Chereads / Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles / Chapter 8 - Prologue: Endo Suzune

Chapter 8 - Prologue: Endo Suzune

One rainy day, when the skies were pouring down from above...

"Weh... hic... sniffle..."

It was a little before the afternoon turned to evening— at the time, I was

still in the third grade of elementary school... and I was crying on the bus

after school.

The school was far from my house, which was why I normally took the

train to school. But on days with heavy rain like this, I often ended up taking

the bus instead.

Today was a little different from all those other days, though.

After exerting all of my energy at the athletic meet, the movements of the

bus lulled me to sleep. When I woke up, I found myself staring at unfamiliar

scenery outside. As an elementary school student, I wasn't given any extra

pocket money to use—only the bare minimum needed.

I immediately fell into a panic, and naturally burst into tears.

That was when an older boy, around university-age, noticed my

demeanor and called out to me with a gentle voice.

"What's wrong?"

"Hweh...?"

My body twitched with a start, and I looked up at him. He seemed like a

really cool, like... an older brother. He smiled softly, as though he was

reassuring me.

"Did you get on the wrong bus?"

"Huh? Ah, no... I missed my stop..."

"Oh, I see. Where were you meant to get off?"

I sounded a little surprised when I responded, but the boy took it in stride

as he continued to ask me questions.

"T-The park at the third district..."

"Got it. Then let's get off at the next stop. I'll take you to the stop closest

to your house."

"...O-Okay."

While I had been taught at home and at school not to follow strangers, I

didn't hesitate to trust this person completely. I was overly excited at how he

was just like a hero in those popular shoujo manga, appearing out of nowhere

to save me, the main character. But...

"Ah, I don't have... any money..."

I immediately remembered the fact that I didn't have any money on me.

"It's all right," the boy said, smiling and gently shaking his head. Once

we arrived at the next bus stop, he paid for my share of the bus fare and we

both got off. Then, he headed towards the opposite bus stop and stared at the

timetable. I was very nervous, so I silently watched his back.

"The next bus will be here soon, so let's wait together."

"O-Okay!"

Looking back on it now, I should have thanked him for paying for me.

But I was so nervous at the time that I rudely forgot to. In the end, I remained

silent and stared at the floor as my heart thumped in my chest—

"You shouldn't really follow strange adults anywhere, but this is an

emergency. Forgive me," the older boy suddenly said with a strained smile.

He probably mistook my continued silence for suspicion towards him.

"N-No! That's... That's not it!"

I tried to deny it in a hurry, but my fluster seemed to cement it instead.

After that, the older boy kept talking to me so that I wouldn't feel awkward.

It was considerate of him... But I was so embarrassed, my answers were all

over the place.

Just like that, time flew by and we arrived at the bus stop closest to my

house.

"Will you be okay from here?"

"Huh? Ah..."

It was like a spell had been lifted, dropping me back into reality.

This is... goodbye?

No. I still haven't said thank you—people often told me I had a meek

personality, but I never felt it more strongly than in this moment. That was

why...

"I-I! I have to thank you! For the bus fare!" I blurted out without

realizing.

"It's fine— don't worry about it. Bye now." He shook his head as though

declaring that his job was done here.

"Ah... no..."

Watching the older boy's retreating back, I squeezed out those words

with a voice on the verge of tears. I had so many things I wanted to tell him,

yet I hadn't said a single word of them to him.

"Ah... Umm. I guess I'll accept your gratitude?" He said in a slight panic

at seeing me about to burst into tears.

"T-Thank you very m-much...!" I tried to respond in a hurry and

stumbled over my words from nervousness.

Then, the older boy giggled... I was really embarrassed.

"T-Thank you very much..." I repeated once more, blushing furiously. I

didn't stumble this time.

"You're welcome."

"Y-Yes. It's... this way." I said, leading the older boy to my house. It was

a one minute walk from the bus stop. Once we arrived, I rang the familiar

doorbell. Mom came outside immediately.

"Welcome home, Suzune... What's wrong?" Mom looked between me

and the boy in confusion.

"Mom! We... we have to thank him! This boy saved me, and...!"

Overwhelmed, I let out a jumble of words that confused Mom even more.

"Actually..."

The boy filled out my explanation by explaining the situation to Mom.

"Oh my, we must have caused you a lot of trouble then. Thank you so

much." Mom bowed her head deeply and thanked him. "No, I'm just glad I

was able to safely bring her here. I shall take my leave, then..." The older boy

tried to politely excuse himself.

"Oh, would you like to stay for tea?" Mom called out to him. Nice one,

Mom!— I rejoiced quietly in my head. "I'm sorry, but I have a shift at work

now. I appreciate the thought, though. Thank you."

He had something to do after this and needed to leave immediately. Mom

went back inside for a moment to grab some money for the bus fare, then

tried to offer him a little more. The older boy tried to respectfully reject her,

but Mom forcefully handed it to him in the end. He thanked us rather

apologetically and left.

"What a nice man." Mom said, watching him walk away.

"Yeah..."

That wasn't all. He was really cool, too.

"And he was really cool, too, wasn't he Suzune?" Mom said, as though

she had read my mind.

"Yeah... huh?" Strung along, I nodded without thinking. I looked up at

Mom in a panic to see her grinning back at me. Of course, I flushed again at

that.

"Fufufu, you'll have to tell me about what happened in detail." There

was nothing I could hide from Mom, so I started to tell her about what

happened on the bus.

"Do you want to take the bus from now on?" Mom said after I hastily

finished my story.

"Huh? C-Can I really?"

"Sure. Amakawa Haruto, was it? It'd be nice if you could get closer to

that young man," Mom said, chuckling to herself at how my voice rose an

octave higher when I'd replied.

One year later, on a certain summer day...

I was attending a swimming class held at the school pool during summer

vacation. The class ended at noon, and I hurried to the bus stop afterwards.

Yay! He's here today too! I got on the bus home and spotted the older

boy sitting inside, making me cheer inside my head. My happiness nearly

made me break out into a huge grin, which I desperately tried to hold back.

The older boy's name was Amakawa Haruto. The very cool university

student who saved me a year ago, when I was at a loss for what to do on the

bus home. He often took the bus at this time of day.

Just between you and me.... The reason why I decided to start taking

swimming classes when I wasn't any good at sports was because the

swimming class ended at a time where I could see the older boy more often.

Well, Mom figured it out right away.

But that aside, maybe it was because of summer vacation... but the bus

was a lot emptier than normal that day. Haruto was sitting in his usual spot—

fourth row from the back, next to the left window— and I sat in my usualspot, which was next to the window in the last row. Unfortunately, I hadn't

spoken to him once since the day he saved me. The most I had been able to

do was watch his profile from diagonally behind him. I knew it was kind of

stalkerish of me, but thanks to that, I learned a lot of things.

For example: he liked to gaze out the window a lot, he would often sigh

these small sighs, and he always had a sad look on his face.

Was he worried about something? I was so curious about his story that I

was drawn to him without even realizing it myself. That day, as I continued

to stare at him... he noticed my gaze again. Once in a while— or rather, quite

often as of late— he would notice me staring at him. I sensed he was about to

turn back to look at me, so I ducked my head in a hurry and looked away.

Then, as I slowly raised my head again to peek at him, I made eye

contact with the high school-aged girl sitting two rows behind Haruto.

She

was a really pretty girl who seemed really mature. She quickly turned to face

the front, but she was smiling quietly to herself, as though she had seen

something funny. But it wasn't in a malicious way... She had a gentle kind of

air about her.

Actually, this older girl often rode the bus at this time, too. And— I

might be wrong, but— it felt like she would stare at Haruto a lot too. Could

this older girl like him too? If so, I can't lose to her— I thought to myself in

determination.

At that moment, the bus gave a sudden, lurching jerk. I felt like I was

floating for a moment, before intense pain immediately traveled throughout

my whole body. My vision abruptly darkened, and I couldn't see anything in

front of me.

Then... Wha...?

Without realizing what exactly had happened, I lost consciousness.