The Missing Piece
Everything matches... except one memory.
August 16
The Math Lab Investigation
One memory still refuses to fit.
August 17
Finally.
Wednesday.
Which means...
We'll finally get to meet Kent.
Even Orion was excited.
Seeing him that enthusiastic made me smile.
At last.
Maybe today we'll finally uncover another clue about the accident.
And hopefully...
Recover another memory.
We arrived at the...
Math lab?
Lab math?
Math laboratory?
...
You know what?
Who cares?
As long as the word math is somewhere in there, that's good enough.
Honestly...
Just looking around this room makes my head hurt.
I'm incredibly grateful that I work as a maid café server.
Imagine if I had to be the cashier instead.
...
No thanks.
Numbers and I are not friends.
Inside, two men were already waiting.
...
They're both pretty good-looking.
I guessed they were Kent and Ikki from the guest list.
Although...
I shouldn't assume.
I was about to ask when...
Kent spoke first.
He said he'd been expecting me.
...
Did Rika tell him about our conversation?
Probably.
That makes sense.
Meanwhile...
Ikki immediately started throwing flirty comments my way.
...
My left eye twitched.
Now I'm curious.
Who's the bigger pervert?
Ikki?
Or Shin?
...
Actually...
Maybe I don't want the answer.
Once we settled down, we finally started asking about the accident.
First question.
Was Kent really the leader of the search party?
He confirmed it.
Good.
Then Kent mentioned something interesting.
He said Shin had stayed surprisingly calm.
Unlike Sawa and Toma, who immediately panicked after hearing I was missing.
...
I can't really blame them.
Everyone reacts differently in a crisis.
Then I asked the question that had been bothering me the most.
Was I conscious when they found me?
...
Silence.
...
Uh...
I'm not asking you to build suspense.
Just tell me already.
Then Ikki suddenly said something unexpected.
Shin had asked them that exact same question the other day.
...
WHAT?!
We asked the exact same thing?
Seriously...
What are you thinking, Shin?
In the end...
They both answered.
No.
I was completely unconscious.
I didn't respond.
Not even when they tried patting my cheeks.
...
Then...
What was that memory?
The one where I clearly remember Shin finding me.
Everything else matches.
Every testimony.
Every memory I've recovered.
Everything...
Except that one.
...
And yet...
Shin believed me.
He never once told me I was imagining things.
...
Thanks, Shin.
But now...
That single memory is the only missing piece that refuses to fit.