4.2
I thought that was that, but around 9:00 P.M., my phone lit up. A new message.
Are you awake? read Horikita’s text.
I’m awake.
I’d like to talk to you. Do you have time? It was roughly two hours after we’d last talked.
I’ll call you.
Horikita picked up on the first ring.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
As before, Horikita sounded tired. She paused before speaking again.
“Let’s say that there was a turtle,” she began.
“Huh?”
Horikita launched into a completely crazy story.
“It’s an extremely smart and talented turtle. If I accidentally hit it, and flipped it onto its back, that would be terrible, wouldn’t you agree? It couldn’t right itself under its own steam.”
“I suppose. But actually, in most cases, turtles can extend their necks and use their legs to flip over. The only turtles that absolutely can’t right themselves are giant tortoises and sea turtles,” I explained.
“…………”
Horikita fell silent at my unnecessary explanation.
“This would have been easier if you’d just assumed that turtles can’t get up on their own and listened to me,” she said after a moment.
Yeah. That made sense.
“Okay. So, they can’t get up on their own. Is something wrong with that?”
“In such a situation, what would you do?”
“I’d probably flip the turtle over. It’s not that much trouble.”
I wouldn’t have any reason to save the turtle, but I wouldn’t have any reason to abandon it, either. I thought I might as well extend a helping hand. However, I wondered what exactly Horikita was getting at. Maybe she was in trouble, like the turtle that couldn’t get up on its own?
I didn’t get the impression that she was panicking, though. She seemed calm. That probably meant this wasn’t a pressing issue.
“So, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Well, I’m not upset or anything,” she replied.
“Well, it sure sounds like that’s where this is headed.”
“I was just talking about a turtle on its back. It had nothing to do with me.”
“Okay. Then why are we talking about a turtle?”
“I just…wanted to talk to you about a turtle that flipped over,” she insisted.
Okay, this was getting weird.
“This isn’t like you,” I said. “Well, I guess asking for help isn’t like you, either, but… You called me because you don’t have anyone else to go to, right? If that’s the case, then just come out and say why.”
Horikita paused.
“If you say that you can’t prevent wanting to help people, then perhaps I can’t go to you for advice,” she said.
“Huh? It’s fine. Talk to me,” I told her.
Horikita finally opened up. “I’m just having a little trouble.”
At least she’d finally admitted it. “Where are you now?”
“I’m in my room.”
“Wait. Are there bugs?”
If that were the case, I understood why Horikita didn’t want to talk about it. I was probably right on the money, although the dormitories were generally kept clean, and Horikita lived on an upper floor—actually, that made the likelihood of bugs rather low.
“That’s not it. I could deal with a bug myself.”
“How would you deal with it? Detergent? Hot water? Slippers?” No matter how good my powers of deductive reasoning were, I couldn’t imagine Horikita’s current situation.
“Well, I’m in trouble because… No, it’s fine after all. I’ll take care of it.”
“You say you’ll take care of it yourself, but it’s been more than two hours, and you haven’t done anything yet, right?” I shot back. If she’d called with this problem earlier, then she’d been struggling for quite some time.
“Well. Well… It’s true that I’m just about at my physical limit. I’ll tell you everything.”
Finally.
Instead of explaining, however, Horikita suddenly made a request. “Could you come to my room?”
She sounded both embarrassed and disgusted.
“Now? But it’s already past nine,” I protested.
“I understand, but…to deal with this, you need to be here.” Horikita spoke as though she was frustrated or in pain.
“Well, I might get in trouble for going to the girls’ floor at this time of night,” I said.
“I know, but I can’t do this unless you’re here,” she replied.
With that, Horikita abruptly hung up.
“This is kinda scary. But I guess I have to go,” I muttered.
Grabbing only my phone and room key, I hurried out. Wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.
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