Chapter 19 18. Back Seats

The rally was held in the gymnasium.The principal's speech on the podium was quite different from what I expected.The headmaster didn't mention my name, and he didn't mention anything about Mr. S's hanged body and the disappearance of the body.What was announced was only "the fourth-grade student Mr. S is missing." "...So in order to collect news about Mr. S, our teacher also came to the school every day during the summer vacation. If you have any clues, you should contact the school immediately. For example, if you encounter some dangerous situations, or meet some weird people—— —”

After the assembly, Mr. Iwamura called the students in his class into the classroom. "Has he anything else to say?" "Who knows, anyway, he won't declare 'I killed the man'." Mr. S muttered in a low voice. Walking into the classroom, I sat down on the seat by the window.A stainless steel towel rack placed next to the blackboard reflects the sunlight coming in from the window, leaving map-like shadows on the ceiling.But I always feel that this chair is very awkward to sit on.Did you sit in the wrong seat?But the graffiti I drew on the table that day while listening to the horrible wind outside the window is still on the corner of the table.Eleven days have passed, and I seem to have forgotten the feeling of sitting on this chair.

I turned around suddenly, but there was no sign of Sumida in the seat behind.After a long time, in fact, I really wanted to see her in my heart, so I was a little lost at that moment. I put the bottle of Mr. S on the chair, between my knees.The bottle was invisible to those around me because of the legs and the table, so I removed the handkerchief covering it.Bending down to look into the bottle, you can see Mr. S rolling his eyes and looking around excitedly. The students in the class returned to the classroom in twos and threes, and many of them were tanned.When Sumida walked in with the girls, I felt itchy under my feet and fidgeted.

"Hey, Mr. Daofu, what's the matter with you?" I ignored Mr. S. Sumida sat down on the seat, and I immediately turned around and said "good morning". Mr. S snickered in the bottle.He probably felt my knees trembling slightly. "Good morning! Long time no see." A slightly lazy, faint voice.Among the classmates with tanned cheeks, Sumida's fair skin was so beautiful and fresh. "Well, long time no see." That's the end of our conversation.But this has been considered smooth in my conversation with Sumida. "Okay, everyone go back to their seats!"

Teacher Iwamura said loudly.I had no choice but to turn around. "Isn't it surprising that everyone was called for an emergency meeting?" Mr. Iwamura stood on the podium, slowly scanning our faces.When he met my eyes, for a moment, his eyes stopped and he nodded slightly to me. "I called you to the teacher because I have something to ask you. Just now, the headmaster seems to have said—" Mr. Iwamura repeated what the principal said just now.After that, we were asked two questions. "The first question, has anyone seen S somewhere on the closing ceremony? Has anyone seen it?"

No hands were raised.Iwamura-sensei gave me a slight wink.It seems to say "you don't count". "Then the second question, did you see anyone near S's house that day? Other than S and S's mother?" Still no answer. "I see—well, all right." Mr. Iwamura kept nodding his head with an extremely delicate expression.I know the intention of calling the students together to ask these two questions.It must be that Mr. Iwamura was worried about whether he was seen that day. After that we disbanded.Teacher Iwamura walked out of the classroom first, and then the students in the class chatted some irresponsible gossip to each other noisily, and then walked out.Just as I was about to stand up, Ibize in front turned to me with his upper body full of fat.

"Yeah, Dolph. I heard that." Ibize's eyes were still squeezed by the flesh of his cheeks as always. "It was you, who saw S's body." Ibizer leaned towards me, almost touching my face, his saliva-stained tongue moving back and forth like a slug, making me sick to see.I thought, if Ibize died, he would be reincarnated as a slug. "How is it? It's enjoyable, isn't it?" I said nothing and looked away.I don't want to talk to Ibize, I don't know if he ate dumplings last night or something else, the stench in his mouth is so bad, I can't stand it.

"What's the matter! What are you pretending to be! I heard from my father that if a person is hanged, the old elders will be stretched!" "What old elders are long!" Ibizez said excitedly: "Neck! Neck!" "I don't know. Can't remember!" I was perfunctory, but Mr. S's appearance on that day clearly appeared in my mind.Indeed, Mr. S stretched his neck very long at that time. "Master Dao! Mr. Dao..." Mr. S called me in a low voice.I hurriedly looked at Ibize's face, he didn't seem to notice Mr. S's voice.I pretended to be tired and lay down on the table.Actually put his ear to the bottle between his knees.

"I said, you said that to that guy..." Mr. S made a suggestion to me, and I immediately carried it out.I put away my smile, and said to Ibizer with a serious face: "Actually—" I followed Mr. S's instruction completely and said: "Mr. S said something like this to me before..." Ibizez moved her face closer with anticipation.I lowered my voice as much as I could, and said in a tone as if I was about to reveal a shocking mystery: "He said that Ibize will never be forgiven." At that moment, Ibizez's expression was quite interesting.The face with accumulated fat convulsed, the eyes that were full of anticipation lost their luster, and the lips that were still giggling just now remained frozen in place.In the next moment, the muscles on his face drooped as if they were deflated.

"I... I'll go first..." Ibizer stood up unsteadily, and walked toward the door like a zombie, bumping his waist against the corner of the table with a bang on the way, but he didn't seem to notice it at all.Seeing Ibize's appearance, Mr. S and I tried our best not to laugh out loud. "——It's really bad, Mr. Daofu, and Mr. S." At that moment, Sumida's voice was heard. I couldn't help feeling chills down my spine, and turned around tremblingly. "Mr. S is indeed dead. The one in the bottle is Mr. S, right?" "Oh no……" I immediately looked around, only Sumida and I were left in the classroom.

"Reincarnation is something after death. Mr. S is so pitiful." I didn't know what to say for a moment. "What is that... Oh, a spider. Speaking of which, S-kun used to be a bit like a spider." Mr. S in the bottle let out an inappropriate exclamation: "Really?" "Yes." Sumida replied.I was caught between the two of them, with my mouth half open, unable to utter a word. "You have dark skin, bow legs, and your eyes are so far apart...but I don't hate you." Mr. S said indignantly, "Oh, thank you so much." At this moment, a girl left When he came in, Sumida hurriedly said, "It's okay, I won't tell anyone." The girl took one look at me and left the classroom with Sumida. "Oops……" I stared blankly at Sumida as he disappeared into the corridor. "I said, it's too bad, Mr. S. Sumida knows about you!" "It doesn't matter. Didn't she tell it? She won't tell anyone." "But……" "There's nothing wrong with it. Mr. Dao, it's time to act!" "Huh? Action—what?" "Follow! Follow." Mr. S took it for granted. "I'm afraid that such a good opportunity today will never be available in the future. Mr. Daofu!"