"The second day of the festival is already over! We really should get packing."
"You got it.."
"Make sure you lock the main building soon, we heard of some suspicious figures sneaking around last night."
...
Itsuki:"Yotsuba…"
Yotsuba:"Itsuki...I really am helpless, huh?"
Itsuki:"..."
Yotsuba:"You finished your homework for the day?"
Itsuki:"W-Well, no. I didn't quite finish."
Yotsuba:"Oh."
Itsuki:"I'm quite the failure, huh?"
Yotsuba:"...That's, well...!"
Yotsuba then walked off at a brisk pace.
Yotsuba:[I can't say anything...I still feel weird with Itsuki...I hate that I can't even ask her to stop…]
…
Nino was standing near the entrance of the festival.
Nino:"The second day is over. I couldn't enjoy myself at all. I can't let it keep me down...Next time I see Fuu-kun, I'll just pretend nothing happened."
…
Ichika, who had been in the apartment, cooped up in her room the whole day, saw the time.
Ichika:"It's already this late? Honestly, the day felt like it went on forever, yet I'm still sad it's gone. What's going on with me?"
…
Outside the festival, Maeda met up with Matsui.
Matsui:"Holy crap, you look terrible. Even more than usual."
Maeda:"I'm going to pretend that was a compliment."
Matsui:"Let's stop by a convenience store, you're probably feeling hungry."
…
Inside the festival, where Tsubaki and the Broadcast Club would have to make some final touches and turn in their equipment in a few minutes.
Tsubaki:"Y-You're really going to go through with that!?"
Takeda:"It's a crazy idea, isn't it?"
Tsubaki:"It's too crazy! You could really get in trouble!"
Takeda:"Yeah...I could be losing more than that, but…"
Tsubaki:"...It's too crazy...But…"
Takeda:"Huh?"
Tsubaki:"...Deep inside, I feel extremely excited! Is this my reporter spirit, or am I just being dumb?"
Takeda:"Nothing wrong with either."
Tsubaki:"That's weird hearing that from such a smart guy. Alright! Count me in!"
Takeda:"Wonderful!"
Tsubaki:"But I just have to ask...Are you prepared for any consequences that follow you?"
Takeda:"I can't pretend I'm not a little scared...But, I am resolute in my choice!"
Tsubaki:"Then I'm glad to be working with you!"
Takeda and Tsubaki shook hands.
Tsubaki:"Hehe, you know, you're really cool!"
Takeda:"What I'm doing is anything but. I'm just doing what I believe is right."
Tsubaki:"And that's what makes you cool!"
Takeda:"...Thank you."
…
At the nurse's room, despite the remains of the festival being quite close, there was usually utter silence at all times. All one could hear in that silent room were the papers being flipped through. Miku, who was under the blankets, did her best to not make any noise while she carefully watched their substitute teacher go through as many files as he could.
Miku:[Where's the nurse? This isn't a breach of privacy, is it? Should I really be here not making any noise? The way he's going through those papers sounds like he's in a hurry...]
No more than a minute had passed from the moment Irigaku opened the cabinet, but he had gotten through all the files. Miku wasn't sure how, as going that fast wouldn't allow anyone to process any information, but he didn't seem to be lost at all when looking at them.
Miku:[He did mention he was a lawyer…]
Irigaku pulled out a paper and quickly looked at it, as if making sure of something.
Irigaku:"Jackpot!"
The sound he had made startled even Irigaku as he closed his mouth and turned towards the bed. Miku, who realized he would take a look, went back to the exact position her head was when he had entered the room.
Irigaku:[T-That was close.]
After a few seconds, Irigaku quickly put everything back and left the room. After making sure she was alone, Miku got up.
Miku:"That was weird...He just came on behalf of someone else, right?"
Miku looked to the corner, where there was a camera.
Miku:"He would know that that's there...Huh? The light is off, the camera's not on…?"
Miku got up, grabbed her backpack and left the room.
Miku:"If I recall correctly, he went to the left…I should at least ask and apologize for not saying anything."
…
Miku tried going the same direction he went, but she never found him. She eventually ended up at her classroom, class 3-1.
Miku:"The only door out of this building was to the right of the nurse's office, unless we somehow passed each other...Or he was a ghost..."
Suddenly, it felt as if the room got more scary. The little creaks in the wood, combined with random noises echoing from outside.
Miku:"Y-Yeah, I'd rather just believe that we missed each other…"
Miku rubbed her eyes and sat down on her seat, looking out to the ambient lights before letting out a sigh.
Miku:[I think I'm just going crazy. Today has been a really rough day. Yotsuba seems to feel really down, and Itsuki might just go right back to her pattern tomorrow…Ichika never came and Nino is feeling down, no doubt about dad...Man, I still smell pancakes, even though that ended a couple of hours ago...Maybe it's just my imagination…]
As she continued to think, her eyes began to feel heavy. Without even realizing it, she had begun to fall asleep.
…
Fuutarou:"No one's here."
Fuutarou, right after Yotsuba and Itsuki left, had entered the building and reached the nurse's office. Once he opened the door, he saw that it was empty.
Fuutarou:"Whoever was here left the light on. I wonder what-"
Fuutarou looked at a clock in the room to see how late it was. He reached in his pocket, only to realize he didn't have his phone.
Fuutarou:"Right. I left it along with my backpack in the locker in my class when I came back from the hospital. I really was out of it today."
He then left the office and walked towards his classroom.
…
Upon opening the door to the classroom, he saw someone sleeping.
Fuutarou:"That's…"
At that moment, the clock hit 6:30 PM, the time for the staff to leave had come. All of the lights in the building went out at the same time, indicating that the front doors had been locked.
Fuutarou:"Oh, crap."
End of Chapter 74