“Ah. Ooh. My tears won’t stop. The finder is fogging up, so I can’t see too well. But I’ll keep taking pictures of these little girls—so, Yamazaki, you need to work hard to keep taking pictures, too. It’s sad, but let’s try hard. We can’t stop crying, but let’s do all we can. We’ll do our best to photograph the elementary school kids!

“Huh? What? Why are you suddenly tapping my shoulder? Is something wrong? Hey, hey, cut it out. We’re just getting to the good part.

“See? Look at that one, the short-haired girl wearing knee socks. She’s so cute; I want to take her home. Put her under my arm like take-out and carry her home. Eh? What a pain in the ass you are. I’m busy right now! Come on, what’s wrong with you, Yamazaki. If you tap me like that, the picture will blur. Hey, hey, you’re really annoying me. What happened to you, all of a sudden?”

“Satou! I said, Satou!”

“Shhh! Quiet, or we’re going to get caught!”

“What are you doing in a place like this, Satou?”

“It should be obvious. That short-haired girl…”

“The girl?”

“Taking secret pict—“

At that moment, I just happened to take my eyes off the finder. As I did, the palm resting on my shoulder entered the corner of my vision. Those slender, pliable fingers couldn’t possibly belong to a man…

I turned around.

Misaki was there. My heart started pumping at fifty times my normal pulse rate.

A gentle breeze was blowing.

Time stopped.

Somewhere along the way, Yamazaki had disappeared, only to be replaced by Misaki.

To make things worse, Misaki was decked out in her religious outfit—the plain, long-sleeved dress and white parasol. Dressed like that, she was crouched down in the bushes with me.

“Wh-wh-when did you get here?”

“Just a few seconds ago.”

I thought about asking how much of my frenzied prattle she had heard, but I gave up. Either way, this was a huge crisis.

A shady man, digital camera hung around his neck, hiding in the shadows near the gate of an elementary school. Anyone would take him for a pervert—and rightfully so. I was already out of options. Gah! I’m sorry, Mother and Father. I wasn’t content with dropping out of college. I needed to be thrown in jail for sex crimes, also. I’m a complete failure as a son. How can I atone for this crime?

I was already out of time. Misaki, who kept looking into my face, would start screaming soon. “There’s a pervert here! Someone, come quick!”