Chapter 23
Ryosaku was once again alone.
Mieko, who was always by his side, is no longer anywhere in the schoolyard...
No matter where he looks.
The feeling of loneliness and loss increases day by day.
Ryosaku wanders around the schoolyard, looking for traces of Mieko.
Then he went to the horizontal bar play equipment.
...That's the place where he first approached Mieko, a place with precious memories.
"That's right. Mieko-chan, you're hanging here, your panties are completely exposed..."
Ryosaku muttered to himself, looking as if he were dreaming.
He also went to the swing.
It was a precious place where Mieko and Ryosaku could relax on the swings side by side, relaxing from the exhaustion of running.
"Mieko-chan smelled so good back then..."
However, he doesn't smell Mieko.
...Ryosaku can't smell her scent anymore.
Mieko is nowhere to be found in the library. A memorable place where they read picture books side by side on rainy days...
"That's right. This is where I learned Mieko-chan's name for the first time."
When Ryosaku looked out the window, Ryosaku's memories with Mieko and the important places where he searched for traces of her were spread out like a picture scroll in the large schoolyard.
Each precious memory comes back to life in a fantastical way.
Ryosaku feels dreamy and plays with Mieko in those memories.
...But her "scent" was nowhere to be found.
Eventually, Ryosaku's eyes turned to "that place", a little beyond the horizontal bar play equipment.
At that moment, Mieko's ''bright red eyes'' from that day flashed into his mind, the "sweet scent" of happy memories disappeared, and Ryosaku came back to his senses.
Ryosaku leaves the school gate and takes his nostalgic route to school.
It's the same path he walked home yesterday and the day before, but it already feels nostalgic.
Mieko wasn't here either.
His beloved Mieko, who always held hands and sometimes held Ryosaku's shoulders as they walked, is no longer next to him.
"Mieko-chan's hands...they were soft and warm..."
But he can no longer hold her hand.
...From then on, Ryosaku spent his days wandering alone, day after day, searching for memories with Mieko.
