Okujou:Dorothy 1

Suddenly, a tornado tore the girl's house off the Earth, and hurled it together with her into the air --- With a loud thud, she landed on the far east side of the world, on top of a very wicked witch.

X X X

The rain would often evoke unpleasant memories of that day. That's why, I chose a rainy day to jump off the school roof.

I pushed open the yellow door and was greeted by a moody grey sky. The wind howled around around, causing me to shiver involuntarily. I tightened the knitted sweater I wore over my school uniform.

Before I jumped, there was something I needed to do. Leaving the door connecting to roof and the school staircase open, I took out my phone, and looked for Ame-kun's mail address from my list of past messages.

In my present state, just the mere sight of his name would be enough to make my heart throb,. This was different from the throbbing when we were still a couple - this was a painful throb which was almost unbearable.

That's why, not only did I delete all our phone conversation logs, I also deleted his phone number and mail address. However, I couldn't bear to delete all the previous text messages he sent me. Because they contained too many happy memories, I could never bring myself to delete them; words that were left for me by Ame-kun, whom I had deeply loved.

Deep inside though, I knew these words were nothing but his past self.

I deleted 『Re:』 from the title and composed my last message.

『I still love you. Without you, there is no meaning in living on.』

...... What should I do to be free of these feelings --- Loneliness and love... These feelings that pained him, and also pained me.

I hated myself for being so stubborn.

That's why, I had no other choice --- The only thing I could do, was end my own life.

--- Message sent.

After confirming the text which flashed across my phone's screen, I took a deep breath, and deleted all of his messages from my phone.

The melancholic sound of raindrops drifted by my ear. The autumn air was extremely cold.

It was a good thing I had my knitted sweater on. Otherwise, my summer uniform would be thoroughly soaked, and the thin fabric expose my undergarments. If the color of my bra could be easily discerned from my corpse, that would surely be too ugly a way to die.

The fence built around the roof to prevent people from accidentally falling over was really tall, I looked up at the obstacle I had no choice to climb over and sighed. The moment I placed a foot on it, it made a really exaggerated noise --- GASHAN.

--- GASHAN, GASHAN.

I originally thought I could climb this fence calmly. However, halfway up I couldn't help but recall Ame-kun's smile; the face of the one I loved the most. Thinking about his deep voice, thinking about his large hands... Thinking that the current him, would never smile at me ever again.

--- GASHAN, GASHAN.

This noise was a bit too obnoxious, I couldn't help but start crying.

--- GASHAN, GASHAN, GASHAN, GASHAN...... "GASHAN---!!"

"...Uwaa!"

Just as I was about to cross over the top, the fence suddenly shook violently, tipping me forward. I got a clear view of the ground below, and I grabbed hold of the fence in reflex.

--- Uwaa! That was close!! To think I almost fell off and died in an accident instead!

I turned back and looked below, wondering what just happened. A few meters away, I found out why a part of the fence that was shaking.

"GASHAN!! GUWASHAAAAAAAN!!"

"W-w-wait!! ... Eh?"

--- What was going on? Eh? ... A porcelain doll was kicking the fence?

To be precise --- A cute girl who looked exactly like a porcelain doll, was busy kicking the fence without a shred of mercy.

She wore the same type of uniform as me, so she should be from our school. However, seeing her petite frame it wouldn't be hard to pass her for a junior high school student, or even an elementary school kid. Every time she moved to kick the fence, her long, wavy, chest-length chestnut hair would away lightly.

As if betraying her gorgeous appearance that would look absolutely stunning if she danced, this girl was now kicking the fence will a murderous look on her face.

--- That's scary. What was she thinking, kicking the fence like that?!

As I was looking at her with a bewildered look on my face, she abruptly stopped kicking, and a pair of eyes turned towards me from under a red umbrella. The moment our sights crossed, I hurriedly shifted my gaze away.

"Crap..."

My senses told me to absolutely not get involved with her.

But as I cowered and shifted my gaze, she had already made her way to beneath my feet.

"W-what are you planning to do?"

Upon seeing her, I couldn't help but shiver. She raised her head and look up at me without expression, before slightly tilting her head. She was like a small kitten, I found myself unable to communicate with her.

"......"

Suddenly, she turned and started running. Her feet made a pitter-patter sound as they splashed across puddles on the conrete floor.

I followed her umbrella-touting silhouette, and saw her running towards a tall, skinny guy who looked in danger of being blown away by the wind any moment, who was lying on the ground with his back towards me. He lay next to the yellow door, under the small roof where the rain couldn't reach.

..... Was he there all this while? I never noticed him when I first came up to the roof...

The girl shouted at the guy, but all he did was turn back and yawn. She retaliated by kicking him like she had done earlier with the fence, and only then did he sit up lazily.

The girl stretched out her hand and pointed at me furiously, but her voice was still drowned by the rain, so I couldn't hear her. Was she telling him something about a weird girl climbing the roof fence?

The guy tried to lie down, but was once again kicked by the girl. Next she threw an umbrella beside him towards the center of the roof; only then did he start to chase after it hurriedly.

As he picked up and opened the umbrella, I finally got to see his face. He had a head of dry, black hair, and a pale white skin complexion that looked fairly unhealthy; this was further cemented by his frail and slender body and eyes. A red tie was wrapped around his thin neck, as he started to walk towards me.

"...... Err, you wouldn't be planning to jump down, right?"

"A-ah... Yes, I guess I was."

I accidentally replied without thinking. It was all because he asked me in a relaxed tone, as if he was asking about something completely natural like how was I feeling that day.

"Is that so..."

Perhaps worried that he would ask too much, he simply looked up beneath the umbrella and watched me. As a girl who had half her legs crossed above the fence above, I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of someone looking up at me from below.

"W-what?"

I scowled while staring at him, causing him to shirk back in fear.

"... I-it's nothing, p-please go on..."

--- I don't need you to tell me that! Who were these two people anyway?

At this moment, the girl from before planted herself between me and the guy, and finally said:

"Hey... Hey!! Let me ask you, do you think that girl is also one of those people who are better off dead?"

"Who knows? Though truthfully, she seems more like one of those people who don't matter even if they're alive or dead."

The voice that responded was much colder and sharper than the skinny guy from before.

--- Wait what? There's someone else?

I followed the girl's gaze as she turned backward, and let out a yelp in surprise. "E--!"

Judging from the current situation, the person should also be someone from our school. I couldn't make sure since I couldn't see the uniform he was wearing.

A piece of cloth. His entire body was wrapped in a long, white piece of cloth, from head to toe. His face was the only part of him that wasn't covered in cloth, along with his glasses. There was no mistaking it --- he was a mummy, albeit not a really convincing one costume-wise.

His glasses, drenched with rain, sparkled as he spoke.

"Ignore her, if she wants to die then let her die. It's nothing to do with us."

I wasn't planning on questioning him about his strange outfit. And just as he had said, they had nothing to do with me.

Gripping the fence, I took in the school roof in its entirety: On the left was the skinny, ever-smiling boy; on the right was doll-resembling girl with a deep gaze, and smack in the middle was the mummy. Was this what they meant by an unexpected development? For a moment I even wondered if any other weird people would start appearing.

"Why...?"

GASHAN--- the fence started shaking again. The red umbrella once again found itself beneath me.

"Why are you committing suicide...?"

Those pair of large round eyes were once again focused on me, as she poised the question with an innocent look on her face.

This time I ignored her, and placed my other leg over the fence --- Now all I had to do was jump. Please, all of you, just stop talking.

There was a small landing about a meter in length beyond the fence. As long as I stood on this landing and took a step forward, I could end my own life. A gust of wind blew and mercilessly flipped up my skirt. When I make the jump, it was possible that my skirt would end up flipped upwards. If I had knew earlier, I would have wore a pair of sport shorts underneath. Or should I jump with my hands pushing down my skirt?

The fierce wind that blew from beneath the building caused me to grip the fence tightly in reflex. From afar, I could hear the sound of thunder, as if a storm was approaching.

The scenario before me was even more frightening than I had imagined.