June: Jumpy and the broom.
June: You were always playing around with the broom in front of the rabbit
hutch.
Junpei: I was...?
June: Don't you remember?

Junpei stared at the broom in his hand.

June: You mean...you don't remember that summer either?

She looked very sad. He shook his head.

Junpei: Of course I remember. How could I forget something like that?
Junpei: It was terrible...

They were in the 6th grade.
Junpei and June had been assigned to take care of the classroom pets--the
rabbits.
Their chief duty was to clean the hutches every morning.
On the final day of school before summer vacation began, Junpei overslept.
He rushed to school, and found June standing in front of the rabbit hutches.
No sooner had Junpei arrived than June began to cry.
He had no idea why until he looked behind her, into the rabbit hutch.
The first thing he saw was blood.
The hutch was filled with the dead bodies of the rabbits.
Even after their teachers and friends came to see what the commotion was, June
couldn't stop crying.

June: I just kept crying and crying, until you came over.
June: You held my hand and you looked very serious and you said...
June: "Don't cry. I'm gonna catch the person who did this."
June: After you told me that, I finally stopped crying.
Junpei: Well, the real fun started after you quit crying.
Junpei: You told me we were gonna catch the killer together.
June: *Giggle*

June smiled, and a little of the flush of life returned to her cheeks.

June: Then we decided that we'd ambush them.
Junpei: Yeah, I remember.

The school also kept roosters and guinea pigs.
Junpei and June had decided the murderer would likely return to finish off the
rest of the animals.
They would ambush the killer at night.
Junpei and June hid behind the hutch at dusk and waited.
It was a warm summer night.
The quiet sound of crickets whispered through the air.
As the sun went down, the stars began to wink at them from the sky.
And June's...Akane Kurashiki's face...
That night was something Junpei knew he would never forget, as long as he
lived.