Intermission: Rainy Season, After School, Spring Haze

I like the rain.

First of all, what’s good about it is the sound. The sound of rain, like applause, is good.

When I listen to it, I feel like I’m all alone, so I like the rain.

I like the rain.

What’s good about it is that the sky becomes gloomy. I like that gray color that can’t be painted with just one shade.

When I look at it, I feel like there’s something dirtier than my own heart, so I like the rain.

Aside from rain, there are things I like.

The library after school. The smell of brand-new books just bought. The smoothness of a new lead pencil.

I think as long as I have those things in my world, it’s enough.

That’s why, on rainy days after school, I’m here alone. Reading books in the library.

That’s my luxury.

However, I know it won’t last long.

“Mashima-san, sorry to bother you, but could you take care of this?”

“Um, Sensei.”

“What is it?”

While looking at the book placed on my desk with a thud, I closed the book I was partially reading.

And then, I looked at my homeroom teacher.

A woman in her late 30s, unmarried.

The scent of perfume stings my nose.

It’s a smell I dislike.

I noticed her flashy makeup that makes her look like an intimidating animal.

It’s a color I dislike.

But it’s not just me who dislikes her.

She also dislikes me.

She despises me, like a wild animal in school, trying to exclude me because I can’t fit in with the class and because I’m different.

However, we both have enough common sense not to express it in words. Or so I think.

“Teacher, I have something urgent to attend to today.”

“It’s fine. Mashima-san, you’re a library committee member anyway, so even if you have something to do, it’s just reading, right?”

With only those words, the teacher casually placed the books on my desk and returned to the staff room.

I think she’s joking.

I know. I know that she turns a blind eye to the male students who bring in smartphones that violate the school rules, causing a ruckus like monkeys in a zoo. I know she turns a blind eye to the girls who bring in various snacks that violate the school rules and shamelessly post videos of themselves dancing on TikTok.

However, I muster the strength to say this firmly.

She must think I’m someone she can speak to like that.

I could have ignored the book placed on my desk and just gone home, but I couldn’t stand the thought of my favorite place being tainted by someone I dislike, so I reluctantly cleaned up. It took more time than I had anticipated.

When I look at the clock, it’s 5:30 p.m.

“…30 minutes have already passed.”

Normally, I would leave at 5 p.m., but today, I ended up taking time to find a place to tidy up the books.

I should leave soon.

If I don’t, that person will come.

As I left the library with my bag, to my dismay, that person was standing there.

Dressed in all black. Enormous frog-like eyes.

Even though the fingertips resemble those of a frog, this eerie man stands on two legs and is about 190cm tall.

Clearly dangerous, but no one else can see except me.

That’s why I pretend not to see.

“Ma, Mashima-chaaan… I-I was watching… Th-that woman, throwing a book at you…! Unforgivable, right…! Mashima-chan being looked down upon by such a pathetic hag is unacceptable, right?”

Whispered in my ear. Endure it.

Silently lock the door. Turn around.

Pretend not to see the Frog Man as I walk past him.

“L-Let’s kill her. That woman. Let’s kill her. Hey, Mashima-chan, wouldn’t you be happy if we did that? Hey, Mashima-chan. You think that too, right?”

This man, spouting incoherent words, appeared in front of me about a month ago.

That day, it was raining just like today, and I was reading a book, just like today.

When the broadcasting club started playing the dismissal announcement, I left the library and that person was standing alone on the school ground.

I thought he might be suspicious, so I watched him, and our eyes met.

That was the beginning of the misfortune.

He appears out of nowhere and disappears just as mysteriously.

Therefore, I thought it would be best to avoid provoking him as much as possible.

Because when a girl I passed by after school said, “Doesn’t he smell weird?” This enraged Frog Man turned that girl into a tadpole and threw her out the window.

“Frog’s offspring is a frog. So, if trash has offspring, it’s tr-tr-trash! If she disappears, Mashima-chan will be happy. Hap-py!”

He said the exact same thing as now.

I didn’t understand the meaning. The police treated her as missing.

There was a teacher I didn’t know well who seemed to suspect that the cause of the girl’s disappearance was related to me. They sniffed around and ended up becoming a tadpole too.

That’s why I decided not to see anything.

Closing my eyes, blocking my ears, and only thinking about the things I like.

The sound of rain. The library after school. The scent of new books. The smooth writing of a new pencil lead.

I don’t need anything else.

Not the malice of people, nor the eerie Frog Man.

I don’t need anything at all. I want to be surrounded by things I like.

When I went to return the library key to the staff room, the homeroom teacher was scolding a newly arrived teacher this year.

They were scolding them so that everyone could see and hear.

“U-Uhyaa! Let’s, let’s kill them. Let’s kill them. Then, Mashima-chan will be happy!”

Ignoring all of Frog Man’s words, I leave the staff room.

I take out a folding umbrella from my bag and change my shoes at the entrance.

Rain is good.

I like the rain.

Because I feel like I’m the only one in the world.

There’s no Frog Man or anyone else hurling malice at me.

It feels like my own world.

Thinking that way, when I left through the school gate, another suspicious person was standing there.

Is it a slug… perhaps? Or maybe a snail?

Their protruding, huge eyes caught sight of Frog Man and me.

Caught off guard by that abnormal sight, I involuntarily stopped in my tracks. I made eye contact with the eerie man.

“Oh, so, so, Mashima-chan, you can see us after all! The two of us!”

Frog Man, who was standing beside me, shouted.

I felt it was bad.

Why is there another weird person here? I wondered.

I instinctively dropped the umbrella.

I thought I had to escape.

I didn’t know where to run, but I felt like I had to escape no matter what.

“I’ve protected you so well! Mashima-chan! Give birth to my children! Tadpoles! Many tadpoles! Even though the season is a bit off! Let’s turn our classmates’ brains into rice fields and let the eggs float around! Then I’ll be happy!”

Raindrops pelted my body.

A hand reached out from behind and touched my shoulder. When I looked, it was Slug Man.

A slimy sensation. Without thinking, I threw my bag at him.

Slug Man flinched at that.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I escaped.

“Hey, you! I spotted her first! She’s my Mashima-chan!”

I could hear Frog Man’s voice.

I could hear the footsteps running after me from behind.

No, no. What is this?

I hate sports. That’s why I’m slow.

I know I can’t outrun them. No, I don’t want to get caught.

Even though I want someone to help me, no one can see Frog Man, so they only see me desperately running.

Only I am exposed to their opportunistic gaze.

I haven’t done anything.

We just made eye contact on the schoolyard.

Just eye contact, and yet, how did it come to this?

“Uwaah…!”

Wearing loafers that were already difficult to run in.

The rain-soaked road. And a manhole.

I slipped on it and unintentionally fell.

I couldn’t catch the impact with the hand I instinctively stretched out, and I tumbled forward. I knew my uniform would get dirty. I knew people around me would give me strange looks.

Large raindrops were falling from the sky.

“No way…”

The footsteps of Frog Man. The sound of Slug Man sticking to me.

They were closing in. I knew it. I couldn’t escape anymore.

Tears overflowed, blending with the rain.

“Um…”

I heard a voice.

There was an elementary school student there.

Holding a yellow umbrella and wearing a black backpack.

“Are you okay?”

His face looked young. Maybe a first or second grader.

Even though no one else bothered to approach me, the elementary school boy was the only one who reached out to me, and tears welled up in my eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just stumbled a bit.”

“Ah… um, not about that.”

The elementary school boy tilted his head.

At the end of his gaze, there were two men.

“Mashima-chan! It’s not good! You’re going to be pregnant, so take care of yourself.”

Frog Man’s voice abruptly stopped.

It didn’t stop. His head was gone.

As if it had been perfectly sliced with a compass, leaving a neat circle, it was gone completely.

The eyes of Slug Man, who stood beside him, stretched out.

In the moment they stretched out, Slug Man’s body split in two.

And then, both of them turned into black mist and vanished.

They died. Frog Man and Slug Man died so abruptly.

I don’t know why, but I understood that.

“Is that everything?”

The elementary school boy muttered softly.

“Miss, are your legs okay?”

“Uh, yeah… I’m fine, but…”

Thinking that, I looked at my legs and realized that the injury was gone.

…Just a moment ago, there was blood, right?

Internally, I questioned it, but the elementary school boy reached out his hand and helped me up.

“Ah, thank you… Hey, about earlier…”

“Earlier?”

Innocently, the boy tilted his head.

I thought this child could see Frog Man, but maybe it was just my imagination.

“Be careful not to slip, miss.”

“Yeah, um, wait a moment!”

I stopped the elementary school boy who was trying to help me up and called out to him.

“What’s your name?”

“Me? My name is Itsuki.”

The boy raised his yellow umbrella and said,

“I’m Itsuki Kisaragi.”

I had one more thing to add to the things I liked.

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