Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 7===

The sun was about to set.

As the setting sun's rays illuminated the interior of the park, there were almost no children left.

Not long earlier, the shopkeeper had returned after taking Hatanaka-san to the hospital, prompting the children to disperse. After thanking Haruaki's group profusely for playing with the children all this time, the shopkeeper left with the children who were too young to go home on their own.

Hence, there was almost no signs of children in the park currently.

Conversely, two people remained.

"..."

That girl was still present.

Bathed under the orange glow of the setting sun, Youko was randomly gathering snow to make a small hill. But soon after, she stabbed her shovel into the hill, causing it to collapse. Without making eye contact with anyone, nor conversing with anyone, neither did she laugh with anyone, she simply repeated these actions.

An endless, solitary and lonesome game of solitaire.

Kouta was watching the scene silently. As though watching over her was his duty, he kept staring intently. After all, the two of them were neighbors and his parents had probably reminded him to walk Youko home together. However, he did not know when he should speak up. Neither did he know if he ought to speak up&mdash;That was what it looked like.

Haruaki's group also had no choice but to watch her.

"In the end... All she's doing is that the whole time."

Fear said lightly.

"Clearly she doesn't seem to be enjoying it, but why is she repeating it nonstop? Sigh, I haven't even asked her about this matter... How should I say it...? It's really such a shame."

Haruaki continued to keep his gaze on her while he spoke. What meaning was there behind her game? They still could not figure it out, even now. Compared to a happy snowball fight, compared to making snow bunnies, Youko preferred doing that?

(...Hmm?)

She preferred doing that?

Under the setting sun, the view of the young girl's petite back could be seen amidst this scene. Something suddenly flashed across Haruaki's mind. Oh right, lemme think again carefully. What was with that game of hers?

First she sat on the ground. Then gathering snow with her shovel, building up to a certain point, she then patted its surface to make it round and smooth. After examining it for a while, she stabbed her shovel into the side of the hill, causing it to collapse&mdash;This was repeated endlessly.

Without finding it tiresome at all, she kept repeating the same behavior.

Almost&mdash;It was almost like she was saying that this must be done.

Up until now, Haruaki was thinking that it was only a game to relieve boredom. A meaningless act of protestation that expressed "I don't want to play in a snowball fight."

But was that really true?

Was it really destructive behavior purely for killing time without particular meaning?

(Stop getting in my way.)

These words were only used when purposeful behavior was obstructed, right&mdash;?

"Haruaki-kun? What's the matter?"

"Hold on, wait. I think I'm on to something... You girls should think about it too."

Haruaki told Konoha and the girls about his doubts. Their expressions changed instantly.

"Indeed... How very odd. Although it's absolutely ridiculous, I totally didn't notice."

"Yeah, taking a closer look, it really is the same action, repeated identically. No, not completely identical, I guess. There might be clues in what's the same and what's different..."

The group focused on Youko's movements.

Gathering snow, forming a small hill, smoothing it with the shovel. Just as Kuroe pointed out, there really were minute differences. This time, Youko even used her gloved hand and arm to flatten the surface. Once it became round, only then did she pick up her shovel and stab it into the side of the mound of snow, collapsing it&mdash;

"...Is she really 'collapsing' the mound of snow?"

"What do you mean by that, Fear?"

Arms crossed, watching Youko with serious eyes, Fear proceeded to say:

"Just now, she deliberately picked up the shovel from the side, then stabbed it into the mound of snow. That's what she's been doing all along. If all she wants to do is destroy the mound, couldn't she just kick randomly with her foot, for example? But she didn't do that. Always using a shovel&mdash;and going from the side, moving towards the same spot. Is there some meaning behind that? In other words, she's not trying to destroy the mound, for example&mdash;"

Fear cocked her silver-haired head and continued:

"The impression I get is, that's right&mdash;She looks like she's trying to dig a hole in the middle, right?"

"Dig a hole...?"

The speaker was not Haruaki but someone standing next to their group, watching Youko in a trance. Then he looked at the mound of snow in front of Youko with surprise, also widening his eyes as though he had discovered something.

"Hey Kouta, did you actually think of something?"

"Ah, uh, no..."

"Kouta-san, could you please tell us?"

After Konoha asked gently, Kouta hesitated for quite a while. Finally, he started speaking in resignation:

"Her dad... seems to be from the north. So they used to go to the north on trips as a family, skiing or snowboarding. Maybe they took the opportunity to visit his hometown as well? I don't really know."

"Hmm."

"Also... I've been in her room before and saw a photo that she's decorated like she really cherishes it. She even put it in a photo frame and placed it on the most obvious spot on her desk. I think she really loves the photo."

"What kind of photo is it? Does it have anything to do with her behavior?"

Hearing Fear's question, Kouta bit his lip hard and bowed his head, then said:

"&mdash;A photo of a snowhouse. Along with auntie and uncle when he was still alive, the three of them together... Squeezed together in a snowhouse with happy looks on their faces, everyone making victory signs with their hands at the same time."