Chapter 78 - Parting Gift
“No way, why…”
Rei knelt next to Ryou’s corpse.
They brought Ryou’s body to the home economics room, which was near the place where they’d found the body.
That place had been where Ryou and Rei had heard strange noises from the radio.
“I wonder if he slipped…”
Sakura muttered while putting her hand to her chin.
“Don’t screw around… Why, why did he end up like this! At least, it should be… at least…”
Rei’s voice quivered, and a faint sobbing was mixed within it.
Everyone was watching the situation with mournful looks.
No one spoke.
They couldn’t find the words to say anything.
Eventually, they left, one by one, until only Rei and Sakura were the sole people in the room.
“...Uh, what happened this time was unfortunate.”
“...Unfortunate? You’re using that word! …Really, that word… Dammit!”
“But, we can’t help that he died. We have to survive. You know that as well, right?”
“I… But.”
“It’s naturally hard to lose a person. But Oota1 and Senior Toudou2, and Senior Sayo too, they have all overcome it. Shimaura, you have to overcome it as well.”
Saying that, Sakura stood up.
“...Thank you.”
Rei lifted his face.
“Hurry up and feel better, okay?”
As Sakura turned on her heel, Rei raised his voice.
“Huh? That’s…”
“What?”
“On your skirt…”
“Huh?”
“Don’t move, I’ll remove it.”
Rei took something off the skirt.
It was a piece of paper with something written on it.
“A sticker?”
“This is…”
Rei looked at the sticker from different angles and then put it in his pocket.
“It’s just a sticker. I’ll go throw it away.”
“Really? See you.”
Sakura exited the room, but Rei didn’t move a single step from his spot.
***
(What does this mean…”
Rei sat in front of Ryou’s corpse and pulled out the sticker.
This sticker was the “Aid Union God Vine” sticker that they had fought about.
The head and body on the sticker were caricatured.
Why was this sticking on Sakura’s skirt?
It couldn’t have gotten there coincidentally.
Only Ryou had had the sticker, so it was without a doubt Ryou who had stuck it there.
For what?
Why with this sticker?
He didn’t understand.
He didn’t understand…
He looked at the sticker once again.
The caricatured character was Greg.
This character was originally the hero’s companion, but changed sides and become the enemy, and was then defeated by the hero.
In other words, a traitor.
A traitor…
Trai…tor?
“No way!!”
Was this Ryou’s last message?
He tried to give him a message…
“You look like Jisa!”
He recalled Ryou’s voice.
Ryou…
He got it.
He would do it.
Like how Jisa defeated Glick.
He would definitely defeat her.
There was just one problem.
It was embarrassing, but Ryou was pretty heavy.
He would surely be at least 90kg.
How did she drop this giant from the rooftop?
Unless he solved this mystery, he would probably lose.
Had Sakura acted suspiciously?
Rei racked his brains for a while, and then he noticed it.
“It was at that time…”
When he had defeated the red monster, Sakura had said she was tired and wanted to rest.
Maybe something had happened then.
Did she do muscle training?
No, that’s wrong.
An external factor most likely had a hand in this.
If so, was it that monster?
She could have gotten hit by the monster’s attack and then was infected.
However, because the amount of virus was limited, she wasn’t completely infected, and on the contrary, overcame the virus, though that would be too extreme.
Still, if he didn’t think that, she wouldn’t have been able to push off Ryou.
If that had happened, how would he confront her?
…That’s right, Ryou.
He had forgotten.
Jisa’s signature phrase.
“Just wait for a little, I’ll come up with a nice idea right now.”
The voice that resounded inside Rei’s mind was Ryou’s.