamuro looked a little disappointed, but didn't ask any further.

"Since you were there, why didn't you listen to what they said before leaving?" Takahashi Ren asked.

Given Kamuro's personality, she normally wouldn't have passed up a chance to gather information like that.

"It didn't occur to me at first." Kamuro shrugged. "But thinking about it afterward, I regretted it a little. I should have listened."

"After all, I felt that Sakayanagi's attitude toward Ayanokoji was very unusual," she added. "They seemed to have known each other for a long time."

"Really?"

"If you don't know either, let's leave it at that," she said. "I have to go. Sakayanagi will get suspicious if I'm gone too long."

"Okay."

Kamuro waved and left first.

Takahashi Ren watched her retreating figure, lost in thought.

Sakayanagi was keeping an eye on Ayanokoji.

That wasn't strange in itself, but taken together with all the earlier signs, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was probably far more complicated than he appeared.

Still, none of that had anything to do with him.

At least not right now.

And this meant Sakayanagi's attention was divided again. That was a good thing, all in all.

But Kamuro coming specifically to see him meant that she regarded him as someone she could talk to privately.

Yet he...

That lie was growing heavier and heavier.

Saturday.

After lunch, Takahashi Ren went to the library.

On the day of the sports festival's scavenger hunt, he and Shiina Hiyori had agreed to return the book at the library this Saturday and talk about it while they were there.

Although the library was quiet, talking wasn't forbidden. They just had to keep their voices down.

There was music playing inside, too, just loud enough to cover their murmured conversation.

Takahashi Ren arrived ten minutes before their agreed time, but he spotted that familiar figure among the bookshelves.

Shiina Hiyori stood in front of a row of shelves, quietly leafing through a book in her hands.

Seeming to notice someone approaching, she looked up.

"Hello, Takahashi."

"Shiina." Takahashi Ren walked over. "You're here early."

"I came this morning," Shiina said. "It's comfortable here."

"You haven't changed. Still a bookworm," he said.

She didn't argue, answering only with a smile.

Takahashi Ren pulled a book at random from the shelf, then followed Shiina to the reading area.

The two sat down in some empty seats.

"So? What did you think after finishing Blindness?"

"The rain at the end," Takahashi Ren said. "Everyone regained their sight, but the doctor's wife, who had witnessed everything, went blind at the very end. She looked up at the sky and saw nothing but white."

Shiina thought for a moment. "Personally, I think the 'white blindness' earlier on was the key. Everyone suddenly lost their sight, but some of them couldn't see to begin with."

"You mean the blindness was just a metaphor."

"Yes. When you can't see, you can actually see some things more clearly."

Takahashi Ren nodded. Shiina's thoughts and his had arrived at much the same place by different routes.

Once they finished talking, neither spoke again, each reading quietly.

The act of reading itself could also be called a kind of conversation.

There was no need for words or communication, only quiet immersion in their own worlds. That, too, was a different sort of feeling.

About an hour passed.

Shiina closed the book in her hands and stretched gently.

"It's about time to head back."

"Yes."

Takahashi Ren picked up his book and was about to stand.

Just then, Shiina suddenly asked, "Takahashi, what do you think of our class?"

He paused.

He was a little surprised. Shiina rarely brought up anything other than books, let alone her class.

"What do you mean?"

"You've probably heard that Ryuuen rules our Class C through violence." Shiina's voice was a little tighter than usual.

"I have." It was no secret among their year.

"I don't think that's right," Takahashi Ren said. "And I don't like it."

Shiina nodded, unsurprised.

"Then do you think I'm an abuser?"

Takahashi Ren looked at her without answering immediately.

"Why do you ask?"

Shiina fell silent for a few seconds, as though trying to find the words.

"I don't like the way Ryuuen does things," she said. "But he really has made Class C stronger. I can't deny that. So sometimes I help him with things."

She raised her eyes to look at him.

"Although I haven't helped him carry out any violence, I can't say I'm innocent. I want to know what you think of me."

Takahashi Ren thought for a moment.

"When you help him, do you know what you're doing?"

"I do."

"Then you know where you stand," Takahashi Ren said. "You don't need to ask me."

"But if I really did help him commit violence," Shiina continued, "would you hate me?"

"Yes," he said. "If you really did, and I found out."

Shiina didn't look away from him. After a while, she nodded gently.

"Then I won't give you a chance to hate me."

"...Oh."

He said nothing more. He didn't know what to say.

Why would she say something like that?

Shiina looked at him with a smile. "Because I still want to read with you, Takahashi."

Takahashi Ren looked at her, too. Shiina was the same as always, yet he felt that she was a little different today.