Adolescent Adam

Volume 7, Chapter 9 - Stay Away

When I, Kurikara Saya, woke up, it was the evening after the cultural festival.

A helicopter had apparently crashed and I was apparently directly below it, so everyone said it was a miracle I only got some scrapes on my legs.

But my mind was cloudy and I couldn’t remember what kind of accident it was.

I kind of remembered a helicopter appearing in front of me, but the picture in my mind was shaped differently from the wreckage I was shown. And I also remembered hearing a really loud noise that didn’t sound like a crash. It was more like gunfire.

Then there was the weird dream I had. A blonde girl of about 5 went around to everyone who was lying on the ground and said, “I will only alter your memories slightly, so worry not. Just go to sleep.”

Well, the doctor said that our memories can get confused after an accident, so that’s probably what this was.

At any rate, I had miraculously escaped with no more than some slight wounds to my legs.

But I’m worried about Mutsuki-kun and the others.

Mutsuki-kun and Machi-nyan must have been near the crash. Same with Ange-chan and Lu-kun. They were apparently badly injured and hospitalized.

Their injuries aren’t life threatening, but they won’t be back to school for a while. And they aren’t allowed any visitors.

Hmm, I hope they’re okay. I’m really worried.

…And what do I do? Mutsuki-kun and Machi-nyan were only there because of me. If only I hadn’t invited them to the café.

Oh, no. It’s all my fault.

And it was those four friends who got so badly hurt. Does that mean Ange-chan and Lu-kun where there because of me too?

Uuh, please come back soon, everyone.

I hope they’re okay. Surely they’ll be okay, right? We’ll be able to laugh and hang out together like before, right?

“…”

I hope so.

While I was thinking about all that, the doctor told me I was free to go and my mom came to pick me up.

All the while, I was praying that we could all return our normal lives soon.

But just a few days later, I would learn that that enjoyable time spent with those four would never return.