Loups-Garous Read Free Page A

at either.” Mio made a bored expression.
    â€œJerk.”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œThat’s why I choose to be alone,” Ayumi said as she sat back down and looked at the stick building far away. The gesture was like a curtain call declaring an end to the conversation.
    It was true.
    Ayumi was vetoing.
    Mio raised both her eyebrows at Ayumi’s still back and let out a sigh.
    â€œOh well.” She stood up.
    She’d apparently had the same thought as Hazuki.
    â€œThat was fun, guys.”
    Was it? Ayumi glimpsed Hazuki, who continued to avoid eye contact. Mio shimmied over the railing and walked away. She was so different in person. Nothing like what the public data said, nothing like in the encounter group.
    Ayumi, without so much as looking after Mio, repeated to the faraway that she had been staring at,
    â€œI hate being watched.”
    â€œTsuzuki said it herself just now. There’s no point in talking face-to-face.”
    â€œYeah, but…”
    Maybe I’m bothering her too , Hazuki said to herself in a small voice.
    She certainly didn’t like being watched either. And yet, she couldn’t stop staring at Ayumi.
    Couldn’t stop.
    It was involuntary.
    â€œAm I a bother?”
    Her voice rose. She spoke doubtfully.
    â€œYou’re not bothering me,” Ayumi answered. “You weren’t saying anything, Makino.”
    â€œOh…really?”
    I wasn’t trying to be quiet . She’d said a few words here and there.
    Nothing useful, nothing important. Otherwise the two were just staring into the distance in the same direction. Except that…
    Ayumi was always in Hazuki’s line of vision because of the way they sat. Hazuki created the landscape Ayumi had to be a part of.
    So.
    So Ayumi had no idea Hazuki had been staring at her.
    Or did she? Impossible.
    They’d not yet made eye contact, despite their having sat there side by side. Ayumi couldn’t have seen Hazuki watching her. There was no way Ayumi would know what Hazuki’s eyes said.
    It was a comforting discomfiture.
    I guess it’s only normal .
    Hazuki reassured herself in an internal voice only she could hear, then stood up.
    â€œI’m going home.”
    â€œAll right.”
    â€œYou’re not coming?”
    â€œHuh?” Ayumi was distracted.
    Now that she thought of it, Hazuki had never called back to Ayumi like that before. If she didn’t want to leave what was it to her? Think of all the times they’d parted ways without saying anything at all.
    â€œI mean, it being dangerous and all,” Hazuki explained, though why she felt she had to justify her comment, she did not know.
    â€œWith the murderer…”
    â€œI’ll be all right.”
    Ayumi spun around and looked Hazuki straight in the eye.
    Her eyes.
    â€œI’m fine. The field’s…” Ayumi said.
    â€œDangerous, you think?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    Without answering her question, Ayumi said she smelled water.
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œLook up.”
    Ayumi’s mind was preoccupied upward, then the instinct hit Hazuki. She looked skyward as one cold, piercing drop of water crashed into her temple.
    â€œRain.”
    She hadn’t brought an umbrella, and it didn’t look like Ayumi was going to budge. Hazuki held back despite herself. Ayumi interrupted Hazuki as she prepared to tell her she should get out of the rain.
    â€œI’ll be fine.”
    Hazuki didn’t understand what would be fine about it.
    She turned around and started to head up the incline when she felt something against her foot. She prodded it with her toe and discovered under the grass a half-buried hard drive.
    She picked it up and arched up to face Ayumi. It was definitely not hers.
    â€œIs this…?”
    Yours, Kono? Knowing full well it wasn’t.
    Hazuki returned to Ayumi with the disc.
    â€œI have no use for a drive with that much memory.”
    It was quite