7.2 Rumors Drifting Through My Mind

in Iroha's classroom

Iroha: "Looking at the Kamihama Rumor Files... what is it... It kind of know this feeling..."

7.2.1

[insert image of the Kamihama Rumor Files]

Iroha: *When I opened Yachiyo-san's Kamihama Rumor Files and saw one of the rumors that hadn't been thoroughly investigated...*

*It felt like it reminded me of somewhere familiar...*

[briefly fade in an image of a hospital room]

[fade to gray]

Iroha: *What... was that...*

[fade to white, and then to a classroom. Iroha appears asleep.]

Iroha: "..."

???: "Poke!"

Iroha: "Hu-"

"h? Rena-chan!?"

Rena: "Do you really have the time to be spacing out like that?"

"I heard about Tsuruno and the others..."

Iroha: "Yeah..."

"..."

Rena: "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

Iroha: "Huh!?"

Rena: "Hmf."

"Well, whatever. Let's go."

Iroha: "Go? Where?"

Rena: "You know, there."

Iroha: "Huh? What's going on?"

Rena: "Oh come *on*, it's lunch! Lunchtime!"

"I'm saying, if you haven't eaten yet, let's go have lunch together!"

"Come on, Momoko's gonna be there too."

"Get it together already!"

Iroha: "Ah, okay, thanks, Rena-chan."

[battle]

[outside the school building]

Momoko: "I see now..."

"You looked at Yachiyo-san's Rumor Files..."

"And felt like you knew one of the rumors..."

Iroha: "That's right..."

"Even though I shouldn't know any of them..."

Rena: "You should just ignore it."

"It's enough of a problem that everyone was taken away."

"You don't have enough time to worry about rumors as well, right?"

Momoko: "Oi, Rena."

"Iroha-chan is already trying her best to find everyone."

"And now she's also seriously thinking about the rumors."

"Don't snap at her like that."

Rena: "I'm not snapping at her."

"But, y'know..."

"It's like she's taking on too much, like..."

"She might go bald from stress!"

Iroha: "Huh, bald? Me!?"

Rena: "Who other than you?"

Iroha: "Bald..."

"Heh, hehe"

Rena: "W-What!? Did I say something funny!?"

Iroha: "Thank you, Rena-chan, for worrying about me."

Rena: "I-I wasn't really worrying about you."

"It's a big deal for us too, so I kinda... know how you feel..."

Iroha: "Ah, Kaede-chan?"

"She still hasn't come to school?"

Rena: "Yeah... she's holed herself up in her room this whole time..."

Momoko: "I thought that I had been able to support her somehow..."

"But once she was alone, it must have all caught up with her suddenly."

"The fate she brought upon herself..."

"Well, I'll try some more to convince her. I don't intend to give up."

Iroha: "Yes, I'll try my best too!"

Momoko: "It'll also be a pain if we can't get Tsuruno to come back soon..."

Iroha: "A pain? What happened?"

Rena: "The high school here is in apparently in an uproar."

Momoko: "After all, ever since she was in elementary school, she's never been late nor absent, an Iron Man schoolgirl."

"And suddenly, more than just absences and unexcused absences, she's gone missing..."

"They're making such a big deal about it. The staff is in a huge panic."

Iroha: "Ah..."

Momoko: "Twelve years of perfect attendance awards, gone. Tsuruno herself is probably going to be shocked."

Rena: "That's certainly something she'd be aiming for..."

Iroha: "Yeah..."

[in a hallway]

Momoko: (But really, what should we do...)

(I'm worried about Kaede, but...)

(Iroha-chan's situation is certainly way more serious...)

"..."

(That said, rumors and the stories around them are Yachiyo-san's specialty.)

girl A: "Momoko!"

Momoko: (I'll probably be most help gathering grief seeds...)

girl A: "Hey, Momoko, are you listening?"

Momoko: "Eh, ah, sorry, what were you talking about?"

girl A: "About the new amusement park."

Momoko: "Amusement park?"

"I hadn't heard about them making one in Kamihama."

girl A: "I also only heard about it just before."

"So I'm kinda curious about when it's going to open."

Momoko: "Well, they aren't talking about making any big buildings..."

"So it kinda makes me think that it's not real..."

girl A: "Well, that's also true."

"But, if it's true, wouldn't you want to go?"

"We'll invite everyone."

Momoko: "Yeah, sounds good."

"If it's real, let's all go."

girl A: "It's a promise."