Unusually Large
dark heroNezu obeyed.
The wall was pale, featureless and immediately became the most important object in the building.
There was a small imperfection in the paint at eye level. Beneath it, someone had left a faint pencil mark. Farther down, two slightly different shades of white met where part of the surface had been repainted.
Nezu studied all three with desperate concentration.
Behind him, the girls continued preparing for PE. Their conversations overlapped throughout the locker room, mixed with the sounds of opening lockers, closing bags and shoes being placed upon the floor. Ordinarily, Nezu would have processed those noises without difficulty, using them to maintain an awareness of everyone around him.
Now, each one provided information he did not want.
A girl nearby raised both arms while gathering her hair into a ponytail. Another bent beside the bench to retrieve her shoes. Someone complained that her PE shirt was too tight around the shoulders and asked a friend to help straighten it.
Nezu could not see any of this.
Unfortunately, he could hear all of it.
His imagination, previously one of his more disciplined mental faculties, began supplying details that had not been requested.
The warmth returned.
Nezu pressed his lips together and concentrated harder on the scratch.
Akane watched his ears become red again.
She had resumed tying her hair, although her eyes kept returning to him. Nezu remained perfectly obedient, staring at the wall with the intensity of a person attempting to solve an equation written upon it.
Then his right hand flickered.
Akane stopped.
For a fraction of a second, the edges of his fingers became indistinct. A thin distortion passed over his sleeve, like heat rising from the ground, before his shape settled again.
The concealment was weakening.
One of the girls looked toward the corner.
“Was someone standing there?”
Akane moved in front of Nezu.
“Where?”
The girl pointed. “There. I thought I saw something.”
“There’s nothing there.”
Nezu stood less than half a metre behind Akane.
The girl continued staring. “It looked like part of an arm.”
Akane casually lifted a towel from the nearby bench and draped it over the hook beside Nezu, blocking most of the corner from view.
“It was probably this.”
“Was that towel always there?”
“Yes.”
It had not been.
The girl shrugged and returned to her locker.
Akane turned her head just enough to see Nezu over her shoulder.
His face remained red.
“Calm down,” she whispered.
“I am trying.”
“You’re becoming visible.”
“I don’t know how I became invisible.”
“Then stop doing whatever you’re doing.”
Nezu concentrated on the wall again.
The scratch was three centimetres long. The pencil mark resembled a badly drawn bird when viewed from the correct angle. The difference between the two shades of paint was more noticeable near the floor.
Behind him, one of the girls laughed.
The distortion passed over Nezu again.
This time, the outline of one shoulder became visible beneath the towel.
A girl crouching to collect the contents of a fallen sports bag paused.
“What is that?”
Akane stepped sideways and pressed herself back against Nezu, using her body to conceal the faint outline before the girl could focus upon it.
Nezu stopped breathing.
Akane felt him become completely rigid behind her. She also felt the heat radiating from his face close to her ear.
“Akane?” the girl asked.
“Yes?”
“Why are you standing like that?”
“I’m waiting for you to finish.”
The girl looked down at the objects scattered across the floor. “You can go around me.”
“I prefer this spot.”
The girl stared at her for a moment before collecting the last of her things.
Akane did not move until she walked away.
When she finally stepped forward, Nezu’s concealment had stabilized again, but his face had become even redder.
Akane refused to look directly at him.
“You need to control yourself.”
“I don’t understand what I’m controlling.”
Akane glanced over her shoulder.
Nezu was looking determinedly at the wall again, but the colour extending from his neck to the tips of his ears made the problem painfully obvious.
Akane’s own cheeks warmed.
“Just keep looking forward.”
The door opened.
Segu entered carrying her sports bag and wearing the dissatisfied expression of someone who had spent most of the break searching for a boy who had apparently decided to cross the entire school at impossible speed.
His presence had disappeared shortly before she reached the changing rooms, but that had happened before. Whatever connected them did not come with explanations, and Segu had learned that becoming alarmed every time it behaved strangely accomplished very little.
Nezu would reappear.
He always did.
Segu greeted the nearest girls, placed her bag beside a bench and began looking around the room.
She saw Nezu in the corner.
He stood with his face toward the wall, Akane beside him and a towel positioned badly enough to suggest someone had attempted to hide a person with it.
Segu stopped moving.
She looked at Nezu.
Then at Akane.
Then back at Nezu.
Akane noticed exactly where her gaze had settled.
For a moment, they stared at one another across the locker room.
Segu’s expression slowly changed.
Akane crossed the distance between them before she could speak, leaned close to her ear and whispered four words.
“I’ll explain it later.”
Segu looked past her again.
Nezu remained in the corner, still crimson and still inspecting the wall as if his academic future depended upon it.
A girl passed in front of him without reacting.
Segu understood that part.
What she did not understand was why he looked as though he had been boiled.
She lowered her voice. “Why is he red?”
Akane’s gaze moved away. “Later.”
“What happened?”
“Later.”
“Why is he facing the wall?”
“Segu.”
Another girl approached the corner, carrying her sports shoes and searching for somewhere to sit.
Akane moved first.
“That bench is wet.”
The girl stopped. “No, it isn’t.”
Segu looked down.
The bench was visibly dry.
“Someone spilled water,” she said.
“Where?”
“It dried.”
The girl looked between them. “Then why can’t I sit there?”
Segu searched for an answer.
Akane took the girl gently by the shoulders, turned her toward the opposite side of the room and gave her a small push.
“Sit over there.”
The girl glanced toward the crowded bench Akane had indicated, then toward the empty one they were defending.
“You two are being weird.”
She walked away muttering.
Segu immediately turned toward Nezu.
“What are you doing here?”
Nezu answered without looking away from the wall. “Hiding.”
A nearby girl paused.
Segu coughed loudly over the final word.
The girl looked at her.
Segu smiled.
Behind Akane, Nezu’s legs flickered.
Segu’s eyes widened. One of his shoes became faintly visible, disappeared and then returned as a translucent outline against the floor.
“He’s appearing.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I think he’s losing concentration.”
Segu studied Nezu’s bright-red ears, then looked around the changing room.
Several girls were already wearing their PE uniforms, but a few were still finishing. One adjusted the hem of her shirt. Another leaned over a bench to reach the bag on the far side. Two girls helped one another tie their hair, laughing when the first attempt came loose.
Segu looked at Akane.
Akane avoided her eyes.
Segu looked back at Nezu.
A slow smile appeared.
“Oh.”
Akane’s embarrassment deepened. “Do not.”
“He can see us?”
“He can see everything.”
Segu’s eyebrows rose.
Nezu spoke toward the wall. “I am not looking.”
Segu’s smile widened. “But you did look.”
“Briefly.”
“At everyone?”
Nezu hesitated.
Akane folded her arms. “Segu.”
That hesitation had been enough.
Segu looked between them once more, and the delight upon her face became almost cruel.
“Not everyone.”
Nezu’s outline shimmered from head to toe.
Akane grabbed the towel and spread it in front of him before anyone else could notice.
“Stop speaking to him.”
“I only asked a question.”
“You’re making it worse.”
Segu stepped closer and peered around the edge of the towel. Nezu’s face had reached a shade of red she had never seen on another human being.
Her smile softened for a moment.
Then she noticed that Akane was also blushing.
It returned immediately.
“This is interesting.”
“Help me.”
“I am helping.”
“You’re enjoying it.”
“I can do both.”
A girl walked backward toward Nezu while pulling her jacket over her shoulders.
Akane caught her by the arm.
At the same moment, another approached from the opposite direction to reach the locker beside him.
Segu blocked her.
“I need my bag,” the girl said.
“I’ll get it.”
Segu opened the locker without knowing which bag belonged to her.
There were three inside.
“Which one?”
“The blue one.”
Segu handed her a black bag.
The girl looked down at it. “Blue.”
Segu returned it, selected another and passed it over.
“That’s green.”
“It’s blue-green.”
“It belongs to Yui.”
Akane was still holding the first girl away from Nezu.
“Could you move?” that girl asked.
“There’s something on the floor.”
She looked down.
Nezu’s shoe flickered into view between them.
The girl frowned.
Akane placed her own foot over it.
“What?”
“A crack.”
“In the floor?”
“Yes.”
The girl leaned sideways to see.
Akane leaned with her, keeping Nezu’s shoe concealed.
“I don’t see one.”
“It’s very small.”
“Then why did you grab me?”
“You could have tripped.”
“On a very small crack?”
Segu finally found the correct blue bag and pushed it into its owner’s arms.
“Safety is important.”
Both girls looked between Akane and Segu with identical expressions of disbelief.
Nezu’s hand appeared beneath the towel.
Segu placed her palm over it.
The hand disappeared again.
Nezu turned his head slightly in her direction.
“Wall,” Akane ordered.
He immediately looked forward.
The girls walked away, now openly discussing how strangely Akane and Segu were behaving.
Segu kept her hand over Nezu’s.
She could feel the heat in his fingers.
“You really are burning.”
“That is what I told him,” Akane whispered.
Segu lifted Nezu’s hand and pressed it against the wall, as though physically attaching him to it might improve his concentration.
“Keep this there.”
Nezu complied.
Another ripple travelled down his body.
For one alarming second, his entire silhouette appeared beneath the concealment, pale and translucent but undeniably human. A girl across the room narrowed her eyes toward the corner.
Akane stepped directly in front of him.
Segu moved beside her, and together they blocked the view.
The girl tilted her head.
“Is somebody behind you?”
“No,” Akane answered.
“Yes,” Segu said at the same time.
Akane looked at her.
Segu corrected herself. “The spider.”
“What spider?”
“The one behind us.”
The girl took a step back. “There’s a spider?”
Akane closed her eyes briefly.
“How big is it?” another girl asked.
Segu glanced at Nezu.
“Unusually large.”
Akane elbowed her.
Segu concealed a laugh behind a cough.
The panic spread before either of them could contain it. Within seconds, half the room knew about the enormous spider in the corner. Girls moved away from the benches, searching the floor and walls while asking increasingly unhelpful questions.
“Can it jump?”
“I don’t know,” Segu answered.
“What kind is it?”
“A large one.”
“That isn’t a kind.”
“Then why did you ask me?”
Someone produced a shoe and offered it to Akane as a weapon. She refused because swinging anything near Nezu seemed unwise.
Another girl approached with a towel raised in both hands.
“We can trap it.”
“No,” Akane said.
“Why not?”
“It might run.”
“Then kill it.”
“It’s more frightened of us than we are of it,” Segu offered.
A girl standing upon a bench looked horrified. “It’s frightened enough to attack?”
“That isn’t what that means.”
Nezu remained pressed against the wall while the search for him became increasingly organized. The concealment flickered across his shoulders whenever someone moved too close, forcing Akane and Segu to keep repositioning themselves between him and the rest of the room.
One girl crouched and looked beneath the bench.
Akane placed a foot in front of her face.
She looked up. “What are you doing?”
“Protecting you.”
“From the spider?”
“Yes.”
“Is it under your shoe?”
Akane glanced down at Nezu’s partially visible foot beneath hers.
“Possibly.”
The girl scrambled backward.
Several others screamed because she had moved suddenly, which caused the girl with the raised shoe to throw it. It struck the wall beside Nezu’s leg.
He shifted away.
Three girls shouted that they had seen the spider move.
Segu leaned toward Akane.
“This is working.”
“This is becoming worse.”
“But no one is going near him.”
A second shoe struck the floor.
Nezu’s concealment weakened again.
Akane caught the towel hanging from the hook and threw it over his head and shoulders. The fabric remained visible, creating the impression that an empty towel had somehow learned to stand upright.
Everyone fell silent.
Akane stared at it.
Segu stared at it.
The towel moved when Nezu adjusted his grip beneath it.
Someone screamed.
Segu reacted first. She grabbed the towel and pulled it away, revealing nothing but the empty wall as Nezu’s concealment stabilized once more.
“It was caught on the hook,” she announced.
The room remained silent.
“The hook moved?” someone asked.
“Yes.”
“Hooks don’t move.”
“This one is loose.”
“It looked like a person.”
Segu glanced at Nezu.
“It was a small towel.”
“That was not small.”
Akane took control before Segu could make another contribution.
“You are all going to be late for PE.”
The reminder succeeded where the imaginary spider had failed. Bags closed, jackets were collected and shoes were hastily tied. The girls continued watching the corner, but fear of the teacher gradually overcame fear of the creature Segu had invented.
Within minutes, most of the class had gathered near the door.
The last girl paused before leaving.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“We have it under control,” Akane assured her.
Segu nodded. “It’s more frightened of us than we are of it.”
The girl looked toward the corner.
Nezu looked back at the wall.
“Good luck.”
The door closed.
Silence settled over the locker room.
Segu waited several seconds before turning toward Nezu.
He remained against the wall, one hand still pressed to it and his entire face bright red. His concealment continued rippling unevenly over him, fading whenever his eyes moved toward Akane and strengthening whenever he forced them back to the paint.
“So,” Segu said.
“No,” Akane answered.
“I haven’t asked anything.”
“You were going to.”
Segu walked around Nezu until she could see his face.
He shifted his gaze away from her.
It found Akane.
The concealment weakened again.
Segu’s smile became radiant.
“Oh, this is much better than I thought.”
Akane covered her face with one hand.
Nezu looked back at the wall.
“I would like to leave.”
“You’re the one who came in,” Segu reminded him.
“I was being pursued.”
“And accidentally ran into the girls’ locker room.”
“Yes.”
“Then became invisible.”
“Apparently.”
“And now you can’t remain invisible because Akane is wearing PE clothes.”
Nezu’s concealment failed from his shoulders upward.
His crimson face appeared in mid-air.
Akane immediately threw the towel over his head.
Darkness covered him.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Segu began laughing.
She pressed both hands over her mouth and tried to contain it, but each glimpse of Nezu’s bare hand appearing beneath the towel made her shoulders shake harder.
Akane’s face was nearly as red as his.
“This is not funny.”
Segu attempted to answer and failed.
Beneath the towel, Nezu spoke with quiet dignity.
“I agree with Akane.”
That ended what remained of Segu’s self-control.
Her laughter eventually weakened enough for her to breathe. She wiped the corner of one eye and pointed toward the vaguely human shape beneath the towel.
“Now explain.”
Akane glanced toward the locker-room door.
“I already told you. Later.”
“There is an invisible Nezu underneath a towel.”
“I’m aware.”
“He somehow entered the girls’ locker room without anyone except us seeing him.” Segu pointed at him again. “I think this qualifies as later.”
“Not here.”
“The room is empty.”
“For now.”
Akane lowered her voice despite that, her embarrassment giving way to an uncomfortable seriousness. She looked at Nezu again, watching the concealment ripple across the hand holding the towel in place.
There were too many things she needed to confirm before giving Segu an answer, and several of them could not be discussed anywhere people might enter without warning.
“I’ll come to your house after school,” Akane said. “We’ll talk there.”
Segu studied her face.
The laughter disappeared.
“You know what happened to him.”
“I have an idea.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“It’s the only answer I can give you here.”
Segu clearly disliked it. Her eyes moved from Akane to Nezu and remained there for several seconds, as though expecting him to contribute something useful.
Nezu’s face briefly appeared beneath the towel.
It was still red.
Segu almost smiled again.
“Fine. But you’re coming directly to our house. You’re not disappearing for another two years before explaining.”
Akane flinched, though only slightly.
“I’ll be there.”
“And until then?”
Akane looked toward the door.
“Until then, we need to get him out of the girls’ locker room.”
Beneath the towel, Nezu adjusted his grip.
“That would be appreciated.”
Segu approached the door, but Akane caught her arm before she could open it.
“Wait.”
The air around Akane shifted.
There was no flash or dramatic distortion. One moment she stood beside Segu in her PE clothes, and the next the ordinary world simply stopped acknowledging her presence. To Segu and Nezu, nothing about Akane appeared to have changed, but the ease with which she had done it made the difference between her control and Nezu’s painfully obvious.
Akane opened the door and stepped into the corridor.
Segu watched her leave.
Then she slowly turned toward Nezu.
“You did what she just did.”
“It appears so.”
“She did it deliberately.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t know how.”
“No.”
“Or how to stop.”
Nezu’s face briefly appeared beneath the towel.
“No.”
Segu looked toward the doorway through which Akane had disappeared.
“What exactly happened while you were sick?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer is becoming annoying.”
“It has been an annoying two weeks.”
Akane returned less than a minute later and closed the door behind her.
“The coast is clear.”
The concealment released her as effortlessly as it had formed.
Segu stared.
“How did you—”
“Later.”
“But Nezu—”
“Later.”
“And why can we—”
“Segu.”
“Later,” Segu finished bitterly.
Akane nodded. “Exactly.”
She took Nezu by one arm, while Segu claimed the other. With the towel still draped over his head and shoulders, they guided him toward the doorway like two attendants escorting a particularly embarrassed ghost.
Akane opened the door once more and checked both directions.
“Keep looking forward,” she whispered to Nezu.
“There is nothing inappropriate to look at in the corridor.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
“Because every time you look at me, part of you becomes visible.”
Nezu fell silent.
His hand appeared between hers.
Akane’s face warmed.
Segu looked at it, then at Akane, and her earlier smile returned.
Akane pulled Nezu into the corridor before she could say anything.
They hurried him toward the nearest stairwell, keeping him between them in case his concealment failed again. It flickered twice along the way: once when Akane moved closer to avoid a passing student, and again when she reached across him to open the stairwell door.
Both times, Segu noticed.
Akane pretended she had not.
Once the heavy door closed behind them, the distant voices from the school became muffled. Nezu’s concealment weakened, his outline returning in uneven sections until he stood fully visible between them, still holding the towel over his head.
Segu removed it.
His face remained pink, although it had finally retreated from the violent red of the locker room.
“There,” she said. “Alive, visible and only slightly cooked.”
Nezu handed the towel to Akane without meeting her eyes.
“Thank you.”
Akane accepted it. “Go. We’ll deal with the boys later.”
Nezu looked toward the stairs, then back at both of them.
“You have PE.”
“So do you,” Segu reminded him.
“I believe attending it beside the people currently searching for me would be counterproductive.”
Akane considered that and nodded. “Go somewhere with teachers.”
Nezu left through the stairwell.
Segu waited until his footsteps had faded before turning to Akane.
“Now—”
“After school.”
“You’re doing that deliberately.”
“Yes.”
Akane opened the door and walked back toward the locker room. Segu followed, directing an uninterrupted series of suspicious looks at the back of her head.
They collected their things and left for class together.
Segu continued asking questions along the way. Akane answered every one of them with the same promise, refusing to explain what Nezu had done, why she could do it too or how she had immediately understood what was happening.
Eventually, Segu surrendered to angry silence.
Akane was grateful for it.
Without the questions, however, her thoughts returned to the moment Nezu had entered the locker room.
She remembered his eyes finding her among everyone else.
The way he had stopped.
The colour that had spread across his face when he saw her in her PE clothes. The complete collapse of his usually precise attention when she approached him. Even after she placed him in front of the wall, it had been her voice, her touch and her proximity that repeatedly weakened his concealment.
Nezu had looked at her differently.
Not with the quiet familiarity he gave Segu. Not with the distant observation he directed toward strangers. For those few seconds, he had looked at Akane as though the rest of the room had disappeared.
Two years ago, he might not have reacted at all.
Today, he had nearly become visible in a crowded girls’ locker room because he could not stop thinking about her.
Akane lowered her face, hiding the small smile that appeared before Segu could notice it.
For the first time since returning, the distance between them did not feel quite so impossible.
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