Volume 2 Bonus SS 2

 ✧･ﾟ: * Part 1 * :･ﾟ✧

"Ehh, alright then, let us begin the 327th meeting to investigate the connection between Shiori and Sendai-san."

In a corner of a fast-food restaurant where students tend to gather, Ami declares this with a solemn expression. She then lightly claps her hands with a pat-pat-pat, applauding herself, before taking a sip of her cola.

"Three hundred twenty-seven? That is way too many. Wouldn’t it be more like the second or something?"

I pick up a fry while looking at Ami, who is sitting across from me. Even on afternoons when Shiori is not around, she is always the same.

Energetic, a little rough around the edges, and bright.

"Come on, come on, come on. A bigger number just sounds more convincing, right? Anyway, more importantly, what do you think, Maika?"

"What do I think about what?"

"About the connection between Shiori and Sendai-san, that connection.

Shiori was acting kind of strange back then, wasn’t she?

Do you think those two have some sort of relationship?"

"……A relationship, huh."

It would be a lie to say that I am not curious.

Today, during joint sports festival practice, I ended up asking, "Has nothing happened with Sendai-san since then?"

The fact that Sendai-san came to our classroom before the midterms and called Shiori out is something that still bothers me that much.

I heard that the reason Sendai-san came to the classroom was simply to tell Shiori that the teacher was calling her to the staff room.

Just that, and I have also heard that there was no relationship with Sendai-san either before or after that.

"Isn’t it just like Shiori said?"

I pass on to Ami the explanation I have already repeated many times.

Shiori’s story is an ordinary one, the kind that would not be strange at all if it happened.

I think we have no choice but to believe Shiori’s words.

Even so, there are a few things that do not quite sit right with me.

I pop a fry into my mouth and ask Ami, "Want some?"

"I’ll eat."

When I offer her the fries after she answers, she takes one the same way I did, puts it into her mouth, lets out a thoughtful "hmm," then grins mischievously like a naughty child and says,

"Yeah, but wouldn’t it be more interesting if something actually were going on?"

After that, Ami starts exaggerating and spinning stories that are clearly impossible.

Like the idea that Shiori is having money extorted from her by Sendai-san.

Or that Shiori has some kind of dirt on Sendai-san and is blackmailing her.

She rattles off things that sound like nothing more than wild delusions, then mutters to herself, "There’s no way that’s possible."

"There’s no way Sendai-san and Shiori have any kind of connection, right?"

Ami says this as if she has given up, then takes a big gulp of her cola.

"Yeah, probably.

More than that, lately Shiori seems kind of absent-minded, and that worries me more."

I tell Ami something I am certain about, not just something imagined.

Shiori was a little down even during spring break.

She is not exactly the super-energetic type to begin with, but she is also not someone whose emotions fluctuate wildly.

So when someone like her seems to lack energy, it could mean that something happened.

Right now, we should probably be more concerned about the things we can see with our own eyes.

"True."

Ami nods in agreement with my words and puts on a serious expression.

✧･ﾟ: * Part  2 * :･ﾟ✧

On an afternoon without Shiori, Ami’s fingertips tap lightly against the small table in the fast-food restaurant.

Even in a place where background noise never truly stops, the clear ton sound rings out twice in succession, and then Ami’s voice follows.

“Shiori’s always had a bit of an airheaded side, but lately she’s spacing out way too much.

If something’s going on, it’d be nice if she’d just tell us.”

“Shiori doesn’t really talk about worries or problems, does she.”

I take a gulp of my iced tea and picture the face of the friend who isn’t here.

Just like us, she’s an extremely ordinary girl, someone who seems talkative but actually isn’t all that talkative.

She often talks to us about manga and anime.

She tells us she hates studying, and that she dislikes drawbridges, but she’s never once consulted us about things like who she likes or what she wants to do in the future.

It feels like she hardly talks about herself at all.

“…Hey, Maika. What if Shiori doesn’t actually trust us?”

Ami says something I really don’t want to think about.

Her tone is playful, but given the current situation, it doesn’t sound like a joke.

“Stop it. That’s depressing.”

“Lately Shiori’s been so bad at hanging out, it’s like she’s not our Shiori anymore.

Let’s get depressed together.”

Ami says it in an exaggerated, theatrical tone and pretends to cry.

This tendency to overdo things is both what makes Ami funny and what makes her annoying, but what she’s saying is also something I’ve been thinking about.

After school, let’s stop somewhere on the way home.

We’ve been inviting Shiori like that ever since first year, and even now that we’re third-years, nothing has changed.

But today she turned us down.

And actually, she turned us down the time before that too.

Around the summer of our second year, Shiori started becoming bad at hanging out.

Even when I ask her why, her answers are vague and unclear.

At first, I thought it wasn’t something worth worrying about, but seeing how Shiori has been lately, it feels like something might be going on and I want to ask her about it.

But with entrance exam preparation and cram school, the chances for us to hang out after school have decreased, and those opportunities have slipped away.

“I’m seriously getting depressed.”

I let out a sigh, pick up a fry, and instead of putting it in my own mouth, I hold it up to Ami, who’s sitting across from me.

The fry disappears straight into her mouth.

“Thanks.”

She chews it with a munch-munch, then looks at me and continues, “Okay, serious talk. Maybe she has some problem that’s hard to tell people about, and that’s why she’s spacing out.”

“For example?”

“Like how she said she gained two kilos, but it was actually three.”

“Is that about the weight you were talking about the other day?”

“Yeah.”

“She said it herself, so it’s not something hard to tell people.

Wait, so it was three kilos that you gained? No wonder there’s extra meat around here.”

I reach out and lightly tug at Ami’s cheek.

“Eek! Stop it!”

Ami’s even louder voice echoes through the already noisy store, and I hurriedly let go of the pinched flesh.

“Hey, Ami. Your voice is way too loud.”

“Sorry. It came out louder than I thought.”

Ami claps her hands together and bows apologetically toward me.

It feels a little lonely to spend afternoons like this without Shiori.

But we can’t force her to come with us.

“I guess all we can do is wait for Shiori.

She’ll talk about it eventually, right?”

I say words that may or may not come true, and take another sip of my iced tea.