I awoke to a loud knocking. My head still swirling with sleep, I got up and opened the door only to have Hikari-san charge into the room and grab me by the collar.
"You bastard!" she suddenly screamed.
No, this wasn't Hikari-san, I realized. The day Hikari-san says something like "You bastard!" is the day I change my name to Samantha. To say something like that and grab me by the collar was, for Hikari-san, literally impossible. She lacked that ability. This was most likely not Teruko-san either… So it must be… Akari-san?
"Because of you, this—goddammit! You shithead!"
Even for Akari-san, this was pretty uncharacteristic behavior. In a complete frenzy, she looked as if she was going to start pummeling me any second. Or actually, she had already beaten on my chest several times at this point. I was just too surprised by her behavior to notice the pain.
"I'm so tired of this happening." She was panting and trembling. "No more of this… It's just too awful. It's too awful. Why? Why?!"
"Take it easy, Akari-san." I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a firm shaking. "Did something… Happen?"
She shot me a glare. It was a look of true resentment. Vengeful indignation from the core of her being.
She glared with all her might.
Hadn't Hikari-san said something yesterday along the lines of "We've been trained to maintain our composure"? It wasn't likely that Hikari-san had undergone training that Akari-san hadn't. Yet here she was, out of her mind. What the hell had happened?
At last, she shook her head gently. "I'm so sorry. Please excuse me, my behavior was very inappropriate." She hung her head in shame. "It's not even your fault. This terrible thing isn't your fault…"
"Hey, don't worry about it… But what exactly happened?" I repeated my question. "Whatever it was, please tell me."
Instead of answering directly, she spun around with her back to me. "Please come with me to the first-floor storage room," she said and began walking.
I stood frozen. "W-what? But that's…"
Akari-san and Teruko-san had supposedly spent the night on the mainland; when had they gotten back? According to the watch Kunagisa had fixed for me, it was already ten o'clock in the morning (although it was hard to read since the numbers were backward). It was unlike me to have overslept. How embarrassing.
But now was no time for such thoughts. When Akari-san had returned and how long I overslept were far too trivial matters at this point.
More importantly…
More importantly…
"Akari-san, what did you just say?"
The first-floor storage room?
I had a bad feeling about this. Who was down there?
A real bad feeling.
What was happening on this island?
A really bad feeling.
And the feeling was probably right. There was a pattern developing here.
"Hey, wake up. Tomo."
"Hnnh? Gmorning… Put my hair up?"
Kunagisa sleepily raised her head. She wore a strangely content expression like she had been having a nice dream.
"It seems like now's not the time for that."
She rubbed her eyes. "That means I don't have to wash my face, either."