Part 70: Episode 63: Deliverance (Ending No. 4)

Aah, sorting all of these takes forever! I think I just have the encyclopedias to do before I’m done.

Huh?

There’s a note on the help desk counter.
Umm…

It reads like a challenge to a samurai duel.
…How fitting.
I think this is the first time he approached me? I wonder what it’s all about.


Most of the students left well before the end of lunch, so I decided to call for Nageki.
Nageki, are you here?
Nageki?
…ver…ere…
Nageki!

! You startled me! How long have you been standing there?
From the very beginning.
So, what did you need?
I want to… talk with you, Miss Lourde.
Talk with me?
Continue our conversation.

We were talking about… bullying, I think?

Okay. I’m all ears, Nageki.
I’m… not sure where to start. I’ve noticed a lot, since we last spoke together.
……
Miss Lourde.
Hmm?

What!?

But… he hates going outside!

Come on!

He stands up, and walks over to the door. I follow, agitated.

You first.
Okay…


…huh?
What’s wrong? You said you wanted to come out here…

He stands in the doorway, pushing against open air.

What are you doing? …Mime?
Watch.

He walks back a little ways into the library, and then…
Runs forward, crashing into the air.

Nageki, what--

Thud!
……

……?


As I thought, I can’t leave.
What…?
I… can’t leave this room.
I wake up in this library. After a while, I lose consciousness and wake up here again. And so it repeats.
I said I’d come to understand the truth by talking to you, Miss Lourde.
You’ve probably noticed, too. Why no one else talks to me.


I’m… the only one who can see you?
…Probably.
I forgot why I was here. How I came to be stuck in this place…
I’ve been alone here for years, with no one to talk to.
For years…?

I’ve seen at least… five school festivals go by.
But then, you came. And talked to me.
I had had no partner but myself for so long, and suddenly… You wouldn’t leave me alone.
As I talked to you, I finally remembered… why I can’t leave.
?

My clock broke here, its hands turning meaninglessly, each day the same as the last.
Alone… forever…
No one is bullying me, or ignoring me. I’m not here to begin with.

But… I think I will miss you, Miss Lourde.
If I wasn’t like this… I would… I would have liked to talk to you more, for longer…
Nageki…

I could finally see what was happening to Nageki… He was slowly disappearing.
I… I can’t let him go. Not now. Not after all of this.
I wrap my arms around him.
I can feel him, softly… But he’s cold.

At first, sitting here alone was painful. But I grew numb, over time… I ceased to feel pain.
That feeling, that I thought I had lost, came back… because of… you…
I-I’ll talk to you enough to make up for everyone else, Nageki! Maybe one day you’ll be able to leave…
…No.
Why not…?
As I talked to you, I… changed. I didn’t notice until just recently…

When you told me about this school, I was probably trying to take back the time I… was never able to spend here.
I never asked you to, but you relentlessly told me everything that was going on here. I already feel like I’ve spent a full year at this school…
And… now it’s over.

Nageki…!?

His head is right next to mine, but his voice sounds muffled and distant. When I look down, his feet are already disappearing…

Nageki, wait! We’ve… we’ve never talked like this before! I don’t want this to be the last time…!
Don’t cry, Miss Lourde. I’m already long gone. There’s no one here to mourn.
But…!

No! No, don’t say it! Nageki, I…
As I filled up, I grew closer to disappearing. You’re the one who made me disappear, Miss Lourde. I can’t stop it now.
But I still have so many things to tell you…!
You’ve already given me more than enough strength. I’m satisfied.
The secret…