I'm not a doctor. I have no idea what happened. A stroke, a heart attack, a supernatural shock...
But whatever it was, it killed Yume.
I didn't even know her for 12 hours, but she was one of the kindest, sensitive people I knew. She didn't deserve to go.
My father told me I could have a few days off school - I feel like he wanted me to stay close to him - but I didn't see the point. Of course I was distraught, but Yume seemed like the kind of person who would want us to keep going amongst the grieving. Even with her illness, she didn't give up, and she wouldn't want us to do the same.
Just like on Hisoka's desk, everyone began leaving little gifts, cards, and flowers for Yume. I had bought her a card, and inside I drew a little sketch of her, in running shoes, standing in top of a large hill with her arms raised victoriously in the air.
Every time I looked towards Yume's desk, I was reminded of her, and I felt a pain in my chest. I was so upset, I could barely concentrate on my work. Clarissa came to school as well, but she ended up going to the infirmary because she couldn't stop shaking. Seeing Clarissa so upset made my heart hurt even more; I had promised Yume that I'd look after Clarissa, and I really wanted to keep that promise.
Yuki and Ai let me spent the day with them, which I was thankful for. I did spend a short amount of time with Akira, but he left after a while to check on Clarissa, suggesting I went to visit her later on during the day when I attempted to follow him. As Clarissa and Akira were childhood friends, I assumed that maybe he could comfort her more than I would.
"Yume-chan's death is horrible," Yuki sighed, dealing out the playing cards as we sat around her desk at lunch time. None of us had much of an appetite, so our bentos went untouched.
"Ai-chan is very sad," Ai nodded in agreement. "But Ai-chan was told by Clarissa-san that Yume-chan was in a lot of pain. Although she tried not to show it, Yume-chan's illness was more serious than she let on." Ai picked up her cards and shuffled them in her hands. "At least Yume-chan won't be hurting anymore."
I nodded, sorting through my own cards, finding all the pairs of numbers and discarding them by throwing them on the table. "I only met Yume-san yesterday."
Yuki smiled sadly at me. "We've known her since elementary school. Yume-chan was always so bright and cheerful, but she spent all day sat in the corner playing with teddies. She struggled going outside during break time. So Ai-chan and I used to sit with her."
Ai nodded. "Yume-san loved making up short stories and narrating them, and Ai-chan and Yuki-chan would act them out!"
I smiled softly, taking one of Ai's cards from her outstretched hand at random. I placed the card with the rest of mine, before holding my cards out to Yuki. "Yume-san sounded like such a nice person."
Yuki nodded, taking one of my cards. "Yeah, she was really sweet. But she was really ill. We all thought she was getting better, but she spent most of last year in hospital."
Yuki tossed the card she had taken from me and one from her own hand in the middle, both holding the name number, before holding out her cards to Ai.
"It's going to be weird now that Yume-chan is gone," Ai said, tapping each of Yuki's cards before selecting one. "Ai-chan thinks Tsuki-chan and Yume-chan would have become good friends."
Just then Akira entered the classroom. He scanned the classroom, and saw me.
"Takeda," he said to me. "Clarissa-chan is looking for you. She's on her way up here. I ran ahead to let you know," Akira jabbed at the door with his thumb over this shoulder.
I stood up and held out my hand of cards. "Tanaka-san, will you play for me?"
Akira nodded and grabbed the cards in my hand. "Sure. You go and find Clarissa-chan."
"Takeda and Tanaka," Yuki shook her head. "They're so similar, I get confused!"
"Just call me Tsuki then," I told her. "Ai-chan does. You can do the same too, Tanaka-san."
Yuki smiled. "Alright. If I can call you Tsuki, you can call me Yuki."
"Tsuki and Yuki," Akira mocked Yuki's previous words with a grin as he sat in my seat. "They're so similar..."
"Oh, shut up, Tanaka," Yuki snapped at him.
Akira just grinned.
I left the classroom and headed down the corridor. It wasn't too long before I met Clarissa.
"Clarissa-san," I greeted her. "Tanaka said you wanted to talk to me."
She nodded, taking a shaky breath. "You need answers, and I have to give them to you. Before... Before Yume-san died, she told me that I had to explain things to you, before it was too late."
I could heel my chest tighten, mainly with nervousness, but also a curious excitement. I nodded slowly. "Okay, shall we go somewhere private?"
We were right outside the music room, so we opened the door to peer inside, seeing if it was deserter. Music wasn't a subject taught at Yomiyama, but there was a group of people on our year who wanted to form a band, so they created a music club and were given a room to practice. However, after Hisoka died, they put their meetings on hold.
The only items of furniture in the room were the four desks pushed into a square by the window, a small, wooden piano with several empty gaps, three wooden guitars lined up against the wall, and the drum kit which was missing its bass drum.
"I can't do it here," Clarissa shook her head, as if worried the walls had ears. "The nurse said I should go home for the rest of the day. Come with me?"
*****
Clarissa and I sat in the café, away from school, out in the open. School hadn't officially ended, so I didn't need to text my dad and tell him I'd be late. The whole ordeal was exhilarating.
It was a quaint little café, with tough tiny chairs and circular tables, heavy red curtains draped over windows, and mediocre piano tunes buzzing in the background. I sat with my back to the window, and Clarissa was opposite me. The sunlight caught in her hair, making it glow.
"I'll pay," she insisted.
"I'm not letting you pay for me."
"Tsuki-san, it's my treat, since I suggested it."
Thankfully, the prices weren't sky high. A waitress made her way over to our table carrying two glasses of water on a round tray. She carefully placed one cup in front of each of us, smiling kindly.
"Welcome! Have you decided on what you'd like to order?"
"I'll have a strawberry milkshake and a slice of lemon cake, please," Clarissa nodded.
"I'll just have a cup of tea, please," I told the waitress.
A small slash of sadness scored Clarissa's face. "Are you sure that's all you want?"
I nodded. "Yes, thank you."
The waitress skipped away, and Clarissa leaned across the table. "You didn't have to just buy a drink because I said I'd pay. Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"
"I'm trying to watch my figure," I joked.
Clarissa smirked. "I'm going to make it my mission to buy you cake before the end of this school year."
"And every time you offer me cake, I'll decline," I retorted back with a smile.
"Why do you hate me?!" Clarissa joked, pretending to wipe away tears. "I thought we were friends! Let me buy you cake!"
I giggled. "I don't need any, but I thank you for the offer. So... Strawberry milkshake and lemon cake? A weird combination."
Charisse shrugged. "I like experimenting. Being the stand-" Charisse paused, collecting her thoughts before continuing, "being the class rep means I have a reputation to uphold. I only really get to act wild outside of school."
"You act wild?" I asked, cupping my chin with my hands as I gazed at Clarissa. A part of me hated her for all the time wasting and secrets she kept from me. The other part of me wondered if I could class this as a date. "Everyday, I seem to become more interested in you, Clarissa-san."
"You think I'm interesting?"
I nodded. "I want to learn all about you."
Clarissa scoffed. "Well, there's not that much to tell. I've lived in Yomiyama all my life. But you, on the other hand, must have a more interesting story than me."
"You think I'm interesting?" I mocked Clarissa's words.
Charisse stuck her tongue out before grinning. "A big city girl, in our small town. I could never imagine living in such a place. One day we'll sit down and tell teach other everything."
I didn't know how much I would be willing to tell her. My heart wanted to trust her desperately, but my nerves were holding me back.
"Speaking of telling each other everything," I sat up in my chair. "Fujiwara Riku. I know he's real, I haven't made him up. Why do you all pretend he doesn't exist? Is... Is he the dead student?"
"I have no idea who the dead student is, and I still have no idea how to get rid of the calamity," Clarissa began. "But... There was a method created by one of the previous classes. They believed that, since the deaths were happening due to the extra student, they had to get their class back to the correct number of students. So they picked a student and ignored them for the whole year. I'm unsure how successful it was, but ever since, every class has picked a student and pretended like they didn't exist. That way, the class would be back to normal."
Realisation dawned on me. "And this year, Fujiwara-san was chosen to be the invisible student?"
Clarissa nodded. "Yes... He agreed to it, of course. And we've all pretended like he hasn't existed."
"So... Because I talked to him and acknowledged him..." My eyes grew wide with fear. "Does this mean I WAS the reason the deaths started?"
My date jumped. "No! I'm not suggesting that! It's my fault - if I had told you all this at the beginning of the year..."
I could feel my eyes brimming with tears. I somehow felt responsible for Hisoka, Yuki's brother, and Yume...
At the most inconvenient time, the waitress arrived with our drinks the the cake. We thanked her and waited until she was gone before we continued.
"So... Let me get this straight," I couldn't help glaring as I spoke. "To not make these deaths happen, all I had to do was NOT talk to Fujiwara?"
Clarissa dropped her gaze and focused on my shoes. "Well... I didn't know if the method actually worked or not... But if the previous classes before us tried it out, I thought we had best do the same."
I rubbed my palms against my forehead, trying to process all the information. "So why did you pick Riku to ignore? Was there any particular reason?"
Clarissa shrugged, still looking down. "Not really. He was a transfer student, the same as you."
"You picked a TRANSFER student to ignore?" I hissed. "Sano-san, that's the worst thing you could have done! Riku was new to this school, the same as me, and you decided he should be the one to get ignored?" I scoffed and shook my head. "I bet that made him feel really welcome."
"He agreed to it!" Clarissa retorted back to me, finally looking in my eyes as her anger rose. "We pulled his name out of a hat! Literally! And if he didn't agree, we could have just as easily picked another student! What else was I supposed to do?!"
I leaned my head back, groaning. "You also could have picked NOT to ignore someone. I've seen what it's like for people who have no confidence, who are pushed to do something they don't want to do. Trust me - it isn't nice at all."
"What was I supposed to do?!" Clarissa's voice raised slightly. Then she took a look at me, seemed to remember something, and forced herself to take a breath before speaking in a calmer tone. "It was like only plan I had. It was the start of the school year, I was clueless, I didn't know what else to do..." Her voice was almost a whisper, as tears began forming in her eyes. "Now Yume is gone, I have to figure out how to stop these deaths this year on my own..." The tears began to fell. "Tsuki-san, I don't know what to do... I have no idea where to start... I'm failing everyone..."
I felt bad for snapping, I knew Clarissa was clueless about everything, trying to solve a puzzle half of the pieces missing and no end result to work towards. She was probably just as clueless as I was.
I reached out a hand and gently placed it on Clarissa's shoulder, expecting her to flinch or smack my hand away. But she didn't.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to get angry. Clarissa-san, I'm going to help you find a way to stop this. Never feel like you have to do this yourself. Just confide in your friends. Please don't keep things to yourself. Talk to me and let me help. A problem shared is a problem halved, as the saying goes."
Clarissa smiled. "I'd like that very much. And Tsuki-san, don't forget that you can talk to me anytime too."
I nodded, but I didn't plan on opening up to anyone. "That means a lot to me, Clarissa-san."