Shizuku-san's quiet words fill the room.

My classmates' shocked and accusing expressions bounce back and forth between Shizuku-san and me.

I expect the class to explode in outrage; instead sibilant whispers echo around the room.

"Did she say he told her he loved her?"

"But he's going out with Fukui-san!"

"Is he a two-timer?"

"Who else is he dating?"

I scan the room in desperation but don't see a single friendly face. Himura-san and Shimura-san exchange skeptical glances.

"I bet he's chasing all the prettiest girls!"

"He's such a fake."

"I thought he was nice, but he's really disgusting."

My eyes snap to Kioko. Her face frozen in confusion and hurt. The words are torn out of me, "No! I don't know her! I've never seen her before!"

"What was that? What did he say?"

"He said he's never seen her."

"So did he make a promise or not?"

Kurosawa-san, who sits at the front of our row, leans forward and asks her, "You say that you know him, but you're not from around here. Where did you two meet?"

I've never much liked Kurosawa-san, but I could hug him right now.

Shizuku-san slowly turns her stare from me to him. "On the bus."

"Were you in the accident?"

"She couldn't have been," I interrupt. "Kioko-chan and I were the only survivors."

Shizuku-san looks back at me. "After the accident."

I start to protest. There's no way I could have promised anything to her. But something stops me. Again I feel like I've forgotten something important. Staring into her eyes, something about her seems frighteningly familiar. All I can do is shake my head.

An ironic smile slides across Kurosawa-san's face which is looking a little less ferret-like. "He was unconscious after the accident. You must have mistaken him for someone else.

Shizuku-san ignores him and continues to stare at me. Those beautiful dark eyes seem cold and impersonal, like staring into the lens of a camera. "The agreement is not forgotten. You will keep your promise or this will keep Tamashii's." She looks to Kioko-chan and I have a sudden irrational urge to leap over there and protect her, from what I don't know.

Takasagi-sensei, who looks like he had been caught up in the drama clears his throat. "Since she seems to know you and feels comfortable around you, Ametsuchi-san should be the one to show her around school."

"Ah, but, I can't." I sputter. Somehow the idea of being anywhere alone with her is inexplicably frightening. I scan my classmates' suspicious faces as I try to think of an excuse. They almost look like they think I've somehow arranged this situation. Kioko-chan has a distressed expression. I turn back to Takasagi-sensei. "What if she wants to go...somewhere...where boys aren't allowed?"

Takasagi-sensei glances at Kioko-chan with a knowing smile. "Very well, Fukui-san may go with you and show her where the girls' restrooms are. Homeroom is almost over, however, since your first period teacher is out today and your next class will be self-study, you may show her around now.

With a final desperate glance at the girls, not knowing what else to do, I rise and shuffle toward the classroom door. The girls follow me out into the hall. The soft brushing of our slippers are the only sound we make as we walk through the muffled roar of other homerooms rumbles through the classroom windows as we pass. "I guess we should start with the offices," I mutter, trying to break the silence which is growing increasingly awkward. Kioko-chan and Suzuku-san follow, a little behind me. No one says anything.

I glance, over my shoulder, back at Kioko-chan. She's staring at the ground in, what I assume to be, embarrassment. It must be humiliating to be forced to parade around with both her boyfriend and her, apparent, rival in love. I suddenly wish for her sake that Takasagi-sensei hadn't sent her with us or that I hadn't made such a fuss. But the idea of being alone with Shizuku-san sends a cold shiver down my spine.

I don't know why. There is certainly nothing scary about her. She seems quiet and well-mannered. Her most outstanding characteristic is her unnatural beauty, but it's a cold and aloof beauty. I suppose pretty girls like her have to be that way to protect themselves from the constant attention of boys.

"Shizuku-san, do you have any siblings?" I ask this to break the silence, but I'm also curious about her. I know there must be a real person somewhere inside.

"No. This lives alone."

"You don't live with your family?" Kioko-chan asks in a surprised tone.

We continue toward the administrative offices and turn the corner into the main hallway, but Shizuku-san doesn't answer her. I look back, worrying that Kioko-chan's question may have made her feel uncomfortable, but Shizuku-san is walking behind me, staring straight ahead without expression. "Uh, Shizuku-san, did you hear Fukui-san's question?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to answer her?"

"This does not usually speak to the dead."

Something like an electrical shock shivers through me and I stop in mid-step. Was that a threat? "Why do you say that?"

"Because the dead are fixated on their old lives. They all say the same things."

"No. I mean why are you saying this about Kioko-chan?"

"She shouldn't be alive."

I look at Kioko-chan, her white face trembling between shock and hurt. Did Shizuku-san just say that she wished Kioko-chan was dead? Why would she-and then I realized what must be going on. I've never been the type of guy that any two girls would fight over, let alone two beautiful girls like this. I admit a secret dark part of me is pleased. "Now, you shouldn't say things like that."

"Why?"

"You'll hurt people's feelings."

"You are implying that is bad."

"If you're going to live among them, yes."

"This doesn't have feelings."

"Everyone has feelings," Kioko-chan insists. "Don't you have someone you care about?"

Shizuku-san slowly turns to look at her. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was experiencing extreme annoyance. "No."

"What about your family?" Kioko-chan says. "Your father? Your mother?"

"This has no family."

"Then who do you live with?"

"To repeat: this lives alone."

* * *

"Maybe she's a robot," Himura-san quietly suggests. She's holding an onigiri with a big bite taken out of it and apparently doesn't notice the grains of rice sticking to the side of her mouth. "That would explain her lack of emotions."

I shake my head. Himura-san and Shimura-san had insisted Kioko-chan and I join them for lunch. Since Kioko-chan has been making our lunches for a while now, this has become fairly routine and none of our classmates pay particular attention to us. Still, we speak quietly, leaning over the table formed by our combined desks. Our classmates are strangely subdued, sneaking looks in our direction. I follow their gaze behind me, peering cautiously in her direction.

Shimura-san covers her mouth and giggles in reply to Himura-san. "So would her being a Vulcan."

A couple rows away, Shizuku-san has turned her desk toward us. She is sitting there, not eating, staring at us with frightening intensity. Earlier a few girls had politely asked Shizuku-san to join them for lunch. She refused. When they pressed her, she said that she wasn't eating and that she wanted to watch me. I heard words like "creepy" and "stalker" whispered about the room.

"Well, what do you think it is?" Himura-san said defensively.

Shimura-san frowns in thought over my shoulder. "ASD."

"ASD?" Kioko-chan asks. "What is that?"

"Autism Spectrum Disorder."

"You think she's autistic?" Himura-san blurts out loud enough to be heard several rows away and spraying a few grains of rice.

"Hey! Not so loud," I say. "She can hear you."

"Only a little bit," Shimura-san tells Himura-san. "ASD includes things like Aspergers."

"So, what does that mean?" Kioko-chan asks.

"It means she has difficulty communicating, especially when it comes to understanding or expressing emotions," Shimura-san says. "She may not even be capable of reading the situation or seeing her actions from another's point of view.

"So, like, extremely kuki yomenai?" I suggest.

Shimura-san cocks her head and her forehead wrinkles. "Sort of."

Kioko-chan looks over my shoulder with a thoughtful expression. "That might explain her behavior."

"Of course it could be something else," Shimura-san adds, going back to her lunch. "She could be a sociopath or be suffering from dissociation disorder due to some sort of extreme emotional trauma. She should be evaluated by a psychiatrist."

"Dissa-what?" Himura-san gives Shimura-san a suspicious look. "How do you know so much about crazy people?"

Shimura-san smiles back."My dad's a psychiatrist and I'm studying to be one too."

Himura-san drops her onigiri. "You said he was a doctor!"

"He is. He's a doctor who specializes in psychiatry.'

"That's not what you said before.

I ignore the two as Himura-san verbally jabs at Shimura-san who sweetly parries her attacks.

"I don't know about ASD or soci...opathy," I say, "but can emotional trauma do that to a person?"

"Oh yes." Shimura-san jerks in her seat with a squeal.

Himura-san goes from verbal jabs to physically poking her as she chuckles maliciously. "Perhaps you know so much because you're the crazy one. Maybe that's why your dad became a psychiatrist."

Shimura-san tries to block Himura-san's fingers as she replies to me. "When a person experiences a severe emotional trauma, the mind has a way of shutting down the parts of the brain which processes emotion to protect itself."

* * *

I find Kioko-chan after classes. Fortunately, neither one of us are on duty today. "Have you joined a club?"

"Well, it is mandatory." Kioko-chan zips up her book bag. "I joined the art club since they hardly ever meet together. Everyone kind of does their own thing. I certainly haven't gone to any meetings."

"That's not good," I say. "Clubs are an important part of high school. Those are friends you may keep for life."

"Well, I was rather more concerned about you at the time."

I close my mouth feeling both flattered and ashamed.

"Do you have a club you want to join? I can probably transfer."

"Well I was going to join the men's volleyball club, but they were disbanded for fighting..." I struggle to keep the blush from rising up my neck to my face. "So, I was kind of thinking about drama."

"Drama? Really?"

"It kind of looked like fun." I say--which is not entirely untrue. There were a series of episodes of Kitahiro High School where Kento had to deal with a jealous girlfriend because of a kissing scene with someone else in a school play. I was kind of hoping Kioko-chan and I might perform such a scene together. I'm not sure she's convinced. I don't think I'd be in her place, but then she smiles.

"We should join yearbook."

"Yearbook? Why?"

"You said you wanted to be a photographer."

Where did she get that idea? "I-" Then I remember a passing conversation where I had mentioned getting a digital camera as a gift for graduating junior high. I said I thought it took better pictures than my phone, but I don't remember ever saying I wanted to be a photographer.

Kioko-chan ignores my attempt to correct her and continues. "And I like both design and writing so I can be an editor."

"Well..."

"It's settled then. I'll take care of the paperwork. You go on ahead home. I'll call you later tonight." Her eyes slide sideways and I hear Shizuku-san rise from her desk. "See you later, Sweetie."

"OK, great." I'm taken aback by the sudden term of endearment.

Shizuku-san leaves the classroom walking in Kioko-chan's direction and something about her being alone with Kioko-chan worries me.

"Are you leaving?" I call out to her.

She stops and turns toward me. "This has finished its observations for today."

"Have you thought about joining a club?"

"No." She turns and walks away.

I follow her, irrationally worried that she might be following Kioko-chan. I watch her walk past the classroom where the yearbook staff meets and head for the school exit. I guess I was worried for nothing. What did I expect to happen? There was a naive quality to Shizuku-san as if everything was new to her. She certainly didn't seem like the type to even defend herself much less hurt anyone else.

I remember what she said about living alone and not having a family and what Shimura-san said about that trauma disorder thing and I wonder what Shizuku-san's story is. I can't help but feel she must be a very sad person though she tries to hide it. On impulse, I decide to follow her. I don't know why. I have a vague idea of trying to help her fit into class but I guess it's mostly just curiosity.

Shizuku-san walks out to the main entrance and changes her slippers for outdoor shoes. I hide behind the shoe racks then hurriedly swap out my own shoes as she turns away. She walks calmly down the main walk to the gate past some bored-looking third-years who are sitting or standing on the brick wall that borders the front steps.

One of the scruffier guys, who is squatting so that he's sitting on his thighs with his arms propped across his knees calls out to her. "Hey there, cutie. Where are you going?"

"Want to go hang out with us?" his equally scruffy friend flicks a cigarette butt at her.

Shizuku-san ignores them and keeps walking. I think about rushing up to her to let them know I'm there, but one of them sees me leave the school.

"Don't be like that. Can't you see we're friendly?"

They laugh. But fortunately, they leave her alone as she leaves the school ground. I decide that I have to walk her home to keep her safe, though knowing she would refuse the offer, I follow her instead.

She walks, slowly and steadily without tiring, passing numerous bus stops along the way. I'm sweaty and exhausted and my book bag is threatening to tear my arm off with its weight by the time she comes to a small overgrown park.

Surely she's not living there. I think to myself. Is she homeless? I follow her at a distance as there are few places to hide, but once she enters the park she disappears among the brush. Fortunately, there is only a single, narrow, dark trail winding its way into the trees ending at a small foundation of moss covered stones.

Before me stands a dilapidated shrine to Inari, the goddess of rice. I can tell because a small stone fox statue stands guard beside it. Small shrines like this had been erected all over Japan to ensure the prosperity of local villages. This shrine, however, is little more than a small, splintery, worm-eaten wooden box with a covered porch. On the porch is a leaf-covered wooden donation box and a dry stone basin that had once held water for the misogi shuho purification ritual.

The thick rice-straw rope called shimenawa, which is supposed to protect the sacred place from evil, lies rotted through. It's remaining strands dangling from either side of the broken door. I bow, instinctively as I step through the tori gate onto the shrine's grounds. A cold breeze rises up stirring the dust into strange twisted shapes. I approach slowly, stopping at the shrine's steps as a shiver runs down my back.

Is this where she is living? How could anyone stand it? I feel a strange unnatural presence surrounding this place. I want to rush in, grab Shizuku-san and run away.

"Shizuku-san?" I call out to her, my voice sounding thin and weak. "Are you in there?"

The shadows within the shrine seem to swirl about. Something like a white mask slowly appears in the gloom. It looks like a face...

And suddenly I remember. I remember the accident and I remember the shinigami...

Something approaches the shrine's opening and the darkness leaks out. My breath catches in my throat because I'm too terrified to scream.

I remember everything, except for whatever happens next.