The Tenth Year of Silence —The Reason I Killed That Child— - The Night at Rock Bottom —Proof of Believing

The air in the staff room was heavier than usual, stagnant and thick. Outside the windows, sea fog had been hanging since morning, blurring even the outline of the school building into a soft, indistinct haze. Yagumo Chitose stood before his homeroom teacher's desk, silently staring down at the single sheet of paper held out to him. The words "Notice of Recommendation Revocation" were printed across the top. Beneath them, a single line gave the reason. "Due to comprehensive assessment." That was all it said. Chitose's narrow, dark-brown eyes traced the line. His fingertips pinched the edge of the paper. It was thin, cheap copy paper. So this one sheet was enough to erase everything he'd built up until now, he thought, as if it were happening to someone else. "Yagumo, I'm sorry. This was a difficult decision for the school as well." His teacher said this without meeting Chitose's eyes. He pretended to shuffle the documents on his desk, letting his gaze escape. A man in his mid-forties. A face Chitose had known since his first year. "This is for your own good. For now, the best thing is to step away from the case and keep quiet." Chitose folded the paper and slipped it into the inner pocket of his blazer. "...I see." His voice was flatter than even he had expected. "Comprehensive assessment, is it." Chitose repeated the words once more. His teacher's shoulders shifted, just slightly. "Yes. There are various circumstances at play. You understand, don't you? Given your current situation, it's difficult to continue the recommendation." Chitose looked at his teacher's face. The man never once met his gaze. (He doesn't believe in me anymore either.) (No — maybe he never believed in me from the start.) Chitose said nothing more. Somewhere in his mind, he understood it would be pointless. The vague wording of that document was the only answer he was going to get. There had never been any room to object. "Excuse me." Chitose bowed and left the staff room. The moment he stepped into the hallway, a murmur of voices rushed into his ears. "Oh, it's Yagumo." "Don't get close to him." "He's still coming to school?" The whispers were hushed, but deliberately pitched loud enough for Chitose to hear. When he turned his face toward them, several girls hurriedly looked away. The boys didn't bother hiding their curious stares. Chitose walked straight ahead. One step. Another. The linoleum floor creaked beneath his soles. Before he reached the classroom, he heard it again and again. "They say he's a suspect in the kidnapping." "They found evidence, right?" "Disgusting." "Why hasn't he been expelled?" Chitose let it all pass. He had no choice but to let it pass. When he opened the classroom door, the conversations inside stopped dead. Every gaze turned toward him at once. Curiosity, disgust, fear — and somewhere in the mix, a kind of amusement. Chitose headed for his seat. He sat down. The girl at the desk next to his pointedly slid her desk a few centimeters away. Chitose said nothing and pulled his textbook from his bag. (A place to belong, huh.) (There isn't one here anymore.) Outside the window, the fog was still thick. Even after class began, the teacher's voice reached Chitose's ears as if from a great distance. He opened his notebook and copied the board. His fingers moved. Characters lined up. But his mind was elsewhere. (Kurahashi Seiichi.) (That man is the one who drove me this far.) (The revoked recommendation, the spread of rumors — all of it.) Chitose gently gripped his left wrist with his right hand. The old scar beneath his sleeve. Only that sensation seemed to keep him tethered to reality. Lunch break. Chitose ate his bread alone on the landing of the stairwell leading to the rooftop, where no one else came. The bread had no taste. He chewed. He swallowed. It was just a mechanical act. "Chitose." A voice. He looked up. Kozuki Saya was standing there. Her light-brown curls caught the green glow of the emergency exit lamp, floating dimly in the darkness. On her right wrist was a faded blue bracelet. Mio's keepsake. Saya's brown eyes were wet, on the verge of tears. "Are you okay...?" Her voice was trembling. "I'm fine." Chitose answered briefly. "Liar. There's no way you're fine. I heard. Your recommendation got revoked." Saya spoke rapidly, her bangs swaying with the force of her words. "...Yes. It was revoked." Chitose said this while tucking the rest of his bread back into the bag. "Why?! You didn't do anything! That's absolutely wrong!" Saya's tone grew stronger. "It is wrong. But the school won't admit it." Chitose stood up. "Saya-san. If someone sees you talking to me, it'll cause trouble for you too." "What?! I don't care about that!" Saya stepped closer to him. "I believe in you, Chitose. I know you would never hurt Mio." Her voice wavered with tears. Chitose looked at her face. (She says she believes in me.) (But her trust puts her in danger.) "Thank you. But for now, it's better to keep your distance." Chitose said quietly. "Why?!" "I heard your family told you to stay away from me. I think that's the right call." Saya's face twisted. "...You heard about that?" Her voice grew small. "Rumors travel fast." Chitose started down the stairs. "Chitose!" Saya's voice chased after his back. "I will never abandon you! That's the one thing you can't forget!" Chitose didn't turn around. If he had, something inside him might have crumbled. After school. Chitose left the classroom faster than anyone. He passed through the school gate and headed for the bus stop. The sky was still a murky white. Sea fog blanketed the entire town. The bus rocked him toward Aobagaoka. He entered the apartment building's entrance and took the elevator to the fifth floor. He unlocked the front door and stepped inside. "Welcome home." His mother's voice came from the living room. Chitose removed his shoes and headed for the living room. His mother was sitting on the sofa. The TV was off. On the table lay the same document he had received from school, tossed there carelessly. Chitose looked at his mother's face. Her eyes were red and swollen. "...The school called." Her voice was hoarse. "I see." Chitose sat in the chair across from her. "Chitose, please. Don't get involved with that case anymore." His mother's hands were clenched tightly on her knees. Her fingertips had gone white. "I don't want to see you get hurt. That's all. That's all I want." Her voice trembled with tears. Chitose stared at his mother's face. (She's always like this.) (Always trying to put a lid on things.) (She never told me anything about Dad either.) (The reason there isn't a single family photo — all of it.) "Mom." Chitose spoke. "Why won't you tell me anything about Dad?" His mother's shoulders jerked. "Why are you bringing that up now...?" "Because it's now. I've always wanted to ask. But I couldn't. Because you refused." Chitose's voice was quiet. But at the bottom of that quietness, ten years of sediment had settled. "That case, Dad — you're trying to make all of it disappear. But you can't make it disappear. I can't move forward without knowing why." Chitose looked straight into his mother's eyes. "Chitose, please. Stop. This is for your sake. All of it is for your sake." His mother repeated the same words. "For my sake." Chitose rolled the words slowly around in his mouth. "Mom. Please stop using the phrase 'for your sake' to keep hiding the truth about this family." For the first time, Chitose's voice trembled with emotion. "The reason Dad disappeared, the reason there isn't a single family photo — all of it has something to do with me, doesn't it? So why won't you tell me? Am I supposed to live my whole life without even knowing about my own family?" His voice rose. His mother hung her head. "...I'm sorry." She apologized in a small voice. "But I can't tell you now. Please. Just for now, forgive me." She said nothing more. Silence filled the room. Chitose took a long time to finally understand his mother's silence. (This silence is the same as the silence of that case.) (The blank space in this house and the blank space in that town are made of the same structure.) (Someone is desperately trying to keep the lid on, to make it all disappear.) Chitose stood up. "I understand." He headed for his room. He entered, closed the door. On his desk lay the copy of the testimony records Naoto had entrusted to him, along with a map of the town, spread out. Chitose sat in his chair and looked at the map. Former Hamaki Manor. The place where Mio's body had been found. (This is where I need to go.) He packed the testimony records into his backpack. (My mother doesn't believe in me anymore.) (The school, my friends — all of them.) (But the contradictions in the testimony won't disappear.) He looked at his phone. Several messages from Saya had come in. "Chitose, are you okay?" "Where are you?" "Reply to me." Chitose closed the screen. (Saya-san. I can't drag you into this.) He turned off the light in his room. The darkness of night wrapped around him. A little past eleven at night, Chitose quietly left the house. Outside, the fog was thick. The streetlights of Aobagaoka glowed faintly in the white darkness. Chitose got on his bicycle and headed for the Hamasaki district. Along the Mizugasaki River, upstream. The lights of the city gradually fell away behind him. Only the sound of the river echoed eerily through the dense fog. He pedaled up the eleven-kilometer mountain road. Sweat ran down his back. His legs were heavy. But he didn't stop. It was past midnight when he reached the former Hamaki Manor. The abandoned two-story wooden inn loomed out of the darkness. A rotting signboard. Broken windows. A half-collapsed entrance. Chitose hid his bicycle in the grass by the roadside and climbed over the broken fence. The grounds were overgrown with weeds. He took out a flashlight and illuminated the ground at his feet. The entrance door had half rotted away. Chitose stepped inside carefully. The air was cold. The smell of mold, earth, and old wood. He headed for the back of the first floor. A Japanese-style room. The room where Mio's body had been found ten years ago. The tatami mats had rotted through, exposing the bare floorboards. Chitose stood in the center of the room. (Mio died here.) (In this place, a small life was taken.) He pointed the flashlight at the floor. He carefully illuminated the gaps between the floorboards, one by one. And then, in the corner of the room, in a gap between the floorboards near the wall, something glinted. Chitose crouched down and picked it up with his fingertips. A film case. A small, black, cylindrical container. He opened the lid. Inside was a folded piece of paper. Chitose unfolded it. It was a handwritten note. "September 12. Arrived at scene 6:40 AM." "Discrepancy with police-reported time of first discovery." "Requesting follow-up coverage." "A person from the board of education was at the scene." Chitose read the note over and over. His fingertips trembled. (This could be decisive physical evidence.) (There's a discrepancy between the police report and the actual scene.) (And someone from the board of education was at the scene.) Chitose tucked the note and the film case into his inner pocket. That was when it happened. Multiple footsteps sounded from outside. Chitose turned off his flashlight. Darkness swallowed him in an instant. The footsteps were steadily approaching the former Hamaki Manor. "Someone went inside." A man's voice. "Check it." Another man's voice. Chitose pressed himself flat against the floor. His heart pounded violently. (These are men acting on Kurahashi's orders.) (Were they watching my movements?) The footsteps entered t

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Episode 5

Name: The Tenth Year of Silence —The Reason I Killed That Child—
Author: Novelia

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