Terror in Resonance: If - Sphinxes of the Sleepless City
Terror in Resonance: If — Sphinxes of the Sleepless City
Nine and Touji have returned—not to the Tokyo of their world, but to another sleepless city where the festival lights flicker and the shadows of the Athena Plan still reach. The bomb is set. The detonator is ready. And the world is watching Sphinx.
But in this world, a girl sits alone in the corner of a classroom, her downcast eyes carrying the weight of a silence no one else can hear. She is not Mio. She is just a classmate. A stranger.
Terror in Resonance: If - Sphinxes of the Sleepless City - A Corner of the Classroom —A Pale Yellow Voice—
The summer sun blazed through the window glass, scorching the classroom.
The cicadas' cries rolled in from far away like waves. Each time the fan swung its head, a lukewarm breeze stirred the bangs across her forehead.
Mishima Risa had made herself small in her seat.
Her shoulder-length black hair clung to her cheeks, damp with sweat. Her round dark eyes were downcast, fixed on the grain of the desk. Only the tiny earring on her left ear caught the light from the window now and then, glinting.
(My textbook is gone.)
It should have been there when she'd opened her bag that morning. First period math textbook. She'd put it in her desk. No—she'd *meant* to put it in her desk.
Now, searching through the desk, it was nowhere.
"Oh, Mishima-san, what's wrong?"
The girl in the seat ahead turned around to speak to her. Smiling. Hand covering her mouth, only her eyes laughing.
"No textbook? Poor thing."
Risa couldn't say anything. She bit her lip and searched the desk again. Her fingertips trembled.
Somewhere in the classroom, she heard giggling.
She looked at the blackboard. Words that hadn't been there that morning were written across it.
*Mishima, disappear.*
In white chalk. Large. Careful.
Risa couldn't lift her head. Heat crept up the back of her neck. Deep in her ears, her heartbeat pounded.
(Again.)
The two transfer students who'd arrived a week ago were talking about something at the back of the classroom. She couldn't hear their voices. But she felt watched.
No. Being watched—that had to be her imagination.
Nobody was looking at her.
Risa gripped her eraser. Her nails dug in. She used the pain to hold back tears.
Even after first period began, the textbook didn't turn up.
She couldn't bring herself to ask the boy next to her to "let me see," so she spent the whole period doodling in the margin of her notebook. The math teacher noticed she had no textbook but said nothing. He just sighed.
That sigh seemed to echo through the entire classroom.
Second period, third period—time crawled by.
During group work, Risa was alone. The lottery for groups left her out of every one, and she ended up working on the worksheet by herself. Happy voices drifted over from the surrounding groups.
"I don't get this part."
"Oh, that's—"
No one called Risa over.
She read the first problem on the worksheet over and over. The words wouldn't sink in.
(Why am I even here?)
The view from the classroom window. Beyond the schoolyard, summer's towering thunderheads piled up, billowing into the sky. Blue above.
What was up there, above those clouds?
Risa wondered absently.
The lunch bell rang.
The classroom erupted into noise all at once. People spreading out bento boxes, people running for the school store, people pulling out their phones.
Risa slumped over her desk.
(I'm not hungry.)
She hadn't eaten breakfast. Barely eaten last night, either. But she had no appetite.
"Hey."
Suddenly, a bright voice dropped down from above her head.
Risa flinched, shoulders jumping, and looked up.
Hisami Touji, one of the transfer students, was standing there. Fluffy mushroom-cut light brown hair. Big amber eyes looking straight at her.
"You're Mishima-san, right? I'm Hisami Touji. I transferred in last week."
Risa couldn't find her voice.
"Oh, were you sleeping? Sorry, sorry."
Touji laughed. A friendly, dog-like grin.
"N-no... I wasn't sleeping."
Her voice came out so small it surprised even her.
"Good. Hey, want to eat lunch together? I still don't have any friends in this class. And Nine always disappears somewhere at lunch."
Touji glanced back over his shoulder.
The seat by the window. Kokonoe Arata sat alone, reading a paperback. Behind his dark navy self-framed glasses, his deep brown eyes moved quietly across the page. A small old scar on his left eyebrow showed faintly in the window light.
He wasn't looking her way.
But somehow it felt like he wasn't looking and yet saw everything.
"...I didn't bring a bento."
It was a lie. There was a convenience store bread roll at the bottom of her bag. But she didn't have the courage to eat with Touji.
"Gotcha. Then let's hit the school store. I've got something I wanna buy too."
"Um... but—"
"Come on, let's go."
Without waiting for an answer, Touji headed for the classroom door. Risa scrambled to her feet. Around her, classmates were stealing glances their way.
(What do I do? But I can't say no.)
Risa hurried after Touji.
The school store was packed with students on their lunch break.
"Whoa, it's crowded. Mishima-san, what do you want to eat?"
"Um... anything's fine."
"'Anything' is the hardest answer there is. Okay, my recommendation. This yakisoba bread is amazing."
Touji grabbed two yakisoba breads from the shelf.
"And this. Café au lait. You like sweet stuff? Or not?"
"...I like it."
"Great, decided."
Touji pressed the yakisoba bread and café au lait into Risa's hands, bought his own, and paid for everything in a flash.
"Let's go up to the roof. The breeze feels great up there."
"...Okay."
Risa searched for a reason to refuse. She couldn't find one.
There was no one else on the roof.
Beyond the fence, the city of Tokyo spread out. In the distance, she could see the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building—the one that had been bombed that day. It was draped in construction sheeting, its silhouette painful to look at.
"This spot's a hidden gem. Hardly anyone comes up here."
Touji settled down on the concrete floor. Risa sat too, leaving a little distance between them.
"Let's eat."
Touji opened his yakisoba bread wrapper. Risa cautiously opened hers too.
The smell of yakisoba bread tickled her nose.
"...It's good."
She murmured it softly.
"Right? The school store's yakisoba bread is this school's secret specialty."
Touji grinned happily. Watching that smile, Risa felt something deep in her chest lighten, just a little.
"Mishima-san, you're always alone, huh. Don't you have friends?"
Her hands stopped.
"...No. I don't."
"I see. Then I'll be your first friend."
Risa lifted her head.
Touji was beaming. There was nothing behind that smile. No calculation. Just a pure, simple wish to be friends.
"...Thank you."
Her voice shook.
"You're welcome. Oh—but if we're gonna be friends, can I call you Risa? 'Mishima-san' feels kinda stiff."
"...Sure."
"Great. Then I'm Touji to you. No 'kun' needed."
"...Touji-kun."
"Yep, that works."
Touji nodded, satisfied.
Risa stabbed her straw into the café au lait carton. A sweet fragrance spread.
(Friends...)
The word seeped slowly into her chest.
"Risa, your voice is a pale yellow."
Touji said it out of nowhere.
"Huh?"
"Oh, sorry. Sounds look like colors to me. Voices, noises, all of it. Your voice is pale yellow. A really beautiful color."
He said it with a completely serious face.
"Pale... yellow."
"Yeah. It's a rare color. I've hardly ever heard a sound that color before."
Risa didn't really understand what it meant for a voice to look like a color. But somehow, Touji's words made her happy.
"...You're strange."
She gave a small laugh.
"I get that a lot. Nine calls me a weirdo too."
Touji scratched his head, embarrassed.
Just then, the roof door opened.
Risa turned. Kokonoe Arata stood there.
"Nine, what's up?"
"I was looking for you."
Arata answered briefly. His gaze flicked toward Risa.
Risa found herself looking down.
(Kokonoe-kun...)
From the very first day, Arata had stood apart from the class. No—more than standing apart, he built his own walls. He never interacted with anyone. He was always reading, or staring out the window.
But somehow, that quiet presence had caught her attention.
"Risa, this is Nine. Kokonoe Arata. My partner."
"...I know. We're in the same class."
Risa forced the words out.
"I see."
That was all he said before leaning his back against the fence.
"Risa's voice is pale yellow. Isn't that amazing, Nine?"
Touji's voice was buoyant.
"I see."
His reply was as curt as ever.
"Show a little surprise. It's a rare color."
"I am surprised."
"Your face isn't."
"It just doesn't show."
Listening to the two of them, Risa couldn't help but let out a small laugh.
"Oh, she laughed. Risa, when you laugh, your voice color gets a little deeper. Orange mixes in."
"What does that even mean?"
She laughed again.
Arata watched the scene quietly.
(This girl resembles Mio.)
He thought it silently.
That downcast expression. The lonely air of someone cut off from everyone around her. The way she endured alone, unable to ask anyone for help.
The girl he'd grown up with at the facility—her image overlapped with Risa's.
(But it's different.)
Arata narrowed his eyes.
(She belongs to a different world than we do.)
"Kokonoe-kun, won't you eat with us?"
Risa ventured, timidly.
"No. I'm fine."
"I see... sorry, for someone like me—"
She apologized in a small voice.
"There's no need to apologize."
His voice was flat.
"I've decided not to eat lunch."
"Huh? Why?"
"I don't get hungry."
"Nine, there you go again. You'll collapse if you don't eat properly."
"I won't collapse."
"You will. I know, okay? You haven't been sleeping much lately, have you, Nine?"
Touji looked at Arata with worry.
Arata didn't answer. He just gazed quietly at the city beyond the fence.
Listening to them, Risa felt something strange.
(These two really are close.)
Arata seemed to open his heart to Touji, and only to Touji.
The bell ending lunch rang.
"See you tomorrow, Risa."
"...Yeah. Tomorrow."
Risa gave a small wave.
On the way back to the classroom, her eyes met Arata's.
He looked at her as if he wanted to say something.
But in the end he said nothing, and went into the classroom.
Watching his back, Risa felt a faint warmth deep in her chest.
(It's been so long since I talked with anyone.)
When was the last time a real conversation had happened for her at school?
Risa returned to her seat.
She set the empty yakisoba bread wrapper on her desk.
(I wonder if I can talk to them again tomorrow.)
The thought brought a small smile to her face.
After school.
Risa left the classroom faster than anyone.
Today, meeting Touji and Arata had lifted her spirits, just a little. But her steps home were heavy all the same.
(I wonder what time Mom's coming home.)
Risa's house sat in an old residential neighborhood about twenty minutes on foot from school.
A small detached house.
When she opened the front door, the house was silent.
"I'm home."
No answer.
Risa let out a breath of relief.
She went up to her room, changed out of her uniform, and collapsed onto the bed.
Staring at the stain on the ceiling, she replayed the day.
(The textbook still hasn't turned up.)
She'd have to look again tomorrow at school.
(I wonder if the writing on the blackboard got erased.)
Walking into the classroom in the morning scared her.
But Touji-kun had talked to her.
Risa pulled out her phone.
One notification on the screen.
*Risa, what time did you get home today?*
From her mother.
Risa sighed.
*Just got home now.*
She sent the reply.
Read receipt, then a response, almost instantly.
*I see. How was school today?*
*Normal.*
*What does "normal" mean? Something happened, didn't it. Don't hide it from me.*
Risa tossed her phone onto the bed.
(Here we go again.)
Her mother was always like this.
Digging and digging for everything about school.
What she talked about with friends. Who she walked home with. What she ate.
All of it, checked.
Risa stared at the phone screen.
*Nothing happened.*
She started to type it, then her fingers stopped.
(Even if I lie, she'll find out anyway.)
Her mother went through her phone without asking.
Call history, messages, photos—all of it.
Risa turned the phone face-down and buried her face in the blanket.
Night.
Risa was eating dinner in the living room when her mother came home.
"I'm home."
"Welcome ba
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