“Good. It worked.”
He lifted his eyes and saw Mai’s face. She was watching him gently, but there was a hint of fear behind it, and the edges of her eyes were glistening.
“Mai…what…?”
Her thin, beautiful fingers held something up.
A little bottle. The label read SLEEPING PILLS.
“Why…?” He could barely manage a whisper.
“Thank you for trying, Sakuta.”
“I can…still…”
He couldn’t even sit upright.
“You’ve done so much for me.”
“…No, I…”
“You’ve done enough.”
Her hand reached out and brushed his cheek. It felt warm. Comforting. And it tickled. But even that sensation was quickly fading away.
“No…I haven’t…”
He wasn’t sure the words were getting out.
“I started this whole thing alone. Even if you forget me, I’ll be fine.”
Mai herself was a blur now. Her hand was still on his cheek. Her fingers brushed against his ear.
“But thanks for everything.”
He hadn’t done anything worthy of her gratitude.
“And…I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t done anything requiring an apology.
“You can rest now.”
Her voice led the way. Sakuta’s eyes closed. His consciousness slipped into sleep.
“Good night, Sakuta.”
A deep, deep slumber…
Don’t worry.
Right now, you might feel sad and upset…
But in the morning, you won’t remember me or those feelings.
So relax and get some sleep.
I enjoyed these last few weeks.
Good-bye, Sakuta.
1
He was shaking.
Someone was shaking him.
“…up.”
A voice from far away.
“…ke up.”
Getting closer.
“…Wake up!”
He knew that voice.
“It’s morning!”
White light pierced the darkness.
“……Mm?”
As he woke, Sakuta’s eyes opened.
Bleary-eyed from sleep, he could just make out Kaede’s face. She was leaning over the bed, peering into his face. The sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains hurt his eyes.
“Today’s the last day of midterms, right? You’ll be late!”
She shook him again.
“Oh, yeah, right…mid—”
He stifled a yawn and sat up.
His whole body felt like lead. Maybe a cold was setting in. Or he was running a fever. But he didn’t feel sick, just…really, really tired. That phrase seemed to fit better.
Fighting off the temptation to go back to bed, he forced his weary body onto its feet. Being absent or late during midterms would be bad. Makeup tests were a nightmare.
The clock showed 7:45. It was a ten-minute walk to Fujisawa Station and then fifteen minutes on the train itself. Maybe five minutes from Shichirigahama Station to his classroom. The whole trip took about half an hour.
He had to leave the house by eight at the latest. He didn’t have much time.
“Thanks for getting me up, Kaede. You really saved me.”
“Waking you up is what I live for!”
Her smile was adorable but didn’t motivate him to heap more praise on her.
“You need to find other sources of joy in life.”
“Like washing your back for you?”
“Sources unrelated to me.”
“No thanks.”
That was a quick refusal.
“I worry about your future,” Sakuta said, opening his closet to change.
He took the uniform dress shirt off the hanger, but it slipped out of his hand and fell on the paper bag below.
“What’s this?” he wondered, peeping into the bag as he picked up the shirt.
Kaede leaned in to look, too.
They both saw what was inside.
“……”
“……”
There was a brief silence.
“Wh-what is that?!” Kaede asked, pointing. A tremor in her voice.
Sakuta could ask the same.
A black leotard with a white fluff ball on the back. Black stockings and high heels. A bow tie. White cuffs. And the bunny-ears headband, which really pulled the whole outfit together.
This was clearly a bunny-girl outfit.
“Was I planning on making you wear this?” It was the only possibility he could think of.
“Huh?” Kaede froze, shocked.
He stuck the headband on her head.
“Not bad.”
“I-I’m not wearing this! No way am I ready for anything this sexy!”
Sensing danger, Kaede scuttled out of the room.
Sakuta wasn’t prepared to chase her around the apartment this early, so he put the outfit in the bag again and returned the bag to the closet.
“How stressed out was I?” he muttered.
He put his shirt on and buttoned it. Then his pants and his tie. The latter turned out kinda crooked.
“……”
Normally, he’d just leave without bothering to fix it, but today he felt like he should try again. He loosened the tie and redid the knot. It came out straight this time.
Before putting on his jacket, he stuffed his textbooks into his schoolbag. As he did, he noticed a notebook on his desk and picked it up.
“What’s this?”
He flipped through the pages. They were pretty full.
Modern Japanese notes? On closer inspection, no.
It started with a warning and then read like a diary.
What is written here may be hard to believe, but all of it is true. Make sure you read till the end! You have to!
May 6
I met a wild bunny girl.
She was a senpai from Minegahara High. The famous .
This is the beginning. This is how we met. There’s no way I could ever forget it.
Even if you do forget—remember. You have to remember, future me.
He was unsure how to react.
“An embarrassing stab at fiction?”
Maybe it was a manifestation of puberty. Strange notions swollen into a bizarre fantasy. He couldn’t remember writing anything like this, but it was definitely his handwriting. He recognized it instantly. So Sakuta must have written this himself.
But the more he read, the more painful it was.
It just went on and on about an imaginary girlfriend. Page after page, filling the whole notebook. What they talked about while waiting for a train, riding the Enoden. How they went on a date that turned into a journey that led all the way to Ogaki.
Sakuta had definitely gone to Ogaki a few days ago, but all he remembered was how he’d just had a sudden urge to go somewhere not here and jumped on a train. Sadly, he had done that by himself.
“……”
The weird blank spaces were bugging him. From context, they clearly should have had a name written there, but the name had been omitted. There was enough space for a slew of letters.
“Was I supposed to fill that in once I actually get a girlfriend?”
That possibility was even more painful. This was definitely the sort of writing he could never show anyone. He was sure he should destroy it ASAP.
This was quite clearly a living disgrace.
He kept finding passages addressed to himself, which was even worse. The cheesiness of it made him squirm.
The eight o’clock chime rang, reminding Sakuta he was in a hurry.
He tossed the notebook in the trash, threw his jacket on, grabbed his bag, and shouted “I’m off!” to Kaede.
Then he left for school.
2
Sakuta sped through the ten-minute walk to the station a little faster than usual.
He passed through the residential area, crossed the bridg
e, and came out onto the main road. He got stuck at a few lights but was soon in the commercial area near the station. After passing pachinko parlors and electronics stores, he saw the station up ahead.
Fujisawa Station looked just like it always did this early. Streams of commuters bound for work or school filed inside. Grown-ups in suits poured out of the hub, destined for nearby offices. People changing trains headed for their connecting platform. Sakuta crossed the connecting passageway, one of many rushing to the Enoden Fujisawa Station.
When he entered the station gates, his usual train was still waiting. Catching his breath, he boarded the first car.
He grabbed a spot by the door on the far side, and someone joined him.
“Yo,” Yuuma Kunimi said, raising a hand in greeting.
“Hey.”
The train started moving. Yuuma hung on to the strap with both hands, examining Sakuta.
“You look better today,” he observed.
“Hmm?”
“You were full-on zombie yesterday, man. Were you always one to cram like crazy before tests?”
“Nah, I’m more likely to give up immediately and go to bed.”
“That’s what I thought.”
He’d gone to bed pretty early the night before. At least, he couldn’t remember anything clearly after maybe nine or ten. Earlier than usual, despite the tests.
Sakuta looked around the car. Several other kids in Minegahara uniforms. Lots of them had textbooks out, doing what they could to score the highest grades possible.
Yuuma took a textbook out of his own bag, reviewing a list of formulas.
While Sakuta distracted Yuuma from his studies now and then, the train took them past Koshigoe Station, and the view of the ocean opened up outside.
Sakuta felt like someone was staring at him.
“……”
He glanced around, trying to find the source.
“What’s up?” Yuuma asked. Maybe he’d been too obvious about it.
“Thought someone was looking at me.” As he spoke, his eyes met the girl standing at the next door. Tomoe Koga. Her uniform still looked brand-new.
“Mm? Her? A first-year?”
Tomoe made such an obvious show of looking away even Yuuma picked up on it.
“You know her?”
“She and her friend come to watch basketball practice sometimes.”
Sakuta recognized the girl with her, too.
“My teammates think they’re both pretty cute.”
“Oh, so she was staring at you.”
He felt like an idiot now.
“I don’t think so,” Yuuma said, turning his attention back to his textbook.
“Why not?”
“When she’s at practice, she’s usually looking at one of the third-years.”
“Huh.”
“Given that you don’t even know the names of your own classmates, I’m surprised you know a first-year. Something go down?”
“Kinda.”
“Ooh. Fill me in.”
Yuuma put his book away, shouldering Sakuta with a grin.
“Look, we’ve just kicked each other in the butt. No big deal.”
Last Sunday, he’d tried to help a lost child, a certain someone jumped to conclusions, and things got weird.
“Any time butts get kicked, there’s definitely trouble involved.”
“These things happen sometimes.”
“Not to me, they don’t. Where are you going with this?”
“Anywhere but here.”
“Riiight…”
Sakuta stared out the window, signaling the conversation was over.
Something was definitely bugging him.
It wasn’t his meeting with Tomoe Koga, though. For some reason, he couldn’t remember exactly how he’d come to be at that park in the first place.
When the train reached Shichirigahama Station, everyone in a Minegahara uniform filed off onto the tiny platform.
Sakuta was no exception.
Enjoying the smell of the sea, he and Yuuma strolled the short distance to the school gates.
Around them, students were chatting. “More tests. I’m so doomed.” “I didn’t study at all.” “Me, either!” “People who say that always have.”
Midterms were a mutual problem faced by the entire student population, but otherwise, it was a typical morning.
This was their daily routine.
The same things they always did on the way to school.
Nothing especially fun or particularly aggravating.
Everyone just getting through it.
Everything around Sakuta was normal.
The two first-years dashed past Sakuta and Yuuma. Tomoe Koga and her friend. Talking about their plans after tests were over, karaoke and the like.
“You got any after-test plans, Sakuta?”
“Work. You?”
“Just practice. Got a tournament coming up.”
“Oh. Well, good.”
“Mm? How so?”
“If you had a date, I’d have been annoyed.”
“That, I’m saving for the weekend.”
“Sometimes I hate you, Kunimi.”
“You’re gonna say that to my face?”
“Better than hiding it.”
As they traded quips, the two of them reached the school entrance.
Sakuta took his slippers out of the shoe locker and changed into them, then went up the stairs to the second-year classrooms.
Yuuma was in a different class, so they split up in the hall, and Sakuta went to room 2-1 alone.
Front seat by the window.
First test of the day was Math II. Second was Modern Japanese.
Some students were frantically cramming, others calmly reviewing notes and getting ready for the exam. And a few were sleeping at their desks, already having given up. Saki Kamisato was at her desk (diagonally behind him) chomping away on Pocky. It was rather early for a snack. Maybe a gamble that the sugar would get her brain moving.
Sakuta took his textbook out, too. His nose was itching like crazy.
“Hope I’m not getting a cold…”
He rubbed his nose with a tissue and began looking over the example problems for higher order equations.
He had this weird compulsion to try for a good score.
After he’d given everything a once-over, a shadow fell over his book.
Someone was standing in front of him.
He knew who it was without looking up. Even with his eyes on the book, he could see the edge of her white lab coat dangling below the hem of her skirt.
“Not often you come see me, Futaba.”
“Here.”
Looking annoyed, Rio held out a Western-style envelope.
“A love letter?”
“Nope.”
“Figured.”
Sakuta knew where Rio’s feelings lay.
He took it from her and peered into the envelope. There was, unsurprisingly, a letter inside. He glanced up at Rio to see if he should read it.
“……”
She nodded wordlessly. Sakuta opened the letter and ran his eyes over it.
This is a ludicrous pseudoscience extrapolation of the Theory of Observation, but let us assume that all matter in the world is only given shape once it is observed by someone else. In this case, if the cause of ’s disappearance stems from the entire student body’s unconscious ignoring of her, then if Azusagawa provides a reason to exist that overwrites that, he may be able to save . Essentially, closing the lid on what they don’t want to see should return the wavelength to the original probability before was given form… In other words, reverting her to a state before her existence was defined, to when she was like ether. The student population’s unconscious denial of her existence can be overwritten by Azusagawa’s love.
A weird letter, filled with suspicious blanks. The contents made no sense at all. But it was clearly written by Rio, for him.
“……”
He looked up,
awaiting explanation.
“I dunno, either. I found it last night, stuck in my Math II textbook.”
“What the heck?”
Rio placed another identical envelope on his desk.
“This was with it.”
Even more confused, Sakuta read the second letter.
It was only a single line long.
Don’t think. Just give this to Azusagawa.
Clearly a note Rio had left for herself.
It reminded Sakuta of the delusional notebook he’d found in his room that morning.
Something was nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t remember what. Just a general feeling that something was missing.
“So there you have it,” Rio said, turning to leave.
“Uh, wait,” he called after her, but the bell rang, forcing him to drop it for now.
The teacher came in, and homeroom began.
“It’s the last day of midterms, but try not to go too crazy once they’re done,” he warned.
Sakuta read Rio’s letter over again.
This is a ludicrous pseudoscience extrapolation of the Theory of Observation, but let us assume that all matter in the world is only given shape once it is observed by someone else. In this case, if the cause of ’s disappearance stems from the entire student body’s unconscious ignoring of her, then if Azusagawa provides a reason to exist that overwrites that, he may be able to save . Essentially, closing the lid on what they don’t want to see should return the wavelength to the original probability before was given form… In other words, reverting her to a state before her existence was defined, to when she was like ether. The student population’s unconscious denial of her existence can be overwritten by Azusagawa’s love.
“My love, huh?”
He had no clue what that meant.
3
The Math II test went pretty well.
He’d filled in every answer, properly showing his work. He felt like this was important for some reason.
Sakuta usually couldn’t be bothered to check his work, but this time, he’d taken particular care to do so. He had a shot at a pretty good grade.
The second test was Modern Japanese.
When the bell rang, the entire class opened their exam books as one. The room filled with the sound of scratching pencils.
Sakuta wrote his name, class, and seat number. Then he went to the first problem. Reading comprehension. He checked the questions first, then read the passage.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Volume 1 Page 16