five

Nozomi had acquired a gravitational pull of his own, one whose force was so mercilessly dominant against me, and with each passing day that force grew frighteningly stronger. He started to leave school earlier-much earlier than any of the other students, which completely contrasted with his behavior up until this point in the school term. Naoki apparently wasn't coming to school throughout all this, basically confirming Nozomi's statement, and backing up our classmates' widespread rumors.

But things didn't stop with Nozomi's sister. How they managed to uncover such things was beyond me, but the rumors and dramatic stories continued to grow and expand far past that of Naoki.

According to what I'd overheard, the people were discussing the possibility that perhaps Nozomi's family was cursed. By now they'd discovered about his visual impairment, and upon digging deeper into unspecified sources, they found out that his mother had passed after several years ago from a terrible illness, and his father had been fired from his job, currently striving to provide enough money to take care of his children with his new and lesser wage.

The Black Cat Family was going viral. And I couldn't stand it.