Noriko-chan,

How was school?

If something happened, anything... talk with me about it.

Yeah, thanks.

I'm alright.

Next year, your mother and father are coming back.

And so, you will be able to attend to middle school in Tokyo, be patient until then.

Ok.

Your hair has grown a lot.

If it becomes a problem,

I can drive you to the town's hairdresser's

Obscure Cage is Cooling Final Part

Nono, look!

This.

Is this your flowerpot, Yakko?

Yeah.

Huh, it's so cute.

You know, it hasn't ever sprouted until now,

so I was thinking that it'd be no good anymore.

Thank goodness. I wonder when it's going to bloom.

... Is it going to bloom?

It is. If it's grown this big by now...

Nono also grew big.

For some reason, we aren't getting bigger.

Even though all of our other friends grew up, and left this place.

Kaorin, and Shinkun, and everyone.

We don't even know our names anymore.

The teacher left too.

No adults, no friends, noone was there to call us by them anymore.

I'm...

I'm not going anywhere.

I'll always be together with you.

Don't make promises that you can't fulfill!

Acchan

Yakko,

spare Nono some trouble and don't say unnecessary things.

And this sprout isn't going to grow anyway.

Acchan!

That boy, whose voice hadn't even cracked,

lowered his face, his red knees trembling.

Nono, we can't go outside.

It's hot outside, so we would surely melt.

But you will grow up to become an adult, Nono.

You will grow up to become an adult, and you will forget about us.

Even...

Even if I become an adult, I'll always stay here.

So you two won't be lonely anymore, right?

Really?

MISSING

FOUR CHILDREN

Yeah.

FOUR CHILDREN

IWAMA ATSUSHI at that time: 11 years old

No.

You can't, Nono.

Sorry.

TSUJIWARA YASUKO at that time: 11 years old

Nono, have this.

Take it with yourself.

Because it's very cold here.

Because I want it to grow big, like you.

Nono, we also wanted to grow up.

Can't I...

stay here too...

You can't.

Farewell.

Asaki-san.

As I thought,

you're here again.

I've told you that the entry to the old school building is forbidden, right.

I know it's hard

to get familiar with the class after you change schools halfway through,

but more than half a year is soon to pass, so, couldn't you please try to take classes together with us by now?

Also, there are glass shards and such lying around here, so it's dangerous.

Hot.

Asaki-san, you know, if you're... getting bullied by the girls from the class or something...

If something like that had place,

you can...

always tell, ok?

It's hot in here.

And the next year you will go to a different middle school than us, Asaki-san.

It's a short period of time, but I hope we can become fri...

Acchan

Where are Acchan and Yakko?

...Asaki-san

Maybe let's have your legal guardian... pick you up, alright?

The cicada's song is

coming from the inside of my ears, passing through the back of my eyes,

DANGER NO TRESSPASSING

No.

I'm really sorry for that.

and depriving me of that white world burned inside of my head.

You don't have to. It must have been stress caused by the new school.

But you see, in old times, some students went missing around here.

It was long time before the teacher was born, but somehow, it's worrying me.

And that's why...

Asaki-san, what's wrong?

...Nothing


FIFTH GRA__

Iwama_Atsushi___________Eba_Shintarou

Oohata_Kikunobu_______Kinoshita_Kaori
 
Kotani_Hirosuke___________Seika_Yuuki

Tsuno_Chidzuru_________Toshima_Takiji

Nishikawanabe_Yuka______Nomoto_Wataka

_________Mio____________Fujiwara_Seiko

It's really nothing.

Let's go, quickly.


___________________________Wataka

Hamaguchi_Mio_______Fujiara_Seiko

Nono_____________________________

Umm, could I take the flowerpot that was here?

It's not a problem, but... it contains only some old dirt.

There's no sprout in the flowerpot anymore,

but I'm sure it'll bloom someday.

They went missing on the day with heavy snow and they haven't been found even until now.

I feel sorry for them.

There are rumours that they had frozen to death in a snowstorm, and so on.

You can still find some posters here and there.

More importantly, don't you feel a little too hot?

Is everything alright?

Yes......

It's hot today.

You look like you're about to melt.

Teacher

Is that yours?

Oh my, you musn't do this.

It said "no trespassing", right?

Huh, but teacher is going in.

Teacher is an adult.

Also, this is my alma mater.

"Alma mater"?

Yes, it was just for a while, but teacher was studying here too.

Why did you left the flowerpot there earlier?

Because that is my teacher's classmate's flowerpot.

Hm?

Teacher Asaki's?

Yes.

Is she dead?

Of course not.

Hey, I've grown up.

If she's the same age as teacher, she'll be a total granny by now.

Hey!

It took many years, and decades.

It doesn't seem like I can go there anymore.

But even now, when winter comes, I remember.

I remember those who are always running around in the white world. I remember you.

Obscure Cage is Cooling The End

Obscure Cage is Cooling

Thank you very much for reading! Speaking of winter memories, once in my student days, on the way to school, I dramatically felt flat onto my back in a single moment, and I didn't know what happened, so I was lying like that for some time. I want to forget quickly.

5TH GRADE

Ok.

MISSING

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