Chapter 33: 19a. The girl’s place [Ushiro route]

She opened the door with her house key. A disgusting odor assaulted my nose, reminiscent of how I would imagine a nursing home would smell if all of the patients collectively decided to shit themselves simultaneously. It made my eyes water in disgust, forcing me to wipe my eyes over and over to maintain any sight. The interior of the house didn't fare any better, the sight of rotting fruits on the living room table and green gunk drooping from the fridge... it makes my stomach churn.

"This- how do you even live in here?" I almost yelled out, only barely stopping myself from screaming into the wretched dump that she and her father lives in.

"By trying to ignore everything I guess," she remarks nonchalantly, "though that's a lot easier said than done."

She gave me a look of pity. But honestly she should do that while looking at a mirror. I feel bad for her having to live in this literal dump. Every moment of me being here makes me more sick. 

Noticing my dismay she swiftly sifted through the trash around the house to find her uniform, mumbling 'ahhh, where was it again?' into herself as she did. 

It didn't take her long to find it, and equally as little time to put it on... over the clothes I gave her. I decided not to remark on it, maybe it's a natural habit of hers.

What did strike me as odd what the uniform itself... it was from our school. Before I could truly think about it my train of thought got interrupted.

"Say, mind if I get something?"

"Go right ahead." I said while doing an impatient shooing gesture.

"Small issue, I don't think I can find it. Or at least not very fast when I do it alone."

It was clear she wanted my help with something, so I followed along to the end of the hall, where the stench was a lot less bad. She opened the door and let the both of us inside the room.

To my surprise, it was completely clean in contrast to the rest of the house. no filth, no garbage, not even a slight imperfection to it. The picture definition to neat and tidy. Very minimalist as well. Only a bed, a closet, a desk and a laptop to be seen...

I was tricked, wasn't I?

"Uh, if you need to find your laptop, it's right over there." I said pointing at the desk.

She simply shut the door behind her. Briskly she walked past me and sat on the bed. She lazily stretched out and got comfortable. "I wasn't lying, I need you to help me find something." She said, trying to clear my doubts. "That thing just isn't here."

"So... why are we here then?"

"I just wanted you to see how clean my room was. I never had anyone come over to see all the hard work I did." she pouted, before showing me an expectant look.

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"It's... really neat. You did a great job keeping it all clean." I uttered without giving it much thought. When I said it her expression brightened a bit, her usual hidden gloom lifting a bit.

"I appreciate it." she said, trying not to sound happy. "What I'm looking for is my backback. Some... people stole it from me yesterday."

"What for?" 

"I don't know, probably pissed them off somehow." she said with a neforious grin plastered on her face.

She's definitely hiding something, but I feel like I don't want to know what exactly she's keeping from me. I extended an arm and helped her off of her bed.

"So, are we gonna ask them where it is?"

"I know it's somewhere in the park. Somewhere..."

"That doesn't help much, except if you wanna go look for it all day."

"That's why I need you. Do you know any ponds? And... a strange bench?"

Murahashi park has plenty of ponds, that barely narrows it. Or so I would say if she didn't add that small detail. Of course, it has plenty of benches, but where they any that stuck out in particular? I racked through my brain thinking of all the different times I went there. I used to hunt bugs a lot with someone I knew who always seemed to stare off into space.

"Ah."

There was a bench like that, I think. The memorable thing about it was that it was hidden far off any of the paths. I recall playing there when I was younger, once.

For some reaso me and someone I knew at the time decided to explore what's behind the bushes and got lost. Far, far away was there a bench with a tiny pond and a single duck. That's all I could recall, but it seemed like a lead that was able to be worked off of.

"I have an idea, no idea how to get to it though. But I do know what you mean."

"Show me the way as far as you can, we'll see from there."

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