Interlude 4

“Ryuuichi-kun? Onee-chan? Are you there? The meteor shower is about to start!”

I raised my voice, forcing a cheerful tone to mask the fear of walking through the dim light.

Just a short walk from where we’d pitched the tents, the crowds had completely thinned out.

I had finished washing my face at the sink in the women's restroom, feeling refreshed, and waited for the two of them to return, but they never did.

They didn't answer my calls, and I started to worry they might be lost, so I came looking for them.

I really wanted Inou-sensei to come with me, but she looked so peaceful while she slept that I couldn't bring myself to wake her.

Feeling a pang of loneliness, I took one step at a time.

“Hey, you two! You’re gonna miss the best part if you don’t hurry!”

I called out, but no voice answered back.

Even the rustle of the wind felt ominous. I had been so moved by the beauty of nature during the day, but right now, I craved the comfort of artificial light.

I kept trudging through the parking lot until I spotted two silhouettes in the shadow of Sensei’s car. Relief washed over me at the sight of another person. Those silhouettes were definitely Ryuuichi-kun and Sayuki-onee-chan.

“There you are! Are you guys okay? I'm sorry I caused so much trouble earlier—”

I started to run toward them, but my feet suddenly froze.

For two people just having a conversation, their silhouettes were far too close.

They looked almost as if they were overlapping.

I couldn't see clearly because of the thin veil of darkness, but it looked as if...

No, that couldn't be it. I’m overthinking things.

I tried to shake the nasty thought from my head.

“...Nm... haah...”

Just then, the night wind carried a voice to me.

The sound of a voice that had leaked out, as if unable to be contained, tickled my ears and turned my entire body to stone.

Because I couldn't see, my imagination ran even wilder.

I had never heard Onee-chan make a sound like that.

She was always the mature one—cool, calm, and collected. Because of that, I’d always felt she was hard to approach, but I respected her at the same time. Even just a while ago, she had kindly and calmly helped me after my clumsy mistake.

But the voice I heard now, coming out of the darkness, was nothing like the Onee-chan I knew. It was a feverish, sweet, pleading sound that made my ears feel like they were burning.

And echoing it was his low voice.

I couldn't believe that rough sound, almost like an animal’s growl, was coming from the gentle boy I knew.

But that just meant Onee-chan had changed him into that.

A version of them I didn't know was right there, shut away in a world of their own.

There was no room for me to step in. All I could do was eavesdrop on the heavy breathing leaking from their pressed bodies.

On the contrary, my own breathing was so quiet it felt as if it had stopped.

What do you call this feeling?

Regret? Jealousy? Envy? Anger?

I don't know.

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

It felt like all of them, yet none of them.

The expressions those two had shown me until now flickered through my mind and vanished.

I knew they were a better match for each other. Today proved it. Onee-chan was the one who was actually useful at the camp.

She’s more beautiful than me, she has a better figure, and she’s a more considerate woman. Of course a hundred out of a hundred people would choose her.

It hurts.

It’s not my breath; it’s my chest. It hurts as if it’s being torn apart.

From somewhere far away, I heard the cheers of a crowd.

“Wow! It’s beautiful!”

Hearing those reactions, I instinctively looked up at the sky.

A white line streaked across the night sky, which was sprinkled with grains of light.

As if coming to mock me, the Geminid meteor shower was falling in a beautiful, heartless display.