Chapter 40

                                    

                                          
After Kaede had reprimanded the girls, the brown-haired girl spent most of the rest of the day running around to find Kazumi. Besides, Kaede also tried to reach her on her cell phone, but it was never answered.
"Kazumi...where are you...?" Kaede asked herself quietly and finally ran to the old playground where they had first met. Arriving at the place, the Tokoyami looked around. Her eyes searched everything that was possible.
She even had the idea of showing some passers-by a picture of Kazumi and asking if they had seen her anywhere. However, not a single person had seen Kazumi. The gray-haired girl had fallen off the face of the earth, which Kaede could understand.
However, she was also very worried about her best friend. Autumn had just begun, which was why it had become cooler. With her soaked clothes, Kazumi could get sick quite quickly. Before she froze somewhere, Kaede wanted to find her.
"Kazumi?" Kaede asked when she was under a bridge, which would have been a good place to hide. But there was no sign of her here either, which is why Kaede had called her parents. It took a while for her mother to pick up the phone.
"Is Kazumi at home?" was the middle school student's first question. "No, isn't she with you?" the woman on the phone wanted to know. "No, I've been looking for her for ages." Kaede explained, biting her lips for a moment. Her mother knew what had often happened at school. However, Kaede didn't want her to worry any more than she already did.
"Do you know where Kazumi might be?" Kaede asked hopefully. "Hm, maybe she's in her favorite tea store, which is near the library." her mother said, which Kaede hadn't even thought about. "Thank you very much." , came out of her before she had put down her earpiece and started running.
Kazumi often got herself a cup of tea and sat down in the library. It was also one of the last places where the two of them had talked about the bullying. Kaede really should have thought about it.
Almost out of breath, Kaede exhaled, leaning on her knees. The sun had already set, making it even cooler, even for her.
Kaede didn't want to know how Kazumi must feel in her wet clothes. Her gaze fell on the town library, which was closed today for a change. "Nah great..." the brown-haired girl muttered. How unlucky did she have to be right now?
A vibration in her pocket in the skirt of her school uniform gave Kaede renewed hope. She immediately took the phone out of her pocket and recognized the name of her best friend on the screen. Quickly clicking on the chat, Kaede raised her eyebrow in confusion. "What's she doing there?" Kaede asked herself quietly. As far as she knew, Kazumi had been a fan of a museum.
Nevertheless, Kaede walked there, as she had checked the internet to see which exhibition had taken place. Strangely enough, it was about many different artists, including authors. Why was she there?
Kaede breathed even harder as she walked up all those stairs, since the move-out had been inactive at this time of night. Kaede thought that she could barely breathe here and really wished that Kazumi had picked another place to retreat to.

"Kazumi...I'm telling you...next time...you take...the playground..." , Kaede gasped between her breaths and heard an amused but sad snort. "I thought you'd say something like that." Kazumi said, looking at her best friend. "But...I chose this place on purpose."
"You could have just asked me to see this exhibition with you." Kaede grumbled, slowly getting her breathing under control. "I wasn't interested in this exhibition. Although...a little, because I connected it with you and I was a little more...well, reassured."