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“Yuu-kun? I’m going to ask something strange, but… have you heard from Honoka?”
Those were the first words I heard from Toko-senpai over the phone.
“Eh? From Honoka-san? Contact? No, I haven’t.”
I answered, not fully grasping what she meant.
“What should I do…”
“What happened?”
“Honoka ran out of the house.”
“What?”
What on earth had happened? Did it have something to do with my conversation with her?
“I’ve been calling her friends’ houses for a while now, but no one knows where she is…”
Toko-senpai sounded frantic, but I figured finding that wild girl would be next to impossible—she probably had a whole circle of friends she hid from her sister.
“I have to go look for her.”
“Right now?”
It was already well past eight. Was she really going to go searching alone at this hour?
“I can’t just leave her out there. When she gets something into her head, there’s no telling what she might do.”
Even when she isn’t fixated on something, you never know what she’ll do, I thought. Still, I had a feeling Honoka running away was probably connected to me.
“Toko-senpai, I’ll go look with you.”
“Eh, but at this hour…”
“It’s better than letting you go out alone. I’ll leave right now, so please wait for me. I have a car, so I should be there in less than twenty minutes.”
My parents were away on an overnight golf trip with the minivan, so my mother’s compact car was still at the house.
“Thank you. I’ll be waiting at my place, then.”
I hung up, threw on my coat, and bolted out the door.
A little before nine, I arrived at Toko-senpai’s house and picked her up.
“Do you have any idea where Honoka-san might go?”
With the shopping centers closed and if she’d headed into Tokyo, finding her would be hopeless.
“She ran out in her everyday clothes, so I don’t think she has much money. She didn’t take her phone, so she shouldn’t even have her train pass.”
Does that mean she’s within walking distance?
“Why didn’t she take her phone?”
“Because I have it.”
Toko-senpai pulled out Honoka’s smartphone. I felt my face twitch.
“Honoka told me that ‘Yuu-kun hit on her and kissed her before, and almost tried to do even more,’ and she showed me this image…”
My heart pounded; my throat went dry.
“Ah, no, um, Toko-senpai, that’s not… I would never…”
“It’s okay. I know. I don’t know the exact circumstances, but this was Honoka’s doing, wasn’t it?”
When she said that, the tightness in my chest eased, but a cold sweat still broke out across my forehead. Toko-senpai continued.
“She kept insisting so fiercely that I should break up with a man like you that I started questioning her. It turned into an argument. When she pulled out that photo, I just lost my temper and… I slapped her. Right after that, she just ran out of the house…”
“I’m sorry. If only I had spoken to you properly sooner…”
“We’ll talk about that in detail later. Right now, we have to find Honoka. The last time she ran away like this, it almost turned into something terrible…”
Something terrible? Like what? I wondered, but didn’t press her further. This coastal area attracts shady characters at night; a girl walking alone at midnight could be in real danger.
Toko-senpai and I searched the neighborhoods around the stations within walking distance of her house—Inage, Kemigawa, Makuhari, Makuhari-Hongo—and the Keiyo Line side: Inage-Kaigan, Kemigawahama, and Kaihimmakuhari. We checked family restaurants and fast-food joints along the main roads, but Honoka was nowhere to be found.
“Is someone at your house?” I asked.
“My grandmother is there. But my father and mother should be home soon. They’ll both be so worried…”
It was nearing midnight.
“I should go home for now. I have to tell my parents about Honoka…”
“Understood. If anything happens, please contact me anytime. No one is at my house tonight, and I can use this car whenever I need to.”
“Thank you.”
I drove Toko-senpai back to the front of her house. As she was getting out, she looked at me.
“I’m sorry for dragging you out so late.”
“No, I’m partly responsible for this in the first place.”
“If you hear anything from Honoka, let me know. No matter what time it is.”
“I will. And Toko-senpai, please don’t hesitate to call me at any hour if you need anything.”
She nodded slowly, closed the door, and went inside.
On my way back, I drove slowly, scanning the convenience stores for any flash of platinum-blonde hair. If she was around, that color would stand out.
Deep down, though, I figured there was almost zero chance Honoka would contact me.
Just as I passed a small park near my house, I thought I saw a flash of yellow on the swings. I slowed, squinted, and there—an outline of long blonde hair.
I stopped the car, got out, and stepped into the park. Sitting on the swing with her head down was, indeed, Honoka.
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