had a cute face. But with the way things were going, God, who knew …
“Michiko-chan, yo-ho!”
Kari waved at me. I climbed on the rock but I didn’t take off my shoes.
“What’re you all doing here?”
Tohru looked around. “Isn’t it nice?”
“Class Rep!”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m here, right? I’m keeping an eye on you.”
“Class Rep’s keeping an eye on us,” said Koizumi, opening one eye.
“Mr. Tanaka’s gonna get so mad!”
I couldn’t believe I was in this position. It’s not like me, usually. But it just felt like something was wrong.
“If you don’t like it,” said Kari, nice as ever, “I was about to head back myself. You want to come with me?”
Taeko got up and yawned. “Oh, me, too. I’m so tired.”
Don’t do me any favors, I thought. I hate it when people put you in hock with them by doing something you never asked for.
Mai got up sort of suddenly and weirdly. But then everything was weird with her. She and Kari made a good pair. “I guess I’ll mosey back, too,” she said in that country way.
“Mai-chan?” said Kari.
“Yeah?”
“You were looking at that sky like you saw something you liked there.”
“Oh.” Mai smiled. “I reckon so.”
So the four of us trouped back up the hill. All I wanted to be was somewhere getting acquainted with Seiji Sumiregawa. Still I felt like I had done something good by getting Kari away from Class Rep, even if I still didn’t have a chance with him. When we reached the top I all of a sudden tapped her, and when she turned around said, “Hey, Hiraoka. Can you use your magic to give me some big jugs?”
It just slipped out. Taeko went bright red, and Mai giggled, but Kari just smiled.
Then she said, I swear to God, with a straight face, “You shouldn’t use okiyome for things like that.”
That was the last time I saw her. If I believe what they say, it might be the last time any of us saw her. Just when we were about to leave the temple, Bug—of all people—came huffing back, saying he couldn’t find them. The rumors built for a while and we all stood there, and Mr. Tanaka stood there and smoked. For him I guess it was still a question of their wasting our time. Class Rep went to look, and about fifteen minutes later—we were all whispering so loudly it sounded like one person talking—he came back shaking his head.
“Inai ka?” said Mr. Tanaka.
“Inain desu,” said Tohru. “Hiraoka-san, Mori-san, and Maeda-san.”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
