Another: The Class of 1999

Chapter 8 - Answers

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.