The Boy With The Blank Stare: The Promise

Chapter Thirty Eight: Diary of Neverland

Saihara's POV:

Contrary to what I was expecting, Ouma had come to school that next day. He was a bit more reserved when talking to Kiibo but he was still social.

When I met him he couldn't even make it a whole school day without falling asleep in the middle of class.

It made me smile with pride as the class continued on, it was study hall again and I decided to finally make use of this time.

I took out the long forgotten diary and opened up the book.

I glanced at the pages more and just found more pages filled to the brim of what could have just been text messages between friends, some had inside jokes I would never understand.

Photos also covered the book, and I remembered how Ouma had told me his friend Riko had loved photography, the pictures had the four of them going on what seemed like normal day activities like going to the park or walking through a super market, yet the clear enthusiasm and light that shined through them made it seem more like a grand adventure.

Ouma would never be able to see these photos. Because even if a picture is worth a thousand words I doubt I ever would be able to describe those fleeting moments caught on film accurately to him.

However knowing some of their stories now made them seem almost somber, I knew what ending laid ahead for these people, who asked each other about their futures, what careers they should consider, those futures had been stolen without the even subtle hint of regret.

I pushed past these feelings of pity for them, and chose to focus on the smallest girl, the only one I still had no records or story of.

Mirai Masako, she was a short girl, maybe even shorter than Ouma was back then, and seemed to appear the most like a child.

She seemed more secretive which worried me that I wouldn't find anything, even as I flipped through the pages there didn't seem to be any sort of message that would hint to her homelife but that may be evidence in itself.

If she was fine, if she didn't struggle with any sort of mental health problems, well...the misguided answer to her death would be easier to prove wrong.

It would be easier just to close the diary now and take it to my father for evidence storing and photo copies for entries of interest.

But that wouldn't have been enough for Ouma.

Finally I found an entry of interest, it was one of the last and there had been a large drawing of a constellation owl, it impressed me with how detailed it was till I realized...

I glanced at the back page, nothing had been written on it, so carefully I ripped the page out of the book and ignoring the stares I got from my classmates I held it up against the window and light.

The colored dots and lines from the drawings shadow revealed what I had suspected.

A large map had been hidden in the diary, and a sense of childlike wonder took hold of me as I wondered where it would lead me.