CK 68

Chapter 68…

To Run or Not to Run
Sharing Information

The day after I talked with Rina-chan and Souma-kun.
The four of us gathered after school, not heading straight home, but meeting in front of the door that led to the rooftop.

Originally, we were going to meet on the roof, but the sunlight was so harsh that we changed it to the area in front of the door instead — mostly at Chiharu-chan’s request.

Still, that stabbing summer sun really did hurt.

But having a little strategy meeting in front of the rooftop door, where no one ever comes?
That in itself felt kind of fun, and I was in high spirits.

Once Shirou-kun from another class arrived and everyone was there, I spoke up.

“Alright then, let’s share what we’ve got!”
“Yeah!”

Our overly excited tone was immediately shot down by Ma-kun’s comment:

“Why are you guys so hyped for this?”

I protested.

“Because—doesn’t it feel like something out of a secret mission? Meeting somewhere quiet to share intel and all that?”
“Right!? It’s kinda exciting, isn’t it?”

Ma-kun frowned.

“This isn’t a game, you know.”

…That tone—was he maybe a little mad?

But then, something unexpected happened.

“…I sort of get the feeling,”

Chiharu-chan said, surprisingly siding with us.

“Right!?”

Meanwhile, Ma-kun sighed.

…Yeah, he’s probably exasperated with us.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel happy.
At first, I never knew what Chiharu-chan was thinking, but lately, she’s been opening up little by little.

…Maybe soon I can start calling her Chi-chan without her getting mad?
Hmm… maybe not yet…

While I was thinking that, Ma-kun spoke up again, sounding a bit irritated.

“Anyway, there was something we needed to talk about, right?”
“Right!”

The reason I’d asked everyone to meet was to share what Rina-chan told me yesterday—about Suzuhō-chan.

But actually, Shirou-kun had contacted us first.
After 9 p.m. last night, he sent a message in the group chat saying, “I found Suzuhō-chan and managed to talk to her.”
So I followed up in the chat with my own report about what happened.

That’s when we decided to meet today.

“So, who’s going first?”
“I’ll go!”

☆☆☆

“So basically… Sayama-san got injured and couldn’t compete in her last track meet—the one she’d been working toward all through middle school. After that, she started to hate everything, including track and field itself. That’s why she ended up fighting with her old teammates.
And Yoshii-san’s still waiting for her, but Kosaka-kun seems like he’s already given up—right?”
“That’s what it sounds like.”

After Shirou-kun and I each finished sharing what we’d heard, Chiharu-chan summed it up neatly.
Ma-kun stayed silent, deep in thought.

…Ever since I heard Rina-chan’s story, I’d been wanting to help Suzuhō-chan somehow.
And now, after hearing what Shirou-kun learned, I wanted to help her even more.

Because really—having to go through high school unable to smile sounds painful.

But… what can we even do for her?

I felt like I wouldn’t find an answer by thinking alone, so I decided to just say it out loud.

“Hey… do you think there’s something we can do for Suzuhō-chan?”
“I was thinking the same thing. I wanna do something to help her somehow…
Though, yeah, I was told not to get carried away…”

Apparently, Shirou-kun felt the same.
We both sighed in unison.

But Ma-kun was blunt.

“We don’t need to do anything. That’s something Sayama has to resolve herself.”
“Ma-kun, aren’t you being a little cold when it’s not about a Yodomi or a Fallen Star?”
“…There’s no need to stick our noses into other people’s problems. If we start meddling and neglect what we’re supposed to do, that’d be backward.
We should focus on what’s ours to handle.”

He wasn’t wrong—but it just… sounded cold.

I wanted to argue back, but the words wouldn’t come.

Then, before I could say anything, Ma-kun spoke again.

“Still, since we don’t know what Scorpio’s goal is, those two from yesterday should have protection. Shirou, can I count on you to watch over Sayama?”
“Yeah! Leave it to me!”
“Then I’ll take care of Rina-chan, right?”
“Yeah. I’m counting on you.”

After saying that, Ma-kun turned and started walking down the stairs.

…Wait, hold on a sec.
He still hasn’t told us what that giant scorpion even was!

I quickly called out after him, a bit louder than I meant to:

“Hey! So what was that giant scorpion anyway!?”

Ma-kun stopped on the landing below and looked up at us.

“Didn’t I tell you?”
“No, you totally didn’t!”

With a sigh, he came back up the stairs.

“That scorpion was a Constellation Concept Form.”

He said it as he returned to his spot.

“Constellation…?”
“Concept Form?”
“…So it’s different from a Fallen Star, then?”

We spoke in turn—Shirou-kun, Chiharu-chan, then me.

Seeing our puzzled looks, Ma-kun continued.

“Fallen Stars are humans transformed into monsters through the power of constellations.
But a Constellation Concept Form is the constellation’s power itself taking physical shape.
I don’t know why it happens.”
“So… that means it wasn’t a person who turned into that thing!?”
“Right. Which means you can just attack it normally and make it run out of energy.
It’s basically a mass of star power.”
“So… that means someone other than Yui could defeat it?”
“Yeah. I’ve taken down Concept Forms before, so I can vouch for that.”

Just as he said that—
We suddenly heard a faint scream from somewhere nearby.