　As we boarded the bus for the return trip, Kyoko sat down in the only available seat on the bus and immediately closed her eyes.

　I'm standing in front of her as she takes her seat. Her face pale as she looked down and closed her eyes.

　Without any conversation, the bus came to the stop where we were to get off.

"Kyoko, next stop!

"Oh. I was asleep for a while. Thanks.

　We got off the bus at the next stop, and in front of Kyoko's apartment.

"Yusuke, thank you so much for today. It was fun.

"Oh, yeah?　Well then.

　What the hell happened to Kyoko today?

"I'm home, Mom.

"Welcome home.

　I'm not Kyoko either, but I was a little tired, so I went to my room to change my clothes and lay down on my bed, and it was evening.

　The spaghetti was heavier than I thought it would be, so I had a light dinner and went to my study desk to read a book I had bought the other day, and it was getting late, so I crawled into bed and fell asleep.

　Hwaan hwaan hwaan, hwaan hwaan.

　In the middle of the night, I was awakened by the siren of an ambulance near my house, but I fell asleep again.

　The next day, Monday. I woke up quite early.

　Remembering Kyoko from yesterday, I had breakfast, changed into my school uniform and left the house. I used to go to school with Kyoko until I was in the lower grades of elementary school, but we started going to school separately in the third grade. After what happened yesterday, I decided to go to school with Kyoko for the first time in a long time, and waited for her to come out in front of her apartment for a while.

　It seemed to be garbage day today, and I could hear the ladies talking at the garbage dumpster in the apartment building facing the street.

"I was surprised to hear an ambulance arrive in the middle of the night.

"That's right. It seems that it was Mr. Hanazawa's daughter who got into the ambulance.

　What?　Kyoko was in the ambulance?　What?　Kyoko's house must have been the only house in this apartment with the not-so-major name Hanazawa.

"She's a cute girl. What was wrong with her?　......

　I was thinking about all kinds of things in my head, and before I knew it, I was walking through the school gate just before school started.

　I managed to slip into the classroom without being late and checked Kyoko's seat, but of course the owner of the seat was not there. It seems that Kyoko and I are the only two seats in the classroom that have a hole in them.

　As soon as I took my seat, the homeroom teacher came into the classroom and said,

"Hanazawa is absent today.

　That's what she told us. Nothing more was said about Kyoko, and the homeroom ended immediately.

　I didn't check, but I figured that the student council would be closed today, so I hurried out of the classroom after school. As I left the classroom and walked down the corridor toward the entrance, the vice president of the student council, a man with dark glasses, seemed to be following me from behind.

"Matsuda, wait a minute.

"What?

"Do you know anything about Hanazawa-san?

"I don't know.

"Are you sure?

"What's the point in lying?　You don't have student council today, do you? See you then.

　Doesn't this guy even know how to ask for things?　He's kind of annoying.

　I came to the door, quickly changed my shoes and left the school.

"I'm home.

"Welcome home. You're home early. By the way, Kyoko-chan is in big trouble. You must have heard about Kyoko-chan, right?

"No, I just heard that she called in sick today.

"Oh, you didn't know that. She is in big trouble. Kyoko-chan suddenly got sick last night and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night. I have to go visit her, but she still seems to be a little fidgety, so I will go visit her after she calms down a bit. What about you?

"I don't want to disturb them at a strange time, so I'll go with you.

"I'll go with you tomorrow or the day after, when you get back.