Second floor, Komuro household.
The ginger-yellow wooden floor and cream-colored wallpaper combine to reveal the warmth of a family home.
The tidy home was immaculate, but perhaps too immaculate, as if no one had ever used it.
Hiiragi Shuichi looked around for a moment and didn’t see a single photo.
‘Are they kept in the bedroom, or is it that this family, due to the trauma of the mother’s death, couldn’t take a family portrait and never took any photos?’
Under Manager Komuro’s guidance, the group arrived at Komuro Ayumi’s door.
Teacher Shiraishi looked around, rolling her eyes, and felt there might be too many people.
“Mr. Komuro, does Komuro usually interact with people much?”
Manager Komuro shook his head.
After thinking it over, Teacher Shiraishi decided to have Hiiragi Shuichi knock on the door while the others stood by and tried not to make a sound.
Hiiragi Shuichi slowly knocked three times.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
Feeling it wasn’t good to suddenly speak up, and since there was no response from the other side, Hiiragi Shuichi asked Manager Komuro about his usual knocking habit.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
Hiiragi Shuichi repeated the same action at intervals.
“Knock, knock…”
“So annoying! What do you want?!”
After the fourth knock, there was finally some reaction from inside.
The shout sounded especially low, like a person who usually speaks quietly suddenly had to raise their voice, producing a sound that seemed loud but was extremely hoarse.
The female voice wasn’t harsh and didn’t frighten anyone, but it sounded extremely displeased.
Manager Komuro sighed and said to everyone:
“Now you know, that child can’t shout…”
‘What are the reasons for locking yourself in your room?’
Hiiragi Shuichi thought about this question and remembered his former self.
Whether angry with his parents, or feeling sad, wanting some quiet time alone…
But in the end, it was always because he didn’t want to face his parents.
‘What is the reason this time?’
When he was younger, Hiiragi Shuichi always thought it was about wanting an apology from his parents, but after growing up a bit, he realized…
It was actually because he felt he hadn’t met his parents’ expectations, and locking himself in was more like a childish plea for attention.
‘Then, to make the other person come out, I must grasp their psychology.’
Hiiragi Shuichi sighed internally.
After seeking a confirming look from Teacher Shiraishi, he tried to speak and asked toward the door.
Because there was a door between them and he wasn’t sure how loud he needed to be for her to hear, Hiiragi Shuichi had to raise his voice a little:
“Is that Komuro? Great, you sound lively, Komuro! The manager made bread for you. Want to come out and try some?”
When talking to someone withdrawn, never mention words like “everyone” or “together,” or you’ll only earn their disgust.
After saying that, Hiiragi Shuichi immediately gave Manager Komuro a look.
Manager Komuro stood frozen in confusion, so Hiiragi Shuichi quickly signaled Teacher Shiraishi with his eyes.
Teacher Shiraishi was indeed clever.
She immediately told Manager Komuro:
“Mr. Komuro, what is your daughter’s favorite bread?”
“Favorite… Ayumi doesn’t like bread!”
“Then let me ask differently, Mr. Komuro. What is your favorite bread? Make a few quickly.”
Urged by Teacher Shiraishi, Manager Komuro, who had just been frozen, immediately nodded and hurried down the stairs.
Seeing this, Aoba Tomoyo pushed Aoba Toshie, telling her to follow Manager Komuro to the kitchen.
“Sis… what are you doing?”
“Little Toshie~~ it wouldn’t be good to do nothing, right? Aren’t you quite knowledgeable about sweets? Bread should be no problem. In that case… do you really want to just reap the rewards? Speed it up.~~”
“…Enough. I’ll go myself without you telling me.”
Aoba Tomoyo knew her sister’s competitive nature well.
One provocation was enough to make Aoba Toshie go to the kitchen on her own.
Aoba Toshie went down the stairs and slowly disappeared from Hiiragi Shuichi’s view.
Aoba Tomoyo waved at Hiiragi Shuichi and, with a half-smile, said calmly:
“I’ll go keep an eye on Toshie…”
Her gaze shifted around a few times, and just before leaving, she said one more thing:
“Hiiragi, thank you for playing along with my little sister…
See you later.”
After she left, Teacher Shiraishi sighed and asked Hiiragi Shuichi:
“There’s no response from inside… Do you think knocking is an effective method?”
“Teacher, knocking was never going to work. If changing the person knocking could make Komuro come out, she would have come out long ago, wouldn’t she?”
Teacher Shiraishi listened to Hiiragi Shuichi in confusion.
After thinking for a moment, she suddenly froze:
“Hiiragi, what exactly are you trying to do by sending them away?”
Teacher Shiraishi was very smart.
She quickly understood why Hiiragi Shuichi was doing something he considered meaningless.
The answer was that Hiiragi Shuichi was just using this as an excuse to send the others away.
However, Hiiragi Shuichi had originally counted Aoba Tomoyo in as well.
He was afraid she wouldn’t cooperate, but unexpectedly, not only did she smoothly send Aoba Toshie away, she also chose to leave herself, greatly improving Hiiragi Shuichi’s efficiency.
Hiiragi Shuichi couldn’t quite understand whether Aoba Tomoyo had caught on to his meaning or if it was just a coincidence…
“Teacher, you always understand so quickly. Is there any need for me to be… ‘fake’ in front of you? I’m quite troubled as your student…”
“Hiiragi, you never needed to do that in the first place… Anyway, so now you need to send me away too, right?”
“Yes.”
Teacher Shiraishi smiled bitterly and said, “I believe in your ability, but since you can’t find a way to send me away, you just stopped hiding it… Because you consider me a fairly smart adult and an open-minded teacher? I don’t think that’s a good approach.”
“Okay, okay, don’t use this chance to praise yourself… Teacher, do you have any information on Komuro? Preferably with a headshot, or just a photo of her would be fine. After all, there isn’t even a photo frame in the manager’s living room.”
“A photo? What do you need it for?”
“Teacher, I’m a good judge of people. Analyzing faces and expressions has always been my strength. I’ve always been experienced at knowing what expression and words to use with different people. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to get along well with the vast majority of people, right?”
“Haha, you actually don’t recognize your own classmate? Alright, alright…
I have photos from last year’s cultural festival in my phone album. I kept them and didn’t delete them. Let me look. There should be a photo of Komuro.”
In the vast phone album titled “Memories of the Cultural Festival,” Teacher Shiraishi flipped through a sea of photos before finding one that had Komuro Ayumi in it.
Looking at the cultural festival photos Teacher Shiraishi had accumulated over so many years of teaching, Hiiragi Shuichi couldn’t help but feel that Teacher Shiraishi was a good teacher he would rarely meet again in his lifetime.
“Here, this one.”
Hiiragi Shuichi took the phone.
It was a class group photo from the closing of the cultural festival.
Everyone was smiling happily, as if cheering for the perfect ending of the cultural festival, shedding the sweat of youth in tribute to youthful vigor.
So the student who clearly looked a bit out of place in the picture was quickly spotted by Hiiragi Shuichi, without Teacher Shiraishi even needing to point her out.
Komuro Ayumi looked like a somewhat boyish girl.
Even with her neat short hair, she had a gloomy air, and those world-weary eyes made her seem like she didn’t care about anything.
In short, she was the complete opposite of the radiant high school students around her.
Teacher Shiraishi was indeed, as Hiiragi Shuichi thought and as she herself said, a smart and open-minded teacher.
After showing the photo to Hiiragi Shuichi, Teacher Shiraishi kept her promise and even made an excuse, saying she just needed to use the restroom.
In front of the second-floor bedroom door, only Hiiragi Shuichi remained.
To make sure there would be no accidents, Hiiragi Shuichi confirmed again that Teacher Shiraishi had left and that there was no sign of anyone coming back downstairs.
While leaning against the bedroom door and trying to talk to Komuro Ayumi, Hiiragi Shuichi took out a piece of notebook paper from the inside pocket of his jacket and uncapped a sign pen.
“Komuro Ayumi → Hiiragi Shuichi”
“Reason: Hiiragi Shuichi won’t say things like ‘everyone,’ and Hiiragi Shuichi is different from those other youthful fools.”
“Action: Wants to meet Hiiragi Shuichi, so chooses to leave the room.”