Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [92]
“But Mitsuru is really popular, you know,” Wataru added hastily. “He’s really good in class, and the girls are all over him.”
Mitsuru’s aunt looked at Wataru sadly; then she said in a whisper, “But he left. Leaving a note I don’t even understand.”
“What did he write?” Wataru asked, leaning forward. “He didn’t say anything about…about going to another world, did he?”
The woman looked up quickly, surprise in her eyes. “How did you know that? Did he tell you something?”
Wataru’s mouth snapped shut. He didn’t want to have to explain anything. If he could just read Mitsuru’s note first…
“You must have been a good friend of his, Wataru.” Mitsuru’s aunt reached over and touched his knee. Her fingers were warm. “You have any idea where he might’ve gone? I can’t let him do this. I can’t lose him…”
“Can’t lose him?”
She must think that when Mitsuru said he was “going to another world,” he really meant he was going to die. Come to think of it, that makes much more sense than the truth.
“He didn’t say he was going to die in his message, did he?”
“No, he didn’t, but…” Her face twisted like she was going to cry. Even so, she was still beautiful. Wataru noticed some similarity in the line of her nose with that of Mitsuru’s.
“It was about three months ago, I suppose. He tried to commit suicide. Had you heard?”
Wataru shook his head, dumbfounded.
“No, I don’t suppose you would have. I’m sure he didn’t want to talk about it. It was right after he came here—he was spending a lot of time at home, alone. He must’ve gone stir crazy. He tried to jump from the roof, but luckily the concierge found him in time.”
Suddenly what the concierge had said about “not wanting any trouble like last time” made sense.
“I knew I wasn’t cut out for this,” Mitsuru’s aunt muttered.
It was becoming clear to Wataru that there were a number of unusual things about Mitsuru’s family and he was only beginning to scratch the surface. If only he had some clue, some gut feeling of how to proceed.
Relax, Wataru. Just remember the Private Detective Meadows series. Wataru wasn’t particularly fond of text-heavy adventure games, but he had enjoyed that one. I’ll just pretend Mitsuru’s aunt is the client, and ask her questions like Detective Meadows would ask. How could that be hard? Mitsuru’s aunt was perfect for the role of the beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to visit the Meadows Detective Agency pleading for help.
“He said in his note that he was going someplace where no one could find him,” she said. “He said not to bother trying to look.”
“I-I might know,” Wataru stammered. “I might have an idea where he’s gone.”
Her grip on Wataru’s knee tightened. “Then take me there!”
“I would, but, I don’t…I don’t really know how to get there.”
She opened her eyes wide. “What do you mean? Is it far away?”
“Well, not exactly…”
“He didn’t ask you to keep it a secret, did he? Is that what this is about?”
That wasn’t exactly the truth, but, if you thought about it the right way, it wasn’t far from the truth. After all, the only people who knew about Vision were Mitsuru and Wataru.
“Yes, he did.”
“Well, we can’t leave him alone. He’ll die! When Mitsuru says he’s going to do something, he really means it. The last time he was already crawling up the fence on the roof’s edge when they stopped him. If the concierge had come a moment later…”
“Um, did Mitsuru call in absent today?”
The change in subject was so abrupt that for a moment Mitsuru’s aunt merely blinked. “Huh?”
“Did he call in absent to school?”
“Well, yes. This morning when I saw his note, I called his teacher and told him he would be absent today. I didn’t want there to be any commotion at school.”
Now that was odd. She didn’t want to cause a commotion at school? Wouldn’t that be the first thing she would want, as his guardian? Wouldn’t it be normal to call the school and ask for help?
“Did you call the school after that?”
“No, I didn’t, why?”
So she hadn’t heard anything about Kenji’s gang, though Wataru wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or