Chapter 26: Black Stones (3)

The day after the school festival, during the afternoon after classes.

I called Lynette and Kaimori-chan over to my house, and we decided to hold another strategy meeting for the Shion-chan tracking plan. Time was running out. If our limit was three weeks, then we were already down to just six days.

By the way, Yuno-chan had extracurricular lessons, Takamiyagi-senpai already had prior plans, and Kittsuji-san had club activities.

“But honestly, we don’t even know where to start looking,” I said. “...Lynette, got any hints?”

“W-well… her habits shouldn’t have changed,” Lynette replied hesitantly.

“Habits, huh… then should we just check every cookie section we can find?”

“No no no, hold on. Didn’t Senpai just like making cookies, not eating them? There’s no way she’s in a cookie aisle.”

Kaimori-chan shook her head vigorously, waving her hands in denial. I had already given her a simplified explanation—that a portion of Shion-chan’s “mind” had supposedly run away from home. She’d made a face like, “What does that even mean, a mind running away?” but somehow accepted it anyway. She really did have a wide heart. I chose to ignore her earlier muttered comment—“So that’s why she’s unstable…”

“No, actually, you might be onto something,” Lynette said.

“Huh!? The cookie aisle is!?”

“N-no, not that! I mean Kaimori-chan’s comment! People do tend to become unstable in cases like this. Their usual quirks show up more easily… because a soul not properly inside its own body is, by definition, not natural.”

I see… Well, I wasn’t like that, but apparently that was the general rule. So Shion-chan is a little unstable right now, and her habits might be showing more clearly? Even so, that wasn’t much of a clue.

I paced around the room, then casually picked up a stuffed bear and turned it upside down, shaking it. In stories like this, clues left behind in a suddenly vanished character’s room are often hidden in subtle places. However, contrary to expectations, nothing like a secret note fell out.

“Is this what you mean?” Kaimori-chan asked, pointing at me and looking toward Lynette.

“Absolutely,” Lynette nodded seriously.

Apparently my actions had given them some kind of hint. Nice, acting really does matter.

Feeling slightly more motivated, I lay face-down on the floor and peeked under the bed. Nothing in particular was there—no dust at all. Just a cookie tin sitting alone at the far end. …What is that?

The floor was cold against my cheek, and the edge of the hanging bedsheet swayed slightly in my peripheral vision. The space under the bed was dim, like a small cave even in daytime. At the very back sat a square tin, placed far too neatly—almost as if it had been intentionally hidden… or simply forgotten.

“Hey! That’s improper behavior, Senpai!”

Kaimori-chan’s voice came from above. I turned my head to see her standing there, hands on her hips, looking down at me in exasperation.

“You really don’t match your appearance at all… honestly.”

By the way, she was wearing a skirt, and I could clearly see her underwear. As a gentleman, I closed my eyes and warned her.

“Kaimori-chan, that’s improper~”

“W-what are you—!!”

The next instant, her leg slammed down right next to my face with a thud. Feeling a genuine sense of danger, I rolled backward under the bed.

“Hey! You were peeking, weren’t you!!”

“I feel like it was more like you were showing it—”

“Shut up! Get out here!”

I crawled deeper under the bed in retreat. Hah! It’s too cramped here—she can’t possibly follow.

Since I was already there, I reached toward the cookie tin. It was a typical square metal cookie box with a cute floral design.

…Could this be snacks Shion-chan hid? If it’s something selected by Shion-chan, who’s supposedly a top-tier cook in-game, I was a little curious about the taste. And right now, I technically am Shion-chan, so I should have the right to taste it. Yeah, definitely. Just one bite.

However, when I touched it, the tin felt strangely heavy. When I tried pulling it out, it had a solid, unmistakable weight.

…This isn’t cookies.

“Kaimori-chan! Wait! There’s something under the bed!”

“No tricks this time…!”

“It’s clearly suspicious. Let’s just check what’s inside.”

“…Suspicious? What is?”

Oh, she’s interested. Perfect.

“It’s a cookie tin, but it’s really heavy. There must be something inside.”

“…That’s just a piggy bank or something,” she said flatly.

…Gulp.

“I-I wouldn’t keep a piggy bank under the bed… I’d forget where it is when I want to buy snacks…”

“Why are you assuming you’d use it…”

While Kaimori-chan seemed to be thinking, her anger had clearly faded. Nice. The tin’s presence was working as intended.

With effort, I pulled the tin out. Kaimori-chan leaned in closely. Lynette also reached out, touching it with anticipation.

“It’s really heavy… I wonder what’s inside,” Kaimori-chan murmured.

“Maybe it’s treasure! Like jewels!” Lynette said excitedly.

She pressed against the tin, and it made a faint denting sound. I doubt it’s jewels, but sure, dream big.

I opened the lid.

“Then maybe it’s just rocks—!”

Inside the tin.

It was packed completely full with countless black stones.

At least fifty of them. Each one gave off an eerie, unnatural sheen. Lynette gasped sharply.

We all froze, looking at each other. I checked again just to be sure, but it was undeniably real. Black stones, filling the tin.

I slowly closed the lid. Clack. The cute floral design suddenly felt unsettling.

Without a word, Lynette burst into tears, and we all rushed out of Shion-chan’s room, running down the stairs into the living room.

Then we shouted at the same time.

“Whaaaaaaat!?”

“Uwaaah… w-whaaaah!!”

“That thing is seriously dangerous!!”

After calming down, we finally caught our breath. Luckily, my mother had gone out.

“Why would something like ‘stones that can alter the world’ be in a single person’s room?” Kaimori-chan said.

“I-I don’t know… I don’t want this anymore…” Lynette sniffled, still on the verge of tears.

We managed to calm her down with some sweets.

Afterward, Lynette explained:

“One of those black stones… has the power to alter the world. It can cause phenomena beyond normal laws.”

“…What about fifty of them?” Kaimori-chan asked.

Lynette didn’t answer.

Instead, she fell silent. After a long pause, she covered her face and started crying again.

“…Did Shion-chan… maybe… hate the world…?”

Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. Like she might be trying to take the world down with her.

But… that doesn’t really feel like Shion-chan. At least not from what I know of her in the game, or from her appearances and actions. Unless it was all an act… but then there’s nothing we can do about that.

Still, something doesn’t add up.

Why leave clues behind?

From what we can tell, Shion-chan is doing something somewhere—and for some reason hiding it. Yet she still appears before me sometimes and leaves hints like she wants to be found. Isn’t that contradictory?

“…That might be the instability,” Lynette said.

“In what way?”

“All the black stones were already used. Shion-chan is definitely doing something dangerous in secret. But maybe… somewhere inside, she wants someone to stop her. To save her. If so, we need to act quickly!”

“Isn’t she just kind of a troublesome person…?”

“…Hmm, that doesn’t quite feel right either.”

Lynette and I still couldn’t quite align our sense of urgency.

I mean, Shion-chan herself had been acting more like, “If you can find me, go ahead and try.” It didn’t feel like she was cornered… at least on the surface.

But then again… if we did find her, would Shion-chan really just say, “Alright, I surrender!” and obediently come with us?

Probably not.

“Once we find her, what are we supposed to do? If she runs away again, we’re back to square one,” I said.

“Y-yes… but if you’re the one who restrains her, I think she’ll return. If someone touches her with intent, the soul naturally returns to the body,” Lynette explained.

“What does ‘touching with intent’ even mean?”

“W-well… like… ‘I won’t let you get away!’ Something like that. If you think that while touching her, it should work.”

“That’s simpler than I expected.”

“But we can’t even begin if we don’t find her… And isn’t there some kind of spell or shortcut to locate her?”

“I tried… but I couldn’t detect any souls in this area at all. At that school, the only one I sensed was a ghost of a student who once hanged themselves in a classroom… nothing major…”

That was a bit unsettling, so Kaimori-chan and I exchanged glances. We both nodded, and I gently asked Lynette:

“…Hey, what class was that? Can you be more specific?”

“1-C!”

“Phew, safe!”

“…Wait, that’s my class…”

Kaimori-chan scratched her head aggressively.

Yeah, that’s rough. Good luck with that.

While I was laughing at my newfound safety, Kaimori-chan shot me a glare.

“Also, it was the third seat from the back in the second column on the right.”

“…That’s Yuno-chan’s seat…”

“Poor Yuno-chan… she hates ghosts…”

We silently wished her good luck in her unfortunate student life. An unexpected casualty had appeared, but still—our priority remained finding Shion-chan. The direction itself wasn’t wrong. The question was where to search next.

“Shion, I’m home! Alright, get ready—we’re going to the hospital soon.”

While we were still thinking, my mother had returned.

…Hospital?

“You were told to keep attending regular checkups even after discharge, remember?” she said with an exasperated look.

Ah. I forgot.

Well, Shion-chan is the sickly type after all… even if she’d been eating ramen and doing whatever lately.

I told Kaimori-chan and Lynette that the meeting was over, and we disbanded for the day.

At the hospital, after my examination, I sat with my mother while the doctor explained my condition.

Apparently, the mysterious illness that had caused my hospitalization was finally improving.

…Well, technically, that’s because I’m inside her body, isn’t it?

Seems like my presence is actually doing some good. That’s reassuring.

“R-really…? Shion… she’s really going to be okay now?” my mother asked tearfully.

Her usually bright, composed voice was trembling.

…This is dangerous. My tear ducts are in danger. Please don’t say anything else. Just tell me the bill and let me leave.

The doctor smiled gently.

“Yes. Both of you have worked very hard. You’ll still need regular checkups, but we can say the major issue is resolved. Congratulations.”

“Thank you so much…! Shion… you’re okay… you’re really okay…”

My mother hugged me tightly. I could feel her shaking. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was crying.

And so was I.

But at the same time… that strange emptiness and discomfort didn’t go away.

Because the one who should be hearing this…

was Shion-chan.

Why… why aren’t you here?

Afterward, I was told I needed to speak with the guardian privately, so I wandered around the hospital aimlessly.

My feet carried me upward without thinking, until I reached the third floor.

And then—my steps stopped.

I knew this place.

The room at the end of the hallway. Empty.

The window was open, curtains gently swaying in the night breeze.

I walked to the bed by the window and sat in the chair beside it.

The moment my hand touched the sheets—I understood.

This was it.

This was where Shion-chan had been hospitalized.

And then, she was there.

Standing by the window in her hospital gown.

She quietly reached toward the outside, as if touching something precious.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“There are flowers here,” she said.

But outside, there were only vines wrapping around a tree. No flowers.

Yet she was clearly seeing something that wasn’t there.

“Do you like flowers, Shion-chan?”

“Maybe I do now. I like everything I see. Every time I come back here, I feel that way.”

“Come back… to the hospital?”

“Wrong. Well… I do feel things every time I’m admitted, but that’s not it.”

She covered her mouth and giggled softly.

“Every time I come back here—from that road.”

That road.

The one she saw every time she was close to death.

A path stretching endlessly through darkness, under a sky overflowing with stars. Too quiet to feel like a place meant for the living. How many times had she seen it?

“Did I hate the world…?” Lynette’s words echoed in my mind.

“If you knew it was coming, couldn’t you just stay still? Then you could’ve celebrated with your mother too,” I said.

“Yeah… it didn’t really work out that way,” Shion-chan replied.

“Why not?”

“…Who knows?”

“I want to understand,” I said, my voice sharpening despite myself.

But she didn’t seem bothered.

“Because I found something more important.”

“More important than yourself?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

No answer.

Now.

This was the moment.

I stood up to press her further—

But in an instant, she was gone from the window.

Too fast.

…It felt like I had been left behind again.

But maybe that version of Shion-chan was just a fragment of the past. Maybe that conversation wasn’t even meant for me.

Still… it didn’t matter.

If that’s the case, I’ll just stand beside her anyway.

Outside the window, the night deepened. Shadows of curtains swayed across the white walls, and the faint trace of her presence lingered in the air.

If Shion-chan had always been alone…

then maybe it wasn’t a sin for someone to stand beside her.

I scratched my head, just like Kaimori-chan would.

…But how am I even supposed to find her in the first place?

I stayed there, watching the night outside, until my mother contacted me.

Nothing was clear. No answers came.

And yet…

Shion-chan had smiled back then.

Not like someone looking at her end.

But like someone looking further ahead.

So there must still be something.

Something Shion-chan is trying to do.

If I really want to stand beside her—

then I have no choice but to find her.

My reflection in the window glass wore Shion-chan’s face.

But the thoughts behind it were unmistakably mine.

Even with that mismatch…

I had to keep moving.

Because staying still was far more wasteful.

…Six days left until Lynette’s final deadline.