Fifth period ended without incident and we hit the break. Sixth period was P.E. and that was the last class of the day, so the finish line was in sight.
We were still on volleyball from last week. During a practice game I went up for a toss and jammed my finger spectacularly.
Probably I was thinking about other things during the practice game instead of watching the ball. I headed for the infirmary — and at the door I ran into someone I knew.
“Ryouya, what happened?”
“Jammed my finger doing volleyball. — What about you, Riona?”
“Stuck myself with a needle in home ec. Came for antiseptic and a bandage.”
She held up her index finger. Slightly red. I’d had no mental image of Riona ever making a clumsy mistake, so this was genuinely surprising. We went inside and — no one was there.
“The school nurse is out.”
“Probably had something to handle.”
“No idea when she’ll be back. Let’s just self-serve.”
I rummaged in the supply cabinet and pulled out medical tape and hydrocolloid bandages.
“Ryouya, give me your finger. I’ll tape it.”
“I can do it myself, it’s fine.”
“I want to do it. Can I?”
Looking directly at me as she asked it — I caved and let her. While she wrapped the tape around my finger, I asked the thing on my mind.
“I had a mental image of Riona as the kind of person who does everything cleanly. Apparently you do make these mistakes.”
“Actually pretty clumsy.”
“Huh. Surprising.”
“Nee-chan is more put-together about that.”
By the time we’d had that exchange the taping was done. Her hands were quick — probably had a lot of practice.
“Now — your turn.”
“Yeah, even though it’s just sticking it on.”
I gently took Riona’s hand and pressed the hydrocolloid bandage onto her index finger. The fact that holding her pale, slender finger made me feel a strange way is between me and this narrator.
“Want to lie down on the bed for a bit, since we’re here?”
“A jammed finger doesn’t warrant a recovery nap, hard pass.”
“If we both hit a bed right now, you’d have a memory you’d never forget.”
“No, no — that’s also not okay, what is with you—!?”
I tossed back the reflex objection at Riona’s casually unhinged proposal. A guy and a girl getting into a school infirmary bed is strictly the territory of ero-manga. Not a thing in reality.
“Good reaction. Thanks.”
”…You toyed with me there.”
“Hogging Ryouya without Nee-chan would be unfair to her.”
Riona said it in her usual cool tone, but with the faint air of a child who’d successfully landed a prank. I left her and headed back to the gym.
Class was wrapping up and they were already breaking down the equipment. I joined the cleanup at a vague level, changed back, and went to the classroom.
The instant I stepped in I noticed the atmosphere was off. A bunch of classmates were visibly hostile, aimed directly at me, but I had no idea why.
“Yagami — did you take it?”
”…Excuse me?”
“I’m asking if you stole my wallet.”
The person grilling me was Shirogane Misuzu, one of the in-crowd girls. Her face read pure rage.
“Hold on. I have no idea why I’m even a suspect…”
“Everyone says you look guilty. What do you have to say to that?”
“What exactly is the basis for that?”
The reply came from somewhere in the crowd.
“You were the only one missing from P.E. — bet you snuck off and grabbed it then.”
“Pretending to go to the infirmary, definitely a cover story.”
So the fact that I’d been gone from the gym had become Exhibit A. But I had a witness — Riona had been with me in the infirmary. I tried to explain that, but it did nothing.
Sadly my reputation was nonexistent enough that no one was willing to take my word. What started as “he’s suspicious” was fast turning into “he’s the guy.”
This trajectory was bad. I obviously hadn’t done it, so however thoroughly they checked there wouldn’t be evidence — but that wouldn’t get me to proven innocent. Until now only a few people had been on me; this was the moment the whole class started pointing fingers.