Part 3: Chapter 1

    When confronted with something too unbelievable, people have a tendency to subconsciously avoid thinking about it. Or else, they will attempt to rationalize what they saw as an attempt to relieve their anxiety.
    Yumiko did the same sort of thing in regards to her experience with the demon summoning in the CAI room.
    That evening, Nakajima had said he summoned a demon using the computer. But when she really thought about it, there was no real hard evidence that what she saw really was a demon. With enough skill manipulating computer graphics, such a scene could easily be staged. As for that demonic beast, Yumiko only saw it for an instant. It would probably be more natural to think that it just been a large dog that Nakajima had used as a guard, and Yumiko's fear and surprise deluded her into seeing it as some sort of horrific monster. Nakajima might be a genius-level computer nut, but the whole ceremony could have been nothing more than something him and his followers had cooked up together. Nakajima had probably just started some sort of occult or magic club.
    As the days passed by uneventfully, this was how Yumiko started to think of the whole experience. Jusho High's "gifted" class was still not a place that she felt entirely comfortable at, but she was still able to make a few friends there that she could banter with like a normal girl her age.
    Still, it was definitely the case that Nakajima seemed to hold some sort of special authority about the school. Lately he had been spending all of his time holed up in the CAI room, and rarely if ever showed his face in class. The only time he would show up was when other classes were using the CAI room, and even then he would ignore class, programming on his handheld computer instead.
    No matter how you looked at it, there was something not right about the situation. But whenever Yumiko tried talking to her friends about Nakajima, they would just clam up and try to change the subject. However, it wasn't as if they disliked him. Their silence was more like a sense of fear and awe, as if they couldn't find the right words to use when talking about such a powerful persona.
    Well, no big deal. Besides, it doesn't really affect me anyway...
    Even though Yumiko could explain the situation away to herself in such a manner, she couldn't keep her heart from racing whenever she pictured his profile in her head.

    It was a morning in July, close to the start of summer vacation.
    Yumiko walked to school along the highway between Kuniritsu Station and Hitobashi University every morning. The branches of the trees stretched out to their limits so that their leaves would absorb the blinding sunlight, and as Yumiko walked beneath the lines of gingko trees with their outstretched, pale green leaves, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and thought of the phone call she had received the night before.
    That call had come while she was cleaning up after dinner. Her mother casually picked up the receiver, then called to her.
    "Yumiko, it's from someone called Yamanaka. Have you got a boyfriend already?"
    "Yamanaka...?" As Yumiko cocked her head, wondering if she had a classmate with that name, then had a flash of insight.
    "I'm sure he's just passing on a message from school," Yumiko lied at once. While thinking of who it might be, she waited a little bit before gently picking up the receiver.
    "Hello, this is Yumiko..."
    "...."
    The sound of faint breathing was all that could be heard from the other side.
    "Hello?"
    "Stay home from school tomorrow." All of a sudden, a hushed voice sounded into Yumiko's ear. For an instant, Yumiko thought the voice sounded like Nakajima's, but she couldn't be sure.
    "Hello, who is this?"
    "He's after you. You should stay away for a while." The tone of the voice became urgent. But that only made it seem more suspicious, and as Yumiko tried to decide how to resopnd, she noticed her mother had stopped cleaning the dishes and was watching her suspiciously.
    "We can talk about this at school tomorrow." Yumiko calmly said.
    There was the sound of a clicking tongue as the phone hung up on the other end.
    "What was that about?" Yumiko's mother asked worriedly.
    "It was nothing. Being really popular is really a pain sometimes." Distracting her mother with an unintelligible response, Yumiko tried to recall what Nakajima's normal speaking voice sounded like.

    College students in blue jeans and T-shirts passed by Yumiko, discussing their plans for summer vacation. One of them who was carrying a guitar case in his left hand bumped into her.
    "Ah, sorry!" As Yumiko looked up suspiciously, the college student smiled shyly at her, but she simply ignored him and looked away.
    That really might have been Nakajima...
    Yumiko wasn't sure at the time, but thinking about it afterwards, she had the sense that the mysterious person that called her talked a lot like Nakajima.
    But if that was the case, what was he trying to tell her? The voice on the phone had been very serious. It was full of desperation, almost like that of someone trying to escape from a pursuer.
    What could have happened to him?
    After the call, Yumiko had tried to prepare for the next day's class, but even when trying to focus on her textbooks, she kept picturing Nakajima's stare while looking at the typeface on the page, and none of the information in the book stuck. Not only could she not study, but kept up wondering about the phone call, Yumiko had barely slept a wink. Her head dizzy with insomnia, the baseball club members, having finished their morning practice, chatted amongst themselves as they walked by.
    Yumiko turned to the left off of University Avenue and through the gates of her school. At that instant, a harsh shiver ran up her spine and her arms broke out in goosebumps. Wondering what happened, she looked around her, and noticed that Ohara was staring at her from the window in the faculty lounge. Her pitch-black eyes had an almost supernatural, sinister look in them, and watched Yumiko's every move. Absorbed in the stare, Yumiko started walked uneasily, and a male student on a bicycle lightly touched her.
    "Hey, careful! Watch where you're going!" The bicycle sped up and the student pedaled away.
    Returning to her senses, Yumiko looked back up at the window to the faculty lounge, but Ohara was no longer there. As waves of students proceeded inside the school so as not to be late, they turned around and gave quizzical looks at Yumiko, who was standing there as still as a post.
    What are you doing? This isn't like you! Admonishing herself, Yumiko ran into the school.