Chapter 25: Suicide attempt

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Translator: Soafp

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June 10th. Monday. 9:00 AM. I'm sixteen years old.

“Someone just fell!”

On a humid, cloudy morning during the rainy season, loud shouts from gym teachers and students rose from the sports field. I, too, looked down from the second-floor classroom window. It seemed someone had fallen onto the concrete beside the bushes. I could see pale legs stretching out from beneath a skirt near the shrubbery.

…Just like that time…!

Before I could even think, I was already running.

“Onee-chan… I… I… It might be too late.”

Those words. That voice. That day. It was just like the voicemail Kai-chan left on my phone right before he died. That's why I knew—the person who fell was Kai-chan. I didn't know why I thought that, but I was absolutely certain.

I sprinted down the hallway. I flew down the stairs, two steps at a time. I dashed out of the school entrance in my indoor shoes. I ran with all my might toward where my fallen little brother lay. Two teachers were already there, calling out to him. I pushed past them and clung to him.

“Kai-chan!”

Tears streaming down my face, I cried out.

“Kai-chan, Kai-chan!”

I shook him desperately. But that child…

That child wasn't Kai-chan.

The uniform was from our school… The grade… The emblem on the chest was red. That means… she's a first-year student.

“Arahama, Arahama! Move, get back! We need to perform emergency first aid!”

The P.E. teacher pulled me away. A pair of red-framed glasses lay beside her. She had scraped her forehead. She had a bob haircut and looked like a smart kid. That was the impression I got.

Was the call I got earlier from this girl? …No, that couldn't be it. That slightly childish voice. The way she referred to herself as “uchi.”… Besides, I had never given this girl my phone number.

While I was lost in these thoughts, the sound of an ambulance siren grew louder in the distance. This school was near a major thoroughfare in the commercial district of Minami-Osawa, so the ambulance arrived quicker than I had expected.

One of the teachers hurried to open the school gate, guiding the ambulance toward the school grounds. The white life-saving vehicle came right up to where the girl had fallen and turned off its siren. Several paramedics rushed over with a stretcher.

“Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”

It seemed she was still alive. A paramedic, carefully holding her head to prevent any spinal injury, called out loudly by her ear. I stepped back three paces and watched.

Suddenly, her lips moved slightly.

“Kairi…”

In a faint, but unmistakable voice, the girl who had just attempted suicide said that name.