"A Return for Your Favor" Episode 3: Black Thread (5)

Itoko glanced up at me as I turned back. She was different. I thought that because she was staring straight at me. Usually, she would look away immediately.

With a constant smile, she held up her index finger and twirled it in the air. The gesture of winding an invisible thread sent a chill down my spine.

But today, I couldn't afford to run away.

"Please, tell me how to save Atsuhisa."

Twirl, twirl, twirl... her movements didn't stop, as if the thread were truly there. After doing that for a while, she clenched her fist tightly and pulled it as if testing the tension. Then, she picked up the thread snips that were at hand.

They were different from the ones in the sewing kit I was forced to buy for home economics class. Those had plastic handles, but these were old-fashioned Japanese-style thread snips made entirely of metal. With a firm push, she cut the invisible thread.

At that moment, I felt my shoulders suddenly lighten. It was as if something that had been weighing me down had vanished.

"What... did you do?"
"Ever since you first came to this shop."

Itoko began to speak, overriding my question. She set down the scissors and stared at me.

She held her palm over me, careful not to touch my head or face, and moved it as if brushing away dust.

"I have always been able to see it."

The black thread, tangled around you.

"Black...?"

I instinctively looked at the shelf in the shop where the black thread was kept. Even though I knew she meant something else, I checked the drawer on impulse.

Since we stock all kinds of sewing thread for actual use, there are threads of many colors, not just red or white. Of course, there is black, too.

"Black is obsession."
"Obsession...?"

It didn't click at first, but after saying it out loud, I finally understood it to be "obsession."

An obsession so strong that it blinds you to the truth. Wasn't that the emotion Satoko showed when she brought out the blade? Wasn't that the look on Misora's face when she heard the news of the accident, thinking she could have Miki's heart?

"Who is it?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know that much. Not yet."

Rather, don't you have some idea about it?

Her black eyes were questioning me, but I had absolutely no clue.

Although I am isolated in class, I have always been an unremarkable, plain guy who is neither hated nor particularly liked by anyone.

"Tsumugi Kirihara."

Itoko called my name while I was groaning and thinking desperately. Being called by my full name made me feel a bit tense. I straightened my back and replied, "Yes."

"Your name is special. It contains both the cutting and the spinning of connections... That is why I called out to you. I am interested in this black thread that binds you."

Snap.

I felt like I heard the sound of the thread being cut, too.

"Can I handle those scissors, too?"

She smiled and held out the scissors. I gripped them a few times to check the tension.

Whether tying or cutting connections, it all depends on one's conviction.

If my name is special and I have a little more power in this will than others, I should be able to change Atsuhisa's feelings.

When I bowed to Itoko, she had already lost interest in me.