Chapter 219: This Is A Lie
September 22, Heisei 8, the weather was clear, it was autumn but still very hot.
The students of Class 1-A at Kisaragi High School gathered in the laboratory, the students of one class divided into nine groups of four, each group conducting a chemistry experiment and completing this experimental report.
Today’s experiment wasn’t too difficult but not simple either, just the procedure was a bit complicated, but most of the tricky parts were handled by the instruments, basically as long as the experimental equipment didn’t have issues, even if the students mishandled the experiment, the probability of a major experiment accident was as small as winning the lottery.
However, such an experiment ended up having a major experiment accident.
One student’s face was disfigured.
Because the experimental equipment in that student’s hand had a hidden defect, the toxic gas generated during the experiment process escaped from the defect during filtration, directly poisoning the student’s face and eyes, the student who suddenly suffered immense pain let out a piercing scream, then the experimental equipment was knocked over onto the table, the chemicals inside reacted violently under various factors, causing an explosion, which inflicted secondary harm on that student.
And that student was Kawakami Rumi, she clutched her instantly full of holes distorted face, collapsed on the ground screaming madly and convulsing, that deformed writhing body was like a cocoon with something churning inside, some terrifying thing about to break out from her body.
Mano Daichi witnessed all of this firsthand, he was one of the members of the same experiment group as Kawakami Rumi at the time, right beside Kawakami Rumi, observing her.
But at that time he was still boyish at heart, more focused on Kawakami Rumi classmate’s stunning beauty that could make fish sink and geese fall than on observing her standard experiment operations, her eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips… were all places where his heart sank and fantasized, until the accident happened, the girl he liked suddenly collapsed, he was stunned and at a loss, pulled out of the chaotic classroom by classmates nearby.
“That’s everything I know.” Mano Daichi adjusted his glasses, wiped his nose, took a deep breath and said, “My performance back then was really terrible, if, I mean if I had been more serious and diligently helped her observe the experiment, maybe she wouldn’t have had the accident, even if the accident happened, I should have gotten her out of danger right away… It was also after that accident that I decided to study chemistry properly, I want to become a responsible chemistry teacher, so I can do my utmost to prevent such tragedies from happening again.”
“Mano Teacher, you don’t need to blame yourself too much, it was just an accident unrelated to you.” Misaki Naomi, after hearing Mano Daichi’s account of the accident experience, saw his self-blaming expression and couldn’t help comforting the sad teacher.
Mano Daichi lowered his brows, slightly silent.
Seeing this, Misaki Naomi sighed inwardly and thanked him: “Thank you, Teacher, for seriously telling me all this, it gave me a more direct understanding of the truth about that incident back then.”
Hearing this, Mano Daichi came back to his senses, coughed lightly, lifted his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and asked curiously: “You’re welcome… By the way, what exactly happened to you, suddenly asking me about this, is there some difficulty?”
In response, Misaki Naomi hesitated a bit, because the things happening to her were so eerie it was hard to believe, but she still gritted her teeth and decided to confess: “Teacher, have you heard about Kurosawa Kana?”
“Kurosawa Kana?” Mano Daichi was stunned for a moment, then showed regret, “I remember her, her experimental report was beautiful, but unfortunately…”
Clearly, Mano Daichi, as a subject teacher, also knew about Kurosawa Kana’s death.
Misaki Naomi lowered her head and said: “Kana was my good friend, but I know the real reason she died… She didn’t commit suicide because of academic pressure, she was originally a very cheerful girl, always very open-minded about academic achievement, the reason she committed suicide was actually… because of Kawakami Rumi.”
As expected, after hearing Misaki Naomi’s confession, Mano Daichi’s face immediately showed bewilderment, then he frowned, “Misaki classmate, I know the death of your good friend hit you hard, but that’s no reason to slander a deceased person, it’s disrespectful to the dead!”
“It’s true!” Misaki Naomi swore clutching her heart, “Mano Teacher, you graduated from this school, you must have heard of ‘Miyako’s Curse video call’, the day before Kana committed suicide, both she and I received a video call from Kawakami Rumi, and we even connected…”
Mano Daichi shook his head somewhat disappointedly, “Misaki classmate, saying these things makes it meaningless. I get it, you’re under a lot of mental pressure right now, how about this… Teacher will take you to the infirmary, then help you and your homeroom teacher request a leave, go home and rest today, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that nonsense you just said, and don’t tell anyone else either.”
Seeing the teacher completely unwilling to believe her, and having no convincing evidence on her, Misaki Naomi could only give up, lowered her head dejectedly and said: “I didn’t… Never mind, I understand, thank you, Mano Teacher, no need to request leave for me, just pretend I was talking nonsense earlier, class is about to start, I’ll head back to the classroom first.” With that, Misaki Naomi turned and left Mano Daichi’s office.
……
During lunch break, Misaki Naomi came to the school’s back dorms, sat alone in an empty corner, leaning against the school wall eating stir-fried noodle bread bought from the small shop.
As she ate, the bread seemed tasteless, she suddenly felt like crying.
Today at school, there were many moments when she wanted to cry, realizing one person would be forever missing from her side, her heart ached.
“Hey.” Just as Misaki Naomi’s tears were about to spill, a roguish call made her hold back the swirling tears, then pouted and looked at He Jia’an who was leaning forward over the fence.
“What are you doing, why are you here?” Misaki Naomi sniffled, said with some dissatisfaction, girls never like being seen at their worst.
“Came to meet up with you, to share the intelligence from our respective investigations.” He Jia’an pretended not to notice the younger sister crying, turned his back to lean on the fence, then sat down.
Misaki Naomi also sat by the fence, the two with backs touching through the fence gaps.
Misaki Naomi felt the warmth of the other’s back, suddenly gaining courage and enthusiasm, and began recounting the story she heard from Mano Daichi.
After hearing the other’s report, He Jia’an looked at the sky pensively, “He really said that?”
“He really said that.”
“Tch, your teacher might not have told the whole truth.”
Misaki Naomi immediately turned around in shock, “What do you mean?”
He Jia’an also turned his head, said calmly: “According to what you said earlier, your Mano Teacher and Kawakami Rumi were in the same study group on the day of the accident, right.”
“Yeah.”
“Think back to how your usual study groups do experiments.” He Jia’an tried to hint to the girl, but saw her clear yet foolish eyes, could only say it directly helplessly, “Experimental equipment is checked by everyone’s hands before the experiment starts, right? What kind of equipment damage would all four people miss.”
At this point, He Jia’an took out his mobile phone again, opened the information he had looked up on his phone while listening to Misaki Naomi’s account.
Misaki Naomi looked at the picture on the phone, where a youthful-faced Mano Daichi was smiling brilliantly at the camera back then, holding up a trophy.
“Your teacher was already a chemistry experiment genius who won a city-level award even before high school, and get this, the experiment topic for that award he won was exactly the one done in that accident class, and this chemistry genius didn’t even notice the experimental equipment was damaged, was he really so love-struck that he missed something so basic?”
